10 Killed in Train Collision Near Los Angeles

CNNhas the initial reports.

“This whole incident was started by a deranged individual who was suicidal,” said Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams.

The suspect, identified as Juan Manuel Alvarez, 26, got out of the vehicle before impact and watched the collision, Adams said.

Alvarez of Compton, California, is in custody and is expected to be charged with homicide, Adams said.

This one quickly turned into an area wide “all-hands”. Reports suggest the NTSB is working this one now, as would be expected.

The reports are suggesting that this was not an act of terrorism. Likekly true. But it’s a good question to ask. It also seems to make sense to question if such attacks would be attempted; seems to me if you’re an Arab terrorist trying to make a statement….. Hmmmm. I’ll let that one go, for the moment.

More as I find.

AP s reporting Doctor Rice was confirmed by the Senate, 85-13.

And for once, John McCain gets it right:

“On the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., suggested Democrats are sore losers. Rice had enough votes to win confirmation, as even her Democratic critics acknowledge, McCain said.

“So I wonder why we are starting this new Congress with a protracted debate about a foregone conclusion,” McCain said. Since Rice is qualified for the job, he said, “I can only conclude that we are doing this for no other reason than because of lingering bitterness over the outcome of the election.”

Update: The HedgeHog report passes along the list of those who voted against Doctor Rice:

John Kerry
Robert KKK Byrd
Barbara Boxer
Mark Dayton
Jumpin’ Jim Jeffords
Ted Kennedy
Tom Harkin
Jack Reed
Dick Durbin
Evan Bayh
Frank Lautenberg
Carl Levin
Daniel Akaka

Flash to the Democrats: Isn’t it time to show these people the other side of the door?

Captain’s Quarters suggests this Maggie Gallagher business isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I tend to agree.

Blogs of War has a great bit up just now, from Lorraine Jablonsky, a 17year old student from the People’s Republic of New Jersey. It’s called A Critical Confrontation

“Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has declared a “fierce war on this evil principle of democracy” and the people who believe in democracy. He has made clear that it is not just a physical battle between people; it is a battle of ideas.

And while I say that democracy and freedom will come out on top, because the greatest countries in the world believe in the ideology of democracy, I realize that this is not a gentleman’s war. This doesn’t involve a battlefield where rules are set. We are fighting against some of the most brutal rebels in history. These terrorists think nothing of destroying an entire nation. These terrorists relish the idea of capturing innocent people and beheading them on video. We are fighting against a bitter enemy that will stoop to using any tactics to eliminate ‘the infidels’ that threaten their ideals and beliefs.”

Encouraging to see someone so young, and clearly operating in hostile territory, to be so clear-headed in spite of it all. Bravo-Zulu, Blogs of War!!!

Outside The Beltway notes 31 people dying in a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crash this morning, and muses:

As I’ve noted numerous times, helicopters are dangerous even in a non-hostile environment. They do things fixed wing aircraft can’t but the price is sometimes very high.

Just so, James.  I knew a couple people who died in Buffalo a few years ago driving a chopper, and they said the same thing.

One aditional point, however… This is the biggest single-action casualty count for the entire Iraqi conflict thusfar. Can anyone name any campaign in our history, where that single action death count was less?

I can’t.

Certainly, this doesn’t diminish the weight of the deaths that have occurred, but it does suggest that there is a rather different quality to this conflict.

Senator John Cornyn puts up an excellent op-Ed in today’s Useless Toady, called‘Good man’ follows the law

Says he:

“Judge Alberto Gonzales is an exceptional attorney, devoted public servant and good man of humble beginnings. His nomination to serve as our 80th attorney general — and our first of Hispanic descent — is an inspiring American success story.
Unfortunately, President Bush’s political opponents are attempting to use his nomination to score political points. Specifically, they condemn Gonzales for advising the president that, although every detainee deserves to be treated humanely, al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters have no legal right to the numerous additional privileges afforded to prisoners of war under the 1949 Geneva Convention.

There is one important problem with this criticism: Gonzales is right.

Can you imagine the howling and screaming going on if the Democrats came up with a Hispanic for Atty General (Fat chance) and the Republcians objected to him at all, much less where the facts are on the side of the nominee?

Similarly, for Dr. Rice; Postulate the very unlikely happening of Democrats coming up with a nomination for a black woman to be run State. Now imagine the wialing and gnashing of teeth and charges of racism that would be heard if the Republcains raised any objection whatever to said nominee.

But here we have two minority candidates… one’s nomination being held up on procedural tricks by a KKK member, who is a Democrat, and the other being objected to… stonewalled, in fact, when the legal facts are demonstrably on the nominee’s side. 

One could logically charge the Democrats with racism. At the least one must observe that where the Democrats are allowed the choice, the advancement of the state of minorites in this country takes a back seat to Democrat political power.

Outside The Beltway has the details… and it’s not what you think.

Jihad watch has posted an interesting update to that case.

“The police and prosecutor are “very scared” of this case. The Muslim community in Jersey City is putting enormous pressure on City Hall to softpedal the case. Says my source: “They [police and prosecutor] want this case to go away quickly because of that.”

Both press and prosecutor are hampered by general ignorance of Islamic teaching on proselytizing and conversion, and of how jihadists operate.

Of course, my problem with the police and prosecutor’s reaction is that if this really was a Sharia-inspired killing, they are opening the door to more of the same if they do not handle this case carefully and thoroughly.”

There’s more going on here than meets the eye, and certainly more than a simple murder, as I said here at the outset of this case.  This bears watching.

My systems at home just noticed a weather warning and mailed it to me here… we’re expecting another 4 inches of the white crap tonight. Dust My Broom expresses a thought I’ve had for a couple weeks, now.

E! Online is reporting “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling has a new baby in the house. This will be the third for Rowling. A girl this time, apparently.

No word at this point about the name, the weight, or if there was a Z shaped scar on the baby’s forehead.

Rich Lowry, over at The Corner notes that the reporting on Iraq from the usual leftist suspects has become rather positive. Rich calls this…. correctly, I think…. hedging their bets.

It’s not all that hard to see the pattern. Consider the election of Bush 41, and the reports on polling for same. The polling data and stories were unquestionably negative. Until, that is, about a week before the election, when for no apparent reason, the polling numbers started taking shape for a large Republican Landslide.

THe press now, as then, is has begun to see that they’re not going to be able to sway this one, so they start swinging numbers and reports back toward the truth. 

After all, it wouldn’t do to be projecting gloom and doom up to the day before the great victory…. their biases being thus exposed.

Is there any doubt that Ted Turner’s a nutcase? Even Hanoi Jane couldn’t take it anymore.

UPDATE: Drudge is running a headline, passing along what a Fox Spokesman had to say;

‘Ted is understandably bitter having lost his ratings, his network and now his mind — we wish him well’…

Ouch….. (Chuckle)

Anyone looking for proof that the AlQuieda insurgency is falling apart, needs look no further than this report from Outside The Beltway .  Read about how they’re treating their own people.

Michelle Malkin has some data which seems to suggest that at least some Chinese nationals are involved with Arab terrorist groups.

All very interesting, this.