Cat Stephens Taken Off London/NY Flight; Showed on Security List

AP reports:

WASHINGTON (AP) – A plane bound for Washington from London was diverted to Maine on Tuesday after passenger Yusuf Islam – formerly known as pop singer Cat Stevens – showed up on a U.S. watch list, federal officials said.

Not sure why he’s on the list, other than there may be some kind of mental issue… He’s never struck me as the most stable individual, even during his pop years. I met him once about the time he was touring for one of his later albums and there was something decidedly weird about him even then. There was a duality to the man that I didn’t understand until years later when I read of his dual heritage. 
Some beautiful tunes, though. Creative, inventive, touching, on many levels. All that is lost. Sad, really. A lot of potential, there, that was lost.

I suppose the security types look at him and see another Johnny Walker… a rather confused westerner who went into Islam and has, shall we say, divided loyalties. I suppose there may be valid reason for caution here, on at least a psych profile basis, assuming they have nothing stronger than this.  We may hear more in the morning.

I also wonder why now after all this time he decided to try and come to the US. After being so outspoken about the west, and the US in particular, it does give one pause.

I must however, give him credit, if this statement from the release is true:

“Islam recently condemned the school seizure by militants in Beslan, Russia, earlier this month that left more than 300 dead, nearly half of them children.

In a statement on his Web site, he wrote, “Crimes against innocent bystanders taken hostage in any circumstance have no foundation whatsoever in the life of Islam and the model example of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.”

He dove headlong into his father’s Islamic heritidge it seemed to me, in an effort to seek a peace he never found in his worldly successes.  I’ve often wondered in the last few years, how he’s been managing to deal with all the violence being committed in the name of the faith in which he sought that peace.

KNight-Ridder’s wire has this running:

“FORT WORTH, Texas – (KRT) – The son of a late commander in the Texas Air National Guard said Monday that CBS owes his family an apology for airing documents – now believed to be false – that purportedly were of his father criticizing President Bush’s service as a young man in the Guard.”
…
Killian said he is angry with both CBS and Burkett.

“Do I take it personally? Yes,” he said, adding: “I think, first of all, CBS and Dan Rather owe my deceased father and my family an apology.”

Ah, but it was all to help the Democrats. It was all worth it, huh?

Diana Griego Erwin in the SacBee (Hardly a bastion of right-wing thought) says there’s a lot going on in Iraq that’s good, and hte Iraqi people think well of us. Actually, the peple she interviewed said that.

“You (Americans) see (television images of) a lot of violence’ in Iraq, and there is violence, she said. ‘But a lot of good things are happening to us. … Un der Saddam, we had no rights, especially women. Women could not speak openly, even to their children, not even in their own homes.’
Al-Fadhal is part of a group from Iraq touring the United States to tell Americans about the democratic ‘transformation,’ albeit slow, in their country. Their opportunity to give voice to the Iraqi experience comes at the invitation of the Iraq-American Freedom Alliance, a project of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Founded two days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FDD is a conservative nonprofit providing research and education on the war on terrorism.
Al-Fadhal, a real Iraqi woman speaking to the situation in her homeland, says most Iraqis are overwhelmingly grateful to the United States for freeing their country from tyranny.”

A report you will not see in See BS, the NYT, etc.

FOXNews comes through…. Good show, Fox!

Archer, over at In the Peoples Republic of Washington is looking for a new day gig. If you’ve got room, drop him a line.

Archer, this stuff is about as stable as a fart in a windstorm. I’ve been doing it for many years now, and it never changes… Hang in, Son…

ThisisLondonquotes actor/nutcase Kevin Spacey, (an apt surname, I think) complainng about people making noises in the movie theatre…:

“That’s why mobile phones go off in the theatre, and that’s why people open candy bars thinking if they open it slowly it will be less annoying than if they open it fast.
‘My answer is that I say to each audience ‘Don’t!’. You have to respect the fact there is some degree of behaviour that we expect in the theatre and we’re going to demand it at the Old Vic.
‘It’s a phone free zone. We don’t want them ringing and we certainly don’t want them ringing and people ignoring them pretending that it’s not theirs.’ “

And they say Hollywood types are disconnected from the rest of us.

First, Kevin, I’ve got a newsflash for you; you’re just not that important. Life continues to go on in spite of not because of, your earthshattering attempts at acting.

Secondly, with the audio systems at the average theatre being cranked up loud enough to cover the launch of the Space Shuttle, I tend to doubt that a cell phone or a candy wrapper is going to make much of a difference.

Kevin, do you really consider your connection with the audience to be that fragile? Talk about in insecurity complex….

Michelle Malkin:

With amusement, I have watched my colleagues in the Old Media fight every democratizing and choice-enhancing trend during the dozen years I’ve spent in the information business. They scoffed at Rush Limbaugh as a flash in the pan (and have searched in vain for a commercially viable liberal counterpart for the last 15 years). They sneered at The Drudge Report (then bookmarked his site for hourly reading). They sniped at Fox News (then ripped off every one of Roger Ailes’ innovations). They laughed at Regnery Publishing (then snatched up its editors and formed New York knock-offs). They mocked the insurgent New York Post (as their own circulation figures and ad sales tanked). And now, in final desperation, they trash the blogging revolution as an irresponsible pajama party for unprofessional hobbyists (even as they launch their own corporate-scrubbed versions to exhibit their “edginess”).

RTWT.

John Kerry doesn’t like that we invaded Iraq. Here’s what he says.

“But that was not, in itself, a reason to go to war. The satisfaction we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure.” – John Kerry, 9/20/2004

But What does John Kerry think of this?

“Those who doubted whether Iraq or the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein and those who believe today that we are not safer with his capture don’t have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president.” – John Kerry, 12/20/2003

Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop.  Flip, Flop. 

Captain Ed notes this morning over at the Captain’s Quarters that Kamp Kerry has apaprently been caught with a few forign nationals working there….

“In what looks to be a case of deja vu, a South Korean consular official has been sent home for getting involved in John Kerry’s presidential campaign, raising questions of foreign influence on Kerry’s campaign and on the election in general”

Ed notes this isn’t the first time Kery’s been caught like this. RTWT

KTLA is reporting that

“Rodney Dangerfield, who underwent heart valve replacement surgery on Aug. 25, has been in a coma for several weeks, although the comedian’s overall condition is stable, his wife revealed today.”

Sounds like the man could use a few prayers.

The other shoe just fell…. and I can’t say I’m shocked by this… I’ll bet you’re not, either. AP says today::

“NEW YORK – At the behest of CBS, an adviser to John Kerry (news – web sites) said he talked to a central figure in the controversy over President Bush (news – web sites)’s National Guard service shortly before disputed documents were released. Joe Lockhart denied any connection between the presidential campaign and the papers. Lockhart, the second Kerry ally to confirm contact with retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, said he made the call at the suggestion of CBS producer Mary Mapes.”

…
Kerry ally Max Cleland, a former Georgia senator, also said he had a brief conversation last month with Burkett, who told him he had information about Bush to counter charges against Kerry’s Vietnam War service. Cleland said he gave Burkett’s name and phone number to the campaign’s research department.
…
Lockhart said Mapes asked him the weekend before the story broke to call Burkett. “She basically said there’s a guy who is being helpful on the story who wants to talk to you,” Lockhart said, adding that it was common knowledge that CBS was working on a story raising questions about Bush’s Guard service. Mapes told him there were some records “that might move the story forward. She didn’t tell me what they said.”

That’s it, then. This is no longer a case of CBS screwing up and getting out of it by way of apologizing…. by way of this news. This is well beyond CBS, and the DNC claiming innocence. We’ve moved on to a new level; Rather’s attempt at groveling doesn’t cut it, anymore. Nor does the DNC’s playing stupid. Niether is going to work anymore.

This goes directly to CBS being a willing party to fraud in cooperating with the DNC and or the Kerry Campaign to throw an election by means of falsified documents.

The argument they originally tried to sell just went past the experation date. That being that CBS didn’t know these documents were false. It would have been a hell of a lot easier to sell had the connections between the Kerry Campaign, CBS and Bukett not been shown… and I suspect there are more levels of contact exposure to come…. this ain’t even started yet.

This is political dirty tricks on a scale unknown previously in American history… and certainly on a criminal scale…. all brought to us by the Democrats.

Amazing to see how low the Democrats have sunk.

I’ll follow up on this tommorrow. I’ve had a long day, today, and I’m going to bed.

Update:9/21/04 Captain Ed has more on this today. So does Blogs For Bush, and PowerLine

MSNBC says

CAIRO, Egypt – Deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is depressed and has begged the Iraqi government for mercy, Iraq’s Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in an interview published on Monday.”

With any luck, they’ll bury him alive, as so many of his victims were. And then, someone will have the good sense to build a sewage treatment plant over him, somewhere outside Bahgdad, so the whole country will have the utter satisfaction of taking a dump on him.

Mark Steyn yesterday:

I was prepared to cut the poor old buffoon some slack a week ago. But Dan’s performance has grown progressively more outrageous, to the point where it’s hard not to conclude he’s colluding in the perpetuation of a massive if ludicrous fraud. Dan’s been play-acting at being a reporter for so many years now — the suspenders, the loosened tie, and all the other stuff that would look great if he were auditioning for a cheesy dinner-theater revival of ”The Front Page”; the over-the-top intros: ”Bob Schieffer, one of the best hard-nosed reporters in the business, has been working his sources. What have you managed to uncover for us, Bob?”, after which Bob reads out a DNC press release. Dan’s been doing all this so long he doesn’t seem to realize the news isn’t just a show. “

RTWT

Nice write up about Blogging’s actvity surrounding the CBS fraud caseKurtz in the WaPo this morning:

“Scott Johnson, 53, writes for a Web site called Power Line. Charles Johnson, 51, posts on Little Green Footballs. They were among the bloggers who blew the cyber-whistle by charging that the documents used by “60 Minutes” in its report on President Bush’s Air National Guard service appeared bogus.

It was like throwing a match on kerosene-soaked wood. The ensuing blaze ripped through the media establishment as previously obscure bloggers managed to put the network of Murrow and Cronkite firmly on the defensive.

RTWT.

OK, my guys have shown a remarkable ability to collapse at key moments. To say the least, I’m unhappy. Yes, I know Galvin called it Oakland -3.5, and yes, I’m intently aware of Dodd’s post.  But, the Bills have come past such things in the past. That they haven’t been able to get over these hurdles this year so far is causing some minor grumbling in fandom that this is all a load of, well, Mularky.

Let’s hope next week we can see some consistantly good Bills play. Without some ray of hope here, I think this is going to be a LONG 16 weeks.