Mad-made disaster averted in UK, no thanks to politically correct mundaneness

Manchester, England was to be a hot spot for suicide bombings this Easter weekend. You know, because it's all the Christians' fault.

What a shameful and cruel path to lead one's flock -- to their deaths while killing innocents for... what? For an alleged 'cause' of some eerie image of a god.

No, Mr. Obama, these aren't what have been traditionally known, since the 1700s, as "terrorists", they are "man-made disaster" provocateurs. Thank you, liberal word-benders, for correcting us. Politically correcting us, that is. Gag.

Al-Qaeda terror plot to bomb Easter shoppers - Telegraph

Sources told The Daily Telegraph that the arrests of 12 men in the north west of England on Wednesday were linked to a suspected plan to launch a devastating attack this weekend.

Some of the suspects were watched by MI5 agents as they filmed themselves outside the Trafford Centre on the edge of Manchester, the Arndale Centre in the city centre, and the nearby St Ann's Square.

Police were forced to round up the alleged plotters after they were overheard discussing dates, understood to include the Easter bank holiday, one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

"It could have been the next few days and they were talking about 10 days at the outside," one source said. "We had to act." Police are now engaged in a search for an alleged bomb factory, where explosives might have been assembled.

If such a plot was carried out, it would almost certainly have been Britain's worst terrorist attack, with the potential to cause more deaths than the suicide attacks of July 7, 2005, when 52 people were murdered.

This was also forced as part of the reaction to this:

The country's most senior anti-terrorism officer, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, of the Metropolitan Police, was photographed going into Downing Street carrying a briefing paper with top secret details of Operation Pathway in full view.

Yesterday morning, Mr Quick resigned after he was told by the Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, that he had lost her confidence and that of [UK intelligence agency] MI5.

One man arrested had been in the UK on a student visa, which is how the Sept. 11 culprits got in and stayed in the U.S.

The issue of student visas represents a potential security nightmare for the police and MI5. There are 330,000 foreign students in Britain and around 10,000 such visas are issued every year to Pakistanis alone.

Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, has described the student visa system as "the major loophole in Britain's border controls".

(Read the full story with link above.)

- jR, AirFarceOne (Twitter)

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Chavez not dropping oil program, but the way to pay was questionable

Chavez says US heating oil program never suspended - Americas AP - MiamiHerald.com

At a news conference, however, Kennedy said Citgo made it clear the decision was not a cancellation of the program. "But at the end of the day, the tankers are not going to be in front of this building," he said.

Citgo Chief Executive Alejandro Granado later said in Boston that the company had found a way to continue paying for oil shipments.

On Saturday, Chavez poked fun at analysts who said he was cutting the assistance to make relations difficult with President-elect Barack Obama, saying they made him laugh.

"They build this analysis on a lie," he said.

I still hold to my anger that a U.S. oil company, and a nonprofit, and our country, cannot buck up and cover this and tell Chavez "thanks, but no thanks." As I wrote a few days ago in this post: Like, Totally Political, Dude!: Chavez dropping oil program for U.S. poor, who's to blame?

It seems rather unbelievable that the same thing was not possible through anyone else, that this was even an option for Chavez to use -- ironically, it did some good. I don't like the power-happy guy, as he's religiously self-lauding and stunningly arrogant, but I cannot dislike his doing as he did.

You should recognize that the oil for poor program is a perfect, and self-serving, way for Chavez to appear to be a benefactor to U.S. poor. It is only honorable on the face of it. If I rna everyone's lives, this is the least I would do. But I do not, fundamentally and wholeheartedly, believe in any system where one-party, one dictator rule serves the greater good. On the whole, it does not. It is a simple truth. Those who wish to live in such a system are welcome to. Don't even address it in this country -- this country is and God-willing will always be about ridding the world of stupid people with stupid ideas like dictatorships, fascism, communism, and socialism. People will still try, and it might make for insteresting reading (Karl Marx did well with it) but it isn't a system that can properly fix itself. Our is dangerously close to being an elitist-ruled country that cheats the poor for the good fo the rich, we can't fix that with socialism. Not the answer.

There has never been any good consistently carried through in a country that was ruled over by one person or one party. The USSR was a disaster. China is still, more than not, a screwy, impoverished backwater. Europe is full of nations that are struggling under the weight of their too-generous welfare-type programs, leaving not enough room for helping when a crisis hits. Why do we want more of that in the world?

One ruler nations run the great risk that individuals are limited throughout. Ass-kissers excel in dictatorships. I hate ass-kissers. We have lots of little dictatorships -- companies -- in America. I don't like that kind of company, or even one office of any company, and I don't like that kind of nation. Such systems are effective for killing inventiveness -- thus why many sectors in the U.S. lack ingenuity these days. It is that simple.

As for nations, any socialist leaders ever came to power through manipulation and exploitation of the poor. They pulled down the educated and many highly effective people, ultimately making the country, on the whole, less than it would be under a free society sort of leadership. Look at Cuba, for crying out loud.


Chavez is an ultimate arrogant politician. That is a simple fact. I am glad he is not the ever-loving-the-killing Pinochet or similar autocratic South American socialist-communist. He's only politically dangerous to a free, liberty-loving, democratic society. For now, at least.

But this shows the gritting teeth underneath the smile of the supposedly concerned oil and other wealthy leaderships of the U.S. They all ought to be put to task for leaving such a basic and obvious hole opened for Chavez to serve our poor.

I can't fault Chavez for this -- I fault us for being to uncreative to squash his ability to do this BY DOING IT OURSELVES.

Shame on the rhetorically wealthy oilmen in the U.S. who, along with their snob friends, choose to argue that the poor, uneducated, struggling and fundamentally overlooked in this country ought to just get off their duff or they deserve to freeze throughout the winter. Social conservatism fails completely when it enters the realm of choosing to not create a clever way to afford to help the tragically poor to get through the cold winters that half the nation faces


- jR

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Iran's leader: A warm Merry Christmas, dear future charcoal under my bombs!

Government rebukes Channel 4 for Ahmadinejad broadcast - Times Online

Mr Ahmadinejad surprised many by reining back on rhetoric and offering the British people his warm wishes. In the speech he sent his congratulations to “the followers of Abrahamic faiths, especially the followers of Jesus Christ, and the people of Britain”.

He said that the ills in the world had come about through nations failing to follow the teachings of the Prophets, including Jesus.

Israeli groups and anti-homophobia campaigners criticised Channel 4’s decision. Ron Prosor, the Israeli Ambassador to London, said: “In Iran, converts to Christianity face the death penalty. It is perverse that this despot is allowed to speculate on the views of Jesus while his Government leads Christ’s followers to the gallows.”

Mr Ahmadinejad once told a Western audience that his country had no homosexuals. Gay men have been filmed being hanged from cranes in Tehran, the country’s capital.

Peter Tatchell, the human rights campaigner, said: “Ahmadinejad’s apparently reasonable words are pure propaganda.

“His actions are devoid of love, justice, humanity and brotherhood. They involve the brutal repression of his own people.”

That's two, be-ahhhitch! Go figure: significant swaths of
the media are fundamentally philosophically and politically
dull-witted, just like here in America. NBC, MSNBC and CNN
must be so proud of Channel 4 today. Yay, acceptance
of nut-job fundamentalist Islamic pseudo-rulers!

Another piece on the TimesOnline site recites portions of the speech from the beloved uncle of all terrorists, and notes why it happened at all.

“If Christ was on earth today undoubtedly he would fight against the tyrannical policies of prevailing global economic and political systems, as He did in His lifetime.”

President Ahmadinejad’s message will be aired by Channel 4 as an alternative Christmas message to the traditional speech by the Queen. The message, which the President has given in Farsi, will be subtitled in English.

God rest ye, merry gentlemen at Channel 4. May your search for oneness with liberalism fallen off the tracks wind you up in a home, where you will get 24-hour care.

- jR

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