All Things News

Straight from LGF: “Nobody’s saying who fired the missile that got him, but top Al Qaeda freakazoid Abu Laith al-Libi is now officially an ex-terrorist.

CAIRO, Egypt – One al-Qaida’s top commanders in Afghanistan and a key liaison with Taliban, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed according to a Web site used by militant groups.

“We congratulate the Islamic nation for the martyrdom of the sheik, the lion, Abu Laith al-Libi,” said the banner which appeared in a section of the Web site reserved for affiliated militant groups and is not open to public posting.

The Washington-based SITE Institute which monitors militant sites noted that it seems “the announcement of his death has been confirmed to the forum administrators.”

The attack that killed al-Libi appeared to have taken place in Pakistan.

Pakistani intelligence officials and local residents said that a missile hit a compound in a village about 2.5 miles outside Mir Ali in North Waziristan late Monday or early Tuesday, destroying the facility.”

Straight from LGF: “The Democratic National Committee, chaired by Howard Dean, has appointed an Islamist front man to the credentials committee of their 2008 Convention: DNC Elects Three Indian Americans to Convention Committees.

In addition, Pakistan-born Iman Malik Mujahid, founder and president of Chicago-based Islamic teaching materials distributor Sound Vision Foundation, was named to the credentials committee, which coordinates selection of convention delegates and alternates.

The executive committee voted unanimously for DNC chairman Howard Dean’s nominations for the nine co-chairs and the 75 additional committee members. …

Mujahid is a Muslim leader, activist, film producer and non-profit entrepreneur. An imam at three Chicago mosques, he has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago and is currently president of the Council of the Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.

A producer of over 40 educational programs, his book, “Conversion to Islam: Untouchables Strategy for Protest in India,” won the Outstanding Academic Book of the Year award from the American Library Association.

Mujahid (a name which means “holy warrior,” of course) and his operation Sound Vision will be familiar to longtime LGF readers, because about a year after the 9/11 attacks we discovered the bulletin board they used to run—a center of support for terrorism, jihad ideology, suicide bombing, and snuff films.

Here’s our post about a thread at Sound Vision where one of the Muslim members posted a poem called: “Yes, I am a Terrorist.”

Here’s our post about a thread where they were defending the posting of beheading videos: Support for ClearGuidance.

And here’s our post about a Sound Vision thread where the Muslim members were jubilant over a mass murder attack in Jerusalem that killed a number of children: US Muslim Teens Celebrate Murder.

Eventually they noticed our attention, warned each other to watch out what they were posting, and then the next day closed the forum to outsiders.

And there’s more, in a post about one of the mosques with which Mujahid is affiliated: Investigating the Mosque Foundation.

Miss Kelly has more on Mujahid, in a post appropriately titled: Islamists making Inroads with DNC.”

Straight from Slashdot: “Not content with current statutory damages, the RIAA is pushing for higher damages for infringement, damages that would total $1.5 million for copying a CD with ten songs. It’s all part of debate over the proposed PRO-IP Act. William Patry, a lawyer who wrote the seminal seven-volume reference on US copyright law, called it the most ‘outrageously gluttonous IP bill ever introduced in the US.’”

Straight from ESPN: “Despite reports he would return for 2008, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre said Wednesday he has yet to decide whether he wants to play an 18th NFL season.

“I haven’t decided yet,” said Favre, who was in Arizona for a Super Bowl-related activity. “We just played a little over a week ago. I’m going to take a few more weeks. Our coaching staff is coaching in the Pro Bowl next week. When they get done, [coach] Mike [McCarthy] and I . . . we’ll just discuss it more in a couple weeks.”"

Straight from ESPN: “Tampa Bay’s A-Train has made his final run. Six-time Pro Bowl fullback Mike Alstott announced his retirement after 12 seasons Thursday, saying goodbye to the NFL during a tearful news conference in a meeting room where the Buccaneers played a highlight film of some of his most memorable plays.

The Bucs all-time touchdown leader spent the 2007 season on injured reserve with a neck problem that was not related to a career-threatening injury that required surgery in 2003. He held little hope for a return, but still had difficulty saying his career was over.

“Though mentally I feel like I can continue, physically I can’t,” he said. “The second injury to my neck will prevent me from playing football forever.”

Flanked on a podium by his wife, coach Jon Gruden, general manager Bruce Allen and executive vice president Bryan Glazer, Alstott choked up on three different occasions while talking about how difficult it will be to not be around his teammates on a daily basis.

“If you needed a yard, Mike would get you two,” said Glazer, one of the sons of Bucs owner Malcolm Glazer. “If you needed to grind out the game at the end, Mike was the man for you.”

Arguably the most popular player in franchise history, Alstott was better known for bouncing off defenders and breaking tackles than as a traditional fullback whose job was to block for a featured runner.”

On January 20th, 2008 versus the New York Football Giants, Favre completes a pass early in the 4th quarter to Robert McQuarters, cornerback for the Giants. McQuarters then promptly fumbles the ball back to the Packers helping to spare Favre from further humiliation. Then on the second play in overtime, Lorenzo shows his true skills and completes a pass to Corey Webster, cornerback for the Giants, tying the career playoff interception mark of 28, and sealing his team’s fate to go home with yet another loss in the playoffs. You are the absolute greatest Favre!

Lifetime achievement in the playoffs for Lorenzo: 10-12, a losing effort; and now he’s tied for most interceptions thrown in the playoffs.

Brett Favre Career Interception Record Watch

Brett Favre Career Playoff Interception Record Watch

Was the previous indoctrination video not enough? Then check out the Tom Cruise page on Gawker where you can watch various video excerpts; such as the Scientologist ceremony honoring Tom Cruise and presenting him with the IAS Freedom Medal of Honor, how Cruise single-handedly saved the lives of all of the 9/11 firefighters with “9/11 cough,” how he was able to inform over 50 million people of the crimes of psychology, how he got Paxil banned and finally watch him salute a huge painting of L. Ron Hubbard after he asks his fellow Scientologists to “clean this place up.”

Amazing stuff…

Make sure you check out the indoctrination video Tom Cruise made with the Church of Scientology before they can apply legal pressure to remove all the copies currently floating around.

If you are unsure about what the Church of Scientology teaches, here’s a convenient Illustrated History of Scientology PDF document.

Straight from Slashdot: “The Freakonomics blog has a post in which they asked six knowledgeable people, Is space exploration is worth the public cost? Their answers are generally in the affirmative and illuminating. For example David M. Livingston, host of The Space Show, said: ‘Businesses were started and are now meeting payrolls, paying taxes, and sustaining economic growth because the founder was inspired by the early days of the manned space program, often decades after the program ended! This type of inspiration and motivation seems unique to the manned space program and, of late, to some of our robotic space missions.’”

Straight from Slashdot: “Today’s Washington Times runs a story about the increasing problem with space junk orbiting the earth. Debris from the anti-satellite missile test by the Chinese military last year threatens the integrity of more than 800 operating satellites, half of them belonging to the US. Two orbiting U.S. spacecraft were forced to change course to avoid being damaged soon after the incident. Air Force Brig. Gen. Ted Kresge, director of air, space and information operations at the Air Force Space Command in Colorado, estimates that “essentially (Chinese anti-satellite tests) increase the amount of space debris orbiting the Earth by about 20 percent”, and the debris might threaten spacecraft for up to 100 years.”

Straight from Slashdot: “It seems that the California Energy Commission is looking to give utilities in the state the power to control the thermostats in private homes via a radio signal. The idea is that during times of significant energy crunch, the utilities could force thermostats to higher temperatures rather than having to implement a rolling blackout. The thermostats have been around for a while and new ones were on display at the CES show in Vegas this week. While I can see the argument for it, we just had a kid take over a tram system with a remote control, so how long before our thermostat gets hacked by the neighbors. And I’d almost rather have the power drop than have someone significantly raise the temperature in my home if I had a computer running there. (UPS and a graceful shutdown versus cooking something.)”

Oh look, another proprietary format from Sony that is destined to failure. How many more of these does Sony need before they “get it?” If they didn’t learn anything from Betamax, then how about learning from their other format failures; Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Micro, Atrac, Minidisc, Video8, Digital8, SACD, UMD, UMF, MicroMV, R-DAT, SDDS, HiMD, HiFD, MMCD, etc…

Hopefully we can add Blu-Ray to that list soon.

Straight from Slashdot:  “Stony Stevenson alerts us to news out of CES that Sony has kick-started another standards war, this time over wireless USB. Ars notes that Sony “[never was] one to settle for an open standard when the opportunity to push a proprietary alternative presents itself.” Sony’s TransferJet technology uses low-power UWB at very short distances to transfer data at a nominal 520 Mbps. Almost every other large technology company — including Intel, Microsoft, HP, and Samsung — has embraced the W-USB standard, which promises transfer speeds of 480 Mbps at distances up to 3 meters, vs. TransfeJet’s 3 centimeters.”

Straight from LGF: “Hundreds of British non-Muslims have been recruited by al-Qaeda to wage war against the West, senior security sources warned last night.

As many as 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam for the purpose of funding, planning and carrying out surprise terror attacks inside the UK, according to one MI5 source. Lord Carlile, the Government’s independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, said many of the converts had been targeted by radical Muslims while serving prison terms.

Security experts say the growing secret army of white terrorists poses a particularly serious threat as they are far less likely to be detected than members of the Asian community.

Since the 7/7 and 21/7 London bombings, police and intelligence services have had considerable success in identifying, disrupting and stopping extremist plots. As a result, groups such as al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen have been forced to change tack. Converting white non-Muslims has been one response.”

Straight from Fox News: “FORT WORTH, Texas — A father sodomized his 18-year-old stepson to avenge the teenager’s alleged rape of the man’s 8-year-old daughter, police said.

The father, 32, turned himself into to authorities on Friday and was released from jail Saturday after posting a $17,500 bond. He faces a charge of aggravated sexual assault.

The stepson was arrested Jan. 2 and charged with suspicion of aggravated sexual assault. Police say the father caught him assaulting his daughter, and a subsequent examination at a hospital revealed the girl had been sodomized.

Sgt. Cheryl Johnson, supervisor of the Fort Worth sex crimes unit, said in a story posted Saturday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Web site that people need to “allow the criminal justice system to work for them.”

“This is a very unique case, but we have a criminal justice system in place, and no one can take the law into their own hands,” Johnson said.

The Star-Telegram didn’t identify the father or the stepson to protect the identity of the girl. Fort Worth police didn’t immediately return phone and e-mail messages from The Associated Press.

When the stepson was arrested, the man warned his wife not to get the teenager out of jail. She posted bond for the teen’s release. When he called home Jan. 3 after getting released, the father took the call and picked him up, police said.

Instead of taking the teenager home, the Arlington man drove to an abandoned house in Fort Worth, beat his stepson with a baseball bat and sodomized him with a metal tool, police said.

After the man left, the stepson found a pay phone and called police, who searched the abandoned home.

“We did find evidence at the scene to corroborate our victim’s story,” Johnson said.”

Straight from Fox News: “A study that claimed 650,000 people were killed as a result of the invasion of Iraq was partly funded by the antiwar billionaire George Soros.

Soros, 77, provided almost half the nearly $100,000 cost of the research, which appeared in The Lancet, the medical journal. Its claim was 10 times higher than consensus estimates of the number of war dead.

The study, published in 2006, was hailed by antiwar campaigners as evidence of the scale of the disaster caused by the invasion, but Downing Street and President George Bush challenged its methodology.

New research published by The New England Journal of Medicine estimates that 151,000 people – less than a quarter of The Lancet estimate – have died since the invasion in 2003.

“The authors should have disclosed the [Soros] donation and for many people that would have been a disqualifying factor in terms of publishing the research,” said Michael Spagat, economics professor at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The Lancet study was commissioned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and led by Les Roberts, an associate professor and epidemiologist at Columbia University. He reportedly opposed the war from the outset.”

***Breaking News!***

A hostage situation is developing in Green Bay, Wisconsin!

Straight from ESPN: “Remember when Brett Favre teared up on television at the end of last season, leading many to believe he was set on retiring? He came back to play anyway.

So you’ll have to forgive Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy if he isn’t convinced Favre’s comments to his hometown newspaper on Thursday — indicating that he was leaning toward coming back and playing another season — amounted to an official decision on his future.

Instead, McCarthy seemed to brush it off as just the latest episode in the Favre retirement speculation saga, an annual rite that has become as much a part of winters in Wisconsin as snow shovels and ice scrapers.

And, by the way, McCarthy has a playoff game against the Seahawks to coach on Saturday.”

Straight from Fox News: “U.S. bombers and jet fighters unleashed 40,000 pounds of explosives during a 10-minute airstrike Thursday, flattening what the military called safe havens for Al Qaeda in Iraq on the southern outskirts of the capital.

The strikes, carried out above approaching U.S. and Iraqi troops, was part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a nationwide campaign launched Tuesday against Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The air raid was followed by a ground attack that led to 12 arrests and the discovery of two houses used to torture kidnap victims, according to an Iraqi army officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said the troops faced no resistance.

A military statement said two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighters dropped the bombs on 40 targets in Arab Jabour in 10 strikes. Al Qaeda fighters are believed to control Arab Jabour, a Sunni district lined with citrus groves and scarred by daily violence.

“Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds,” the statement said.

The Iraqi army officer, whose unit is in the Arab Jabour area, said the airstrikes began at 8 a.m. and led to the burning of several citrus groves and the destruction of two houses used by gunmen. He said soldiers confiscated documents and weapons including AK-47s.”

Straight from Fox News: “Bryan Scott Moron, 20, of Burleson, Texas, was arrested Friday after he lost control of his truck and struck a mailbox, then a house, MyFOXDFW.com reports.Living up to his surname, Moron failed sobriety tests, the station said. The arrest report showed his blood alcohol level to be more than twice the legal limit.

Moron, a restaurant server, was also driving at an excessive speed, according to the report.