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Ichiro just hit base hit number 234 for the new major league rookie record passing Shoeless Joe (1911). Ties Wade Boggs record for singles in a year at 187.
An Interview with an escaped Taliban official. Don't read if you are squeamish. I was one of the Taliban's torturers: I crucified people "YOU must become so notorious for bad things that when you come into an area people will tremble in their sandals. Anyone can do beatings and starve people. I want your unit to find new ways of torture so terrible that the screams will frighten even crows from their nests and if the person survives he will never again have a night's sleep."
These were the instructions of the commandant of the Afghan secret police to his new recruits. For more than three years one of those recruits, Hafiz Sadiqulla Hassani, ruthlessly carried out his orders. But sickened by the atrocities that he was forced to commit, last week he defected to Pakistan, joining a growing number of Taliban officials who are escaping across the border. thanks to MetaFilter
The Seattle Mariners play the second of three games with Oakland starting in about 20 minutes. Last night Ichiro tied Shoeless Joe for most hits by a rookie. A record that has stood since 1911. They are at 110 wins. The Al record is 114 (1998 Yankees) and the major league record is 116 (1906 Cubs). Eight more games.
The best ever at 154 games Note: '06 Cubs finished 116-36
Piece by piece, the jigsaw of terror revealed
Investigators now say they have pieced together more or less the whole jigsaw of the plan to attack America but are missing one vital ingredient: a firm, compelling link with Osama bin Laden.
Webloggers provide perspective the news media can't People who understood the value of online networks were the grateful beneficiaries of another kind of reporting during those same awful hours and days. Via e-mails, mailing lists, chat groups, personal Web journals and non-standard news sources, they received valuable context that the major American media couldn't, or wouldn't, provide.
They were witnessing -- and in many cases were also part of -- journalism's future.
Watching a Formula 1 race will never be the same. thanks to weblog wannabe
Some background on one of the flash points of the current intafada. The stone-paved platform known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount, and to Muslims as the al-Aksa mosque or the Noble Sanctuary, sits high above the noise and tension of earthbound Jerusalem. It holds an ancient mosque, a gold-topped shrine and fountains gurgling in the shade of cypress trees. On most days the peace there is almost celestial.
"But in a moment it can turn into hell," said Isam Awwad, the chief architect in charge of the sacred space.
I almost missed Banned Books Week. Read Harry Potter. Live dangerously.
While the powers that be are scurrying around preparing for something based on what they aren't going to tells us, here are some background articles. A lengthy article on Al-Qaeda, an article on one of our new best friends that is as much a part of the problem as other homes of terrorists that will be helping us fight terrorism, and an article on how all of this seems to be affecting relations with Israel. Inside Al-Qaeda: a window into the world of militant Islam and the Afghani alumni
The breeding grounds of militant Islamic terrorism span a host of different environments from the Afghan battlefields of the 1980s to places much closer to home. Richard Engel charts the careers of some of Bin Laden's converts and co-conspirators, offering an insight into Al-Qaeda's inner workings.
Why did so many of the Sept. 11 hijackers have ties to Saudi Arabia? Why can't the U.S. use Saudi bases to fight the war on terrorism? What Americans don't know about their best Muslim ally. Sea Change in U.S.-Israeli Relations
Geopolitical realities after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon will force the United States to back away from its relationship with Israel and favor Muslim allies such as Egypt and Jordan, as well as old foes like Iran and Syria. And Israel's guardian in Washington, the Jewish political lobby, is being challenged by a growing Muslim political power.
I contacted one of the agents by cellular phone and made an appointment to meet him and his partner at a local coffee shop. What ensued can best be described as a combination of a fishing expedition and a scene from a straight-to-video B-movie.
Holding a thin folder stamped `Secret,'' the agents queried me about my background. One of them stopped in mid-sentence to change a question from ``When did you come to the U.S.?'' to ``Where were you born?'' They appeared somewhat surprised when I mentioned I was born in Santa Monica, Calif., and had lived in California my entire life. thanks to Robot Wisdom
It was a busy day working. Then I spent an hour on a post and the browser locked up and I lost it. Screw it. I'm going to bed.
Zoe has brought to my attention that I have been focusing on what is wrong without really focusing on what I feel is right. She feels that, in our own small ways, we need to imagine what we want the world to be for it to happen and she wasn't sure, from reading this web log, what I imagined. Here are some of the things that I imagine. I imagine an Israel that is not afraid. An Israel where people can walk down a street without fear of personal safety. An Israel that is not threatened by its neighbors. I imagine a Palestine where the people can have their own country, choose their own leaders, and control their own lives. A Palestine where people can build a home and raise their children without fear. I imagine an Afghanistan where women can walk in public showing their faces and go to school. An Afghanistan where children can play without worrying about land mines. I imagine an Iraq where there is enough food and medicine for all. I imagine a Belfast where Catholic children can go to school safely. I imagine corporations that pay as much respect to the human line as they do to the bottom line. I imagine a world that has clean water to drink and clear air to breathe. I imagine a world that respects America for its generosity and does not fear it for its arrogance. I imagine my children raising their children in a world where these things are no longer imaginations.
No invasion of Afghanistan to report today. Good satire is good when it is largley true. The current issue of The Onion is a great example. "The United States is preparing to strike, directly and decisively, against you, whoever you are, just as soon as we have a rough idea of your identity and a reasonably decent estimate as to where your base is located." Added Bush: "That is, assuming you have a base." Well, they don't seem to be able to find bin Laden's base. Bush and Co. also seem to be realizing that bombing isn't going to be effective since the Soviets didn't leave anything for us to bomb. It's too bad that they had to go and whip everybody into a war frenzy getting the American public expecting the cavalry to come riding over the top of the hill with John Wayne at the head of the avenging crusaders. Oh, well...At least we have some new best friends. US allies are killers and drug dealers
Pakistan's shadowy intelligence service, one of the main sources of information for the US-led alliance against the Taliban regime, is widely associated with political assassinations, narcotics and the smuggling of nuclear and missile components - and backing fundamentalist Islamic movements. thanks to Red Rock Eater Digest And, while we cozy up to thugs, people suffer. Afghans Push to Be Admitted Into Pakistan
Thousands of Afghan refugees fleeing anticipated American airstrikes pushed up to the main border crossing into western Pakistan on Tuesday, adding to the chaotic conditions that have swept Afghanistan since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
The food agency suspended shipments shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, citing a shortage of trucks and the evacuation from Afghanistan of foreign aid workers, which left no one to supervise the distribution. Privately funded aid groups called the suspension indefensible, claiming that failure to get adequate supplies into the country before winter could condemn as many as 1 million people to starvation. thanks to Red Rock Eater Digest While Bush is busy building a military coalition, Blair is calling for a humanitarian coalition. Blair calls for 'humanitarian coalition' as refugee crisis looms At least some of the steam is escaping from the Bush administration steam roller. Ashcroft Relenting on Terrorism Bill thanks to Red Rock Eater Digest While the Bush admistration, and supporters, are trying convince Congress that everything they want will fight terrorism there is some push back.
"We tend to think that World War II was a highly mechanized war," he says. "But actually, we used 582,000 troops in the Gulf War and they used twice as much oil as all the entire 2 million-man Allied Expeditionary Force that liberated Europe. We used eight times as much oil per soldier as we did during World War II." While the article chronicles the efforts to use the fear of terrorism, on both sides, to drill or to not drill in Alaska, the above illustrates the dependence we have on oil. While the article also questions those figures I think it's clear that we are using oil at an ever increaing rate while we are also ignoring that the end of oil is not that far away. It's been an oil binge that really is less than 100 years old. In 1901 our transportation system relied on coal and oats. The actions of our government in the Middle East are like those of a junkie looking for his next fix. They will do anything for another rush. They will do anything to avoid having to withdraw from their addiction to oil. Actually the government is only doing what the American public wants. It is the American people that go into cardiac arrest when they have to pay more for gasoline but continue to buy gas guzzlers. Is this war about terrorism or oil? What is the government doing about our own terrorists and our own support for international terrorists? Righteous Terrorism, American-Style both thanks to Red Rock Eater Digest
What counts as terrorism, and what doesn't? The question isn't just theoretical. It's on the table right now, as the United States weighs the price of adding two new wings to the coalition against Bin Laden. The first wing consists of Iran and Syria, who sponsor terrorist organizations other than Bin Laden's. Iran borders Afghanistan and hates the Afghan regime. Yesterday, according to the New York Times, a senior Bush administration official "suggested that Iran could provide information and perhaps crack down on border traffic and any financing that helps Mr. bin Laden's organization, Al Qaeda. The official added that the United States had not asked Iran to take any specific action like halting the flow of weapons and other support to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and material support to militant Palestinian groups like Hamas." Is that deal kosher? Are you willing to look the other way while Iran funds Hezbollah? Are you willing to narrow the definition of the enemy to terrorists who have directly attacked the United States? The other wing consists of Russia and China. While Iran and Syria want to narrow the definition of terrorism, Russia and China want to broaden it. A few days ago, China's foreign ministry suggested that the campaign against terrorism should address "separatists" in Tibet and Taiwan. Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a "mutual understanding in the sphere of fighting international terrorism"—in other words, a free hand for Russia to crush rebels in Chechnya. What about the atrocities Russia has committed in that war? Never mind, says a senior member of Germany's ruling party: "Silence on Chechnya is the price for this new solidarity. And I don't think Germany will be the only country to pay it." Will the United States pay that price? Will you?
thanks to MetaFilter
My sister, Madelane, just sent me this e-mail.
Last Saturday Cameron and I were downtown Seattle at the Peace Rally, that was quite interesting. While I was there I saw only one news camera. As compared to the week before down there for the memorial. Every where you looked there was either cameras, reporters or photographers. I've been reading in my "Wisdom of Tao" book and can't believe how relevent so much of it is to today. One that caught my eye was "...When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born." The one I like is "Governing a large country is like frying a small fish. You spoil it with too much poking." The last one that I'll share with you is: "If a nation is centered in the Tao, if it nourishes its own people and doesn't meddle in the affairs of others, it will be a light to all nations in the world." For something that was written over two thousand years ago I felt that that hit the nail on the head.
The political consensus over the September 11 attacks has begun to fracture in Washington with mounting criticism of Colin Powell by prominent conservative hawks. You don't have to be a head-in-the-sand, Imagine-singing, America-hating leftist to be worried about the cracking down on political dissent -- and even harmless speech -- that has occurred in this country since September 11. The California Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the lone representative to vote "nay" on a resolution authorizing the use of force, later received death threats. And now a slew of incidents further suggest a dark underside to our near-unanimous flag-waving and monolithic support for George W. Bush. Corporate interests and their proxies are looking to exploit the September 11 tragedy to advance a self-serving agenda that has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with corporate profits and dangerous ideologies. all thanks to SmirkingChimp.com
Damage report from the city of New York. Graphic display showing the extent of the damage.
thanks to PlasticBag.org
The Onion comes through when we need it the most.
 U.S. Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We're At War With In a televised address to the American people Tuesday, a determined President Bush vowed that the U.S. would defeat "whoever exactly it is we're at war with here." "America's enemy, be it Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, a multinational coalition of terrorist organizations, any of a rogue's gallery of violent Islamic fringe groups, or an entirely different, non-Islamic aggressor we've never even heard of... be warned," Bush said during an 11-minute speech from the Oval Office. "The United States is preparing to strike, directly and decisively, against you, whoever you are, just as soon as we have a rough idea of your identity and a reasonably decent estimate as to where your base is located." Added Bush: "That is, assuming you have a base." Bush is acting with the full support of Congress, which on Sept. 14 authorized him to use any necessary force against the undetermined attackers. According to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), the congressional move enables the president to declare war, "to the extent that war can realistically be declared on, like, maybe three or four Egyptian guys, an Algerian, and this other guy who kind of looks Lebanese but could be Syrian. Or whoever else it might have been. Because it might not have been them." God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill" Rule Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance against humans killing each other Monday.
"Look, I don't know, maybe I haven't made myself completely clear, so for the record, here it is again," said the Lord, His divine face betraying visible emotion during a press conference near the site of the fallen Twin Towers. "Somehow, people keep coming up with the idea that I want them to kill their neighbor. Well, I don't. And to be honest, I'm really getting sick and tired of it. Get it straight. Not only do I not want anybody to kill anyone, but I specifically commanded you not to, in really simple terms that anybody ought to be able to understand."
The Village Voice has several articles on the attack on our rights.
War Means Never Having to Tell the Truth Something is burning this week, but it's not the site of the former World Trade Center. It's what's left of the First Amendment—and every self-respecting journalist should sign up for the rescue mission. Of course, by the time the first war of the 21st century is over, there may not be much left of what liberals used to call free speech. In its place has come a heinous kind of propaganda in which antiwar sentiment is dimmed and right-wing pundits denounce their counterparts on the left as madmen and enemies-from-within. According to the party line, the public must choose: Either give up your right to free speech or live in the terrorists' camp forevermore. And since the public is willing to make the sacrifice, goes the argument, the press should be, too. During wartime, you see, anyone who criticizes the government is a traitor, and any journalist with access to military intelligence a potential threat to national security.
Haste Could Lay Waste to Liberty DEFINITION OF TERRORISM: The ATA expands the description of terrorism to encompass minor offenses, including attacks on property and a wide range of behaviors. Under the new law, a college student who breaks the window of a federal building during a political protest could wind up sentenced to life in prison. "Even kids carrying Boy Scout knives who vandalize traffic signs can be labeled terrorists," says Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, a Washington nonprofit.
Coming: A National Wiretap Warrant Sisk noted that New York is now the headquarters for the multi-agency Joint Terrorism Task Force. He quoted Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker as saying, as Sisk summarized it, that "U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, top federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, has been given extraordinary powers to proceed in secrecy against anyone implicated 'in the entire attack against the four airliners.' " (Emphasis added.) What does "implicated" mean? Reasonable suspicion? Probable cause? And how will we know whether basic due process has been afforded those "implicated" when, as Sisk continued, the Justice Department says, "Search warrants and records will be sealed. Law enforcement also no longer will disclose when arrests are made or when material witnesses are taken into custody." And we're supposed to be telling China how to reform its justice system, which functions in secrecy as it crunches human rights? thanks to wood s lot
The Terror
The Bush administration has declared "war" against terrorism, suddenly shocked into realizing that it is now the foremost danger to America's national security. The administration has not yet defined this war, although a head of steam is building for military action. Armed force, however, while politically popular, is usually an ineffective and often counterproductive weapon against terror. Before acting, the US would be wise to construct a more sophisticated strategy. This should include strengthening traditional methods of counterterrorism, while reserving the use of force as a limited option. But a new national security strategy must also include a broader foreign policy that moves away from unilateralism and toward closer engagement with other governments, and that deals not just with the symptoms but with the roots of terrorism, broadly defined. The catastrophe of September 11 could give powerful momentum to such changes.
Quietly, behind closed doors, some crucial disputes are being argued out over how the United States should respond to the worst terrorist attack in history.
But what is most remarkable, is that the coalition-builders - the multilateralists - are winning.
thanks to Dumbmonkey
India, US differ on terrorist groups list Despite a public show of goodwill, Indo-US ties have unexpectedly entered choppy waters following the September 11 terrorist attack. India is finding some of Washington’s new policies and pronouncements relating to the subcontinent incomprehensible and galling.
The latest among these is the Bush Administration’s reluctance to identify and name several terrorist groups operating out of Pakistan in Kashmir while ostensibly launching a worldwide campaign against terrorism.
US aims to take vital Afghan airbase
THE US air force intends to attack the Taliban's front line north of Kabul before sending airborne troops to secure the large former Soviet base at Bagram. Offensive needs to start before winter
A British S-A-S veteran, who trained the Afghani Mujahideen to fight the Russians in the 1980s, says it will be a race against time to launch any effective operation in northern Afghanistan. Winter will set in within weeks .. and Tom Carew says that that's when the rugged countryside becomes impassable. He also says that military action on the ground will be doomed unless it is small, targetted and with the support of local Afghans. Pompous twaddle from the Family of Freedom
If you thought the Taliban were monsters, just wait until you meet the West's new friends, writes Christopher Kremmer. all thanks to Red Rock Eater Digest
Record 75 Million Americans Now Pretending They Own Their Own Homes
Showing no ill effects from a weakening economy, housing numbers released by the National Association of Realtors today showed that a record 75 million Americans are now participating in the mass self-delusion that they, and not their banks, actually own their homes.
Sling shot Kevin back to his spaceship! A Flash game. Wonderful orbital mechanics. thanks to MetaFilter
Robert Fisk: This is not a war on terror. It's a fight against America's enemies So we are not really being asked to fight "world terror". We are being asked to fight America's enemies. If that means bagging the murderers behind the atrocities in New York and Washington, few would object. But it does raise the question of why those thousands of innocents are more important – more worthy of our effort and perhaps blood – than all the other thousands of innocents. And it also raises a much more disturbing question: whether or not the crime against humanity committed in the US on 11 September is to be met with justice – or a brutal military assault intended to extend American political power in the Middle East.
Either way, we are being asked to support a war whose aims appear to be as misleading as they are secretive. We are told by the Americans that this war will be different to all others. But one of the differences appears to be that we don't know who we are going to fight and how long we are going to fight for. Certainly, no new political initiative, no real political engagement in the Middle East, no neutral justice is likely to attend this open-ended conflict. The despair and humiliation and suffering of the Middle East peoples do not figure in our war aims – only American and European despair and humiliation and suffering.
Emotions Are High Enough Already Still, the speech was more about money than dead Americans. At times, it sounded as if the nation had its wallet stolen instead of being bombed. Efforts to be compared to Winston Churchill were like a series of insults. It was as if Churchill had told the world that Britain would fight on the trading floors and bank vaults and portfolios.
Not once did the people who wrote the speech have Bush mention that this was the greatest security lapse in the nation's history. Blame the airlines and insurance companies who for years bribed senators in Washington to keep regulations off, while they hired security people from outside companies, and at McDonald's pay. Those security people at your airline get $5.15 an hour with no medical coverage or vacation. Then you wonder how foreign murderers can get on planes. Now, more than 6,500 dead and missing later, they are going to put the security where it should be, under the federal government.
thanks to SmirkingChimp.com
Putin gives Chechens three-day deadline
President Vladimir Putin urged Chechen rebels Monday to "halt all contacts with international terrorists" and gave them 72 hours to get in touch with Russian authorities for negotiations on disarmament.
"The events in Chechnya cannot be considered outside the context of the fight with international terrorism," Putin said.
It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future. thanks to MetaFilter
This is a Foreign Affairs article published in 1993. It's an article that makes sense out of what has been happening since the end of the Cold War. It's long but worth the time.
Not much blogging today. I have a presentation to do for a couple of web site proposals Monday at 1:30. Most of today was getting the design proposal ready. This evening Zoe came over and we went for a row. It was a good way to get a little distance from everything.
 Summer is over. The days have been beautiful but it is getting colder at night. The leaves are starting to fall off the alders.
 Looking back at my house. Zoe rowed up and down our little lake a couple of times, with some rowing around in circles. We just talked and enjoyed the peacefullness of being on the still water.
 Bright blue dragonflies were zooming around. They would come up to us, hover, and then careen away. Tried to get a picture of them. I got one blurry one.
I rowed up and down the lake once and then we pulled the boat out of the water.
SAS troops clash with Taliban unit deep inside Afghanistan British special forces are in Afghanistan. The pieces are coming together.
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