Has Jyllands-Posten insulted and disrespected Islam? It certainly didn't intend to. But what does respect mean? When I visit a mosque, I show my respect by taking off my shoes. I follow the customs, just as I do in a church, synagogue or other holy place. But if a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission. And that is incompatible with a secular democracy.

This is a good explanation of the context around the cartoon war.

Why I Published Those Cartoons

Charles Duelfer, who led the official U.S. search for weapons of mass destruction after the war, says the tapes show extensive deception but don't prove that weapons were still hidden in Iraq at the time of the U.S.-led war in 2003. "What they do is support the conclusion in the report, which we made in the last couple of years, that the regime had the intention of building and rebuilding weapons of mass destruction, when circumstances permitted."

I don't think that was ever in dispute. This is a non-story, but it gives the Conservative rags something to talk about while the second reel of Abu Ghraib photos goes around.

RE: Secret Saddam WMD Tapes Subject of ABC Nightline Special -- 02/15/2006

Secret audiotapes of Saddam Hussein discussing ways to attack America with weapons of mass destruction will be the subject of an ABC "Nightline" program Wednesday night, a former federal prosecutor told Cybercast News Service.

The tapes are being called the "smoking gun" of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The New York Sun reported that the tapes have been authenticated and currently are being reviewed by the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Loftus has been tight-lipped about the tapes, telling the Sun only that he received them from a "former American military intelligence analyst." However, on Wednesday he told Cybercast News Service, "Saddam's tapes confirm he had active CW [chemical weapons] and BW [biological weapons] programs that were hidden from the UN."

This should be interesting. The key figure here is John Loftus, who organizes an intelligence conference that takes place this weekend.

This is from a press release on the Intelligence Summit website:

A former military intelligence analyst, who currently works as a civilian contractor, believes he has found a cache of extremely confidential--and very shocking--audio recordings of Saddam Hussein's office meetings. The audiotapes, which had apparently been overlooked, were found in a warehouse along with many other untranslated Iraqi intelligence files. These tapes are extremely significant, since they may be the best evidence yet of Saddam's secret intentions concerning weapons of mass destruction.

Secret Saddam WMD Tapes Subject of ABC Nightline Special -- 02/15/2006

The FBI learned that Clark was interested in robbing banks to fund the activities of the Neo Millennium Liberation Army, whose stated goal was to "free the oppressed minority population of Atlanta."

There was another firebombing today. Its not clear if they are connected, but it sounds like an Anarco-Terrorist group is attacking Atlanta.

Anarchist May Have Set Atlantic Station Fire

The most recent Hajj occurred during the first half of January 2006.

There were a number of stampedes, called "tragedies" in the press, during the Hajj which killed several hundred pilgrims.

These were not unavoidable accidents, they were the results of poor planning by the Saudi government.

And while the deaths of these pilgrims was a mere blip on the traditional western media's radar, it was a huge story in the Muslim world. Even the most objective news stories were suddenly casting Saudi Arabia in a very bad light and they decided to do something about it.

The 350 pilgrims were killed on January 12 and soon after, Saudi newspapers (which are all controlled by the state) began running up to 4 articles per day condemning the Danish cartoons.

There rarely is a clearer case of "Death to the West" being used to divert attention away from local problems.

Daily Kos: Muslim Cartoon Controversy: What the Media Isn't Telling You

The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.

The system - parts of which are operational, parts of which are still under development - is already credited with helping to foil some plots. It is the federal government's latest attempt to use broad data-collection and powerful analysis in the fight against terrorism. But by delving deeply into the digital minutiae of American life, the program is also raising concerns that the government is intruding too deeply into citizens' privacy.

This keeps coming up. We start collecting a bunch of data, often without court oversight, start mining it, someone finds out, a dialog about privacy starts, the program is changed or moved, things go quiet, rinse, repeat... There is no dialog. Only negotiation. Only power.

Ultimately we're rapidly moving toward an environment where law enforcement is perfect because they know everything by default and we needn't be concerned about civil liberties because a computer doesn't care about your dirty laundry... There is no civil liberties concern with searches performed by robot. The democrats will use this technology to crack down on gun hobbiests and video gamers and rockers. The republicans will use this technology to crack down on heretics and scientists and pot heads. You'll get to choose between two parties on the basis of what you'd most like to see this flawless machine used to control. The idea of individual liberty will disappear from the lexicon entriely, as the word freedom is redefined. Freedom from crime. Freedom from terrorism. Freedom to be American. But never freedom of thought. Never freedom to be different. We don't like that here.

Welcome to the new Singapore.

US plans massive data sweep | csmonitor.com

The bloodied body of a collaborator on the children's book series Curious George was found Tuesday morning covered in black garbage bags in the driveway of his impeccably landscaped mobile home.

This is absolutely terrible but sometimes you want to blog things like this because the press won't pay much attention to them.

Curious George collaborator found dead

A prominent Iranian newspaper said Tuesday it would hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust to test whether the West extends the principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide as it did to the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

"Alright, you asked for it! I'm writing this cartoon!!"

Iranian Paper Plans Holocaust Cartoons - Yahoo! News

This page links the cartoon in case you are curious. Yeah, its inceditary, but give me a fucking break.

Hamas members, some armed with guns, stormed the EU office and demanded apologies from EU member states, or face serious consequences. "It will be a suitable reaction, and it won't be predictable," said Abu Hafss, a member of the Al Quds Brigade (an affiliate of the group Islamic Jihad).

A suitable reaction? What are they going to do, draw their own cartoon? "I'll draw this fucking cartoon, man! I'm serious! I'll draw it! You better back down right now or the pen is hitting the paper! I'm not fucking around here!"

The more these idiots prance around with machine guns and threaten to kill people over a cartoon, the more they reenforce the inceditary message the cartoon conveys. If they aren't a violent culture they should put down the AK-47s and act like they aren't a violent culture.

Tensions continue to rise in Middle East over Cartoons

apitol Police dropped a charge of unlawful conduct against anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday and apologized for ejecting her and a congressman's wife from President Bush's State of the Union address for wearing T-shirts with war messages.

Police Apologize, Drop Charge Vs. Sheehan - Yahoo! News