Its been awhile since I had a good old fashioned unstructured rant..

As I recall, Let's Roll was offered by Neil Young as a free download when released. I'd assume that should still be the case, it being freely available, but I can't find it anywhere I can link to.

I'm sure a place exists.. But Young's label doesn't appear to be doing anything link/search engine friendly. And all search results are pretty much spammed out.

I give you, ladies and gentleman, a perfect example of how the record industry has failed to use the Internet to do something culturally significant. Its a small example, but a perfect one. "Out of the sky, into the dirt."

I have a copy of the mp3, but color me reluctant when it comes to making it available online. I'd have to take the statement a level further and publicly offer to burn CD's outside my recording industry classes. If I want that kind of heat, I might as well just go for broke get a few bumper-sickers for my car that say things like "Officer, yes I'm speeding, fuck off.", "I break for nothing.", and a few of those yellow triangle signs you stick on the inside of your windows that say "Guns on board" and "Drugs on board". To make room, I'll just leave off the stickers for the ACLU and the EFF because I don't expect them to ever be helpful any time I'm the one getting screwed over.

But don't worry, the right to be a cantankerous asshole still exists thanks to it being upheld in ways ranging from Bill O'Reilly to myself. Just don't expect it to be done in a way that might actually change or provoke anything with its hands on the reigns of power. The terrorists couldn't change that.

So, as we graduate terror high school and get our diploma, what have we learned? I'll give you a hint, it has something to do with that fact that they did not prepare us for the real world. Take a look at hurricane Katrina.

When viewed through the right lens, the response to this hurricane, a biological attack, a major earthquake, a nuclear detonation in a major city, and a host of other real threats, all begins to look exactly the same. Its a good lens to look through, but right now it might make you nausious. In the last election the people trusted the Bush administration to prepare America to handle this type of thing. They made it an election issue, and the people embraced it. We can't blame the hurricane being able to strike on our intelligence agencies, but the rest of the analogy -- pardon the pun -- holds water.

If all we know how to do is fight fire with fire, we are not positioned well for the long term, as some of mankind's recent wet tragedies allow to be spille... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Exclusive photographs obtained by ABC News show the devastation inside the London subway lines after the July 7th attacks.

ABC News: Exclusive Photos: London Terror Investigation

In recent speeches and news conferences, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the nation's senior military officer have spoken of "a global struggle against violent extremism" rather than "the global war on terror," which had been the catchphrase of choice. Administration officials say that phrase may have outlived its usefulness, because it focused attention solely, and incorrectly, on the military campaign.

When it doubt, rebrand. The War on Terror is now Nacho Cheesier!

Coming soon: The Hissy Fit over Controlled Substances

U.S. Officials Rebrand Terror War - New York Times

YouGov sought to gauge the character of the Muslim community's response to the events of July 7.

As the figures in the chart show, 88 per cent of British Muslims clearly have no intention of trying to justify the bus and Tube murders. However, six per cent insist that the bombings were, on the contrary, fully justified.

Six per cent may seem a small proportion but in absolute numbers it amounts to about 100,000 individuals who, if not prepared to carry out terrorist acts, are ready to support those who do.

Moreover, the proportion of YouGov's respondents who, while not condoning the London attacks, have some sympathy with the feelings and motives of those who carried them out is considerably larger - 24 per cent.

A substantial majority, 56 per cent, say that, whether or not they sympathise with the bombers, they can at least understand why some people might want to behave in this way.

I really hope this study was flawed. There needs to be more. The actual POV of that community needs to be directly discussed. I would like to see surveys like this done in the US as well.

Telegraph | News | One in four Muslims sympathises with motives of terrorists

Police officials... have also said that anyone found to be carrying illegal drugs or weapons will be subject to arrest, a provision that lawyers have found troubling.

One has to be sympathetic to the idea of performing some searches. However, one of the basic ideas behind the notion that random searches at airports are legal is the idea that they are specifically limited to AT and do not target other crimes. There is a bit of a legal grey area here about whether they have the right to prosecute for other crimes if they discover them in the course of one of these searches. That grey area needs to be resolved now. The NYPD have clearly expressed their opinion on the matter.

If we establish a policy that says we can do random searches where ever because of terrorism and we will prosecute any crime we discover in the process of performing these searches then essentially we're saying that we can perform random searches where ever. If the police think you're up to no good they can stop and search you and just put you down on their quota of "daily anti-terror searches." The connection with terrorism eventually becomes irrelevant other then as a loophole that popped the whole thing wide open.

This is really going to push the 4th amendment. If its ok to do it at airports, can we do it at the subway? If its ok to do it at the subway can we do it on the street? If its ok to do it on the street, then when is it not ok to do it? Is it ok to search random houses for bomb labs. You might discover some that way...

This is the slippery slope that concerns people with the rise of searches at airports, schools, and border crossings. We're slipping down that slope. The subway is so pervasive in NYC that this will have a significant effect on the culture of the city. If you live there you ride the subway. If you ride the subway you may be searched. So, if you live there you may be searched. NYC suddenly seems more prickley then Singapore.

The government there should have presented this as a temporary measure. They should have performed the searches with teams that are firewalled from the regular police and have no authority to prosecute anything except terrorism. Declaring it an "indefinite" fixture of the city, and doing it with regular police, was a mistake.

You want to have a free and open society, but that society requires cooperation. Mutual respect. When people begin to seriously abuse the society you have to respond. Its really hard to figure out how to do that without sacrificing openness, but this announcement doesn't reflect a genuine effort to try. This is the image of terrorism changing our way of life.

Look for the spin to be that anyone who raises questions about the way this is being handled is either opposed to the searches in totality or is simply helping the enemy.

Privacy Rights Are at Issue in New Policy on Searches - New York Times

A Colorado congressman told a radio show host that the U.S. could "take out" Islamic holy sites if Muslim fundamentalist terrorists attacked the country with nuclear weapons.

"Well, what if you said something like -- if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites," Tancredo answered.

"You're talking about bombing Mecca," Campbell said.

"Yeah," Tancredo responded.

"What is near and dear to them? They're willing to sacrifice everything in this world for the next one. What is the pressure point that would deter them from their murderous impulses?" he said.

There you have Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo of Littleton, Colorado. Best known for its school shootings..

CNN.com - Congressman suggests bombing Mecca to retaliate for nuclear terror - Jul 18, 2005

London bombing suspects (L-R) Hasib Mir Hussain, Germaine Lindsay, Mohammed Sadique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer are seen at Luton train station in central England in this July 7, 2005 Closed Circuit Television video footage released by London's Scotland Yard on July 16, 2005.

London Transport System Bombings on Yahoo! News Photos

Similar components from the explosive devices have been found at all four murder sites, leading detectives to believe that each of the 10lb rucksack bombs was the work of one man. They also believe that the materials used were not home made but sophisticated military explosives, possibly smuggled into Britain from the Balkans.

The public anger will strengthen Tony Blair’s hand as he prepares to speed up new anti-terrorist laws to help the hunt for the bombers. “If, as the fuller picture about these incidents emerges and the investigation proceeds, it becomes clear that there are powers which the police and intelligence agencies need immediately to combat terrorism, it is plainly sensible to reserve the right to return to Parliament with an accelerated timetable,” he said.

A senior police source said: “There are two bodies which have to be examined in great detail because they appear to have been holding the bomb or sitting on top of it. One of those might turn out to be the bomber.” A decapitated head was found at the bus scene which has been, in Israeli experience, the sign of a suicide bomber.

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

From this month's Foreign Affairs:

Radical Islam is spreading across Europe among descendants of Muslim immigrants. Disenfranchised and disillusioned by the failure of integration, some European Muslims have taken up jihad against the West. They are dangerous and committed -- and can enter the United States without a visa.

Bush has said that we would be fighting the war with the terrorists "abroad", as opposed to at home. Its bad news for Europe that Europe is "abroad".

... back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Foreign Affairs - Europe's Angry Muslims - Robert S. Leiken

The U.S. military in Iraq has detained five Americans for suspected insurgent activity, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. The five have not been charged or had access to a lawyer, and face an uncertain legal future.

One was identified by his family and U.S. law enforcement officials as Cyrus Kar, an Iranian-American filmmaker and U.S. Navy veteran.

Three of those being detained are Iraqi-Americans, Whitman said. The fifth is a Jordanian-American the Pentagon previously had acknowledged holding.

Americans Held As Iraq Insurgent Suspects