Via Goldstein, the Stratfor brief everyone's talking about. This details a rumor within the intelligence community to the effect that Blair's government knew in advance about the subway bombings. This is being spun furiously by moonbats and Buchananites alike.

The problem? There are two versions of this rumor: in the first, UK authorities told the Israelis about the terrorist attacks minutes before they actually occurred, and in the second version, the Israelis tipped the British off a few days earlier.

Obviously, it's unlikely that both are true, and extraordinarily unlikely that UK security knew anything actionable before this happened. (Sure there might have been one of those memos like the one Condi Rice got grilled about by the 9/11 Commission, which essentially said, "Bin Ladin would like to strike here in the States somewhere, sometime. You betcha.")

This sounds a lot like a combo plate: a little bit of "Blair knew!" with some "the Jooos did it!" on the side.

We're missing the Masons and the Trilateral Commission, but they'll pop up sooner or later.

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Political Teen has the video of his statement. He's clearly fighting to control his emotions; you can tell by the cadence of his speech. Other than that, he keeps the stiff upper lip.

Sully is so shaken up that he hasn't posted about gay marriage all day. Go to his site, though: there's wonderful stuff on the British reaction, and that strange stoicism that put a lot of Britons into pubs today, assiduously following sports. The sportscasters didn't mention the bombing, and the games weren't called off: it's just the quiet British way of telling the terrorists to get fucked.

Posted by: Attila at 09:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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From a Protein Wisdom commenter comes this map of the explosion sites.

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If, as one must suspect, these bombs are only the first, then Britain will start to undergo the same tensions—between a retreat to insularity and clannishness of the sort recently seen in France and Holland, and the self-segregation of the Muslim minority in both those countries—that will start to infect other European countries as well. It is ludicrous to try and reduce this to Iraq. Europe is steadily becoming a part of the civil war that is roiling the Islamic world, and it will require all our cultural ingenuity to ensure that the criminals who shattered London's peace at rush hour this morning are not the ones who dictate the pace and rhythm of events from now on.

Always nice to hear from one of the few remaining intellectually honest leftists in the world.

After the Rodney King verdict there were riots in Los Angeles. My boyfriend—now my husband—called me and told me to stay put that night. I did, and I watched television all evening to stay on top of what was going on. (That was before the internet was widely available, at least in its present form.)

The next day I figured out how to take the freeway around the center of the city. I swung by work to collect my papers and headed to Glendale, where Attila the fiance lived. It wasn't clear how long the riots were going to last, so I went to Vons that afternoon to stock up on food. Although Glendale wasn't too close to the center of the city, we were going to stay inside until we saw actual law and order in L.A.

It was a scary time: a few homeowners in the Bohemian part of Venice had resisted the cultural pressure to not own guns. A few of these people took up posts on their roofs to keep the mostly black hoodlums from invading their homes.

In Koreatown, closer to the center of events, grocery store owner used bags of rice as sandbags to create perimeters around their businesses. These people had military-issue rifles, and each store had at least two men guarding it.

At Vons I got enough staples to last a few days. The line was very long; I could tell it would take around 45 minutes to get out of there. (And I'm an American: five minutes is a long time to wait for the checker in the grocery store.) In the meantime I talked to a black woman about what a terrible situation we were in. No one mentioned race, because it was understood then that the problem was hoodlums versus civilized people.

And so it is with muslims: the vast majority are decent, but those who are must be willing to condemn those who want to bring Western Civilization down.

There is no room for waffling, here. AQ wants to take us back to the 12th century.

And I'm not going.

You might want to take this moment to choose sides.

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I hope I'm being clear.

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1 Quite eloquent.

Posted by: jody at July 07, 2005 08:14 PM (uWBw8)

2 Perfectly clear:-)

Posted by: Heather at July 07, 2005 08:18 PM (nafy6)

3 100% true. fuck them all the cunts

Posted by: MARVEL at July 21, 2005 08:43 AM (qeRgj)

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Well, Britain.

And Britain is a very different place from Spain. As Al Qaeda is about to find out.

Goldstein has the roundup of roundups, so he's an excellent place to start.

My mother-in-law lived through the bombing of London during WWII as a young woman, and nearly lost her life. My husband and his siblings were adults before they figured out why she became tense every time pots and pans clanked together—or got dropped—in the kitchen.

I slept late today, and when I woke up I logged in and saw what had happened. My first thought was AQ.

I started some tea, and my husband came up the stairs. "They bombed London."

"I saw."

"In a way, it was a good target, because of G8."

"But it's the British. This might prove to be a big mistake."

"It probably will."

Today we are all British, except for the mealy-mouthed politicians who are already suggesting that this bad thing happened because we made the poor misunderstood terrorists mad.

What, exactly, had New York and Washington done to make them mad before 9/11?

Greyhawk:

An attack on a nation hosting the leaders of the civilized world certainly sends a message, after all. A carefully considered reply delivered soon would be appropriate.

Fuck, yeah.

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The Yemeni government just shut down the opposition newspaper, and its editor—whom we sprang from jail just a few months ago—may well be killed.

I'm asking all my readers to send e-mail to remind them that the West has millions of compassionate people who are watching them.

Here's your one-stop shopping to write to the Yemeni brass:

jfbg714@aol.com),ambassador@yemenembassy.org,  nic@y.net.ye, yemen-info@y.net.ye, political@yemenembassy.org, media@yemenembassy.org, congressional@yemenembassy.org, president@whitehouse.gov, senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov,HIRC@mail.house.gov">click here
 
Suggested subject lines:
"In support of al-Khaiwanii and al-Shoura"
or "in support of a Free Press in Yemen"
or to really want to annoy them "regarding my cousin al-Khaiwanii"
maybe "Waiting for the next issue of al-Shoura."

Please do this; the best way to express solidarity with Britain right now is to keep the pressure on AQ sympathizers around the world. Yemen's in trouble, and a man's life is in jeopardy.

Please reproduce this post on your own sites. No link back here is necessary. Write me if you need the html for the above, or simply a list of the addresses. Most of the Cotillion ladies have the same information, if you can't get hold of me this afternoon.

Thank you.

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In the course of trying to fix a few technical snafus we're experiencing in Munuvia, Pixy posted an interesting tidbit about an interesting Masai gift to Manhattan.

I'm enchanted by the idea of cow puppies, but I do have to point out that horse puppies do exist. When I lived in Glendale, I occasionally watched the neighbor walk his miniature horse, which was the size of a large dog.

I tell my husband that after the baby gets here (and once he/she is old enough), we have to get a big dog. Mostly I'm telling the truth. But sometimes by that I mean, "or a tiny horse."

But no one could ride such a small horse, and they don't fetch.

It's possible that this is another one of my slightly impractical ideas.

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Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, Mr. President.
Happy birthday to you.

Thanks for messing with people's minds, W.

(And don't forget to pray for him. That site, BTW, is NSFMPF [Not Safe For My Pagan Friends—Christian content. BEWARE!].)

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1 Good thing for a Not Safe for Pagans warning. I would have melted.

Posted by: Ciggy at July 07, 2005 06:24 AM (Ru8KL)

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It's dance time this week for the ladies of the cotillion, some of whom are donning their black leather jackets and motorcycle boots to go down and catch the punk groups that are now starting to tour again, such as X.

Remember that you can dance for real if it's new wave music, but if it's outright punk you're going to either do the pogo or the worm. We'll look ravishing doing it, as long as we remembered to cut our hair into mohawks— or dye it burgundy. Or at least give it that Laurie Anderson look.

All the dances are here at the main cotillion site. And be sure to check out the individual dances at Reasoned Audacity, The Anchoress, and Jody at Steal the Bandwagon.

Ilyka Damen has fun with the Code Pink 4th of July “celebration”—complete with its talking points written by a man.

Christina at Feisty Repartee shares some colorful memories of her mother’s passion for gambling—particularly on the Las Vegas strip.

e-claire has a special potato salad recipe!

Dr. Sanity discusses denial—and, not so incidentally, the Democratic Party.

Girl on the Right analyzes the implications of CanadaÂ’s new bill, that (as I understand it) outlaws discrimination against gay couples by CHURCHES. Of course, this is a very strange notion to the Stateside mind, but thatÂ’s because some sense of church-state separation has probably worked its way permanently into my brain.

Darleen has a Stateside meditation in honor of our Independence Day on the nature of being “American.” (Of course, some of her points can be extended to all North American culture, and some apply to Western Europe as well. But she starts in the U.S., in honor of Independence Day.)

Florida Cracker discusses the interesting developments in Iran.

Crystal Clear discusses the practicality of JPL’s/NASA’s latest endeavor—bringing out the sexists in her comments section. (I kid you not; one of these gentlemen conflated “science” with “arithmetic,” and then denigrated her intelligence! It was priceless.)

Stefania at the delightful bilingual blog Free Thoughts shares her convictions about the G8 summit, focusing on 1) debt relief for the corrupt nations in Africa, and 2) the situation in Iran. Regarding the matter of African aid, she wisely opines:

Free money is inherently corrupting in a poor society. It is a dangerous drug, and it is irresponsible to prescribe it without close supervision to counteract negative side effects.

While discussing on how to reduce poverty and help the countries and peoples in need, the G8 leaders should commit themselves to promote democracy and self-government in Africa. They should help strengthen the newborn democracies like Senegal, Nigeria and a few others.

Can I get an “amen”?

Sadie at Fistful of Fortnights scores an interview with Velociman

And Lisa over at Just a Girl in the World mulls over the issues of freedom vs. respect for the American flag.

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I was really enjoying my total dislike of Al Franken, but it appears that he's one of several people in the country who claim to "support the troops, but not the war"—and mean it.

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It's the Fourth of July, and the Cotillion girls are dancing with the Milbloggers!

My dance partners for the day: a group of fine men who either have served or are serving this country.

I’m honoring a Navy Seal, a gentleman from the army’s Special Forces, three “former” Marines, and one active-duty one. After all, the USMC has a special place in my life (Attila the Hub having been one of the few and the proud).

Next year, IÂ’m hoping to add at least one Vietnam-era LRRP—because another special friend of ours used to do these dangerous patrols in 'Nam many years ago.

Without further ado I give you—

“USMC” in Al Fallujah, who is giving us on-the-ground news from Iraq, practically in real time. This is a great starting point for those of us who want to cut through the BS out there and find out what’s really going on.

Matthew Heidt of Froggy Ruminations, whose entries are always thoughtful and well-reasoned (and, yes: weÂ’ve had a couple of spirited arguments, handled with good sense and politeness on—well, on his side, at least).

Special Forces Alpha Geek is a “find”—a nicely written blog with a fresh perspective.

Nick D. , the host of Twenty-first Century Republican, brings a lot to the party—and more to the cotillion’s July 4th Gala.

Marvin of Little Red Blog is a great writer, a thinker—and a good dancer. Here, he shares some important observations about aid to Africa.

The Marine officer and future lawyer who publishes Law and Ordnance always has good insights; here, he tackles Pablo Paredes.

And Former Marine Ben writes fabulous essays; heÂ’s a straight shooter and weÂ’re lucky to have him online.

Thanks to all who have put on a uniform to defend this country. And thanks to their families, who have endured and sacrified so much in the efforts to keep us safe.

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The gals at the cotillion are honoring the men and women in uniform today. Take a sneak peak at my dance card, along with everyone else's. (I'm meeting with a client, of all the unfair things, so my post will be up in a few hours.)

And a special thank you to the dreamy men who started it all: George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, John Hancock . . . and a certain French king who paid for it all (eventually with his life).

Men like Washington and Franklin had little to gain, and everything to lose in this grand experiment. They were trying to do something that had never been done before, and they persevered, suffering defeat after defeat.

And they were the midwives to an entirely new type of government—one that borrowed from the English parliamentary system but improved upon it, and stated the principles of equality for all in such bald language, it threatened to tear the country apart 100 years later—making it infinitely better, instead.

Thank you for all the risks. Thank you for the sacrifices. Thank you for your brilliance and your vision.

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Commenting on this post, wherein Patterico takes the wood to the L.A. Times, as is his wont, Dean Esmay discusses all the overwrought commentary on Justice O'Conner:

I am rather amused at all the gushing praise we're seeing from much of the press about what a wonderful wise Solomonic moderate Sandra Day O'Connor was . . . .

My only question: where were all these people who are now praising her as wise, virtuous, brilliantly moderate, etc. when she came down with the majority on Bush v. Gore? Somehow I doubt all the people slobbering over her now were all that friendly to her then.

Ah, but that was different. For one week in 2000, she was G.W.'s ho. Now she's a saint.

My take? Glad you asked: far preferable to lose O'Conner before Rehnquist. Once they both retire, it'll be a wash, since Bush is going to appoint a conservative this time, and a centrist to replace Rehnquist. And there's going to be a bloodbath in the Senate over something that won't ultimately change the ideological composition of the Court.

A friend of mine asks me, "won't abortion be illegal if Roe v. Wade is overturned?"

"No," I tell him. "And it won't be overturned, either. Not within the next ten years, anyway."

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Goldstein carries the meme to its logical conclusion.

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. . . Attila the Hub had to use my laptop a couple of times. He was utterly fascinated by how filthy the keyboard and screen are.

"What are these . . . these little dots?" he asked, more intrigued than disapproving.

"Well, um. To me they look like itty bitty spots of milk, smaller than pinheads. A person might, um, might get that effect if they, you know. If they had a habit of eating breakfast cereal while surfing the web."

Sometimes I'm truly amazed that this man can put up with me.

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1 Oh. I thought you were going to say they were from reading Jeff G. or The Therapist or someone while eating cereal.

Posted by: Desert Cat at July 02, 2005 10:02 AM (xdX36)

2 I live with a comic; it takes a lot for me to laugh out loud

Posted by: Attila Girl at July 02, 2005 03:54 PM (RGWNz)

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. . . was today, and I really enjoyed it. The practitioner was a kind, funny man who stuck little needles in me and left me in the dark for 15 minutes, which is more than I meditate in a week under normal circumstances. After five minutes I felt a sort of warmth, as if the chi were moving through my body. Or endorphins, perhaps.

And I got a backrub out of it, too.

The practitioner tells me I'm taking too many drugs, and suggests that with the right herbs, I could get off of them. At the moment I'm working on getting off of sleeping pills: I hear there are some very advanced therapies for insomniacs these days. Then, perhaps, the birth control pills, if this guy can really make my cramps go away with Eastern medicine.

The Prozac? I find myself considering the possibility that with a combination of herbs, massage, T'ai Chi and acupuncture I might someday be less of bitch without the benefit of pills. Then I decide to acknowledge my real feelings: cold, dead hands, Baby.

I've decided to begin stockpiling, against the day that the Supreme Court rules on whether Eminent Domain can be used to take my SSRIs for some greater good.

Posted by: Attila at 11:29 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Acupuncture! Now that's a great move for you. IMO. Congratulations. I've had it 3 times now. Being perimenopausal, my periods come and go. (Naturally, this started just after I bought a big giant deep-discount box of tampons.) The only time I actually get my period again is after an acupuncture visit. The cramps are noticeably less, too. Another thing acupuncture cleared up was that chronic mild lung ache. It finally returned again - but only after breathing a bunch of particulates during rehab work. (Sound familiar?!) I know it wasn't a placebo effect, because I deliberately avoided learning about it before I went, and outside of general info., didn't tell the acupuncturist what to focus on. She didn't know about the period thing or the lung thing, either one, although she did know about the asthma. I actually had to call and ask her if those improvements were because of the acupuncture. Yup. And kdad, an MD, bioscientist, and real skeptic, says the acupuncture is proven to work, and it works by that endorphin effect. Herbs are drugs, just less refined. Morphine comes from opium poppies - yada yada. To trade one drug for another isn't necessarily a bad idea, of course. But herbs are much less tested than commercial meds, and because they are less refined, the active dose varies wildly. And just because they're "natural" doesn't mean they're harmless. Every year, several babies in America die because their parent(s) gave them eucalyptus oil for a cold. It's toxic to babies. So is honey. Eat too much honey, adults die too. Cyanide is natural; bitter almonds and apple seeds contain cyanide. Dog poop is natural too. Doesn't mean it's good to eat it. BTW - Good Morning America was on my TV just now, and had a piece on the therapy produced by blogging. OK. Enough health lecture for today. Except - welcome to the Wonderful World of the War on LEGAL drugs!

Posted by: k at July 02, 2005 06:06 AM (6krEN)

2 L-Tryptophan! Versus sleeping pills, melatonin or it's precursor l-tryptophan is far preferable. Melatonin is what your body makes all on it's own to sleep when your systems are all balanced. And l-tryptophan is converted by your body into serotonin (which is what the Prozac is trying to increase) or melatonin, depending upon what your body needs at the moment. L-Tryptophan is found in abundance in turkey, kefir, and a few other foods, but it is available again in capsule form at some health food stores. I take it as needed, both for my mild depression and occasional insomnia. It's not an "herb" but it *is* a food extract.

Posted by: Desert Cat at July 02, 2005 10:09 AM (xdX36)

3 Oh! DC, I would LOVE to hear your take on one of K's Favorite Queries: Define...Drug. Is it any substance that changes body chemistry? But that would include all food, drink, breath, or any other absorbed material. And what about the melatonin, hormones, etc. our own bodies produce? We can create our own testosterone, or inject it. Are they both drugs, then? Or neither, or only one? Are they only "drugs" if isolated, altered. or dried and rehydrated by humans? L-Tryptophan is way high on my List of Stuff to Explore. What a classic example of the What's a Drug conumdrum. And indeed not an herb - but it is ingested, and it plays such a role in that body chemistry chain. So - is it or isn't it a drug? I have absolutely nothing against herbs, of course. I just hope people get educated about what they are and do before ingesting them, that's all. (Or before feeding little babies eucalyptus oil.) See, you check things out first, and thoroughly. But many people actually find that offensive; it violates their code of Faith under their belief system to look at the mainstream medical information. All they want to read or hear are the anecdotes, and even then, some will only hear the positive ones, and turn away from any negative or simply cautionary ones. I hope you can answer back. Me, it's way past my bedtime again, and I already put my anti-MRSA bandaids on my fingertips, so I'm smearing Silvadene all over the keyboard. I'll have to check for replies when I wake up. Rubbing alcohol safely cleans laptop screen & keyboards both. According to HP, that is. g'nite, all!

Posted by: k at July 02, 2005 11:26 AM (6krEN)

4 I've got a better question for both of you. You're part of the clinical trial for a drug, and it helps with your condition, but it turns out that you got the sugar pill, so in reality what you experienced was the "placebo effect." Did you take a drug? I have to say that I see the appeal of herbal medicines, and even have a halfway-open mind about them, but people have been pushing a lot of things my way for a lot of years, telling me it would help with my insomnia. "It helped me," they'd say. "But you're not a night owl, are you?" I always wanted to reply. And don't even get me started on the local natural family planning coach who became concerned about my infertility. She kept calling me with suggestions about herbs and supplements I could take. It finally became too painful, and I had to tell her than unless she had real scientific studies to back up her suggestions, I didn't want to hear them any more. (And, of course, it turned out there was a mechanical reason for my infertility, and all the herbs in the world wouldn't have done a thing.) That said, I think L-Tryptophan might help, but only in tandem with mental discipline and good "sleep hygeine" (the term for making sure one's habits and environment are helpful for sleep).

Posted by: Attila Girl at July 02, 2005 04:06 PM (RGWNz)

5 I don't think "drug" is so easy to define, because with any cut-and-dried definition, there is a glaring exception (or three, or twelve), as you've noted. I see a continuum from the usual food substances through phytonutrients, "nutraceuticals", etc. to completely synthetic chemicals. Personally for therapeutic purposes I favor the use of substances that either closely mimic, or gently enhance the body's own natural processes. At least as a starting point. Because *generally* speaking, the risk of side effects is usually lower. But I am not at all averse to using a purely synthetic molecule, if the risk/reward ratio is right. Re the placebo effect. I'm convinced it is very real, and I am always on the lookout for it when I am evaluating some new therapy. I listen closely to my body to discern wishful thinking from actual effects. For example, there are a few herbs available that purport to help with the common cold. I have found none that give more than marginal symptom relief. Then I found colloidal silver and the effect is dramatic and undeniable. So I've been "preaching" it to all who'll listen ever since. So how about colloidal silver? It's an effective therapy (in my experience), but is it a drug? You won't find a whole lot in the way of rigorous scientific studies conducted in this country. The pharmaceutical giants seem to have a pretty solid lock on the minds and hearts of MD's and research money. But there has been a tremendous amount of solid research conducted in Germany to determine the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of a wide range of "natural" remedies. And of course Chinese medicine takes a very different approach to wellness than does western medicine. I feel tremendously blessed to have an integrative medicine MD as my PCP. In addition to the usual MD repertoire, he is an acupuncturist and is certified to perform spinal manipulations. That means backaches cured for the cost of a copay!

Posted by: Desert Cat at July 02, 2005 09:48 PM (xdX36)

6 Such a yummy, yummy question. Thank you Miss Attila! My response is written in my mind - and I do believe it's not only appropriate, but necessary, to remember other issues even in the face of the horrible events of this day. At least, it is for me. However: while not much could keep me from putting it down, this post must make way for hurricane preps just now. so...rain check?

Posted by: k at July 07, 2005 03:12 PM (M7kiy)

7 Deal.

Posted by: Attila Girl at July 07, 2005 11:18 PM (RGWNz)

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. . . as a "serious" writer. I got a fix, and that's all that matters right now.

(It's good stuff, too.)

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