Swamp Musings

Drudge is at it again with another developing...
Osama bin Laden now has religious approval to use a nuclear device against Americans

Fri Nov 12 2004 12:02:34 ET
"Osama bin Laden now has religious approval to use a nuclear device against Americans, says the former head of the CIA unit charged with tracking down the Saudi terrorist. The former agent, Michael Scheuer, speaks to Steve Kroft in his first television interview without disguise to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Nov. 14 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network." (snip)

As little as I think of SeeBS as a valid news source, I'll probably watch it tonight (unless there's a rerun of "Gilligan's Island" or some other truly worthwhile show on). With a billion muslims on the planet, one murderous bastard amongst millions of other fanatical murderous bastards getting the green light from a Saudi sheik doesn't really shake me as "breaking news".

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Bordering On Nukes?
TIME Magazine - Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004
New accounts from al-Qaeda to attack the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction
By ADAM ZAGORIN

" A key al-Qaeda operative seized in Pakistan recently offered an alarming account of the group's potential plans to target the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction, senior U.S. security officials tell TIME. Sharif al-Masri, an Egyptian who was captured in late August near Pakistan's border with Iran and Afghanistan, has told his interrogators of "al-Qaeda's interest in moving nuclear materials from Europe to either the U.S. or Mexico," according to a report circulating among U.S. government officials.

Masri also said al-Qaeda has considered plans to "smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the U.S.," according to the report, parts of which were read to TIME. Masri says his family, seeking refuge from al-Qaeda hunters, is now in Iran." (snip)

This is news?

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..from the Times online edition:
Who Left the Door Open?
Despite all the talk of homeland security, sneaking into the U.S. is scandalously easy—and on the rise. Millions of illegal aliens will pour across the U.S.-Mexican border this year, many from countries hostile to America. TIME looks at the damage, the dangers and the reasons the U.S. fails to protect itself
By DONALD L. BARLETT & JAMES B. STEELE
"The next time you pass through an airport and have to produce a photo ID to establish who you are and then must remove your shoes, take off your belt, empty your pockets, prove your laptop is not an explosive device and send your briefcase or purse through a machine to determine whether it holds weapons, think about this: In a single day, more than 4,000 illegal aliens will walk across the busiest unlawful gateway into the U.S., the 375-mile border between Arizona and Mexico. No searches for weapons. No shoe removal. No photo-ID checks. Before long, many will obtain phony identification papers, including bogus Social Security numbers, to conceal their true identities and mask their unlawful presence." (snip)

This is a long article, shows as a 15 page, 12 point text doc and is not the best news I've read this year. Expect a rant from me in approximately a month if I don't get shot first - I've been collecting data locally for quite a while and it'll be presented with hard, verifiable proof if I can get permission to publish. I truly don't understand several items.

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Did I already post this link? Can't find it so it probably went out in an email. Time for me to acquire a reliable printer and start keeping a paper notebook again..
Bush revives bid to legalize illegal aliens
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published November 10, 2004
"President Bush yesterday moved aggressively to resurrect his plan to relax rules against illegal immigration, a move bound to anger conservatives just days after they helped re-elect him.
The president met privately in the Oval Office with Sen. John McCain to discuss jump-starting a stalled White House initiative that would grant legal status to millions of immigrants who broke the law to enter the United States." (snip)

Is he looking to get impeached by his own party? WTF.

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Arizona Calling
The brewing immigration backlash.
by Rich Lowry - NRO

Slate recently featured an article on the "unteachable ignorance" of the Bush red states, in light of the dismaying (from its perspective) election results. On immigration, we should talk about the "unteachable ignorance" of America's political and media elites. Nothing will convince them to take the issue seriously.

The latest sign that the public wants the kind of immigration enforcement that politicians simply won't give them comes out of Arizona. Proposition 200, a measure to tighten up enforcement of existing laws relating to illegal immigration, passed with 56 percent of the vote. It requires that someone provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and valid ID when voting or applying for public benefits. Since it is already against the law for illegals to register and vote, and illegal for them to receive welfare, it is astonishing that Proposition 200 became — as the media always puts it — "controversial." (snip)

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I wonder what the real backlash is going to be when a truly devastating attack occurs. So far, so good but all that has to happen is for the bastards to score one big one to really throw a monkey wrench in the works. 9/11 is most often quoted as causing about $500 billion in economic damage, pretty much the same as the oft quoted figure for compliance with the IRS rules. ...and this thought of the "biggie" being a "mini-nuke", nonsense. Go take a look at The Nuclear Weapon Archive and The Effects of Nuclear Weapons by Samuel Glasstone. A dear friend and co-worker gave me her copy of the latter tome just before she commited suicide. Take a look at the megatonnage of illegal drugs smuggled into this country each year despite a many decade, extremely expensive "War on Drugs" that intercepts around 5% (some say more, some less, no creds). It seems to me that one could take a vehicle like Rustbucket, the beater truck, down to a fishing pier somewhere on the Big Bend and load up the equivalent of a stolen Soviet equivalent of our W-9 (850 lb, 15 KT), W-19 (600 lb, 15-20 KT), W-31 (945 lb, 40 KT), W-33 (240 lb, 40 KT. We made 2,000 of these), or any of scads of other "little" firecrackers, but a real coupe would be to score a few W-47's or W-56's (733 lb and 680 lb, both 1.2 MT). I'd rather not think of the horrific damage done to this nation if just one of these things were detonated in a major city.