It’s probably been three months since I last exercised, unless you count the time I had to run upstairs for a plunger (and the episode that led up to my needing the plunger in the first place). Today, however, I got it into my head that I’d take the dog for a run, which seemed like a good idea for the first mile or so, until I felt a warm aneurism-like pop deep in my brain, behind my felt eye. Unfortunately, I was quite a distance from home at the time, tired as hell, and hopelessly lost. (I used to have a regular routine, which took me through one of Ypsi’s old cemeteries, but I got a late start and the cemetery was closed, so I headed off into uncharted territory, which isn’t too good of an idea for someone with my sense of direction.) Long story short, I ended up staggering around, holding my head, for an hour or so before I finally found a landmark that pointed the way home.
At one point during my “where the hell am I, and what kinds of animals will eat my flesh when I finally fall over in a heap” walk, I found an old, discarded magnet in the shape of a ribbon. It was half-buried in gravel, on the side of the road, next to the carcass of large dead bird. I’m sure these yellow ribbons must be all along the roadsides of America by now, but it still struck me as odd. As I walked along the road, thinking that I might die at any moment, I wondered if the owner got another one to replace it, or if she just decided that she’d already made enough of a patriotic statement… Either way, I think it’s an interesting symbol — I’m just not sure of what.
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Dear Abbey says faded flags should be disposed of. The same should probably go for these ribbons.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucda/20050704/lf_ucda/americanflagshouldbekeptinflyingcolors
hmm, maybe we should make a Union Jack ribbon… You wouldn’t know it from this site but there’s been a couple of bombings in London.. No doubt the Aglicans are behind it (darn christians.. making people asplode)… Nothing to see here.. please move along.
from the “religion of peace” .. Note this is from Al-Reutuers.
Attacks on UK will continue, radical cleric says
By Gideon Long
Reuters
Friday, July 22, 2005; 10:57 AM
LONDON (Reuters) – Militant Islamists will continue to attack Britain until the government pulls its troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the country’s most outspoken Islamic clerics said on Friday.
Speaking 15 days after bombers killed over 50 people in London and a day after a series of failed attacks on the city’s transport network, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed said the British capital should expect more violence.
“What happened yesterday confirmed that as long as the cause and the root problem is still there … we will see the same effect we saw on July 7,” Bakri said.
“If the cause is still there the effect will happen again and again,” he said, adding he had no information about future attacks or contacts with people planning to carry out attacks.
Bakri, a Syrian-born cleric who has been vilified in Britain since 2001 when he praised the September 11 hijackers, said he did not believe the bombings and attempted attacks on London were carried out by British Muslims.
He condemned the killing of all innocent civilians but described attacks on British and U.S. troops in Muslim countries as “pro-life” and justified.
In an interview with Reuters, Bakri described Osama bin Laden, leader of the radical Islamist network al Qaeda, as “a sincere man who fights against evil forces.”
Bakri said he would like Britain to become an Islamic state but feared he would be deported before his dream was realized.
“I would like to see the Islamic flag fly, not only over number 10 Downing Street, but over the whole world,” he said.
MESSAGE OF PEACE … MESSAGE OF WAR
A hate figure for the British tabloid press, the bearded and bespectacled Bakri said Islam contained “a message of peace for those who want to live with the Muslims in peace.”
“But Islam is a message of war for those who declare war against Muslims,” he said.
“I condemn any killing and any bombing against any innocent people in Britain or abroad, but I expect the British people to condemn the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
However, asked about Islamist attacks on British and U.S. troops and on Israelis, he said: “If violence is pro-life I don’t condemn it.”
Britain has around 1,100 troops in Afghanistan and 8,500 in Iraq. Prime Minister Tony Blair supported the United States in its respective invasions of both countries in 2001 and 2003.
Bakri, a 46-year-old father of six, was born in Syria and lived in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. When the Saudi government expelled him in 1985 he came to London.
Nicknamed “The Tottenham Ayatollah” after the area of north London in which he lives, he has infuriated many Britons with his firebrand speeches and refusal to condemn suicide bombings.
He founded the British branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which describes itself as a non-violent political party dedicated to creating an Islamic caliphate centered on the Middle East.
But he split from the group in 1996 and set up al Muhajiroun, which won notoriety in 2001 for celebrating the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon which killed nearly 3,000 people.
Bakri has Syrian and Lebanese citizenship and says he thinks the British government might deport him to one of those two countries in the wake of this month’s bombings.
“But I think that would be political suicide for the British government if they started to deport and imprison all extremists and radicals,” he said.
“Because if, God forbid, something happened again, they would have nobody left to blame.”
Yeah. This is a slippery slope. When nuts like that guy spout that stuff while random people are being killed it sure makes you want to bend the law a little with regard to civil liberties. Check the following out from a London Free Press article. What will life be like if this becomes the norm?
Heavily armed officers patrolled the British capital with clear instructions to stop suicide bombers — if necessary, with a shot to the head. The patrols were an unusual sight in London, where most officers, or bobbies, are normally seen with little more than a whistle and truncheon.
“If you are dealing with someone who might be a suicide bomber, if they remain conscious, they could trigger plastic explosives or whatever device is on them,” said Mayor Ken Livingstone. “Therefore, overwhelmingly in these circumstances, it is going to be a shoot-to-kill policy.”
–snip–
The shooting took place about 10 a.m., when jittery commuters spotted a man, who witnesses said appeared to be a South Asian, wearing a padded coat in the Stockwell subway station in south London. Police chased him into a subway car, pinned him to the ground and shot him in the head and torso, an eyewitness said.
–snip–
Another passenger on the train, Mark Whitby, said the man didn’t appear to be carrying anything but his coat looked padded.
“They pushed him onto the floor and unloaded five shots into him,” Whitby said. “He looked like a cornered fox. He looked petrified.”
I think it’s safe to assume that guy wasn’t loaded with explosives at that moment since a “Bobbies Foil Bomber” story would’ve been huge. He was a suspect for other reasons than his puffy coat and they may have been very good reasons, but still… scary.
The man shot and killed on a subway car by London police in front of horrified commuters apparently had nothing to do with this month’s bombings on the city’s transit system, police said Saturday in expressing their “regrets.”
A day earlier, the police commissioner said the man was “directly linked” to Thursday’s attacks, in which bombs on three subway trains and a bus failed to detonate properly. No one was injured.
“For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets,” a police spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.
Nothing to see here.. please move along.
Holy shit…