Dean Paxton

Category: Terrorism

  • U.S. Troops Heavy Handed?

    operation_endless_opression.jpg“I Yelled at Them to Stop”

    Six paratroopers from the 82d Airborne, also part of Mountain Sweep, were lined up outside the farmer’s house, preparing to force their way in. “I yelled at them to stop,” says the captain, “but they went ahead and kicked in the door.” The farmer panicked and tried to run, and one of the paratroopers slammed him to the ground. The captain raced back to the house. Inside, he says, other helmeted soldiers from the 82d were attempting to frisk the women. By the time the captain could order the soldiers to leave, the family was in a state of shock. “The women were screaming bloody murder,” recalled the captain, asking to be identified simply as Mike. “The guy was in tears. He had been completely dishonored.”

    Compelling, upsetting. Many of you will read this and may even be angry for my blatant criticism, of the military lately. But, I can assure you, as good as a nations intentions can be, the individual intention may not alway reflect the same thing. Remember, just because you cannot picture yourself becoming over-aggressive and even oppressive, don’t think that others will reflect your convictions. Brutal and terrible things have happened and are happening, that we and the rest of the world are not aware of. Carte blanche eventually has a price.

    I can tell you this is true from cold hard experience.

  • The Good News Trickles In

    A recent report from Aberdeen says that IT execs plan to spend more next year. Yippie!

  • Very Theraputic Indeed

    Asylum Sand Art therapy is fun. The kids loved it… I’m hooked. Strange the things people take to. (via metafilter)

  • 9/11 Observances

    Here’s a list of 9/11 memorial-type things to do in the Flint and Detroit area.

  • Celebrate, Celebrate… Dance to the Music

    09-08-01, 9:18 pm, Update: Nazi love for 9/11 here and thinking the unthinkable? here (all from mefi).

    Apparently, a group of fundamental Muslims in London are planning a conference on Sept. 11 to “celebrate” the effects of the al-Qaida’s attacks upon the US. The discussion will focus upon, among other things, the positive outcomes of the attacks against an evil superpower.

    Here’s the article link and an excellent discussion going on at Metafilter.

  • 9/11 Survival Breakdown

    For many on Sept. 11, survival was no accident

    Riveting. Be sure and check out the special grapical report on the side.

    Also, in USA Today: Terror attacks brought drastic decision: Clear the skies.

    Equally riveting. Both links via metafilter.

  • Drop the Slurpee!!! Hands in the Air!!!

    U.S. Investigates Scams for Terror Ties (Reuters)

    WASHINGTON – U.S. authorities are monitoring hundreds of Muslim and Arab small businesses across the United States looking for possible links between criminal scams and funding for militant groups overseas, The Washington Post reported in Monday editions.

    More than 500 businesses, mostly convenience stores, are targeted in a probe of petty scams that authorities believe are generating tens of millions of dollars a year for terrorist organizations, the report said, citing federal officials.
    (more…)

  • The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree

    Bin Laden’s son seen gaining power

    Saad bin Laden has provided financial and other logistical support for several al-Qaida operations, said one official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

    Which is important because rumors are circulating again that Osama is dead.

  • Bush Says, “What’s Yer Disaster Recovery Plan Lookin’ Like?”

    bush_computer.jpg Bush urges private sector to shore up networks

    “The Bush administration has taken its efforts to bolster private sector support for critical infrastructure protection on the road to encourage companies to shore up their networks against hackers and cyberterrorists on their own before the government will be forced to step in with regulations.”

    So, backups, redundant systems, offsite data storage, secondary infrastructure, REAL security analysis is good for the American people all of a sudden?

    My god, Y2K taught us absolutely nothing but, how fun it is to make fun of I.T. people that worry about these things and ask for money to address them. Now, because of terrorism and the interest of national security, it’s a good enough idea to create legislation for?

    I’m gonna cry.

  • Bla Bla Bla

    In the car this morning:

    Son: What is a cult?
    Dad: Why?
    Son: I just wondered, is it bad?
    Dad: Well, perhaps not. Depends on how you look at it. If you are a believer in the Constitution, The Bill or Rights, and what the really stand for, then all people are given the right to worship whom and what they choose. Therefore, as defined by the people that started this nation, there can really be no such thing as a cult.
    Son: Do mean freedom of religion?
    Dad: Exactly.
    Son: So why do people call them cults?
    Dad: Well, most any religion outside Islam, Hindu, Budists, Christianity, Judaism would be considered a cult. But, I think they fear that a cult brainwashes people into their beliefs and that they have no choice.
    Son: Brainwash?
    Dad: Yeah, like someone sticks something in your mind that isn’t your idea or, even it’s done without your consent. Probably it’s a cover up for many people’s bad behavior. In fact, there are other freedoms that we like but, criticize others for using, freedom of the press… you want a news paper to report news, yet when a sponsor is paying a newspaper to exist, they will probably never print a negative story about that sponsor. Or, freedom of speech, which we all want. But, tend to deny freedom of speech to anyone who speaks outside the boundaries of what we deem to be acceptable. Therefore, you have to, under any circumstance in our culture, extend the basic rights given to us. A murderer has certain rights, as does a doctor who has saved millions of lives. So a person who tells you to worship Spongebob Squarepants has a much of a right to do so as another who tells you to worship Jesus. In fact, several million people died to preserve those rights. Fought to the very death.
    Son: Uh, dad… I gotta go, bye.
    Dad: Right… c’ya

  • Terrorism Abounds

    liberty_nyc2.jpg Months before the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA knew two of the hijackers were in the United States and that they were connected to the al Qaeda organization. You’ll be hearing a lot about this today.

    “According to the report that will hit newsstands Monday, the intelligence was never passed along to the FBI, which now asserts that if it had known, agents could have uncovered the terrorist plot. The CIA declined comment.”

    Yet, on an Arab news website (which is down now) “What is coming to the Americans will not, by the will of God, be less than what has come,” the paper quoted al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman bu Ghaith as saying in a statement. “So beware, America. Get ready. Get prepared. Put on the safety belt.” Many, many news agencies are reporting this story, which is just now starting to be picked up on the major news sites.

    Tomorrow, congress will begin to try to figure out what, if anything was done by the various agencies of our government to try and prevent or, warn of the 9/11 attacks. Some politicos cite inter-agency co-operation could have helped, Ashcroft doubts this quite seriously

    Meanwhile, Ashcroft continues to deny that any US law enforcement or intelligence agency acted inappropriately. In fact, they are all telling us that we should feel good, because they have apparently stopped numerous attacks already.

    Whatever.

  • From the “Back in the Day” Dept.

    When 300 baud was the bomb

    “Back in the day, there were boards. Bulletin Board Systems. BBS’s. No Net, no Web, no cyberspace, nothing. Just boards, and their ugly stepchildren, D-Dials. All strung together with phone lines, hand-rolled software, and 8-bit computers. No backbone, no hubs, no routers, no DNS tables. Just one computer picking up the phone, calling another, and having a little chat.”

    Yeah, I was there… me and Gary know about that. In fact, sometimes I wish we could go back to those days. Then I search the net for the guitar tab of a song in my head and I can find it and seconds, I forget about all of that. In fact, nevermind… all of this memory lane crap is awfully nice to skim, nice to remember those days but, I sure wouldn’t want to go back. In fact, things aren’t moving quite fast enough for me.

  • Fighting to Live as the Towers Died

    Click for Larger Image “A husband calmly reminds his wife about their insurance policies, then says that the floor is groaning beneath him, and tells her that she and their children meant the world to him…

    …Working phones were scarce. The physical evidence was destroyed. Conversations were held under grave stress, and are recalled through grief, time and longing.”

    A very good NY Times feature as well as transcripts and other accounts of 9/11. (login required use: login: paxtonland – pass: paxtonland). I would imagine that we well start to see more of this as times passes. Telephone conversation transcripts, answering machines messages, and e-mails from people who were in their last hours of life. Chilling.

  • Zero Tolerance, the Next Generation

    kuro5hin.org: Zero Tolerance and the War on Terrorism… Of course,, I’ve babbled about this topic before. I won’t bore you again.

  • US jobless claims down, business inventories up

    Fewer Americans are seeking aid and US businesses are building up their inventories, the government’s latest data show, adding more evidence that the world’s richest economy is on higher ground.

    The number of workers lining up last week for first-time state unemployment benefits edged down to a seasonally adjusted 377,000 from 380,000, the Labor Department said in a report showing a continuing downward trend in the number of jobless workers, which began at the start of this year.

    (of course, I had to browse to a New Zealand news site to find that… sheesh)

  • Dead Bodies Everywhere

    Georgia community horrified by discovery “All we know for sure right now are the 80 bodies, 13 of those have been identified, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said Saturday night. ‘But they’ve found so many other partial skeletal remains and evidence of graves, we don’t know how many more are out there.’ When asked why the bodies had not been cremated, Marsh said the crematory incinerator was not working, Bankhead said.”

    The crematory owners, Ray and Clara Marsh, turned the business over to their son in 1996. The couple has turned over company records to authorities and were cooperating, Walker County chief deputy Hill Morrison said.

    Some bodies were found in rusty coffins, some as much as 10 years old, that had evidently been buried and then later disinterred, Bankhead said. (Can’t believe it’s not Flint)

  • Burger Chef

    burger_chef_logo.gif Do you remember Burger Chef? We had at least one in Flint while I was growing up. I remember this as being far better than McDonalds or Burger King. I remember that those places didn’t even compare to the excitement of going to a Burger Chef. There was one that was fairly close to my house. My father and took me there on more than one occasion. I remember they had the first “kids meals” back in those days with the best prizes.

    Well, I found out a thing or two in the course of my personal research project about Burger Chef. The franchise began as an engineer and his two sons, Frank and Donald Thomas who were (also engineers), built a milkshake machine and sold their product (the shake not the machine) at fairs and carnivals. They then developed a conveyored broiler for burgers and began to also offer burgers. The broiler, quite revolutionairy, was the first of it’s kind and was able to cook a patty faster than any known method at that time. Among other innovations, like the first real-time inventory linked point of sale cash registers (1974), they pioneered the concept of the “kids meal.”

    burger_chef_logo2.gifThey settled in a permanent location and quickly expanded, under the franchise model, to 584 locations until they were sold to General Foods in 1975 for $15 million. In 1981 Hardee’s purchased the franchise from General Foods and began to convert or close existing Burger Chef’s. By 1982, most of them were closed but, due to the timeline owners were given, some stayed open until as late as 1996. Hardee’s offers selected items from the Burger Chef menu on occasion, such as “The Big Shef.”

  • U.S. To Bomb Afghanistan With Cake

    The cakes, from California, would be dropped near the cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz in the north and Kandahar in the south, Sergeant Major Raymond Cordell, head of public affairs at the U.S.-British guarded Bagram air base north of Kabul, told Reuters.

    Sunday is the start of Eid al-Fitr, the biggest holiday in the Muslim calendar when Muslims celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. One of the traditional ways to mark the holiday is to share sweets, especially cakes, with family. “It’s the end of Ramadan, and we thought that after all the Afghan people have suffered, this could be one way to show our respect,”

  • Tamim in Salon

    Our friend Tamim Ansary has a great article in salon.com today: Leaping to conclusions, Well-meaning observers are making dangerous assumptions about Afghan women and their goals for the future.

    “Now, thanks to American intervention, the educated, Westernized, urban elite will come back to power. This is good news. When the traditional conservatives got their hands on the levers they tore the country to shreds and ran it into the ground. But it’s wishful thinking to suppose that Kabul equals Afghanistan. Most of Afghanistan was never Kabul, and most of Afghanistan is still out there.”

    The article lays it all out for you…. wonderful work!

    Also, a couple of days ago, he made an astounding post to metafilter. Check out the words in the link very carefully. You’ll notice that each letter is a link to a new site on the topic, memepool style. But, more than that… there are hovering text titles as well… each link a better one. This was, to me, simply poetry. Probably the best mefi post in months.

  • Pictures From An Insider

    Take a look at the pictures and words from 9/11 in Manhattan from our friend in NY, Redrick deLeon.

  • Bin Laden surrounded in caves

    Bin Laden surrounded in caves

    Opposition fighters and U.S. troops continued Friday to move toward the area where Osama bin Laden is believed holed up in a cave complex in the Afghan mountains near Tora Bora.

    No one is sure that he is there… there is not concrete evidence that he has not left the country… We’ll find out soon enough.

  • Bin Laden Video Tape Transcripts

    Transcript of Osama bin Laden videotape:

    “Usama Bin Laden: (…Inaudible…) we calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all. (…Inaudible…) due to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only. This is all that we had hoped for.”

    Chilling… Later it reads:

    UBL: The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn’t know anything about the operation, not even one letter. But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes.

    UBL: (…inaudible…) then he said: Those who were trained to fly didn’t know the others. One group of people did not know the other group. (…inaudible…) (Someone in the crowd asks UBL to tell the Shaykh about the dream of ((Abu-Da’ud)).

  • Issues

    TurdTwister.com. Nuff’ said.

  • Keep On Truckin’

    Using life-sized figures, man builds a diarama in the bed of his pickup. It shows a smiling George W. Bush lynching Osama bin Laden and holding the terrorist leader’s heart on a stake.

    Now, I wonder how far down the road I’d get if I had the same comedic horror in reverse in the bed of my truck?

    “I question his wisdom in doing it, but I don’t question his anger,” said Berlet, a senior analyst at Political Research Associates, a Massachusetts think-tank that studies bigotry and authoritarianism. Speechless, I’m just rendered speechless. Well, I can say this, I would not want to be the man who drives this vulgar vehicle through Dearborn, MI.

  • George Harrison Dead

    George Harrison is dead at 58 years old. He was battling cancer after all it seems. He fended off throat cancer in 1998, lung cancer, and most recently, a brain tumor. Not to mention the attack in his home earlier this year. Finally, and most ironic, he formed a publishing company with his son called “RIP, Ltd”

    For me the Beatles meant a lot when I was young. I always sort of felt sorry for George. Being one of the most influencial musicians in all time, having almost anything on earth he ever wanted, combined with a deep sense of personal spiritualism… he still didn’t seem too happy. Always kind of made me sad.