J's Cafe Nette

Archive for May 8th, 2007

Baseball is an outdoor sport. If you have a good seat you are probably sitting close to the field in open air, but if you’re a smoker you have to get up and go to a designated smoking area to indulge your habit.

That’s fine and dandy and I always respect the right of non-smokers to be smoke-free in public, but what about all those drunks you find at any major league sports game?

I’ve had drunks spill beer on me and seen them spill it on others. Then I go home smelling like a brewery and I don’t drink, and even when I did I hated the taste of beer as well as the smell of it.

A woman attending a Mets game was injured when a 300 pound drunken man fell on her and caused back injuries that required surgery.

Surprisingly, security didn’t get his name and he’s walked away free.

She’s suing the team, the beer vendor, and the union that provides the security plus the John Doe who caused her injuries.

Good on her. I hope this causes the sports teams to stop serving alcoholic beverages at games.

If I smoke a cigarette I’m still able to safely drive home. If someone is drunk at the game he’s going to be drunk going home and will not be a safe driver. How many lives are at risk due to drunks at sporting events?

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Six men of Yugoslavian descent have been arrested by the FBI in an alleged plot to kill as many soldiers as possible at Fort Dix, NJ.

They are scheduled to appear in federal court in Camden later today to face charges of conspiracy to kill US servicemen.

During a secret meeting, the men allegedly attempted to purchase AK-47s from an arms dealer working with the FBI and were arrested in New Jersey after officials learned of the plans, a law enforcement source said.

The undercover investigation followed the men, three of whom are brothers, from New Jersey to the Poconos, where they allegedly practiced firing automatic weapons, media sources said.

Officials raided the homes of the men, described as Islamic radicals, and said there is video showing some of the alleged planning.

A news conference is scheduled for 2:30 pm EDT today.

Update from Fox News Website:

Six Islamic militants from Yugoslavia and the Middle East were arrested on charges of plotting to attack the Fort Dix Army post and “kill as many soldiers as possible,” authorities said Tuesday.

In conversations secretly recorded by an FBI informant over the past year, the men talked about killing in the name of Allah and attacking U.S. warships that might dock in Philadelphia, according an FBI criminal complaint.

…

One suspect reportedly spoke of using rocket-propelled grenades to kill at least 100 soldiers at a time, according to court documents.

“If you want to do anything here, there is Fort Dix and I don’t want to exaggerate, and I assure you that you can hit an American base very easily,” suspect Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer said in one conversation secretly recorded by a government informant, according to the criminal complaint.

“It doesn’t matter to me whether I get locked up, arrested or get taken away,” a suspect identified as Serdar Tatar said in another recorded conversation. “Or I die, it doesn’t matter. I’m doing it in the name of Allah.”

Another suspect, Eljvir Duka, was recorded saying: “In the end, when it comes to defending your religion, when someone is trying attacks your religion, your way of life, then you go jihad.”

…

The FBI was tipped off in January 2006 when a shopkeeper alerted agents about a “disturbing” video he had been asked to copy onto a DVD, according to court documents. The video showed 10 men in their early 20s “shooting assault weapons at a firing range … while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic ‘Allah Akbar’ (God is great),” the complaint said.

Six of the 10 men on the tape were identified as those arrested in the plot. They were arrested Monday trying to buy automatic weapons from an FBI informant, officials said.

[The US Attorney] Christie said one of the suspects worked at Super Mario’s Pizza in nearby Cookstown and delivered pizzas to the base.

…

Four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey, officials said. All had lived in the United States for years. Three were in the country illegally; two had green cards allowing them to stay permanently; the other is a U.S. citizen.

…

“They were planning an attack on Fort Dix in which they would kill as many soldiers as possible,” Drewniak said.

…

By March 2006, the group had been infiltrated by an informant who developed a relationship with Shnewer, according to court documents. The informant secretly recorded meetings in August in which Shnewer said he and the others were part of a group planning to attack a U.S. military base, the complaints said.

Shnewer named Fort Dix and a nearby Navy base, explaining that the group “could utilize six or seven jihadists to attack and kill at least one hundred soldiers by using rocket-propelled grenades” or other weapons, the complaints said. The Navy base was not named in the papers.

Fort Dix is used to train soldiers, particularly reservists. It also housed refugees from Kosovo in 1999.

The base has been closed to the public since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and has heavily armed guards at entrances, yet the main road through neighboring Cookstown cuts through the base and is accessible to the public.

…

“If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented many of the detainees. “But when the government says ‘Islamic militants,’ it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous.”

“Don’t equate actions with religion,” he said.

They weren’t very smart to take a video to a commercial place of business to have it converted to DVD. Thank God for their lack of intelligence.

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L T is busy putting a new roof on his new digs, Sue has other obligations through the day, and I have a sore left eye from eye strain looking at the computer so long.

We’ll try to update sometime today, so come back and check, but we make no promises. Thank you for visiting.

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I have just finished reading two very touching stories on the refusal of parents to terminate a pregnancy.

One turns out to have a happy ending.

In “Fighting for Claire,” we read about two parents, already blessed with two children, whose third pregnancy – in which the baby was diagnosed with encephalocele (a portion of the brain being outside the skull – found them fighting the Tide of Termination which blows so fiercely from both the “well-meaning, compassionate” types and from the lawsuit-bitten within the medical community:

…they began to recognize that the more specialized and acclaimed the doctors were, the greater was the pressure to “terminate”…The diagnosis was confirmed, and a fear they heard over and over again was that, because the skull was open, “the brain will be spilling out of the head.” Throughout the pregnancy, doctors couldn’t find the baby’s cerebellum, the section of the brain which controls fine motor skills. Up to nine doctors and technicians couldn’t find the cerebellum.
[...]

As the medical saga proceeded, Mimi found herself going to Mass everyday, receiving the Eucharist and begging the Lord to touch her child and heal her with a miracle. While Mimi prayed with fervor and great faith, Tito (her husband) prepared for whatever the Lord would allow.
[…]
Mimi went into early labor and was rushed to her local hospital where, amidst the fear and stress of the unknowns contained in high-risk pregnancies she delivered by C-section a healthy baby girl, to everyone’s amazement. Every newborn is given and APGAR test, which measures the physical health, reflexes, etc., of the baby on a scale of one through ten. Little Claire, the “hopeless” case, scored a 9.9!

There was, at the base of Claire’s head, a small sac that was surgically removed two months after her birth. Whether Claire’s story is a miracle worked by God in the womb of her mother or whether the multitude of specialists simply got confused by the sight of the sac and offered a severe misdiagnosis, we may never know. But Mimi and Tito know that they chose the good in the face of trial – loving and accepting their child regardless of any medical condition -and that will have eternal rewards.

Read the rest of this entry »

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From The Jerusalem Post:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has cancelled a trip to Israel planned for next week due to the unstable political situation in Israel, the Foreign Ministry confirmed late Monday night.

Rice was scheduled to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders following a stop-off in Moscow.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday that the cancellation would not get in the way of US efforts to move forward with Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

“It’s a change in plans, yes,” McCormack admitted, but added that the US would “continue efforts to advance the Israeli-Palestinian track.”

“The political situation in Israel has become a bit more complex in the near term,” said McCormack.

Tension has risen between government officials following the release of the Winograd’s interim report into the Second Lebanon War. Many government officials have called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down.

On Thursday, 150,000 people participated in a mass demonstration at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square in an attempt to get Olmert and his government to resign.

Captain Ed reports Olmert has survived three no-confidence votes by wide margins.

However, the populace is still upset over the Winograd report and there could still be violence in the streets, or at least demonstrations that would be distracting to any kind of peace talks.

It could be because Palestinians claim Al Qaeda attacked a Palestinian school dance.

Being in the known immediate vicinity of Al Qaeda would not be very safe for such a high profile person as the Secretary of State.

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Let’s compare and contrast the reporting of two Washington newspapers on the arrival of the queen.

The first is the front-page story of today’s Washington Times:

Queen Elizabeth II arrived at the White House yesterday for a state visit overflowing with pomp and pageantry, complete with a 21-gun salute and the Bush administration’s first white-tie-and-tails dinner last night.

On a cool and cloudless day, trumpeters at the South Portico of the White House heralded the queen’s arrival, and soldiers of the U.S. Army’s Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps — dressed in black tricorn hats, white wigs and red regimental coats — piped a Continental Army tune as they marched across the South Lawn.

“Your Majesty, the United States receives with honor the sovereign of the United Kingdom. We welcome back to the White House a good person, a strong leader for a great ally,” President Bush said.

But the president fumbled his effusive praise when he told thousands of guests gathered on the lawn that the stately matron of the United Kingdom — queen for 55 years — had first visited in the 18th century.

“You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17–,” the president said, standing just a few feet from her majesty. Catching himself quickly, he corrected the date to 1976, but it was too late. The crowd of more than 7,000 dignitaries and guests spread across the lawn tittered softly, then broke into raucous laughter. Mr. Bush paused, then looked sheepishly toward the queen, who smiled at the leader of one of Britain’s former colonies.

Looking back to the throng, Mr. Bush deadpanned: “She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.” More roars of laughter erupted in the crowd, who waved tiny Union Jack and Old Glory flags handed out at the gates.

Now we go to the Dana Milbank’s editorial in the Washington Post, titled: “The President Learns It’s Good to be the King”:

With etiquette handbooks at the ready, the White House was in a high state of faux pas alert for Queen Elizabeth II’s visit yesterday. Still, President Bush lasted only about 14 minutes into the state arrival ceremony before implying that the British monarch is 300 years old.

“You’ve dined with 10 U.S. presidents,” Bush said on the South Lawn with the 81-year-old sovereign at his side. “You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in seventeen s –” — here the president caught himself — “in nineteen seventy-six.”

The crowd laughed. Bush looked at Her Majesty — and winked. Elizabeth smiled politely and said something that sounded like “some year,” or “you’re near” or even “oh, dear.”

“She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child,” a quick-thinking Bush reported back to the assembly.

At least he didn’t credit her with signing the Magna Carta.

In the days before yesterday’s state visit, the talk was all about how the regular-guy president disliked all the pomp that comes with a royal function. Don’t believe it. As they say in Texas: Balderdash and poppycock.

True, the state dinner last night forced Bush to stay up beyond his bedtime, and wearing tails is a hassle for pretty much every man who doesn’t sing with the Whiffenpoofs. Also, such events bring bad memories: At a similar pageant last year, the Chinese president was heckled by a Falun Gong protester and the White House announcer confused China and Taiwan.

But the president seemed to be enjoying himself mightily yesterday. After Bush and the first lady took an impromptu walk with the queen and Prince Philip across Pennsylvania Avenue to Blair House, White House pool reporter Tara Copp of the Austin American-Statesman reported that “the president was in as sunny a mood as the sky above.”

And why shouldn’t he be sunny? The queen would not bicker with him about the Baghdad security plan, and there would be no prickly news conference in which he would be asked about the Newsweek poll putting his support at 28 percent, equal to Jimmy Carter’s in 1979. Yesterday gave Bush a chance to put aside the messiness of being head of government and enjoy the trappings of being head of state: cannons on the Ellipse, an Army fife-and-drum corps, a troop review and red geraniums on the South Portico.

Same story, two differing ways of telling it. Even in a non-political event the WaPo had to get in the political digs.

Admittedly the front page story in the WaPo was a bit more diplomatic in its reporting.

And the New York Times was gracious in its reporting.

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What a pleasure it was for me to see the pictures Kevin Whalen at Pundit Review took this past weekend while attending the Milblog Conference.

Walter Reed has a special place in my heart as I was born there. While all these years later there have been numerous changes to the hospital and the surrounding area it still stands as a symbol of care and compassion for the military sick and wounded.

It was disturbing to me when we were made aware of some of the conditions at the medical center however, in reading Mr. Whalen’s commentary explaining the photos he tells us of the small percentage of the facility which was affected. That does in no way excuse inadequate treatment, as one person given poor care is one to many. I hope he is right and that once (and if) the area is rehabilitated, this facility will afford care as it has for so many years to the wonderful men and women who serve this great country.

Thank you Mr. Whalen for the terrific pictures and for reminding me of a bit of my own history.

(The link works however it many take you refreshing a few times for all of the pictures to load)

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