Influences And Confluences

Greetings!

LEISURE
So yesterday I was in one of my favorite places: Barnes & Noble. So many books I want to read! I wonder sometimes, though, how much money they make. It seems that the store is always crowded, but there are not always a lot of people buying stuff. But I guess they make a big chunk of change on the coffee. Anyway, I finally was able to get Rachel Fuller's Shine CD. She's really an incredible artist. If you like Sarah McLachlan you will love Rachel Fuller. Although Fuller has a bit more of an edge to her. But I stumbled upon her music not too long ago and am really glad I did. I believe there is a lot of good music out there, but it is not always easy to find.

It took a while before I found out that she is apparently the boyfriend of Pete Townshend. Amazing! Being the fact that I am a huge Who fan. PT plays some backup guitar on many of her tunes, as does Pete's brother Simon.

JUSTICE
I am really happy that the murderer of JonBenet Ramsey has turned himself in. I hope this is legitimate and that he was not coerced for one reason or another. But, in all likelihood, John Mark Karr is the guy. But there is a great deal of doubt over this guy, also. Right now it looks like it could go either way. But I have to hope that this man knew something that would separate himself from just being another nut. But who knows. This looks like it could go on for an even longer time.

The Ramsey family has gone through so much over the last 10 years. I hope that John Ramsey can now have some peace in his life. How unfair that the media and the Boulder police put the murder of JonBenet on him and his late wife, Patsy. Too often things like this occur.

Similarly, another incident that made me sick was when some members of the media, mostly on the conservative side, blamed Michael Schiavo for the condition of his ex-wife Terri Schiavo. Some folks said he assaulted Terri which led to her being in a vegetative state and ultimately dying. Disgusting. There was never any evidence to prove this, just talk.

MOST WANTED
So has anyone seen this terrorist? Imad Mugniyah. He is a 44-year-old senior Lebanese leader of Hezbollah. His name resurfaced last month during the conflict between the terrorist group and Israel.

Prior to September 11, 2001 Hezbollah was responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist group. Now as a result of the conflict, new fears have surfaced in the U.S. that Hezbollah has plans to strike our homeland. Raising suspicion is the fact that Mugniyah has met several times with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the last few months. It is suspected that he could be part of some large scale attack against the U.S. or her allies.

Mugniyah is behind multiple attacks against the United States. Most notably, however, were the attacks on the U.S. barracks in Lebanon in October, 1983 which killed 241 Marines.

He is alleged to have worked with al-Qaeda. Particularly in a joint effort between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda in attacking the Khobar Towers, in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 American servicemen.

As a result Mugniyah has been put on notice that he is at the top of a supposed United States Military and CIA assassination list and therefore is in hiding, presumably in Iran. Still, New Yorker Magazine said that he did have strong ties to the now-deceased Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and together they coordinated many attacks in Iraq.

A $25 million reward sits on his head. President Bush released his name as part of the original 22 most wanted terrorists in October, 2001.

If you go to the FBI website(which is in my links section) you can read more about this guy. But it's really strange. You see, the only photo the FBI has of the guy is from 1982. Nothing since. When I was reading about him it seemed like someone out of a James Bond movie.

It also goes to show how difficult it can be to catch these types, especially when they are revered. I believe this is why we have not caught Usama bin Laden(UBL). Because he is very popular on the "Arab street" as opposed to Saddam Hussein. Saddam was not very religious and also killed his own people. Ditto for Zarqawi. In the cases of Saddam and Zarqawi the turning point came, not only in good intelligence, but by disgruntled members of their respective inner circles. Same goes for Saddam's kids; Uday and Qusay.

But I know that the U.S. is working like hell to find UBL and eventually they will get him.

From everything I have read on the web and heard on television and radio, it appears that the "chatter" going on amongst terrorists is similar to what occurred before 9/11. Obviously, the terrorists are desperate to do something to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the attacks.

Scary, scary stuff.

LET'S CLOSE WITH SOMETHING LIGHT...
So this Sunday at SummerSlam Sabu will get his shot at Big Show for the ECW World Title. Show came down and interfered Tuesday night in the ladder match between Sabu and RVD. It was actually quite silly how it all ended. RVD was in la la land outside the ring when somehow Sabu ended up on Show's shoulders. He was then able to grab the contract hanging high above the ring which meant that he would now challenge for the title at 'Slam.

Sabu-Big Show should be a great match at SummerSlam. Incidentally, Kurt Angle was not allowed to be in the match with Sabu and RVD, which was originally booked as a triple-threat match. For some reason Scarsdale native and ECW President/Owner/Storyline writer Paul Heyman said Angle was physically unable to compete. Later, Angle attacked Heyman which subsequently led to Angle's arrest. Silly stuff. But gave me a good laugh!

So I have a question for you: Have you ever been driving on the highway and you see someone walking but you haven't and don't see an abandoned car anywhere in sight? You ever wonder where they are going or how they ended up on the highway? Probably not a good idea to pull over and ask them.

Have a nice day!