The former hostage claims that it was an al Jazeera cameraman who actually shot video of him while in captivity. News24:

A Saudi truck driver who was kidnapped and released by a militant Iraqi group in June has sued al-Jazeera television for "moral" damages and is demanding compensation, a lawyer said on Tuesday.

Saydan Saadun Saydan charged before Kuwait's lower court that a cameraman from the television station shot a video of him while reading a statement during captivity, al-Jazeera's lawyer in Kuwait, Ali al-Nimesh, said.

"As the kidnappers asked me to read a statement, I saw a photographer and a reporter from al-Jazeera entering the place. They started shooting the video," Saydan said in his complaint.

But Nimesh said Saydan had not told the court how he recognised that the team belonged to al-Jazeera.

On June 5, al-Jazeera aired a video showing Saydan reading a statement warning lorry drivers not to work for the US-led occupation forces.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:01 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 173 words, total size 1 kb.

Oh, the humanity.....the sheer and utter humanity of it all!!

Posted by: Rusty at 07:50 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

This week's Bonfire of the Vanities is up over at the Llama Butchers place. Forget all those stupid blog carnivals featuring the best of the best. The Bonfire features the worst of the worst! My entry? Let's just say Swedish chicks aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Posted by: Rusty at 07:32 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 54 words, total size 1 kb.

Holy schneike! You mean people actually get paid to do this?? And here I've been giving it away for free!

Ok, so Glenn Reynolds gets $4k a month for a premium blogad.
His 'second slot' blogad goes for $2k a month (x2).
For 'regular' blogads you pay $1k a month (x5)

Pop quiz cowboy: How much does Glenn Reynolds get paid to blog a month?
Answer: $13k a month!!!

What change since August 4th, when I first ran the numbers? Reynolds raises his slot one price by a grand a month, and this is enough to make up for losing one advertiser in the regular slot. Total revenue change: none.

Posted by: Rusty at 04:58 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 118 words, total size 1 kb.

Took me awhile to get around to linking this. But Sparse Matrix has the goods.

Posted by: Rusty at 04:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.

Remember the good old days when followers of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide terrorized their opponents with the more civilized lacing (that's where they put a tire around your neck and then light it on fire)? Yes, this is the same ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide that Clinton restored to power by invading Haiti--without going to the UN for authorization. CBC News:

Supporters of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide have begun to imitate the insurgency in Iraq, using machetes to decapitate officers in their clashes with police.

Seven police officers are among at least 18 killed in violence that broke out in the capital Port-au -Prince last week, said judicial police chief Michael Lucius. Another officer is in hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.

Three of the killed police officers were shot then decapitated during clashes last week with pro-Aristide demonstrators.

Posted by: Rusty at 03:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 155 words, total size 1 kb.

Via the Command Post this news:

Police have found five decapitated bodies of Iraqis in northern Iraqi cities, police and hospital officials said.
They said two decapitated bodies were found dumped separately in central Mosul on Tuesday, two days after another was discovered near a bus station.

Two had been identified and the third was also believed to be an Iraqi.

There was no immediate word on who had beheaded the three men or on the motives for the killings.

In Kirkuk, Lieutenant Colonel Awaad Jibouri said the corpse and head of a former Iraqi army officer, identified as Ali Hussein, was found in a town south-west of the city.

Mr Hussein had worked at a United States military base in Kirkuk.

A second Iraqi, identified as Taha Abdullah, who worked at a US barracks near Baiji, was also beheaded and his body was found on Monday night, Lieutenant Colonel Jibouri said.

Posted by: Rusty at 03:44 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 179 words, total size 1 kb.

Zarqawi becoming unpopular, even among jihadis.

Zarqawi wants to release Bigley, but fears Coalition pinpointing him during transport.

Israel kills Islamic Jihad leader. Hooray!!

Posted by: Rusty at 03:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

Yesterday I ran with this story about the murder of Bangladeshi journalist Dipankar Chakrabarty. Since Bangladesh is a Muslim country, and beheading has long since been used as a form of punishment under Sharia law, I jumped to the conclusion that this was the work of radical Islamists. Jane points out that Rezwan of 3rd World View blogs from Bangladesh and notes that several other journalists in the area have been murdered by Marxist rebels. My bad. I'll have to add Commies to my list of suspects the next time another beheading video emerges.

Posted by: Rusty at 03:22 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 102 words, total size 1 kb.

Video of the grisly murder of Iraqi born Italian immigrant Iyad Anwar Wali and an Turkish hostage Yalmaz Dabja was released today by Iraqi terrorists. I now have a copy of the video and images from it are posted below. The video can be downloaded here. Information on their murders was first reported yesterday. Reuters:

The video, dated October 2, shows one of the militants reading a statement accusing the men of spying. The men are then shown blindfolded and kneeling in front of a ditch before being shot.

"This is the punishment for the enemies of God and his prophet and God is greatest," said the militant before the men were killed.

Also blogging: Chad Evans (crossposted at J-Dogs)

WARNING: Graphic images below.
more...

Posted by: Rusty at 01:30 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 190 words, total size 2 kb.

Reuters:

Ireland has granted British hostage Ken Bigley a passport following calls from his family who hope that stressing his Irish connections will persuade his kidnappers in Iraq to release him.
"Mr. Kenneth Bigley's family has asked for an Irish passport to be issued in order to help convince his kidnappers of his Irish citizenship," Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said in a statement.

Hat tip: Derek

Also blogging: Jeff Quinton

Posted by: Rusty at 12:55 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 103 words, total size 1 kb.

I just got back from class and checked the lates pic from the volcano cam in my earlier post. The pic in that post is updated every time the Forest Service updates refreshes the live cam pic. Pretty cool, eh? She's steaming again, and the Seattle Times reports "Mount St. Helens blew off a spectacular cloud of steam and ash this morning, the latest indication that a larger eruption may be in the works."

Other posts: Mount St. Helens Erupting
Mount St. Helens Erupting. Awesome, totally awesome!
Mount St. Helens Volcano May Erupt

Posted by: Rusty at 12:19 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 105 words, total size 1 kb.

John Kerry's A: The Poles have armies?

Posted by: Rusty at 10:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.

Just got bored and changed the blog title. What say? (PS-Might be temporary, don't change links just yet)

Posted by: Rusty at 09:54 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 22 words, total size 1 kb.

Financial Times:

North Korea has trained as many as 600 computer hackers to be capable of launching a cyber-war on South Korea, the US or Japan, South KoreaÂ’s defence ministry said on Monday....

North KoreaÂ’s military command has 500 to 600 hacking staff who have undertaken a five-year university programme, the report said. Their main task is to gather intelligence from - or launch a cyber attack on - the US, Japan and South Korea.

Posted by: Rusty at 09:49 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 95 words, total size 1 kb.

Thanks to McQ at QandO for bringing this to my attention. AP:

About one in four Americans holds anti-Muslim views, such as a belief that the religion teaches violence and hatred, according to a survey an Islamic advocacy group released Monday....

The telephone survey of a random sample of 1,000 American adults found that just over one in four people somewhat or strongly agreed with a series of anti-Muslim sentiments including: the Muslim religion teaches violence and hatred (26 percent agreed);

Muslims value life less than other people (27 percent agreed);

and Muslims want to change the American way of life (29 percent agreed).

These three responsibilities are obligatory not merely for the entire Muslim community but for every individual Muslim until we have established a system of governance adequate to the task. Until the nations of the world have functionally Islamic governments, every individual who is careless or lazy in working for Islam is sinful. These sins of omission will not be forgiven until they take a quick action to carry out all their responsibilities and Islamic duties.

These responsibilities to change both oneself and the world are binding in principle, in law, in self-defense, in community and as a sacred obligation of jihad, as explained in this chapter."--Muslim American Society.

Posted by: Rusty at 09:39 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 413 words, total size 3 kb.

When I lived in Moscow, the cops would carry around these funky looking paddle things. It turns out these things were kind of like tazers, only you could get some swinging action into it. Now I see their usefulness. Mosnews:

Moscow police intercepted a car packed with explosives in central Moscow on Saturday and said they had thwarted a terrorist attack, Russian media reported.

Police found a 200-gram block of TNT, two anti-personnel landmines and a 20-liter canister with gasoline along with detonators and an electronic operating device in an old Lada....

Pumane died in hospital six hours after questioning. Initial reports said the man had suffered a heart attack, but shortly afterwards it was reported that he had bean beaten to death, apparently during the interrogation.

Posted by: Rusty at 09:06 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 155 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm not a hunter, but I might become one after reading this.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

I've met Michael Medved on a number of occasions. No need to bore you with the details here. Of course, I never thought to open my piehole and ask him some really interesting questions. Little Miss Attila, on the other hand, does just that. But let me get one thing straight: there are Jews in Hollywood? Wonders never cease to amaze!

Posted by: Rusty at 08:51 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 73 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Yeah, yeah It's interesting to reflect that a large component of the development of motion pictures (both as commerce and as an art form) had to do with Jews being locked out of so many other industries and lines of work. It's as if, in the first half of the 20th Century, a group of Eastern European immigrants found themself here, and realized they had to earn a living. So they invented their own line of work. As a resident of L.A. I have that LA/New York mindset and am always shocked anew when I hear the real statistics about the proportion of Jews in the population at large: it sounds like such a tiny number, compared to my own circle, which is probably 45% Jewish. My favorite little detail about the evolution of Old Jewish Money is when some of the newly wealthy entertainment people wanted to join a country club, but couldn't join the ones dominated by WASPs. My recollection is that it was Harpo Marx who argued that, no, it wouldn't be ethical to exclude non-Jews from the new club they were creating at the time: that would be bringing themselves down to the bigots' level. I say all this, of course, as a blue-collar WASP (though one who converted to Catholicism a few years ago for complex reasons).

Posted by: Attila Girl at October 06, 2004 03:22 AM (SuJa4)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Forget the whole Haileygate thing. It's passed, over, kaput. This is the blogosphere and the news cycle has been reduced to approximately 53 minutes, give or take a nanosecond.

So why should the illustrious Kevin Aylward and Co. (I'm looking at you Paul) be sued? more...

Posted by: Rusty at 08:42 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 71 words, total size 1 kb.