Month: August 2005

Royals collapse continues

Kansas City Royals[*1] blow a 7-2 lead in the 9th, give up 11 runs, lose 13-7.

As manager of baseball’s worst team, Buddy Bell is forced to watch bad baseball on many nights. But he had never seen anything like he did in the ninth inning, which began with his team holding a 7-2 lead.

Can it get worse? We’ll see–Snookums and I have tickets for tonight’s debacle–er–game. Royals need to go 43-7 to finish .500, 25-25 to avoid 100 losses, 1-49 to avoid losing all of their remaining games.

Morning Whip, August 9, 2005

#10: Shuttle: Californee is the place you oughta be
#9: The role of Islam in Iraq
#8: Terror alert: Saudi Arabia
#7: Good economy evidence: Fed raising rates
#6: San Quentin Riot
#5: Pentagon plans terror response
#4: Cultures aren’t equal
#3: Hillary Clinton: A Divider, not a Uniter
#2: UN officer pleads gulity in Oil-For-Food
#1: Iran has 4,000 uranium-processing centrifuges

The role of Islam in Iraq

Iraqis debate what role Islam will play in their new constitution[*1] .

“If Ayatollah al-Sistani suggests that he wants Islam in the constitution, that will harden the position of those who want a religious-oriented state,” says Tom Palmer, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, who has met with members of Iraq’s parliament on the constitution and is closely following the drafting process.

“It’s possible that the law would be innocuous and merely say that no legislation may violate Islam. The big problem is, who gets to determine that? Religious courts? Whose?” says Mr. Palmer.

Here’s where we get down to the fundamental problem: Islam does not recognize any separation of religion and state. Until it does, the crisis of Islam vs. the civilized world will continue.

Terror alert: Saudi Arabia

US, Australian, English authorities warn of imminent attacks[*1] in Saudi Arabia.

“We continue to believe that terrorists are planning further attacks in Saudi Arabia, including against Westerners and places associated with Westerners,” said a warning from the Foreign Office on the British Embassy Web site. “We believe aviation interests remain a possible terrorist target.”

Good economy evidence: Fed raising rates

Federal Reserve Board set to raise interest rates again[*1] in response to the growing economy.

“The economy remains very solid and it appears likely to expand at a pace of 4-1/2 percent to 5 percent in the second half of the year,” said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Banc of America Capital Management in Boston.

San Quentin Riot

Gang war[*1] in prison:

It all started Aug. 1 with three assaults by Latinos on white inmates in North Block, a sprawling section with five tiers of cells. It appears some Latino prisoners took issue with a tattoo or marking that one of the white prisoners had, indicating he was allied with Latino gangs in Southern California.

The north/south gang rivalry in California has been going on for nearly four decades, one of the products of which was the split between the Mexican Mafia and Nuestra Familia.

Now gangs from the north wear red and gangs from the south wear blue. Territorial fights on the streets are often deadly.

42 inmates were injured in the riot.

Pentagon plans terror response

The Northern Command, based in Colorado Springs, has developed a plan for the U.S. military’s response[*1] to terror attacks in the U.S.

The classified plans, developed here at Northern Command headquarters, outline roles for quick-reaction forces estimated at as many as 3,000 ground troops per attack, a number that could easily grow depending on the extent of the damage and the abilities of civilian response teams.

The scenarios range from relatively modest crowd-control missions to full- scale disaster management after catastrophic attacks such as the release of a deadly biological agent or the explosion of a radiological device, several officers said.

Some of the worst-case scenarios involve three attacks at the same time; a Pentagon directive earlier this year ordered Northcom, as the command is called, to plan for multiple simultaneous attacks.