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First you need to understand the meaning of abu, which can be “the father of” [appropriate for Father’s Day] or “the guy with” depending on what follows.

For example, Abu Hamza could mean “Leo’s Dad” or “the guy who has a lion” or “the guy with the virtues of a lion”. Abu Ayyub could mean “Job’s Dad” or “the guy with the patience of Job”.

There might be a lot of kids named Leo, but I suspect that the popularity of Abu Hamza among thugs in the Islamic world is an attempt to paint themselves as tough. In the West we name people “the Lion-Hearted”, “Coeur de Lion”, or “Corleone”

When the US identifies the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, they are using kuniyat, nicknames. The guy is either “a lion-hearted migrant” [Abu Hamza al Muhajir] or “a patient Egyptian” [Abu Ayyub al Masri].

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This is supposed to be the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. According to the US briefers his name is Abu Ayyub al-Masri [nom de bomb Abu Hamza al-Muhajir] and a “known associate” of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahri, who is definitely the number two in the original al Qaeda.

Okay, why is an Egyptian wearing a thobe and a ghutra with a agal on his head? That says Saudi Arabia or the Gulf States, not Egypt. Most Egyptians who use the keffiyeh [headscarf] wear it as a turban, like al-Zawari, but usually those who wear a hat, just wear a skullcap.

Parts of this guy’s résumé sound stolen from the “work history” of Abu Khabab al-Masri, an al Qaeda bomb maker that Pakistan claims to have killed.

Of course, he’s definitely different than Abu Hamza al-Masri, who lost an eye and both hands fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, and now is in a British prison for preaching hate and violence.

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The result of the Republican reorganization of government: U.S. not ready for disasters.

Most American cities and states remain unprepared for catastrophes, a government analysis concludes, calling the shortcomings in emergency planning a cause “for significant national concern.”

Their contractors rip the country off: Documents Expose Sept. 11 Fraud.

The lead investigators for the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency told AP that the plan to prosecute KEI for those thefts stopped as soon as it became clear in late summer 2002 that an FBI agent in Minnesota had stolen a crystal globe from ground zero.

That prompted a broader review that ultimately found 16 government employees, including a top FBI executive and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, had such artifacts from New York or the Pentagon.

They are looters and should be shot.

They don’t care if someone dies in service, dead soldiers are just “numbers”:

Question: Tony, American deaths in Iraq have reached 2,500. Is there any response or reaction from the President on that?

MR. SNOW: It’s a number, and every time there’s one of these 500 benchmarks people want something…

That’s right, Mr. Snow, they want to know when it’s going to end.

Apparently supporting the troops doesn’t include money for Fort Sam Houston to pay its utility bills.

The Republicans in Congress hold meaningless press events on our dime at the Capitol to pretend they care. Stupid worthless votes are taken to provide campaign ad footage with public funds.

A plague on both the Houses!

Please go over and extend your condolences to NTodd on the untimely and unexpected passing of his Mother.

Mustang Bobby highlights a Miami Herald article about a GAO study of the FEMA aid distributed after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

What may not be obvious from the reporting is that the GAO is talking about “worst case” when it says that up to 16% or $1.4 billion of the money may have been wasted through fraud and/or misuse. Scout of First Draft, your source for all things Katrina, notes that Facing South‘s Chris Kromm has dug deeper and notes that the estimate is based on a finding of 1,500 potential fraud cases with a total value of $16.8 million.

To put this in context on July 5, 2005 I wrote: “FEMA wants Floridians to return $27 million in aid ‘overpayments’ based on a review of the money that they handed out before the 2004 election. This does not include the money that FEMA handed out in Miami-Dade county; that Florida Senator Nelson pointed out was not actually struck by a hurricane.”

Given the devastation of Katrina and Rita, it looks like FEMA tightened up since the year before, but they are still not handling money very well.

For more context, Maru notes that Congress is going to get a cost of living pay raise of $3,300, a $1,765,500 budget increase, not counting the Judiciary increases that are tied to Congressional salaries.

Over at Shakespeare’s Sister Thesaurus Rex makes an important point about the Blight: they depend on character assassination. If you take ad hominem attacks away they can’t respond. This is the problem they have dealing with Cindy Sheehan and the “9/11 Widows” – they can’t successfully attack their motives, so they claim they aren’t allowed to question their statements.

The essential problem is that the Blight feels it is necessary to hate people who disagree with their worldview. This is part of the inherent xenophobia of many people attracted to the “Dark Side”. It is not enough to disagree, you must be able to damn them for heresy.

Cindy Sheehan has attained her status because the vaunted White House publicity machine has failed to take the relatively minor actions necessary to dispel the perception that they are afraid of her and showing disrespect to a Gold Star Mother.

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You must have watched a certain television show during a specific timeframe to understand what Culture Ghost is up to.

[Google chase franco]

A Mars probe slams into the planet instead of landing because the instructions were given in meters per second while the program was designed for feet per second.

A probe returns with samples of “stardust” and slams into the desert because backward switches doomed probe:

The 231-page document prepared by independent investigators found that gravity switches on the Genesis probe designed to trigger the deployment of its parachutes were installed backward.

[…]

Investigators found that the probe’s builder, Lockheed Martin, skipped a critical pre-launch test that would have uncovered the fatal flaw because of time constraints. Instead, engineers decided to do a simpler test by comparing Genesis’ design to drawings of another spacecraft, Stardust, which was built earlier and had passed rigorous testing.

Occasionally while “trimming fat” you sever an artery.

The VA remembered I existed and sent me their form letter to tell me how they lost my records and put me at risk of identity theft.

The real web site is firstgov.gov/veteransinfo.shtml, rather than the main page they provide, but you have to navigate the 1-800-333-4636 [Fed Info] system, because that’s a general number covering most of the government, not a special number for Vets or this problem.

From the insert:

Where should I report suspicious or unusual activity?

The Federal Trade Commission recommends the following four steps if you detect suspicious activity:

Step 1 – Contact the fraud department of one of the three major credit bureaus:

• Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
• Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, Texas 75013
• TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

Step 2 – Close any accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.

Step 3 – File a police report with your local police or the police in the community where the identity theft took place.

Step 4 – File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission by using the FTC’s Identity Theft Hotline by telephone: 1-877-438-4338, online at www.consumer.gov/idtheft, or by mail at Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20580.

They are using the IRS to make this mailing, so if you are a Vet and too poor to pay taxes, they aren’t going to contact you. At this point if you are Vet, or currently serving, assume your information was on that missing computer.

Note: When I verified the links for the credit bureaus I noticed they all had special pages for Vets.

Even the death of Zarqawi hasn’t helped the poll numbers after Haditha and the Gitmo suicides are factored in, so it was time for the new and improved visit to Iraq. This time the Shrubbery proved that things were better by leaving the airport to go to the Green Zone, and flying in during the day.

I’m sure Iraqis are really impressed with their sovereignty when their elected leader was called to an imperial audience with the Shrubbery on five minutes notice.

The Shrubbery was apparently worn out by the flight because the sound clips all feature him correctly pronouncing the name of the country instead of using the pseudo-redneck “Eye-rack” that was the norm for so long. He has had a lot of trouble lately staying in character as a West Texas “goat-roper”.

First, don’t hold your breath waiting to see the letter that Rove received from Fitzgerald; it probably spells out what Karl has to do to avoid indictment. The way things work he wouldn’t get a deal for testifying against Libby, because the Libby case is wrapped in ribbons. He has to rat out someone higher in the food chain to stay out of criminal trouble. I don’t see him going hunting with Cheney anytime soon.

It will be interesting to see if Republicans avoid telling Rove any secrets, because they have to know that Fitzgerald has “turned” Rove, and anything they say to him could be repeated in court.

[This could be my opinion, or it might be psy-ops to make Republicans nervous.]

The BBC reports that someone spoke out of turn: Guantanamo suicides ‘not PR move’

The US state department has distanced itself from comments by a top official that the three suicides by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were “a good PR move”.

Colleen Graffy told the BBC the deaths were part of a strategy and “a tactic to further the jihadi cause”, but taking their own lives was unnecessary.

“I would not say that it was a PR stunt,” said spokesman Sean McCormack.

Ms Graffy is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, she is part of Karen Hughes’s “charm initiative” to improve the image of the US abroad. She has rather strong views on Guantanamo, and expressed them before accepting her current position.

The BBC article notes that one of the three men who committed suicide was due for release, but hadn’t been told.  Being due for release does tend to weaken the claim of his being part of a “jihadi plot.”

While it may only be a minimal hurricane, waiting for it is nerve racking, so how about some kind thoughts for Aikane Leo, Robert, and Van, who are closer than I want to be to the path.

The eye of the storm is not the only place that bad things happen, the outer-most band of the storm generates tornadoes, that are every bit as destructive. While I sat here watching Ivan come ashore 30 miles to the west of me, the tornadoes from the outer band killed 8 people in and around Panama City 60 miles to the east.

Hopefully the damage will be minimal and the rains will help to control the wildfires.

I don’t like the term “frame” as it is used in a political context, I prefer “lie”, as it is shorter and more realistic.

Three individuals have reportedly died in US military custody at the facility located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There is no way of independently confirming the deaths or the circumstances of the deaths or any of the particulars about the individuals who are reported to have died. There is no independent oversight and only the International Committee of the Red Cross has regular access to the facility.

As the Culture Ghost notes, NBC is reporting that: First suicides at controversial facility an ‘act of warfare,’ U.S. military says.

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