I'm baack!

Sorry for the lack of comments and posts. I have been off to another convention. I have read back and think I read everything, but might have missed something. I was reading quickly, so may not have commented on things I would usually catch. I love being back in my own bed.

I came back to find Jesus on my door. It was an invitation to the District Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses. I was intrigued to find that Jesus has a new haircut - a nice, conservative, short haircut, though it was fluffed out enough to suggest he used product. His beard and mustache was neatly trimmed. It's nice to know that
modern!Jesus hits up a good salon. That's good for PR.

No satsang this morning. Bummer. They'll be back next week. My Mom is planning a trip to SF soon because her cousin is in Hospice care for lung cancer. She wants me to drive down with her, and that should be fun despite the circumstances. I'd rather drive her down than have her driving. She gets a bit angry when driving on crowded freeways and tends to tailgate and do other things that may overly frustrate other drivers.

It would set back my efforts to get the house cleaned up, though. Meh.

Homegrown Terror

As I was hopping back and forth between activities at a conference this weekend, the breaking stories were the bombs in London and the attack on the Glasgow airport.

I was very disappointed that, before any evidence was released, CNN was reporting a link to Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is the current bogeyman. They're hiding under your bed, and the instant that anything untoward happens, Al Qaeda is blamed.

Right now, some are calling the persons arrested "middle eastern", while witnesses to the arrests are on record as describing them as "asian" - which is used in Britain to refer to people from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Consider the fact there are widespread protests in Pakistan due to the Knighting of Salman Rushdie. Quoting from the Asian Tribune Article:

"In neighbouring Pakistan a near hysteria has been created against knighthood for Salman Rushdie. Both Houses of Pakistan Parliament (national assembly) have passed resolutions against the knighthood, as have the state assemblies. Effigies of the Queen and the Union Jack have been burnt all across the country, including its so-called cultural capital, Lahore.

Speaking in the national assembly, a federal minister, who is also the son of a former military dictator, Gen Zia-ul-Haq, justified terrorism in the name of religion and incited people in his country to carry out suicide attacks. His words must have worried the present military dictator enough for their impact on Pakistan’s already sullied image to force the egregious Pakistani minister to issue a ‘clarification’. "

Another statement that aroused concern was by Pakistan's religious affairs minister, Mohammad Ejaz-ul-Haq. According to Asia Media, he said, "If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honor of the prophet Mohammad, his act is justified." They reported that he "later retracted his statement, saying he was not looking to incite suicide bombing but explaining that knighting Rushdie could foster extreme actions."


Despite these very specific threats, there has been no speculation about links to the Pakistani protests. CNN is still reporting that it is an "Al Qaeda-linked group" (sorry, no link yet as transcripts have not been published). The only "evidence" cited in the Al Qaeda speculation is that Al Qaeda has used linked car bombs - where one small bomb goes off to get gawkers out into the street, then a second, larger bomb goes off to kill them. It is speculated that the two cars seized in London were linked bombs.

The fact that the US has not raised its security level lends credence to that idea that this is an attack directed toward the UK, not one directed toward the "allies" in Iraq.

The rush to judgement does not serve us well. Speculation about links to Al Qaeda should not be raised by news organizations unless there is proof. The police investigation will show soon enough who was or was not involved. Instead of trying to scoop other news organizations, reporters should be circumspect in their speculations until the evidence is reviewed.