My Kind of Gun Law!!!

25 years murder-free in ‘Gun Town USA’
Crime rate plummeted after law required firearms for residents
Posted: April 19, 2007
WorldNetDaily.com

As the nation debates whether more guns or fewer can prevent tragedies like the Virginia Tech Massacre, a notable anniversary passed last month in a Georgia town that witnessed a dramatic plunge in crime and violence after mandating residents to own firearms.

In March 1982, 25 years ago, the small town of Kennesaw – responding to a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Ill. – unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun. Since then, despite dire predictions of “Wild West” showdowns and increased violence and accidents, not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting – as a victim, attacker or defender.

The crime rate initially plummeted for several years after the passage of the ordinance, with the 2005 per capita crime rate actually significantly lower than it was in 1981, the year before passage of the law.

Prior to enactment of the law, Kennesaw had a population of just 5,242 but a crime rate significantly higher (4,332 per 100,000) than the national average (3,899 per 100,000). The latest statistics available – for the year 2005 – show the rate at 2,027 per 100,000. Meanwhile, the population has skyrocketed to 28,189.

By comparison, the population of Morton Grove, the first city in Illinois to adopt a gun ban for anyone other than police officers, has actually dropped slightly and stands at 22,202, according to 2005 statistics. More significantly, perhaps, the city’s crime rate increased by 15.7 percent immediately after the gun ban, even though the overall crime rate in Cook County rose only 3 percent. Today, by comparison, the township’s crime rate stands at 2,268 per 100,000.

This was not what some predicted.

Taliban Spring Offensive Still In Winter Hibernation?

Where is that Taliban Spring offensive we’ve been expecting?  Well, the following article from U.S. Central Command is shedding some light on the subject:

Coalition, Afghan Forces Counter Taliban Offensive

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2007 – Coalition and Afghan National Army operations have blunted the Taliban spring offensive in eastern Afghanistan, Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel said at a Pentagon news conference today.

Votel, the deputy commanding general for operations for Combined Joint Task Force 82, spoke to reporters via a video hook-up.

Votel said coalition operations seem to have countered the long-anticipated Taliban spring offensive.

“We have been more offensive than I think they have in our posturing and in our ability to dominate areas on the battlefield,” Votel said. “As a result of that, I think we’ve seen a decrease in activities along the border. And our ability to be in more places, along with our Afghan national security force partners, has enabled us to address a broader area across Regional Command East.”

Coalition and Afghan leaders began preparing to counter the Taliban offensive over the winter. More NATO and U.S. troops are in the country, there is closer cooperation with Pakistani forces, and more Afghan forces moved to the border area to stop Taliban infiltration. This seems to have paid off, Votel said.

“So I would not necessarily characterize it as any kind of offensive,” he said. “We certainly haven’t seen it manifest itself to any great degree.”

There have been attacks, the general said, “but we have not seen what I would describe as a spring offensive by the Taliban.”

U.S. citizen pleads guilty to receiving training from al-Qaida

This clown was so proud of his religion he took the plea bargain. I wonder what old mo would have thought about that?
April 19, 2007 (AP)
HOUSTON –A U.S. citizen accused of working alongside al-Qaida members pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization, authorities said.
During a court hearing, Daniel Joseph Maldonado, 28, a Muslim convert also known as Daniel Aljughaifi and Abu Mohammed, admitted to traveling in December to a terrorist camp in Somalia, where he was trained to use firearms and explosives in an effort to help the Islamic Courts Union topple the government and install an Islamic state. Members of al-Qaida were present at the camp.
Maldonado was captured by the Kenyan military while trying to flee Somalia in January and brought back to the United States in February.

I Am Too Stupid For Paradise

With apologies to Eddie Money:

…. I’m gonna take you on a trip so far from here,
I’ve got two batteries in my pocket, now baby, we’re gonna disappear.
We’ve waited so long, waited so long.
We’ve waited so long, waited so long.

Ooooops –

I am too stupid for paradise,
don’t you pack your bags, we won’t leave tonight,
I am too stupid for paradise,
I am too stupid for paradise…

Malfunction prevents major terror attack

YNet News

Islamic Jihad terrorist captured near Tel Aviv two months ago, after ditching explosive device in Rishon Lezion dumpster. Indictment filed against him this week reveals he attempted to activate device on Israeli bus, but failed to do so apparently due to faulty batteries
Hanan Greenberg
04.20.07, 00:40 / Israel News

Two months ago, security forces arrested an Islamic Jihad terrorist in the city of Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, after he ditched his explosive device in a Rishon Lezion dumpster.

An indictment filed against him this week revealed that the would-be bomber attempted to activate the device, which weighed 15 kilograms, while traveling on a bus from Jaffa to Rishon Lezion, but failed to do so due to a malfunction, apparently because the batteries were faulty.

The Samaria military court ruled that 25-year-old Omar Ahmed Abu al-Rob of Jilabun would remain in custody until the conclusions of the criminal proceedings against him.

The investigation material revealed that it was sheer luck which prevented the death and injury of dozens of Israelis.

The terrorist made his way from Jenin to Tel Aviv via Jerusalem, taking advantage of breaches in the separation fence. The preparations for the attack were carried out comprehensively.

Islamic Jihad members in the Jenin refugee camp filmed al-Rob carrying an M-16 rifle and reading his will. While he was being filmed, there was a sound of an aircraft, and the group moved to the local hospital. There, in one of the rooms, the filming was completed.

A day before the bombing was scheduled to take place, the terrorist received a bag containing a device with an ON-OFF switch and batteries. He received orders that moving the switch to the ON mode would cause the device to explode.

The terrorist took a taxi from the Jenin area to Ramallah, and then traveled by taxi to the Qalandiya area. He continued to an area where the separation fence was breached and entered Israel. He took an Israeli bus to Jerusalem, and then traveled by taxis to Tel Aviv.

The entire time, he was carrying the explosive bag on his back, but the batteries were not connected.

The investigation revealed that when he arrived in Tel Aviv, he got off the taxi and connected the batteries to the explosive device. The batteries were apparently inserted incorrectly, preventing the device from exploding.

Arrests Made in ‘Bible’ Killings

Suspects Seized in Turkey ‘Bible’ Killings
Written by The Media Line Staff
Published Thursday, April 19, 2007
The Media Line
The Turkish police has arrested several people in connection with the gruesome killings of three Christians at a bible publishing house on Wednesday.

Attackers slit the throats of the victims, who include a German citizen, at the publishing house in the eastern province Malatya. The bodies were found blindfolded with their throats cut, their hands tied behind their backs and their feet bound.

Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu condemned the killings and called them “an attempt to deal a blow to the atmosphere of peace, stability and tolerance,” according to the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman.

One of the assailants was injured after jumping from the building. Four people were arrested in connection to the attack, but officials suspect there were at least six people involved.

Observers said the nature of the attack suggested it could have been the work of a local Islamist group.

Turkish nationalists have in the past protested outside the publishing house building, which distributes bibles and other Christian literature, accusing it of trying to convert people to Christianity.

The murders highlight the challenges facing the secular Turkey in its bid to become a member of the European Union.

Fewer than one percent of Turkey’s 70 million inhabitants are Christian.

Nigerian Army Kills 25 Islamonazis

Who says that the Taliban are only a local problem???

Some 25 Islamist militants killed in Nigerian military offensive
Monsters and Critics.com

Abuja/Nairobi – The Nigerian army said it has killed some 25 Islamic militants in the northern city of Kano, in response to the slaying of 12 police officers, reports said Wednesday.

Members of an Islamist group known as the ‘Taliban’ stormed a police station in the Panshekara area of the city on Tuesday, burning cars and buildings in their way and killing 12 officers and one of their wives.

Nine of the militants had been captured by the army, according to the British broadcaster BBC.

Throughout the morning, militants and police had been exchanging gunfire in an offensive that came on the heels of landmark presidential elections on April 21 that are set to be the first transfer of power from one civilian government to another.

It was not clear if the attack had any political motives, but the two-day violence added to the rising tensions in the country where 18 opposition parties have threaten to boycott the polls.

Nigerian authorities deployed the troops and police to Kano on Tuesday and reports Wednesday said hundreds of people were fleeing the violence.

The attack came four days after a prominent Islamic cleric in the state, Sheik Ja’afar Mahmood Adam, was assassinated by unidentified assailants.

Assassinate Ahmadinejad

Assassinate Ahmadinejad… Nope, it doesn’t quite have the ring that, “Kill Bill” has, but I bet it sounds nice to a lot of people in the world…

Former Mossad chief: Kill Ahmadinejad
By JPOST STAFF AND AP

Western countries must unite in an effort to assassinate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former head of the Mossad Meir Amit said on Wednesday night.

“Even though in the past I have been opposed to assassinating Arab leaders, this case is different because it alone is the center of the nuclear issue,” Amit told the weekly Kfar Chabad magazine set be published on Thursday.

Amit said he did not perceive an existential danger to Israel following Iran’s nuclear development – “but that is only on condition that we do something about it.”

The former Mossad chief went on to say that the nuclear facility in Dimona presented a deterrent against Ahmadinejad’s intentions. “I think that this is the only reason that he won’t attack us,” he said.