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weekend alert as FBI warns of new attack *
oh swell.

make sure everyone you love knows what's going on.

*via little green footballs.
posted by bwg at 11:53 PM PST - 16 comments

American Flag Display Quiz and the answers for all the ignorant folks out there. When the American Flag is displayed on a wall, the canton (the blue field and stars) should be on the left as you face the wall. Am I the only one in America who knows this?
posted by canoeguide at 11:38 PM PST - 9 comments

I know this much is true... For years, I have said that the greatest thing about the modern state of the US is that we hold nothing as "True". I was wrong. Apparently our "Truths" were just sleeping; now everyone seems to have some, and they're proving to be as divisive and factionalist here as elsewhere. So - apart from any particular issue - are there "Truths", or are there just perceptions of an issue? And, just to keep some edges sharp, in answering, are you at all religious?
posted by Perigee at 10:59 PM PST - 77 comments

Way of life ending for NASCAR fans as coolers banned from racetracks. Is this an example of increased security or overt paranoia? "Right now you don't know who you can trust, you don't know who the guy sitting next to you is and you don't know if his cooler could be a bomb."
posted by mb01 at 8:04 PM PST - 32 comments

For the rest of us, here's an up-and-coming artist who manages to blend the visual impact of graphitti with the frenetic energy of comic book art, creating a neat style all his own, but shared by others. It's like an american version of anime.
...please god... no more wtc links...
posted by jcterminal at 7:48 PM PST - 14 comments

Uhm, Is Everything All Right? "Everything is under control. Situation normal. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?" That can't be right, can it?
posted by yerfatma at 6:11 PM PST - 13 comments

How life changed from the view of several photographers. The first link, about the injured David Handschuh is the most powerful story. The experiences of fellow photographers Richard Drew and Shannon Stapleton are made evident just by the giant shift in their subject matter (seen sequentially via Yahoo News) from Sep. 10th to Sep. 11th. Drew was covering the US Open on one day, falling people the next. Shannon went quickly from Spring Fashion 2002 to ground zero.
posted by kokogiak at 4:47 PM PST - 10 comments

Hellooooo internment camps!! "The Bush administration today announced a major expansion of its power to detain immigrants suspected of crimes, including new rules prompted by last week's terrorist attacks that would allow legal immigrants to be detained indefinitely during a national emergency."
posted by fooljay at 4:01 PM PST - 47 comments

Holt Magazine is featuring an interview and some background on Tamin Ansary, the person who penned the Letter from an Afghani American. Isn't it incredible how the internet can empower a lowly school book writer's voice and broadcast it to the world?
posted by mathowie at 3:21 PM PST - 16 comments

I'm somewhat surprised that no one has yet posted anything about this (see also here and here, etc). My heart leapt last night when I heard this on NPR. All I could think of was that perhaps the five to six thousand seemingly-senseless deaths in our country will eventually, somehow, some way, end up saving at least that many Israeli and Palestinian lives - perhaps even pave the road to permanent peace. Perhaps some good can come of this, amidst all the pain. Am I a hopeless optimist?
posted by anastasiav at 2:10 PM PST - 12 comments

How To Launder Money If the "terrorism can't be overpowered, it can only be undermined" train of thought holds true, then the money funding terrorist activities needs to be cutoff, especially considering they may directly profit from it (and theoretically at least, it's easier to choke off funds than grass roots ideology). From what I've read Osama bin Laden's money comes from wealthy fundamentalist sympathizers, "rogue" governments and the heroin racket. Governments create, maintain and oversee the money apparatus, but if money laundering can't be stopped I don’t see how terrorism can either, um short of eradicating poverty, "the petri-dish for the culture of suicide bombing."
posted by kliuless at 1:59 PM PST - 11 comments

Egyptian plane crashes and U.S. says pilot a suicide Egypt denies suicide as cause of plane that crashed just off our coast. Any connection to WTC?
posted by Postroad at 1:16 PM PST - 5 comments

Interesting News Out of Pakistan: Whales Lived on Land Whales evolved from strange wolf-sized creatures that lived on land in modern-day India and Pakistan more than 50 million years ago, and their closest relatives today are cows, camels and giraffes, experts say.
posted by cell divide at 1:06 PM PST - 21 comments

Gay, lesbian troops can serve openly -- for now "First, gays and lesbians would be allowed to serve during any war, just as they do now, as long as they remain in compliance with the homosexual conduct policy," said Maj. James P. Cassella of the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs' office."

Sorry we've treated you so crappy, but, uh, we need you to serve now. Of course, when we don't need you any more, you'll be discharged because you're gay.
posted by 4midori at 12:56 PM PST - 81 comments

America: A Tribute To Heroes Special/telethon airing across all four networks to raise money for 9.11 this Friday from 9pm to 11pm. Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Deniro, Jim Carrey and more celebs than you can shake a stick at.
posted by owillis at 12:42 PM PST - 21 comments

Israel is not the real issue the piece speaks for itself. Many have blamed our foreign policy, our support of Israel, our bombing of Iraq. This view sees a different issue and confrontation.
posted by Postroad at 11:22 AM PST - 46 comments

From the "not clear on the concept dep't.": Mom Dashes 900 Miles to Deliver Forgotten GameBoy to 11-year-old son bound for the isolated island of Iona to learn about life without modern amenities.
posted by msacheson at 11:08 AM PST - 24 comments

Internet audio for providing the background noise for your web surfing. Radio Paradise offers up peacenik rock and international music. Support American cornfed Middle Eastern music by listening to Salaam (more Middle East artists from mp3.com.) Or just get your fill of 70s, 80s, or 90s pop rock. Any other good music out there for surfing with your ears?
posted by KirkJobSluder at 10:47 AM PST - 7 comments

Bill Maher calls U.S. cowardly; FedEx pulls ads from show It looks like that "Freedom of Speech" thing is too much for some people to handle. What do expect from a show like this? If you can't handle it, don't watch it.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 10:42 AM PST - 86 comments

Internet Domain Names May Have Warned of Attacks “Internet domain names like 'attackontwintowers.com' and 'worldtradetowerattack.com' were registered more than a year ago. It's not known at this time who registered the suspicious names or what their purpose was.” Hmm. Just (un)lucky guesses, or inside information?
posted by kd at 10:33 AM PST - 26 comments

Why America would lose a ground war.
Or not.
Thoughts?
posted by TiggleTaggleTiger at 10:22 AM PST - 22 comments

Highlights of President Musharraf of Pakistan's Speech To The Nation.
Glossary: Hikmat = Wisdom
Summary = Godspeed USA
posted by adnanbwp at 10:16 AM PST - 8 comments

Interesting intelligence report points possible responsibility to terrorists other than bin Laden... Israel’s military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that sponsored the suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the world’s foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese Imad Mughniyeh, head of the special overseas operations for Hizbullah, and the Egyptian Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri, senior member of Al-Qaeda and possible successor of the ailing Osama Bin Laden.

Includes information about connections and previous activities... check it out...
posted by adamholz at 9:40 AM PST - 12 comments

Patriotic Voting?
Granted, this is in Seattle, not New York, but here's the bit I found interesting: Voter participation is expected to jump all the way up to almost 35% because of what this article calls "patriotic fervor." Call me a cynic, but I can't help but think that when it comes to citizenship, most of us would still rather just chant 'USA! USA!' at a ball game. Comments?
posted by Gilbert at 9:30 AM PST - 25 comments

Northeast could face energy chaos, MIT expert warns "The existing transmission grids were designed to serve regional needs. Power transfers from one grid to another were meant for emergencies only. Computer simulations performed at MIT show that heavy use of grid interconnections to tap cheaper power sources can have unintended effects. Trades between two regional grids can adversely affect operations in a third regional grid, potentially leading to frequency and voltage disturbances." But don't panic, MIT's Competitive Power Systems Group (funded "from a variety of industrial sources") has a solution. FUD or useful idea?
posted by Allen Varney at 9:25 AM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

What is art? A German composer describes the WTC bombings as "the greatest work of art one can imagine." (Then he apologized after four concerts were cancelled.) Perhaps he should have lunch with Jerry Falwell -- they'll have a lot to talk about.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:16 AM PST - 27 comments

Doing what I can. Cities across the nation are sold out of United States flags. This is my meager attempt to give anyone interested an American Flag in their cubicle. Distribute freely.
posted by ooklah at 8:44 AM PST - 19 comments

An Archived New Yorker Article about the capabilities and limitations of the American intelligence apparatus. This seems very prescient, since it was published in 1999.
posted by Danf at 7:45 AM PST - 1 comments

The only "war" I can think of in U.S. history anything like the present situation is the U.S. Navy's war on Caribbean piracy (1814-1825). Stateless, decentralized foe, no defined fields of battle, no "high-value targets"...Again, 1814-1825: eleven years. Any U.S. history majors out there?
posted by luser at 6:19 AM PST - 19 comments

And the award for the dumbass of the year goes to.... Constantinos Carpis - an Australian who "told ticket-counter employees he had a nuclear bomb during routine questioning as he checked in."
posted by viama at 6:09 AM PST - 21 comments

The Washington Post calls it "An Attack on the World." In addition, the London Times has a graphic of a world map that shows the number of people killed in last week's attacks from other countries.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 5:50 AM PST - 5 comments

Guardsman Charged in Five Bomb Threats. A Tennessee Army National Guard sergeant from Smyrna was arrested yesterday on charges he made five threats of terrorist bombings against two National Guard facilities in Nashville in the past week.

(What was someone saying about "friends like these"?)
posted by tpoh.org at 5:13 AM PST - 6 comments

The Christian Guide to Small Arms helpfully seeks to inform theists which gun best suits their needs. "The most useful arm to the Christian warrior is probably the rifle or the carbine." With citizens like these, who needs terrorists? Link via Mike's Weblog
posted by johnnyace at 4:18 AM PST - 30 comments

YA Guardian Opinion Piece It's a worrying day for me when I agree with Martin Amis. I particularly like the reference at the end to "species-conciousness". Do you have "species-consciousness"?
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:21 AM PST - 9 comments