Year 2, Day 247 (Look Beyond The Smokescreen)

Some interesting developments have occurred over the past few days. It's no secret that rioting and attacks upon our embassies and missions have been taking place in the Middle East. Somehow, this furor has been in "protest" over an anti-Islam movie on the internet. A few interesting facts:

1) this "movie" - which is actually very low-budget - was uploaded onto YouTube back in July, by its director, who goes by the pseudonym of Sam Bacile;

2) The present home of this director is in California;

3) Those who are "protesting" have, in the past, shown to be, not only well organized, but also computer savvy... so why such a delay in the "uproar"... such as to "coincide" with 9/11?

Another point to consider is that, in the aftermath of the attacks (and subsequent murders of diplomats and embassy staff), President Obama was quoted as saying,

"As we mourn their loss, we must also send a clear and resolute message to the world: those who attack our people will find no escape from justice. We will not waver in their pursuit. And we will never allow anyone to shake the resolve of the United States of America,"

Yet, last night (as reported by The Guardian) a man named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who is thought to be the director (or as the article says, the writer & producer) behind the aforementioned "movie" (a.k.a. Sam Bacile), was brought in for questioning by police in California. Not arrested, just brought in for questioning.

Voluntarily.

At around midnight.


Going back to the President's comment:

"Those who attack our people will find no escape from justice. We will not waver in their pursuit."

Last I checked, Nakoula did NOT "attack our people". The only crime that he can be charged with at this point is violating parole, for using an alias (he had been on parole stemming from previous charges of bank fraud). The article from The Guardian was also reference in a shortly followed blog post by Glenn Reynolds on the InstaPundit website. What I find very eerie - and some of you may call me paranoid - is that the photograph (shown in both of the above links) is of Nakoula being escorted by the police, whom, ironically enough, were wearing brown shirts (reminiscent of the Nazi regime). That may be a coincidence, but there have been too many coincidences with this administration, linked to Nazi-era Germany. If this develops into the direction I suspect, Nakoula could face more serious charges, or be extradited to the Middle East... which gives rise to the thought that Sharia Law may be one step closer to being embedded here in America. Again, so much for "separation of Church and State". Granted, the talk is that Nakoula filmed the "movie" in a way that its cast "didn't know what the film was about" and there were times of obvious overdubbing of some lines, but if what I mentioned earlier, that would set a new precedent... one we DON'T want... punishment for what can be perceived as blasphemy, especially if those offended are of ONLY one religion: Islam. We've seen the deteriorating of all other religions/faiths, while, at the same time, the building up of laws protecting Islam and Muslims.

Another blog of note on this subject is the recent posting by Mark Steyn of The National Review, which is quite scathing, but very much on target (both blogs were brought to my attention by the Facebook postings of Kevin Jackson of The Black Sphere website).

In closing, my wife - and a mutual friend of ours - posted something on Facebook that is right on the money:

"They will burn our flag, but they won't burn our currency."

Year 2, Day 18 (This Could Be A Long Night)

We left this morning from Haubstadt, IN, which is just north of Evansville, and about 25 miles from the customer we were delivering to. Lou and I arrived at 1030, where we waited nearly 1 1/2 hours before they put us in a door. Once we were unloaded, I called the broker to close this load out, then we made our way to Robards, KY to pick up a Tyson load. The load shows to deliver at 0800 tomorrow in Rogers, AR, but since this is going from one Tyson plant to another (and because Lou, nor I, will have the hours to get there by then), then it will get there when it gets there. Last night, when we shut down, the weather was fairly cool, but the wind added some bite to the temperature.

There was also a bit of a situation that arose last night. My son, Sean-Patrick, was on something of a road trip with his roommate, Brooke. I'm still a bit unsure of all the details, but what it comes down to is she gat arrested, and he was, therefore, stranded in Raton, NM. My wife, Tikvah, got him a bus ticket to Las Vegas, and I made a call, so he will be staying with my brother there for a few days... until we figure out what's next. The ticket: $140?! It turns out the bus goes from Raton (which, by the way, is just south of the Colorado state line), to Denver, then to Salt Lake City, then to Vegas.

Sean-Patrick is 19, and no longer lives with us, which explains why he went on the road trip (from hell, as it turns out). I did suggest to him that perhaps he can open up a restaurant in Santa Fe.

You get brownie points if you caught my reference in the previous sentence... or at least some coffee.