StormWarning’s Counterterrorism

To me, this is comical. Saddam Hussein feared contracting HIV or an STD from guards in the prison he was kept prior to his hanging. Other insights into how this madman thought were revealed in his diaries, being reported today.

Among the revelations of from the Al-Hayat newspaper was that he feared catching “young people’s diseases” because the soldiers were hanging their clothes out to dry on the same clothes line with his.

Of course, the diaries (not available in their entirety yet, I don’t think), also offer insight into this madman’s thinking.

“I explained to them that they are young and they could have young people’s diseases,” Saddam wrote. “My main concern was to not catch a venereal disease, an HIV disease, in this place.”

[:]

“The spread of the Persians… is more dangerous for Iraq than the Zionist entity, now and in the future,” he wrote. “The Persians are similarly dangerous to the Arab nation, especially the Arab countries of the Gulf.”

More is included in another article:

I joked with him saying… may Allah will enable me to get married and have children again, to name two of them Uday and Qusay, and the third Mustapha,” wrote Saddam, who was reportedly married four times.

This is a link to the translated page(s) of Al-Hayat. Here is one of his poems.

I suspect that I remain in the minority on this one. But Hussein was so delusional that I believe that either his WMDs had been shipped out of Iraq and sent to Syria (or Yemen), or maybe more likely, Saddam had been duped by his scientists into believing that Iraq still maintained a stockpile of WMDs, their motivation being the continuation of their budgets and good life styles afforded by doing phantom research.

al Hayat, diaries, Hussein, WMDs

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Just a few unobvious comments about the obvious topic…Eliot Spitzer’s less than obvious “dalliance.”  Interesting is that it was “suspicious money transfers” and not an interest in prostitution that got the Feds interested…believing that he might be hiding bribes…reported to the IRS by a bank, then, directed by DoJ, brought in the FBI’s Public Corruption Squad.

“We had no interest at all in the prostitution ring until the thing with Spitzer led us to learn about it,” said one Justice Department official.

But look at this face!  He looks so innocent!

I continues to astound me that people think that they can get away with stuff like this…email tracking (and they, of course live after they are deleted)…wire tapping…bank record surveillance…Patriot Act…Financial Crimes…don’t these guys watch CSI???  Its like the guys who kill their wives and think they’ll get away with it.

$4000 an hour???  Can it be that good?  Or is it the rush of thinking that he’ll get away with it.

And I know that I cannot (and should not generalize - and please be assured that I am not generalizing) but…this evening on the local talk radio station one of the callers observed that Spitzer had done this because he didn’t have G-d in his life. The host, trying to give this bigot a way out, replied that Mr. Spitzer was Jewish and that Jewish people believed in G-d. The caller, not backing off persisted and then responded, “well, but Jews and other non-Christians like Muslims have a different god.” Now if that isn’t an indication of something wrong in this country, I don’t know what is!

Stupid people…bigoted people…narrowminded people.  We’re surrounded by them…and the “holier than thou” “high and mighty” Eliot Spitzer is just one of the more visible ones.

As an afterthought, here is Daivd Letterman’s list of the top ten Eliot Spitzer excuses:

10. Oh come on, like you were never involved in a prostitution ring

9. Hookers is fun

8. Just trying to help the economy

7. Have you ever been to Albany?

6. It’s part of my new MTV prank show “Spitz’d”

5. Haven’t been myself since Roy Schieder died

4. Uh, tainted beef?

3. Whether it’s a hooker or your wife, you’re always paying for it — you married fellas know what I’m talking about

2. Wanted to be known as the Charlie Sheen of politics

1. I thought Bill Clinton legalized this years ago

Eliot Spitzer, money transfers

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Attention people with cardiac risk factors.  Watching the Super Bowl can be hazardous to your health.

● New research suggests that when serious sports fans are watching their team play in a big game, they face more than twice the risk of suffering a heart attack. While the study focused on the 2006 World Cup soccer matches in Germany, American football fans would be wise to take note of the findings.

● Dr. Stephen Siegel, a cardiologist at New York University Medical Center, said fans just need to remember it’s only a game. “It’s a game and it’s great to be involved and excited, it just needs to be toned down. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you,” he advised…”It appears you have to be vested in some way in the outcome,” explained Siegel. “I would definitely expect there to be an increase in heart attacks in New York and New England this weekend if it’s a close game.”

Go Giants! Subdued, of course.

cardiac risk, Super Bowl

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For some reason, roadkill opportunities seem to follow me around.

January 14, 2008
Driving through my neighborhood from the entrance (just past a stand of trees and a stream), I saw in my lights the reflection of the eyes of a rat (I thought that I lived in a “nice” area, but then again, its been dry here and maybe it was looking for water). No, I didn’t even try to stop (you can imagine the rest).

October 2007
Driving through my neighborhood from the entrance and out of the corner of my eye, sort of at 10 o’clock, I saw a foolish brown squirrel, at first, it seemed that he was deciding whether or not to cross the road in front of me…and then, for no apparent reason at all, he darted in front of my car. I heard a “thump-thump” (like he had bounced), and in the rear-view mirror, I saw it turning over. When I got home, I told my wife, who immediately got into her car and went to where I told her it had happened. Wouldn’t ya know it! That damn squirrel had gotten up and run off. So the “thump-thump” didn’t kill him (either that, or one of the neighborhood turkey vultures had swooped in quickly to take his snackfood).

November 8, 2004
Also yesterday, on my way to an appointment, I was driving on a main highway (3 lanes, with traffic lights) where the “normal” driving speed is between 50 and 60 mph. I was driving in the left lane, approaching an “S” curve, when suddenly appeared a seagull that landed directly in front of me, probably only 10 yards ahead. He had been attracted by someone’s throw-away McDonalds french fries (I guess). He looked up at me (I could see his eyes), and he must have thought to himself, “oh 5*1*!!!” and attempted to fly away. But he was weighed down by the food in his beak, and couldn’t get out of the way. I couldn’t swerve because of my speed and the fact that there were cars all around me…Feathers flew as the bird bounced off my left headlight.

July 27, 2002
It happened right in front of me! I’d made a quick run back up to my office (’cause I forgot some stuff for a meeting I have on Monday morning at 8), and I was on my way home. Driving on a two-lane parkway at approx. 60-65mph, I suddenly saw an SUV skid, smoke pluming from its brakes and tires…it slid across to the adjacent lane, hit another car and forced it off the road, and was slammed from behind by another SUV (that was following to closely, but thats another story), which was hit from behind by another car. Net, net…a four car pile-up because the first SUV had slammed on its brakes to avoid hitting a Canadian Snow Goose that was (for some reason) walking across the road…and the goose died on the side of the road anyway.

So, with all of the stress and anxiety shown recently over animal cruelty, I was wondering…[this was a poll taken on Motley Fool - obviously not scientific]

 14% (3 Votes)
Goose feathers! It deserved to die. The SUV should’ve pulverized it.

 14% (3 Votes)
I’d avoid hitting the goose (or any other animal) even w/an accident

 55% (12 Votes)
Kill the goose, but if it was a deer, I’d avoid it.

 18% (4 Votes)
There are too many Canadian Snow Geese

Sometime in 1996 (I don’t remember the exact date)
Traveling on the same stretch of road as I did in November 2004 (but just a little further down the road), in fact, driving the same car (yeah! I drove that car into the ground - over 180,000 miles before it died), a “damn cat” crossed in front on the car…I was going too fast to stop or swerve around it. It was the first time I ever actually saw fur fly (in the rear view mirror).

There is a lesson in all of this. I know that there is. There must be one.

OK!  I’ll admit it.  Since the last roadkill incident (the first one listed), I’ve had this recurring fear everytime I open my garage door, I’m going to be attacked by a hoard of revenge seeking rodents.

road kill

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