Why is this not big news ???

[obnoxiousdrunk]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/22/opinion/22KRUG.html

[Kadie]

1. What is it?

I don't want to register to find out.

[HootieMcBoob]

4. It's a Paul Krugman article in the New York Times

If you're going to register for anything you should register for The Times, if only to be able to read Krugman each week.

[NMDemDist2]

7. here is a few paragraphs

In April 2003, John Ashcroft's Justice Department disrupted what appears to have been a horrifying terrorist plot. In the small town of Noonday, Tex., F.B.I. agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon — a cyanide bomb — big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.

Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release. This was, to say the least, out of character. Jose Padilla, the accused "dirty bomber," didn't have any bomb-making material or even a plausible way to acquire such material, yet Mr. Ashcroft put him on front pages around the world. Mr. Krar was caught with an actual chemical bomb, yet Mr. Ashcroft acted as if nothing had happened.

Incidentally, if Mr. Ashcroft's intention was to keep the case low-profile, the media have been highly cooperative. To this day, the Noonday conspiracy has received little national coverage.

and I didn't have to register

[leesa]

53. Is it his private cache?

[skooooo]

8. Domestic terrorist

In April 2003, John Ashcroft's Justice Department disrupted what appears to have been a horrifying terrorist plot. In the small town of Noonday, Tex., F.B.I. agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon — a cyanide bomb — big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.

Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release.

SNIP

The discovery of the Texas cyanide bomb should have served as a wake-up call: 9/11 has focused our attention on the threat from Islamic radicals, but murderous right-wing fanatics are still out there. The concerns of the Justice Department, however, appear to lie elsewhere. Two weeks ago a representative of the F.B.I. appealed to an industry group for help in combating what, he told the audience, the F.B.I. regards as the country's leading domestic terrorist threat: ecological and animal rights extremists.

[Warpy]

10. It's about a right wing terrorist

"In April 2003, John Ashcroft's Justice Department disrupted what appears to have been a horrifying terrorist plot. In the small town of Noonday, Tex., F.B.I. agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon — a cyanide bomb — big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.

"Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release. This was, to say the least, out of character. Jose Padilla, the accused "dirty bomber," didn't have any bomb-making material or even a plausible way to acquire such material, yet Mr. Ashcroft put him on front pages around the world. Mr. Krar was caught with an actual chemical bomb, yet Mr. Ashcroft acted as if nothing had happened.

"Incidentally, if Mr. Ashcroft's intention was to keep the case low-profile, the media have been highly cooperative. To this day, the Noonday conspiracy has received little national coverage."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/22/opinion/22KRUG.html


The original story can be found at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5350.htm There is a video and transcript of the story as it broke in Texas (and nowhere else).

[BootinUp]

11. You can use this site

to bypass a lot of online registrations, or so I've heard. Haven't tried it myself yet.

http://bugmenot.com

[ihaveaquestion]

20. You can also sign up as "Freethepress" at most major sites.

Use "freethepress" or "[e-mail]" for the id and "freethepress" as the password. This works lots of the time. For sites that don't already have "freethepress" registered, go ahead and register it - I've done it at least twice already.

[thecrow]

29. Bugmenot Works GREAT! eom

[Kadie]

38. Thanks everyone. n/t

[IronLionZion]

2. terrorist plot uncovered in 2003

from the article above for those who don't want to register:

In April 2003, John Ashcroft's Justice Department disrupted what appears to have been a horrifying terrorist plot. In the small town of Noonday, Tex., F.B.I. agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon — a cyanide bomb — big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.

Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release. This was, to say the least, out of character. Jose Padilla, the accused "dirty bomber," didn't have any bomb-making material or even a plausible way to acquire such material, yet Mr. Ashcroft put him on front pages around the world. Mr. Krar was caught with an actual chemical bomb, yet Mr. Ashcroft acted as if nothing had happened.

Incidentally, if Mr. Ashcroft's intention was to keep the case low-profile, the media have been highly cooperative. To this day, the Noonday conspiracy has received little national coverage.

At this point, I have the usual problem. Writing about John Ashcroft poses the same difficulties as writing about the Bush administration in general, only more so: the truth about his malfeasance is so extreme that it's hard to avoid sounding shrill.

[librechik]

3. It's Krugman

the least talked about abomination of this administration: THey are racist assholes.

[sniffa]

5. um, wow

[Mandate My Ass]

6. Ashcroft is even worse than I dared imagine in 2000

I sincerely hope he is held accountable for his illegal,
immoral, unethical actions.

Even in the fight against foreign terrorists, Mr. Ashcroft's political leanings have distorted policy. Mr. Ashcroft is very close to the gun lobby — and these ties evidently trump public protection. After 9/11, he ordered that all government lists — including voter registration, immigration and driver's license lists — be checked for links to terrorists. All government lists, that is, except one: he specifically prohibited the F.B.I. from examining background checks on gun purchasers.

Mr. Ashcroft told Congress that the law prohibits the use of those background checks for other purposes — but he didn't tell Congress that his own staff had concluded that no such prohibition exists. Mr. Ashcroft issued a directive, later put into law, requiring that records of background checks on gun buyers be destroyed after only one business day.

[Desertrose]

12. He what??

Mr. Ashcroft issued a directive, later put into law, requiring that records of background checks on gun buyers be destroyed after only one business day.


How the hell could he do that?
Oh crap..I forgot...Bush's America. nuff said .We're screwed.

DR

[Mandate My Ass]

18. Everyday I see we're a little farther down the road

to fascism. I sometimes wish one day would go by without
hearing any more of these disturbing and illegal changes
but so far, Ashie is batting a thousand on destroying our
liberties while coddling fanatics and idealogues who are
more to his liking.

[IronLionZion]

9. Because terrorists are ARABIC and MUSLIM!

Don't worry about homegrown terrorists. Now tune back to Fox News and remember - Be afraid of arabs!

/sarcasm

[vivalarev]

17. If you want to read more about it....

the new issue of Maxim has a huge in-depth article that details what happened and how the govt handled it. i dont whether Maxim would be considered media, but at least some one had the balls to run the story

[Treaghon]

22. That about sounds like Ashcroft.

I'm still wondering how much legitimate news is being filtered through partisan journalistic outlets.

I mean, how many frikkin secret energy policies and closed-door meetings are we gonna have to endure before the majority of the populace notice the warning klaxons.

It's already deafening. :mad:

[Killarney]

13. Because news like this would show how INSANE freepers are.

[NewJeffCT]

14. well, since Krar is from Texas...

Maybe he has Bushco connections and that is why it's been kept silent?

[mstrsplinter326]

15. wow. n/t

[Sterling]

16. Cuz no one wants to pay the online fee?

I could noot even read the article. Next time be so kind as to post a little bit so we can see what you are talking about.

[skooooo]

19. you don't have to pay for it...

NYT is free, just register, it's worth it.

[ihaveaquestion]

24. Register as 'freethepress" - see above

[nodehopper]

36. go to bugmenot.com

it lets you bypass registration for most sites

[Hoping4Change]

21. Do you ever get the feeling of living in actual Twilight Zone

episode (i.e. the original Twilight Zone)? Will nothing shake
Bushco supporters awake? It is obscene that this story was squelched.

[zanana]

26. Speechless.

After three and a half years of this garbage, I'm outraged almost every day by a new outrage committed by this administration. I thought that nothing could shock me now. I was wrong.

[SidDithers]

23. Wow, Google News gives only 6 hits on William Krar...

including Krugman's article from today. Scary.

Edit: Compares to over 1300 for Jose Padilla.

Sid

[madrchsod]

25. why?

because he was a white guy with white friends. as long as you are white you`ll get very little press.

anyone remember "dr chaos"??? he`s doing about 50yrs.

anyone hear about the guy in rockford il with a list of
liberal politions to kill?

[gatorboy]

27. Reminds me of this news story:

www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs..../1004/NEWS

ROCKFORD -- A judge has ordered the conditional release of a Rockford man who kept a hit list of high-ranking U.S. officials and celebrities, such as former Attorney General Janet Reno and filmmaker Michael Moore.

Michael Breit, 20, faces federal explosives charges. Police found the hit list in his apartment last month along with an arsenal of firearms, knives, bomb-making materials, ammunition, such books as "The Anarchist Cookbook" and "The Turner Diaries," and threatening personal writings and drawings.



Not only did they let the guy go, pending trial, one of the reasons was "To attend church" So much for the fight on terrorism....

[Hoping4Change]

30. Another judge reversed that decision but the fact that any

judge thought it'd be ok to release him is obscene.


http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040526/NEWS0107/405260313&category=NEWS0107

[gatorboy]

43. Thanks for the link!

I was wondering what was happening with that case.

[Hoping4Change]

47. I just sent an email to the reporter asking if there were any

updates because there was supposed to be a hearing on June 10th.

[Worst Username Ever]

28. BIG story about this in the new Maxim

Not exactly a reputable news source, but they go into quite a bit of detail about it. I was surprized I had never heard anything about it.

[JayS]

32. I posted this story some time back ago, along with three...

...other seizures of fully automatic (not that Brady Bunch stuff) weapons, explosives, and so forth. They sank like rocks.

[LeftHander]

31. He doesn't want to tell....

Because this right wing extremist pig was not supposed to be caught.

If he had executed what ever plot he had intended I am 100% sure that Al Queda would of been blamed. Ashcroft would of beat a path to the media with who was responsible in a matter of minutes. And another middle eastern name and anonymous picture splattered all over the news.

[Zen]

33. I've said a few times here...

The reason we didn't declare a "war on rednecks" after Oklahoma City was because they were Right-Wing Republicans. The same applies to those "home grown" terrorists described in the story. The Right-Wing is the breeding ground of terrorism. You can see why Asscrass wouldn't want us to be distracted from the focus on the "camel jockey" threat. Even more so, the fact that Right-Wing Republicans also tend to be the home grown terrorists would be a double whammy!! I think we should declare a "war on Right-Wing Terrorists" - especially since they are more likely to succeed since they don't have dark skin.

[JayS]

37. The reason we did nothing after Oklahoma City was because...

...there were too many links to Islamic radicals and an election was coming up.

[Zen]

52. What do you mean?

I heard some right-wing nut at work talking about OK city and Islamic terrorists, but I don't believe anything he says.

[JayS]

54. There are a lot of questions that, for whatever reason, have...

...not gotten the attention they deserve, or have gotten more attention than the government wants. Some of these questions are ones like what were the defendants doing in the Philippines, where were they getting their money, where are the security tapes that the FBI lists in the evidence inventory, how can the Secret Service agent describe in detail the contents of a tape that does not exist, and so forth. I think there is more to the story, a view shared by some questioning politicians in Oklahoma, and feel that we will hear more of the story after the elections.

My own personal view is that the bombing in Oklahoma City was supposed to be stopped in a "made for TV" bust (Waco redux) and things just went horribly wrong. If this is true, I think those involved thought the bomb would go off later in the day, not right away. If the odd events after the bombing were part of a cover-up, it was a hastily done cover up. The AP stories are archived in many places if you are not already familiar with the questions surrounding the investigation. Avoid the conspiracy sites if you can though. The sad thing is, you can substitute 911 into the stories everywhere there is a mention of the OK City bombing and the story sounds contemporary.

There are some current stories archived here. The NPR audios are especially interesting. I think it is the one called "Judge Denies Motion..." that refers to the Secret Service logs.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=us&cat=oklahoma_city_bombing

[Catherine Vincent]

34. That is scary.

It also reminds me of an incident here in Houston, I believe it was just before the superbowl, they arrested a guy holed up in one of those extended stay hotel rooms with loads of explosives and guns. It made the local news but outside of that, no national media coverage. You know there's dozens of psychos out there that are willing to kill themselves but to blow up a lot of people in the process. No, I don't feel safer now that Saddam is captured.

[leftofthedial]

35. is that a rhetorical question?

perhaps you should ask Herr Goebbels, er Rove, or some of his media minions.

[tom_paine]

39. Because Imperial Amerika has no Free Press

Such stories may be covered in the New Amerika, but not given more prominence that they would reach more than 0.5% OF THE POPULACE.

THESE ARE THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF IMPERIAL AMERIKA.

[TreasonousBastard]

40. Actually, it was big news...

and I read about it in the Times and our local fishwrap months ago, with several followup stories.

I may even have posted about it here.

I can't help it if you all hate the corporate news so much you don't bother to read it when it actually does run a story.

Which it does quite a bit.

[JayS]

42. I think the story was run the day...

...Michael Jackson farted and the story was eclipsed by the breaking wind...err...news.

[Ms. Clio]

41. Because we're not really waging a war against "terrorism"

but fighting a war of imperial expansion in the Middle East.

[kcwayne]

44. Because its not terrorism if you are killing for Jesus or the White race

according to AssKKKroft, this guy is a Christian patriot.

[rinsd]

45. Funny, Maxim magazine of all people....

...tears this case a new a-hole.

Going over the timeline & citing experts in the field, they accuse the FBI of first ignoring this(several times in fact), then overreacting.

Unfortunately they don't put those articles online. But pick up a copy if you get a chance.

[Zinfandel]

46. This should be headline news all over the United States!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/22/opinion/22KRUG.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=

To the Great Paul Krugman...

Thank you, you did it again!

[Bluebear]

48. Maybe the suspects weren't "dark people" nt

[theHandpuppet]

49. Doesn't surprise me...

Probably one of Ashcrack's "Southern Partisan" pals... perhaps this might shed a little light on his "look the other way" attitude towards home-grown RW terrorists and hate groups:

"Southern Partisan T-Shirt Identical to One
Worn By Timothy McVeigh at Time of Arrest"
http://www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR011501b.htm

Prominent politicians appearing in Southern Partisan Magazine: U.S. House Representative Dick Armey, U.S. Senator John Ashcroft, U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, U.S. Senator Phil Gramm, U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, and U.S. Senator Trent Lott. Index to Southern Partisan magazine, the bi-monthly journal of the same group that made defeating Max Cleland its primary goal in the mid-terms: http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/SouthernPartisanIndex1999.htm and http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/SouthernPartisan2000.htm

Ashcroft defends "Southern Partisan": http://www.fair.org/press-releases/southern-partisan.html and http://www.fair.org/press-releases/ashcroft.html and http://www.uncletaz.com/ashcroft/

[cjbuchanan]

50. This got some news coverage in Texas

It was covered by a lot of local papers (Dallas, Austin, Waco, etc), but no national news picked it up.

This should be a much bigger story, but it seems that the big media do not know how to cover it.

[havocmom]

51. A kick for the night shift

cuz this raises important questions and evidence about Ashcroft's agenda
:kick: