Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Seven

The Washington Times ^ | 4-26-04 | Bill Gertz

[JustPiper]

"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat"

Two Chinese diplomats, away from their Los Angeles consulate improperly, recently sped their vehicle past a Los Alamos National Laboratory guard post near classified facilities in what U.S. officials think was an intelligence mission, The Washington Times has learned.

[Velveeta]

Ugh. That turned my stomach.

[freeperfromnj]

Unattended Bags Raise Security Concerns

(New York-AP, May 3, 2004) — Five suspicious bags left at spots around the city within one week - including an empty suitcase at Penn Station - have heightened concerns that terrorists may be making test runs for bomb attacks.

Transit and law enforcement officials confirmed Monday that a memo issued by a security unit of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority warned of the possible threat, and asked security patrols to report any similar findings of unattended bags. The alert was first reported in The New York Post on Sunday.

The MTA memo said the bags were discovered over about a week in late March and early April. They included an empty, beat-up suitcase found in the main waiting room of Penn Station, and another suspicious bag discovered on the same day in lower Manhattan near 26 Federal Plaza, which houses the FBI's New York office.

The FBI denied reports that all five bags were empty suitcases, describing some as packages that had non-threatening contents. It appeared at least one of the bags belonged to a homeless person, the FBI said.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/apress_050304_bags.html

[freeperfromnj]

Transformer Fire Disrupts Subway Service On the 4, 5, and 6 Lines

(Manhattan-WABC, May 30, 2004) — A transformer fire in an East Side subway tunnel has suspended service between Grand Central Terminal and East 138th Street on the Nos. 4, 5, and 6 lines.

The smoke condition is reported inside the station at 103rd Street and Lexington Avenue.

No injuries have been reported, and the smoke is being dissipated.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/traffic/wabc_050304_trafficstory_transformer.html

[Cindy]

Hi Grizzfan.
FYI: When I post links, just click on them and you can read the whole article.

The records one must be concerned with is the personal info on your record (ie Name, address, phone number, SS#, DL#, Credit Card #, Checking Acct #, etc.)

[freeperfromnj]

Officials Downplay Memo Suggesting Terror Test Run

POSTED: 12:50 pm EDT May 3, 2004
UPDATED: 1:59 pm EDT May 3, 2004

NEW YORK -- Officials on Monday downplayed a transit security memo that warned that five suspicious bags left at spots around the city within one week -- including an empty suitcase at Penn Station -- may be a test run for bomb attacks.

FBI spokesman Jim Margolin denied reports that all five bags were empty suitcases. He described some as packages that had non-threatening contents; it appeared at least one of the bags belonged to a homeless person, he said.

The memo -- issued by a security unit of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- warned of the possible threat, and asked security patrols to report any similar findings of unattended bags. The alert was first reported Sunday by The New York Post.

The bags were discovered over about a week in late March and early April, said MTA spokesman Tom Kelly. They included an empty, beat-up suitcase found in the main waiting room of Penn Station, and another empty bag discovered on the same day in lower Manhattan near 26 Federal Plaza, which houses the FBI's New York office.

Kelly said the memo was issued as a precaution. "In this day and age, you can't take any chances," he said.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/3263191/detail.html

[Indie]

TRAIN DERAILMENT: DFW

PLANO, Texas 3MAY-- A train derailment in north Texas is causing travel problems for Plano residents.16 cars of an 80-car train derailed around 4 p.m. Sunday at Jupiter and 14th Street. The cars that jumped the tracks were full of vinyl pellets.

There were no injuries or evacuations.

Crews worked throughout the night but were not able to clear the cars, which are still blocking both directions of Jupiter.

Even after the cars are cleared, crews will need to close the lanes for the next few days to fix the tracks.

[freeperfromnj]

The actor James Woods was on a dry run flight one week before

Test run for Tuesday, 5/11?

[nw_arizona_granny]

Speaking of fire, KAAA radio, Kingman, Az is reporting:

Fire near power lines and communication equipment at Spirit Mountain, near Laughlin and Bullhead City.

Unknown cause...

BLM Firefighters.

It should be Chaparral and Juniper trees, desert brush fires are hard to fight, as each little clump of grass acts as a fire starter and it spreads fast, being so dry, one spark and it is off.

I fought one on my mountain place, almost didn't win.

Mama thank you for your list, that is a help.

[Velveeta]

Power outage causes plant shutdowns (Louisville, KY)

02:26 PM EDT on Monday, May 3, 2004



A power interruption shut down an assembly line at the Ford assembly plant on Fern Valley Road just before noon today. Also Building One at GE was in the dark due to an outage. It happened around 11:20 a.m. this morning.


LG&E is calling it a power interruption. It happened around 11:20 Monday morning. The duration was only a second or so but it caused widespread problems with computer systems and assembly lines.


There were reports of several plants having problems including UPS, GE and Ford.


We’re still getting sketchy information in. Inside the Ford plant at Fern Valley Road, the entire plant, including the production line, when down 11:45 this morning. Power came back up around 12:15.


LG&E says a switching problem at the Mill Creek generating plant caused the problem.


Across the river in Indiana, Synergy Power is reporting that lights went dim in some residential areas of Jeffersonville, Clarksville, New Albany and as far away as Georgetown.


No injuries have been reported as a result of this outage. Metro police say their emergency systems are working fine.

http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/WHAS11_TOP_poweroutage.1872f42b8.html

[Velveeta]

Oh, you're right! 5/11 is a Tuesday. (Gulp)

[Indie]

Jill is your site down now??

Doug

[nw_arizona_granny]

Did you see, using your link, post #110?

A man with 2 bombs in his back pack on a bus, think it said Clinton.

Sorry, time for a nap, have spent 3 hours with traitor clinton and nuclear stories, will try to post the results later, if I can see my notes.

[nw_arizona_granny]

forget the prayers, find a Voodoo man and place a real curse on him.

he is evil.

he is more than likely a clinton supporting democrat.

[all4one]

Finally updating the Solar Winds info.

The following is interesting, considering we are having increased solar wind activity and 3 comets in during May.

.....Conditions in the active to minor-storm range can cause weak power fluctuations power grids, have minor impacts on satellites and cause auroras that are visible at latitudes as low as 60 degrees. Minor storming can begin to affect migratory animals.

The Space Environment Center is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to monitor the effects of solar activity and provides early warnings when solar weather may adversely affect Earth.

The spectrometer, which is similar to equipment on the Chandra X-ray Observatory but with a higher spectral resolution, recorded X-ray data when the scientists used the beam ion trap to create the conditions that exist when solar winds collide with the gases around comets.

"Next to the sun, the process we demonstrated here at Livermore makes comets the strongest X-ray emitters in the solar system," Peter Beiersdorfer, an astrophysicist at the laboratory, said in a statement.

X-rays emitted by comets can be used to analyze solar activity and space weather by measuring the heavy ion flux in solar wind, Livermore reported. The emissions also may be used to measure the speed of the solar wind. Line Here

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Additional interesting solar disturbance info. from NASA from disturbance in 2001...and info. on changes in the earth's axis....

MAGNETIC FIELD FLIPS FOR 12 HOURS March 6 ,2001 Earths Magnetic Field In Unsettled State NASA Space Science News Link Here

[all4one]

Additional Cuba info.....

Commission Seeks to End Cuba Regime

By George Gedda The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A government commission is recommending to President Bush a series of measures to cut U.S. dollar flows to Cuba as part of a broader policy to hasten the end of the country's communist system, an administration official said Sunday night.

A commission report, in preparation for six months and overseen by Secretary of State Colin Powell, also calls for steps to overcome Cuban jamming of U.S.-government sponsored radio and television broadcasts to Cuba, the official said.

The officialsaid the report urges increased support for Cuban dissidents and families of political prisoners and also calls for measures to encourage foreign governments to distance themselves from the Cuban regime.

Last October, Bush announced the creation of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba and set a May 1 deadline for completion of a report.

The concept and the timing appeared to be linked to maintaining in the November elections the solid support Bush received in 2000 from Cuban-Americans in Florida. Without their backing, the election would have gone to Democrat Al Gore.

Four of the five chapters in the 500-page report deal with ways to assist a post-Castro government that seeks to establish democracy. The other chapter focusses on ways to end Castro's government.

Until now, the administration's policy has been to hasten a democratic transition in Cuba.

The commission report goes a step further in recommending what amounts to regime change. Bush is expected make a final decision on the report later in the week. Link Here

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Cuba to Strengthen Relations with EU

Keiichi Honma / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, 39, said during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun on Friday at the Cuban Foreign Ministry that there was "no possibility" for dialogue with the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to improve the bilateral relationship. He also said Cuba would survive in the international community by developing a relationship with the European Union, which recently added Eastern European countries that are former members of the socialist bloc that included Cuba. Roque is seen a strong candidate to succeed Cuban President Fidel Castro.

The Yomiuri Shimbun: How do you evaluate the current relationship between the United States and Cuba?

Roque: The relations between Cuba and the U.S. government have worsened, and now they are very tense, which is due exclusively to the Bush administration. President Bush is under pressure from extremist Cuban groups living in Miami, but Cuba's relations with the rest of the United States are good.......

Remainder of article Link Here

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

Adding to List -
Adding to "Stolen Uniforms, ID, Official Equipment..."


GOOGLE Search Term: "STOLEN UNIFORMS"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22uniforms+stolen%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=0


KATU.com: Vancouver, Washington - "SHERIFF DEPUTY UNIFORMS STOLEN, BEWARE OF IMPOSTERS" (ARTICLE NOTE: View Photo of Uniforms.) (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Someone stole a van from a Vancouver dry cleaner that had several Clark County Sheriff's uniforms inside. The short and long-sleeved shirts are tan with patches on both shoulders. The pants are a forest green color. The sheriff says if you're stopped by a person in a law-enforcement uniform and you have doubts about that person, ask for the deputy's picture ID.") (March 11, 2004)
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=65359

[Cindy]

URL?

I looked around the net including the radio site and couldn't find a link yet to that article.

Thanks JP.

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

He makes me ill. Tomorrow in D.C. Men that served with Kerry are going to go public with the fact they do not believe he is qualified to be president.

billy boys book will be used to further hillarys ambitions. I am so worried with 50% of the idiots and ballot tampering she could pull this off.

[all4one]

Another new active volcano....this is the fourth in the last week.

#1 - Papua New Guinea's Island of Bougainville

#2 - SAIPAN, Northern Mariana IslandsThe volcano, Anatahan

#3 - Shiveluch volcano in Kamchatka (peninsula in Russia's Far East)

#4.....Alaska

Simmering Volcano's Steam, Ash Mar Aleutian Sky

VENIAMINOF: Trembling mountain rates a yellow alert for seismic activity.

By DOUG O'HARRA Anchorage Daily News (Published: May 3, 2004)

Aleutian arc volcano Mount Veniaminof has been lightly shaking the ground and burping up ash over the past week, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

While a major eruption is not expected, scientists warned of additional low-level unrest at the 7,073-foot caldera, about 480 miles southwest of Anchorage near the village of Perryville.

"We expect that steam and ash emissions similar to those observed this week may continue intermittently and could pose a hazard to people and low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the active cone," the observatory reported in its Friday update.

Ash and steam spotted during clear weather on Wednesday and Thursday rose to 8,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level. The clouds then drifted 10 miles on strong winds, while seismic tremors continued above background levels.

Veniaminof is one of the largest and most active volcanoes in Alaska, with a 6-mile-wide caldera and 12 eruptions over the past 200 years. The most recent occurred in 1993-95. The observatory constantly monitors seismic activity at 25 volcanoes from Mount Spurr near Anchorage out the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Chain, and posts updates of active volcanoes on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.

Veniaminof, which has been restless for weeks, was listed as "yellow," meaning that an eruption could occur.

Link Here

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Another Quake.....

Strong Quake Rocks Parts of Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- A strong earthquake rocked a large area in central and southern Chile early Monday, causing alarm but no damage or casualties, authorities said. The government's Emergency Bureau said the quake had a magnitude of 6.6 in its epicenter off the coast of Temuco, 330 miles (530 kilometers) south of the capital, Santiago. It was felt from Rancagua, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Santiago to Puerto Montt, 650 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of the capital. Link Here

[all4one]

More implementation of special rules for the Islamic community in Michigan...

University Bank Hires New Islamic Mortgage Specialist

ANN ARBOR, MI -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 05/03/2004 -- University Bancorp (NASDAQ: UNIB) announced today that A. D. Mirza joined University Bank's Residential team as a Mortgage Specialist. Mirza now serves as the primary point of contact in the Islamic community for the Bank's new interest-free Mortgage Alternative Loan Transaction or MALT (a redeemable lease program) and the new FDIC-insured Profit-Sharing Money Market account. He is also completing the training required to become certified as a Residential Loan Education Officer.

As a long time participant in the Detroit Chapter of the Council of American Muslim Professionals (CAMP), Mirza was most interested in joining University Bank because of its Islamic Finance programs. Prior to joining University Bank Mirza worked for Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation as a Loan Officer and Netco as an Escrow Officer.

"As with some other faith communities, the Islamic prohibition against paying interest has kept American Muslims from homeownership. We believe that we are the only bank in the country that is aggressively engaged in helping Muslim families participate in the American Dream of homeownership," said Vice President, Residential Loan Manager, John Sickler. "A. D. brings the combination of residential lending, language and cultural skills and a continued commitment to homeowners in southeast Michigan that we had spent nearly a year searching for. We're extremely fortunate that A. D. chose to join us," continued Sickler.

Originally from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, Mirza has been a Detroit area resident for twenty-eight years. He is a graduate of Fraser High School and Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences. While at Eastern Michigan University, Mirza interned at the Canadian House of Commons as part of the Comparative Political Internship. He is currently an executive member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Alumni Board at Eastern Michigan University. Mirza resides in Ypsilanti. Link Here