Greg Palast risks jeopardizing his wild popularity among the leftoid legions by raining on their increasingly beloved "Jewish Conspiracy" theory. Bashing this bosh is long overdue, but we sure wish Palast had done a better job of it. His arguments here are so weak and garbled that they can be easily shot down by the Judeophobes. They constitute a strawman which actually renders a disservice to the cause of opposing Jewish scapegoating.

More sacrifices for the American way of life. From Newsday, June 27:

Brooklyn bike rider killed on Houston Street

For the third time in 13 months, a bike rider was killed yesterday on Houston Street, leading one advocate to label it Manhattan's "boulevard of death."

Israeli tanks and troops have entered southern Gaza after warplanes attacked three bridges and knocked out electricity to the coastal strip—in response to the capture of a young Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants. (AP, June 28) But mainstream reports are missing some vital context. A letter printed in the Toronto Globe and Mail, June 27:

A taped message purported to be from fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar was broadcast on Geo TV, a commercial station in Pakistan June 25. The voice on the tape issued a challenge to the Afghan government and foreign troops fighting insurgents in the country, saying "They cannot solve the issue of Afghanistan based on their wisdom and thinking." Afghanistan is a Muslim country where believers are in a majority and outsiders will never be able to impose their ideology, the statement said. "The rulers of Kabul will not be able to run the country with the wisdom of others, and God willing they will be destroyed," the tape said. Taunting President Hamid Karzai, the voice said: "If today the American military abandons you, you have no standing. Russia's military also came to Afghanistan — remember its fate." (NYT, June 26)

While federal authorities tilt at windmills in Miami, it seems the real al-Qaeda is still very much alive. From AP, June 24, via the UAE's Khajeel Times:

Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri vowed in a videotape on Al Jazeera television Friday to avenge the death of the terror network’s Iraq frontman Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, killed in a US air raid June 7.

Voice of America reports June 26 that the US will be deploying Patriot missile batteries in Japan under an agreement reached May 1 in response to the supposed threat from North Korea. AFP adds that the US Missile Defence Agency has confirmed that a Forward Based X-band Transportable (FBX-T) radar station is to built at an air base near the village of Shariki, opposite North Korea in northeastern Japan.

Remember how the firefighters, cops and rescue workers who answered the call of duty at New York's Ground Zero were exploited shamelessly for war propaganda—as if saving lives in New York was somehow the same as taking lives in Iraq? Well now look what's happening to them. It seems all that talk about honoring the heroes was a mile wide and an inch thick. From the New York Times, June 23:

From Newsday, June 23:

In a Brooklyn neighborhood known for its patriotic fervor, residents were shocked Thursday to discover that seven American flags displayed outside homes had been set ablaze overnight, including one on a block named for a firefighter who died on Sept. 11.