According to the News-Sentinel, two men were
caught taking pictures of Norris Dam at 4 AM on Sunday morning.
Clark said the TVA officer conducted "an excellent field interview" of the two men, and tried to run their names through National Crime Information Center, but the computer was down. The officer had no authority to detain them because they were breaking no law, Clark said.
Later, when NCIC was back up, the officer ran their names again, obtained a "hit" on the bogus ID charge, and notified the FBI.
Apparently, they had used false documents to get driver's licenses from Virginia. They've both been caught now, and are in the hands of the FBI. In light of the
video tapes from Spain, showing exensive reconnaisance of the WTC, I have to believe that something fishy was going on. Not too many tourists take pictures of dams at 4AM.
A while back, I wrote about the possibility of a terrorist strike taking place here, and said that the cahnces are small. Well, maybe they just got a little smaller.
Ok, folks, it's here! Tomorrow night, starting at 6:30 and going until it's over or we get thrown out, we're having our Mid-Winter Blogger's Bash. We're meting at Patrick Sullivan's Saloon in the Old City, where we can eat, drink and be merry. If you haven't gotten back to me yet, show up anyway. Wether you read a blog, write a blog, comment, or just lurk, all are welcome.
See you there!
You know, we've let our time be taken up with minor problems for so long that sometimes we fail to recognize when a truly major disgrace comes along. It's always "War this", and "al Qaida that", and let's not leave out poor little North Korea, who's throwing a screaming hissy fit trying to get somebody to notice them, but we never really discuss the important issues.
Like Drive-Thru service.
My
son flew home from college this weekend, and while we were out shopping, decided he'd like some food from
Long John Silver's, so we pulled into the drive-thru. I should have realized their diabolical plan when I noticed that unlike most drive-thrus, there was an 8 inch curb surrounding the area so there was no way to bypass the window or escape from the line. Once we made the fateful turn into the lane, we were prisoners of the stumpy pirate.
There was one car between us and the order speaker, and 4 more to the window. The car directly in front of us was a blue Dodge minivan with two women in the front seat. They got to the speaker and began to place an order. 5 minutes later, she was still placing her order. The four cars in front of her dwindled to two, and she was still placing her order.
It didn't look good, but we were trapped by that nefarious curb.
Finally, 10 minutes after we pulled in, she finished ordering, and we moved up to the speaker to place our order. 2 combos and 2 cokes, $18.00. That's why I don't go to LJS except on very special occasions, like the debut of a new Pauly Shore movie.
We inched forward in the line, as first one car, then another slowly received their orders and escaped to freedom. Now it was the minivan's turn. She pulled up to the window, paid her money, and then waited.
She was handed a bag.
A few minutes later, they handed her a second bag.
After about 30 seconds, she handed the first bag back.
After a couple more minutes, she got the first bag back and handed them the second bag back.
There was a short puase, then she got the second bag back again, then counted her change.
Finally, she pulled forward, satisfied that her order was correct. Now, I figured that this merry go round exchange was either a prime example of money laundering or a drug deal gone horribly awry, but I figured the long delay would at least give them time to have my food ready when I got to the window.
We pulled forward, and the kid at the counter was busy writing the introduction to his autobiography. He'd write a few sentences, stop, stare at the ceiling for a moment or two, scribble over what he had written, then write some more. After a couple of minutes, he realized that there was a customer wiaiting on him, so he finished the paragraph he was on, then opened the window.
"That'll be $17.73," he said. I gave him 2
twenties tens and three pennies, which threw him for a loop. You could smell the hair on his head singing as he tried to figure out what to do with the three pennies. Eventually, he figured out how to make change, and gave me $3.20 back. It wasn't worth arguing over, so I took it.
Then told me that they were holding for my fish, and it would be a few more minutes.
We had been in line for 30 minutes by this time, and I had had enough. I could have caught, cleaned, and cooked my own fish by this time, not to mention whipped up a quick lemon chiffon pie for dessert. I asked to speak to the manager, and another punk kid comes out. You could tell he was the manager because his T-shirt was a different color than the first kid's.
He asked me what the problem was. I told him I had been waiting in line for over 30 minutes for food. Here is the sum total of his response, delivered in a snotty tone:
"That's what happens when it gets busy. What do you want me to do about it? Do you want your money back?"
OK friends and neighbors, time for a little math. We started with 6 cars, counting mine. 5 cars got their orders over a 30 minute period. That works out to one order every 6 minutes. Yet this young punk had the nerve to tell me he was busy.
"If that's all you have to say, then Yes, I want my money back."
He reached into the drawer and pulled out $11.00 and handed it to me and started to close the window. I blocked the window
"My order was for $17.73. You didn't give me all of my money."
He looked disgusted, fiddled with the register a minute, singed some hair, then handed me my money, and we left with no food, a bad attitude, and two watery cokes.
So much for fast food...unless they mean 'fast' as in refraining from eating for an extended period of time.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is
being interrogated....somewhere.
Officials were not releasing details of Mohammed's detention. Previous high-level Al Qaeda captives have not been brought to U.S. soil, where they would have rights not afforded on foreign soil. Where they are, however, has not been disclosed.
Another secret is what means officials will employ to try to get Mohammed to talk.
If they need help, I have a few suggestions....
You know, I don't think President Bush gets enough credit for the way he keeps a multicultural perspective while prosecuting the war on terror. After all, he could be forcing the American point of view down al Qaida's throats, ignoring the requirements of the rest of the world's nations, each of which have their own laws, and rules on the treatment of prisoners. President Bush is showing admirable tact and empathy with these other nations, allowing them to participate in the war on terror, while not imposing American values on their judicial systems. I say "Bravo, Mr. President! Bravo!"
