LALARRY

The Flower Water Indicator

The NYT today printed an op ed piece on recommended criteria for NYPD searches decrying Mayor Bloomberg's assertion that 1 in 5 people chosen at random will be searched. The article was written by one Paul Sperry who coincidentally I have recently done some digging on.

I can't figure out how Sperry got on the op ed page, someone was at least partly asleep at the wheel. He is noted as a "Hoover Institution Media Fellow" but in fact a quick search of the Hoover institution website shows that the only mention of him is as a media fellow for Sep 11 -15, 2000. Which means he basically visited the place for a week. The institute apparently has a different media fellow each week (except for July and August) He is the author of a conspiracy theory book entitled Crude Politics How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terror about how oil interests run US middle east policy that is worthy of Michael Moore.

From his publisher:

Paul Sperry contends that, true to America’s energy-based foreign policy of the last half-century, the Bush administration seized the opportunity to use the attacks as reason to oust the Taliban—the major obstacle blocking plans for the precious pipelines linking Caspian reserves to hot Asian markets. With journalistic integrity and painstaking research, Sperry will enlighten readers on:

How commercial gain within the current oil-friendly administration has undermined our nation’s war on terror.

How our safety has been jeopardized because of an overriding effort to charge ahead with a new “Silk Road” through Afghanistan, making the capture of Osama bin Laden a secondary concern.

The nature of war and the politics behind the major decisions being made in the current administration, including those regarding Iraq and other “axis of evil” countries.

Crude Politics also pulls back the veil on Bush's behind-scenes operator for regime change in both Afghanistan and Iraq -- former energy consultant Zal Khalilzad.

Khalilzdad of course is the new US Ambassador to Iraq so Sperry must be waxing rhapsodic as the oil conspiracy tightens its grip on US foreign policy.

Sperry's current book is entitled

Infiltration How Muslim Spies and Subversies have Penetrated Washington (he does love those catchy titles).

I haven't read the book but there is an extendive interview with him here in the right wing frontpagemag.com

his goal in writing the book:

Washington hasn't leveled with us about the full scope and depth of the Islamic threat not only inside

America

but inside the government, just as it hasn't leveled with us about the true nature of Islam. We've been lulled into a false sense of security, and we're just inviting another 9/11. So I wrote this book to expose the elaborate fraud that's been orchestrated by our leaders in the

Washington

establishment and the leaders in the Muslim establishment, who are playing us all for suckers.

So spies and agents for the terrorist enemy have actually penetrated our government?

Sperry: Absolutely. In fact, they've infiltrated every security agency from the FBI to the Pentagon to the prison system, which is the top recruiting ground for al-Qaida right now, and they've also worked their way into the public school system.

and he's an expert on the Koran:

(their) holy book reads like a manual of war, and I've read two translations of it, including all the footnotes and commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali,

reminds me of the story an old college buddy told me about his religion prof who said : "Oh yeah, the talmud that's pretty important for understanding judaism, I plan to read it over the summer:

and watch out because:

Some of these same pillars of the Muslim community have privately called for overturning our system of government, replacing the Constitution with the Qur’an as the highest authority in the land. They've also circulated a secret Islamic spy charter that directs their agents to infiltrate sensitive intelligence agencies by taking jobs and ingratiating themselves with officials in those agencies with the object of stealing our secrets and influencing policy for the bad guys.

and hold onto your hats because:

So in historical perspective, compare the Islamist threat with the “Red Menace.”

Sperry: It's worse than the communist threat. Bad as the Cold war threat was, the communists never attacked us. And their spies were atheists who were relatively easy to distrust, easy to bribe over to our side. But we're now dealing with religious zealots -- the Green Menace, green being the color of Islam -- who are not only passionate in their hatred for us, but are using our religious tolerance as cover to infiltrate our security agencies and steal our secrets as agents and sympathizers for the bad guys. They're using our tolerances and freedoms against us. They operate with virtual political and religious immunity, and are therefore much harder than the Red spies to ferret out.

and I thought this guy Grover Norquist was an ahole for his political views on tax cuts and social security and taking a big cut of  JACKAbramoff's lobbying bucks. Seems like even though the guy shows up in the media on a daily basis flogging supply side tax cuts,  I was missing the guy's real agenda..

Then there's GOP operative Grover Norquist, an agent of influence for Islamists in

Washington

, as I detail in Infiltration and support through several alarming documents posted on sperryfiles.com. Because he's best pals with Karl Rove, he's getting to place bad people in the White House, DHS, the Transportation Department, and other key sensitive agencies in the war on terror. And he and his partner -- Palestinian activist and former Alamoudi deputy Khaled Saffuri -- are getting the president to legitimize Islam by placing pro-Islam political messages in his speeches. Bush is the first president to mention "mosques" and the "Quran" in inaugural addresses. The stated goal of their Islamic Institute, which got seed money from Alamoudi, is to promote Muslim activists to positions of power.

 

FP: Why do you suppose

Washington

's premiere anti-tax lobbyist is suddenly so passionate about lobbying for Islamist interests?

Sperry: He's marrying a Muslim, and when I asked Norquist if he himself has converted to Islam, he brushed the question off as too "personal."

 Sperry's action plan:

You recall the NIMBY movement -- Not In My Backyard? Well, we need to apply it to the Islamic threat. Find out what kind of Islamic schools and mosques are being developed in your neighborhood. Check out the trustees, the preachers, the teachers. Are they Islamists? Are there any terrorist connections? Pull the county land records. Do Saudi-backed entities such as the North American Islamic Trust own the deed? Are any of the trustees members of the Muslim American Society, the

U.S.

front for the notorious Muslim Brotherhood? If so, lobby the local zoning boards to block their development. This is a hardline Wahhabi mosque that may serve as a base of operations for the bad guys. Arm yourself and your neighbors with the facts, and fight. Organize. Contact your local media. If protesting doesn't work, use local ordinances to block them.

Does the proposed minaret exceed height restrictions? Will the parking plan cause traffic congestion? Is the drainage plan to code? What textbooks are used at the schools? Alert the state accreditation boards. Also, notify local law enforcement and the FBI of any suspicious activity at the mosque or school

and Sperry is quick to show his experienceL

there's a mosque going up in my own community in

Fairfax

County

that I found out is tied to a Pakistani terrorist who gunned down CIA employees last decade. It took just a few days to look up the land records, and then research the trustees and find the connection.

well pardon me if I'm a bit skeptical about the "ties" he discovered given that Mr. Sperry has concluded that the US Ambassador to Iraq is the point man for the hijacking of US foreign policy by oil interests.

no time for a full commentary on his NYT piece but he suggests

"Truth be told, commuters need to be most aware of young men praying to Allah and smelling like flower water"

as opposed to

the New York Police Department (which)  has advised subway riders to be alert for "people" in bulky clothes who sweat or fiddle nervously with bags.

I've spent quite a bit of time in Israel where the threat of suicide and package bombs is everpresent every citizen in the country is trained to be suspicious of unattended packages, people (yes particularly those that appear Arab)  dressed in heavy clothing particularly in warm weather, people behaving nervously and carrying excess baggage. Not once have I ever heard any public official advise the citizenry of the "flower water" or "mumbling prayer" indicator of heightened risk of a terrorist attack. This guy is out to lunch.

Perhaps Sperry  should advocate little flower water samplers be distributed to the citizenry of London and NY so that folks no which scent to be alert to. And let's get Secy Chertoff to install smellovision meters at our airports. We're missing out on a crucial element of the war on terror. !!!

But I will give Sperry credit for one thing he writes:

Not only is there no passenger profiling on Amtrak, but there's no screening or mandatory searching of carry-on bags

I won't call this one (semi ) great minds think alike rather, a nut case happens to say one thing I agree with,

Chutzpah Award of The Morning

Gordon Bethune, ex Ceo of Continental airlines, which declared bankruptcy on his watch, appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box program this morning . He chimed in with his expert commentary on the economy, stock market, and the outlook for the airline industry . He also mentioned he has been invested for years in a hedge fund with $1 million minimum investments. Another happy ex CEO of a bankrupt company.