Al-Qaeda Trial in Kentucky?

As reported here recently, two Iraqi men - Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohamad Shareef Hammadi - were arrested for conspiring to aid the terrorist group Al-Qaeda from their home base of Bowling Green, KY.

According to FOX News, the FBI claims to have identified two of Alwan's fingerprints on an unexploded bomb that was recovered by U.S. troops in Iraq.

The Obama administration has announced its intention that Alwan and Hammadi be tried in Federal Court in Bowling Green, but Mitch McConnell has voiced opposition to this plan. He fears the risks of holding an unprecedented terrorism trial in Kentucky, and notes the costs and logistics of trying to provide security for everyone involved will be a huge problem.

"There's no reason in the world to be subjecting any American city to all of the complexities and security problems related to trying a foreign terrorist in a U.S. court," McConnell said. And I don't often agree with what Mr. McConnell has to say, but in this instance, I am right there with him. While I don't share his view that the terror suspects should be denied a normal trial and shipped off to a kangaroo tribunal at Guantanamo, I do agree that Kentucky doesn't need to be put at further risk from psychopaths. It's bad enough that so much attention has already been called to Kentucky being directly involved in the alleged death of Osama Bin Laden, and now by holding an Al-Qaeda trial here, we're practically begging for trouble.

I say hold the trial, but hold it somewhere else, not in my backyard. Hold it in the desert someplace, or in an underground bunker or an undisclosed location. President Obama has painted a target on our state's head once already this year, let's not make it even worse than it already is.

Al-Qaeda in Kentucky?

The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that two Iraqi men have been accused of conspiring to aid the terrorist group Al-Qaeda from, of all places, Bowling Green, Kentucky - where they've lived since 2009.

According to the CSM:

"Waad Ramadan Alwan and Muhamad Shareef Hammadi, both of Bowling Green, have entered not guilty pleas and are being held pending a pretrial detention hearing. They were charged in a 23-count indictment returned last week.

Mr. Alwan is accused of conspiring to kill US nationals abroad, distributing information on the manufacture and use of improvised explosive devices in Iraq, and plotting to transfer Stinger missiles to Iraq.

Mr. Hammadi is charged with attempting to provide material support to Al Qaeda in Iraq, and conspiring to transfer Stinger missiles."

Reservoir Hill

This patriotic water tower can be found in Bowling Green's Reservoir Hill Park, where it's a well known local feature. I have a thing about water towers, and this one is right up there near the top of my hit parade along with other notable Kentucky examples as "Florence Y'all", the giant Dixie Cup, and the now-departed Lakeland Asylum suicide tower.

Mosques of Kentucky

Some of the most interesting buildings in America come from the tradition of Islamic Architecture, and Kentucky's no exception. Pictured above is the Masjid Al-Farooq in Prestonsburg, and below are further examples:


Islamic Center, Elizabethtown.


Muslim Community Center, Louisville.


Islamic Center, Somerset.


Islamic Center, Bowling Green.


Bosniak-American Islamic Center, Louisville. (A typical quaint country home, but with a Minaret!)

Yahweh's Philadelphia Remnant Assembly

Whilst making my meandering rounds on the net today, I stumbled across a curious religious site called TNT 777, or "Tomorrow's News - Today". (Are they Early Edition fans?)

Operating from a P.O. box in Bowling Green, this group is called "Yahweh's Philadelphia Remnant Assembly", and their mission statement reads:

"We preach and teach the Gospel/Good News of the soon-coming Kingdom of Yahweh to be established here on this earth ruled by his glorified Son, Yahshua the Anointed One."

They publish newsletters with such thought-provoking articles as "Syncretism: A Deadly Mix" and "Leviticus 23 or Dehioth 1-4?", but after reading them all online, I still have no clear picture of just what it is these people believe (Their "Our Beliefs" page has evidently been under construction for years).


But I did note passing references to Herbert W. Armstrong, the founder of the Worldwide Church of God. You'd think that would be something of a lamp unto my feet to learn more about this "Yahweh's Philadelphia Remnant Assembly", but not so. Even a cursory attempt to suss it out was like wading into the LaBrea tar pits, because the Worldwide Church of God split off into many different factions after Armstrong's death. There's the Restored Church of God, the Global Church of God, the Living Church of God, the Philadelphia Church of God, the United Church of God, the Sabbath Church of God, etc. You can read more about all the post-Armstrong squabbles in Stephen Flurry's book Raising the Ruins.

But that still doesn't tell me what these folks in Bowling Green are up to, nor even what "Philadelphia Remnant" means. Even philadelphiaremnant.com doesn't explain it. Neither does satansrapture.com, but it comes closer to it - apparently it refers to one of the more puzzling passages in the Book of Revelation, about the Biblical-era Church of Philadelphia.

I dunno. It's all over my head. But it is interesting stuff.

PIRK

The Bowling Green Daily News recently ran a feature story about PIRK (Paranormal Investigators and Researchers of Kentucky), a ghost-hunter organization led by the father-daughter team of Jeff and Kayla Yeckering, plus Kayla's fiance Joey McGee.

From the article:

“I’ve always had an interest in the paranormal,” said Kayla Yeckering, a freshman at Western Kentucky University interested in nursing and psychology. “I have had many experiences, and I’m always looking for answers.” Her search for answers is shared by fellow investigator and fiance Joey McGee, the group’s equipment specialist...

Just to help things along, PIRK brings back-up equipment such as voice recorders, cameras, electro-magnetic field detectors, ambient thermometers and infrared lights. “It’s just common equipment you can get at Walmart,” McGee said.

(Unfortunately, the group embraces the phony-baloney internet hoax meme of Orbs.)

Kidnapped by Elvis

A 14-year-old Bowling Green girl was almost kidnapped by two men from North Dakota.

42-year-old Dragan Jovanovic and 19-year-old Elvis Tahirovic, both residents of Fargo, ND, drove all the way to Bowling Green and attempted to sign the girl out from Henry Moss Middle School, pretending to have authorization to do so.

Unbeknownst to the bumbling would-be child-stealers - who really are starting to sound like Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare - the girl was absent from school and was safe at home. The school officials immediately saw through Elvis and Dragan's scam.


The Bowling Green Daily News has reported that both men, as well as Jovanovic's 14-year-old son, had met the girl online through a social networking site. Jovanovic pled guilty to second-degree unlawful transaction with a minor and is facing three years. Tahirovic's case is pending.

Kentucky Valkyries

Kentucky's about to have a new national women's football team: the Kentucky Valkyries are due to spring into action in 2010, playing full-contact no-compromise football.

Although their owner is apparently based in Tennessee, the Kentucky Valkyries are headquartered in Bowling Green, KY. They'll be part of the Mid-Atlantic Division of the Women's Football Alliance, alongside the Kentucky Karma, the Columbus Comets, the Cleveland Fusion, the Pittsburgh Force, the Cincinnati Sizzle, and a bunch of other teams I've never ever heard of.

Lost River Cave

The only underground boat tour in Kentucky is at Lost River Cave in Bowling Green, or at least so says their website. It also says that Ripley's Believe It or Not has called this river the shortest, deepest in the world. They have a great underground ballroom for events and weddings.

Upcoming events at Lost River Cave include a geocaching tutorial on September 20; a fine art fair on October 3-4 (with wine tasting provided by Greenwood Spirits Shoppe, beer samples from the Bowling Green Brewing Company, and cheese samples from Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese); and a weekend of Civil War reenactments on October 16-18.

Eckankar

The Eckankar religion has a considerable presence in Kentucky, and why not? Their founder, Paul Twitchell, was a Kentuckian.

Twitchell was born in Paducah in 1909, and went on to attend Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green and Murray State University. He dropped out of both colleges each time.

After returning from a stint in the Navy during World War II, he began dabbling in mysticism, Eastern religion, and New Age belief systems. He followed Swami Premananda for a time, then Scientology, then Kirpal Singh.

In 1965 he announced that he had been chosen by an ancient society of holy masters, to become the new leader of the formerly secret religion known as "Eckankar" to the world. He claimed a 500-year-old man (who supposedly still lives to this day) named Rebazar Tarzs visited him regularly in his apartment to guide him in his writings. According to Wikipedia:

Rebazar Tarzs presently resides in the Hindu Kush mountains, and is "the emissary of ECKANKAR in the physical universe". There are several essays by ECKANKAR followers who report having met him, including one who describes Rebazar Tarzs's guiding him to herbs that cured his heart condition, and one who tells of receiving a gift from Rebazar Tarzs during the Korean War, the gift later being traded for desperately needed food.

There is a story of a taxicab driver who picked up Rebazar Tarzs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in around 1952, and during the ride, Rebazar Tarzs was able, among other things, to read the driver's "secret prayers." In a second incident, Rebazar Tarzs miraculously repaired the driver's automobile.

Twitchell claimed that past members of the secret ECK society included Plato, Pythagoras, and St. Francis of Assisi. He also made some pretty lousy predictions, such as that the Vietnam War would end in 1968, and that Lyndon Johnson would be elected US President for a second time.

So what exactly do Eckists (followers of Eckankar) believe? Their website says this:

"Eckankar teaches that there is an audible life current known as the ECK, or Holy Spirit, that connects each of us with the heart of God. We can experience the ECK as Light and Sound. Through study and practice of the Spiritual Exercises of ECK, we learn to recognize the Light and Sound of God as It touches our lives and brings increased divine love."

They also believe in the power of HU, which is a Sufi vocal ritual considered by Eckists to be "a love song to God". Reincarnation and astral travel are also important parts of the religion.


Twitchell died in 1971, which also dashed another of his predictions; he said he would live into the 1980s. Currently Eckankar is headed by one Harold Klemp (pictured above), who attended Indiana University and was connected to military intelligence before joining the ECK movement while in Japan. Klemp is regarded to be "the 973rd Living Eck Master" in an unbroken line that goes back to the dawn of human life.

400 Mile Yard Sale Across Kentucky

I live for yard sales, flea markets, junk stores, auctions, trading posts, antique malls, and such. And in this economy, "secondary market" stuff is quickly becoming primary.

So it should come as no surprise that you'll find me somewhere in all the hubbub of the 400 Mile Yard Sale across Kentucky.

The sale follows Highway 68 (though there's always plenty more yard sales going on in the periphery each year) from Maysville to Paducah and hitting all points in between - including Paris, Lexington, Nicholasville, Wilmore, Harrodsburg, Danville, Gravel Switch, Lebanon, Campbellsville, Glasgow, Bowling Green, Cadiz, Hopkinsville, and Benton. Yee-haw!


(By the way, Catclaw Theatre is having a yard sale this weekend at 2107 Lakeland Road in the Anchorage area of Louisville. Come on down and say howdy! And if you can't make it, make a donation!)

Bowling Green Sky Filled with UFOs

In September, MUFON had a report about a gentleman in Bowling Green claiming that fleets of UFOs were flying about his barn and had been doing so regularly since June. According to the report:

"I am a MUFON Section Director and a Certified Field Investigator. It was Friday the 5 of Sept at about 12 noon when I receive a Phone call at my home from a gentleman which will remain unnamed at this time.

He was speaking fast and seem very excited He told me that he had talked to a person in TX that gave him my name and told him about the MUFON website. He said I have photos of hundreds of Ufo's that he has taken over his house and barn since July of 2008, Some of fleets and some of vehicles every large and wide. He said he has seen some with his eye and some only after taking a photo of the sky do they appear in the photo. He thinks there in the gamma or something. He has shown them to his neighbors and he told me they freak out. He called the State Police which came to his house and they told him they had never seen anything like this before, and also mentioned to him about contacting MUFON.

Now, he would like MUFON to come investigate and see his Photo evidence collection. Before something happens to them. He wanted me to come right away, that night if possible. I told him I would come but not tonight. I wanted to bring others with me to investigate he's claims and that I would call him back with a date and time. He said that would be fine. So I called the KY MUFON State Director and left him a message. The State Director called me back later that afternoon. While I was talking with the State Director about this case, The guy calls me back, I put the State Director on hold and talk to the guy. He says Listen to me I have just taken a picture with about 50 UFO in it flying over my home. He was very excited and told me listen do you have a digital camera. I said yes, He said run out right now and take a photo of the sky looking north toward Louisville. There coming your way, you won’t see anything with your eyes but take a photo anyway, I said ok, He said I mean it, I’m not crazy. Do it so you can see I’m telling the truth. I hung up with him and went back to the State Director who was still holding. I told the State Director what the guy had said to me. And we both thought I should go out and do what he asked. So,I put the State Director on hold again went outside with the camera in tow to my back yard, looking northwest toward Louisville the sky was totally grey and overcast. I didn’t see anything with my eyes but, I took a picture as instructed and went back inside to talk to the State Director, I took out the SD card from the camera and put it into the my computer then said Holly Sh*t, Still on the phone with the State Director He asked me to email the photo to him. I waited on the phone till he received it. Then the State Director looked at and had the same comment I did, the State Director counted 53 Ufo a fleet as he called it.
Boy, Now to say the least, this was not turning out to be your typical average day for a Section Director and a State Director here in KY MUFON.

I live in Bowling Green, KY which is South Of Louisville. Since I didn’t see these with my naked eye. I can’t tell you the Direction they where moving, But since he told me they were heading my way which is south of him and he does live near Louisville. So I would say they were moving southward toward me and the camera, Please note as you look at each object all are exactly straight up and down that is odd to me. Also odd to me is the fact he told me he saw about 50 in his picture and oddly we counted 53 in the one I took. As I said there was nothing in the sky when I took this picture and I heard no sounds and it wasn't raining. And If these were geese or birds I would have seen them with my naked eye and not taken the photo. I would have watch there flight path 1st to determine what they where. Also there were no Nat's flying around me at the time either. I took this photo with a Kodak Easyshare C643 - 6.1 megapixel With a Kodak AF 3X Optical Aspheric lens 36mm – 108mm (equivalent) it has an automatic lens cover and the lens was clean. and I was looking at the screen when I took the photo and didn't see anything but the overcast grey sky. The only thing I wish, was that there would have been an other object in the photo like a tree or something for size and depth, But I didn't do that just shot the open grey overcast sky.

We are currently playing phone tag with the gentleman that contacted me. So I have not seen the picture he took the same day before he called me as of yet. The KY MUFON State Director is also currently coordinating other KY MUFON Field Investigators to investigate his other claims and accompany us to his home to interview him and see his other photographs."

The above is a direct cut and paste - all misspellings, typos, and sentences that make no sense whatsoever are from the original MUFON source.



Photos of these alleged aliens are here. Seems to me that these UFOs look an awful lot like birds or bats, and no one has given any good reason why we should not think that they are.