THE BBC SCREWS OVER THE FBI



This is shocking (via MSNBC):

THE FBI�S ARREST of London-based arms dealer Hemant Lakhani, 68, at a hotel room near Newark Liberty International Airport this week was supposed to be only an interim step in what officials hoped would be a far more meaningful long-term operation, law-enforcement sources said. The bureau�s plan was to quickly flip Lakhani, a British citizen of Indian extraction, and then use him as an undercover informant who could lead agents to real-life Osama bin Laden operatives seeking sophisticated weapons.



But those plans went awry late Tuesday afternoon when the Feds learned that the BBC was about to broadcast a sensational report on Lakhani�s arrest by one of its star correspondents, Tom Mangold. The BBC story, based on an apparent leak from a law-enforcement source, had some key details wrong. For one thing, it falsely claimed that the arms dealer�s attempted sale of a shoulder-fired SA-18 missile and launder was part of a plot by terrorists to shoot down Air Force One�a target that never actually came up in the discussions.



But even so, U.S. law-enforcement sources tell NEWSWEEK, the damage was done. The FBI had to abort its plan to recruit Lakhani as an informant and instead charged him today in federal court in Newark, N.J., with weapons smuggling and with providing material support to terrorists.

The war continues, and is made more dangerous by the BBC.

RALPH NADER GETS CREAMED



Until today, I wasn't aware of anyone from the "progressive" left who had been hit in the face with a pie (via the AP):

SAN FRANCISCO - Former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader (news - web sites) was hit with a pie as he endorsed party member Peter Camejo for California governor.



The show of political support at the Green Party's San Francisco headquarters took an unscripted turn Tuesday when a prankster burst into the room and slammed a cream pie into Nader's face. The culprit fled through a side door.



Camejo later suggested the pie assault was the work of Democrats who may feel threatened by the Green Party's growing popularity.

Photos of the "unscripted turn" will be posted as soon as possible.



UPDATE: As promised, here's a pic (via the San Francisco Chronicle):

NIMBYS IN NANTUCKET



Liberals love to shove green ideas down everyone else's throat, except when it obstructs their view of the ocean. That's what's happening in Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Here's Jane Galt on these limousine liberals:

[It's] just the sort of nanny-state NIMBYism that usually succeeds, because these people are rich and well connected, and they have lots of friends in the media and government, and it usually turns out to be easier to just drop the idea than listen to Barbra Streisand calling -- again! -- with the latest talking points on why celebrities who are heavy donors to the Democratic Party have a special civil right not to have poor people walking on their beaches.

Oh, those compassionate fakes. You can read about this hypocricy at the AP.

ATTEMPT MADE TO SMUGGLE MISSLES INTO UNITED STATES



Shoulder-fired missles are everywhere, and they're a favorite weapon of our terrorist enemies. Read the story here.

BUSH APPOINTS UTAH GOV. LEAVITT TO LEAD EPA



From the AP via the Salt Lake Tribune:

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has picked Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, an advocate of shifting environmental regulation to the states, to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency, a senior administration official said Monday.



Leavitt, a three-term Republican governor, would succeed Christie Whitman, a former New Jersey governor who held the post of EPA administrator for the first 2 1/2 years of the administration before resigning in May.



The EPA post has been a lightning rod for critics of the administration's environmental policies. Bush, on a Western trip to talk about timber policies and wildfires, was expected to announce Leavitt's nomination late Monday.



Leavitt, 52, has championed the idea of increasing environmental cooperation among federal, state and local officials.

Leavitt is also known for his cockamamie internet taxation drive.

FANTASY BASKETBALL PLAYERS LAMENT KOBE



Courtesy of The Onion:

CAPE MAY, NJ�Steven Woods, a claims adjuster with Midland Insurance and coach of the Midland Maniacs fantasy basketball team, announced Monday that he is "deeply saddened" by the sexual-assault allegations leveled against his team's star guard, Kobe Bryant.



"I can't believe this is the same Kobe I've worked with all these years," Woods said at a breakroom press conference. "I've won two Midland Fantasy Basketball League championships with him. He's always handled himself with such class, both on and off the court."



"Obviously, Kobe has my full support during this difficult time," Woods added.

My recent vacation was in Vail, Colorado. Last Wednesday, our group stopped by Eagle to check out the media circus at the courthouse. The entire block across from the courthouse was packed with satellite vans and anchor standup platforms. You can bet that there are actually fantasy basketball players who share the feelings of the fictional "Steven Woods."

WMD TO BE ANNOUNCED IN SEPTEMBER



Robert Novak is pretty well-connected:

[Pentagon weapons inspector] Kay has told his superiors he has found substantial evidence of biological weapons in Iraq, plus considerable missile development. He has been less successful in locating chemical weapons, and has not yet begun a substantial effort to locate progress toward nuclear arms.

Via the Chicago Sun-Times.

NY TIMES ECONOMIST PAUL KRUGMAN: STRANGER TO THE TRUTH



Donald Luskin is demanding a series of corrections from the NY Times over several factual mistakes in recent Paul Krugman columns, to wit:

When is the "newspaper of record" going to run a correction of Paul Krugman's egregious mathematical error in which he claimed, in his August 1 column, that growth in real per capita California state spending from $1,950 in 1990 to $2,211 in 2003 was "only 10%," when anyone with a pocket calculator can tell that it is really 13.4 percent? And when will it correct Krugman's flatly deceptive claim that this growth "was simply a matter of keeping up with the population and inflation," when calculations of real per capita growth, by definition, already take those factors into account?

The list goes on, so make sure you check out the entire story at the National Review Online here