FBI Stops Jordanian Illegal Alien From Blowing Up Dallas Skyscraper

That is 19 year old Jordanian Hosam Maher Husein Smadi and the Fountain Place tower in Dallas in the picture. Smadi was in a Dallas courtroom yesterday, in front of a federal magistrate, due to being accused of attempting to blow up the Dallas skyscraper.

Smadi was arrested by the FBI yesterday after he attempted to blow up the 60 story tower using fake explosives supplied by the undercover sting operation.

The FBI had been monitoring the illegal alien, Smadi, for more than 6 months.

Undercover agents, speaking Arabic, connected with Smadi in the little Texas town of Italy, about 45 south of Dallas. To the undercover fake Arabs, Smadi pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and verbalized the desire to kill Americans, saying, "I want to destroy targets, everything that helps America on its war on Arabs will be targeted."

Smadi thought the undercover agents were an al-Qaeda sleeper cell. He told agents he came to America for jihad, to target military recruitment centers, eventually switching to American financial centers as his target.

Smadi was arrested yesterday after he parked a Ford Explorer in the garage of Fountain Place. In side the SUV was a fake bomb, supplied by the FBI. Smadi thought he could detonate the bomb via a cell phone. He parked the Explorer and got into another vehicle with one of the FBI agents, who drove Smadi several blocks away.

The agent asked Smadi if he wanted earplugs to mute the noise. Smadi did not want ear plugs, he told the agent he wanted to hear the blast. Smadi then dialed the number that he thought would set off an explosion. Instead the only explosion Smadi heard was the noise of FBI agents taking him into custody.

It would seem that the FBI and CTU, or whatever the federal counter-terrorism unit is called, is doing a real good job, post 9/11. Plots in Denver and New York have also recently been thwarted.

I hope there are no un-thwarted plots being hatched. The Party Pass Riot on Sunday would have been a real good opportunity for a real bad deed, when police gave up and lifted the barricades, letting the masses stream in to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

Yesterday Dallas Cowboy officials said they do not intend to curtail the number of Party Passes, despite the riot and Arlington Mayor Cluck's request that the number be limited to 10,000. The Cowboys spokesperson claims they are working on ironing out the issues that caused Sunday's melee.

Grab 'n' Go See A Bikini Clad Coffee Maker In Washington

Yesterday, or was it the day before, Gar the Texan emailed me, concerned about a 71 year old Fort Worth man who had been harassed by the Fort Worth Gestapo for working in his backyard, naturally.

Gar the Texan seems to have become being quite a crusader when it comes to instances where the police act with a heavy hand where clothing is concerned.

Read the following news blurb regarding the Espresso Stand that got Gar the Texan's attention, written before the Espresso Stand found itself in trouble...

EVERETT -- It's a fad that's picking up steam in Snohomish County's hyper-competitive coffee market.

Espresso drive-through stands with bikini- and lingerie-sporting baristas are popping up from Monroe to Edmonds.

In the past year, at least six of these java joints employing provocatively dressed young women have opened in the county.

A few owners of these roadside stands say business is so brisk, they're hiring more employees and have plans to open new locations.

"I brought a touch of Vegas back to Washington," said Bill Wheeler, who opened Grab 'N' Go Espresso on Highway 99 just south of Everett last year.

Wheeler says he aims to soon operate a dozen stands in Washington and Nevada, including one with male baristas in tight Speedos and bowties.

Sometimes wearing little more than pasties and bikini bottoms, the scantily clad baristas at Wheeler's stands have scores of well-tipping customers.

Now, what happened after the above was written is, apparently, there were a large number of citizen complaints to the police regarding untoward behavior at the Grab 'n' Go, unlike the incident with the Fort Worth 71 year old man, where there had been no complaints to the police, before a policewoman on a bike decided to chase an old man into his house.

The police went undercover at the Grab 'n' Go, as part of their extensive investigation during which police learned the 5 Washington state baristas charged customers to touch their breasts. This led to the 5 being charged with prostitution, because charging money for such a thing falls under the city of Everett's definition of prostitution.

The Everett Herald's investigation into the Grab 'n' Go operation discovered the women were charging up to $80 to strip down while making lattes and mochas.

During their tough 2 month investigation detectives saw the women lick whipped cream off each other and pose, au naturel, for pictures.

Should these not be capital punishment type crimes? And what are those who paid for these behaviors being charged with?

I know that before he married a very strict German, Gar the Texan used to frequent establishments here in Texas were money was paid to women with little clothing to do special dances. I don't think there was any coffee product as part of the deal. Texas is so much more liberal and liberated than that repressive state I used to live in.

Battle In Seattle & G-20 Pittsburgh Protests

I turned on the TV to see what appeared to be a lot of agitated people. They were being agitated in Pittsburgh. Some of their agitation was due to getting hit with tear gas and pepper spray.

Apparently a few hundred malcontents were making their way from a Pittsburgh park, to the location of the G-20 Summit. President Obama touched down in Air Force One a few minutes ago. I don't know if he is off the plane yet. I turned the TV off before Barack got off.

The Pittsburgh Protesters are a mixed up group of groups with various causes. There is even a group of Buddhist monks among the tear gassed and pepper sprayed.

If the protesters are unable to disrupt the G-20 meeting, their plan, according to what I heard on MSNBC, is to go around town doing damage to businesses like Starbucks and McDonald's.

When I heard about the protesters going after Starbucks I remembered the Battle in Seattle. That Battle took place in November of 1999. If you'd asked me 3 hours ago where I was in November of 1999 I would have said I was in Washington. But I was in Texas when the Battle of Seattle took place, watching live on CNN and getting eye witness reports from people in Seattle, including a very panicked Wanda who was watching the Battle from high up in the AT & T tower. She watched in horror as her favorite Starbucks was destroyed. She was trapped in her building well into the night. Eventually police came to the rescue.

Realizing the Battle of Seattle took place in November of 1999 made me realize I moved to Texas in December of 1998, not 1999. Meaning I have been in exile here a year longer than I realized. I remember being up in Seattle a month after the Battle. There was still a lot of damage to be seen, but most of the mess had been fixed.

Watching the Battle in Seattle, from here, was one of my strangest experiences since I've been in Texas. Another happened in 2001 when I was watching CNN, around noon, when Breaking News said a big earthquake had struck the Northwest. CNN had footage of a panicked Bill Gates stopping in the middle of a speech, fires and a lot of damage. I remember calling people in the northwest and getting a message saying "an earthquake has struck the area you are calling, phone service is temporarily disabled." Or something like that.

Anyway, below is a YouTube video about the Battle in Seattle, the movie...

Scottish Twittering & Quivering To Texas

I tell you, between Twitter, Facebook and Blogging it's always something interesting. A couple hours ago I blogged about my latest Twitter follower, he being a Scottish inventor named Kieran McCrorie.

I verbalized wondering what caused Kieran to become one of my growing legion of Twitter followers. I speculated that the connection might have something to do with hiking naked, due to Kieran having Tweeted about a new German naked hiking trail.

Soon after I Blogged and Tweeted about Kieran and the naked Germans I heard from Kieran via a comment to the blog post about Kieran.

I commented on Kieran's comment. An hour or so passed and I saw a message from Kieran via Twitter. That somehow led me to click on a link to Kieran's Quiver blog where I saw that Kieran's latest blog post is about my blog post about Kieran with the title of Kieran's post being, "The Blogger Becomes The Bloggee."

This social networking media thing is very very circular.

Durango Jones Scottish Twitter Follower & Naked Germans

That is Kieran McCrorie. Kieran is my latest Twitter Follower. Each day I have more Twitter Followers than the day before. Why? I still don't know.

Kieran is located in Glasgow in the UK. I think Glasgow is in Scotland. I guess that would make Kieran a Scot. Kieran is the Design Director at Quiver. He has designed a new type of insulated bottle and wants to know what the world thinks.

I have not seen Kieran's bottle, so I don't know what I think about it.

I don't know why Kieran is following me on Twitter. It may have something to do with me long ago Twittering about Naked Hiking. One of Kieran's Tweets is "Gotta love the Germans and their naked ambition. Germany's First Nudist Hiking Trail Opens."

Kieran included a link to an article in Der Spiegel online about Germany's First Nudist Hiking Trail. Don't click on the link if seeing naked humans is upsetting to you. Or if you are one of the Fort Worth Gestapo. This website would likely trigger a Fort Worth Gestapo thug's write a stupid citation impulse.

The Dallas Space Needle At Texas State Fair Park

The Dallas Morning News, this morning, had an interesting article about the State Fair of Texas. Apparently the State Fair of Texas is one of the few state fairs in America that shows a profit and gets no state government subsidy. I suppose it helps the State Fair of Texas make a profit by being the biggest state fair in America.

Another interesting bit of news, in this article, was that in 2011 the fair plans to "launch a 500-foot tower reminiscent of Seattle's Space Needle."

By 2012 the fair hopes to open Summer Place Park, turning the State Fair's midway into an amusement park, with the new needle, called Texas Centennial Tower and a new roller coaster.

I was impressed with Fair Park from the first time I saw it. But perplexed as to why it seemed to be so underutilized most of the time. It is a sprawling complex with several museums and an aquarium, open all year. I used to frequently go roller blading all over the Fair Park grounds, often seeming to have the place to myself.

From the first time I saw Fair Park it reminded me of Seattle Center, without a Space Needle. Seattle Center evolved from the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. Fair Park evolved from the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition.

A DART rail line recently extended to Fair Park. It seems this should make it a much more popular destination.

At the top of Texas Centennial Tower there will be an observation deck. I don't know if there will be a rotating restaurant. At the base of the tower there will be a museum with State Fair and Centennial memorabilia. Seattle's Space Needle also has a museum, almost at its base, called EMP, the Experience Music Project.

I'm guessing Dallas will have a lot more luck building a tower reminiscent of Seattle's Space Needle than Fort Worth had building a public market that was propagandaized as being modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market.

I hope I get to go to the State Fair of Texas this year. My last visit had to be cut short due to a variety of woes. I want some of that Deep Fried Butter.

The Lush Green Jungle Of Fort Worth's Serene Fosdic Lake

I have never seen Fosdic Lake at Oakland Lake Park look so calm, serene and green as it did this morning about 10. I have known a clueless type or two, up north, who think all of Texas is brown. I remember going to see the X-Files movie. It opened in Dallas, but somehow managed to make it look like Dallas was situated in the West Texas desert. I remember leaning over to my fellow movie goer and whispering, "it's not really like that, it's green." She had the gall to reply, "yeah, right."

I would venture to guess that right at this point in time on the 2nd day of Fall, that North Texas is being a lot greener than the Western side of the Cascade Mountains of the State of Washington, a state known as the Evergreen State. My last 2 visits back to the Pacific Northwest have been during lean water times, with a lot of formerly green stuff turned nice shades of brown.

See that lady jogging across the Fosdic Lake dam? She was pushing a kid in a stroller. I saw her jog all the way around the lake, a distance of about 2 miles, I think. She was even jogging on the uphill parts.

That jungle like scene above is what you see on the north side of the Fosdic Lake dam. It looks like an Olympic Rain Forest, without moss or moose.

Swimming, Shivering & Twittering In Texas

59.7. That is my temperature this morning, coming up on 7 am. Under 60 degrees. Brrrrr. I had to close the windows last night due to the frigid cold. No fan whirring overhead, no A/C cycling on and off, no earplugs to block the noise.

In other words I slept very peacefully, so much so that I woke up at 4 am and got up. Sometime before 6 I went down to the pool. The water was warmer than the air. But it still felt cold and once again had me wondering how I managed to get in that thing all last winter.

Even though I think I understand the use of Twitter better than I did a month ago, it still perplexes me. I keep getting Followers. Why? I do not know. Some of them are obviously some form of spam. Due to what motive, I do not know.

This morning I got a new Follower named Sarah. When I clicked Sarah's Twitter link I was brought to a page telling me that Sarah had been banned due to some nefarious activity. Twitter told me "There is nothing to see here, so move along."

So, I moved along like Twitter told me to. I am always very obedient.

I am not quite sure where today is going to take me. I suspect I may see downtown Fort Worth at some point in the coming hours.

Happy Days Are Here Again In Texas

I have finally had a Happy Day, here in Texas, in this Hell that I am living. I'm not quite certain if Happy Days are here again. But it has been nice to have this one Happy Day, today.

I suspect tomorrow will be a Happy Day, too. And maybe the day after that.

Friday, I'm not so sure about. But I'm optimistic...

71 Year Old Fort Worth Man Gets Ticketed For Doing Yardwork Naked

Gar the Texan is always on the lookout for interesting, quirky info about Fort Worth and its neighbors.

Today Gar the Texan pointed me to a story which has gone national, with Fort Worth proudly attached to the story.

Seems a 71 year old Fort Worth man, likes to do yard work at his house near Lake Worth. The man has a privacy fence around his property, for the most part.

The 71 year old Fort Worth man, apparently, is a bit of a naturist. Nothing wrong with that, when you're minding your own business on your own property.

Unfortunately, while the 71 year old Fort Worth man was busy working on his backyard, wearing nothing but shoes, a female member of the Fort Worth Gestapo, Deputy L.M. Rowland, was doing some peeping tom work, looking through the privacy slats that were supposed to guard the 71 year old naked Fort Worth man's privacy.

The Fort Worth Gestapo agent was patrolling on a bicycle. She proceeded to pedal on to the 71 year old naked Fort Worth man's property. He saw her rolling in and ran into his house, despite the Gestapo agent's insistent demand that he stop.

Deputy Rowland stood at the 71 year old naked Fort Worth man's door, yelling for him to come outside. Eventually he did so, putting on a pair of shorts first, which he forgot to zip up. All noted in Deputy Rowland's police report, also noted was the fact that the unzipped shorts revealed that the 71 year old formerly naked Fort Worth man was wearing no underwear.

I'm shocked that this Fort Worth female Gestapo agent was ogling the 71 year old's private parts to check for underwear? Is this some form of sexual harassment or something?

Deputy Rowland proceeded to grill the 71 year old formerly naked Fort Worth man about his yard work habits. He admitted that he sometimes worked in his private backyard, naked.

I don't know how Deputy Rowland managed it without a patrol car, but somehow she determined that the 71 year old formerly naked Fort Worth man was not a sex offender. She then issued him a Class C misdemeanor citation for disorderly conduct, under the Texas penal code 4201 A-10, for exposing his anus or genitals in a public place and is reckless about whether another may be present who will be offended or alarmed by his act.

The 71 year old Fort Worth man's backyard is a public place? Deputy Rowlands did not see exposed genitalia. All she saw was a bare butt running into the bare butt's house.

It's all very disturbing to me. In other parts of America there are naked bike rides, naked hikes, all sorts of naked things. Usually in public places. But in Fort Worth if you feel like beating the heat by pulling weeds without benefit of outerwear, a member of the Fort Worth Gestapo may be spying on you, chase you and ticket you. I could see, maybe, there being some legitimacy to these Gestapo tactics, if there had been complaints, made to the Gestapo, about a 71 year old Fort Worth man working in his backyard wearing nothing but shoes.

It seems a simple polite informational warning is all that was called for. Deputy Rowlands could have respectfully let the 71 year old Fort Worth man know that his nakedness was viewable from the road and that he should be a bit more modest. She really did not need to issue a ticket to a 71 year old man. I really think Deputy Rowlands should be investigated and possibly punished in some way for so outrageously violating the 71 year old Fort Worth man's privacy.