Once again, the 9-11 trail leads to our good friend and ally Saudi Arabia

You know, the country that gave us fifteen of the nineteen hijackers.

From Newsweek:

The FBI is investigating whether the Saudi Arabian government — using the bank account of the wife of a senior Saudi diplomat — sent tens of thousands of dollars to two Saudi students in the United States who provided assistance to two of the September 11 hijackers, according to law-enforcement sources.

And what do you think??

Lou Dobbs has a poll on his site, which asks if you think the mainstream media is predominantly liberal, conservative, or neutral. As of this writing, at approximately 4 pm EST on Saturday, it’s running 65% liberal, 31% conservative, and 4% neutral.

Obviously the readers of thismodernworld.com have not yet had their say.

Via Busy, busy, busy.

Let’s end the week on a lighter note, shall we?

If you enjoyed that surreal Kikkoman cartoon that I linked to last week, then here’s a treasure trove for you (thanks for the tip to Sean Treacy).

And here’s a translation of the first cartoon, from a friend of reader Dallas Crum:

It came from the star of an soybean.
He is the messenger of justice.
Food will become very delicious if soy sauce is poured instantly.
Fly in dining out! It is mortal work Kikko-panch!
“fried egg … soy sauce is best.”
Show me Show you Kikkoman…

It came from the star of an soybean.
Funky that guy is Kikkoman.
Soy sauce is good for the body.
There is also a sterilization action.
It does not become a comparison in sauce and catsup.
It is mortal work Kikko beam!
“Therefore, it must also have been told to egg baking that soy sauce
was the best!”
Show me Show you Kikkoman…

This site makes no claim as to the accuracy of the above, but will brook no disagreement when it comes to Kikkoman’s soy-based goodness.

Rush to judgment

Despite my recent difference of opinion with Spinsanity, I remain supportive of their work. And I think they got it exactly right on the Daschle/Limbaugh thing:

While Daschle may feel there is a correlation between criticism by talk radio hosts and the number of threats he receives, there is no evidence suggesting that the hosts are the cause of the threats. Moreover, it is unreasonable to suggest that talking heads are responsible for the actions of a deranged few without specific proof that they have actively incited their actions.

Yet Limbaugh, especially, is guilty of extremely vicious rhetoric. Consider just a few examples from his frequent diatribes against Daschle over the last two years. On Nov. 15, he asserted that Daschle’s criticism of the conduct of the war on terrorism amounted to “an attempt to sabotage the war on terrorism,” called him “Hanoi Tom” and suggested that he is ” a disgrace to patriotism.” On other occasions, Limbaugh has suggested that “In essence, Daschle has chosen to align himself with the axis of evil” and has drawn an extended analogy between Daschle and Satan.

Pretty much what I’ve been thinking. You can’t hold Limbaugh responsible for the actions of his more insane listeners — unless you want to give up on the First Amendment entirely — but neither can you pretend that he’s just some sort of lovable harmless goofball. He spreads a lot of deliberate misinformation, and that’s what he needs to be held accountable for.

Well, this is disturbing

From Salon:

Just days ago, national security executives met secretly with airline CEOs to warn them that al-Qaida may be planning to fire shoulder-launched missiles at commercial jets in the U.S. There’s virtually no defense.