have shaved his beard and fled to Pakistan...other sources say that he is southwest of Tora Bora, Kabul says that is a false statement...another rumor is that some al-Qaeda leaders have been killed...B-52 bombers are flying over Afghanistan, but to the US forces, the military part of the war is over...there is less shooting & more hunting...John Walker is being questioned by the FBI on a ship in the Arabian Sea...he said that Afghan forces shot & threw grenades at escaping Taliban & al-Qaeda soldiers...President Bush: He was working with the enemy!...Pakistan borders Afghanistan for 1300+ miles...the mountainous area between the two countries are the hardest to protect and patrol...a US flag made of 40,000+ tiles created by students in Massachusetts will be shown in Boston, NYC & DC...British peacekeepers arrived in Afghanistan to lead a multinational force, US forces will be leaving Kabul itself...they are more symbolic, and will enforce security in Kabul, which is the primary concern of the new government...the Marines will dig through the caves near Tora Bora, being careful not to set off booby traps & land mines...the US has detained 7,000 Taliban & al-Qaeda soldiers...3 Saudi clerics approved the 9/11/01 attacks...some Muslim military leaders do not want to give up the leadership of their own soldiers......irony? an Iranian film maker created a movie that was made prior to 9/11/01 called Kandahar; it described the suffering of the people & the impact that years of war have had on the city...
...12/21/01: local leaders said 65 people, mainly tribal elders and mujahideen en route to Kabul for the inauguration of the interim administration, were killed and demanded the new government of Hamid Karzai, sworn in on 12/22/01, to carry out an inquiry...new high-tech bombs have been sent to Afghanistan to blow up the complex tunnels system...President Bush: No one really knows where bin Laden is!...he could be trapped in a cave...President Musharrol of Pakistan thinks bin Laden is dead...
12/19/01: the Internet's tenth anniversary!
...live anthrax spores were received at Los Alamos Labs from northern Arizona; it was presumed that they were not...the FBI is investigating any company associated with the production of anthrax...September 11 has been declared Patriot Day by President Bush...Los Angeles donated a fire engine to replace one of the 35 that were destroyed in the 9/11/01 attacks...NM state income tax revenue down for the first time in 10 years...congressional gold medals have been approved for all those who perished in the 9/11/01 attacks...due to technical glitches & the height of the towers, which weakened the transmissions, some fireman never heard the announcement to evacuate the structures...343 firemen died...$88 million was deposited in the NM General Fund as a result of payments from the Native American casinos...holiday office parties are down, family gatherings are up, which will still provide work for caterers...but hotel & restaurant reservations are down...travel is on the rise, but expect to add 60-80 minutes in waiting time at Newark, and only 8-10 minutes at National in DC...people have bought less or spent less money this holiday season, down to $700 from about $1200 last year...get ready for sales & more layoffs!...this is the worst holiday season in over a decade...only electronic equipment has done reasonably well...
12/18/01: a 5-alarm fire lasting 2 and a half hours burned the St. John of the Devine church...it is said to be the largest church in the country, and is located in the Morningside Heights area of Manhattan...the fire, which started in the gift shop, guttered the entire roof...the east end of the structure was completely destroyed...yet Christmas services were held there...
...new unemployment claims down, the lowest since the September eleventh attacks...however, there are 384,000 people known to be out of work...the unemployment rate in 2000 was 4%; in November, 2001 it was 5.7%...the amount of jobless people is reaching 1,000,000!...President Bush: The country is safer now than it was before the September eleventh attacks!...he also keeps the country updated on the progress of the war via the Pentagon web site...
....BOSTON (Dec. 22) - An American Airlines Boeing 767 aircraft flying from Paris to Miami [Flight 63] was diverted to Boston [Logan Airport] on Saturday after a passeneger was found carrying explosives, aviation officials said...Flight 63 was escorted to Logan by two F-15 jets...he tried to ignite his shoelaces and the tongue of his sneaker with a match...other passengers subdued him, then slapped, belted and sedated him...he had a detonator cord plus explosives similar to C-4 that were in his sneakers...one stewardess was bitten by the man and was treated at a local hospital...the FAA was aware that terrorists might transport explosive devices as separate components, using the shoelaces as fuses...the bomb itself had no metal nor in the wiring...the man was not of Middle East descent and had a fake British passport he obtained in Belguim...he is Richard Reid, 28, aka the Shoe Bomber or Sneaker Bomber, from Sri Lanka and will be charged with interfering with a flight crew and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction...he has used the alias of Abdul Raheem & Tariq Rajah...he was a petty criminal, converted to Islam while in prison...authorities believe he must have had help...the explosion could have created a large hole in the airplane...a bond hearing was held in Boston; bail has been denied, fearing he would flee the country...he has also visited Egypt, Israel & the Netherlands...Reid received training by the al-Qaeda in AFG, and is pleading not guilty!...he has been indicted on terrorist charges, and could be jailed for a period of 5 life sentences...
...now airports have to be more vigilant, especially with shoes...there have been no new FAA directives...SunPort is still operating smoothly...only 1% decrease in number of passengers; most airports have had double digit losses...5.7 million passengers as of 11/30/01...no longer can anyone wait in their car on the lower level; all vehicles must be parked in a parking lot...
...the US has a problem with obesity, more than 61% of the population is overweight...300,000 people die from obesity-related diseases...one idea is a junk food tax...the poor & inner city people are the most at risk for becoming fat...the answer is daily exercise & balanced diet...PBP once had a weight loss contest; all participants lost lots of pounds, only to turn around and gain it after the contest ended...
...a stimulus bill to help boost the economy will not be passed before the Christmas recess, which started 12/21/01...the Republicans are said to be favoring company tax breaks...the Democrats want to extend unemployment benefits, and devise a health care package for these people; the working class is patriotic, too!...it had passed in the House, but is stuck in the Senate...in any event, it will be too little, too late, and everyone else's fault...the Gross Domestic Product slid 1.2%...in essence, the country has been in a recession since March, 2001...
...12/21/01: the first day of winter!...Window XP has gaping security holes that hackers can access; there is a patch on their web page for buyers to eliminate this problem...terrorism insurance will be sold by fewer companies because of the amounts paid on the 9/11 attacks...by mid-January of 2002 all airports will be required to have security measures in place for searching every piece of luggage...12/27/01 is said to be the busiest traveling day during the holidays...there is a 15-20% decline in air travel; Sunport manager says only a 1.2% loss, and there was no difference between Nov., 2000 & Nov., 2001...flights delayed on 12/28/01 at BWI due to a water pipe breaking, flooding the main road to the airport terminals, resulting in a 3 hour back-up...42 million people will travel by car, this is a 1% drop from last year...gas prices the lowest in 3 years, down 3 cents in the last week, but OPEC plans to cut output by early 2002...effective 1/1/02, hand held cell phones used by drivers in Santa Fe will receive a $500 fine or spend 90 days in jail...one of the experiments on the Space Station was conceived by a NM physicist...250,000 congressional calendars include November 31, 2002!...CA has the highest percentage of bad roads; GA, the least...
...12/20/01: another flyover ramp had been opened at the Big I...the entire project should be done by May, 2002, one month earlier than planned...however, holiday congestion caused a backup on I-25 south from Paseo del Norte to I-40...the 505 area code can still be used for several years...the VW may re-introduce the Microbus in 2003...on the flip side, the Dodge Spoiler, selling at $45000, is being discontinued due to poor sales (?)...the Lord of the Rings has been nominated in the Drama category at the Golden Globe awards...Channel 7 used the Jubilations store to explain what wine to serve during a meal, or to bring to a party...gas heating prices may drop by 50% this winter, due to the warmer conditions...the goverment will start taking claims for the Victims Attack Fund of 9/11/01; some people may receive more than $1 million...Congress has shown disaaproval of NBC showing alcohol ads after 9 PM...future Goodwill Games have been cancelled, Ted Turner has lost over $109 million in the last 3 years...some NYC firefighters are in Afghanistan, doing what they can to help the troops...
...all C-14s' grounded when a wing collapsed...President Bush said that John Walker met with bin Laden...it is believed that terrorists are gathering in Somalia to plan the next attack...it is also believed bin Laden has not fled to either Iraq or Lybia (the green flag)...the last game during a regular season was played at Foxboro Stadium on 12/22/01; the Patriots (who are in the playoffs for the Super Bowl; their first time since 1997)...they have a playoff game against the Oakland Raiders on 1/19/02 at 8 PM...there was snow that Saturday, starting at 4 PM and lasted throughout the entire game...the Patriots won in O/T, 16-13, but sportscasters say the umpires made some questionable calls...the team will be moving to a new stadium in a Hartford, CT suburb...in 2002, Congress will earn $150,000, their third pay increase in four years (how will they be able to survive on that salary?!)...new unemployment claims are up during the third week in December...the teenagers who threw rocks from an overpass onto I-40 in ABQ have been found guilty of their crime; they must pay restitution, as well as perform duties of public service..
...the game may have been the last at Foxboro Stadium, built for $6.7 million and opened for the 1971 season. The Patriots will play next season at CMGi Field, being built on adjacent property for $325 million...
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