Dr. Daniel Griffith (”anything can point to Mecca, because the earth is round“) is still trying to convince the press that the Flight 93 crescent does not point to Mecca. In an email to the Park Service and the press this week, he tried to make it sound as if Alec Rawls is calculating the orientation of the crescent by using techniques that can be manipulated to achieve any desired result:

Based on Alec’s arguments, one could claim that the memorial is oriented toward the Vatican.

The Flight 93 crescent can indeed be seen as pointing to the Vatican, for the simple reason that the Vatican sits on the great circle line between the crash site and Mecca.

This is what Griffith represents as some concocted method for calculating the orientation of the crescent: the great circle method!

This “shortest distance” or “straight line” direction to Mecca (curving only in the over the horizon direction) is the relevant direction because this is the way that Muslims calculate the direction to Mecca. (There was a debate about it in the 1980’s and 90’s, largely settled by this nondescript looking analysis.)

Here is the great circle line from the Flight 93 crash-site to Mecca:

(Click-pic for larger image. Great circle calculator here.)

Here is the great circle line from the crash-site to the Vatican:

This calculator rounds to the nearest degree, so Mecca and the Vatican both are presented as lying on the great circle line that, from the crash site, proceeds 55° clockwise from north.

Of course a person who faces Mecca is also facing everything else that happens to lie in the direction of Mecca. When Griffith acknowledges that the crescent points to the Vatican, he is not debunking of the Mecca-orientation of the Flight 93 crescent, but confirming it.

Reductio ad Hitlerum

Griffith pulled the same trick last July, telling reporter Kirk Swauger of the Johnstown Tribune Democrat that the crescent can be seen as pointing to a Nazi concentration camp if you want:

Griffith said Rawls suggested memorial organizers would be outraged if the crescent pointed to a Nazi concentration camp instead, the professor said it actually could be done.

Of course Rawls never suggested that anyone should care if the crescent pointed at a concentration camp. Is there a worldwide religion of facing Nazi concentration camps for prayer? Was Flight 93 hijacked by people who face Nazi concentration camps for prayer?

An unpublished report that Griffith wrote for the Pittsburgh Tribune Review in 2006 clarifies his concentration camp reference. It notes that there was a Nazi concentration camp (Drancy) located just outside of Paris, which as you can see on the maps above is also (like the Vatican) on the great circle line between the Flight 93 crash-site and Mecca. In his 2006 report, Griffith acknowledges that the crescent points to the Drancy camp, yet is still unwilling to acknowledge that it points to Mecca. Somehow, the crescent points to everything on the line to Mecca except Mecca.

When Griffith told Swauger that you can see the crescent as pointing to a Nazi concentration camp if you want, he was clearly trying to mislead Swauger into thinking that you can see the crescent as pointing wherever you want. This dishonest intention was made clear by another statement that Griffith made to Swauger (not reported by Swauger, but related by Swauger to Alec Rawls at the time). Griffith told Swauger that: “You can face anywhere to face Mecca.”

He is doing the same thing when he tells the Park Service now that the crescent can be seen as pointing to the Vatican, without being clear that this is because the Vatican sits on great circle line to Mecca.

Pecksniff

In his email, Griffith complains that Rawls has been trying to bully him into changing his analysis. Nobody is trying to bully Griffith into changing anything. We are trying to expose him as a fraud.

Griffith is practically in tears about being called a Pecksniff (a character from Martin Chuzzlewit “who lies and cants whether he is drunk or sober”). It is the perfect epithet. Look in the dictionary under Pecksniff and you will see Daniel Griffith’s picture.

Not that anyone should bother to read Griffith’s email, but if anyone wants to, it puts front and center another astounding example of Griffith’s free-form dishonesty.

Griffith quotes Rawls’s January 2006 report to the Memorial Project as saying that:

…the orientation to Mecca “take[s] a short cut over the North Pole … even though Mecca is south of Shanksville.”

From this supposed quote, Griffith goes on to construct an elaborate fantasy about how, since the great circle line between the crash-site and Mecca does not actually go over the North Pole, it was really Rawls, not he, who started this idea that you can face different directions to face Mecca.

But Rawls’s report to the Memorial Project did not say that a person facing the north pole from the crash site is facing Mecca. Rather, it includes an aside explaining why the shortest-distance line to Mecca “points in a northeasterly direction” (not due north), even though Mecca is south of Shanksville. The reason is because both are in the northern hemisphere. To illustrate, the report includes the simplest possible example: “The shortest distance between points on the opposite sides of the northern hemisphere will take a short cut over the North Pole.”

Griffith quotes only the second half of this sentence, omitting the part about connecting points “on the opposite sides of the northern hemisphere.” That allows him to pretend that the points referred to are the crash-site and Mecca. Of course Shanksville and Mecca are not on opposite sides of the hemisphere. Mecca is about 2/3rds of the way around the hemisphere from the crash-site.

Having Misrepresented Rawls as saying, not just that a person facing into the giant crescent is facing Mecca, but also that a person facing due north from the crash site is facing Mecca, Griffith then writes:

I fail to be convinced that only 2, rather than the infinity of possible, arcs are acceptable to Muslims.

Bwahahahaha! Griffith just finished saying how wrong it is to think that a person facing north from Shanksville is facing Mecca. Then he turns around and uses this face-north-to-face-Mecca claim (misattributed to Rawls) as justification for saying that a person facing any direction is facing Mecca. Just how much peck has this idiot been sniffing?

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On one hand, good news: CDR Hesham Islam, USN (Ret) will leave the Government Civil Service after all the scrutiny brought in his direction after talking Gordon England into consorting with Islamic groups with tags as “unindigted co-conspirators” in Federal trials, and getting the contract for a know expert on radical Islamic elements, MAJ Stephen Coughlin, USAR, dropped as a “Christian zealot with a pen.”

Now, consider the issue at hand. CDR Islam grew up in Egypt, came to the US, became a naturalized citizen, rose to the paygrade of O-5 in the Navy, then retired and became a trusted advisor to a top level DoD office.

In reading the linked article, it seems Hesham England’s resume didn’t “add up.” I take that as parts of it were false. Bad idea for applying for any job, but in this case, it also seemed that he left out some “contacts” he had made, with some who are cozy with our enemies.

[…]
But as a result of the ensuing firestorm that played out in the conservative press – led by Washington Times Pentagon reporter Bill Gertz – Islam was put under a microscope, and questions were raised regarding his background.

For example, Claudia Rosett of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote a column challenging key claims in Islam’s official biography. Within days, a Defense Department profile of Islam was removed from the department’s website.

A Pentagon spokesman said it was “taken down in an attempt to reduce the rhetoric and the emotion surrounding this issue while we try to determine the facts.”

A senior U.S. official says the life story Islam presented now appears sketchy.

“His resume didn’t add up, and he knows it,” the official said. “He’s voluntarily leaving the government in March.”
[…]

But: The scary part:

[…]
At the same time, a report by terror expert Steven Emerson revealed that Islam, as special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense, has scheduled at least two meetings in the Pentagon with Syrian-tied radicals – including a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood – in direct violation of U.S. policy.

As WND previously reported, FBI officials believe Islam is involved with the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and is helping its front groups run “influence operations” against the U.S. government.

“He’s a Muslim brother,” an FBI official told WND. “He’s a bad actor, and he’s made other unreported nefarious contacts.”

Islam has worked closely in the Pentagon with Muslim chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam, who as WND also previously reported, received his training at a radical Islamic school in Northern Virginia that was raided by federal authorities after 9/11.
[…]

There you have it. Sad, but it fits the stereotype of one who came to this country and showed the patience to work his way into positions of access and authority, and along the way would be given an exceptional education in the operations at sea of the most advanced navy in the world. Trust me, as ship driver, you have to learn a lot of things, not just how to get around the oceans safely. I’d love to see his list of duty assignments, which wold alow me to futher analyze what CDR Islam was taught and trained for.

Then it gets more interesting: His son is currently a serving Navy Officer aboard ships, with a TS/SCI clearance. Long hand: “Tops Secret/Special Compartmented Information.” TS is one thing and seriously high enough. SCI is very specific information, but confined to functional “need to know” special topic areas.

The rest of the story:

[…]
The Pentagon had no comment. And Islam, who has not been accused of any crimes, has refused interviews.

Emerson says Islam prescribed a steady diet of Muslim Brotherhood-connected outreach for his unwitting boss, deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England….
[…]

Whispering in the ear of some of our highest DoD officials “there’s nothing to fear here…just move along.” Great.

The comments by the Congressional rep who had the cojones to stand up and ask hard questions: Rep Sue Myrick (R-NC) says this:

[…]
Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., who co-chairs the House Anti-Terrorism Caucus, has been fighting to keep Coughlin in the Pentagon, where she says his blunt analysis of the Islamic enemy is sorely needed….

“I know that some people will refuse to admit there is a subversive movement going on here, but let me remind you that we have underestimated the will and capability of our enemy for more than 30 years,” she added. “They are patient and determined to achieve their radical agenda.”

It looks like, before the fact, that a mole has been uncovered. Not reporting contacts with know groups sworn to our defeat. Directly violating State Dept regulations on meetings with specific countries. Your “resume” of where you grew up and what happened “don’t add up.” Oh, yeah, and what about his Islamic brothers-in-arms now in the service, who come from a background of anti-American training?

So he resigns from his civil service position. Where does he go next? That’s the really bad news. Between damage control training, ship engineering training, weapons systems training, small boat defense, internal security teams set up and operations, and detailed knowledge of command and control systems and their inner workings. I’m sure there’s a big paycheck out there waiting for him and it’s not with a US contractor. Armed with this type of insight, those not praying for the success and well being of our sailors, would have the increased opportunity to go for the weak points.

I guess, as one commenter likes to indicate, that we have no problems internally. This must have just have been an aberration and there’s nothing to it. I hope the FBI is burning the midnight oil to vett his entire background and all his recent activities. On the other hand, they missed the 9/11 hijackers, too, when they even had one in their hands.

There is a bright light here: Another victory for the power of the blogosphere to move important data to the right places and get the right people into action.

Update 2/12/2008: Just know, this type of tactic isn’t most likely anything new… Too Late the Hero trailer

Update 2/13/2008: Claudia Rosett of NRO has ferreted out some interesting info by fact checking Hesham’s own story… Big details don’t hold up to even a moderate level of scrutiny, and then it turns out he married a pen pal from the US, sight unseen. It gets more interesting with each scraping of the top coat.

Related reading: Sunday Ship History: U.S. Navy in Africa and Fred Fry’s Maritime Monday 97.
————————————–

CDR David Connole, USNCommander Connole made his mark on US Naval history as a submariner and the skipper of USS TRIGGER (SS-237) in WWII. As with many heroes of the submarine force, CDR David Connole and his crew were lost at sea due to enemy action on March 26th, 1945. It was the TRIGGER’s 12th and last war patrol. A more detailed story of the TRIGGER’s war record is found in Submarine!” by Edward Beach. CDR Connole was awarded two Silver Stars for his wartime record.Who was David Connole? Here is what I could find:

The Connole family name is Irish with David Connole’s grandfather, Anthony, immigrating from County Clare, Ireland in the mid-1800’s LO Carroilton, Illinois. David R. Connole was born on September 8, 1912 in Madison, ILas the first son of Henry Connole and Mary Rickart Connole. He did well in school and also became an Eagle Scout. After attending llinois College for two years, he gained entrance to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1932 and graduated in 1936. For the next three years, he served aboard the cruiser USS Boise then entered Submarine School.

From December 1939 to August 1943, Commander Connole served aboard the submarine USS Pompano which was involved in numerous war patrols in the Pacific. He then became executive officer of the USS Cuttlefish. In 1944, he took command of the USS Sennet and in 1945, he became the commanding officer of the USS Trigger. The U.S.S. Trigger was lost in battle off the coast of Japan in March, 1945.

Commander Connole was awarded two Silver Star medals, the Bronze Star medal and the U.S.S. Trigger earned the Presidential Unit Citation for three war patrols.

Vida Wimbrow was born on June 8, 1917 and raised in Annapolis, Maryland. She and David met in 1935 and were married in 1938. This young Navy couple lived in New London, Connecticut, San Francisco, California and Honolulu, Hawaii. During the war years, Vida lived in Annapolis. Their only son, Rickart Alan Connole, was born in September, 1944. David last saw his son at Rick’s christening in November, 1944.

In 1949, Vida married Captain Roy S. Benson who, by coincidence, commanded the U.S.S. Trigger in 1942 and was an instructor of navigation to David Connole at the Naval Academy.

Commissioned on August 30th, 1969, the USS CONNOLE (DE-1056) (Later FF-1056) was the ship that honors the memory of CDR Connole. The CONNOLE served in the Atlantic Fleet, and was decommissioned on August 30th, 1992 and transferred to the Greek Navy as the HHMS Ipiros (F-456), being decommissioned in that navy in 2003.A cruise book for the 1981 Med cruise was found here. Photos of the commanding officers from 1969 to 1992 were located here.

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Found while “surfing,” but it rings so true for me:

From the USS KIRK (FF-1087) website:

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* I liked standing on the bridge wing at sunrise with salt spray in my face and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of the globe – the destroyer beneath me feeling like a living thing as her engines drove her swiftly through the sea.

* I liked the sounds of the Navy – the piercing trill of the boatswains pipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship’s bell on the quarterdeck, the harsh squawk of the 1MC, and the strong language and laughter of sailors at work.

* I liked Navy vessels – nervous darting destroyers, plodding fleet auxiliaries and amphibs, sleek submarines and steady solid aircraft carriers.

* I liked the proud names of Navy ships: Midway, Lexington, Saratoga, Coral Sea, Antietam, Valley Forge – memorials of great battles won and tribulations overcome.

* I liked the lean angular names of Navy “tin-cans” and escorts – Barney, Dahlgren, Mullinix, McCloy, Damato, Leftwich, Mills – mementos of heroes who went before us. And the others – San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Chicago – named for our cities.

* I liked the tempo of a Navy band blaring through the topside speakers as we pulled away from the oiler after refueling at sea.

* I liked liberty call and the spicy scent of a foreign port.

* I even liked the never ending paperwork and all hands working parties as my ship filled herself with the multitude of supplies, both mundane and to cut ties to the land and carry out her mission anywhere on the globe where there was water to float her.

* I liked sailors, officers and enlisted men from all parts of the land, farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England, from the cities, the mountains and the prairies, from all walks of life. I trusted and depended on them as they trusted and depended on me – for professional competence, for comradeship, for strength and courage. In a word, they were “shipmates”; then and forever.

* I liked the surge of adventure in my heart, when the word was passed: “Now set the special sea and anchor detail – all hands to quarters for leaving port,” and I liked the infectious thrill of sighting home again, with the waving hands of welcome from family and friends waiting pier side.

* The work was hard and dangerous; the going rough at times; the parting from loved ones painful, but the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the “all for one and one for all” philosophy of the sea was ever present.

* I liked the serenity of the sea after a day of hard ship’s work, as flying fish flitted across the wave tops and sunset gave way to night.

* I liked the feel of the Navy in darkness – the masthead and range lights, the red and green navigation lights and stern light, the pulsating phosphorescence of radar repeaters – they cut through the dusk and joined with the mirror of stars overhead. And I liked drifting off to sleep lulled by the myriad noises large and small that told me that my ship was alive and well, and that my shipmates on watch would keep me safe.

* I liked quiet midwatches with the aroma of strong coffee – the lifeblood of the Navy permeating everywhere.

* And I liked hectic watches when the exacting minuet of haze-gray shapes racing at flank speed kept all hands on a razor edge of alertness.

* I liked the sudden electricity of “General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations,” followed by the hurried clamor of running feet on ladders and the resounding thump of watertight doors as the ship transformed herself in a few brief seconds from a peaceful workplace to a weapon of war – ready for anything.

* And I liked the sight of space-age equipment manned by youngsters clad in dungarees and sound-powered phones that their grandfathers would still recognize.

* I liked the traditions of the Navy and the men and women who made them. I liked the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut, John Paul Jones, and Burke. A sailor could find much in the Navy: comrades-in-arms, pride in self and country, mastery of the seaman’s trade. An adolescent could find adulthood.

* In years to come, when sailors are home from the sea, they will still remember with fondness and respect the ocean in all its moods – the impossible shimmering mirror calm and the storm-tossed green water surging over the bow. And then there will come again a faint whiff of stack gas, a faint echo of engine and rudder orders, a vision of the bright bunting of signal flags snapping at the yardarm, a refrain of hearty laughter in the wardroom and chief’s quarters and mess decks.

* Gone ashore for good they will grow wistful about their Navy days, when the seas belonged to them and a new port of call was ever over the horizon.

* Remembering this, they will stand taller and say, “I WAS A SAILOR ONCE.”

Author Unknown

Well done, Unknown.

Tracked back @ Cao’s Blog

Whilst out performing work, I ended up behind a van, nothing expensive, adorned with three “statements:”

“Impeach Bush Torture Cheney” Funny, “Turban” Durbin and the Dems are now talking about criminally charging the CIA personnel who used a technique Congress doesn’t have the guts to name as torture by law, yet those of the same stripe would support doing the waterboarding, or worse, to elected officials of the highest order.

“The Bill of Rights …or Pre-9/11” Am I missing something? A guy driving down a major interstate in a major city and there were no Black Helicopters following him, attempting to drop SWAT ninjas on the roof of his vehicle. I observed no bullet holes in his van, either, from prior complications with rampant, controlling entities dispatched to remove his freedom of speech. Then again, if he was known to have phone conversations with known terrorists from outside the country, I can see how he may feel wronged by the Patriot Act.

“Guns don’t kill people. Lying War Hungry Presidents Do.” I may be making an improper assumption, but maybe he was making a statement about Saddam Hussien, the President of Iraq, who was known to use industrial grinders or vats of acid, or maybe the President of Iran, who has children hung and adults stoned, as those who don’t use guns to kill people.

Then it’s time for another installment of Flight Deck Friday. The development of CV ops for the USN is the topic of the day.The Autograph Hound movie

Adam Gadahn is taking a dirt nap?

Not wishing death on anyone, but…something about living by the sword comes to mind…Excalibur psp

Update 2/7/2008: I was given a heads up by a reader that Nickeloden work by Linda Ellerbee is strongly suspect and this may be not what it appears to be.

More detailed reading available at BlackFive and Army Wife Toddler Mom.

I’m also going to send this feedback to VAJoe.

Original Post below.

Received via email from the staff @ VAJoe. If you can pitch in and pass the word, you may be able to get the voice of our service member’s kids in front of the public!

VA Joe.com was contacted by Jessie Findlay over at Nickelodeon recently with this announcement. Help spread the word!

“The Nickelodeon news series “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee” is looking for kids of soldiers currently home from deployment who are willing to be interviewed about the readjustment process. We’re looking for a few well-spoken kids around 11 to 15 years old to talk about how life has changed now that Mom/Dad has come home – particularly those dealing with a physical injury, divorce or PTSD. This show will recognize that war affects whole families, acknowledge the sacrifices of American troops and their families – especially their kids, and portray the good feelings that come with being reunited. Filming will be completed by the end of February.

Interested families please contact Coordinating Producer Jessie Findlay

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at Lucky Duck Productions – 212-463-0029 ext. 153 or [email protected]. “

Thank you,
-VAJoe.com

Pennsylvania is on fire. Tom Burnett’s color advertisement in the Somerset Daily American, asking the people of Somerset to protest the crescent memorial to Flight 93, raised a great deal of awareness. At least four television stations covered the controversy, and there were two news stories in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review alone.

Those who went on to read Alec Rawls’ more detailed advertisement (exposing the fraudulent Park Service investigation of the giant Mecca-oriented crescent) are burning mad, and are taking up Tom Sr.’s call for state and Congressional investigations. Word is that two Pennsylvania state representatives, one Democrat and one Republican, are hot enough to co-sponsor a resolution initiating a state investigation.

That is a long way from actually getting an investigation. The hurdles are still huge, and it would sure be a big help if the high traffic conservative bloggers were pitching in. Charles Johnson and Michelle Malkin played a critical role in raising the initial alarm when the Crescent of Embrace design was unveiled in September 2005. Both also helped to expose the phony redesign, which leaves every particle of the original design completely intact.

But since 2006, nothing. For two years, as the revelations about the Memorial Project have become ever more explosive, the fire-hoses have ignored what will undoubtedly become one of the biggest scandals in American history.

This is a difficult story for our high traffic bloggers. With Flight 93 family members on both sides, no one can weigh in without checking the facts, and our high traffic bloggers are all stretched too thin to check the facts. Charles Johnson only has two eyes and two ears. No one can say he ought to do anything, when there is no way he ought to even be able to do a quarter of what he does.

Johnson’s lizard army, on the other hand, has thousands of eyes and thousands of ears. The question is whether this sensory system is connected to the lizard brain. Is there any trickle-up at LGF?

To try to establish this trickle-up connection, Charles recently installed a new link-rating system

Speed Racer divx

at the top of his main page. Let’s see if we can get it to work! Come on lizards. Time to rejoin the fight. Please take the links to the two advertisements that are now setting Pennsylvania on fire and see if you can rally your fellow lizards to push these links up into the collective consciousness of the lizard army.

Over the next two weeks, these ads will continue to be published in the free weeklies for the cities of Somerset and Johnstown. We are putting tinder to the first licks of flame, and maybe even have a couple of sticks in the fire, but we are still a long way from an established blaze, never mind the bonfire of awareness, and the firestorm of awareness, that it will take to stop Murdoch’s plot.

We need lizard help to stop architect Paul Murdoch from stabbing a terrorist memorial mosque into the heartland of America! (That’s what a Mecca-oriented crescent is: the central feature of a mosque.)

This is YOUR story lizards

It was five lizards who discovered, almost immediately after the Crescent of Embrace was unveiled, that the nearly one mile wide crescent points almost exactly to Mecca (kifaya, khamr, Edgren, bluemerle, and Etaoin).

Etaoin Shrdlu’s Mecca orientation graphic, posted by Ace of Spades September 11, 2005 (three days after the crescent design was unveiled).

Charles stayed with the fight until July 2006, when he rallied the lizards to participate in the Park Service’s open comment period.

Then he and Michelle and all the other high traffic bloggers disappeared.

No links when Tom Burnett Sr. publicly protested the memorial by refusing to allow Tom Jr.’s name to be inscribed on one of those 44 glass blocks on the flight path (matching the number of passengers, crew AND terrorists).No links when the crescent design was discovered to memorialize, not just the 4 hijackers of Flight 93, but also the full complement of 19 9/11 terrorists. (There are two sets of 19 nested crescents in the crescent design.)

No links when Tom Sr. and Alec Rawls protested the crescent and star flag configuration of the memorial on national television.

No links when an academic fraud told the Park Service not to worry about the similarity between the giant Mecca oriented crescent and the Mecca oriented mihrab around which every mosque is built because there has never been a mihrab anywhere near this BIG before.

No links when Congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo called in November 2007 for the Park Service to scrap the crescent design entirely.

The usual difficulty for the blogosphere is to get the mainstream media to cover our discoveries. This has been inverted for the memorial story. Dozens of mainstream news stories have been written about the controversy, none of which were ever linked by any high traffic conservative bloggers. All the weight has been carried by a creditable collection of small and mid-traffic bloggers, starting with our three dozen blogburst participants.

The blogosphere has an Achilles heel. A controversial story that requires fact checking gets skipped over by our high traffic link-editors. Charles Johnson’s addition of a decentralized link-editing utility might be able to overcome this weakness, but it won’t happen automatically. For this tool to work, the lizard army has to step up and make it work.

To join our blogbursts, email Cao (caoilfhionn1 at gmail dot com) with your blog’s url.

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