Teaneck residents react to latest bombing: In North Jersey, concern, anger (former Stern College Observer editor Deena Yellin, in the Bergen Record)

Waking with a start Monday morning, Vairagi Shah looked up to find her mother pulling her out of bed and urging her to turn on the news.

"All we heard was that there was a bomb in India," said Shah, a student who lives in New Milford. "We were so worried."

As more details trickled in, Shah experienced dueling emotions - shock to learn that two car bombs had killed dozens in the coastal city of Bombay, but relief that the terrorists had struck far from her family and friends in another province.

North Jersey residents with roots in India - even those accustomed to reports of violence in their homeland, a democratic nation of 1 billion people with diverse tongues and faiths - said they felt saddened and in some cases angered by Monday's bombings.Those with direct ties to Bombay reacted with alarm to Monday's attacks. Zacharia Ninan's eyes widened in horror when a reporter told him the news.

"My brother is in Bombay," said Ninan, who lives in Teaneck. "I'm very worried now about him and his family. I hope they are safe. I will have to call him when I get home."

    

Alabama Getaway: Ten Commandments Fans in Action! ( Orcinus: Fair and Balanced)

Just in case anyone's wondering about extremist content in re the 10 Commandments brouhaha in Montgomery:

Last Saturday, the rally for the 10 Commandments included as speakers Howard Phillips of the Constitution Party (formerly USTP), along with Jerry Falwell and Alan Keyes and a number of lesser lights. The crowd was about 50 percent neo-Confederate, with flags and such, even though organizers were supposedly turning Confederate flags away. The crowd was working class and overwhelmingly white -- a careful count by me concluded that out of a maximum 2,000 present (it may have been closer to 1,500), there were at most 20 black faces.

A funny moment came when a clueless Falwell invoked Martin Luther King, saying that Roy Moore was just like King. The entire crowd skipped a beat ... silence ... and then the most tepid applause you ever heard.

Later, Falwell compounded the error by referring to America as a land of immigrants, and actually quoted Emma Lazarus. This time, the crowd's answer was deafening silence.

    

Jews in Space: Israel Makes Plans for Broad Space Capabilities (Space News)

In a July 30 interview, Eshed said he envisions a period not too long from now -- perhaps within five years -- when the Israel Air Force will be able to use fighter aircraft to launch on demand multiple satellites ranging in weight from tens of kilograms to no more than 100 kilograms.

According to this vision, MoD would hold in inventory a number of common satellite buses -- each costing $10 to $12 million -- whose modular payloads could be deployed for specific missions, depending on need. Ultimately, military users would have the capability to reprogram satellites for different missions through so-called smart software uplinked directly to satellites already in orbit.

"We're looking at multi-mission systems that essentially are plug and play, and we are really serious about this. We believe that in five or 10 years, we will be able to give a full, rapid and flexible response to the multiple needs of our users," Eshed told Space News.

Israel's emerging concept of operations for the constellation of modular, low Earth-orbiting satellites calls for dividing particular mission roles among two or three satellites, so that the sum of the cluster far exceeds the contribution of each individual spacecraft, according to specialists associated with Israel's Technion University in Haifa.

    

Grant me martyrdom but not yet: Hamas leaders go underground (Jerusalem Post)
    

What and Where is the Veep Hiding, and Why? Dick Cheney: Obstruction of Justice (Oliver Willis)

To recap: the sitting vice president held meetings about government policy with a cabal of private industry representatives (including the criminals at Enron) and has refused to divulge what was discussed. On top of that, when an investigation was conducted Vice President Cheney used the power of his office to impede the investigation.

Sounds like a high crime to me.

    

Karl Rove, CIA-hating criminal? (Eschaton)

Eschaton Assignment Desk. Joseph Wilson made a not too thinly veiled accusation that Karl Rove was the one who told Novakula that his wife was a CIA op. Whether or not he is correct, it's time at the very least for a journalist to ask the question.

I mean, it isn't as nearly as important as the time the Clintons fired some political appointees they were completely entitled to fire, but still.

Here's what Wilson said:

At the end of the day, it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words.

[Eschaton]

    

Who's idea is this anyway? Opening up the Iraq-Haifa pipeline? (TalkingPointsMemo.com)

Now, given that one of the Iraqis' big suspicions is that we're after their oil, you might think that rerouting almost half of the country's oil through Israel, and using a pipeline last used when Palestine was ruled by the British, might at least create some perception problems.

But that doesn't seem to be all of it. That oil from the Kirkuk oil fields is now transhipped through Turkey. And folks in government circles in Jerusalem seem to think that these American hints about the Kirkuk to Haifa pipeline are, as Ha'aretz says, part of an "attempt to apply pressure on Turkey."

This deserves more attention. Why are we even remotely considering this scheme to send half of Iraq's oil through Israel? And why do we seem to be trying to sow discord between two of our most important allies in the region?

    

Cool animation: Fatboy Slim - Weapon Of Choice