Earlier today, James J. Lee entered the Discovery Communications building in Silver Spring, Maryland, armed with a gun and several bombs, at least one of which was stapped to his body. Most of the people in the building were safely evacuated, but Lee was still able to take three people hostage. According to MSNBC, the situation ended around 4:50 p.m., when Lee was shot by a member of a police SWAT team.

At least one device on the man’s his body went off when he was shot inside the building in suburban Washington, D.C., Montgomery County police Chief Thomas Manger said. Police were searching the building for other explosive devices.

Lee appears to have been part of a faction within the environmentalist movement that wants to rid the earth of humans. According to a manifesto that he had published (on his site savetheplanetprotest.com, which appears to be no longer working),

Nothing is more important than saving … the Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels.

The humans? The planet does not need humans.

He had also had a previous run-in with Discovery Communications – and with the law.

Court records show that Lee was arrested Feb. 21, 2008, on the sixth day of a protest at the Discovery building. At the time of his conviction in March 2008, he was identified as being from San Diego.

Michelle Malkin has more, including the full text of Lee’s manifesto.

This past Saturday, I went down to Washington, DC to attend the “Restoring Honor” rally organized by TV personality Glenn Beck. I arrived at the Shady Grove station of the Washington Metro at around 7:15 AM, thinking I could ride and then walk down to the Lincoln Memorial before most of the crowd, in time for the start of the rally at 10:00 AM. Boy, was I wrong! The parking lot at Shady Grove was already packed. A huge line of people was waiting to buy the farecards that would get them into the Metro. Fortunately, I already had my own “smart card”.

When I arrived in downtown Washington, there were already throngs of people settling into the area around the reflecting pool between the Lincoln and World War II Memorials. There were several large “Jumbotron”-type TV screens, each with a set of PA speakers, spaced along both sides of the reflecting pool, and on the sides of the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Immediately south of the reflecting pool area is an open space called the JFK Hockey Field, which included two additional sets of “Jumbotrons” and speakers. As the 10:00 start drew near, these areas were largely filled up with people. Still more people gathered between the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument. While I took a look toward that area and its occupants, a man standing next to me said, “that’s the overflow crowd.”

The rally included a stirring performance of the Star-Spangled Banner by a six-person vocal group, without instrumental accompaniment; Beck’s opening remarks; a speech by Sarah Palin in the role of “a mother of a soldier”, during which she introduced three veterans, one each from Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan; the presentation of medals for Faith, Hope and Charity, including speeches by the presenters and acceptors; a speech by Dr. Alveda King, a niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; the introduction of the Black Robed Brigade, comprised of about 200 clergymen from various faiths and denominations; Beck’s closing speech, during which he expounded on the last sentence of the Declaration of Independence (“…our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor”); and Amazing Grace as the closing song, complete with bagpipes.

I don’t have my pictures yet. They will be posted as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Gateway Pundit has some pictures of the rally, including an aerial shot of the crowd. My pics will be from ground level.

Reports on the rally include:
This video from Fox News
This story from ABC News,
This story from Politics Daily,
This commentary from the LDS Examiner, and
This story from the Times-Union of Warsaw, Indiana, about 56 residents of Kosciuszko County who travelled to attend the rally.

Meanwhile, a few other things going on include:

Look who’s golfing now! No, it’s not Barry again. Just after being arraigned for lying to Congress, no less. (Hmmm. Would Congress accusing someone of lying be a little bit like the Klan accusing someone of racism?)

Will the Ground Zero mosque in New York be given public financing? Where’s the “separation of church and state” crowd on this one? Or does that only apply to Christianity?

Dry weather in Great Britain reveals the locations of Roman and other ancient settlements.

Victor Davis Hanson of National Review Online explains why Americans are angry. (I always get a chuckle from the NRO guys when they refer to their printed magazine as NRODT, which stands for National Review on Dead Tree.)

Here’s a bit of what’s going on in my neck of the woods. Montgomery County, Maryland is pretty well off, but has still been hit by the economic downturn of the past few years. As a result, the county government decided to try saving $155,000 by removing all of the port-a-johns in their county parks. The residents didn’t like that idea, so instead, county officials came up another solution.

As some Montgomery County park visitors sit on the john, they’ll have a four-lettered word on the brain — WTOP.

The radio station’s logo will be slapped inside a portable toilet it sponsored on park property. So will the Long Branch Civic Association’s, a promotional strategy that gives new meaning to flushing away the competition.

And for a mere $800 a year, you too can have unprecedented access to the squatting demographic.

That’s right. If you or your business can afford it, you can place your ad where it may be read by those who seek relief. Space is still available.

A few posts ago, I recounted that some of the oil coming from the BP Deepwater Horizon appears to have been consumed by oil-eating microbes naturally present in the Gulf of Mexico. Now comes a report about a newly discovered type of microbe, which thrives in cooler water and uses less oxygen than its previously known cousins. This is good news, especially if you are a fish and enjoy having oxygenated seawater flowing through your gills.

According to MSNBC,

A newly discovered type of oil-eating microbe suddenly is flourishing in the Gulf of Mexico and gobbling up the BP spill at a much faster rate than expected, scientists reported Tuesday.

Scientists discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled since the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

As an added note, here’s one other thing I came across while researching the subject of oil-eating microbes. You can buy your own.

The movement to oppose the mosque at Ground Zero in New York has inspired a song.
(via Tasty Infidelicacies)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is taking his family to the Florida Panhandle for a weekend trip billed as part family vacation, part presidential sales pitch, as he looks to boost the region’s sagging tourism industry in the aftermath of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

whoa looky at teh Mrs.-- not a happy ladee? Perhaps she'd rather be somewhere else...say, like Spain? Or maybe she's concerned about getting all oilee down there in the pannyhandle.

Here’s the latest leftwing response to the Tea Party movement, now that the Coffee Party has pretty much fizzled out. As reported by Ben Smith in Politico, it’s the “F*ck Tea” project, complete with its own website. According to the group’s founder Erica Payne,

“We will be launching new products in the next several months to help people all over the country F*ck Tea,” Payne told POLITICO. “Products like a Glenn Beck Bowl Buddy (Beck B Scrubbin) and others are perfect holiday gifts or just a great way to say, ‘I love you and our country’ to your spouse, friend or family.”

Yeah, I guess nothing says “I love this country” quite like putting a likeness of Glenn Beck in your toilet.

Kinda reminds me of the “Buck Fush” bumper stickers, tee shirts, etc., from a few years back (which have in turn inspired their equal and opposite reaction).

If these guys aren’t savages, I don’t know who is. A day after murdering ten medical workers, the Taliban flog and execute a pregnant woman, for allegedly committing adultery.

A former engineer who worked on the B2 stealth bomber has been convicted of selling military secrets to China.

Speaking of China, a former Chinese Communist Party official who converted to Christianity while in the United States says that China could become a “new city on a hill”.

If a mosque is built next to Ground Zero in New York City, here’s what one man wants to build next door.

In another controversy over a house of worship, a Jewish group opposes plans by a Pentacostal church to build a replica of the Temple Mount in Brazil.

Not for the squeamish: a Dutch woman is accused of giving birth to four babies, storing them in suitcases and allowing them to die.

Missouri and Virginia conduct initatives against Obamacare.

An outbreak of salmonella in humans, mostly very young children, has been traced to pet food.

Look who’s running for Sarah Palin’s old job. (Not governor, but an earlier one.)

I’m glad that during my recent trip to Italy, I didn’t run into any flight attendants who acted like this guy.

What do you get when you cross a bus with a jet?

And finally, a bit of satire from The Endive.

It looks like senators McCain (R-AZ) and Coburn (R-OK) are gonna raise a fuss and gonna to raise a holler, by releasing a report on some of the more wasteful projects included in the “stimulus” bill. The report is entitled “Summertime Blues: 100 Stimulus Projects that Give Taxpayers the Blues”. The Heartland Institute gives this partial list, with my comments interspersed.

$554,763 for the Forest Service to replace windows in a closed visitor center at Mount St. Helens
$762,372 to create “Dance Draw” interactive dance software
$62 million for a tunnel to nowhere in Pittsburgh, PA that even Governor, Ed Rendell called “a tragic mistake”

If Sarah Palin and Alaska can have a bridge to nowhere, Ed Rendell and PA can have a tunnel.

$1.9 million for international ant research
$1.8 million for a road project that is threatening a pastor’s home

You’d better sit down for the next one.

$308 million for a joint clean energy venture with…BP

Shock worn off, yet? OK, let’s continue.

$89,298 to replace a new sidewalk that leads to a ditch in Boynton, OK
$3.8 million for a “streetscaping” project that has reduced traffic and caused a business to fire two employees
$16 million to help Boeing to clean up an environmental mess it created in 2007
$200,000 to help Siberian communities lobby Russian policy makers
$39.7 million to upgrade the statehouse and political offices in Topeka, Kansas
$760,000 to Georgia Tech to study improvised music

If they want to study improvised music, they can watch me play my piano.

$700,000 to study why monkeys respond negatively to inequity

Will this lead to monkeys demanding redistribution of bananas or something?

$193,956 to study voter perceptions of the economic stimulus

All that would be necessary is for someone to go out and observe a Tea Party or a town hall meeting. Which would probably cost less than $193,956. On second thought, scratch that. The present administration could probably find a way to make observing a Tea Party or a town hall meeting cost $193,956.

$363,760 to help NIH promote the positive impacts of stimulus projects

You mean there are some?

$456,663 to study the circulation of Neptune’s atmosphere

Why Neptune? There are plenty of gas bags in right there in Congress.

$529,648 to study the effects of local populations on the environment…in the Himalayas

I have a cousin over there, named Yeti. I’ll leave that one up to him.

The full report is at Senator Coburn’s site.

Of course, no report on the summertime blues would be complete without something like this:

There’s so much to see in Florence that I couldn’t fit it all in one post. Most of the pics in my previous post were from places where our tour guide had taken us. Afterwards, we were given some free time to explore on our own. So here are some things I found on my own.
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