Foiled New York terror plot was scheduled for September 11 of this year, says prosecutor in the case of alleged terrorist. (AP)

A Columbia Econ professor claims that good signs from the stock market don’t necessarily mean improvement in the economy. All the suited would-be analysts swarming yesterday’s career fair beg to differ. (Reuters)

Because skinny jeans and ironic T’s clothed the whore of Babylon: “equal opportunity haters” from Westboro Baptist take the love to Brooklyn, meet with similar level of success. (Gothamist, NYT)

 U2 plays at Giant’s Stadium, backs up the subway, draws larger crowds than the Pope did. Bwog advises Benedict to take up the “perpetual sunglasses” look if he wants remain a serious contender. (NYT)

Want your own little piece of presidential residue? Psh, is that even a question? Theater seats warmed by America’s first couple (for around 2.5 hours) to be auctioned off, starting at $500. Well, in terms of presidential merchandise, it could be much, much worse. (NYT)

 Image via Oprah.com

The health industry is corrupt!  Columbia-affiliated Dr. Martin Leon may have hidden millions of dollars from the university (NYT).

Northern countries are progressive!  The President of Finland advises all leaders to meditate (Spec).

Terrorism is still a threat!  Police retain Queens terror suspect (NY1).

In web journalism, stuff changes!  Spec weighs in on Bwog (Spec).

And finally, Martin Chalfie just couldn’t believe it when he won the Nobel Prize (NYT).

Image via Yahoo News Canada

John Solecki, the CC and SIPA graduate who was kidnapped in Pakistan two months ago, has been released, according to CBS News.

Prior to his capture, Solecki worked as the head of the UN refugee office in Quetta, Pakistan; on the 2nd of February, 2009, members of the Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF) kidnapped Solecki and killed his Pakistani driver.  In exchange for his release, they demanded that the Pakistani government liberate over 1,000 pro-Baluchistan activists.

The circumstances under which the BLUF freed Solecki are still unclear, but CBS has a quote from an anonymous Western diplomat who says that the “‘release could not have been made possible without some trade-off. I am certain Solecki is a free man but in the process the Pakistanis must have released some people sought by nationalists from Baluchistan.’”

From New York City, this is AltSpec, in which we collect references to Alma Mater’s dubious deeds in the wider world.  This week, while we’re all burrowed deep in Butler, the outside world is busy pointing fingers.  A smörgåsbord of topics and lots of straight talk.

Jonathan Last’s column in The Weekly Standard has been floating around this week.  In short, eminent domain = ghost town.

As teens reject their parents, standard biology says fetuses ought to reject their mothers, but researchers clearly explain that there’s this mysterious “process” that prevents this.

From the “well, duh” department: homosexuality isn’t a choice.  A Columbia psychiatrist still thinks otherwise, however.

Prof. Olsen speaks: Young people are all insane!  That is, if you count “drinking” as a mental disorder.

A Master’s student at CU was in Mumbai during the attacks.

Even more awful terrorism-related news today, as the FBI has recently issued an alert that “al-Qaida suicide bombers were contemplating an attack on New York’s mass-transit systems during the holiday season.”

The would-be attacks are being described by law enforcement as “plausible, but unsubstantiated.”

No futher details have been made available, and no arrests have been made. Still, “Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the warning was issued ‘out of an abundance of caution going into this holiday season.’”

Get ready for for this one: word has it that Columbia alumnus/right-wing writer David Horowitz plans to make an on-campus appearance sometime between October 22nd and 26th to spearhead “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week,” an event put on through the Terrorism Awareness Project. As a special treat, Horowitz plans to bring conservative talk show host Sean Hannity (who did this this little number a year ago) along with him to give us a speech all about Islamofascism. Details have been floating around here for awhile now, where a long list of speakers during the nationwide event  include Rick Santorum (UPenn, Penn State, Temple) and Ann Coulter (Tulane, USC).

In a Monday blog post, Horowitz denounced the ISO’s Thursday evening event “Using Racism to Sell War: The West vs. Islam?” calling the event a message from “leftwing flak-catchers for America’s enemies.” In his next post, Horowitz refers to the Muslim Students Association as “a creation of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and is funded by the Saudis and is part of the Islamo-fascist jihad,” generally speaking.

Brace yourselves?

As the anniversary of the physical attack approaches, Bwog correspondent Alex Weinberg reels from the mental attack of 9-11 conspiracy theorists.

September 11th is fast approaching, and, like swallows returning to Capistrano, 9/11 conspiracy theorists are emerging from their basements and taking to the streets to let you all know how dumb you really are. For those who’ve never enjoyed their presence, just head outside for a stroll: you’ll see them marching everywhere from Church Street up to our very campus, happily forcing flyers and DVDs into the palms of unsuspecting tourists. Their predatory packs are hard to dodge and impossible to miss.

Rather than promoting a political or social cause, conspiracy theorists are here to sell their story that September 11th was a lie. To them, airplane collisions could not have toppled the Twin Towers, and something else must have led to the unprecedented destruction. Let me just say that I take deep offense at this idea. Conservative commentators often deride 9/11 conspiracy theorists for their lack of patriotism or compassion or whatever, but I think this is a far too easy way of thinking. Instead, I hate them for the much more substantiative sin of being stupid and loud.  To me–a structural engineering student and longtime supporter of skyscrapers and skyscraper-related causes–they might as well be protesting against evolutionary theory or the abstract notion of time.

Read more…

Homeland Security, where are you when we need you? Bwog isn’t sure that this poster, sighted in Village Copier, will be enough to deter the enemies of America from taking advantage of our vulnerable paper reproduction apparatus.

The ever-so-helpful Columbia homepage has a story about Natalie Portman’s legendary visit to Stuart Gottlieb’s Terrorism & Counterterrorism class. Most important, however, is a link to the video footage! See Natalie on Van Am Quad! See Gottlieb looking hot! See yourself, unshaven and weary-eyed, totally unprepared for contact with Hollywood royalty!
Also, there’s a full list of other celebrities that have suprised stunned students all over the country. Natalie Portman ranks high in the absolutely random assortment of people: Elie Wiesel, Marilyn Manson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ashley Judd, Frank McCourt, and Snoop Dogg, among others.

Yo.

Natalie Portman decided to show up to Bwog’s Terrorism and Counterterrorism class. If you’re in Hamilton, you might be able to catch her as she leaves. The action is on the 7th floor.

Update: It turns out that Ms. Portman’s cameo in Professor Stuart Gottlieb’s Terrorism and Counterterrorism class was part of a MTV-U promotion for her latest flick, V for Vendetta, in which her character mounts a revolutionary campaign against a totalitarian government and generally blows shit up.

A sampling of the truths Ms. Portman imparted in the 20-minute Q&A session following a somber Frontline documentary on Al Qaeda, Guantanamo and the CIA’s counterterrorism tactics: Read more…