Last comes the beverage of the Orient shore, Mocha, far off, the fragrant berries bore. Taste the dark fluid with a dainty lip, Digestion waits on pleasure as you sip. ~ Pope Leo XII

Happy 4th Blogiversary to
The Talk Show American
and to
University Blog

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) A Bad Start For Al-Qaeda? — “For the fifth anniversary of 9/11, al-Qaeda’s executive officer Ayman al-Zawahiri celebrated by publishing a video that threatened a new phase in the group’s offensive against the West. In this new effort, the Egyptian terror leader told viewers that AQ would now target Gulf states, including oil facilities, that cooperated with the infidels. Foiled attacks on a Yemeni refinery and a Canadian-Yemeni storage facility appears to have launched the AQ offensive, but both failed to achieve their mission objectives:”

Outside The Beltway (James Joyner) Al Qaeda Declares France Enemy — “Does this prove that France was wrong not to join the U.S. in its effort to topple Saddam Hussein and establish a democratic bulwark against Islamists in Iraq? No. But it does seem to indicate that there’s not much a Western state can do to appease the terrorists.”

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) Rightroots Blogburst — “Our goal is to get 100 donations per candidate by the end of the day on Sept. 20 and we can use all the help we can get from across the blogosphere to make that happen.” [I'll have more on this later. Jim]

Right Truth (Debbie) Summit on U.S. and Muslim relations – “Time for some debunkification, if that is a word. Yes, we ARE at war with Islam and Muslims and Islamic fundamentalism and Islamo-fascism. WE, the United States did not declare this war, Muslims declared this war, Osama bin Laden declared this war. So if you don’t like the label, go talk to the ones who began this conflict.”