Monthly Archives: September 2007

Norman “Hillraiser” Hsu Arrested in Colorado

Hillary is getting bad news for breakfast:

Norman Hsu’s quickly jumpstarted life on the lam came to a screeching stop less than 48 hours after it began when he got sick on the California Zephyr and was nabbed after being rushed to a Colorado hospital, according to the FBI.

The prolific Democratic fundraiser and fugitive was busted at 7 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time by FBI agents from the Denver office, according to Special Agent Joseph M. Schadler in the FBI’s San Francisco office.

He was still in St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction – 250 miles west of Denver – Thursday evening, according to Pete Smarr, a nursing supervisor. Smarr declined to say what Hsu was suffering from – other than to report him in custody and in “fair” condition.

Hsu was traveling on Train #6, according to Cliff Cole, an Amtrak spokesman. Hsu boarded the train in Emeryville and was scheduled to get off the train in Denver, Cole said. Cole had no information as to who – if anyone – Hsu may have been traveling with.

Hsu was arrested on federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to a statement released Thursday night by the FBI.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist but you have to wonder about this guy’s sudden illness given the number of powerful people who’d like to see him vanish. Then again he was probably eating Amtrak food. I guess we’re lucky to have him alive.

Why would he try to escape via the California Zephyr anyway? Apparently his final stop was in Colorado:

Cliff Cole, a spokesman for Amtrak in New York, said Hsu was on the California Zephyr and boarded the train in Emeryville, Calif. He said Hsu’s ticket indicated his destination was Denver.

I’m guessing Denver International Airport was his intended destination but who knows.

Update II:
The State Department assisted:

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the US State Department Diplomatic Security Service assisted in the investigation.

From the Bureau of Diplomatic Security website:

Operating from a global platform in 25 U.S. cities and 159 foreign countries, DS ensures that America can conduct diplomacy safely and securely. DS plays a vital role in protecting U.S. embassies and personnel overseas, securing critical information systems, investigating passport and visa fraud, and fighting the war on terror.

Update:
Michelle Malkin is up late:

Allah had the same reaction I did to reports saying that the federal charges of unlawful flight will be dropped when he lands back in California: Huh?

I’m not sure if that’s standard procedure but it sure sounds odd.

Video: The Hurricane Hunters Fly Into Felix

hhfelix Video: The Hurricane Hunters Fly Into Felix

Air Show Buzz has the video. Flying into a storm this powerful isn’t for the faint of heart. One of the missions even had to be aborted:

NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft N42RF experienced a truly awesome and terrifying mission into the heart of Hurricane Felix last night. Flying at 10,000 feet through Felix at 7pm EDT, N42RF dropped a sonde into the southeast eyewall. The swirling winds of the storm were so powerful that the sonde spun a full 3/4 circle around the eye before splashing into the northwest eyewall. It is VERY rare for a sonde to make nearly a complete circle around the eye like this. As the plane entered the eye of the now Category 5 hurricane, they found a 17-mile wide stadium lit up by intense lightning on all sides. The pressure at the bottom of the eye had hit 934 mb, and the temperature outside, a balmy 77 degrees at 10,000 feet. This is about 24 degrees warmer than the atmosphere normally is at that altitude, and a phenomenally warm eye for a hurricane. N42RF then punched into the northwest eyewall. Flight level winds hit 175 mph, and small hail lashed the airplane as lighting continued to flash. Then, the crew hit what Hurricane Hunters fear most–a powerful updraft followed a few seconds later by an equally powerful downdraft. The resulting extreme turbulence and wind shear likely made the aircraft impossible to control. Four G’s of acceleration battered the airplane, pushing the aircraft close to its design limit of 6 G’s. Although no one was injured and no obvious damage to the airplane occurred, the aircraft commander wisely aborted the mission and N42RF returned safely to St. Croix. N42RF is the same aircraft that survived a pounding of 5.6 g’s in the eyewall of Hurricane Hugo in 1989. A special inspection of the aircraft is planned for today to determine if it is fit to fly further missions into Felix, and its scheduled afternoon flight into the hurricane was canceled. Hurricane Hunter missions since have fared better, and no more extreme turbulence has been reported.

Osama bin Laden Planning 9-11 Anniversary Video Address

Quick, pull the records on every Just for Men purchase in Pakistan over the past month. Osama has new video on the way and he’s reportedly looking pretty sharp:

Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden plans a new video addressing the American people regarding the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, terror monitoring groups said Thursday.

SITE Intelligence Group said an Internet announcement of the plan included a photo of the al-Qaida leader from the upcoming video—his beard, which in previous messages had been streaked with gray, was entirely dark.

Intelcenter, which is based in Alexandria, Va., and also monitors Islamic Web sites, said the video was expected within the next 72 hours, or by Sunday. That would come before the sixth anniversary next Tuesday of the World Trade Center attack. The last bin Laden video was in October 2004, shortly before the U.S. presidential elections.

The Blotter has more:

Federal law enforcement authorities say that another Web site had posted a message on Sept. 2, promising “a special gift to be delivered on the blessed day of the invasion of Manhattan.”

I hope it’s just a video. Hot Air has a still shot from the video. While Stratfor reminds us that:

We have no idea whether bin Laden is still alive and therefore no idea whether this tape will actually appear. It would appear to us that bin Laden, in order to maintain his credibility, would have wanted to appear more recently and frequently than he has. It is possible that security considerations have caused him to avoid videos or more frequent audios, or it might have been useful to maintain his mystique. It also is possible that he is dead.