Last week’s terrorist twists and turns struck much too close to home for this timepiece, forcing even Clockwork to weigh the bennies of martial law—or at least countywide Lion Country Safari safety precautions (proceed slowly, don’t make eye contact with the beasts, and—for God’s sake—keep your limbs inside the car). How else should we react to an alleged bomb plot targeting an Anaheim bar; Republican Congressman Darrell Issa’s San Clemente office; and various Islamic religious buildings in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties? The alleged nuts—Irv Rubin, the motor-mouthed chairman of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), and Earl Krugel, the JDL’s West Coast coordinator—were charged on Dec. 12 with conspiring to blow up the aforementioned primo real estate. The FBI was reportedly tipped by an informant in October about the JDL’s role in the unsolved murder of Alex Odeh, the western director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee whose Santa Ana office was bombed in 1985. Rubin, who became the leader of the JDL a month before that blast, was suspected but never arrested. He has denied any involvement but declared at the time, "I have no tears for Mr. Odeh. He got exactly what he deserves." What Odeh got for a lifetime spent championing human rights was a statue in front of Orange County’s main library in Santa Ana, and if the current probe turns up any evidence that Rubin was involved in the civil-rights leader’s death, he should get what he deserves—and no tears. Rubin, who famously offered $500 for the head of any American Nazi, has been a frequent OC visitor, turning up outside the Shack in Anaheim this past August to protest a Nazi skinhead concert. And in June 1998, he and his fellow bombing suspect’s brother, Barry Krugel, clashed with white supremacists at a community college board meeting in Mission Viejo. Barry Krugel told reporters last week that a "fink snitch" informant ratted out his brother to the feds, and JDL lawyers hinted at a government-entrapment defense. Muslim groups countered that the feds should treat the JDL as they would any other suspected terrorist organization—you know, get all Ashcroft on their ass. Ironically, the JDL is relying on the erroneous information of an Iranian news service in singling out Issa, who is of Lebanese-American descent. During a congressional visit to the Middle East in November, Issa was misquoted as saying Hezbollah had never taken part in terrorism. The JDL answering machine’s outgoing message apparently accused Issa of supporting Hezbollah and Hamas. The mistaken Hamas citation probably refers to the hummus Issa noshed with Yasser Arafat in the West Bank during that same congressional swing.

http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/02/16/a-coker.php

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/08/news-pelisek.php

yep.