Sabotage

Much has been written and said in recent weeks about events surrounding Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School. Some of the comments have, unfortunately, sought to draw a connection between the ongoing review at Chesapeake Science Point and two recent disciplinary cases while others have questioned whether it is the ultimate goal of Anne Arundel County Public Schools to close Chesapeake Science Point. On these two points I wish to be perfectly clear. First, there is absolutely no connection between the programmatic, financial, and facilities review presented to the Board of Education on Wednesday and the two personnel matters.

Screening of Hitchcock's `Sabotage' The Charles Theatre's six-month retrospective of the films of Alfred Hitchcock continues with 1936's Sabotage, starring Sylvia Sidney as a wife who little suspects that her husband (Oscar Homolka) is an anarchist with murderous intent. Catch an encore at 7 p.m. today and 9 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $8. Information: 410-727-3456 or thecharles.com.

With all the problems facing this country, both in Iraq and at home, why is Congress spending time trying to pass a resolution condemning the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago? Make no mistake about it, that massacre of hundreds of thousands - perhaps a million or more - Armenians was one of the worst atrocities in all of history. As with the later Holocaust against the Jews, it was not considered sufficient to kill innocent victims. They were first put through soul-scarring dehumanization in whatever sadistic ways occurred to those who carried out these atrocities.

Emma J. Hawkins, a member of the French Resistance and French army during World War II who later became a Howard County schoolteacher, died Aug. 1 of complications from Alzheimer's disease at Lookabout Manor, a Westminster assisted-living facility. The longtime Ellicott City resident was 92. Emma Josephine Guillot was born and raised in Grenoble, France. "Her father was an engineer and math professor who believed in education. She graduated from colleges and universities in France and Spain as well as an art school," said her son, Paul B. Hawkins of Finksburg, a retired Baltimore police officer.

A computer scheduled to be delivered to the International Space Station was sabotaged, possibly by a worker at a Texas subcontractor's plant, although NASA officials said yesterday that the damage would have posed no danger to the station. Several wires were cut inside the unit and two identical units, said Edmund Memi, a spokesman for Boeing Co., the main contractor for the space station. The sabotage, which was uncovered over the past week, appears to have occurred in early June, while the devices were still at Invocon Inc., an electronics firm in Conroe, Texas, about 30 miles north of Houston.

WASHINGTON -- A federal grand jury in Eugene, Ore., has indicted 11 people on charges that they committed acts of domestic terrorism on behalf of two shadowy environmental groups, the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front. Federal officials said yesterday that the defendants were responsible for 17 incidents in five Western states from 1996 to late 2001. The indictment, which was returned Thursday and unsealed yesterday, listed 65 charges, including arson, sabotage and conspiracy in a variety of attacks against government facilities, research centers and private businesses.

The plot thickened yesterday about the origin of the mystery contaminant that damaged the plane of Maryland aviator Gus McLeod and caused him to indefinitely postpone his plans to circumnavigate the globe. Chemical analysis of a pollutant in the gas of McLeod's single-engine aircraft found a "concoction of caustic solvents" consistent with a lacquer thinner, said McLeod, a former CIA chemist who had the substance tested at a local lab. He believes solvents were poured deliberately into his tank in an effort to sabotage his record-setting attempt to travel solo and pole-to-pole around the world.

CONSIDERED IN the context of the U.N. reform policy approved by the House last week, John R. Bolton seems the perfect choice to represent the United States in the world body. An outspoken bully with nothing but contempt for the United Nations, Mr. Bolton is just the guy to carry out House orders to cut off financial support for the United Nations if it fails to dance to America's tune -- especially if he goes in with an attitude as a recess appointment lacking Senate approval. Those who want to destroy the institution have hit upon an efficient way to do it. But that result would be tragic and dangerous for this country.

JERUSALEM - A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up late last night near a line of people waiting to enter a Tel Aviv nightclub, killing four people, injuring at least 50 others and breaking a two-week-old cease-fire that had brought renewed hopes for peace in the Middle East. Last night it remained unclear who was responsible for carrying out the attack. Israeli news media were reporting that the militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing, but later indicated that the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, which has been attempting to disrupt peace efforts, might have carried out the attack.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Attacks by insurgents to disrupt Baghdad's supplies of crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, water and electricity have reached a degree of coordination and sophistication not seen before, Iraqi and American officials say. The new pattern, they say, shows that the insurgents have a deep understanding of the complex network of pipelines, power cables and reservoirs feeding Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. The shadowy insurgency is a fractured movement made up of distinct groups of Sunnis, Shiites and foreign fighters, some aligned and some not. But the shift in the attack patterns strongly suggests that some branch of the insurgency is carrying out a systematic plan to cripple Baghdad's ability to provide basic services for its 6 million citizens and to prevent the fledgling government from operating.