We'd like to think that the whole Iraq-U.S. conflict is just between us and Hussein, but the LA Times points out this morning how Israel is likely to bear the brunt of Iraq's wrath if we initiate hostilities.

In Israel's largest shopping mall, a peculiar ritual is taking place. All day, streams of people arrive carrying what appear to be shoe boxes with black plastic shoulder straps. Soldiers sitting behind folding tables open each box, remove and inspect the gas mask inside and replace any outdated parts.

Where's the Fire?

The Raven must apologize for the next story as being a bit risque and brazen, but it's part of an experiment in hit-mongering and "anything in the name of science" is our motto. You read this morning about those Philadelphia firemen in Upper Darby—volunteers to be exact—who put on a show of their own following a Rolling Stones concert yesterday? Seems that they "commandeered" a hook and ladder rig to attend the show, then afterward offered to give a fricksome concertgoer a ride.

At some point after midnight, things got a bit out of hand when the devotchka got down to her thong and invited Philadelphia's finest to conduct an impromptu safety inspection.

In the interests of public prurience, we dug up the controversial photos in order to determine how much trouble these servants of the public trust have gotten themselves into.

Photos of the bizarre interlude depict firefighters gathered around the unidentified woman while she suggestively poses on the truck about 12:30 a.m., roughly an hour after Sunday's show at the Tower Theater had concluded.

"At first we didn't realize what was going on. Here's this girl and she's talking to the firemen, then all of a sudden she's posing on the fire truck," Kelly added.

6:15:25 PM       

You don't normally think of bicyclists as being in the vanguard of political activism, but in San Francisco somebody figured out that 5,000 riders make a loud statment. The first Critical Mass gathering to get seriously organized in the Bay Area was in 1992, making this Friday's scheduled ride the 10th anniversary of the event.

It started out, as these things ususally do, with fairly sound intentions: Get people together, ride, and maybe make a small statement about alternative transportation. And it worked. Pretty soon, people are bringing their bikes over on BART, driving 'em in, and the thing becomes a movement, which in the Bay Area means that every weird political group and freakshow climbs aboard to grab some mileage. Now Critical Mass gets weird. There's tie-dyed Deadheads in packs, dudes in tuxedos, paper mache zucchinis riding for vegetarianism, the sexual underground, and the militant left "organizing" the rides as a confrontation against motorists.

The City, of course, got very concerned when Critical Mass rides started disrupting traffic in the financial district, and officials began shifting their posture away from using police traffic control to ensure rider safety toward using riot control cops to put down these ad-hoc insurrections. Critical Mass at this point becomes seriously confrontational.

By 1997, the anti-car activists are squaring off against drivers who are making noises in the press about "mowing down" the bikefreaks, and Mayor Willie Brown is working with the SFFD and SFPD on ways to get this thing under control. Almost predictably, the July '97 ride turns into something like the Haymarket Riots, with groups of riders breaking off into packs to flee roadblocks and cops with truncheons savaging every spandexed pedaler they can get their gloves on. Bikes were confiscated en masse, journalists were pepper sprayed, it was not a good place to be that Friday. The woman being subdued at right was prosecuted for nearly 9 months, as were many others, on virtually no charges at all. A journalist riding in the event reports:

Contrary to the majority of the media coverage, I witnessed no belligerent behavior by cyclists, and relatively few hostile motorists. The shameful behavior I witnessed was from police officers present. Without provocation or warning, police officers approached riders and began lunging at them with clubs. I saw one officer grab a cyclist in a chokehold and throw him to the ground.

9:13:36 AM