Media spotlight shifts to NYC

... as news and rumors fly of terrorist plots against subways, and of arrests of Islamic pharmacists.

New York's mayor defends himself against snide suggestions from Homeland Security that he over-reacted -- a charge that itself makes no sense if you consider what critics would say should NYC officials have foreknowledge of a threat, do nothing, and a strike occurs.

While in Oklahoma questions continue to be raised about the death of a bomb-wielding student on the OU campus last Saturday night:

Reporters for World Net Daily (arguably not always the most accurate news source on the net) have reported that federal investigators have sealed the search warrant used to enter Hinrichs' apartment. If that is true it is an odd move.

The Daily Oklahoman posts a copy of OU president David Boren's e-mail to students in which he takes the media to task, comparing coverage to speculation of foreign terrorists at the time of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. He says he has been assured by the FBI that there is no conspiracy or threat to the OU students, and declares that it's a small world after all.

"Rushing to judgments on the basis of race, religion, gender or ethnicity, is not the OU or American way."

The Norman (Okla.) Transcript has a story on how frightened the Muslim community in Norman is because of the fear inspired by news reports, including these timeless quotes:

“He had never been to our mosque and he’s not associated with our mosque in any way, shape or form,” said 44-year-old Mohamed Farid Elyazgi, who has lived in Norman with his family since 1985. “We had never seen him until we saw his picture in the media.”

Elyazgi emphasized that Islam forbids suicide and Muslims condemn all acts of violence.

Well, we guess that clears up that little misunderstanding. Please remind the good folks of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and al Quaida so that we can all live in peace and harmony, just like the keys on a Paul's piano ...

So far the only violence committed by anyone was by Joel Hinrichs and, by the grace of God, only against Joel Hinrichs, although reports of embedded nails in a nearby tree do not help preserve the fiction that he was an unhappy soul intent on a solitary suicide.

Frankly Boren's e-mail is an insult to the intelligence of thinking Oklahomans. He draws conclusions that federal investigators themselves have not voiced: that there definitively was no conspiracy. Investigators say the probe is still underway. He attempts to draw a historic parallel between the Murrah building bombing and Hinrichs' "suicide", mostly by claiming that since white Americans were convicted of the former, then why wouldn't a white American student act on his own? Aside from Hinrichs' attempt to purchse ammonium nitrate, there is little reason to believe the two events have anything in common except general geographic proximity.

For those wanting to keep up on the latest, don't forget Michelle Malkin who is single-handedly doing what the MSM is too lazy, or complacent, to do.

There's also Tapscott's Copy Desk for overviews.

Hopefully it will be a quiet weekend.