My take on our current track with Iran is up on Chronicles of War.

No word on the driver’s motives just yet:

“It was like ‘Death Race 2000,’ ” firefighter Danny Bright said at California and Fillmore streets, as an ambulance stood nearby. “Guys were walking down the sidewalk and the guy just came up and ran them over. The guy went crazy.'’

Fire Lt. Mindy Talmadge said Mayor Gavin Newsom had been notified and was coordinating the response with the command post at Spruce and California streets.

This afternoon, Newsom left City Hall saying he was en route to a hospital — presumably San Francisco General, where seven people had been admitted.

“Eleven people were hurt in the field, and police are still finding others,” said Lann Wilder, a spokeswoman for San Francisco General Hospital.

Of those, six adults and one child were being treated for blunt trauma at S.F. General, she said.

Pedestrians were struck in several locations:

Here is what is known so far: People were hit at 12 separate locations along the California Street corridor between Polk Street and Laurel Heights:

* Sutter and Webster
* Polk and Sacramento
* Bush and Divisadero
* Sutter and Steiner
* California and Laurel
* Callifornia and Fillmore
* Divisadero and Pine
* Bush and Pierce
* Fillmore and Bush
* Spruce and California
* 1850 Fillmore
* 3350 California

San Francisco Police Department spokesman Gittens said three of the people with life-threatening injuries were taken to San Francisco General.

It was a good day to skip lunch in San Francisco:

The SUV was finally stopped—it had to be surrounded and rammed by police cars—just outside the Starbucks at Laurel Village just up the block, where I normally walk at lunch, as my bank, several cafes and a bookstore are there. Today, fortunately, I was so busy at work that I didn’t get away for lunch until after 2:00, at which point the events already were over.

A quick run of “Freemont” and “Popal” through Google reveals quite a few hits on various stories about expatriate Afghanis from the area. I still haven’t found a direct hit on the suspects name.

Updates
8/30 6:00am
There are conflicting reports about the driver’s mental stability:

Omeed Aziz Popal, now in custody for a fatal hit and run rampage that apparently began in Fremont and ended in San Francisco, has a history of mental problems and lives in fear of the devil, some family members say. Other family members say he may have been anxious because of his recent marriage arranged by his family.

But those involved in the investigation — speaking on condition of anonymity — discount any mental illness, saying Popal seemed coherent, unrepentant and claimed that he repeatedly drove at pedestrians because he “just wanted to.'’

A month ago, the 29-year-old Fremont resident and one-time auto worker returned home after getting married in his native Afghanistan, his family said. There was a wedding celebration two weeks ago, and Popal seemed to have everything to live for, some family members said. The family said Popal’s father had arranged the marriage.

“He was so happy and excited about being married — I can’t believe this happened today,'’ said Homa Aziz, a cousin who lives in Hayward. “Omeed is not that kind of boy. I don’t know what is wrong with him. He is the nicest boy.'’

8/30
One witness claims that Ohmeed referred to himself as a terrorist but police contradict that. Watch the video.

Also Blogging
Darleen’s Place
Something…And Half of Something
Digger’s Realm
Wizbang!

John Hawkins presents his case:

One of the biggest selling points for Rudy Giuliani is supposed to be that he’s “electable” because a lot of independents and Democrats will vote for him. The problem with that sort of thinking is that if he becomes the Republican nominee, the very liberal mainstream media will spend nine months relentlessly savaging him in an effort to help the Democrats. Because of that, Giuliani’s sky high polling numbers with non-Republicans are 100% guaranteed to drop significantly before election time rolls around in 2008.

That is not necessarily a problem, after all the mainstream media is always against the Republican nominee, if — and this is a big “if” — the GOP nominee has strong support from the Republican base.

The big problem Rudy has is that he isn’t going to be able to generate that kind of support. For one thing, as a candidate, he offers almost nothing to social conservatives, without whom a victory for George Bush in 2004 wouldn’t have been possible. If the choice in 2008 comes down to a Democrat and a pro-abortion, soft on gay marriage, left-of-center candidate on social issues — like Rudy — you can be sure that millions of “moral values voters” will simply stay home and cost the GOP the election.

He knows it won’t happen but he’ll be able to use that fact to his advantage:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called on U.S. President George W. Bush to participate in a “direct television debate with us,” so Iran can voice its point of view on how to end world predicaments.

“But the condition is that there can be no censorship, especially for the American nation,” he said Tuesday.

Ahmadinejad blamed “special concessions” granted to the United States and Britain as “the root cause of all the problems in the world.”

“At the Security Council, where they have to protect security, they enjoy the veto right. If anybody confronts them, there is no place to take complaints to.”

Rare good news. Both men were freed after a forced “conversion” to Islam:

Militants freed two Fox News journalists on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, ending a nearly two week hostage drama in which one of the former captives said they were forced at gunpoint to make statements, including that they had converted to Islam.

Correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of Washington, D.C., and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, were dropped off at Gaza City’s Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials. A tearful Centanni briefly embraced a Palestinian journalist in the lobby, then rushed upstairs with Wiig behind him.

The pair, who appeared to be in good health, then met with Palestinian officials, including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The three men sat in a circle of chairs at the hotel, before the journalists held a news conference, then left and crossed into Israel.

I’m going to run the latest NHC forcast track map in place of the DoD images until it appears that this storm is not a concern. All updates will occur in this post on Blogs of War Offtopic. Gulf Coast residents should start paying close attention to this storm.

Via the IRNA:

An informed source with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said Tuesday that Iran’s response to the proposed package of Group 5+1 will be presented in matter of hours.

The source told IRNA that ambassadors of Germany, France, Britain, Russia, China and Switzerland will receive Iran’s response.

The sources further said Ali Larijani, secretary of the council, will deliver the answer.

Update: The response has been delivered. No details have emerged.

Many thanks to those bloggers linking in. Here’s a button for those of you who prefer that sort of thing:

Please save it to your web server instead of hotlinking.

On August 15th 2004, a 16-year-old girl was hanged in a public square in Neka, Iran, a small industrial town by the Caspian Sea. Her death sentence was for crimes against chastity. Her name was Atefah Sahaaleh. The only evidence against Atefah was her own forced confession. Atefah railed against her judge in court for its unfairness, but this was her undoing. Judge Haji Rezai, who was also the local mullah, prosecutor and head of the city administration, personally obtained permission from Iran’s Supreme Court to execute her, and put the noose around her neck himself before she was hoisted on a crane jib arm to her death. Using undercover footage, eyewitness accounts and drama recontruction, this film tells an unforgettable story of the life and tragic death of an ordinary teenage girl under Iran’s mullahs.

The Register has a hilarious take on all of the August 22nd speculation:

So, that’s it then. We would like to thank our readers for their many emailed comments, flames, and death threats. We’ve certainly enjoyed our years of keeping you informed and entertained, but all good things must come to an end.

On the bright side, there’s no better time for saying goodbye to the world than just as the mainstream press is gearing up to inundate us with speculation regarding the death of JonBenet Ramsey, from broadcast locations in Boulder, Colorado. That we will be spared Greta Van Susteren’s daily musings about what might or might not have happened, surely, must prove the existence of a loving and merciful God.

And so we prepare to meet Him with joy and gratitude.

Amen.