On The Third Hand

Monday, 07 Jan 2002

• A Religious Moment [ via Rallying Point ]
  Every time Bush does his 'God Bless', it becomes more obvious to me that he does not really consider anything but the monotheistic Judeo/Christian/Islamic religions to be true faith. He is -- at least implicitly -- with his singular "God", rejecting Buddhists, Hindus and other major religions. He explicitly rejects atheists, agnostics and others who do not follow any religion, with his periodic comments about Americans rediscovering the important things--like "faith". There is nothing wrong with an individual having a particular faith, and showing it, but when government officials do so in their official role, I think they are getting very close to crossing a line that should not be crossed.
• A family at peace with a decision to die I wonder if the Attorney General will try to prosecute someone.
• Home Planet Defence Why we need to have a space program [ via Justin Slotman ]
• Brits better be careful. The British government seems to be underestimating the Islamists.
• Witnesses are often unreliable, but I'm wondering about Flight 587. There was an article I read a while back that mentioned a 'trace' of a chemical explosive (the article emphasized that it was only a tiny trace, and probably meant nothing).
• Another 'troubled' youngster shot our soldier? I suspect if the US catches him, he'll be treated as a terrorist.
• The Bellicose (even belligerent) women of the AFA think the NRA compromise too much.

I have mentioned once or twice before, that we in the US can write to our military. Just because the holidays are over, doesn't mean an e-mail would not be appreciated. Last time I blogged this one, I asked if there was a similar site for other military. The Brits have said they don't have one, I'm not sure about Canada. However, (once again thank you to the indispensable Momma Bear) the Australian troops can be sent to via messagestothetroops -AT- defence.gov.au. I'm not writing that down as a regular address to keep them from getting spammed. If you can't figure out how to translate it, contact me!

[update] I've got some really quick readers. You can leave messages for Canadian military at their message board. They also have addresses where postcards may be sent (no letters or packages). Now, when are the Brits going to get with it?

Will Vehrs doesn't see the point of declaring the kid a terrorist. He quotes Ken Layne, who says:"It's a terrorist act. Deal with it, Tom. Or go back to goddamned Pennsylvania." Will replies:"If "dealing with it" involves turning on a dime to address the sudden new threat of Future al Qaida of America student pilots, then I think Ridge's critics have as big a prioritization problem as he allegedly has."

Now, I don't know why Ken and all the other bloggers who agree want the government to admit that flying a plane into a building and declaring solidarity with terrorists is a terrorist act. My best guess; though, is because it is an act of terrorism. That makes the kid a terrorist, whether he was a mixed-up kid or not. The kid qualifies as a domestic terrorist, just like Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber (even if he was less successful than either). The anthrax that was being mailed around was also terrorism (domestic or international).

If you want to know why I am getting on my soap box about it (or even if you don't), I'll tell you. The government has been doing their best to lull the populace. They've been implying that we are much more secure than on September 11, and that we can all go out and shop like good little citizens, while they take care of everything. I understand WIll's fears about more stupid laws, but what I want is to force the federal government to admit that it cannot protect us. I want them to take this seriously, and help us figure out how to protect ourselves.

Local governments and businesses should put their own disaster contingency plans in place, as Andrew Olmstead argues. I would add that individuals should also do the same! What worries me is that the federal government may succeed in lulling everyone to sleep, and if another massive attack happens -- unpreparedness could cost a lot of lives.

Interesting stuff:Just as I finished this, the inimitable Momma bear gave me a heads up to this Tampa Tribune article . Note the last line: "According to public records, the family name was once Bishara."