Monday, November 28, 2005

Miami police to "shock and awe" terrorist citizens

Who knows, maybe I am an alarmist, but I don't like the guts of the following story, which involves police surrounding random buildings, checking all IDs, and "reminding citizens to be vigilant."

Can you say "Papers, please?" What if you're in one of these buildings, after taking the bus, and you don't have a driver's license?

Vigilant for what? Should we all get high powered microscopes, learn biology and genetics, and look for biological weapons?
Should we be atomically afraid of anything called "Enola" or "Gay?"
Should we be on the lookout for "jihadis?"
Or should we worry about which shopping mall is going to be invaded by the local police, you know, for shock and awe.?
Don't worry, it will make sense when you read the article below. It's the short version. If you go into Google News and search "Miami police" and terrorism, you'll have a plethora to choose from.

Miami Plans Anti-Terrorism Sweeps
Written for the web by C. Johnson, Internet News Producer

MIAMI (AP) -- The idea is to keep terrorists guessing, and to keep the public on its toes.
Miami police said they will stage random, high profile drills, including surrounding a building and checking everyone's ID, to remind citizens of the need to be vigilant.
Deputy police chief Frank Fernandez called it "an in-your-face strategy" that would keep al-Qaida and other groups off guard.
The plan also called for posting uniformed and plainclothes officers on buses and trains, and for long-term surveillance operations.
Fernandez told reporters that the department wants people to notice the increased security. He said, "We want that shock, we want that awe," while not threatening a person's rights.
11/28/2005 2:04:21 PM

It depends on what the definition of BS is

"Sharp dart spitting master, spitting darts faster; shut up, I'm the driver you're the passenger. I reign superior; the pressure blows the dial on your barometer. Do you understand or do you need an interpreter?"
-The Streets

Bill Clinton said his crimes (lying under oath about illicit blow jobs on the job) depended on what the definition of “is” is.

Fast forward, past Sept. 11, past the Patriot Act, past the Iraq invasion, past the election, to President George W. Bush's second term in office.

Dick Cheney’s gang says (one of?) their crimes depends on what the definition of “torture” is.

Another crime depends on whether or not leaking the name of a CIA agent to further the propaganda campaign for the planned Iraq war falls under the proper legal statute for a successful prosecution.

However, one accused crime, the accused being Cheney's former chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, depends only on proving the accused lied to the grand jury. Recall, Libby is not charged with any leak, but of lying and obstructing justice. I have previously listed the specific charges in earlier posts.

Curiously, Clinton was accused during his two terms of many horrible things, but none ever got the publicity or call to impeachment brought by the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Tonight President Bush made a speech on border security. I listened to about five seconds of it. I'll read a transcript tomorrow, if I haven't been dulled by the incessant droning on the story which I'm sure will come when I turn on the airwaves.

I find a Bush initiative on the border laughable at this point. Gee whiz, only four plus years after September 11, 2001, a day which has been used to justify two wars and countless pieces of legislation which hinder civil liberties, Bush realized America has borders and people crossing them. He specifically noticed the southern border, which only leaves three other borders for him to find. It's kind of a Presidential "Where's Waldo?"

Switching gears slightly
I have many theories and hypotheses, but I have one theory about G-Dub to which I'm quite partial. It is that the reason he so often looks like a deer in the headlights when faced with a tough question or an awkward situation, is because he really doesn't know what is going on in the world. Bush says he doesn't read newspapers or watch TV. I'm not sure if he specifically ruled out radio or the Internet, but I would bet cold cash they're on the list. Bush only gets his information from the people around him. And look who's around him!

Maybe when Bush mentioned Iraq's numerous battle-ready battalions, while an American general reported to Congress there was in fact now only one such battalion - Bush never heard about it because his buddies never told him.

When Bush told Mike Brown formerly of FEMA he was doing "a heckuva job" during Hurricane Katrina, maybe that's because Brownie told him he was doing "a heckuva job" down there in N'awlins.

When he says Saddam and Osama were pen pals, when he says weapons of mass destruction, when he says bird flu - it's only because that's what he has been told by his circle of advisors. If anyone alleges something Bush has never heard about or is not acknowledged by his circle, it simply isn't real.

Everyone who said the Iraq war(which still hasn't been declared by Congress, by the way) would be a long and difficult war was dismissed, in favor of a rose-colored illusion. Now people I know are facing their third tours of fighting in Iraq and/or Afghanistan in what has proven to be two long and difficult wars.

It's a theory, anyhow.

And that's enough for now.

-Mentalgongfu

"Hey, don't you know that I am caught here in the middle, making ribcages into coffee tables."
-Blind Melon