If I Don't Post Tonight, the Terrorists Will Have Won

I have to admit, I don't have much tonight. The terrorist raid in England is distressing for a couple of reasons. If there's any actual meat on the bones of the story, then it's distressing for obvious reasons. If it's been overblown, then we've got a whole bunch of other reasons to be concerned. It's too bad that our first response nowadays is to doubt the terrorist hype, but after false alarm after false alarm, there's little to no reason to take terror alerts at face value. One argument that suggests it may not be what it seems is the Prez's apparent decision to remain on vacation. Of course, on reflection that might not be indicative of anything. He stayed on vacation after being warned against al Qaeda in 2001 and being briefed on the potential destruction of Katrina last year. He stays on vacation during the worst crises, so I guess we can't read anything into his decision to stay now.

On the other side, here in Chicago, the mayor was telling everyone that as far as he knew, there was no credible threat to the city. One presumes that he'd have been briefed if the government has known about this for some time, as seems to be the case. And what exactly were they planning? That hasn't been fully revealed, either. The Department of Homeland Security released a statement today that stated, "This plot appears to have been well planned and well advanced and in the final stages of preparation." However, according to The Washington Post, "Internet searches made by the suspects suggested they had considered targeting as many as 10 flights, investigators said, although there was no evidence that those arrested had bought tickets or made reservations." So this may all be based in Internet searches some of the suspects performed. No plane tickets, no evidence of specific planning, just some Internet searches. If I could potentially be arrested for every Internet search I perform, I'd be a heck of a lot choosier.

I hope all this turns out to be nothing. Of course, that would mean that our government is trying to play us for fools again, but at least that we can do something about.