London Terrorist Attacks - Initial Messy & Confused Thoughts
For those who just woke up or have been offline, there were a series of 4 coordinated terrorist attacks in London today that have killed at least 37 and injured more than 700.
All Londoners, all citizens of the United Kingdom, my deepest sympathies and condolences. I know a city like that will prevail.... London was hurt terribly in World War II, but managed to pull itself back up pretty quick.
Over here in the United States, I'm actually home sick from work or things would be a lot scarier for me right now. DC is under a Code Orange terrorism alert - whatever that actually means - and Metro is under heavy police presence.
Somehow, seeing soldiers pointing automatic rifles in my face on my evening commute makes me feel way less safe. But along those lines, AmericaBlog asks Where's the National Guard if we really did have another major terrorist attack here? Oh right, they're all over in Iraq fighting the Oil Wars. That makes me feel even less safe than the Metro policeman pointing an AK47 in my face.
The media is so far doing a good job overall handling this, especially CNN. I'm not turning over to Fox - I'm sure Brit Hume has figured out a way to blame this on a gay liberal hippie in San Francisco by now. ETA: Wow, that didn't take long.
Speaking of blame... my single biggest concern here (beyond sympathies for all Londoners) is how Bush, Blair and the Fox News' of the world are going to spin this into more justification for making us shut up and do whatever they say including waging new wars. Another thought... I always figured, if the draft gets put into place, Bush will need a catalyst to make everyone accept it a whole lot easier. Is this going to be spun into that catalyst? God, I hope not. But that's the kind of cynicism I've had to adopt after 5 years with this guy.
All Londoners, all citizens of the United Kingdom, my deepest sympathies and condolences. I know a city like that will prevail.... London was hurt terribly in World War II, but managed to pull itself back up pretty quick.
Over here in the United States, I'm actually home sick from work or things would be a lot scarier for me right now. DC is under a Code Orange terrorism alert - whatever that actually means - and Metro is under heavy police presence.
Somehow, seeing soldiers pointing automatic rifles in my face on my evening commute makes me feel way less safe. But along those lines, AmericaBlog asks Where's the National Guard if we really did have another major terrorist attack here? Oh right, they're all over in Iraq fighting the Oil Wars. That makes me feel even less safe than the Metro policeman pointing an AK47 in my face.
The media is so far doing a good job overall handling this, especially CNN. I'm not turning over to Fox - I'm sure Brit Hume has figured out a way to blame this on a gay liberal hippie in San Francisco by now. ETA: Wow, that didn't take long.
Speaking of blame... my single biggest concern here (beyond sympathies for all Londoners) is how Bush, Blair and the Fox News' of the world are going to spin this into more justification for making us shut up and do whatever they say including waging new wars. Another thought... I always figured, if the draft gets put into place, Bush will need a catalyst to make everyone accept it a whole lot easier. Is this going to be spun into that catalyst? God, I hope not. But that's the kind of cynicism I've had to adopt after 5 years with this guy.