Amy's Robot

New Level of Absurdity in Terror War: Look Out for Almanacs

Are we living in fictitious times? Do we have a fictitious president? Today we get a warning from the FBI to look out for people carrying almanacs. Are you f.ing kidding me?

I guess the Patriot Act provision mandating the opening of library records was a hint that we would soon be investigated based on the books we read, and here's the proof. According to the Bureau, a person with an almanac "may point to possible terrorist planning." So is this going to count as probable cause now? Says one expert, "It helps make sure one more bad guy doesn't get away from a traffic stop, maybe gives police a little bit more reason to follow up."

If we needed another indication that the level of hysteria and paranoia about terrorism in this country is completely outside of the realm of reason, this is it. Let me ask you something: are you more likely to be at risk from a person carrying an almanac or the dozens of people you walk by everyday with a prior criminal record? Which is a better indicator? At what point are people going to start resisting this and demand a different approach to security? We are being needlessly intimidated by our own government, and the methods of intimidation being used aren't even helpful. It would be one thing if they would warn us about something substantive once in a while, but warnings like this only serve to show how completely helpless the government really is.

Anyway, go buy your almanac now and carry it proudly. And here's a post we did on Orange Alert from the other day.

Resist the hysteria.

categories: Politics, War and Security
posted by adm at 5:42 PM | #