On a personal note, now that World Cup '08 has begun, I won't have much
time for usenet the rest of this month. I know I'll be missed :)

On a personal note, now that World Cup '08 has begun, I won't have much
time for usenet the rest of this month. I know I'll be missed :)

Lileks has summed up the lib mindset pretty well here:

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Self-Loathing and the Denial of Terrorism

BY JAMES LILEKS
c.2006 Newhouse News Service

You're an enlightened world citizen. Your T-shirt says "9/11 was an
inside job." You're pretty sure we're living in a fascist state, that
President Bush taps the Dixie Chicks' phones, Christian abortion clinic
bombers outnumber jihadis, and the war on "terror" is a distraction from
the real threats: carbon emissions and Pat Robertson. Then you learn
that 17 people were arrested in a terrorist bomb plot. How do you
process the information? Let's take it step by step.

Gosh, that's horrible, you think. But no -- that's what they WANT you to
feel. Recall the prime directive: Question Authority (unless he's a
college professor). The plotters must have been impoverished olive
farmers radicalized by the removal of Saddam Hussein. Why, if someone
came in and toppled your president, you'd go to their country and ...
well, you'd thank them. Unless they did it for the wrong reasons! Then
you'd blow something up. Like an SUV dealership. At night. Anyway, you
understand; you care a lot about Iraqis these days. You think about Iraq
more than China, to be honest, but it's not as if you'll scrape off your
"Free Tibet" bumper sticker -- unless it's to make room for "Free
Darfur." Or "Hands Off Darfur," depending.

Wait a minute: The "terrorists" were Canadian? You can understand
someone blowing up trains in Spain and London. They sent troops to an
illegal war cooked up by neocons who want to kill brown people for Exxon
and Jesus, or something. You can understand, reluctantly, blowing up
teens in an Israeli pizza parlor, because the Jews took the West Bank
from the sovereign, ancient nation of Palestine. (How can a liberal
socialist country behave so poorly? The world is full of mysteries.) But
Canada? Isn't Michael Moore from Canada? You can get medical marijuana
from married gay doctors in Canada, and no one has guns. You console
yourself: Maybe they were really planning to attack the U.S.

You realize the suspects were all Muslim, and you dread the inevitable
pogroms. Haven't been any yet, but any day now. You read that a mosque
was vandalized in Toronto after the arrest, and you feel a certain grim
relief. Finally, racism! Banners. If you're going to have a march,
you'll need banners.

But wait. You read that the suspects were not connected to al-Qaida, and
you're confused for a moment. Maybe it won't be over if they get Osama
bin Laden (provided he isn't really in an supersecret Idaho prison).
What if the "terrorists" hate you for their own reasons? The
evildoer-in-chief said "they hate our freedoms" -- as if we have
freedoms, really, just try and get a bike-messenger job that has full
health benefits. But what if rights and mixed-sex education and an
economy based on sustainable hemp-based art installations mean nothing
to them?

Maybe you could convince them to hold off while you fix Amerikkka. At
least you can get it down to one k. Maybe if the Democrats take the
House back. A 10-seat swing won't make the imams cool down, but 20
seats, in red states? Would that be a good-faith effort?

You worry this will push Haditha off the front page. It's very important
that everyone concentrate on the atrocities committed by U.S. troops
every day. (It's such a relief not to have to pretend to support the
troops anymore.) Anyway, nothing happened. Nothing blew up. If the
suspects were planning something, they didn't do it, and this proves we
can handle this as a law enforcement matter. Even though the police are
racists.

Your head hurts.

You have a friend in Toronto. She's cool. It would kill her if these
arrests were made possible by NSA eavesdropping.

You find yourself almost wishing there was another real attack, so
people could see the logical consequences of "fighting back" after 9/11.
Yes, it would be bad, but sometimes you have to break an egg to show
people the health impact of omelettes. Is it wrong to wish the Canadian
terrorists might have succeeded?

Shouldn't you know the answer to that question?

June 7, 2006