August 28, 2007

The Threat In Soft Focus

The US knows that al-Qaeda has a plot in the works to attack America. We know some of the tactical details. However, we don't know enough to generate a specific threat warning or to raise the threat level, according to the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, John Scott Redd.

At Heading Right, I take a look at the "warning" Redd gives, and find it unsurprising. Redd gives an honest assessment of the threat and the reason for not elevating the warning level, which conspiracy-minded folks might actually understand. The threat he describes in the interview, and which Newsweek mistakenly underscores as the lede, is not the biggest threat to American security Redd discusses. Be sure to read the post and the interview.

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Comments (3)

Posted by Carol Herman | August 28, 2007 11:43 AM

Let's see. I was minding my own business. But was at my computer. Open to the Net. When the last "big plot" (involving credentialed doctors and engineers) broke open with stories.

In London? The car with the bombs, got moved by the police, because it was in an illegal space. And, it was taken to an underground garage, where it stunk up the place with fumes.

And, just because the idiots (or terrorists), call them what you will; decided it's best to "pile it on," these credentialed dudes went to the Glasgow airport. WHere the engineer (soon to toast himself, silly),forgot to measure the distances between pillars, that protected the civilian terminal. Yes. He went up in smoke. Yes, he was full of morphine, so he "felt no pain." And, yes, he's dead, now. He probably lost his willie at the hospital, so who knows what he gets to use to "play with his promised virgins?" A fork?

Toasted terrorists should teach you something.

So, too, the inneptness of a degree. Doctor. Engineer. Boob. They're all the same. But for credentialing purposes, there's only two certificates out of three.

Besides the stupid headline writers who think they're telling you anything new; did you know, that when you bank, PEOPLE ROB BANKS ALL THE TIME?

Now, that should frighten you enough to stop banking. Go ahead. See if I care. Lump up your mattress with cash. Better yet, coins. Don't go to banks, though. Because they're subject to random armed robberies.

No?

You mean you live in a community like mine, where the police response is quicker than two minutes? Good for you! And, good, too, that lemmings aren't hired to do police work, here. (And, our police wear guns on their belts. Not that I've ever seen one being waved about, though.) Gee, I wonder why?

Journalists don't make the police departments' cuts. Believe it or not, to get hired you need more talent than you'll achieve carrying crappy paper credentials around.

Oh. And, I should mention, blow back's already on the table. (Though it will be late arriving to St.Paul, MN. Minnesota has wrapped itself in blue. Aren't they lucky?

In many other places the muslems fear the loss of business when they expose themselves as needing to bang their heads on the floor five times a day. Hiney's up to gawd. And, allah in the swirls of your ice cream cone.

Posted by pk | August 28, 2007 1:26 PM

there is a point:

we have a fellow that has a PHD. good for him. however it is in the ageing differences between austinetic martinsite and martinsitic austinite.

well, getting a job was such a problem that it didn't happen.

but because he has a PHD he is adored and worshiped.

we have a medical doctor. we fully expect that he has great expertise in medicine. but what else does he know. most people that know physicians will tell you that once they get away from medicine and money their lost. they hide it well but thats a fact. they can't be broad based as their work is such a time user that they can't.

in the working world there are the guys that make the great grand ideas work. it really supprises the hoi polloi that in the department of defense an "apprentice at a skilled trade (electronics, machinist, patternmaker etc.)" has more time invested in getting his ticket than a person with a BA and is taught by teachers of equal ability to the college boys. as a matter of fact most of them are certificated at the college level in the state that the training is offered.

there are a few (mostly the ones whose work is "man rated") who have more time and training than a PHD, and at the end of the excercise, the work sample for certification is destructivly tested.

so why do we pay attention to anyone whose PHD thesis is anything but the exact subject we are discussing. and why do the "journalists" fawn and scrape to these people.

so why don't the media types have "generalists" working for them. every time they say something about anything particularly specialized they stick their foot in their mouths as far as the people that are knowledgeable about that particular subject. and its getting worse.

for many years in the los angeles area there were three major railroads. Union Pacific, Santa Fe and Southern Pacific. all three had distinctive paint schemes on their locomotives. every time there was a train wreck the media showed a Santa Fe locomotive whether the wreck involved a Santa Fe locomotive or not.

for more than twenty years Santa Fe asked nicely for the various stations to stop the practice. they were ignored.

Santa Fe finally sued for a huge sum and the MSM found out about railroad cases in the courts lasting for forty years and more.

the practice ended within hours.

its starting to sound like the "Political Officers" that were in the factories and military units in the communist countries. they don't know s#$t about the work but they can kill any project that isn't "Politically Correct".

C

Posted by NahnCee | August 28, 2007 3:57 PM

I wonder why we all assume that the lunatic jihadists aren't going to run out of steam before we do ... that their desire to blow shit up and to kill people will last past this generation and beyond, that they'll never mature and grow up ... that we won't succeed in killing enough big bunches of them to make a difference.

If we could outplay, outwit and outlast the Indians, the Nazi's and the Japanese do we *really* think the Islamist nutcakes are made of sterner and longer lasting stuff?

Or that the normal Muslims who have been supporting and protecting them in their efforts will continue to support and protect them as public censure and derision increases.

Surely there are huge amounts already of public censure and derision despite the cowardice of the Washington Post in not printing Brethed cartoons or the Seattle Post Intelligencer declining to post photographs of possible terrorists. Would all Muslims everywhere be so defensive if they didn't have a sneaking suspicion that they're wrong wrong wrong and the rest of us are right.

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