It's my Blogiversary!

I hadn't even noticed, but it's been two years since I started riding the blogging pony. feel free to peruse the archives for some Plucky 'best-of'.

Fear the pale-skinned foreigners and their strange, European ways

Pain be damned! I'm blogging today!

A few days ago, USA Today, of all places, explained why Michelle Malkin's and Annie Jacobsen's desire to see all dusky young males harassed at airports is a really stupid one. Al-Qaida, seeing the American public's passionate desire to paint terrorist threat only in Middle-Eastern Male colors, has begun to recruit from places like Bosnia and Chechnya. You know, where white people live. It seems that even Caucasians are capable of hating America.

To avoid the intense scrutiny on travelers from certain Middle Eastern countries, al-Qaida is believed to be using operatives from Chechnya, Bosnia and, when possible, Western Europe. Not all are Arab, and not all are men. All are thought to be Muslim, but a few have pretended to convert to Christianity to deepen their cover, the senior intelligence official said.

Hopefully our National Security forces are smarter than fantastically blockheaded pundits like Malkin otherwise I'm sure we're all in danger. While security forces are busy making young Arab men take off their shoes and give up the tweezers in their carry-on bags, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Chechens with a bible under their arm will be planning out the next 9/11.

Next time I get on a plane, I am definitely going to closely watch the activities of every white "Christian" guy on the plane. I will note how many times they went to the bathroom and whether or not the rhythm of their breathing is deep enough. Then, I am going to write a bunch of articles as to why the safety of innocent, brown-skinned, patriotic Americans like myself is being threatened to avoid bruising the egos of these Europeans.

After all, if they're innocent, won't they have nothing to hide? Europeans in this country have lived so well, surely they won't mind taking one for the team in order to preserve my own peace of mind. White people claiming to be Christians are planning attacks on America, so what choice do we have but to question every white Christian in order to protect ourselves?

In case you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic.

Salon's "Ask the Pilot" guy also has a good column on the subject, in which this excellent point is made.

"Whether or not profiling is racist is irrelevant," says Stanley J. Alluisi, a professor at the Aviation Sciences Institute, Southeastern Oklahoma State University. "More to the point, it's an inefficient use of resources and unlikely to produce good results. Without an extremely specific set of data upon which to build a profile, it would tag so many people as to be useless. Keeping a lookout for 'Middle Eastern men' doesn't help and actually hurts by wasting resources."

"If security authorities are told to look closely at Middle Eastern males," adds Johnson, the military intelligence officer, "then someday the threat will show up as female and Caucasian. In the anti-terrorism business, routine is weakness. The Israelis began successfully profiling suicide bombers as young males, so the Palestinians started sending females and middle-aged men. The first few got through."

All of this seems very much on the common-sense side of thought to me, but not to the breathlessly paranoid Ms. Jacobsen, whose latest column can be read here.

Jacobsen is, of course, Caucasian and from a highly Christian culture, and we know these people are planning an attack on America that could come at any moment. So make sure to keep an eye out for her or her type at airports everywhere.

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take 1800 milligrams of ibuprophen and wrap my wrist and elbow in a cold compress. Cubital tunnel surgery, here I come!

Speaking of Bummed

What the crap is that stupid Blogger bar thing across the top of my website? That's so hideous. I need to switch to Moveable Type.

Totally Bummed

So I definitely have cubital tunnel syndrome (like carpal tunnel, only with the other nerve in the hand) and have a month to get better otherwise I need icky surgery. So, blogging, violin playing, and other diverting activities are forbidden at least for awhile. Plus, I have to wear a big goofy brace.

I'll try to make updates occasionally, probably using the Sidekick as that seems to be less trouble on my arm. We'll see, I guess.

But this definitely bums me out.

Medical Difficulties

The spectre of some sort of ulnar nerve compression problem has reared its ugly head, causing some alarming numbness in the pinkie and ring finger of my left hand. This may put blogging on an even further back burner than its been lately. I'll keep you posted.

Viva Italia!

You know, I cannot deny that there's something fundamentally hot about this Italian fencer making out with his gold medal at the Olympics the other day...hubba hubba!

Testing testing 123...

This is to test if I can blog via Sidekick...I can!

Cameraphone Blogging

I'm not sure if this counts as being artistic, but I sure am having a blast with my cameraphone. Here's a bunch of crap I took with it:

Right.

You know, if I were the Bush administration, I would try to keep things like this quieter. I don't think they have the intended reaction.

WASHINGTON - The federal government warned Sunday of possible terrorist attacks against "iconic" financial institutions in New York City, Washington and Newark, N.J., saying a confluence of chilling intelligence in recent days pointed to a car or truck bomb.

It's a good thing all those solders died or had their limbs blown off in Iraq, not to mention all the civilian deaths. Because Americans are sure a lot safer now. Oh, wait, I guess we're not.

This is really the kicker for me, though.

Ridge said it would be up to New York City officials to decide whether to move to the highest level, red. The city has remained on orange since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The threat potential remains through the Nov. 2 elections, Ridge said.

This does seem to leave the possibility very open for the GOP convention to be held in a cit under code red lockdown. I wonder what that would be like? I truly don't think it could help anything, with all the neocons praising themselves as balloons fall from the ceiling while New Yorkers are afraid in their homes and have to go through security checkpoint after security checkpoint.

Grumble. I'm very sleepy. I'm going to get some coffee and fortifying lunch.

This is probably pretty true...


Which Golden Girl Are You?

You are smart, sensible and love your family.
You are forgiving but also tend to hold a grudge,
especially when it comes to ex-husbands!

Via Timmydale.