beyond cynicism

Why is it no surprise to me that as soon as the Democratic Party began attracting attention by Kerry's announcement of a VP choice, there was another vague but excited warning from the Department of Homeland Security of imminent terrorist attacks, probably targeting the elections process, an attack that is said to be "large-scale" and with the "capability to succeed" (what does that even mean, in real terms?) but which does not warrant an increase in the hysteria-inducing colour-code threat index?

Why, other than partisan politics, would an announcement like this be made when there is no information to release ("we lack precise knowledge about time, place and method of attack") when all of the statements about al Qaida plans and intentions begin with phrases like "Al-Qaeda, for many years, has, in fact, tried to carry out attacks here ..." or phrased in such broad terms as to be effectively meaningless. Al Qaida has "an intent and preparation to carry out major attacks that would inflict major casualties, as well as to create economic damage, political damage, psychological damage to the United States"? Really? I would never have guessed. What breaking intercepts have suddenly given us that insight?

Exchanges like the one I'll close with suggest that nothing really new is known in relation to the actual threat, and that this report could have been made at any time in the past few months, or in the months to come, without being substantially different. So why now? The answer, on the face of it, seems fairly obvious.

Question: But is any of this intelligence different than it was last month when we heard this exact same warning? Is anything different in the past several weeks? Is there new intelligence? Is there a new threat? Or is this exactly what we heard last month?

Senior Intelligence Official:: I think I was mentioning that there has been a growing body of intelligence over the past several years, and I think over the past several months I would say we continue to gain knowledge and understanding about what al-Qaeda is planning to do. So every day there are nuggets that come in to the broader intelligence community that we take a look at and start trying to connect those pieces. So it's a dynamic process that allows us to have a better understanding of exactly what we are facing as far as the al-Qaeda threat.

Peter, you come up with the most interesting things

This site, which john_arundel came across, is truly amazing.

http://www.new-tradition.org/

f'in hilarious

Professionals practicing the fine points of soccer.

a sound judgement

Even if it will probably be ignored by Israel and the United States.

UN rules against Israeli barrier

The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel's West Bank barrier is illegal and construction of it should be stopped immediately.

The ruling said the barrier's construction was "tantamount to annexation" and impeded the Palestinian right to self-determination.

This may lead to a UN resolution, but Israel has stolidly ignored those through out its existence, both those motivated by hatred and fear and those motivated by a desire for justice and equity.

the Kennedy clan

sujata posted the result of one of the latest LJ memes, the "in the year you were born" one, in her journal. It included the following sentence:

Senator Edward Kennedy escapes injury when the car he is driving veers off a narrow bridge on Chappaquiddick Island.

The compilers of those lists have a wicked sense of irony. If Ted Kennedy had been able to run for the Democratic nomination in 1972, I think there's a very strong chance he would have been the 38th President of the United States. To say that Kennedy escaped injury at Chappaquiddick is only true in the most literal sense. I imagine that at many points since then he's wished he hadn't escaped. Which is not to take away from his distinguished career in the Senate since then, but it's got to be bitter wine to him when the thinks of the days before June 1969. Let no one watch the lives of the Kennedy family and say that the tragedy of Sophocles and Euripedes is dead.