The Fort Dix Terrorists

It is very sad to say that the only reason the terrorists were stopped from attacking Fort Dix soldiers yesterday was due to a clerk who worked in a video store.

That's not to say that the clerk doesn't deserve kudos. Of COURSE he does. He deserves dinner at the White House with a reception in the Rose Garden, at the very least. Well, I wouldn't wish that on anyone... but you understand what I mean.

However, if those terrorists hadn't been the equivalent of Laurel and Hardy in the terrorist ranks, they would've been successful.

That should give us all pause for thought.

This bunch of buffoons had a tape of them haring around screaming "Allah Akbar" and firing weapons. They took it to their local video store to have it made into a CD format. Perhaps they were trying to raise funds and they needed good marketing materials: Who knows? But when the clerk saw the video, he grew alarmed and called the Feds. The Feds made the pinch and... case closed.

Or is it?

The truth is that if they hadn't been that egregiously stupid, these morons may have been successful. I think of the recent Virginia Tech shootings: The killer Whatsisname was hell-bent on notoriety but he was also just plain weird. Lots of people thought he was weird. After the shootings, some students even speculated it was him before anyone knew: THAT's how weird he was. And yet, nothing was done until it was too late.

We need to be more aggressive in sounding the alarm when we see someone acting suspiciously.

Of course the Muslim terrorists are hoping that they'll be able to pressure us to keep quiet. There are many factions that are hiding under a friendly turban, gently (or not so gently) scolding us to be politically correct and question our instincts.

One recent case that comes to mind is the case of the Muslim men on the airplane: They were acting very suspiciously (on purpose). When alarmed passengers alerted the pilot, they were ejected and questioned. They grew very indignant and began threatening the passengers with lawsuits because (they claimed) the passengers were racially profiling them. Whether or not the lawsuits work, you have to admit it was a good bluff.

We cannot let ourselves be bullied by such tactics. We have to stand strong, and keep alert.

The truth is that there are many opportunities for terrorists to strike, and we shouldn't be complacent. On the other hand, we need to remember that the government is not God. They're not even our daddy. We must never be willing to cede any of our liberties in exchange for possible protection. We need to be our OWN protection.

And the best way to do that is to keep our eyes and ears open, and be unafraid to speak of our concerns.

UPDATE ON THE WILDFIRES:

Thank you for your well-wishes. I'm not certain how they're progressing, but the day is clear and bright today. The smoke finally lifted in the evening. As the sun set, you could see a vast band of smoke in the upper atmosphere, with clear, fresh air underneath it. Where that band went, I don't know. Since the smoke even reached the Miami area where Lazy Iguana lives (see his comment in yesterday's post), I assume he's still dealing with it. We had winds blowing southerly all day.