a secret agreement with osama...

* for obvious reasons, i sent my echidna picture to Echidne, blogging goddess. She friday-animal-blogged it and also pointed to the quail pic which she called "absolutely wonderful" (take that, Damien!)

* here's echidne on portgate: " Please, dear government, tell me what to believe and then stick to the story. I don't even care anymore if it's all a lie. Just give me one coherent myth."

* digby: "I would suggest that if the UAE is holding access to their ports over our heads as a way to ensure this deal goes through, then we may have to evaluate whether they are even the nominal ally in the war on terror we think they are. That's called blackmail. They can't interfere with our domestic policies any more than we can interfere with theirs."
i think he meant to say "any more than we SHOULD interfere with theirs (or anyone else)"

*

"So why is the fearmonger-in-chief being so casual about this Dubai business?
Because at some level of consciousness even George Bush knows the inflated fears are bogus. So do a lot of the politicians merrily throwing spears at him. He taught them how to play this game, invented the tactics and reorganized political competition as a demagogic dance of hysterical absurdities, endless opportunities to waste public money. Very few dare to challenge the mindset. Thousands have died for it." (link)

I think this is an important, yet underappreciated point. We all know that everyone (except some rubes) knows that the terrorist threat is uber-hyped - but one of the reasons that i dont worry about terrorists is because the egadministration, by its actions, demonstrably doesn't worry about things like securing the nuclear plants, and screening port cargo, or even plane cargo. it's almost as though they know the country isn't at risk. it's almost as though there's a secret agreement with osama...

imagine how easy, and profitable, it would be for the war-profiteers to establish some port-screening company and appropriate tens of billions for their pockets - instead we see people like woolsey setting up police-state apparatus like iris-screening and whatnot.