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You are here: Home / I Won’t Feel Safe Until Everyone is Scared Shitless

I Won’t Feel Safe Until Everyone is Scared Shitless

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Here is security expert Bruce Schneier in a very sensible and thoughtful piece:

As the details about the bombings in Boston unfold, it’d be easy to be scared. It’d be easy to feel powerless and demand that our elected leaders do something — anything — to keep us safe.

It’d be easy, but it’d be wrong. We need to be angry and empathize with the victims without being scared. Our fears would play right into the perpetrators’ hands — and magnify the power of their victory for whichever goals whatever group behind this, still to be uncovered, has. We don’t have to be scared, and we’re not powerless. We actually have all the power here, and there’s one thing we can do to render terrorism ineffective: Refuse to be terrorized.

It’s hard to do, because terrorism is designed precisely to scare people — far out of proportion to its actual danger. A huge amount of research on fear and the brain teaches us that we exaggerate threats that are rare, spectacular, immediate, random — in this case involving an innocent child — senseless, horrific and graphic. Terrorism pushes all of our fear buttons, really hard, and we overreact.

But our brains are fooling us. Even though this will be in the news for weeks, we should recognize this for what it is: a rare event. That’s the very definition of news: something that is unusual — in this case, something that almost never happens.

Remember after 9/11 when people predicted we’d see these sorts of attacks every few months? That never happened, and it wasn’t because the TSA confiscated knives and snow globes at airports. Give the FBI credit for rolling up terrorist networks and interdicting terrorist funding, but we also exaggerated the threat. We get our ideas about how easy it is to blow things up from television and the movies. It turns out that terrorism is much harder than most people think. It’s hard to find willing terrorists, it’s hard to put a plot together, it’s hard to get materials, and it’s hard to execute a workable plan. As a collective group, terrorists are dumb, and they make dumb mistakes; criminal masterminds are another myth from movies and comic books.

Even the 9/11 terrorists got lucky.

If it’s hard for us to keep this in perspective, it will be even harder for our leaders. They’ll be afraid that by speaking honestly about the impossibility of attaining absolute security or the inevitability of terrorism — or that some American ideals are worth maintaining even in the face of adversity — they will be branded as “soft on terror.” And they’ll be afraid that Americans might vote them out of office. Perhaps they’re right, but where are the leaders who aren’t afraid? What has happened to “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”?

On the other end of the spectrum, here is complete jackass and Karl Rove’s pen pal, Ron Fournier:

Asshole. What follows is actual footage at the National Journal HQ as the Boston bombings were happening:

Shakespeare was wrong about the lawyers. The media courtesans need to go first.

Reader Interactions

204Comments

  2. 2.

    Violet

    Thanks for the Bruce Schneier piece. He’s absolutely right. Fear is not helping anyone but the Fear Industrial Complex. They cannot make you be afraid. Only you can decide if you’re gong to be afraid. And before you decide to be afraid, decide if that fear is helping you.

  3. 3.

    zombie rotten mcdonald

    Killing Americans at play resonates differently than attacks on economic and military targets.

    Nice to see how easily they elide “economic” into “military targets.”

    What pants-pissing cowards. Fear rules their lives.

  4. 4.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    But we must take everyone’s guns because OMG MASSACRES!

    The people must be disarmed, only Big Brother and the System can keep us safe with Reasonable Gun Control(tm), right guys?

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Even the 9/11 terrorists got lucky.

    I always thought that was one of the great underdiscussed aspects of 9/11, no flight delays, no bad weather, nobody tipped off by the box-cuttters
    and this

    As a collective group, terrorists are dumb, and they make dumb mistakes; criminal masterminds are another myth from movies and comic books.

    of the aftermath and subsequent debates about al Qaeda, Gitmo, pretty much everything. The fictional characters in Harry Potter dealt with Voldemort and the Dementors with more logic than we as a country brought to national security.

    and Ron Fournier… his head is so far up his ass it comes out his neck again.

  6. 6.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    It’s a fucking ploy to disarm us. Motherfuckers will pry my bombs out of my cold dead hands.

  7. 7.

    raven

    I remember being at a party right after 9/11. I was talking with a guy who had lost his leg while serving with the 173d Airborne in 1967. We struck up a conversation with a woman that was supposed to fly somewhere the next week and she was totally freaked out. We just had a nice calm talk with her and basically said, “this is no way for you to spend the rest of your life”. She seemed to settle down.

  8. 8.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    I don’t know about plot, but liberals (being the closet totalitarians they all are) will want to use this as an excuse for (1) even further guns restrictions and (2) the marginalization of all opposition to the Obama Regime.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: That was the thing that always got me about Gitmo. “But it’s not safe to keep those people in incredibly-secure maximum security prisons in the US!”. They, or some of them anyway, are random member of al Qaeda affiliates. They’re not Magneto or Lex Luthor.

  13. 13.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    America created Al Qaeda. The CIA trained bin Laden and Friends back in the ’80s.

  14. 14.

    raven

    I’m not all into this whining about the media but some jackass from CNN’s “Special Investigation Unit” was just flipping out that TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER and no suspect, no car, no information, no nothing. What the fuck?

    eta It was Drew Griffin.

  15. 15.

    p.a.

    “Yankee detectives are always on the TV, ’cause killers in America work seven days a week…”- The Clash.

  20. 20.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    @zombie rotten mcdonald:

    Obama has done nothing to restore our privacy or Fourth Amendment rights but you support him all the way.

    When you finally realize Democrats and Republicans are of one mind when it comes to our Ruling Class and the System, that will be the beginning of enlightenment.

  25. 25.

    Suffern ACE

    @dmsilev: something about prisons being targets and whatnot and trained supermen, too dangerous to be held by mere cells with prison guards.

  26. 26.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @John Cole: Somebody brought up his various Republican alliances– besides being Rove’s kitchen counsellor, McCain wanted him to his press secretary– on twitter, and he responded, “That old chestnut, again?” about a week later he showed up on an MSNBC panel.

  28. 28.

    quannlace

    Ron Fournier:? Isn’t he the guy who complained that the White House was mean to him….uh, I mean ‘threatened’ him?

  30. 30.

    Debbie(aussie)

    And just how would mr Fournier plan to protect everybody & everything. The stupid it burns.
    Mr Schneier has it right as it Mr Roosevelt.

  32. 32.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    This country at times needs a collective ass whipping, or better yet those who live in the comfortable middle class needs it. People in the inner cities live and thrive, in the world where the terrorists are gangbangers and other criminal elements, there are places where people are going through some rougher sh*t than Joe and Jane Upscale,yet they thrive. I am sick of fear being pushed to me as an option. To those chattering classes MAN THE F*CK UP or SHUT THE F*CK UP!!! Now I am off my soap Box. Oh BTW my thoughts and prayers go to the family of Martin Richard and other who are in pain tonight

  34. 34.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @John Cole:

    I’d be on your ass for slandering the noble vajayjay by comparing it to ‘Fear is the Answer’ Fournier.

  37. 37.

    quannlace

    Unit” was just flipping out that TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER and no suspect, no car, no information, no nothing. What the fuck?

    Somebody remind him that it took 6 years to finally solve the Atlanta Olympics bombing.
    This ain’t a one hour CSI episode

  40. 40.

    Violet

    @dmsilev: That always got me too. Talk about a bunch of terrified babies. Can’t have foreign bad people locked up in SuperMAX prison on US soil–too dangerous! I guess they aren’t worried about the other bad people locked up in the same prisons. Something about being foreign or Muslim or somehow related to Al Quaeda that gives them special powers of escape?

  41. 41.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @quannlace:

    But we have the googles and ipads now. This shit is inexcusable in these halcyon days! We should have suspects in custody before they commit a crime!

  42. 42.

    Nerull

    I don’t get the obsession with labeling this terrorism before we know jack shit about it. Terrorism implies a motivation, and we don’t know what that is. Where is the statement? Where are the demands? Where are the threats of further violence? Terrorists aren’t known for being shy.

    Which doesn’t mean it isn’t terrorism, but arguing over labels before we have a shred of evidence gets us nowhere – and can lead us down the wrong trail.

    What I really don’t get is simultaneously mocking pundits for their “ZOMG OBAMA DIDN’T USE THE WORD TERROR” freakouts, while also arguing that OF COURSE THIS IS TERROR DON’T YOU DARE CALL IT ANYTHING ELSE.

    The difference between James Holmes – a mass murderer – and Anders Breivik – a terrorist – is motive, and we haven’t the slightest idea what the truth of this case is yet.

  43. 43.

    Cacti

    Can’t we get back to talking about important stuff, like how Obama has betrayed us with Dr0n3z and Chained CPI?

  44. 44.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    @raven:

    Take what shit? It’s true. They were trained by the CIA before they turned on their former masters in the ’90s.

  45. 45.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @The Friendly Libertarian: Naive, table for one! When you realize Libertarians, Republicans and Democrats are three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, you will be one horse short of enlightenment.

  46. 46.

    Violet

    From the blockquote in the post:

    where are the leaders who aren’t afraid? What has happened to “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”?

    Absolutely right. Where are our leaders who refuse to be afraid? We could use a “nothing to fear but fear itself” speech at this point.

  47. 47.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    @Cacti:

    Because the illegal and malicious murder of innocents across the globe by the Federal Government is a laughing and/or trivial matter, right?

  49. 49.

    maya

    @Violet: “Something about being foreign or Muslim or somehow related to Al Quaeda that gives them special powers of escape?”

    Magic carpets. You never heard?

  50. 50.

    Baud

    @Violet:

    We could use a “nothing to fear but fear itself” speech at this point.

    BREAKING: Obama urges nation to be afraid of fear! /MSM

  51. 51.

    Snarla

    Fournier’s piece is insidious in that it only mentions Muslim terrorism, completely ignoring all the other attacks in the United States in recent years. White man flies plane into IRS building, white man kills four police officers eating breakfast, white man shoots up Holocaust museum, etc.

  52. 52.

    ? Martin

    As the details about the bombings in Boston unfold, it’d be easy to be scared. It’d be easy to feel powerless and demand that our elected leaders do something — anything — to keep us safe.

    Like demand that all schoolteachers be armed? Make it mandatory that every citizen own a gun? Set up medieval castles full of SCA/Civil War re-enactors? Send your 11-year old kid to the state capital with an assault rifle? Buy every scrap of ammunition that you can possibly find regardless of need? Those kinds of anything?

    Me, I cleaned my office.

  53. 53.

    raven

    Chris Hayes is talking about the pictures of the bag in front of Starbucks. CNN had a former FBI bomb expert on and he pointed out that the mailbox right next to that bag was not damaged in the least and, therefore, was pretty sure that bag was not the bomb.

  55. 55.

    Cacti

    @Nerull:

    What I really don’t get is simultaneously mocking pundits for their “ZOMG OBAMA DIDN’T USE THE WORD TERROR” freakouts, while also arguing that OF COURSE THIS IS TERROR DON’T YOU DARE CALL IT ANYTHING ELSE.

    It’s almost like words actually mean things to the POTUS, and that terrorism has a particular definition that distinguishes it from other acts of violence and mayhem.

    The Newtown shootings were a horrific act of violence, but not an act of terrorism based on any available information.

  56. 56.

    lamh35

    @raven: CNN has been doing this shit all day.

    They’ve all of a sudden become CSI:CNN.

    The idea that it takes just one 45 min episode to get lab results is just stupid.

  60. 60.

    Nerull

    I find it curious someone could rave about a ruling class while advocating a political system that enshrines the concept that money is power.

  61. 61.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @Snarla:

    If this turns out to be domestic assholes, you’re going to see a lot of people putting their calls of ‘WHY WON’T OBAMA CALL IT TERROR?!’ down the memory hole. Because these days, only swarthy, scary brown folks can be terrists.

  63. 63.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    @Chyron HR:

    The Federal Government has murdered far, far more people in its history than people like Lanza ever can or will.

  64. 64.

    Cacti

    @The Friendly Libertarian:

    Because the illegal and malicious murder of innocents across the globe by the Federal Government

    If only we could farm drone strikes out to the states or private individuals. Then it would get the libertarian good housekeeping seal of approval.

  65. 65.

    MikeJ

    @Snarla:

    white man kills four police officers eating breakfast

    Maurice Clemmons was black, but it wasn’t a political murder(“terrorism”), just a “I hate cops” murder.

  69. 69.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    @Cacti:

    That’s just the thing. Individuals or small-scale Local Communities would never be able to develop the kind of sophisticated, Techno-Industrial Warfare that the Federal Government or other large-scale Governments can carry out.

  72. 72.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh35: I think that story about him asking her to run his congressional campaign were true, which might suggest some confusion about “boundaries” on his part.

  73. 73.

    Nerull

    @The Friendly Libertarian: Real shame that what libertarians actually advocate for is unlimited power for giant global megacorps who do have those resources.

    I was debating a very devoted libertarian a while ago, who was certain that nothing could possibly go wrong if we simply replaced the legal system with private courts, with rulings enforced by private security/military forces.

  74. 74.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    Not only that, but any kind of warfare carried out by small-scale Local Communities would be limited to the extent that they would NOT engage in FRB, and therefore could not finance on credit large-scale warfare. Any war would have to be paid from a reserve of Precious Metals, which would of course be limited in quantity.

  75. 75.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    @Nerull:

    Big Corporation can only exist by Big Government propping it up. End large-scale state power and there is no more corporate personhood.

  76. 76.

    Cacti

    @The Friendly Libertarian:

    That’s just the thing. Individuals or small-scale Local Communities would never be able to develop the kind of sophisticated, Techno-Industrial Warfare that the Federal Government or other large-scale Governments can carry out.

    *Yawn*

    Fascinating.

  77. 77.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    Basically, Big Government and Big Corporation are intertwined, two pees in a pod, destroy the former you destroy the latter.

  78. 78.

    Baud

    @The Friendly Libertarian:

    Any war would have to be paid from a reserve of Precious Metals, which would of course be limited in quantity.

    Plus, everyone would be high on weed, and who wants to go to war when you’re high on weed.

  79. 79.

    Snarla

    @MikeJ:

    Whoops, you’re right. I meant he was Christian, and specifically referenced his belief that he was Jesus Christ as he mowed them down.

  83. 83.

    Violet

    @lamh35: Am I the only one who thinks Mark Sanford looks somewhat like Jerry Sandusky? The mouth and the dead eyes. Freaks me out when I see Mark Sanford.

  85. 85.

    Baud

    Perhaps they’re right, but where are the leaders who aren’t afraid? What has happened to “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”?

    Obama today:

    So if you want to know who we are, what America is, how we respond to evil — that’s it. Selflessly. Compassionately. Unafraid.

    This has been another episode of let’s-ignore-what-Obama-says-and-complain-that-no-one-is-saying-such-things.

  87. 87.

    Corner Stone

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    When you realize Libertarians, Republicans and Democrats are three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, you will be one horse short of enlightenment.

    Good sweet Christ! Who would that make the fourth one? Richard Simmons?

  89. 89.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    @MikeJ:

    I’m saying it takes a large Federal Government and FRB to engage in Techno-Industrial Warfare. Without FRB wars would be small, local, and between professional armies as they were in the Middle Ages until the the invention of FRB.

    FRB makes the gears of Techno-Industrial Warfare go ’round and ’round…true peace begins with ending the Fed.

  90. 90.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @Nerull: That is basically the aim of libertarian ant-war sites like Antiwar.com and Lew Rockwell.com advocate. I remember a particularly gobsmacking article by Justin Raimondo(Antiwar) where he saluted the Koch Brothers because they opposed the Global War on terror, I think they opposed it because they weren’t making money off it.

  92. 92.

    the Conster

    @Nerull:

    Actually, it’s: …and in Communism, everything is owned by the Workers who live in a State of Constant Bliss in a Grand Utopia.

    If you’re going to speak Manifesto, you have to get your capitalization right.

  93. 93.

    Cacti

    @Nerull:

    Yes, and in communism, everything is owned by the workers who live in a state of constant bliss in a grand utopia. Meanwhile, in reality…

    Utopian philosophies like libertarianism have a problem overcoming the “is-ought” problem identified by Hume in the 18th century.

    As you can see, our libertarian scholar’s response to being confronted with this problem was to call you a serf.

  94. 94.

    Jay

    Ron Fournier’s writing about his Asperger’s – afflicted son, Tyler, is some of the best disability – related stuff I’ve ever read. I think it shows Fournier The Elder can be a calm, open – hearted person and writer, which is why the man’s latest pants – shitting really bothers me.

  95. 95.

    scav

    It’s very hard not to come the conclusion that for large portions of the populace this is just one major opportunity to self-indulge. Nation’s gone on yet another bender, and between the ones cowering in the corner sucking their blankie as through this event, the US invented being the victims of “utterly! unprecedented! violence!” and the dancers on the tables throwing conspiracies to the crowds like beads and tearing off their shirts and gyrating to advertise any other pet topic they’re flogging to the current memic rhythm. . . Mama told me not to come. And somebody better check the supplier.

  97. 97.

    The Friendly Libertarian

    @Jay:

    Ever wondered why we’re seeing more and more Asperger’s and Autism in children now?

    Hint: it’s the MSG and HFCS in the ProleFeed you give your children.

  98. 98.

    Mandalay

    Even the 9/11 terrorists got lucky.

    I do not see any justification for that claim. They had a highly effective and well planned operation that exploited deficiencies in airline security. Why were they “lucky”?

    If anything they were unlucky: one plane did not manage a full hit on the Pentagon, and another crashed in the middle of nowhere.

    The ugly truth is that the 9/11 attack was embarrassingly simple rather than lucky. The only “luck” OBL really had was that dummies like Condie (nobody could have predicted) Rice and George Tenet were in charge of national security.

  99. 99.

    Corner Stone

    @scav:

    and the dancers on the tables throwing conspiracies to the crowds like beads and tearing off their shirts and gyrating to advertise any other pet topic they’re flogging to the current memic rhythm

    I’m so confused…is anyone showing their tits?

  100. 100.

    Violet

    @Jay: I don’t know anything about Ron Fournier, but if he’s a wingnut, then writing movingly about his Asperger’s-afflicted son while still being a pants-shitting fear-selling whackjob about other things makes him a cookie cutter conservative. Nothing is real until it affects them personally. Zero empathy.

  102. 102.

    beltane

    @John Cole: I personally have no problem with the word, but I’m not very ladylike in my speech so please don’t go by my opinion.

  104. 104.

    Cacti

    @Violet:

    I don’t know anything about Ron Fournier, but if he’s a wingnut, then writing movingly about his Asperger’s-afflicted son while still being a pants-shitting fear-selling whackjob about other things makes him a cookie cutter conservative. Nothing is real until it affects them personally. Zero empathy.

    Even a sociopath cares about things that affect them personally. It’s a pretty low bar to clear.

  108. 108.

    JTy

    “reply from Nerull to trolling by The Friendly Libertarian unblock

    trolling by The Friendly Libertarian

    trolling by The Friendly Libertarian

    reply from Cacti to trolling by The Friendly Libertarian

    trolling by The Friendly Libertarian

    reply from Baud to trolling by The Friendly Libertarian”

    Pie filters. Bless ’em.

  109. 109.

    Anya

    @Baud: To be fair, the president never said: The only thing to fear is fear itself. He has to phrase things exactly the way each group wants or it doesn’t count.

  110. 110.

    beltane

    @Jay: Conservatives can be very compassionate with regards to their immediate family members. If Fournier’s son did not have Aspergers I doubt he’d be interested in drumming up much empathy for Aspie kids or their parents.

  113. 113.

    Mnemosyne

    Is anyone else amused by the fact that the guy lecturing us about the evils of modern society is doing it from a computer? But I guess his small feudal village would totally be able to provide him with a fast internet connection so his Amazon.com order always arrives on time.

  116. 116.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @The Friendly Libertarian: Actually, keeping guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them would reduce, though not eliminate, gun violence. And the first step toward this would be people like you realizing that:
    1. You will not be able to defend yourselves from the government with those guns.
    2. The only way you will be able to keep yourself truly safe with the gun is to constantly have it out to use. Anything less than that means someone can get to you first. And when you have it out to use, you had better be sure of yourself, or the other person may take it, or you could end up killing someone who just wanted to ask for directions.

    The reason we allow the police to have the ability to use force is they are trained not only in its use, but in how to decide when to use it. Are they perfect? No, but they are still beyond the average person.

  118. 118.

    muddy

    @Redshirt: I was just thinking that it was hard to know how to react when there is no rainbow to aid me. Do you think they could add another color to the map, like the temperature maps in Australia?

  119. 119.

    Mandalay

    @beltane:

    If Fournier’s son did not have Aspergers I doubt he’d be interested in drumming up much empathy for Aspie kids or their parents.

    Similar comments have been made about Palin who drums up support for Down Syndrome kids. In a way she can’t win, since if she didn’t do that she would really get flak for ignoring the issue.

    But either way it seems that Palin does not care about the disadvantaged UNLESS they have Down Syndrome. I have no idea where Fournier stands on non-Asperger afflictions.

  121. 121.

    am

    I miss when SportsCenter was good. One could say it was because the age and stage of life I was in when Dan Patrick and Kenny Mayne were hosting it. I don’t buy it. It’s crap now, and was great then.

    Same with MTV News. Kurt Loder vs whatever VJ of the moment who won the spot by retweeting the worst drunk shaming picture of themselves under the hashtag #MTVNEWSLULZFTWYOLO Gah. Kids get off my lawn.

  122. 122.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mandalay:

    I do not see any justification for that claim. They had a highly effective and well planned operation that exploited deficiencies in airline security. Why were they “lucky”?

    They were lucky because they screwed up multiple times (including by telling their flight instructors that they weren’t interested in learning how to land the 747) and yet none of the multiple reports of their suspicious behavior went anywhere. A Bush administration that took potential terror attacks seriously probably would have caught them like the Millennium bomb plot was caught, but Bush just didn’t give a fuck.

  123. 123.

    eemom

    @John Cole:

    I’d call Ron Fournier a p*ssy but then I’d have feminists up my ass.

    I’d do it for you but it would put me in moderation.

    Fuck that shit, which ain’t feminism.

    eta: he’s a twat, also too.

  125. 125.

    Nerull

    I’ve always found it interesting how those who’s opinions are Received have a very distinct writing style. It must be nice not to have to think about these things, simply repeating what you are told.

    The inability to coherently argue for anything, instead simply repeating platitudes over and over again, is another clue.

  126. 126.

    Mnemosyne

    @The Friendly Libertarian:

    Ever wondered why we’re seeing more and more Asperger’s and Autism in children now?

    Gosh, my niece and nephew’s late grandfather was given HFCS and MSG back in the 1930s when he was growing up? Because he absolutely had Asperger’s, as did his children, and now his grandchildren.

    Of course, many people whose children are on the autism spectrum have a hard time dealing with the fact that autism and Asperger’s is genetic (often because they themselves or their spouse has undiagnosed autism or Asperger’s), so they grasp at any straw they can find to deny that their genes are at fault.

  127. 127.

    beltane

    @Mandalay: I seem to have missed reading anything about Sarah Palin’s advocacy on behalf of people with Down’s Syndrome. She is quite passionate about advocating for herself as the mother of a special needs child, but that is where her compassion begins and ends-with Sarah.

    The same thing could be said about Ann Romney and MS.

  128. 128.

    Chris

    @Suffern ACE:

    The constant libertarian blind point – “it’s not oppression if it’s not done by a Big Modern Federal Government, and if it is it doesn’t matter.”

    From that, you get the belief that we should’ve all just borne in silence the worst actions of the slave owners and robber barons in our history, because anything that entailed the federal government so much as lifting a pinky finger to aid their victims would totally be the worst thing ever.

  129. 129.

    eemom

    Bruce Schneier, together with Elena Kagan and Chris Hayes, is another in the distinguished pantheon of HCHS alums who — unlike myself — Done Good.

    He graduated the year after I did and sat one row up in Chemistry class. He was kind of a cute mischievous little thing back then.

  131. 131.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @The Friendly Libertarian: Or, it could be the fact that we understand the disorders better, and that having your child diagnosed with it doesn’t carry the burden that it used to. Since we don’t know, like we don’t know who bombed Boston yesterday, speculation is stupid. Unless you want to send me $39.95 for an Autism cure.

  132. 132.

    Bump on a Log

    Wasn’t there a big surprise attack on an American base some years ago? And didn’t some famous American say about that attack that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”?

    Well, maybe that was some other country.

  133. 133.

    Mike in NC

    “Scared shitless” is our useless media’s default setting on any subject ranging from nuclear energy to global warming to gun control to dirty mooslim terrorism.

  134. 134.

    Mnemosyne

    @Chris:

    Actually, any minute now I’m expecting to hear that watery tarts lobbing swords is no basis for a system of government.

  139. 139.

    Jamie

    we’re medicalizing and trying to help kids who used to be thought of as weird and written off.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jamie:

    In my small office, all of the marathoners and half-marathoners got together (I think there were 4 or 5 of them) and wore their race t-shirts today as a show of solidarity.

  141. 141.

    Mnemosyne

    @Bump on a Log:

    Wasn’t there a big surprise attack on an American base some years ago? And didn’t some famous American say about that attack that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”?

    Same president, but the surprise attack and the quote were about 10 years apart from each other. The quote is actually about the Great Depression.

  143. 143.

    Citizen_X

    @Nerull:

    I’ve always found it interesting how those who’s opinions are Received have a very distinct writing style. It must be nice not to have to think about these things, simply repeating what you are told.

    Orwell’s Politics and the English Language deals with this quite eloquently. (It’s also a good guide for keeping your writing, on any topic, fresh.)

  145. 145.

    Mandalay

    @beltane:

    I seem to have missed reading anything about Sarah Palin’s advocacy on behalf of people with Down’s Syndrome. She is quite passionate about advocating for herself as the mother of a special needs child, but that is where her compassion begins and ends-with Sarah.

    Actually you are right and I am wrong…

    Sarah Palin made a donation of $1,000 to the National Association for Down Syndrome on the last possible day before her Pac report was due. That’s how much the “You’ll have a friend and advocate in the White House” DS mom did for the cause. That money was donated to her Pac by her followers, it didn’t come out of the reported $12,000,000 she raked in from her book, TV deals and speeches in recent months.

    If I inadvertently said anything that was not offensive and insulting about Palin I apologize and withdraw that remark. What a fucking cheapskate.

  146. 146.

    Jebediah

    @Violet:

    Something about being foreign or Muslim or somehow related to Al Quaeda that gives them special powers of escape?

    What kind of unpatriotic jackanapes thinks foreign criminals are more criminally than our American criminals?

  147. 147.

    beltane

    @Mandalay: As governor she also cut funding for the Special Olympics and other programs that helped Downs Syndrome children who did not have Sarah Palin as a mother.

  153. 153.

    Mnemosyne

    @Violet:

    Jon Stewart actually had a funny bit that profiled a few of the criminals currently in SuperMax — including a guy who murdered people and then ate their brains — and said, “I’ll put a good ol’ American brain-eater up against any foreign terrorist. USA! USA! USA!”

  155. 155.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Case in point: Booman said the ricin envelope was sent with a return address. I couldn’t quite believe it, so I went to the Guardian

    The website Politico reported that lawmakers had been told that the letter sent to Wicker’s office came from an individual who frequently writes to politicians and have been told what to look for if there are more letters containing the toxic substance.

    I realize this could be some kind of fake, and there’s no word of an arrest, but I’d like to note that Frances Townsend, Bush anti-terror official said this to Wolf Blitzer (from Pierce):

    former Bush administration Homeland Security chief Fran Townsend, who immediately went off for a few minutes about how ricin was “straight out of the al Qaeda play book.”

    Fraces Townsend you might remember is Richard Clarke’s deputy and successor, who wrote in her farewell letter to Dumbya that, like George Washington, he ennobled and embiggened the world by stumbling throught it. I paraphrase.

  156. 156.

    muddy

    @Redshirt: I am well supplied with duct tape at all times! Regular, black and translucent. Also skinny duct tape 1/2″ wide. I hate to panic at this time of day, maybe tomorrow morning.

  158. 158.

    Jebediah

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Water boiling over on the stove?

    There is? Shit I better go turn it off!

    ETA: Well, there wasn’t any water on the stove at all. Hmmm…

  159. 159.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @muddy: I think you’re right. And I think it’s what the KGB, or even its successor, is thought to have used to kill a dissident in London.

    Rachel’s guest, who I think was Townsend’s successor under Bush, says false-positives with ricin field tests are pretty common.

    SO EVERYBODY PANIC AL QAEDA IS IN YER MAIL BOX!

  164. 164.

    1badbaba3

    @John Cole:

    …but then I’d have feminists up my ass.

    So, the true reason for the April Fools Fundraiser comes out at last. I hear ya, dude. Those extras add up, no?

  167. 167.

    NotMax

    @muddy

    That Japanese incident was almost certainly the catalyst for creation of the character of The Eggman in the Hitchcockian opening three minutes (video) of the first episode of the underrated TV show “Now and Again.”

  168. 168.

    GregB

    @muddy:

    Sarin was in Japan.

    Putin spikes his enemies tea with polonium.

    Ricin was used by Bulgarian’s in their poison tipped umbrellas.

    Now what was the poison used in The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane? Was that arsenic?

  174. 174.

    Gravenstone

    @muddy:

    I thought ricin was straight out of the Japanese subway? Wasn’t that what was used?

    They tried to cook up some sarin.

    Ricin has been used as an assassination tool by the Soviets and their clients back in the day, though.

  175. 175.

    Gravenstone

    @muddy: Sarin was the official designation used by the German military for the gas. Sister gases were called Soman and Tabun. The actual IUPAC name for the material is (RS)-Propan-2-yl methylphosphonofluoridate.

    Ricin is a protein, and those sorts of compounds are rat bastards to try and name using standard chemical nomenclature. Common/colloquial names are typically used, often based off the organics of origin in some fashion.

  176. 176.

    patroclus

    Ron Fournier actually wrote “Keep up the fight” in a “breezy” e-mail to Karl Rove and we’re supposed to think he’s an actual journalist??!! Maybe if we put Rove on the Boston Marathon investigatory team, he wouldn’t shit his pants.

    The Trolling Libertarian apparently hates the “FRB”, which I guess stands for the Federal Reserve Board. But, the Board of Governors itself is actually a thinly staffed entity that neither has nor exercises much power – the real power of the Federal Reserve System, which is owned and capitalized by its member banks and is thus a private sector combination of entities, lies in the regional Federal Reserve District banks and the Federal Open Market Committee. If we got rid of the Board, it wouldn’t change all that much, but if we got rid of the District banks, we’d be getting rid of virtually the entire banking industry. Shouldn’t banks have the liberty to form and capitalize regional district banks?

  177. 177.

    Gravenstone

    @Mnemosyne: Technically it is hydrogen cyanide that exhibits the smell. And only some people, but not all can discern it. The ability to smell “bitter almonds” is based on an enzymatic response, and not everyone shares it. I have a co-worker for instance who can’t smell cyanide at all.

  180. 180.

    NotMax

    @Gravenstone

    an assassination tool by the Soviets and their clients back in the day,

    Now have “Those were the Good Old Days” from “Damn Yankees” running through my head.

               Ha, ha, ha,
               Those were the good old days
               I’d doze by the fireside
               Dreaming of Cyanide,

    @Mnemosyne

    Burnt almond smell.

  182. 182.

    muddy

    @GregB:

    Putin spikes his enemies tea with polonium.

    Aha! Putin is the same sort of word as sarin and ricin. Clearly this is to signal us that the man is poison. Like brightly colored frogs, a fair warning.

    Now I have pictured GWB licking a brightly colored frog, oh dear.

  184. 184.

    muddy

    @Gravenstone: I appreciate the scientific terms! My dad was a chemical engineer and he was always coming out with these long names, and what mixed with what made what other thing and what that long name was. With a sliderule.

  185. 185.

    Gravenstone

    Has glibertarian boy faxed anyone his credenzas yet? His performance rather reminds of the night the helicopters weren’t laughing.

  186. 186.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gravenstone:

    I have a co-worker for instance who can’t smell cyanide at all.

    I’m not sure I want to know how you found that out, Dr. Lecter. ;-)

  190. 190.

    eemom

    @David Koch:

    She was 3 years ahead of me, and I remember her being kind of a “household name” in the school. She was the President of what we then called the G.O., General Organization, i.e., the student guvmint.

    I got to tell her that I remembered that, and how proud we all are of her, at an event she held last year for fellow alumni at the Supreme Court.

    [swoon]

  192. 192.

    Gravenstone

    @Mnemosyne: We’re industrial chemists. When we handle cyanide compounds, its pretty typical for first timers to do a sniff test to see if they can detect the smell. It is a warning sign of exposure, after all. Since he’s been here over 30 years, my co-worker is used as the example of “not everyone can smell HCN”. I can only sort of smell it myself.

  195. 195.

    Todd

    @The Friendly Libertarian:

    When you finally realize Democrats and Republicans are of one mind when it comes to our Ruling Class and the System, that will be the beginning of enlightenment.

    So just vote GOP, right, fuckface?

  196. 196.

    Redshirt

    @Mnemosyne: LOL. I use that quote alllll the time. Like almost every night, going to bed. Love it.

    Randomly, another quote I use pretty much every day. Who can guess it:

    “IT’S TOO HOT! IN THE HOT TUB!”

  197. 197.

    Pseudonym

    @The Friendly Libertarian: @patroclus:

    I assume FRB refers to fractional reserve banking, since obviously small-scale Local Communities conducting wars with each other could never institute a system of credit or deviate from using Precious Bodily Fluids Metals as currency.

  199. 199.

    patroclus

    @Pseudonym: Thanks, one can never assume anything when dealing with a libertarian’s acronyms. But if he truly meant fractional reserve banking is the evil that one must eliminate, then he is effectively advocating a 100% reserve requirement. Which would presumably need to be imposed and enforced by, say, the Federal Reserve System (or a central banking regulator). Which he apparently wants to eliminate… So I’m confused – the entity that is going to eliminate fractional reserve banking is itself going to be eliminated? Ron Paul did say that there would be a “transitional period” – but which goes first – fractional reserve banking or the Fed?

    Is all this covered in the Gospel of Hayek or the Gospel of von Mises? Does one have to go Galt to fully comprehend?

  200. 200.

    ? Martin

    @Redshirt:

    Should I get in the hot tub?! – Yeah!
    Will it make me sweat?! – Yeah!
    Should I get in the hot tub?! – Yeah!
    Will it get me wet?! – Yeah!
    Well… well… well…

    One of the best ever.

  201. 201.

    Death Panel Truck

    @lamh35:

    The idea that it takes just one 45 min episode to get lab results is just stupid.

    Really? And all these years I truly believed that on Quincy, M.E., Sam Fujiyama could whip out a complete tox screen in less than five minutes with one hand tied behind his back

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