Terror in Paradise
Off biking through the beautiful Bay Area, then on to Napa and the Anderson Valley. Going to practice our Boontling. As we spin along on our tandem bike, under blue skies and with gentle breezes, under soaring gulls and improbably stately snowy egrets (Egrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention), my wife, the Fair Helenkela, murmurs, “Why do terrorists issue warnings on the net before trying to trigger explosions?” Kind of breaks the mood, but it is a fair question. It has a good answer, though not “good” in the moral sense.
Terrorists, aside from being cruel, violent and sociopathetic, are also terrible liars. They know that other terrorists are also terrible liars. There is no honor not only among thieves but also among terrorists. They do know, however, that their fellow terrorists would take credit (a perverse concept itself for the destruction of innocent lives) and rob them of their hard-earned achievements in destruction.
If I issue a threat to do a specific act, it is not so that society can be on alert or defuse the bomb. It is simply that by predicting the event, I can attach the name of my outfit to the carnage without fear of some other sociopaths grabbing the billing. It’s all about credits.
I don’t want to think about terrorists while getting away from it all. But there really is no getting away. As Joe Louis said, “You can run but you can’t hide.” But I’m going to try anyway.
We know that some time, some day we will get hit again. We just don’t know when, where or how hard. We also don’t know how this will make us feel or what we will want to do. All the pundits in the world cannot accurately predict whether when hit we will do what Spain did and retreat, withdraw and all but apologize or if we will more resemble England and keep going about our business.
Will we run towards the anti-war movement believing that neither Iraq nor homeland security has made us safer or will be go into full battle mode and look for some place to bomb?
I don’t know the answer. I do know that the chatter level is high and the 4th of July is an attractive and iconic moment. We will not be biking across the Golden Gate on Wednesday.
Fellow Bloggers,
There are some books so pertinent to our times, they have an inexhaustible shelf-life. Such is Brigitte Gabriel’s "Because They Hate". (I know, I know, it’s been on the shelves for a year, but I only just discovered it.) Like “The Diary of Anne Frank”, Gabriel’s story is a must read and even a re-read to any Christian enabler who “didn’t get it” the first time (September 11th).
Gabriel’s memoirs convince the reader that Islam (not just “terrorism”) is hell-bent to overtake and oppress the world. Realization dawns that Brigitte’s beloved Beirut of her childhood was like the “Paris” of the Middle East only a few decades ago -- until Hezbollah gained the population majority in Lebanon. One begins to understand that Osama Bin Laden is only one Muslim but he, like all the others, is father to a huge number of children (22 of them, with 4 wives). Muslims are the fastest growing population globally, most apparent in Italy, where Islam is now the second religion behind Catholicism.
Heed a Lebanese Arab-Christian’s cautionary tale to alert -- to mobilize. Our God-given liberties are at risk -- to be stolen away just like Brigitte’s were, quietly and quickly, before she fully comprehended the threat and was able to fight back. Gabriel’s warning must be trumpeted to every freedom-loving individual around the world.
Dr. Tanya Hazelton
eagle7haz@aol.com
Adultery is still adultery, and it affects more than just the husband and wife. If there were problems in the Mayor's marriage, then they should have either taken steps to resolve those problems or just divorce. It shows a lack of class on both the Mayor and Ms. Salinas's part to carry on while His Honor is still legally married. Even if he politically weathers this scandal, he will never live down being known as "Mayor Romeo Antonio."