Must be an election year

2005 was so nice. No terror warnings. No hysterical news coverage of false alarms. No "unless you you keep us in office the terrorists will win" speeches. But that was then this is now.

Yesterday, CNN had BREAKING NEWS on their website and cable t.v. covered the story that a U.S. Senate office building was evacuated after a sensor detected the presence of a possible nerve agent! Holy moly! Nerve gas?! In the nation's capital? Holy..Oh wait, false alarm. Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said she couldn't say whether it was powder, gas or liquid that was detected. It was more like "something in the air" in the building's attic. She added that a cleaning solvent could have falsely set off the sensor in the attic, which is used primarily as storage space. Good thing all those billions for homeland security are being spent to detect a whiff of Lysol.

Interesting how nerve gas was the fasle alarm since 20 canisters of nerve gas on Fox's (yes that Fox as in news) "24" are in the hands of terrorists in the U.S. The president's chief of staff was arrested claiming to be a patriot while he helped the terrorists and then hung himself in the only act of personal responsibility seen in politics since LBJ voluntarily withdrew from the 1968 election. Again I'm talking about the fictional show "24" not reality but it's getting harder and harder to tell them apart since Cheney's chief of staff was indicted. I'd say put him on suicide watch but there is no chance "Scooter" would take personal responsibility for, well, exactly what he did which was out a CIA operative. After his pardon he'll sue for back pay and write a book. And that's just what Roger Ailes and Karl Rove want. Blur reality then replace it with your own narrative.

Today W continues with the "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" strategy telling us that al-Qaeda planned to crash planes into LA after 9/11 and the U.S. disrupted those plans. Now I don't know what the truth of this story is but I'm willing to bet it's certainly not what W is saying. If there is anything you should have learned in the last five years is that this administration doesn't tell the truth. And in fact that is their goal. Create a reality of their choosing - fear. Fear, for lack of a better word is good. Fear is right. Fear works. Fear clarifies and cuts through and captures the essence of this administration. Apologies to Gordon Gekko.

So they are starting early this time and you can count on more breaking news and terror warnings and leaks of plots and claims of disruption of plans. None of which will really be based on any actual solid actionable intelligence. It's just the PR of fear they will ride to election day.