How absolutely ridiculous!

The Republicans are trying to claim credit for foiling the bomb plot to bring down planes flying from England to the United States and the Democrats are asking questions about how much the president knew and when and charging the Republicans with playing politics.

Thank you, Brits. Ya’ll caught, uncovered the plot and arrested the plotters.

I couldn’t be more angry about all of this, not just the terror plot, but the politicians maneuvering to cast blame and claim credit. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats deserve any credit here. Bluntly, both parties deserve only contempt for their reactions to this plot.

A plot to bomb planes flying from Britain to the United States was uncovered — by the British. After several weeks of investigation, the British informed us over this past weekend. His incompetentness, Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, comes out and tells us all about it, and tells us that once again we are going to have to put up with a lot of hassle at the airport.

President George W. Bush comes out and talks about how this is all part of his war against terror and refers to the terrorists plotting the attack as Fascists. Fascism is an insane and failed philosophy of government. Terrorism is more about chaos and anarchy.

The Democrats come out and complain the Republicans are trying to play politics with the terror plot. Actually, it is quite obvious that both parties are trying to play politics with a plot to kill thousands

The British say relatively little. Yet, it was their cops, their spies, that uncovered the plot and told us about it, yet our politicians from both parties try to claim some sort of credit. A pox on both houses!

Again, thank you, Brits, for uncovering the plot and sharing the information with us. I don’t know why our politicians have to swagger and try to claim credit.

In one respect, the terrorists have succeeded in terrorizing us once again, even though their plot to kill thousands appears to have failed, at least this time. Many people now may be afraid to fly and those that do will be hassled by airport security, making their trip more difficult and more unpleasant.

Some of the hassles at the airport obviously are necessary to prevent terrorists carrying bombs, or the materials for making them, from getting on to airplanes, but once again we most likely have over reacted to the threat. Sometime months from now common sense will reassert itself.

I wonder what the next plot will involve. You don’t suppose the terrorists could find a way to make ordinary clothes explode, do you? I guess then we would have have to arrive at the airport naked.

In the meantime, I guess we will have to pack our toiletries in our checked luggage. Given the airlines ability to misplace and lose luggage, that really worries me. Like many people, Genie and I like to put our toiletries and a spare set of clothes in carry-on bags in case of that eventuality. I guess that is out for the foreseeable future.

Now when the airlines lose our luggage I guess we will have to buy more than just clean clothes to go on our backs.

Somehow, I suspect the airport security soon will go back to disallowing fingernail clippers and other such objects from being carried. As someone who began carrying a pocket knife at the age of 5, I already feel naked every time I travel by air. I have to remember to put my pocket knife in the suitcase I’m checking to go in the baggage hold, and remembering that really isn’t easy.

Traveling by air was getting to be a real hassle even before the events of Sept. 11, 2001. I take that back, not getting to be a real hassle, it was a real hassle, just getting steadily worse.

Now, because of a bunch of idiots who can’t seem to understand that we all do better when we try to get along, we live with a little tickle of fear every time we travel. I don’t know what it will take to get these people to understand that we don’t have to kill each other, but somebody needs to find out. We also need to learn the same lesson.

The trouble is, mass murder seems to be the way of the world today. Look at all the fighting going on in Iraq, in Lebanon and in other places around the world. The old policy of mutually assured destruction from the days of the Cold War seems to be happening, only in parts and pieces at a time rather than all in one big atomic blast.

We outlasted the Soviets. Can we outlast the terrorists? I doubt it. They have always been with us in one form or another. Look back through history. Pirates were terrorists who preyed on travelers of an earlier era.

Look at the anarchists that flourished prior to World War I. Then there were the various terrorist groups that grew up in the Cold War.

What’s that old saw, “If it’s not one thing, it’s another?” I guess we’re in the middle of one of the “anothers,” and a bunch of politicians want to play politics with it. Now that’s a real terror plot and we all are the victims.