Orange alert: no rhyming for the duration

So Tom Ridge raised the alert color, displaying a naive belief that it still works to the administration’s advantage to scare the American people because they have such faith in the Bushies’ competence on security matters. (By the way, I’ve noticed that John Kerry now uses the abominable phrase "homeland" security). According to the WaPo, the orange alert is because documents found in that suspiciously timed raid in Pakistan revealed this stunner: "The information that emerged confirmed that al Qaeda continues to plan operations and conduct surveillance against targets inside the United States." Gosh, and I thought they’d all retired to Florida.

If you’re looking for a conspiracy theory about this that doesn’t involve the election, you can read one between the lines of another WaPo story, by Walter Pincus, who I believe is the guy who usually writes whatever the CIA wants him to. Pincus’s story spells out the lesson you’re supposed to draw from this little morality shadow play right in the headline: "Agencies Shared Intelligence That Led to New Alert." So there is no need for a reorganization which would shift power away from the entrenched intel bureaucracy.

Happily, this threat, if real, just targets the financial sector. Remember: if they don’t go on cheating little old ladies out of their pensions and making sure Fortune 500 companies pay no corporate income taxes, the terrorists win.