Pilot's Log

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/philadelphia-airport-closed-after-rogue-vehicle-drives-on-runway-police-chase-ensues/

Not the first time something like this has happened. In fact, this was fodder for a commercial for replacement windshield wiper blades a long time ago.

For some years, my thinking was that if I were a terrorist, I'd probably get my gang to ram-raid into the airport perimeter near the terminal after the last departure of the night, so I could steal one of the freshly-refueled jets parked for the early morning flights. Airport police departments are usually at their weakest at that time and could easily be overwhelmed by just a few gunmen.

I don't think I'm saying anything that would actually compromise secrets...and in fact I hope that the justice establishment in this nation has already thought about this.

...The President will suffer a very violent death of his own before this month is over, and probably not alone when it happens.

And to throw a Rasputinesque twist to this prediction: if a foreign terrorist kills him the United States will last forever; if an American murders him the United States will die with him.

The other day, I sorta repeated my mistake on Facebook. I said "it looked like Kyrgyzstan was one Ayatollah from joining the War Against America" and was promptly rewarded with...offers to become FatwaPilot. People with names I couldn't pronounce with links to pages written in Arabic wanted to Friend me all of a sudden. Which means I have to backtrack, again.

I said what I said because I remember how it seemed to happen in Iran, and how what happened in Iran in 1978~'79 seemed to parallel what is going on right now in Kyrgyzstan. The Iranian Revolution, by accounts of the time, started mainly by students wanting modern liberties and societal improvements for their nation...and their voices where shoved aside by Khomeini's Mullahs and their true believers. I think all it would take for Kyrgyzstan to go the same way is a leader with the same charisma and force of personality. And then woe betide all those Americans at Manas AB--they'll be POWs for a year and a half.

On Bill Moyers' show tonight, there was a guest on who said that the American military officer corps had abandoned the idea that military victories are in our national interest, which of course, is a suspect thing when we are fighting 3.5 wars and doing it without much popular support.

America hasn't been more than 50% good to me over the course of my life. It's been pretty horrible to me, especially of late. But I'm not going to go around blowing up buildings, shooting people, taking hostages, and so on. Been there, done that. Terrorism is ultimately boring and painful to the participants. I realize, though, that the Enemy of "My" Enemy is still My Enemy...because I don't know if America can be on MY side. I'm not sure I know who America is anymore.

$85.

The price you can pay a teenage boy to strap on an explosive vest and blow himself up in Bagdad.

It's probably CHEAPER in Afganistan.

*Hears about a teenage boy being killed by a Knoxville resident during an attempted home-invasion over the radio news*

Life is cheap.

PS: Later today I heard the sports anchorman on the local news report on the massive salaries of the Manning brothers (star players for two of the top football teams in America) and I thought to myself "These guys could hire all the potential suicide bombers in the Middle East between them. And then we'd have no War On Terror." It's always been Rich Man's War, Poor Boys' Fight!

MSN Article on Indian Navy Strike.

One pirate flagship down; how many more out in those waters?