Monday, January 04, 2010

Al-Qaeda in Nevada

Uh-oh, insurgents are active on the "home front":
A gunman in a black trench coat opened fire Monday morning in the lobby of the Federal Courthouse in downtown Las Vegas, killing a court security officer and wounding a deputy United States marshal before fleeing. He was then shot in the head and killed nearby.

[ ... ]

There was no immediate word on the identity of the suspect, or whether the shooting was a random act of violence, a vendetta or something else. There was also no initial indication that terrorism was involved.
Ah, come on, security appartus, don't be coy. How long are you going to make us wait to find out that the shadowy terror-gunman is an Iranian, fresh from training in a camp in Yemen, and that his wallet was full of business cards identifying him as Jihadi-in-Chief of Al-Qaeda in Nevada? C'mon, tell us the straight story. We're tough, we can take it. We understand very well that our complete and absolute security requires that we show our papers whenever we're within 1000 meters of government property (which means anywhere in the U.S., pretty much). We're ready to voluntarily install surveillance video cameras in every room of our houses. Just give the word. We'll put the antenna flags and yellow-ribbon magnets on our cars anew, to show support for fresh invasions of Iran and Yemen and whomever else is vexing the Israelis this week. Command us, O Leaders!

And then, at the bottom of the story, evidence of how slow a news day it must be at the Times:
The courthouse — with its giant articulated column and circular atrium entrance shaded by a canopy in line with the roof — is architecturally significant, having received a citation for design excellence from the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Architecture for Justice.

“The design makes a bold statement in the scale of the canopy, monumental column and stairs at the building entry,” the committee said. “The scale and detailing of these elements serve to establish a signature identity for the courthouse.”
Ah, yes, just as the "scale and detailing" of Versailles served to establish the identity of the Sun King. Aren't you tickled that you're privileged to be taxed to pay for these bold statements on behalf of your supervisors? I know I am.

1 comment:

DPirate said...

Yes, it is telling that the spokesman insists that it was "not a terrorist act", when quite obviously it was an act of terrorism, even if one is obliged to tack 'political' onto or within the word terrorism.

Why? Because Americans cannot be terrorists, of course, simply by definition of being an American. Witness Clinton's dismay in Pakistan when the people insisted that our destroying wedding parties by remote control from Maryland and California was and remains terrorism.

It is quite absurd and would be surreal to anyone who hadn't grown up watching American propaganda on the nightly news, but seems just ridiculously blase to me now to see our leaders declare our actions against AlQaeda and others to be actions of war, on the one hand, and yet reciprocal action by them to be not afforded the same status. Of course, rebels against the status quo have ever been relegated to subhuman status.