(T)errorism

I may be out of line with this quick rant, so please, gentle reader, do the right thing and let me know if I'm full of it...

Am I the only one who is confused regarding the case of Demetrius Van Crocker? I mean, given the issue, I would have imagined that every news agency would have been running constant stories about this guy. Granted, I don't watch mainstream media, but there is no way you'd miss this if it were given the airtime it deserved. This guy wanted to blow up Congress with C4 and fly a helicopter full of Sarin over African-American neighborhoods (we'll not go into the concentration camps he wants to set up for Jews).

Imagine you are with the office of Homeland Security. Imagine how you feel since you've been getting a lot of bad press and the public is starting to feel a bit oppressed? If you have a big victory to crow about, wouldn't you make sure the world knew?

Imagine you are the President. Imagine how you feel since your numbers are down, your party blames you for their staggering election losses, you have turned your nation into an Orwellian nightmare and no one really likes you. Do you think you'd try to win back some points and credibility by making it front page news that a potential terrorist was captured in a sting attempting to acquire Sarin and explosives? Would you like to try and justify the Draconian measures you've taken in some small way?

I guess the only thing stopping the above scenarios from happening is that Demetrius Crocker isn't brown or Muslim. Alas, he is white, right-wing and a racist. Mr. Crocker was convicted in April 2006 and just sentenced to 30 years last week. In the few things I've read, I didn't see the word "terrorist" anywhere. Of course, the fact that illegal wiretaps, waterboarding or "dissapearing" didn't have anything to do with the capture of this guy doesn't help either. This was done the old fashioned way: a stool pigeon.

How is it that I didn't know about this? I think of myself as reasonably informed, but this came out of left field. I hate displaying my ignorance this way, but my outrage is overriding my ego. I don't think I am the only one who didn't hear about this. Why wasn't this guy dragged around the Capital building behind a Texas pickup truck, horns blaring, lights flashing and flags waving? If this guy's name was Muhammad or Hakeem, Fox News, CNN and the rest would be heralding the victory of the administration's Homeland Security department and current hard line on this so-called war on terror. I guess attempting to destroy the legislative body of a nation isn't considered terrorism (but carrying nail clippers onto an aircraft is). Of course when all those safeguards we've put into place for our own safety didn't really produce, you are likely a bit hesitant to toot your own horn.

We have folks rotting away in Gitmo for nothing. I guess if your particular brand of carnage is right-wing and you are white, then you are not a terrorist. It sucks when you are brown or foreign or an environmentalist.

"I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns."
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)