very simple

I know I’ve complained in the past about the vague "terror alerts" coming out of the administration, but I’m not entirely sure what to do with the new "more specific" information. For those of you living under a rock, it was announced yesterday that various financial buildings in the NY metro area were being "targeted" by terrorists. And then they went ahead and named the buildings.

(Mine wasn’t one of them, but I do work in a midtown manhattan building named for a major international financial institution, so yeah, I’m a little bugged).

The Wall Street Journal, not exactly a bastion of liberalism, had this to say this morning:

But since there is not time frame for a possible attack, and since intelligence officals admit they are unsure whether the new information is current or outdated – some of the terrorists’ reconnaissance was done before the 9/11 attacks – the move represents a bit of a gamble because it threatens to leave some potential targets more thinly secured than others while flagging for the terrorists those where security has been beefed up.

I really just don’t know what to think about it. Part of me wants as much information as possible, but part of me thinks that these announcements, made in the same breath as statements that we should still go to work in these "targetted" buildings, are a waste of time. I’d rather have not announce on international TV that we know Al-Qaeda’s going to attack this one building (giving them a massive heads up that we’re on to them) – instead, they should be spending their time trying to catch the plotters in the act instead of ensuring that they’re going to run and hide until the chatter dies down.

But I just don’t know. It’s all just so much bigger than me.

It’s still the best show on TV, but last night, Bob & Joyce, my favorite duo from The Amazing Race, got eliminated. I actually cried. I know – I’ll go shoot myself now.

The biggest problem is that now I don’t know who to root for – I’ve pretty much got my hate on for most of the other teams. Maybe I should root for the team I hate the most, because it appears to be the kiss of death?

And because it can’t be said enough, Shut up Mirna. I know it sounds like it should be impossible, but you make lawyers everywhere look bad.

Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France today. Cycling has always been one of my favorite pastimes, and I even spent three weeks cycling through France after I took the bar. But even when I did that trip in 1999, we would spend our time discussing how incredible a cyclist Armstrong was – and how the cancer, by destroying so much of his body, actually allowed him to remold himself into a better cyclist. Talk about a silver lining. I do hope he does the tour again next year. People say he shouldn’t gloat or whatever, but you know what? He’s the best athlete in the world. It’s not his job to make the others feel better by backing down. It’s like saying Tiger Woods should only play 2 masters a year, or that Cal Ripken should have only played one more game than Gehrig. I mean, if he wants to retire because he’s interested in doing something else for a while, that’s one thing. But that he should back down out of some sort of "respect"? That just shows a lack of respect for Armstrong’s stunning talent.

I saw a few things on the net starting a few days ago about this woman who had been on a flight where she became incredibly suspicious of a group of apparently middle-eastern men who were talking to each other!!, and I didn’t understand how people could take her seriously. Basically, nothing happened. Except, of course, for some pretty obvious racial profiling. Now Patrick Smith, pilot-in-residence at Salon.com gives his own thoughts on how ridiculous this whole story is.

I suppose it’s a symptom of the holiday weekend, but it seems like there’s not a lot going on. I’ve been listening to NPR all morning (and I’m already on the second airing of the morning shows), and everything seems to be a rehash of things that occurred earlier in the week. I suppose there’s this, but that’s really just a manufactured event for the fourth of July (although it should be of note that they’re laying a cornerstone for a building that’s still in dispute) At least they didn’t wait until the Republican convention – although I imagine Bloomberg encouraging the boycotting of every event that involved senators and representatives who voted against additional terrorism funding for NYC. That could have been fun. And I was sad about this, but given his recent troubles, it appears he may have gotten out just in time.

Anyway, it’s time for me to leave the cocoon of my apartment, because I can’t spend all day listening to folksy radio programming. Although Prairie Home Companion is apparently broadcasting from Tanglewood today – if I stay in, it’s almost like I went to visit my folks in the Berkshires without having to sit in traffic.

Happy Independence Day kids. Let’s all remember the values that our founding fathers held dear, particularly those incorporated into the Bill of Rights, and reaffirmed (somewhat) by the Supreme Court last week.

I disagreed with just about everything that he stood for politically, but I felt a real tinge of sadness on Saturday when I was listening to NPR and heard that President Reagan had passed away. Perhaps it’s because he was the first president that I really "remember", having been elected when I was in kindergarten. Or that, regardless of his beliefs, he always appeared to be a fairly affable guy.

It’s interesting. At 30, I understand the machinations behind the 1981 Iranian hostage release, where Reagan and his people made arrangements with the Iranians so that the hostages wouldn’t be released until after the election (and in fact, they flew home while Reagan took the oath of office – not a coincidence), thereby screwing any chance Jimmy Carter had of winning reelection, but I have this very distinct memory stuck in my head of being in kindergarten, and working incredibly hard on a crayon drawing of Reagan welcoming the hostages home. If I still had that picture, I’d put it on my bulletin board.

After all my complaining a few weeks ago that adults don’t get snow days, today, we have a snow day (It’s like being the reverse of a psychic). I have a bunch of stuff to do, so I’m still going in, but it’s kind of neat nonetheless.

Could diet coke with lime flavoring sound any more disgusting? The lemon already tastes like dish soap.

In other news, yup, it’s still absolutely freezing outside.

One would think that spending four years in Buffalo would inure me to a few days of below zero weather, but one would be wrong. I actually fear leaving my apartment.

Isn’t it nice when we actually get some news that’s just, well, nice?