Cape Karen
Yesterday was my first-born son's 44th birthday, and he is touring Germany with his wife and three children. They seem to be having a great time, having done a house-swap to get there. They said that the German family they swapped homes with were very nice, and that their house in Bavaria is pretty and large; so all has gone well! Too bad it is the hottest summer ~ ever ~ for the family arriving in MN. The day they arrived here, there was a heat index in Minneapolis of 114º- and the house is not air-conditioned. Fortunately, it's cooled down a bit now. (I hear Germans don't like hot weather.)
It would have been the birthday and the German holiday that occupied my mind and my blog yesterday, as I am following them through Germany viá the internet. . . but. . . then I heard the morning news. O' good grief! Another plot to blow up airplanes - this time heading from London to the US - fortunately foiled by British police. So far, 24 terrorists have been captured - and who knows how many more there are, or where they are? This is surely not the end of such planned events.
That our transportation systems, and especially our airports, are still very vulnerable, five years after 9-11, is a sad and scary fact. 'Agents' were able to carry-on all sorts of dangerous items at our major (and many of our minor) airports, without any delay or detection, as early as last week. (Go airport and Homeland Security!) Now, all these innocent folks, traveling by plane, have to throw-out all their liquids, makeup and toiletries - for what? Like that little old lady is going to get on board and make a bomb out of her tube of gloss lipstick? Like the teenager with the gel-spiked hair is going to blow up the plane with his jar of hair gel and his iPod? I think they just go a little crazy after these threats. Better to err of the side of caution, sure ~ but, why not also use some good, old-fashioned common sense? (I wonder what they did with all those thousands of pairs of sewing scissors they confiscated a while back? Maybe they're selling them on e-Bay?)
It seems to me that 'we the public' do need to start noticing people wherever we go. Sad, but true. We certainly can't count on our 'agencies' to do it. Becoming "paranoid en masse" might end up being the only way we can hope to prevent or stop future terrorist activities. If all our eyes were watching for 'suspicious behavior' maybe it would help. We might at least be able to feel a little more secure in our immediate surroundings. The truth is, there is no sure way to stop this nonsense - if they want to breach our security, then they will find plenty of ways to do it. We just can't live our lives as if everything and everyone is a threat.
It's a shame we don't have a domestic spying network in this country, like Britain does; and I think this recent event shows that it is high time we did. They are doing a far better job, regarding intelligence gathering, than we are. Here in the US, such protections will have to be implemented by citizen action groups - people like you and me - because waiting for our government to get its act together, to protect us from anything, is ridiculous - they've proven that over and over already - it just 'ain't gonna' happen.
So, all you traveler's on subways, trains, buses, railways, waterways and airplanes - and all you Mall strollers, please, keep your eyes and ears open, and stay on alert. Bring attention to anything you see or hear that seems somehow 'off.' The fanatics aren't done yet - for sure they have alternative plans already in the works - somewhere. As President Bush put it, "being vigilant" surely can't hurt these days.
Now, having gotten all that off my chest ~ back to being 'on holiday in Germany viá the internet.'
(I guess they'll just have to drink all that German ein dunkles and wein they were going to bring home. . . before they get to the airport to board their international flight. No way would I throw that good stuff into a dumpster at the airport! )
Auf Wiedersehen!