Thoughts on the Knicker-Bomber

I can't remember where I first heard or read the name, but "knicker-bomber" must have come from some British blogger. It rolls off the tongue rather nicely, doesn't it?

This attack should be met with derision and laughter rather than fear. Is this the best that the mighty all-evil Al Qaeda can do? The guy couldn't succeed in bringing down an airliner, but he did at least succeed in giving himself some serious burns in a very sensitive area. If he had been successful and made his way to paradise, I wonder what the 72 virgins waiting for him in paradise would think when he arrived without his junk.

There have been many calls from the right-wing fear mongers to torture this guy. His own father tried to turn him in, and even though his warnings went unheeded, do they think that he would have done so had he known his son would be tortured?

Sometimes I think that Republicans are either nuts or have serious a serious memory disorder or both. They're criticizing Obama for waiting a couple of days to make a public statement about the attempted bombing. Have they forgotten that it took Bush six days to respond back in 2002 to the Shoe Bomber? They are criticizing Obama for prosecuting the guy rather than sending him to a black site somewhere. Have they forgotten that the Shoe Bomber was tried in regular American courts and is now serving a life sentence? Have they forgotten all their cries of treason when anyone criticized Bush on any national security issue?

So now we're going spend a few more billions on full body scans for everyone. I wish someone would put this all in perspective. In the US, something like 30,000 people die every year in car accidents. Something like 20,000 people are murdered every year. 40,000 people die prematurely every year because they lack health insurance.

How many have died from terrorist attacks? Let's get real.