Parrothead Jeff

Lots of stuff in this crazy world of ours has me thinking. Things like the London attempted bombings for example.

For those who live in a cave and don’t have have access to the plans for these events, two cars were found yesterday in London which were loaded with explosives (wrapped in nails) and gasoline. The devices failed to function for which I am truly thankful.

The news channels sensationalized it, as they usually do. Non stop coverage. Speculation about details such as who was responsible, what was the explosive, and why this happened abounded.

While it wasn’t really surprising, some of what popped up in blog comments (as read on the radio) really depressed me. People were promoting every possible conspiracy theory. It’s Bush’s fault. It was Bush’s idea. Bush was trying to divert attention from the failure of the immigration bill. The new British PM needed to look good.

My personal opinion is that all of the conspiracy theories are rubbish. The security camera footage (cameras are everywhere in London) has shown a good picture of one of the drivers. He was a known bad guy with previous experience according to some news sources. There may be more planned, but we just don’t know yet.

The plot, the media coverage, the online response all got me thinking.

What if they had succeeded in London? What if this had succeeded in the U.S.? How far are we willing to go to eradicate the threat? What will citizens in the U.K. and U.S. tolerate in the name of safety?

I have a bad feeling about any new restrictions. People are already fed up with the TSA at the airport, so how much farther can security be pushed outside of the sterile airport setting? Will we ban cars near the places we frequent such as malls and city streets as we did in front of the White House?

I woiuldn’t be surprised in the least if something like random vehicle searches, but i don’t think the public would take well to such actions.

I don’t have the answers, but I’ll still be thinking about it for quite a while to come.