Michael and I had tapas tonight with Mom-in-Law. It was a nice end to a long hot day. The thermostat outside registered a high of 119 degrees. The weather reports put the high temp in the area between 107 and 110. The tree we planted earlier this summer is dead, even with Michael’s green thumb and TLC. But, if we are to believe the government, we shouldn’t care about the environment. Not scary enough, I guess.

Fear is in the air today. There was an endless parade of press conferences, each superficially intended to celebrate the aversion of the British terror plot. However, the message was clear: BE AFRAID. ONLY WE CAN SAVE YOU. AL QAEDA. TERROR.
The television is on in the background. I hear the announcer for Primetime tell me that tonight’s topic is “Target: America,” complete with a bullseye graphic pointing towards the flag. The subtitle is “Was the big one foiled?” Of course the big one wasn’t foiled. Each attack will be bigger, and different, and unexpected and more terrifying. That is the point of terrorism, isn’t it? And the government and the media will play it up. They play it up for control, they play it up for ratings, they play it up to make us afraid to question them.

These people are willing to blow themselves up to kill us and scare the shit out of us and they are willing to use Gatorade bottles and disposable Kodak cameras to do it. At least corporate branding overcomes religious zealotry! Score one for capitalism.

Cheney said yesterday that he was afraid that the Lamont win would be a boost to Al Qaeda, showing that America was losing resolve. The truth is, we have lost resolve. But the resolve we had was based on lies, lies that tricked this nation of followers into supporting a war that had no connection to terror. That is no boost to any terrorist group. That is a boost to the poor people of Iraq that we have maimed, killed, and thrown into civil war. We bomb and invade and destroy countries and civilians, a rather ineffective way of fighting terrorist cells that know no borders, no nationality. George Bush needs to throw out his Risk board game, because war is no longer fought by gaining control of a country or a continent.

Terrorism is only as effective as we allow it to be. If we live our lives in fear, afraid of that guy standing next to us with a bottle of water, the diaper bag full of breast milk hanging from the woman’s arm on the subway, of people of color wherever they may be, we lose, and they win.