"The Aspirational Level"
We are told that there have been terrorist plots in recent weeks, but that they have only reached "the aspirational level." I think it's fair for us to wonder just what this level is; after all, it could mean damn near anything.
For example, someone I know (I dare not use her name because, for all I know, she could be run in for consipiracy to commit a terrorist act) actually has worked out plans to blow up one of the bridges into the District of Columbia using the minimum amount of explosives. In fact, she was part of a group that developed plans to blow up all of the bridges into the District. This was some years ago, but I suspect that she and many of her fellow members of the group still remember and could quickly piece together their plans. While I don't know her current political beliefs, I'm fairly sure that at least some members of the group do not support the current administration. Okay. The group was a group of U.S. Army officers in the Engineer Officers Basic Course at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and the plans were developed as part of one of their assignments for the course. But, dammit, in a post-9/11 world, you can't be too careful. Besides, even if we accept that they were military officers and wouldn't do such a thing, their family members may have heard or may have seen papers or something.
My wife and some very good friends of mine are, in fact, terrorists. I know this because the former Secretary of Education announced it to the world. These friends all belong to the National Education Association. I don't know what nefarious plans they might be hatching, but I know that most of them have said things that I'm told indicate that they hate America. They've said stuff like "We shouldn't be in Iraq," and "I'm ashamed of Bush's foreign policy." They even refer to the administration's education reform as "No Child Left Untested." I don't know why they hate America or why they hate our freedom, but I know they are terrorists because a Cabinet member said so and they have said things that members of the administration say indicate that they hate America. What I want to know is why no one seems to be following them. If their hatred for America and our freedom is developing into a conspiracy, it calls for action and now. Nip it in the bud.
Hell, I'll come clean. I have actually thought that it wouldn't break my heart if Air Force One dropped out of the sky while Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Rice, and Hastert were on board. I've thought that if bird flu pandemic is really going to happen, it should start in the Cabinet Room of the White House. I've wished that Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Rice, and Hastert should go to jail along with their friend Tom DeLay. Because I am receptive to these ideas, have they reached the aspirational level? If I discussed them with others, even though we've done no more than indicating that we all thought it would be a good day when the Bush family was out of American public life for the foreseeable future, are we involved in a conspiracy? Sometimes, when I've been driving on the Beltway and seen "Report suspicious activity. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX" on the electronic signs, I've been tempted--and I have told those in the car with me that I was tempted--to call the number and report that there were people in the White House trying to destroy the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Are we going to jail?
I don't know where the line is drawn between daydreams, wishes, intentions, plans, and conspiracies. I never heard of the aspirational level until the Feds busted those seven poor souls in Florida for conspiracy. Those guys thought it might be cool to blow up some buildings, and they did ask the FBI agent who posed as an al Quaeda operative to get them some boots and a camera. That was after they got back from asking for water at the nearby church. Obviously these were dangerous guys. And it looks like this "plot to destroy the tunnels into New York City" may have been wishful thinking rather than a plan. What I do know is that this stuff started leaking to the press when Bush's approval rating went down the toilet, sort of like we used to get glowing reports of progress in Afghanistan to cover the disintegration of the economy through 2002.
What I really hope is that this country can survive long enough to remove from offices of public trust George W. Bush, any and every relative of his, and anyone who thinks that he's done a marginally adequate job.
For example, someone I know (I dare not use her name because, for all I know, she could be run in for consipiracy to commit a terrorist act) actually has worked out plans to blow up one of the bridges into the District of Columbia using the minimum amount of explosives. In fact, she was part of a group that developed plans to blow up all of the bridges into the District. This was some years ago, but I suspect that she and many of her fellow members of the group still remember and could quickly piece together their plans. While I don't know her current political beliefs, I'm fairly sure that at least some members of the group do not support the current administration. Okay. The group was a group of U.S. Army officers in the Engineer Officers Basic Course at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and the plans were developed as part of one of their assignments for the course. But, dammit, in a post-9/11 world, you can't be too careful. Besides, even if we accept that they were military officers and wouldn't do such a thing, their family members may have heard or may have seen papers or something.
My wife and some very good friends of mine are, in fact, terrorists. I know this because the former Secretary of Education announced it to the world. These friends all belong to the National Education Association. I don't know what nefarious plans they might be hatching, but I know that most of them have said things that I'm told indicate that they hate America. They've said stuff like "We shouldn't be in Iraq," and "I'm ashamed of Bush's foreign policy." They even refer to the administration's education reform as "No Child Left Untested." I don't know why they hate America or why they hate our freedom, but I know they are terrorists because a Cabinet member said so and they have said things that members of the administration say indicate that they hate America. What I want to know is why no one seems to be following them. If their hatred for America and our freedom is developing into a conspiracy, it calls for action and now. Nip it in the bud.
Hell, I'll come clean. I have actually thought that it wouldn't break my heart if Air Force One dropped out of the sky while Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Rice, and Hastert were on board. I've thought that if bird flu pandemic is really going to happen, it should start in the Cabinet Room of the White House. I've wished that Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Rice, and Hastert should go to jail along with their friend Tom DeLay. Because I am receptive to these ideas, have they reached the aspirational level? If I discussed them with others, even though we've done no more than indicating that we all thought it would be a good day when the Bush family was out of American public life for the foreseeable future, are we involved in a conspiracy? Sometimes, when I've been driving on the Beltway and seen "Report suspicious activity. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX" on the electronic signs, I've been tempted--and I have told those in the car with me that I was tempted--to call the number and report that there were people in the White House trying to destroy the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Are we going to jail?
I don't know where the line is drawn between daydreams, wishes, intentions, plans, and conspiracies. I never heard of the aspirational level until the Feds busted those seven poor souls in Florida for conspiracy. Those guys thought it might be cool to blow up some buildings, and they did ask the FBI agent who posed as an al Quaeda operative to get them some boots and a camera. That was after they got back from asking for water at the nearby church. Obviously these were dangerous guys. And it looks like this "plot to destroy the tunnels into New York City" may have been wishful thinking rather than a plan. What I do know is that this stuff started leaking to the press when Bush's approval rating went down the toilet, sort of like we used to get glowing reports of progress in Afghanistan to cover the disintegration of the economy through 2002.
What I really hope is that this country can survive long enough to remove from offices of public trust George W. Bush, any and every relative of his, and anyone who thinks that he's done a marginally adequate job.
posted by amsterdr at 4:40 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with you. I'm not american but i think it is important to make the divide between neocons and the rest. Also, your piece, although written in a somewhat propagandistic style, reminds everybody what a crocked adminstration runs America and dictates policy on the World.
To bad you only got the East and West Coasts to fight it...
Salutations from Portugal.
Hi, Vanessa,
Thanks for providing my first comment. I'd love to write one for your blog, but I don't know Portugese. I teach English at a community college (montgomerycollege.edu), and I often have trouble getting my students to understand that what they write exists outside of the immediate context. In the fall semester, I'll be pointing out that the blog that I thought was read by no one but my wife (and maybe the FBI?) actually was being read in Portugal and perhaps elsewhere.
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