Letter Bombs: It's All Greek To Me, Election Results: Colorado's Shards Of Sanity

Maureen Dowd
Mit Romney
Evan Bayh

"Government is a greater threat to America in 2010 than China was in 1972. Government is smothering the pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit that propelled our economy past those of older, larger nations. Ever higher taxes on small and big business, layers of red tape, onerous labor regulations, and punitive bureaucrats and lawsuits are suffocating U.S. economic vitality." - Mit Romney

"God help the Republic. And, Mr. Speaker, in the immortal words of Sharron Angle, man up!" - Maureen Dowd

So, how did you like the election results? I have mixed emotions, but generally, a sense of relief that the major wackos didn't get elected, which restored my faith in the common sense of the electorate. The carpet-bagging candidates who seemed to buy their way into politics failed miserably, which made me happy. Linda McMahon proved that governing is NOT like pro wrestling, Meg Whitman, who put over $184 million of her own into her campaign, lost to Jerry Brown. I think Jerry has held every office in the state of California, twice over. He's going to need as much luck as he can get, because the California state legislature is the most dysfunctional of all 50 states combined...

The one Senate race that received the most press coverage, even though the Republican fled from the press, was the Harry Reid and Sharron Angle tussle, which proved to be anti-climactic. Nary a gaffe to play with was uttered in defeat by Ms Angle. Not so the case of Ms O'Donnell, who had to conede her race, also. She hopes that her opponent listened to her and will take her beliefs and let them be known in the Senate, just not written on the men's rest room walls...

Living in Colorado, I found our races here very interesting. It was said that the wave of conservatism would wash over the state, leaving a trail of red in its wake, but that didn't really happen. Our new Governor is Democrat John Hickenlooper, who did not run any negative ads, if you can believe it. He beat out the mean and cynical Tom Tancredo, a political opportunist who left his own party and bullied his way into the tiny Constitutional Party so that he could be on the ballot as a third party candidate. There were no ads from the Constitutional Party explaining their platform, just attack ads that Tom approved himself. Besides immigration, which Tom is against, he didn't have much else to say other than if you are a conservative, ditch the Republican candidate and vote for him, maybe he'll switch back...

On the local level, the number of Democrats and Republicans elected, seemed pretty even. People voted more for the person than strictly for the Party, where you have to be more pragmatic over whom you can work with on a daily basis. My favorite district was Ramah, with a total of 18 registered voters... Michael Bennet seems to have won the Senate race by at least 15,000 votes, so there won't be an automatic recount. Buck refuses to concede the race until later on today. Of course, he doesn't have to concede at all, just slink away and drink his bitter tea...

What's up with all of the bombs this week? Yesterday, there were four letter bombs found, including one that made it to the mailroom of Germany's Prime Minister Angela Merkel. Today, five more were found, with one addressed to Nicolas Sarkozy, and the embassies of Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, bulgaria, Chile, Mexico, and Russia... Two students were arrested, officials said their goal was to create some fear and chaos before the Greek elections this Sunday, so there may be more showing up over the next couple of days. Oh, wait, one has just been found addressed to Silvio Berlusconi, time to stop the mail delivery...

In Baghdad, a series of coordinated bomb attacks went off in the most secure parts of the city, killing 63 and wounding over 285 more. Car bombs and roadside blasts were aimed at: "the huge enclave of Sadr City, a Sunni mosque, public squares, a crowded restaurant in the north corner of Baghdad, and middle-class shopping districts." If supporters of al-Alawi wanted to create the sense that al-Maliki's security forces cannot keep the capital safe, they are succeeding. If al-Qaeda just wants to prove that nobody is safe, including using Iranian made bombs to blow up an area identified with the Iranian backed Moktada al-Sadr, it, too, is working. If Syrian and Hizbollah-backed forces want to create an unsafe situation, enough where Iraq will turn to them instead of the US, well, that dove-tails in nicely with all other conspiracy theories, and I have barely scratched the surface... It probably has more to do with how lazy the police have become checking cars at check-points in the 110 degree sunlight...

The Yemenese government has begun dredging the desert sands, looking for their more "sophisticated" cargo bombers, who must be associated with the al-Qaeda menace Anwar al-Awlaki. In fact, they have started a witch hunt and trial in absentia for Mr Awlaki: "As Yemen faced increased pressure to move against Al Qaeda, prosecutors in Sana, the Yemeni capital, on Tuesday charged and immediately began a criminal trial in absentia for Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born radical cleric now in hiding and operating as a recruiter and propagandist for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.


Mr. Awlaki, 39, has not yet been tied directly to the bomb plot, but American intelligence officials believe he is playing an increasingly important role in the terrorist group’s operations.


The chief prosecutor, Ali Al-Sanea’a, called Mr. Awlaki “yesterday a regular visitor of bars and discothèques in America” but now “the catalyst for shedding the blood of foreigners and security forces,” according to a statement. He said Mr. Awlaki was a leader of Al Qaeda and “a figure prone to evil, devoid of any conscience, religion or law.”


Mr. Awlaki was charged along with his cousin Othman al-Awlaki, who is also at large, and Hesham Mohammed Asem, who was present in court, with “forming an armed group to carry out criminal acts targeting foreigners” as part of Al Qaeda. Mr. Asem, 19, a security guard, is accused of shooting to death a French engineer on Oct. 6 in the Sana headquarters of the Austrian oil company OMV." OK, I know that this guy has been making cd's and tapes against the US, but last time I checked we guaranteed the right to free speech, even if we disagreed with the message. The only reason he became pissed off at the US was after we arrested him and put him a Yemeni jail back in 2003, I think the year was. I have only spent a few days in a Colorado jail, and that experience was enough to sour me on the competence of law officers in my home town. If I was put in a foreign jail for no damned reason, it would make me not trust my own government afterwards... So, in a way, I feel sorry for the guy, who is being blatantly set up by our government as being a bogeyman, poisoning the minds of innocent people and turning them against their country to serve his evil plans.

In the meantime we have companies of mercenaries getting away with murdering Iraqi and Afghans because they can ignore all rules of war, and we have soldiers so addicted to the adrenaline rush of being in danger for 24/7, that they burn themselves out re-enlisting for tours of duty. When they come back home, they are so jacked up that all they can do is think of suicide, when the rainbow is not enuf...