Currently at Bert

So, we have to pretend surprise at the following press item promoting Tom Ridge’s forthcoming book,

In a new book, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge reveals new details on politicization under President Bush, reports US News & World Report’s Paul Bedard. Among other things, Ridge admits that he was pressured to raise the terror alert to help Bush win re-election in 2004.

The terror alert alluded to was the HSAS color coordinated warning thingy designed to cause general alarm and anxiety among the hapless citizenry during times when El presidente führermeister Bushler man was falling out of favor with same. Now, this probably fooled all of the people some of the time, which was long enough for Bush to do the deed of wrecking the country over an eight-year period. Eight years is not a long time if you’re not paying attention, after all.

Now, at the time Ridge was doing the bidding of the maximum leader he claimed otherwise.

Dave Weigel, writing for the Washington Independent, notes that in the past, Ridge has denied manipulating security information for political reasons. In 2004, for example, he said, "We don’t do politics in the Department of Homeland Security."

So, I guess it’s safe to say that Ridge is a lying bastard.

There are five levels charted by HSAS. So far as I remember, the level has never gone beyond orange and never below yellow. I tend to favor the color blue, but green is good, especially if your a frog, tho, it’s not easy being green. Just ask Kermit. Anyway, I think it’s time to remove ourselves from the fetus frightening room and bring HSAS down a notch or so and have a cookie. Yum!