Terror's Foils

Good Morning. A busy few items.

• Fear and terror, anyone? The homeland authorities in London and Washington are falling over themselves with a mixture of self-congratulation and heightened fear-peddling in the aftermath of the foiled plot, or alleged plot, to blast several airliners out of the Transatlantic sky. Pierre has his doubts about the victory: foiled or not, as long as fear predominates, terrorism is still the victor--without lighting one fuse. See When Terror Is the Foil...
  

• Remember the Marines' landing in Beirut in 1958, to save the government from a supposed overthrow? Candide's Notebooks contributor Sam Conant was an 18-year-old Marine then, and he was there. He remembers it in Eyewitness to Bikinis...
  

• Our Matanzas Heritage: In Spanish, "Matanzas" means "massacre." It's a common place-name in Florida (a high school by that name just opened locally), for good reason: the place was founded in the blood of religious wars' massacres imported from Old Europe. Candide's Notebooks contributor Bill Hall argues that "Any ethical distinctions separating today’s Mullahs, Rabbis and Christian clergy from the outrages of our own history is illusory as we remain the world’s leading maker of war and the weapons of war." See Their Mullahs, Our Matanzas Heritage...
  

• Candide's Recommendations have been particularly busy, all here and here...

Thank you for the readership. Remember to spread the word when you can: Candide's Notebooks depends on it. Have a good weekend.pt