He Probably Meant "Cuba"
The AP is reporting an attempted hijacking where a passenger demanded to be taken to Australia. More than likely, the plane landed at Dulles when the man gave up his attempt because he needed to use the toilets but there was already a queue. Seriously, I am very saddened to know that we are back in the age of hijackings, which I had thought were left behind 20 years ago. While the terrorism of Osama bin Laden and his ilk (and born of the PLO actions of the 1960's and '70's) are surely to blame, we also need to lay fault at the feet of Tom Ridge, John Ashcroft, and (of course) George Bush II for fomenting a culture of paranoia, exacerbating the condition of already marginal mentally ill members of society with endless escalations and de-escalations of meaningless alert statuses. Security measures are called for, but the games this administration is playing are not meant to make anyone feel safer, only to keep us off balance so as to maintain their hold on power. God, what a hippie I sound like. Still.