Wow, this is a surprise, coming right in the middle of the Prosecutor Purge scandal, the Libby fallout, the Plame hearing.. (/sarcasm)
FBI: Extremists seek school bus work
Wow, you mean the government, and an arm of DoJ at that, is trying to scare the pants off people? Right when things look bad for the administration? But wait, should we be scared or not?
The answer after the jump....
Note how the quotes conflict with the point of the announcement.
WASHINGTON - Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said, "Parents and children have nothing to fear."
Asked about the alert notice, the FBI's Rich Kolko said, "There are no threats, no plots and no history leading us to believe there is any reason for concern," although law enforcement agencies around the country were asked to watch out for kids' safety.
Ok, so they say not to worry, there's nothing to fear. Then why make the announcement? Should it be pro forma that school bus drivers get background checks? Is there any reason to believe that like the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessions announced yesterday that this is nothing but a cheap ploy to try and knock Gonzo, Plame and Libby off the front page?
I guess we can take some measure of comfort that it seems not to be working - though it was announced Friday, as of Saturday morning there are no mentions of it on the major news org websites. If only Ashcroft and Ridge were around to do a major news conference.