"To my knowledge there was no direct threat. But there were conversations of concern."
That is what I transcribed from FOX NEWS (channel 27 in my area) just now somewhere between 9:34 and 9:37 am Tuesday, June 5, 2007. Those were the words of the police chief on the phone, awaiting a press conference to explain why the students had been herded onto the football field and then sent home. Apparently two "non-student" "intruders" had been caught inside the school, and removed, so that "two unarmed suspects are in police custody." "To my knowledge there was no direct threat. But there were conversations of concern." "We decided to send the students home to give the police complete access to the school." AHA! I said to myself:
Look at FOX use this teeny-tiny TERROR scare to distract from waiting for Libby on TV while ignoring the civil liberties violations inherent in sending everybody home so the police can search unfettered! Well let's not be too cynical, I further said. Let's look it up. They called it Upper Marion High School in King-of-Prussia Pennsylvania. Okay, Let's ask Fox News. Umm. That was important enough to distract from Libby with. Where's the story? Okay, so now I learned how to spell Merion and not punctuate King of Prussia. But what happened? Can someone from there tell us? Or is there really nothing to see here? The police chief on the phone says now "there were no threats made today at the school and they were just visiting" They are currently going through the school with canine bomb dogs, although the police chief won't comment on ANY threat to anyone, but he sounds like he wants to say it's nothing, "but we have a well reahearsed lockdown plan that took effect." Yes, these were "non-threatening", known former students "visiting," according to the chief of police but the well rehearsed flytrap snapped and now has to be undone and reset. So the rest of the students now miss more school to make up and probably had to leave their stuff in their lockers. But then maybe I'm just being cynical again because I can't tell a bomb-sniffing dog from a drug-sniffing one just by looking at it.
Anyway, I was waiting for a real conversation of concernto be covered, so I stuck with them. 9:41 They must be just killing time here, unless I missed a story recently (Fox anchoress said 5 years ago for this one) with their headline How has R. Kelly avoided child porn charges for so long?, which I'm providing the CNN link for since although it's headline news on the boob tube, it ain't right there front and center on the Fox intertube.
So what? Why am I attempting to live-blog Fox News?
Just Because You Asked: "Whatever happened to Tiananmen Square Guy?" (and by the way, there's video of the kidnapping of the white girl...) I am posting this here in hopes that there are still some people alive who do remember what did happen that day, and others who know how to fish The Memory Hole, because, after reporting various rumors and speculations, (but never showing the entire video clip from the live footage, only chunks) someone named Hemmer (hemmer @ FoxNews.com) has definitively stated "Tiananmen Square Guy is down the memory hole. He is gone." SO I went to their "Just Because You Asked Page" but it wasn't there on the list at the time so I couldn't find out how it ended...Seems like a challenge to set him straight, which it seems we owe to the poor guy who expected a lot more US support, like the Iraqis in the post gulf war who wereslaughtered by Saddam's army when American troops were ordered to stop all military action in Iraq in March 1991.
So meanwhile why was I watching America's Newsroom this morning? (I mean besides admiring the anchorwoman's jewelry long enough to point it out to my hubby.) Because they were advertising all morning that they were planning to cover the Libby sentencing. Meanwhile, we've covered the safety of your kids at school(be afraid); the safety of your kids on the net (child porn! be very afraid!); video of a missing white girl (OMG!!!) [note: of course it's life and death to the ones involved, but I just can't help wondering how many people, of ALL colors, didn't come home last night either, for myriad reasons.] What else is there to worry about? TERROR. It's 9:47 Getting there, now I'm getting worried: "What's your dog thinking? You might be surprised!" But- but there's no story to link that one either. Good thing we have CNN to report, so Fox can discuss it. I wonder what Gravel would do if he had a German Shepherd... OOps, strike that. Brain turning to mush from all this drivel. Must think of pooties or something instead. I remember: It's Pootie-poot again! ("I call him Vladimir" [now- now that he's seen deep into my heart and knows that when I say The Cold War is over I mean it's because I'm working on World War IV.]) Nevermind. The President is in Prague, Fox News is in King of Prussia, and I can't wait all day guys. And I know there have been some big diaries here about the Nexus of Politics and Terror (although I can't seem to make them pop out of the dkos search engine- feel free to help link!) I will therefore pronounce some sentences myself:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
LIBBY IS "NOT GUILTY"
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. There it is. Thirty months and a huge amount of money. Well, Scooter, life's a beach: next time try to do the right thing and not stick your head in the toxic sand.
Update: after taking that walk and reflecting, I think it's only fair to give credit where it's due. The Fox News TV story of the intruders at school that began this diary was, itself, well done. The reporter who pressed the police chief on the phone to pin him down to the specific level of non-threat was not fear-mongering. Indeed, he tried very hard to get the chief to admit it was a mountain built of a molehill. He asked everything I could think of. At that point I began to think it was not a Fox Terror Exclusive, so I scanned around the channels to see if anyone else had a comparable story. No one did, so I settled back on Fox to wait for Libby there. Then I got sick of the baloney they were feeding viewers while they were captive, awaiting the real meat. Thus a diary was born. So I was not objecting to the initial story: Fox News had the scoop. It's just where they went after that I couldn't stand to go. But walking it off reminded me of what the media was all about just before we got into this unspeakable war. And so, a poll.