Political Clout Generator Dormant Since Election

Is it just me or has terrorist activity against America been heightened lately? Someone attempted to throw a bomb at the President when he was in Georgia. The British Embassy was bombed on the morning of the British elections. Other false alarms include the evacuation of the White House and Capital yesterday and the diversion of a plane from Boston today.

So why is nobody scared? Perhaps it is because the “terror alert level” is at the same color as it has been since the election. The President was accused, pre-election, of changing the terror alert level in order to increase his approval rating. This was hotly contested, although the correlation between the two is clearly documented. The correlation is probably stronger than the correlation between the alert level and actual terrorist activity, particularly in light of its perpetually yellow status since November 10, 2004.

Despite elevated activity, the level stays the same, proving that the alert level’s function is not to warn us, but to frighten us.