Democracy for Vancouver

…it’s time to scare you with trains:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amtrak will start randomly screening passengers’ carry-on bags this week in a new security push that includes officers with automatic weapons and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling platforms and trains.

The initiative, to be announced by the railroad on Tuesday, is a significant shift for Amtrak. Unlike the airlines, it has had relatively little visible increase in security since the 2001 terrorist attacks, a distinction that has enabled it to attract passengers eager to avoid airport hassles.

You think Bush might want to remind us all to BE VERY AFRAID so we all vote for his new best buddy?:

The 18 months prior to the 2004 presidential election witnessed a barrage of those ridiculous color-coded terror alerts, quashed-plot headlines and breathless press conferences from Administration officials. …[T]he timing of the alerts seemed to fall with odd regularity right on the heels of major political events. One of Department of Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge’s terror warnings came two days after John Kerry picked John Edwards as his running mate; another came three days after the end of the Democratic convention.

What did Tom Ridge say about this libelous assertion that terror alerts were politically motivated?

The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.
…
“More often than not we were the least inclined to raise it,” Ridge told reporters. “Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don’t necessarily put the country on (alert). … There were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, ‘For that?’”

I’m not sure it’s going to work this time, guys. But knock yourselves out - god knows running on the issues (or the Bush coattails) won’t help you.

Just one bit of advice, though: don’t try to make train passengers take their shoes off. You’ll have a rebellion on your hands - and a full-blown MRSA outbreak. (Have you seen the floors in most train stations?)