Jihadists Done Messed With the Wrong Mayoress's Hometown

At first, I was like - wha? Thwarted terror plot in Portland?  That's not cool, jihadists.  Not cool.  Portland is maj amazing, as anyone who knows me knows I know.  Please redirect your anger at Houston or Butte.

Then I read the front page coverage in the NY Times and was more like,

This m*****f***** went to my high school?!?!

And worst of all, while my baby brother was there.  In other words, while this kid was indoctrinating himself with jihadist propoganda, he was going to school each day seeing faces of people he thought should be dead including my own brother and other people I personally know and love.  And then, a few years later acted on a plot to kill thousands of people in my hometown.  This kid grew up a few miles from where I did.  His parents probably shop at the same grocery store as my mom.  Our paths have undoubtedly crossed.



This hit me in a completely different way than 9/11.  It makes me angrier.  More incredulous.  I suppose because I know exactly how and where this kid grew up.  I know who and what he saw each day.  I am so infinitely grateful for where I grew up, I can't fathom hating it, let alone the people there.

And on some level I could see the towers as a symbol of things that are not-so-great about America.  And no, I didn't have a personal relationship with those who died that day.  But even though I was here on 9/11, this attempt, even though everyone is fine and nothing happened, felt far more personal.

Alright, clearly I'm in no place to construct a coherent thought about all of this, or terrorism or homeland security or law enforcement etc., so here's an interesting post from Portland's Donald Miller, an author I like because he wrote the book that beautifully and compassionately explains the problems with contemporary Christianity (but should not become a film, sorry, it shouldn't), and also he's photogenic and attends the only church I think gets what the whole point of what Jesus was about.  Anyway, as usual, he breaks it down with enough class to make me overlook his flagrant disregard for appropriately-placed apostrophes*:

I’ve not talked about Islam or terrorism on this site at all. But reading about the young man, and hearing the talking heads discuss the threat on the internet has me wondering what we are really up against. Is it Islam? I don’t think it is. I think it’s extremism. And extremism takes many shapes and forms. For instance, the Mosque in Corvallis, Oregon where the young man worshiped was burned by arsonists two days later, but this was not called terrorism, it was called arson. And a middle-aged white man, angry about high taxes gassed up his plane and flew it into an IRS building in Austin, Texas last year, but the news was quick to report that this was was not a terrorist attack. Really? Sure looked like one to me. Why weren’t tons of middle-aged white guys who have small planes and listen to Glenn Beck sent to Cuba for water boarding?


LOL!  Send them all there, Miller, send them all there.


*come on people.  it's means it is.  its is possessive.  please print this on my gravestone, i can't get through to anyone.  (climbs back on pedestal)