TWO.
Someone is playing the U.S. Government like a Stradivarius here.

This little piece of theater we've seen today was absolutely masterful. I'm kind of in awe of the logistics required to make this nation-wide action happen, and I applaud them unreservedly.

(I'm not endorsing what happened. But hear me out here.)

They crashed the first plane into the WTC just before 9:00, when workers (but not many tourists - don't want too many internationals among the casualties if you can help it) were in the building, and then about 20 minutes later, when the world's cameras are trained on the building from all sides, the next plane ponies up and takes out the other building. This much action alone is legend-worthy. To add the Pentagon to the list of successful targets is a lovely exclamation point.

And why do I get the feeling that Osama Bin Laden had nothing to do with it? I bet it was someone else with an OAG flight guide and a few friends (they apparently were armed only with box cutters and knives - how is the Star Wars Initiative gonna defend against that, I ask you?) who hit upon this master plan, and through some combination of dumb luck and excellent planning, managed to lace together a string of wide-bodied gas bombs that found their targets better than any guided missiles ever could.

The targets were clearly the totems of American might. This was a straight attack against the US as a ruling empire. To what end? Well, right now who needs an end. We'll all watch this unfold.

And the American government has responded like the logic-challenged bullies they are, by bombing the shit out of Afghanistan, and trotting General after Senator after Congressman after ex-CIA operative, proclaiming the same shite, our prayers are with the dead, we will hunt down the perpetrators, we will make America Safe Again. Out of these people's mouths, under these circumstances: what rot.

It was a brilliantly managed piece of theater. Yes, people died. I have never seen anything so massive, so heinous, so evil, so amazingly conceived. But I have to say that part of me is deeply impressed.

I'm not done with this subject. I'm actually pretty pissed. But there's more to think about. Don't turn your brain off.