In case you’re wondering why this place is so relatively quiet. I arrive in Taipei on Monday at 5.30 a.m. and I’m guessing I won’t be in the mood for serious blogging for at least another couple of days. In the meantime, this post sure got me thinking about our terror threat du jour. Was it in response to Lieberman? I’d need a lot more evidence before saying that. But I’ve seen us go insane so many times now, furiously spinning our wheels in concert over the latest breaking threat, and then it all dissolves shortly afterward – after Gonzales or Ashcroft and Bush milk it dry, re-instilling the fear that keeps many convinced Bush must remain in power. (Hey, what else do they have to run on?) Maybe this time it’s different, and we always have to have our guard up. But I can’t help noticing how the game thus far has always been the same, from the dirty bombers and the Lackawana 9 (?-I forget the number) to that awful plot to bomb NYC’s tunnels – all a lot of hot air fueled by hysteria that can be sourced directly to Dick Cheney and the Gang. And the timing is always extraordinary. Meanwhile, I’ll have to leave the toothpaste in the checked baggage this trip, a reminder of how our Homeland Security titans are keeping all of us safe.

Every time I hear the latest fear-inducing hype, my mind keeps going back to that report, Bin Laden determined to attack inside the US, and how Bush went on vacation. The one time we had advance notice of a threat that we really could have prevented, and the president made a snide remark and ignored it.

Okay, now back to my own vacation. There’s a lot of brush I’ve gotta clear.

Update: Oy. Here we go, with accusations the French-like Democrats want to run away while the masculine Republicans will keep us all safe:

US President George W. Bush seized on a foiled London airline bomb plot to hammer unnamed critics he accused of having all but forgotten the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Weighed down by the unpopular war in Iraq, Bush and his aides have tried to shift the national political debate from that conflict to the broader and more popular global war on terrorism ahead of November 7 congressional elections.

The London conspiracy is “a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation,” the president said on a day trip to Wisconsin.

“It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America,” he said. “We’ve taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously we still aren’t completely safe.”

His remarks came a day after the White House orchestrated an exceptionally aggressive campaign to tar opposition Democrats as weak on terrorism, knowing what Democrats didn’t: News of the plot could soon break.

Vice President Dick Cheney and White House spokesman Tony Snow had argued that Democrats wanted to raise what Snow called “a white flag in the war on terror,” citing as evidence the defeat of a three-term Democratic senator who backed the Iraq war in his effort to win renomination.

Yes, we know how things will be in the months ahead. The Wurlitzer has kicked into motion, and the decibel level will be eardrum-splitting as the Bushies stick to their winning formula and the only hope they have: smear the Democrats as weak, cheese-eating hippies who hate America and want to see us give in to terrorism. Only Dick Cheney can save us, just as he did in Iraq, where “the insurgency is in its last throes.”

Final update: For all the dry wit, I really do hate the bastards.