What is not terrorism?

Oh, that week earlier this year when the cable news networks had "the vapahs" over the Florida "Al Qaeda Cell" that was going to attack Chicago. After all one of them had once been there, and they had...OMG a map! Engage Drudge-o-Matic 3000:

WEEZ ALL COULDA DIED!!!

...developing

Well after a solid week of over-emoting, and a slight bump in the ol' Chimp's approval ratings, the whole thing started to smell. And you could tell right, because after devoting 55 minutes out of every hour to this "dastardly plot" for a week, the cable talking heads gave the inconsistencies 15 seconds at the bottom of ever other hour in week two of the now non-crisis.

And it gets all better now, months later.

But court records released since then suggest that what Gonzales described as a "deadly plot" was virtually the pipe dream of a few disgruntled men with almost no ability to pull it off on their own. The suspects have raised questions in court about the FBI informants' role in keeping the plan alive...

...lawyers for the defendants have raised questions about where a government sting ends and entrapment begins. Not only did government informants provide money and a meeting place for Batiste and his followers, but they also gave them video cameras to conduct surveillance, as well as cellphones, and suggested that their first target be a Miami FBI office, court records show.

At the hearing, Batiste's attorney, John Wylie, showed that the FBI's investigation found no evidence that his client had ever met with any real terrorist, received e-mails or wire transfers from the Middle East, possessed any al-Qaeda literature, or had even a picture of bin Laden.

So basically, the Bush Administration is, SURPRISE, following the convenience plan of fighting the war on terror. Select and gather a group of psychologically impaired folks (maybe scan our nation's parole listings or social security disability rolls), provide them with some cash, and lead them into some sort of bizarre-ass scheme. Then, when you need 'em, you bust 'em. HOW CONVENIENT! The heads will eat it up.

Hooray for us, we are winning the manufactured war on rationality!