Lockerbie-Flight 103: 25the anniversary observance..

[No Elephants]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LOCKERBIE_MEMORIALS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-12-21-20-07-33

Wow, time flies when you're under siege.


I checked the internet for a timeline on terrorism and what I found amazed me.

One website, which offers certification in Homeland Security (not a .gov site) puts the first terroristic event at 1700 B.C.E.---wait for iiiiiittttttt--the birth of Ishmael, son of Jewish patriarch Abraham and his wife's handmaiden (incorrectly described at the website as his maid). As all will recall, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, thought Sarah was barren. So, Sarah "kindly" tells Abraham to go ahead and impregnate her Egyptian personal servant; and he "kindly" obliges. (The wiki on Ishmael says he was born of the marriage between Abraham and Hagar. The Bible says nothing of a marriage, only an impregnation.) "People of the Book" consider Ishmael to have been the first Arab. Why, Hagar is not considered an Arab I have no clue.

Yadda, yadda, yadda, Sarah herself bears Abraham a baby and then "kindly" tells him to kick out Hagar and Abraham's firstborn son, Ishmael. And Abraham "kindly obliges," giving them no escort, no money, no food, nothing. And Hagar is understandably terrified for herself and her baby.

I have read this story in the Bible, which contains not a trace of condemnation of the behavior of Abraham or Sarah. I have also heard it in church, also sans a trace of condemnation. Bonechilling.

Anyway, this website puts the birth of baby Ishmael, supposedly the first Arab, as the first important event on a terrorism timeline. Not the day that Abraham impregnated Hagar because that, after all is the right of every man who owns a female slave. Not the day that Abraham drove Hagar and his own firstborn son out of the country so bloodlessly, mind you, but the birth of a baby. Meanwhile, even if you assume that the start of Islam belongs on a timeline of terrrorism, Mohammed was not born until over two thousand years later (assuming the timeline date of 1700 B.C.E. for the birth of Ishmael is correct).

Another website's US terrorism timeline starts with---again, wait for it--the murder of two Mormons in a U.S. jail cell circa 1840. Cause, from 1607 until 1840, nothing that smacked of terrorism had ever happened in the US.

Clearly, none of these terrorism timeline websites seems to have any agenda whatsoever. Just very straightford lists of dates and events. :sarcasm: :crazy:

Anyway.....here's one. I am sure it includes questionable things and fails to include things that should be on the list, but here is one timeline.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html

Whatever the faults of the infoplease timeline, please look at the timeline and tell me why public safety measures, especially vis a vis travel by air and ship, did not begin seriously until after 2001.

No lock on the door to the pilot's cabin, no thorough searches, no serious restrictions on what a traveler could pack or carry, etc. Not even "If you see something, say something." Not Carter, not Reagan, not Bubba and not Bush, until after 911. Didn't the timeline give them ample heads up? Why were they (and Congress) allowed to fail this badly with impunity?

[Enthusiast]

1. That's some interesting stuff on Ishmael.

I learned that way back but had forgotten all about it. But an act of terrorism? How absurd. And the first Arab? Please.

Yeah, I feel sort of sorry for Hagar. An outcast and victim of no fault of her own. Old Testament justice is the most bizarre kind of justice. Bonechilling indeed. Glad I no longer have any part in that religion. They can keep it.

[No Elephants]

2. When you hear the story in church, it's just yeayyyy! What a miracle

that Sarah gave birth at such an advanced age. They kind of gloss over the rape of Hagar and the fact that Sarah and Abraham basically discarded Abraham's son, along with Hagar.

It's never "Don't try this at home with your kids or even your own female slave who depends on you and is unlikely to find another position, given that she now has an illegitimate child.

The story of Lot is almost as shocking. I'm sure my ADD will lead me to that story one day, too, but not today.