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The Fresh Air Society & Tamarack Camps
Board of Directors
invites you to our
2004 ANNUAL MEETING
"Honoring Our Past
Looking to the Future"
A special tribute to members of
the Tamarack Hills Authority
Sunday, August 1, 2004
11:30 — 2:00 p.m.
Brunch will be served
• CAMP MAAS
Ortonville, Michigan
A Special Chance to Experience_
the Magic of Tamarack
Casual dress
Dietary laws observed
Shuttle service available at camp
For more information, contact: Sandy Schuster
Director of Development
(248) 647-1100, ext. 119
schuster@tamarackcamps.com
www.tamarackcamps.com
TAMARACK
qr.,"
6/ 4
2004
72
WERE PART OF THE TEAM
/9) ACCREDITED
CAMP
Anted:an CampkwAssocletIone
848080
./
'd like to per-
sonally thank
Homeland
Security Secretary
Tom Ridge for put-
ting me at ease dur-
ing the Memorial
Day weekend.
Had I listened
HARRY
only to Attorney
KIRSBAUM General John
Ashcroft and FBI
Columnist
Director Robert
Mueller, I would
have been forced to stop at the gun
store for some extra ammo before
heading up to my attorney's family
compound — in a secure undisclosed
location.
Citing credible intelligence from
multiple sources, Ashcroft said that we
should be on the lookout for any one
of 18,000 Al Qaida
terrorists who are
planning to attack us
sometime in the next
few months.
It could be anyone,
and they could be dis-
guised as a typical
American family, he
said.
Ashcroft
Thanks, John, and
you have a wonderful summer, too.
Mueller then showed the country
seven photos of people who made the
wanted list. Two of the seven were
involved in the 1998 U.S. embassy
bombing in Nairobi, Kenya. Three
were wanted for possible future threats
to the United States. The last two were
wanted for questioning.
They weren't new faces, either, just
reintroduced as the "Summer of
Danger, 2004 Edition."
While Ashcroft and Mueller were
speaking, Tom Ridge — the only per-
son who should have been calling a
press conference about threat level
warnings — was noticeably absent.
Ridge told reporters later that he saw
no reason to raise the level to orange.
As it turned out, one of Ashcroft's
"credible sources" was from an Al
Qaida-type group (definition: some
guys with a fax machine) that also
claimed responsibility for the power
blackout summer.
The only
only level that was raised was
Harry Kirsbaum's e-mail address is
hkirsbaum@thejewishnews.com
my anger, but a three-hour drive and a
handful of CDs had a calming effect.
A holiday weekend without newspa-
pers or the radio and the entire state of
California could have sunk into the
ocean and I wouldn't have known —
or cared.
We spent most of the time chasing
an 18-month-old boy around the cot-
tage and trying to keep him from run-
ning into the highway.
I also tried to explain to his 4-year-
old brother that it's good to wash your
hands after going potty, but you don't
have to completely disrobe to do so.
The importance of world events is
reduced when your
world becomes only
what's in front of you.
When I returned to
Detroit, I spoke to my
Russian cousin over
family dinner on
Memorial Day, and
the topic was the
Ashcroft, and Mueller
report.
He said he had
plenty of friends in
Israel and they went
about their lives amid
the threat with terror-
ism every day.
"It's bound to start
happening
here," he
Mueller
said. "But they adapted,
and so will we.
Somewhere in the White House,
someone is thinking CYA (cover your
ass) — or why else would they warn the
public when there's even the slightest
chance of enjoying a holiday weekend.
"Report all suspicious activity --
including those disguised American
family posing in front of a national
landmark --- to the authorities," they
imply.
The White House introduced the
Department of Homeland Security to
combine intelligence and give one
voice to security concerns.
Why were Ashcroft and Mueller giv-
ing a press conference without Ridge,
and why was anyone listening?
Mueller and Ashcroft should quit
hosting press conferences and go back
to what they do best: The FBI director
should be sifting through intelligence,
and the attorney general should be cov-
ering up statues of naked women, as he
did upon taking over at the Justice
Department. ❑