Zro Your Oriental / Area Rugs at any Original Hagopian Rug Care Center and we'll clean every other one Who's In Charge? I Rug Care Centers Oak Park Expert Rug Repair Birmingham 8 Mile W / Coolidge Old Woodward & Lincoln Ann Arbor . Novi 12 Mile &Novi Rd The Courtyard Shops AN The Original -Since 1939 CLEANING SERVICES Call us 7 days a week! 1-800-HAGOPIAN (424-6742) . Take a look at our residential in home cleaning prices! 5-800-HAGOPIAN 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. ❑