I Am Terrified...Yellow

Good morning, America! How did you sleep last night? Were the sirens loud? How about the helicopters overhead? Did they keep you awake? No? Well, we're pretty much sleeping through most everything these days anyway. I don't remember the last time I heard a car alarm and wondered who was stealing a car. Instead I just grumbled about the noise.
Speaking of sirens and noise, did the sound of Japan's malfunctions at the Kashiwazaki power plant after a powerful earthquake shook northern end of the archipelago disturb anybody here? There is a lot of fuss and bother right now over there about the relative safety of Japan's fifty-five nuclear reactors, which supply thirty percent of the quake-prone country's electricity and have suffered a long string of accidents and cover-ups.
Accidents and cover-ups? That can't happen here in the good old United States of America. "Diablo Canyon Power Plant is one the strongest structures on the face of the earth; built to withstand the largest earthquake deemed credible from the nearest earthquake fault." That's what Pacific Gas and Electric tells us on their own web site. Of course, the Environmental Protection Agency has also announced "The Coast Guard has established a security zone in the waters adjacent to Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant near Avila Beach, California." No worries about that earthquake. Just terrorists.
Today, July 17, 2007 the Department of Homeland Security tells us that the current threat level is Elevated (yellow). The DHS web site suggests "All Americans should continue to be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately." Our friends in Great Britain are also currently experiencing an elevated level of threat (they call it "saffron") and they are just as cautious, if not a little more polite: "While it’s important that we all go about our daily business normally, it’s also sensible to remain alert to danger and to report any suspicious activity you see or hear."
According to a new National Intelligence Estimate on threats to the United States, the terrorist network Al-Qaida will likely leverage its contacts and capabilities in Iraq to mount an attack on U.S. soil. Maybe those terrorists are behind all the recent seismic activity too. Come to think of it, car alarms go off when there's an earthquake too. Every time the earth shakes, the terrorists win.