So this is one of those stories that I almost immediately dismiss to the “Ahh…I don’t care” categories but the more I think about it the more ridiculous it seems (and there’s a local connection since Best Buy headquarters is 10 minutes from my house).

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) apparently has an issue about the paint jobs on the Geek Squad cars looking too much like a cop car (this firm is a part of Best Buy now  and is a Dragnet-like services firm performing a variety of offerings to ensure PC’s work for customer’s) and ticketed a Geekmobile in Walnut Grove, CA this past week.

Reading this morning’s Minneapolis Star/Tribune, I came across this article (subscription) that indicated the head of the Geek Squad, Robert Stephens, has “…reluctantly agreed to repaint the doors of all 150 “Geekmobiles” in California to black.“

Huh? Maybe this is making a mountain-out-of-a-molehill, but the only thing the CHP *didn’t* do was to fall back on it being an Homeland Security imperative. If a driver in California mistakes a Geekmobile for a police car, this State has bigger problems than an electronics retailer’s technical support Joe Friday’s.

Normally I’m a “glass is half full” guy but here are four “glass is half empty” items from Sunday and today’s news for your leisure reading pleasure and, hopefully, a bit of critical thinking on your part:

• On 60 Minutes this past Sunday was a repeat of an original interview between reporter Steve Kroft and CIA analyst (and Bin Laden expert) Michael Scheuer. Here was one of Scheuer’s answers from the interview that leapt out at me:

“You’ve written no one should be surprised when Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda detonate a weapon of mass destruction in the United States,” says Kroft. “You believe that’s going to happen?”

“I don’t believe in inevitability.  But I think it’s pretty close to being inevitable,” says Scheuer.

Talk about something over which we have little control! That said, I sure hope marshall law, underskin implants,  RFID tags in our passports and increased surveillance (PDF) isn’t the inevitable reaction by our Federal government from an occurrence of this sort. Sadly, I’m afraid that a knee-jerk reaction is also inevitable if the citizenry isn’t aware and balances fear with restraint.

• Conservative
  
  U.S. evangelist Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying the leftist leader wanted to turn his country into “the launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.”

Does this guy represent *your* God or His Son? Of course, we already know what cloth Robertson is cut from when he criticized President Bush’s faith-based initiative and then bent over to accept funding. Our separation of church and state lets this guy have a tax free existence on top of it. He’s free to speak but those of us who think he’s a maniac need to speak too.

• Propaganda extends to military gravestones.

• Government Proposes New SUV Fuel Standards. The Bush administration proposed new fuel economy standards for pickup trucks, minivans and some sport utility vehicles on Tuesday, calling upon automakers to make modest improvements to gas mileage amid rising prices at the pump. But the plan does not apply to cars and the largest SUVs, such as the Hummer H2.

I understand that every move by a Republican-led administration thinks about business first and everything else second. Fuel prices are at record highs yet oil companies make record profits. Automakers most profitable vehicles are the huge SUV’s so they’re exempted from obvious standards.

Sigh….