'No One's Panicking," Except DHS, Capitol Cops, Lawmakers...

Shots fired at the Capitol! The radio was abuzz with the news as I drove to my yoga class this morning. But these early reports struck me as odd. No one had actually seen anything or heard anything. But, there were these reports. Capitol Police and Homeland Security agents were running around the Rayburn Office Building with guns drawn. Capitol Hill was locked down for five hours. People were herded to "safe" locations. A room-to-room search was done.
Oh, what was it? Was it an Islamic terrorist, a right-wing gun-nut, the oggie-boogie man? No, it was a workman using a pneumatic hammer to fix an elevator throwing trash in a dumpster.

“No one’s panicking, everyone’s calm,” said Charles Isom, spokesman for Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah. Sorry Charlie, everyone panicked. The police were running around like Chicken Little, the media was hyperventilating, the Department of Homeland Security went on alert. Well, one person did not panic. The workman knew exactly what was going on if anybody had calmed down enough to ask him.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror...

~ President Franklin Roosevelt, 1933

tag: terrorism, capitol