No, it is definitely not terror

Scorpions on planes 'not terror,' say feds

Under this headline, WND tells the story of two airline passengers stung by a scorpion on two different flights recently.

The first incident took place Jan. 3 as David Sullivan of Stowe, Vt., was stung twice on a trip home from San Francisco. He and his wife, Helena, boarded a United Air Lines connecting flight in Chicago, and were just minutes from their destination in Burlington, Vt., when he first noticed a problem with his right leg, feeling as if it had gone to sleep. After the plane landed, Sullivan was waiting for his luggage, and again felt a strange sensation, but this time it was his left shin.

David Sullivan checks his shin where he was bitten by a scorpion

When he pulled up his pants leg to investigate, an inch-and-a-half-long scorpion scooted down his leg and onto the floor, where a fellow passenger stepped on it.

But it is the second incident that made WND sit up and listen:

The second incident took place Sunday, as a Canadian college student was returning to Toronto on an American Airlines flight out of Miami. Anthony Harris, 21, who had been in Costa Rica prior to stopping in Miami, suddenly felt as if someone were tearing the hair out of his leg. He told the Toronto Star that when the sharp pain dulled to a throbbing ache, he thought his leg had simply cramped up. "Then I looked down and there was a scorpion crawling up my leg," he said.

Of course, the headline is quoting a TSA official who does not see these two incidents as a manifestation of a new wave of terrorist activity. Obviously, TSA, unimaginative folks that they are, cannot comprehend that a bioterror is going to be the new fashion of the day.

Still, regardless of the predictions, TSA guy is correct: these two stories do not a terrorism activity make. Proof? Obviously these scorpions were self-made terrorists who did not undergo elementary training or even cursory preparations. Witness the fact that both stung their intended victims in the lower leg area. It clearly shows that both scorpions did not study the victims and the potential sting points that would have most effectively disabled the latter (backside in the case of the student and hand/arms in the case of Mr Sullivan, who is a builder).

But the most revealing mistake was the choice of targets: why haven't they had a go at the cockpit?

Nah... Take it easy, WND.

***