So it turns out that the terrorist scare in Florida may have been a joke.

Federal sources involved in the investigation said they believe the three men – all U.S. citizens – were playing a stupid joke on another restaurant patron who gave them a suspicious look.

Well, I guess the joke is on them now.  This really isn’t the kind of climate in which to be joking around like this, especially if you’re of middle eastern descent.  Racial profiling may be forbidden for the police, but people do it all the time on an informal basis and it should be expected as a given.

Enough about their stupid joke.  I found this part of the article somewhat annoying on first glance.

According to police sources, all three men at first were uncooperative – denying consent to search the car.

’‘It was probably not the right time for them to be copping an attitude with police,’’ said one federal law enforcement source who was up all night monitoring the investigation. “But that’s exactly what happened.’‘

I don’t know exactly what happened, but I certainly hope that this “federal law enforcement officer” doesn’t think refusing permission to search a vehicle is “copping an attitude.”  I have great respect for peace officers, but I will never consent to a search just on general principles. 

On a side note, I have very little respect for “law enforcement.”  I treat officers with deference because I respect the peace officers among them.  As for the law enforcers, I do so with great reluctance, but I do so anyway because they are quite dangerous.  There is very little that we can do to protect ourselves from outrageous abuses of power.  To make it worse, the courts are predisposed to believe the police before they believe us.  Consider those people in Houston who pled guilty just to get out of jail after the bogus trespassing arrests.  Or, consider the currently unfolding cases in Haltom City of police and jail guards attempting to rape inmates.