Obama's mislaid-American situation

Congratulations to the resourceful crew of the Maersk Alabama, who re-took their ship from Somali pirates under the leadership of Shane Murphy (whose dad, perhaps not coincidentally, teaches an anti-piracy course at Massachusetts Maritime). Unfortunately, the pirates still hold the captain--Vermonter Richard Phillips, shown above--hostage. I suspect the bright young minds at the White House and Foggy Bottom have worked through the night to come up with an alternate description, just as they have renamed the war on terror ('Overseas Contingency Operations') and terrorism itself ('man-caused disasters'). May I suggest Mislaid-American Situation? It would apply equally to the journos being held as spies by Iran and North Korea, and perhaps also to Douglas Feith and other Bush administration officials whom an ambitious Spanish judge wants to arrest and try for war crimes. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford