The press, handmaiden of the government, loves to exaggerate, simplify and sensationalize everything. Apparently, it sells. So, the latest bomb scare in Britain has caused ABC News to report:

Secret Document: U.S. Fears Terror ‘Spectacular’ Planned

A secret U.S. law enforcement report, prepared for the Department of Homeland Security, warns that al Qaeda is planning a terror "spectacular" this summer, according to a senior official with access to the document.

"This is reminiscent of the warnings and intelligence we were getting in the summer of 2001," the official told ABCNews.com.

Another sensationalizer, the Drudge Report, referring to the same ABC column, had this giant headline at the top of the page:

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This, by the way, is the same ABC News that warned us a few weeks ago that terrorist teams were heading here from Afghanistan to blow us all up.

Then there was this follow up:

U.S. plays down report of imminent al Qaeda attack

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday played down a report al Qaeda was planning a big attack on the United States, saying there was no credible information about an imminent threat.

But, undaunted, neocon Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman called for more surveillance cameras in the USA:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said Sunday he wants to "more widely" use surveillance cameras across the country.

"The Brits have got something smart going in England, and it was part of why I believe they were able to so quickly apprehend suspects in the terrorist acts over the weekend, and that is they have cameras all over London and other of their major cities," Lieberman said.

"I think it’s just common sense to do that here much more widely," he added. "And of course, we can do it without compromising anybody’s real privacy."

First of all, spy cameras had nothing to do with spotting the car bombs in London. A passing driver saw smoke coming from one of the cars and reported it to the police. Sorry, Joe. And, Joe, what do you mean by "real privacy"? Anything the government doesn’t want to spy on? What a jerk.

The press and the politicians want to keep you scared in order to keep their control over you. Civil liberties? Constitutions? Those are last on their list of things government is supposed to protect. The first thing is government power itself.