A man later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested last week at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when trying to board a flight while carrying a ruler, a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule and a calculator.
Attorney General John Ashcroft believes the man is a member of the notorious al-Gebra movement. He is being charged with possession of weapons of math instruction.
"al-Gebra is a very fearsome cult, indeed", Ashcroft said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on a tangent in a search of absolute value. They consist of quite shadowy figures, with names like 'x' and 'y', and although they are frequently referred to as 'unknowns', we know they really belong to a common denominator and are part of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country."
"As the great Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, there are three sides to every triangle."
When asked to comment on the arrest, President George W. Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes."