We're back at 'Orange' threat level

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20031221/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terror_threat

Funny that just two weeks ago, my ex girlfriend flew from SF to Vegas and back with her stun gun IN HER CARRY-ON PURSE ( she forgot it was there ) and it was not detected by either airports x-ray machine/baggage screener.

When will they turn those fucking 'orange alert' air raid sirens off!?! They're driving me nuts!

I was severely debating of taking fome soveniers back from amsterdam..so what happened? I didnt cause I thought I would be like the 50 and 60 year old people getting checked at the gate.

When they upgrade it to red & begin searching homes w/o warrents.

it's aLmost 2004, don't forget 911!!!

I'm glad they brought it back up to "orange".. life just isn't quite as fun when you're not fearing imminent terrorist attacks that rival or surpass the destruction of 9/11. It's like a cliffhanger episode of the OC! What's gonna happen next?!

Should I buy some Duct tape and plastic? what do I do, punch an arab? this alert thing is absurd.

Hey, remember all that money the Homeland "Security" department said it would give in grants to state and local governments to cover the extra cost of an "Orange Alert"? ($70 million a week for the average city, if you're scoring at home).

Apparently, they don't, because not one dime of that money's gone out.

Just to be safe, I have wrapped my junk in plastic and duct tape.

I feel better now.

Oh, interpret this as you will: I just quickly checked the four big news cable channels: CNN, CNN Headline News, Faux "News", and MSNBC.

CNN, CNN Headline News, and MSNBC have not changed their graphics in any way. They all still have the same crawlers on their programming as always (and MSNBC doesn't have a news crawler at all.)

Faux "News", on the other hand, has a big ass "TERROR ALERT HIGH" graphic in the corner of the screen, and it's up constantly.

They report, you comply.

Ok, so wait... The government (read: bush and pals) are responsible for 9/11 because they didn't take proper precautions, but now that they're being cautious, they're wrong for that too?

Well, there's being "cautious" and putting into place a lame-ass system in which local law enforcement is supposed to take amorphous "precautions" on their dime, and giving us moronic advice like we should have duct tape and plastic wrap on hand, for whatever reason.

Either it's incompetent, or it's designed to scare us, or a little of both.

it's good that we are being cautious...i'm glad that they are giving everyone fair warning that we are no safer from the threat of large scale terrorism in the united states than we were two years ago.

*screams like a little punk and runs out of this thread*

So my brother is coming back from the U.K tomorrow via the U.S.
Should my parents expect him home for Christmas?

The problem is that because Bush and his administration are such fucking liars about everything else, these color coded alerts come off as thinly veiled attempts to push our panic buttons and rule through fear.

There's no doubt that there are many kooks out there looking for a chance to blow something up, but there's also no doubt that when Ridge tells us to look out for something that "rivals 9/11", the purpose of telling us is to scare us.

Why tell us about nothing? There's nothing concrete about it. There must be intelligence pointing to this shit every day. Why do we need to have press conferences to announce that police and the military are doubling patrols? What does that information do other than scare us? What can you and I do with it? Be extra careful? Don't walk on the same side of the street as an Arab? Buy extra ammo and be more extra paranoid? Don't leave our house, telecommute and buy our groceries online? What?






*edited for spelling

[Edited on Dec 21, 2003 by SpaceInvader]

Oh, can't we all just get along?











No.






Fine, then let's launch our nukes, let our enemies launch thier nukes & end this BS!

I'm not sure that issuing the Orange threat level does much to protect citizens, however it does cover the administration in case something does happen. My guess is that there are increased numbers of intelligence reports pointing to terrorist activity. I don't feel scared by the increased threat level, nor do I think the administration gains anything from scaring us. But if something does happen and they never released any type of prior warning, imagine the backlash for that.

I'm not sure that issuing the Orange threat level does much to protect citizens, however it does cover the administration in case something does happen. My guess is that there are increased numbers of intelligence reports pointing to terrorist activity. I don't feel scared by the increased threat level, nor do I think the administration gains anything from scaring us. But if something does happen and they never released any type of prior warning, imagine the backlash for that.

I'm not sure that issuing the Orange threat level does much to protect citizens, however it does cover the administration in case something does happen. My guess is that there are increased numbers of intelligence reports pointing to terrorist activity. I don't feel scared by the increased threat level, nor do I think the administration gains anything from scaring us. But if something does happen and they never released any type of prior warning, imagine the backlash for that.

Wow - first (3) comment(s), a triple!

BTW, hitting the "back" button will cause a double or triple post, for future reference.

I actually agree with screwtape to a degree. They have their reasons. Maybe it doesn't affect me personally, and I don't exactly feel "unsafe"...but I'm glad it's there anyways- Just in case. If something happened tomorrow I bet a lot of people would be upset if the system wasn't in place.

And I rather like George W. Bush. But that's another thread.

Shit, my bad.