Alert Level Being Raised!!!

yes.

i'm not cynical enough to think this is a complete fabrication, but at the same time, if there was a very immediate serious danger, people would be told not to go to work and given very specific directions on what to do, how to prepare, how to evacuate like they do in other countries when there are real threats.

if i followed every "elevated" level warning, i'd have died of a heart attack by now.

Geeze.. what the bastards in office wont do to steal the democratic conventions thunder.

"oh no cheney, all the headlines are about those meany democrats."..."dont worry busheykins, we'll just keep em scared till after the election and tell them we're theyre only hope. "

I predict theyre will some major terrorist THING just before the election (real or fabricated).. who wants to bet a five spot against me??

Besides all the conspiracy theories being alluded to here...

One might want to keep in mind that there are in fact lunatic fringe Muslim terrorists who do wish to blow up buildings and cause as much mayhem and murder as possible on their way to paradise.

Funny, that.

In this case it might be better to get them to call off the attack. A Uhaul truck full of explosives can kill everyone for a city block in any direction, even if it doesn't cause significant structural damage. It would not seem to be a good course of action to force a confrontation inside a major population center.

Bump. Because this is true. And that chicken little business is irritating as heck.

Totally, I think its sad that people want to be protected by their government but when the government actually takes steps to protect us people think their are some hidden motives.

I could never figure out why intel and strategies were broadcast on CNN. You'd think this would be stuff we don't want terrorists knowing.

does anyone besides me feel like it's totally pointless to try to second guess this kind of stuff?

because it's either a) a lie or b) not a lie.

either way, how does it inform me as to what i should do?

cancel my plans to take the exciting WTO tour tomorrow?

mostly the entire topic makes me feel all the more out of control and disconnected.

Perhaps people wouldn't second guess this stuff if we hadn't all been witness to assholes (read: Republicans) playing politics with people's lives in every other manner possible. I don't trust Republicans further than I can knock them with a broom handle -- doesn't mean you can't play it safe and trust your instincts however.

smokescreen

The moral of the story is that sometimes the danger that you see is less than the danger that you don't.

Yes, and isn't some other party having a convention in New York in the not too distant future?

Sorry, but this smells a bit. Right or wrong I can't help feeling cynical about this, and no doubt it will be plastered all over the American media raising a general sense of fear and insecurity. This plays to an instinct for 'steady as she goes' at the helm.

Of course I hope I'm wrong.