Duct tape and plastic sheeting.

I live within a stones throw of the entrance of NY harbor. What do you think I need to do buy duct tape and plastic sheeting or get the heck out of here.?

Au,

In my opinion, you should get on with your life. There is little that you can probably do as an individual to prevent an attack. New York is a high priority target, and being near the harbor area is more risky than if you were located in some outlying area. Prepare as well you can, be aware of whats going on around you. If it looks like there is a chemical attack in progress, get indoors without delay.

Lightwizard,

Civil Defense measures vary from place to place. The best preparation will not prevent some casualties, they are only designed to increase the individual citizens chance of survival. If you do not prepare, your chances are lower than if you did. Preparation should not be hysterical, but undertaken as a reasonable response to the threat. If the government didn't warn the public, failed to provide any advice on how to protect against chemical attack, then the public would be justly outraged in the wake of an attack. Something is better than nothing.

Call it the great duct tape conspiracy.

After seventeen months of bluster, warmongering and global intimidation by our administration, the old bogeyman himself pops out of the sand one day and suddenly we're all reduced to scurrying for rolls of silvery tape to save our hides.

What happened to our just cause? What happened to our solemn vow to defeat terrorism wherever it exists? More importantly, what's happened to 3M shares since the administration triggered this run on duct tape? And what ties does Dick Cheney have to the duct tape lobby?...

This whole sad scenario is a result of our schizophrenic response to 9/11 and our inability to get Osama bin Laden at the outset. How can we have detailed satellite photographs of Iraqis moving dangerous chemicals and materials and nothing that shows where this maniac has gone? How can we have intercepts of conversations between Iraqi commanders and nothing to show where he might be hiding?

This confusion has locked us all in a debilitating spiral -- both economically and in our personal lives -- to the point where otherwise educated people are saying we should go to war just to end the uncertainty.

Never mind what type of new uncertainty a war might create.

(having a little trouble linking due to excessively long URL...here is the main page for CBS Marketwatch; scroll down to 'duct tape conspiracy')

CBS Marketwatch

There was a report out this morning that the Bush family moved there entire portfolio into duct tape, plastic sheeting and bottled water last Wednesday!

The experts I have read and heard on this duct tape issue basically say it is just this side of ridiculous. Sealing yourself up in the typical household could be just as dangerous and possibly more so than some remnants of gas miles away (which is just about all the warning ones likely to get). The point is, this burnt offering of advice is not and should not be an exposition of the larger problem. It's a pathetic band-aid.

(Politicized rhetorical propaganda of the worse kind).

Now back to the light hearted commentary on this idiotic proposal:

If it looks like a duct, walks like a duct, it's a duct.

Yes, Bill W, I'm sure they are taping up the White House windows as we speak.

It absolutely amazing how intellegent people can be duped Maybe what is needed is to duct tape up the mouths of those proposing this nonsense..

A scientist (?) on NPR just now said the plastic and duct tape idea is ridiculous, that it is useless against anything we'd be hit with. He ran through the list of WMD's.

So Au1929, you took the words right out of my mouth. Instead of duck and run, Duct Rummy.

If you live in an area under chemical attack, you can either try to reduce the dangers, or you can go out on to the street and take half a dozen deep breaths. Its a free country, take your choice.

Asherman -- Just heard that guy in NPR again. On "All Things Considered." You can listen to the audio online once they get it posted. If I see it, I'll post a link for you.

PD, that would solve 90% of America's problems right there!

Sarcasm should be left to those who are witty enough to use it.

Let me get this straight - spread plastic sheeting on floor, walls ceiling and tape all seams. What happens when the oxygen gets all used up? Or, am I just being unPatriotic?

sarcasm: "A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants"

Dys,

--- and an idiot bureaucrat secretly plotting a right-wing coup is a Republican in any office. LOL.

BillW,

Cracks around windows, doors and over vents is probably sufficient, and quarantine will not last long enough for oxygen to be depleted, unless you crowd thirty people into a hall closet.

Tartarin,

I'm a long time follower of NPR. Love their programing. Opinions vary.

Pdiddie --

Or maybe The Great Duct Tape Fiasco! Even smokers are buying it.

Is there an easier public to throw into panic than the American public of today? It seems doubtful. Look at the recent sniper attack that almost shutdown the area around Washington.

Real danger is what the Iraqis are facing from our thousands of missiles; the primary thing we face is the fear of danger.

Part of this is simple immuneracy and part brute ignrance -- someone pointed out that more Americans kill themselves each year by falling off the commode than were killed by the sniper.

I wish Thurber were alive to witness and report on all this.

PDiddie,

Great photo. LOL.