And now there's
this:
Terror Alert Partly Based on Fabricated Information
So, it appears, this has all been a case of 'crying wolf'.
Funny how the boy wonder cried wolf at just the same time that congress was deliberating the war in Iraq and the budget proposal....
PDiddie, love the pic.
Asherman, what do you think Randall J. Larsen, director of the Anser Institute for Homeland Security, a nonprofit research group in Arlington, Va., said when his mother called him to ask if she should buy duct tape and plastic sheeting?
"No."
Quote:Dr. Monica Schoch-Spana, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, said such a "safe room" would be of no help against a biological attack, because terrorists would probably release the pathogens in secret. "You won't be tipped off that something's going to happen," Dr. Schoch-Spana said. "You wouldn't have time to get that in place."
Even in cases where an attack is known, like the detonation of a bomb that spews out radioactive particles, experts said such measures would be useless unless people could be quickly informed of an attack.
"If there is an emergency, timing will be everything," said Elisa D. Harris, a senior research scholar at the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies who was a bioterrorism expert in the Clinton administration. "The government will need to do the analysis and detect the path of the hazardous substance and warn citizens of possible exposure. But is the government in a position to do those things real time? And what is the mechanism for communicating that to people?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/13/national/13PROT.html
so it seems, what it all comes down to is the same as hiding under a desk while the nukes go off. well, at least the media got a lot of play out of it.
Alright, don't prepare. I hope that we never have to test the proposition, but it seems to me that even minimal preparation has value. If these preparations save just one life, will it be worth it if it is your life that is saved? Every little bit helps, look for the edge. No one is suggesting that sealed rooms will save even 80% of those in the path of contamination, but even a 20% reduction in casualties is worth it I'd say.
As I said above. You have two choices, try to minimize your risk, or go outside and do deep breathing exercises. Its an individual choice. I'd choose to try risk reduction.
I think it's more than that. Live in fear, or not.
Knowledge and preparedness are antidotes to fear. Denial of real dangers can contribute to panic when the "unthinkable" actually happens. Suprise is a killer. Suprise often parallyzes people, or causes them to blindly react in ways that can kill them. Preparation has been shown to reduce the time lag and enhance survivability.
In the world that now exists, and will probably exist for a long time, preparedness and situational awareness are valuable assets. Fear is to be avoided wherever possible. We need courage and resoluteness to prevail.
To clarify -- I don't think denial is valuable. I have a disaster readiness kit, assembled when I lived in L.A. and added to since; first aid, blankets, water, etc. I think there is a line though between that sort of commonsensical readiness and paranoia, and I think plastic sheeting and duct tape fall on the far side of that line. There is a mental toll taken by obsessing about this stuff that at some point outweighs the potential usefulness. (And I don't think anyone has suggested anywhere near 20% of a given population being protected by duct tape and plastic sheeting. The article I cited gives no numbers, but strongly suggests, to me, that it's largely a placebo. Placebos work unless you know they're just a placebo.)
Asherman, how are we supposed to prepare? So we have duct tape...what do we do with it? Are we hoping to be lucky enough to be at home when an alert reaches us -- however an alert is to be accomplished -- so that we can grab our tape and begin sealing the cracks in the windows?
It would seem to me that the real risk of gas or chemicals would be in a public place; surely a terrorist would try to affect as many people as possible, as in the sarin attacks in Japan. Gas masks would be the only real protection, and even those are not a perfect barrier. There is a story in the NYTimes today about an Iranian man who has spent the last 15 years on oxygen, and is terribly disabled, after he was gassed by Iraqi troops. The gas came through his mask. As the article pointed out, we helped the Iraqis develop gas and chemical weapons to fight the Iranians.
Charles Manson supposedly taught his followers about something he called coyote consciousness. Total paranoia, he said, equals total awareness. Who would have thought, all these years later, that his lesson would be taken to heart by our gov't?
Manson. Advisor to Our Glorious Leader.
Kara, I would like to point out in all fairness that supposedly the Iranians did far more chemical attacks on the Iraqi's and were the ones that were really responsible for the infamous Kurd gassing during a gassing of Iraqi troops.
However, guess who the trainer and supplier of Iranian gassing was - got that right, the one factor that doesn't change, the USA!
<sigh>
If one doesn't want to believe these terror alerts are timed when the administration sees the need to stir up more support for the attack on Iraq, that's your perogative. Building up an irrational fear is exactly what is needed to boost the polls. The more this administration denies they are concerned with polls, the more I see them react to them.
Instead of covering the windows with plastic and duct tape, why don't we all wrap ourselves up in plastic and duct tape. We could feed ourselves via in IV setup. As far as elimination, we could outfit ourselves with urinary catheters and eat nothing but very low fiber foods.
How are we supposed to be testing the water for chemical poisons?
Drink it and see if it kills you.
Frankly speaking, I find this whole idea hilarious. It just goes on to the show the intellectual bankcruptcy of the Bush administration.
PDiddie
Quote: Drink it and see if it kills you.
Best laugh of the day so far. And may I add best solution to the problem.
New Haven -- there are a bunch of test kits on the market. Some have been around for a while (and I'd tend to trust them). Others have been advertised lately and assiduously on rebel radio (and I'd tend to stay away from them!) People who live in rural, agricultural areas and who are dependent on wells often test their water because of the amounts of toxic chemicals currently used in agribusiness and getting into the aquifers.
