Anything I could say about recollections of the day, I’ve already said in previous years.
So this year I’m simply moved to ask…
…anyone feeling safer?
PAD
Anything I could say about recollections of the day, I’ve already said in previous years.
So this year I’m simply moved to ask…
…anyone feeling safer?
PAD
• 
“Jerry, you KNOW you’re gonna catch hëll from those with an irony deficiency, right?”
What did you expect from someone who counts Walter as one of their personal heroes?
Besides, Micha will get it and he’s really the only one who counts in the matter. And I know for a fact that he’s not irony deficiency. He gets his multi vitamins from the same corner store that I get mine.
That link is just pure comedy gold.
~8?)`
I frankly don’t feel any less safe than I did on 9/10/01. I may even feel a bit safer. Not because BushCo. is workin’ hard for the American people, but because we are at least aware that the possibility of an attack exists and we have an idea of how to respond. Have the various government agencies really thwarted attacks? We’ll probably never really know. But at least we haven’t been attacked since 9/11. I may be wrong but I think the odds of another terror attack are about the same as we San Franciscans getting buried alive in another earthquake. And I’m about as prepared for one as I am the other. If you’re feeling scared or less safe then BushCo. has done it’s job. They want you afraid.Wanna feel safe? Look both ways before crossing the street. And vote green.
I don’t think another attack like 9/11 is going to happen soon, at least not a successful one, because of the changes made to NORAD, air traffic controllers, the somewhat tighter security at airports, the scattering of Al Quaeda, the possibility that bin Laden is dead, the question of whether a bunch of Middle Easterners could again go to a flight school to learn how to steer a plane but not take off or land it, etc.
But do I feel safer? No, I don’t. I’d feel safer if the government actually made more profound changes to the way things are done at airports, at border crossings, etc.
I think it’s telling that even Gen. Patreaus, when directly asked by Congress this week, couldn’t say whether we are safer.
I don’t think we’ll see another 9/11 style hijacker. But I’m sure that Al Qaida has people out there right now looking for other weaknesses in our security to exploit. And the fact that we saw more proof that bin Laden is still sucking oxygen six years later is infuriating. Despite Bush’s best efforts to make everything about Iraq, the credible security analysts are telling us that Al Qaida has rebuilt a lot of its pre-9/11 capacity.
Whereas Bush and the GOP have been more ham-fisted and clumsy about it, the Democrats of late have been playing the fear card in a more subtle way.
Well, you’re right about that. If democrats have learned anything from the last two elections, they have learned how to try to turn the GOP’s tactics against them.
“… they have learned how to try to turn the GOP’s tactics against them.”
But that’s just it, it’s not turning against them. It’s turning against us. When the Democrats use the fear card themselves, they’re aiming it at the same voter blocks as the Republicans. I don’t like it when either side plays the game. I just tend to slag on the R’s more because they do it so much better then the D’s do and, right now, so much more often.
First, your dedication to minimizing the influence of al Qaeda stops you from evaluating George Bush. Then you say the threat of al Qaeda is irrelevant to evaluating George Bush, and feel perfectly free to call his failures abject and abysmal yourself.
How are you not nurturing disharmony under the pretense of nurturing harmony? How are you not nurturing division simply for the sake of nurturing division?
I guess that one factor that has made me feel safer was that the anthrax attacks–and it’s a bit alarming that we never did solve the whos and hows of that one–were relatively unsuccessful.
I’d been expecting a biological attack for some time, even spent some time in my Bio 2 class covering bioterrorism as part of my Emerging Pathogens unit (boy, there was a fun class. No set curriculum, mostly seniors, good times). From what I’d read and heard from friends still in the bio research field I thought that anthrax was the most likely candidate for usage and the worst case scenario was, frankly, scary as all hëll. The biggest problem has always been delivery and when I heard that they’d sent it through the mail I smacked my head at the simple brilliance of it.
But it didn’t work. Few were infected, even fewer killed. I think that making easily deliverable spoor and actually delivering them is one of those things that, thankfully, works better on paper than in reality. And, of course, awareness of even the possibility of bio warfare makes it less effective–the deadliest use would be one that takes people by surprise or seems at first to be a normal flu outbreak.
So all in all that’s one doomsday scenario that is now less likely, in my opinion, than I would have thought 6 years and a day ago.
The anthrax scares are one good example of why some people quit being as scared as time went by. I think that the constant false alarm terror alerts were another. We were getting a tone of “Orange” terror alerts there for a while (especially just before the ’04 presidential election) that all ended up be rescinded as unfounded, based on bad intel or based on old intel.
A whole lot of people I know started to form the opinion that all the big scares were full of hot air after a while and just rolled their eyes at or laughed off whatever latest “threat warning” came down the turnpike. It really didn’t help the credibility of our threat warning system when it was revealed a few months back that we were apparently using the “Carnack” alert system. You can only be scared into a tizzy so many times by false alarms before you quit paying attention to any of the alarms.
I tend to also think that most Americans, once a few years had gone by after 9/11, started to pick up on the fact that the doom and gloomer’s worst case scenarios were full of crap. Again, I think that, for the majority of people out there, there’s only so many times that you can be told that the world is coming to an end before they realize that it ain’t really looking to end in their long lifetimes. And once that realization starts coming about, the same doom and gloom guys tend to slowly get less and less attention as most people start to see them as the Chicken Littles that they are.
Add into that mix the people that never completely lost their minds to begin with. Eventually, the saner voices do start getting heard and believed and even fewer people still end up following the latest Chicken Little Piper into the sea. Still, it’s too bad that the saner voices on the Left and Right are now getting drowned out again as we ramp up to the ’08 election. Not, save for another huge terrorist attack on U.S. soil, because the insane voices are going to be believed to the level that they were before, but because it really lessens the desire to vote for somebody or some party rather then just going out to vote against another four years of glorious stupidity.
~8?(
Come on, Peter, you telling us YOU did NOT feel “safer” since the “Freedom Clock” crack the 500-day barrier?
— Ken from Chicago
P.S. Or is the lack of significant action by the Democrats in Congress (a Congress that actually has *worse* rating than the President)–despite having an overwhelming “mandate” last year–undermining the feeling?
Jerry, I got the irony 🙂 I take irony supplaments. as for the undead threat. I prefer to look at the glass half full and think of them not as undead as much as re-living.
“I tend to also think that most Americans, once a few years had gone by after 9/11, started to pick up on the fact that the doom and gloomer’s worst case scenarios were full of crap.”
Even when the threas are real, everyday life is stronger. All the more so when the sense of fear is cynically inflated.
I think on the balance we can say that things are safer on the domestic terrorist attack front, because there is more awareness by security forces, better focus on intelligence, and al-Quaida was hit hard. But on the not-safer column we can put destablized Iraq, Packistan and Afganistan, Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and Egypt, increase in popularity of Islamists, as well as Bush’s failure to strengthen international cooperation and his weakening of the US’s international position. The good news is that all this does not pose as much of a direct threat on the US as of yet. So in your everyday life you can feel safer.
On the not-safer column you can also add the general incompetence of the government, which cuased you to ask: are these guys ready for the next threat?
I should also add that despite a few minor differences between our two countries, our safe/not-safe columns are not that different. I do feel significantly safer in my daily life because our security forces have been able to stem suicide bombing to a tiny trickle. But I’m not sure how well they’re prepared for future threats. I’m not as confident as I’d like that they are. I’m also worried about the destablization of the above mentioned countries. Probably a little more than you.
And I also share the frustration you feel about the kind of stupipidity that seems to run all across the political spectrum.
Btw, 3,000 killed in America by terrorists in 2001.
Over 3,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq War 2 over 4 years.
Over 30,000 killed in America by car crashes–EVERY YEAR in the 21st century.
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx
— Ken from Chicago (who’s less concerned about terrorists than motorists)
P.S. And the number of fatalies jumps to over 40,000 if you include nonmotorists killed by car crashes.
http://www.trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=7951
On a completely unrelated matter: Shana Tova, Peter.
as for the undead threat. I prefer to look at the glass half full and think of them not as undead as much as re-living.
Oh, I am so gonna steal that line…
The reason another domestic attack on the US is so unlikely for the rest of Bush’s term is because Bush is giving al Qaeda exactly what it wants. The US occupation of a Muslim country makes them the envy of all youth-recruitment organizations.
If the US attempts to withdraw from Iraq, or maybe if it looks like 2008 will go to someone resolved to withdraw, there will be more volunteers willing to sacrifice themselves to regain the glory of 9-11 — thanks to George Bush. All they have to do is redirect those normally open to sacrificing themselves in school shootings to sacrifice themselves in any number of well-populated financial centers — no additional airplanes necessary — and Bush and Rove have established the infrastructure for us to do something else stupid that boosts al Qaeda’s recruitment further.
This is why Bush is a greater threat to the US than bin Laden: because Bush is the al Qaeda recruitment MVP.
“All they have to do is redirect those normally open to sacrificing themselves in school shootings to sacrifice themselves in any number of well-populated financial centers “
Actually, if the goal is terror, screw financial centers and just send the suicide shooters/bombers into America’s schools, just sychronize it, across the nation, say noon EST (9 on the west coast) dozens or even 100’s of suicide gunmen/bombers pop into schools of all levels (Pre-school, Elementary School, Jr. High, High School, maybe even a few colleges) and opens fire and then detonates themselves…
THAT would really shake the American people to their core. There’s no strategic or financial issues like the world trade center and the pentagon, just sheer, mind-numbing TERROR as America’s precious children fall under attack…
That’s more what we need to watch out for than another 9/11…
The terrorists could go after schools, but it damages the pretense of righteousness in antagonizing the US. For optimal recruitment, they should go after populated centers representing the privilege we nurse ourselves on.
Keep in mind terrorist is the word we call them, but they are as willing admit to being terrorists as we are to admit it about ourselves. No one is resolved to fulfill the pretense of doing the wrong thing.
Over 30,000 killed in America by car crashes–EVERY YEAR in the 21st century.
Well, *of course* the answer is to ban cars. It’s so simple!
The polls that rate congress more severely than the president also continue to show the public favoring democrats over republicans. It doesn’t seem like the public is holding the majority responsible for their disdain of congress.
The high-powered air conditioners at work no longer have me looking out the windows at work. Now, that and the fact that I can’t really see a terrorist taking out a racetrack. “For all the horses to be freee!” Nah, can’t see it. But, other than that? Am I feeling much safer? Well, not really. If you really want to bring this country to a standstill, cut off communications. I’m not just talking about phones. I’m talking the whole enchilada. If you cut off the phone lines, the cable lines, the radio, TV, everything grinds to a rapid halt. Heck, if I don’t talk to Stace a dozen times a day while she’s at work, I become the mayor and lead citizen of Bananaville, USA. Also, since more and more people are paying with cards rather than cash, you cut off communications, that whole process goes OUT the window. Throw in the fact that no one will know what’s happening on the outside, yep, not a pretty sight. People are only comfortable because they THINK they know what’s happening in the world.
Safety is so relative. If you dwell on the negatives it will drive you crazy and/or make you never want to leave the house. Someone can break into your house in the middle of the night and slit your throat… does it prevent me from sleeping at night? No. Anything can happen, life is precious… and tomorrow is not guaranteed.
I would like to think that we care about each other, or at least our loved ones more since that day.
…anyone feeling safer?
Well, a couple weeks ago I dreamed I was blown up in a terrorist attack. And when I woke up, I was absolutely certain that I wouldn’t survive the day. So I’m gonna say no.
You try not to let things get to you, but they tend to find a way.
P.S. Or is the lack of significant action by the Democrats in Congress (a Congress that actually has *worse* rating than the President)–despite having an overwhelming “mandate” last year–undermining the feeling?
Well, if only they’d grow a spine and act on that mandate, their approval rating would skyrocket.
Well, if only they’d grow a spine and act on that mandate, their approval rating would skyrocket.
Fûçk yeah.
Sean: If you really want to bring this country to a standstill, cut off communications.
Not communications: power grid, which we’ve seen before is amazingly easy to kill, just ask any squirrel, Californian, or Northeasterner. No elevators, no air conditioners, wells, toilets, TV’s, gasoline pumps, eventually the cell phones and lap tops die, hospital generators run down and there goes ICU, Life Support, and surgery. No traffic lights = accidents everywhere. No air traffic control, no night landings. No trains or subways. Fires galore as people get careless with candles and kerosene heaters. No refrigeration = no fresh or frozen food, no milk or eggs or mayo. One of our neighbors was locked out of her house during a power outage – she never carried a key, only went in or out with her garage door opener.
We are so totally dependent on our electricity, so removed from times only a generation ago that didn’t always have it, save for some citizens in the real wilderness areas, that nothing will collapse our entire country faster than a few strategic hits on our power stations.
I am feeling a helluva lot safer. But wait, I don’t believe in any one political agenda so I guess I don’t count.
“I am saddened that the terrorists have succeeded in deepening the divisions between us at a time when our country needs to unify more than ever.”
The terrorist did not divide us… There is no more powerfull force on the planet than the american people when they know they are right. Bush was handed that power 6 years ago and started pìššìņg it away thru incompitence as fast as humanly possible.
In the following weeks after 9/11 we were a united a country as I have seen in my lifetime. That unity came from the action of the terrorists. The division we are going thru now rests on the shoulders of americans and our elected representatives, not any outside force as trivial as religious fanatics…
As for Safety…. I have to say the illusion of american safety is strong… I only wish that that illusion was not built on the death and despair of others
John
The power grid alone wouldn’t do much right off the bat. If you wanted to really cause it all to go to hëll in a hand basket, then you have to look at a two forked attack.
Pick a date to launch your attack on the power grid that falls on a work/weekday and set the time for, say, 4:00 PM (EST). Do that, and you shut things down just at the start of rush hour. Now comes the really evil bit. At 3:30 PM (EST) of that day, you have two large, noticeable and newsworthy targets hit by an obvious terrorist attack. The news will start to filter through the radio and TV news centers and to the public just before the power grid goes down and you would still likely have the time to hit the grid before everybody’s security wakes up, realizes what’s going on through the confused first news reports and gets itself in gear. You’ll have some people stuck at home or in buildings with just the first whispers of a terror attack when the power goes down on them. You’ll also have others clogging the major arteries of your infrastructure while listening to updates on their car radios. The panic and chaos would be amazing and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see riots break out due to the panic.
I brought this scenario up at as a tabletop exercise in a class being hosted by, amongst other agencies, the FBI once. One of the FBI guys looked me dead in the eye and told me point blank that I was an evil little bášŧárd.
I was so proud.
~8?)
I feel safer from the al Qaeda side of things but do not feel safer when it comes to actual border
control. I think if and when it happens again, it will be because of the total lack of security along the borders (Mexico and Canada)
I wish Bush was as persistent with the border as he was with Iraq.
Posted by Jerry Chandler at September 12, 2007 09:29 PM
The power grid alone wouldn’t do much right off the bat. If you wanted to really cause it all to go to hëll in a hand basket, then you have to look at a two forked attack.
Pick a date to launch your attack on the power grid that falls on a work/weekday and set the time for, say, 4:00 PM (EST). Do that, and you shut things down just at the start of rush hour. Now comes the really evil bit. At 3:30 PM (EST) of that day, you have two large, noticeable and newsworthy targets hit by an obvious terrorist attack. The news will start to filter through the radio and TV news centers and to the public just before the power grid goes down and you would still likely have the time to hit the grid before everybody’s security wakes up, realizes what’s going on through the confused first news reports and gets itself in gear. You’ll have some people stuck at home or in buildings with just the first whispers of a terror attack when the power goes down on them. You’ll also have others clogging the major arteries of your infrastructure while listening to updates on their car radios. The panic and chaos would be amazing and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see riots break out due to the panic.
Man Jerry, I think “24” is looking for writers!
THAT’S why I’m proud to call Jerry my friend.
Anyway, if we can come up with all these, and I’m sure that there are people in DC coming up with more,what’s being done?
No, i’m not feeling any safer – but i’m feeling no less safe from terrorist attack, either.
Attacks on my civil liberties and the rule of law by the Current Ruling Junta in Washington DC, that’s another matter.
But you have to take into consideration my age and background when asking if i feel “safe” – i was born just over three years after the only two uses of nuclear weapons in war.
I turned fourteen on 22 October 1962, and (i believe) attended the same high school as had Major Rudolph Anderson, and if that date and that name sound sort of familiar but you can’t quite place them, do a google on “Cuban Missile Crisis”.
In between i discovered my Dad’s SF collection, and by the time of my fourteenth birthday had read every issue of Astounding/ANALOG SF (the name changed in 1960) from 1941 right up to date from cover to cover.
I *knew* i was going to die in a nuclear war before i was thirty…
So, no, i feel no less safe than i ever did.
Fine, thanks – how was your day?
So Jerry, I assume you’ll let us all know how the weather is at Gitmo these days. 🙂
TWL
Gitmo? Let me tell you a thing or two about things here at Gitmo.
First, your weather question:
The weather here at Gitmo is {the best that you would expect of any tropical paradise. The long, lazy sunny days of summer have been gently warming our beautiful sandy beaches and spaces outdoor entertainment facilities. The warm nights and the clear skies put to shame anything that Hollywood ever filmed for even its most romantic of Golden Age films. Why, I’ve already requested information on how to acquire property here for when after they release me.} And you can bet your ášš that every single word of that’s the gospel truth.
Still, that’s nothing on the food that they’re serving me. Why {the breakfasts are absolutely heavenly and by far exceed the awful grool that I was subjected to on a daily basis before. Lunch, served promptly at 12:15 every day, is a sheer delight of which I can find no words to properly describe. Oh, how sorry I feel for you poor fellows out in the “real world” that I have so gladly left behind. And dinner?!? Oh, it is just divine. Why just last night we feasted on the finest greens, tenderly prepared glazed duck and the best peach cobbler outside of the Georgia State limits.} I can’t believe the Federal Government can get away with feeding us like this.
Still, my workouts aren’t suffering any. Just yesterday they {allowed me to participate in their fantastic exercise and fitness program. No new age mumbo jumbo or fancy but useless equipment here. No sir, my friends. This is the best program I’ve ever seen put together with a “back to the basics” type of approach.} Man, my arms and legs are still killing me to the point of being useless.
I am getting a surprising amount of time on my own in the library though. They’ve even got some pretty good computers in here. They do seem to have an odd delay in their email systems and in postings on blogs though. Haven’t worked out what that is yet.
Well, the guards just swung by and said my hour is up. Later guys.
*{This email edited for your enjoyment by the Federal Department of Truth, a happy and joyful division of the Office of the Vice President (or, as we like to call it around here, The Fourth and Ultimate Branch of the Federal Government.)}
Gitmo? Let me tell you a thing or two about things here at Gitmo.
First, your weather question:
The weather here at Gitmo is {the best that you would expect of any tropical paradise. The long, lazy sunny days of summer have been gently warming our beautiful sandy beaches and spaces outdoor entertainment facilities. The warm nights and the clear skies put to shame anything that Hollywood ever filmed for even its most romantic of Golden Age films. Why, I’ve already requested information on how to acquire property here for when after they release me.} And you can bet your ášš that every single word of that’s the gospel truth.
Still, that’s nothing on the food that they’re serving me. Why {the breakfasts are absolutely heavenly and by far exceed the awful grool that I was subjected to on a daily basis before. Lunch, served promptly at 12:15 every day, is a sheer delight of which I can find no words to properly describe. Oh, how sorry I feel for you poor fellows out in the “real world” that I have so gladly left behind. And dinner?!? Oh, it is just divine. Why just last night we feasted on the finest greens, tenderly prepared glazed duck and the best peach cobbler outside of the Georgia State limits.} I can’t believe the Federal Government can get away with feeding us like this.
Still, my workouts aren’t suffering any. Just yesterday they {allowed me to participate in their fantastic exercise and fitness program. No new age mumbo jumbo or fancy but useless equipment here. No sir, my friends. This is the best program I’ve ever seen put together with a “back to the basics” type of approach.} Man, my arms and legs are still killing me to the point of being useless.
I am getting a surprising amount of time on my own in the library though. They’ve even got some pretty good computers in here. They do seem to have an odd delay in their email systems and in postings on blogs though. Haven’t worked out what that is yet.
Well, the guards just swung by and said my hour is up. Later guys.
*{This email edited for your enjoyment by the Federal Department of Truth, a happy and joyful division of the Office of the Vice President (or, as we like to call it around here, The Fourth and Ultimate Branch of the Federal Government.)}
And they double posted it. Typical Federal Government waste. Yeah, these guys will do a GREAT job on health care!
We’re using Firefox on a free trial and still getting used to it. We didn’t know that it would post without refreshing the page. Mulligan???? Say, didn’t you have an extra exemption or two on last years taxes worth taking an extra look at? We’ll pass that right along to the proper people.
Somehow, I’m not surprised that they misspelled “gruel.”
Posted by: Sean Scullion at September 13, 2007 06:50 PM
Somehow, I’m not surprised that they misspelled “gruel.”
Now you’ve gone and pointed out their mistake, Sean. I hope you don’t forget to write us when you get down there.
Actually, Sean, it’s worse than you think. It wasn’t a misspelling of “gruel”, but of “drool”.
TWL
Give drool a chance. It’s just an acquired taste, like earwax.
Say, didn’t you have an extra exemption or two on last years taxes worth taking an extra look at?
My…um, children, Coal, Obie and Starsky are perfectly legitimate human type children being home schooled. You got nuthin.
“All we are saaaaying, is give drool a chance…”
Hey, I was having a brain fart on “gruel”, there was no dictionary around and spell check wouldn’t give me the right word as an option. Besides, Gitmo does things to your mind….
Yes
YES!
While I feel that the dangers to the freedoms of Americans are still very real, there finally appears to be the smallest bit of push-back from the spineless liberals in congress.
Perhaps the right to habeas corpus will be fully restored. Maybe torture will again be seen as a crime against humanity, and not just another tool of US repression. Maybe it will be less likely the US government will read our emails and target peace activists with IRS investigations, infiltration, and disruption.
I felt in the pit of my stomach on 9/11/01 the fear of a coming police state. Things got much worse. While we have a long way to go before we live in a free society, I am a little less afraid as the tide has turned a little bit and the power of the US government to project war, torture, fear, and death has been slightly reduced.