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Post by tcb on Jul 29, 2003 20:39:23 GMT -5
Being up here in Canada - I tend to panic about travelling in the US when there's a 'new' alert....just curious how you all deal with it first hand-- does it become detrimental to have them too often? Do you worry as much to become 'used' to them -- forgive my ignorance but I'm just wondering if foriegn reaction differs from yours...
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Post by Roughneck on Jul 30, 2003 0:09:22 GMT -5
Personally, I've become jaded to them. I hear them again and again, with no specifics, and eventually it's like yeah right. I remember a year ago I went overseas, being told to show up 4 hours ahead. We wandered around for most of that time. I've heard different from folks closer to the city, but by me there are no inconveniences for travel. After two of them and nothing, they became sources of comedy to me.
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Post by tcb on Jul 30, 2003 0:44:47 GMT -5
Thanks for the feedback RN I suspect if it was like that hear I'd get jaded as well too --
The airport timeframes were the worst -- I traveled by plane a week after it happened -- with no noticable change in security but with all the talk about getting there early there's only been one time I've travelled where that was good advice -- I do have to admit though that the current more specific threats have me a little more concerned than normal
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Post by LS on Jul 30, 2003 17:11:23 GMT -5
Wow...I find that pretty amazing. I'd have thought anything that comes from the Bushies would have even less credibility elsewhere in the world than it does here... Can't speak for the rest of the country- but we consider them a joke in these parts. And bad one at that...'bout all they mean to us here is that rush hour's going to be more of a nightmare than usual. Just more Bushie posturing...he's always got to put on a big 'show.' It's all meaningless- they issue an alert and then in the same breath, say they haven't verified anything as even being remotely credible info...This latest one isn't any more specific than any of the others- nothing has been verified and they still have yet to check to see if there's a single shred of credibility to it...Like hello- but shouldn't they verify BEFORE they issue an alert?? Besides which...look at it this way, outside of less than 200 people on 4 airplanes- the other 2800+ who were killed weren't traveling...they were at work. I am noticing a distinct pattern to these alerts though...like they seem to be issued everytime the White House comes under heat...Let's see, 'alerts' were issued when the Enron trail led to certain parties in the White House, 'alerts' were issued when the report came out about the loss of 2 million jobs since the Bushies took office and the last 'alerts' were issued during the anti-war protests...And now we have 28 pages of information being with held in the 9/11 investigation- all pertaining the Saudis- who also just so happen to be close personal friends of the DuHbya- and lookee here- another alert!! Hmmmm...
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Post by SpinifexPete on Jul 30, 2003 17:31:46 GMT -5
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Post by Wildrider on Aug 6, 2003 0:18:20 GMT -5
LS, you do have a way of getting right to the heart of the problem...
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Post by Busgaljan on Aug 6, 2003 18:22:58 GMT -5
I was the unlucky or maby lucky one who was stranded in Austin. I had a mid morning flight on 9-11 and so I never had to leave my hotel. By the following Monday I still could not get my flight on United so I found a direct flight to Baltimore via Southwest where I was picked up.
I did get credit.
The rush here is that the airport opens at 5:30am and the flight is 6:05 which makes for tights time with baggage searches.
I'm not ready to quit flying yet.
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Post by WallabyTed on Aug 8, 2003 7:52:42 GMT -5
We're not effected so much in this part of the planet. However, one of the damned murderin' bustards responsible for the Bali bombing has just been sentenced to death by firing squad. And there's a few more to face the music too. Me? I'd take it a little further...along the lines of U.S. General Pershing in the Philippines in 1911. Didn't have any trouble with fanatics after he used his methods. Yep! They knew how to handle terrorists in those days. Onya, Black Jack! These days the civil libertarians would no doubt consider a ticker-tape parade more appropriate treatment for fanatical terrorists.
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Post by SweetNadine on Aug 9, 2003 8:51:15 GMT -5
I have accepted the 'alerts' as a part of life now. I don't think the Feds want to get caught with their pants down - AGAIN.
I actually fear local thugs more than the terrorists. You are much more likely to become a victim of an intoxicated thug than a terrorist in the USA. I stay on a 24/7 alert watcing my back for a thug.
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 9, 2003 19:50:00 GMT -5
You also have to think of what their attacking. According to the alerts the attacks they are planning are still against "big" stuff, like monumnets, bridges, and the like. Things like those you can reason then just stay away from them and you're safe. I have to believe these alerts because smaller stuff is easier to plan and wouldn't be detected in time. The day they start attacking everyday stuff, like Walmart, Waldbaums, Hess and the like, is the day the alerts become relevant. Remember how terrified the capital was while the sniper was loose. Random attacks likt that are what cause true terror.
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Post by WallabyTed on Aug 10, 2003 4:08:43 GMT -5
Some think that terrorists are responsible for the rash of bushfires we've had over the past couple of years. Could be the case with some of yours recently too. Guess the only things we have now that we didn't have before are more thorough checks at airports, restrictions to some cabin luggage, air marshalls on overseas flights, anti terrorist squads (originally set up for the last Olympics), and personal anti-terrorist kits (what to look for, etc). Fortunately, we haven't been effected except for the Bali bombing - 88 of 202 blown to bits were Oz. Pro rata, it was our 9/11. Fortunately we don't have the `alerts' you refer to....but I guess (for you guys) it's better to be safe than sorry.?
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Post by Roughneck on Aug 10, 2003 16:17:49 GMT -5
It's all meaningless- they issue an alert and then in the same breath, say they haven't verified anything as even being remotely credible info...This latest one isn't any more specific than any of the others- nothing has been verified and they still have yet to check to see if there's a single shred of credibility to it...Like hello- but shouldn't they verify BEFORE they issue an alert?? 'nother thing I notice, they never have any major arrests when the threat level goes back down. So what happened, did the terrorists just decide to go home or something? "Aw gee, they're looking harder, now we can't bomb them. Aw shucks, let's just go home Achmed...drat!" I think they raised it right after we killed Saddam's little darlings. Only problem there is that any real hit on us in retaliation for this, at least here at home, is gonna take weeks if not months to plan. But you'd think they'd at least try to cover it up with some "big arrest."
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Post by LS on Aug 13, 2003 23:22:00 GMT -5
'nother thing I notice, they never have any major arrests when the threat level goes back down. So what happened, did the terrorists just decide to go home or something? "Aw gee, they're looking harder, now we can't bomb them. Aw shucks, let's just go home Achmed...drat!" I think they raised it right after we killed Saddam's little darlings. Only problem there is that any real hit on us in retaliation for this, at least here at home, is gonna take weeks if not months to plan. But you'd think they'd at least try to cover it up with some "big arrest." Lol!! I think you're catching on... Nope, interestingly though, they didn't raise the 'alert' level after the Hussein son thing- they said they'd keep a closer eye out, but didn't feel there was anything there to necessitate changing their 'color scheme'...BUT then there are those pesky blacked out 28 pages on the Saudis...and those 16 words in that State of the Union address...and things really aren't going too swell in Iraq...and it's almost 2 years and still no Osama, not even a Mommar...and we're still losing jobs...and the economy's still in the crapper... Cover it up?? What for?? They have their secret weapon...Bushie Double-Speak. Guaranteed to confuse...even themselves!!
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Post by WallabyTed on Aug 14, 2003 5:13:02 GMT -5
Hmmmmmmmmm! Yep. Well it seems I was on the right track: Today's local rag: BUSHFIRE TERROR PLAN Australian authorities have received reports al-Qaeda planned to start bushfires in a new wave of terror attacks. An FBI memo to US law enforcement agencies revealed a senior al-Qaeda detainee claimed to have developed a plan to start summer forest fires in the US. The terrorist hoped to mimic the fires that devastated Canberra last summer, killing four people and destroying more than 500 homes. A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Daryl Williams said the Government was aware of the reports and had investigated the threat.
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Post by SanAntonioMike on Aug 15, 2003 13:09:42 GMT -5
I'm far more terrified of common people run amok than actual terrorists. People who fly off the handle when an "alert" sounds and end up shooting anyone with dark skin. There's been a rash of hit-and-run cases in the Phoenix area lately -- people just mow kids down and leave 'em to die in the street, and they can't catch these people. I worry a lot more about times when my soon-to-be-10-year-old daughter is out of our sight, but I can't smother her with constant attention. Bad enough she can't even leave school grounds until someone properly identified as in charge of her picks her up (same with my son, who's several years younger). Nope, terrorist are pretty far down on my list of worries. If they get us, they get us. At this point, I think for a change we've done something to deserve it.
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