RED ALERT!! RED ALERT!!

[mburbank]

Hey, did you all know the country is on Red alert? Remember the color coded Homeland security warning thingummy? Come on, you remember. It's on Red. RED fellas. I don't think it has ever been on red before.

[mburbank]

Wait, no, hang on. Not the whole country. The whole country is on... well maybe we don't do the whole country as one color anymore. It's just the aviation system that's on Red (OR HIGHEST) terror alert. And not the whole aviation system. Just flights between the USA and England. No, sorry, just FROM london to the USA. I haven't found out yet if the terror alert for other aspects of the country even has a color anymore. I think out terrifiedness is best percived as a sort of heat index weather map. More as te story develops.

[mburbank]

"In addition, the threat level has been raised to "high," or orange for all commercial flights operating in or coming to the United States, the DHS said.

The nation's overall terror threat level has not been altered."
-CNN

Flippancy aside, England says this was a serious plot, mass murder of an unimaginable scale was planned, and it was well on it's way to happening.

Chertoff said it's 'reminiscent' of Al Quaeda, and that he is very skinny and may in fact be the grim reaper.

[mburbank]

"Due to the nature of the threat revealed by this investigation, we are prohibiting any liquids, including beverages, hair gels, and lotions from being carried on the airplane," a DHS statement said.

"Travelers should go about their plans confidently, while maintaining vigilance in their surroundings and exercising patience with screening and security officials," Chertoff said.


Maybe it's me, but if we are raising the terror level on flights to red, or HIGHEST and Britains alert level is IMMENENT, maybe travelers should DELAY their plans. Especially if your business is hair gel related.

[Miss Modular]

They still do this stuff?

[mburbank]

Who, terrorists or the Department of Homeland Security?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Yeah, you do this stuff when you foil what would've been the most expansive and well coordinated attack to date.

Yeah, you do these things.

[mburbank]

Okay, while the involvement of the British government makes me add more credence than I would if it were Chertoff on his own announcing it, I'd wait a few hours before assesing 'would've been the most expansive and well coordinated attack to date.'

Also, either it might be 'the most expansive and well coordinated attack to date.' in which case I'd like to think the Govt would like to recommend a little more caution than 'go about your business confidently' I think if it could have been 'the most expansive and well coordinated attack to date.' and the British and Chertoff agree that there's no way of knowing if they've foiled the entire plot yet, It would be advisable to not fly until you know a little more about what's going on.


or there's some hyperbole going on here, and 'going about your buisiness confidently is okay.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Scotland Yard believes (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4778575.stm) that the "main players" have all been detained. Most international flights have been either delayed or cancelled anyway.

And they can't say they foiled the whole thing b/c they just can't know that right now. Security has been jacked up everywhere (national Guard are now in Boston).

That doesn't mean everyone should go into "oh shit!" panic mode, and bring everything involving planes and travel to a halt. That's, uh, kind of what these guys were going for.

[sspadowsky]

I think they should tell everyone to panic. Shit's getting boring around here.

[ItalianStereotype]

there's really no making you happy, is there max

[mburbank]

I think going to the highest level of terror alert could be kind of frightening. One might even say terrifying. Which, gramatically, is the aim of terrorists.

As I said, I take it more seriously coming from Scotland yard than from our own administration that has a track record of hyperbole, curious timing and useless advice. Why? Because I blame America first, which means at very most I can only blame England second, which is less blame

Anyway, I'm very glad they got caught by whoever caught them. As for how advanced the plot ws and at what point we knew about it, Chertoff says we'll need to wait for weeks, even months to know. I'm guessing mid November.

[mburbank]

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/US/08/10/us.security/newt1.terror15.ap.jpg

[El Blanco]

Is that carry on, or will he have to check it in?

[Abcdxxxx]

what's the issue? you don't like the color code alerts? you don't like the alerts at all? you don't want to think about the possibility all these imminent attack threats? you don't believe there's a real threat? you're jealous of people travelling with well groomed hair? what exactly are you mocking here? does your cynicism even have a point anymore?

[mburbank]

In the miami dade airport, the cast of "Reno 911" has apparently been given some serious ordinance.

[kinot]

Is Fox News the only news channel that shows the Terror Alert on their ticker? GUYS WE'RE AT AMBER ALERT HERE LOCK YOUR CHILDREN IN THE CABINETS.

[El Blanco]

I prefer the refrigerator. I think its so much safer.

[Azrael]

Is Fox News the only news channel that shows the Terror Alert on their ticker? GUYS WE'RE AT AMBER ALERT HERE LOCK YOUR CHILDREN IN THE CABINETS.

Wait, aren't children supposed to be locked in the cabinet anyways?

Yeah, Faux Nooze is the only channel to do the terror alerts on screen, for they are the only ones who think people give a damn about a Government manufactured fear tactic.

[mburbank]

Abbi, it isn't cyncicism, it's anti-semitism.

Frued says we laugh at what we are afraid of. But he was a Jew, which I guess means he had to laugh a lot, like me.

If I stop laughing at terror alerts, then the terrorists have won. I'm going about my business, just as Michael Chertoff advised. As I type this, I'm pretty much right under the flight path of plains coming from England to Boston, and yes, I beleive the terrorist threat is real, and has been since ye olde 9/11, during which time I've spent every workday sitting undr the same flightpath. My business as usual is laughing at absurdity. Mea culpa.

Here is my cycnical prediction based on recent history. It will turn out that American intelligence had little or nothing to do with this thwarting, which will turn out out to have been accomplished almost entirely by Brit and it looks like some Paskistani intelligence. The degree to which we turn out to have been uninvolved will initially be kept a secret, but will venetually come out. In the meantime, the administration will fear monger and talk about how spying without warrants and holding people indeffinitely without charge is more neccesary now than ever, and when it turns out that these tatics had zippo to do with it, they'll say "All we meant was it coulda if it had". If the fear pony can be ridden through the November elections it will be.

I don't think there isn't anything to be afraid of. That's not what I'm cynical about. I'm cynical about the way the administration uses fear.

Oh, and I feel less afraid of scray stuff when I make fun of it. Sort of the same way bombast, bluster and superiority make other people feel less afraid.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Yeah, Faux Nooze is the only channel to do the terror alerts on screen, for they are the only ones who think people give a damn about a Government manufactured fear tactic.

You're an idiot.

[Azrael]

Yeah, Faux Nooze is the only channel to do the terror alerts on screen, for they are the only ones who think people give a damn about a Government manufactured fear tactic.

You're an idiot.

I didn't say the terrorists are manufactured, I said the Government uses the "Coded Alert System" to prey upon the publics fears.

And anyone who watches Faux Nooze is the true idiot.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

yEAh, man@!

btw, I love people who talk out of both sides of their mouth.

"The terrorists are very real, but I think the government's attempt to warn people of terrorist activity is a manipulative tool intended to make people scared.....of, um, the terrorists, who are real, and scary, but not deserving of a government fear mechanism."

?

What would you prefer, that the government say nothing?

[kinot]

I watch Fox News because it's like a Daily Show marathon. Oh Bill O'Reilly! You make me LOL!