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Homeland Security... kind of reminds me of another time and
der Faderland Security. When will we be issued our
"Brown Shirts" ? the BEST Defence is to be "aware" ,
personally I think 9/11 made many Americans more aware,which as Martha would say, "that's a Good thing."

73 to all kc4wms
My Webpage

 

Anyone who thinks that in order to be a patriot, you must believe that the government can do no wrong, has a very warped view of what patriotism is all about.

No one can dispute that the laws in this country are a lot tougher than they were twenty years ago. Even before 9/11/01 this was so. Penalties have greatly increased, new restrictions have been enacted, enforcement tactics have become more aggressive
(violent), surveillance of the public is at a level unprecedented in human history, and incarceration has become a profitable growth industry.

I can’t think of a single hobby or interest I have which is not adversely affected by government regulation. In my radio hobby, I have seen the chilling effect ECPA 1986 has had on hobbyist data stream decoding projects. Hell, with sale of the 5 gallon toilet now banned, and the poorly operating 2.5 gallon mandated, you can’t even go to the bathroom anymore without government interference!

Is all this a proper response to increased crime? Those who think like that have no right to call themselves lovers of freedom. Some in this country have their minds constricted by a need to find some justification for everything the government does, no matter how outrageous. The rest of us, however, can plainly see what is going on. It is the nature of government to grow. As our government grows, it continues to expand itself into new areas, it imposes more and more restrictions on the people, and it requires an ever increasing amount of capital, extracted from us, to operate. The bottom line, we are inching our way to totalitarianism.

I love my country, and I can’t think of a greater way to show my love than to raise public awareness for excesses in our government. There may not be enough voices demanding change to get our lost liberties restored this very day, but our numbers are constantly increasing, as every day new people wake up to what is going on.

 

I think one has to be vigilate of both the enemies of our country and what government is doing. Our forefathers were very wise men.

Benjamin Franklin, before the Constitutional Convention, June 2, 1787.
"... as all history informs us, there has been in every State & Kingdom a constant kind of warfare between the governing & governed: the one striving to obtain more for its support, and the other to pay less. And this has alone occasioned great convulsions, actual civil wars, ending either in dethroning of the Princes, or enslaving of the people. Generally indeed the ruling power carries its point, the revenues of princes constantly increasing, and we see that they are never satisfied, but always in want of more. The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes; the greater need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans and pay the troops that are to suppress all resistance, and enable him to plunder at pleasure. There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh, get first all the peoples money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants for ever ..."

 

To M3TMC:

You brits seem to forget that but for AMERICANS like my father, that fought and were wounded defending your little kingdom, you brits would be goose-stepping to Da Furer today as part of Da Fatherland.

Just remember that thought the next time you EVEN THINK about criticizing the country that saved your tea swilling, crumpet eating fannys!

 

Trying to get this thread back on topic might prove impossible, but here goes.

The Homeland Security Alert system is really designed to assist local authorities to understand what actions they need to take based on the best assessment of the threat level at the time.  

For example, there are different actions that a Red Cross chapter is required to take at each change of a threat level and similar recommnedations for a local emergency management agency or police force.  It is very similar to the way we used to use DEFCON status in the military and the way Threat Condition is used there today.

Also, the Terrorist Threat conditions are not always the same nationwide or for US interests overseas.  For example, NYC has been at the equivalent of Orange for the past year.

I can assure you we folks in Emergency Management do monitor the status and are alerted when it changes.  My pager alerts me when it changes, so I personally do not need a web page banner.  I suspect it will continue to be a big news item when it changes, so most people will find out that way.

73

Gary, K2GW
SNJ SEC

 

6--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (W9WHE @ Oct. 23 2002,076)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">To M3TMC:

You brits seem to forget that but for AMERICANS like my father, that fought and were wounded defending your little kingdom, you brits would be goose-stepping to Da Furer today as part of Da Fatherland.

Just remember that thought the next time you EVEN THINK about criticizing the country that saved your tea swilling, crumpet eating fannys![/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Then you are lucky to have a farther come back from the war! Almost all the males in our family was killed in the war. The ones that didnt worked down the mines.

My comment was meant as a light hearted comment not meant to offend. You however have offended.

 

I live 6 miles from Ft. Drum, NY..One of the army's largest military bases by land area, home of the 10th Mountain Division.. One of the most deployed units in the U.S. Army.

I have an office on Ft. Drum, I am on base weekly and although I can in no means speak for FEMA or the Army, I can say that there are very few areas of the post that I haven't seen in the last few months (except for the ranges and impact areas) and I have seen no evidence of anything that remotely resembles a concentration camp.

The closest thing I can think of that would even remotely make a person think anything along those lines is the fact that it's a secure base now and they require military or civilian employee ID for entry. This was not so a little over a year ago when people could come and go as they pleased, which even then was unusual for a military installation.

As for the threat level color coding, your right, it doesn't mean much to the average person and there isn't much the average person can do about terrorist attack. I do know that when that threat level hits that icky level 4 orange color you see most military installations and federal facilities tighten security also. For example, prior to and on the anniversary of 9/11 when it went to orange(4)  you were greeted at the Ft. Drum gates by MP's with M16's (Military ThreatCon Charlie) or encountered Hummvee's with .50cal's(Military ThreatCon Delta) who looked more than happy to be searching every vehicle that entered instead of the typical pistol toting smiley MP's.

Last I checked QRZ was a podium for amateur radio communications and related topics. So lets turn this into one... Anyone thought of using the alert level as an indicator that it might be a good time to put that go-kit together and toss it in your vehicle for RACES/ARES use if you haven't already?

73'
KC2JKQ

1/Lt. Fredric D. Letson, EMT, CAP
Medical Officer,
Ft. Drum Composite Squadron - Civil Air Patrol
(U.S. Air Force Auxiliary)

 

Begging the Leiutenants pardon, but the subject was homeland security alerts. Some expressed their feelings of such on this podium. "OO-RA!"

Sgt
United States Army
R.A. (thats Regular Army for those that don't remember the draft.)
Military Police Corp
(retired of course..)

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (W9WHE @ Oct. 23 2002,07<!--emo&:0)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">To M3TMC:

You brits seem to forget that but for AMERICANS like my father, that fought and were wounded defending your little kingdom, you brits would be goose-stepping to Da Furer today as part of Da Fatherland.

Just remember that thought the next time you EVEN THINK about criticizing the country that saved your tea swilling, crumpet eating fannys![/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Someone can't take a joke...

 

A news article released today states, among other things, that the next terrorist attack could be worse than 9/11. Note the 4th paragraph, especially how it refers to how complacency among Americans is actually giving terrorists the upper hand (something us Americans are good at...lapsing into an apathetic coma only to our detriment).

It's sad to say, but if this thread started right after 9/11/01, I'm sure the vast majority of replies would have been those in support of any effort to curb another attack on this great nation...but look at it now.

Too many people pointing their fingers in order to soothe their conscience. I wonder when we will actually take these threats seriously...the next time..maybe??

73s
Pete

 

It’s sometimes hard to take this whole war on terrorism seriously.

Take Iraq for instance - its no secret Cheney and Bush are real gun ho (no pun intended) to change the regime there, but at the same time Iraq has no real solid links to Al Quaeda other then the fact that they are Arabic in origin.

Meanwhile Al Quaeda has struck in Indonesia and the Philippians. That’s bad, but its still Iraq we want.

North Korea is developing nuclear weapons. No-one seems to mind there being nuclear weapons in South Korea, and Japan - both intended to contain North Korea. Even then we are talking about it, but no-one's shipping massive amounts of arms to the Korean peninsula in the same sense we are shipping massive amounts of arms to the Middle East - specifically to bases near Iraq. I dunno - which is worse? A country that has demonstrated its own missile capability (N. Korea) or a country that's only demonstrated missile capability are 1960’s Russian made scud missile.

We think we can make this better - it would be nice if we could, but more often then not the more we mess with things abroad the more it seems to mess things up. Just remember - Iraq's chemical weapon capability, Osama Bin Laden, the Situation in Indonesia, (I could go on forever) were all solutions made in America to deal with our enemies or to establish peace.

 

I've been running a free alert list for Pennsylvanians for about 2 years now (http://www.PA-SitRep.com).  Immediately following the 9/11 attacks, I received several feedback e-mails from some of my subscribers thanking me for providing the service.  Several folks who had the alerts delivered to their cell phones stated that if they hadn't received the alerts on their phones, they would have been unaware of the unfolding events.

If something REALLY major should ever happen, alert lists like the one you referred to, and mine, could be life-saving services.  

Additionally, I couldn't help but think of the utility of these alert lists as they relate to manhunts, especially as I was following the so-called MD/VA Sniper case.

I'm in the process of setting up an alert list for the township in which I live.  Hopefully we don't have to use it often, but in the event of a major emergency situation, our township EMA will be able to reach all subscribers within seconds and will be able to keep the residents up to date with local emergency situations.

We need more citizen involvement in Homeland Security and these lists are one step in the right direction.

73

-David Kleber, KB3FXI
www.PA-SitRep.com

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (kd7rto @ Oct. 23 2002,05:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><SNIP>
Is all this a proper response to increased crime?  Those who think like that have no right to call themselves lovers of freedom.  Some in this country have their minds constricted by a need to find some justification for everything the government does, no matter how outrageous.  The rest of us, however, can plainly see what is going on.  It is the nature of government to grow.   As our government grows, it continues to expand itself into new areas, it imposes more and more restrictions on the people, and it requires an ever increasing amount of capital, extracted from us, to operate.  The bottom line, we are inching our way to totalitarianism.

I love my country, and I can’t think of a greater way to show my love than to raise public awareness for excesses in our government.  There may not be enough voices demanding change to get our lost liberties restored this very day, but our numbers are constantly increasing, as every day new people wake up to what is going on.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Very well said!

What sets this country apart (or at least what once set us apart) is our Constitution and the fact that we were a nation of laws (read: Constitution) and not men.

It's high time the average citizen regains this understanding before it's too late.

73

-Dave, KB3FXI
www.PA-SitRep.com

 

I think the reason we seem to have double standards are because we are insecure. We watch the evening news and what do we see? Not whats actually happening but a news story about how the next terrorist attack is going to be even worse then the last one. Or the latest criminal threat to our society – like snipers its funny in a way - while one person was shot by a sniper 4 or 5 were shot that same day in other parts of the country. Each story perpetuates the problem.

I thought it was funny after 9/11 and the first anthrax scare many people were out buying gas masks so they would be safe. But they were those old army style ones (m17's and the like) which are only suited for nerve gas - not anthrax and other kinds of chemical warfare. Mass hysteria - even though there wasn't much we could do about it – I can’t afford the full body suite to protect myself against anthrax. And the media reported on every sale (I still have visions of people grabbing for obsolete gas masks in various stores around town - shown on television)

Here's a collection of political cartoons that appeared in several different newspapers to prove my point. http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/HowToDrawGasMask/main.asp

That’s not all that happened - post offices and sorting centers bought sterilizing equipment (and the companies that made this stuff got rich). Result - no-one died of anthrax after that. Then again - what was it - like 3 people died from this? Also now every time I go into the post office I am greeted with a poster that shows me how I can be safe opening my mail (basically watch out for greasy looking packages and poorely lettered address labels - and I kid you not)

Now if a terrorist wants to use the mail to kill Americans they have to up the stakes. Will the next mail-based attack be worse? Yup - only because they have to devise a scheme to get past the current safeguards.

Same with airplanes - the first hijackings were pretty simple - put a gun in your coat and hop on board. The one on 9/11 was considerably more devious - use a razor blade to take over the plane and instead of landing it and negotiating do something else. I suppose you could use anything to kill someone - the heel on your shoe, a sharp pen - whatever. Will the next major plane related hijacking be worse? You bet - only because we have upped the stakes for what you'd need to do to take over a plane.

Preemptively striking other countries that may pose a threat to our security, supporting governments and regimes that serve our interest is another measure to keep us feeling secure. Only now our government isn't so quiet about it anymore.

The only solution to this problem is to start viewing each other like brothers and sisters and to stop this cycle of fear.

 

dave i looked on fema's web site and found nothing about the camps you have spoke of , how about giveing us a direct url , or more details on where to find the correct link on fema's page !!