# Homeland Stupidity **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-stupidity/364362 "2006-07-13T18:42:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-stupidity/364362/1 "2006-07-13T18:42:36Z")
An interesting [site](http://www.homelandstupidity.us/) that details the way Homeland Security is “helping” to protect us. Such as this little gem: > [@](#): > > “A civil authority has issued a civil emergency message for the following counties/areas: Fairfield CT, Nassau NY, Suffolk NY, Suffolk NY, New Haven CT, Middlesex CT, New London CT, Suffolk NY, Suffolk NY, Fairfield CT, New Haven CT, Middlesex CT, and New London CT at 8:45 AM on Jul 12, 2006 effective until 2:45 PM.” > > This is your federal government’s Emergency Alert System in action. > The tristate area suffered severe thunderstorms and tornadoes Wednesday afternoon, prompting the National Weather Service to issue warnings and alerts that morning. > One of them was for a boat missing on Long Island Sound, and that alert was mistakenly forwarded to the Emergency Alert System. From there it somehow turned into a “civil emergency” and ran on local radio and television stations, without any detail as to the nature of the supposed emergency. > > “It was a technical glitch, we believe it was a software glitch,” said David Wally, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y. “Proper procedure appeared to be followed here by the staff. It was supposed to be transmitted only over NOAA radio.” As the article goes on to show, the plan is, very soon, I might add, to rollout a system which will send just those kind of alerts to your cellphone. Won’t _that_ be handy? Having your cellphone go off in the middle of the night to let you know that something, somewhere, might be going wrong. Or not. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-stupidity/364362/2 "2006-07-14T01:00:52Z")
Our local news station is running a story about how DHS has awarded grants for protecting possible terrorist targets. One of the supposed targets is a large Ant Farm. Yes, that’s right. The “terrists” could be targeting your ant farm. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-stupidity/364362/3 "2006-07-14T01:54:06Z")
[QUOTE=pullin] Yes, that’s right. The “terrists” could be targeting your ant farm. [/QUOTE] Nothing is sacred this days… _Leaves the room mumbling and shaking the head_ ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-stupidity/364362/4 "2006-07-14T02:34:10Z")
> [@](#): > > A civil authority has issued a civil emergency message for the following counties/areas: **Fairfield CT** , Nassau NY, _Suffolk NY, Suffolk NY_, New Haven CT, Middlesex CT, _ **New London CT** _, _Suffolk NY, Suffolk NY_, **Fairfield CT** , New Haven CT, Middlesex CT, and New London CT at 8:45 AM on Jul 12, 2006 effective until 2:45 PM.” (bolding, underscore and italics mine) How many counties have the same names in this area ? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-stupidity/364362/5 "2006-07-14T02:48:40Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] As the article goes on to show, the plan is, very soon, I might add, to rollout a system which will send just those kind of alerts to your cellphone. Won’t _that_ be handy? Having your cellphone go off in the middle of the night to let you know that something, somewhere, might be going wrong. Or not. [/QUOTE] This point in and of itself may well be pit worthy. There needs to be some “opt out” provision in this thing. I don’t want the federales ringing my cell phone any time some freaking agency decides something bad might happen. This is why Karana gives us CNN. If aliens are landing in my city, I’m confident the noise will wake me in time to fetch my weapons and earn a ticket to Valhalla. Otherwise, it can wait until morning. Also wondering who is going to pay for the air time Uncle Sugar is using up to notify me that the national threat level has changed from “Uh-oh” to “Dammit”… ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-stupidity/364362/6 "2006-07-14T05:27:07Z")
[QUOTE=Oakminster] This point in and of itself may well be pit worthy. There needs to be some “opt out” provision in this thing. I don’t want the federales ringing my cell phone any time some freaking agency decides something bad might happen. [/QUOTE] How else are you going to know that GW is on the job, protecting you from harm? The only equivalent that I can think of the irrational response to 9/11 was the reaction to Orson Welles’ MercuryTheater[_The War Of The Worlds._](http://www.transparencynow.com/welles.htm) ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-stupidity/364362/7 "2006-07-14T07:23:30Z")
[New York Times article](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/washington/12assets.html?ex=1310356800&en=cc30917c1be539b5&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss) on the subject. Take heart: they are also protecting the beach at the end of the street.