# Now the Gummint is Just Screwing with Our Heads **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628 "2003-02-12T19:32:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/1 "2003-02-12T19:32:26Z")
WASHINGTON (AP) - Air defenses around the nation’s capital have been strengthened amid a heightened terrorism alert and a warning from CIA director George Tenet that al-Qaida attacks could occur as early as this week, defense officials said Wednesday. “The intelligence is not idle chatter on the part of terrorists and their associates,” Tenet said Tuesday. “ **It is the most specific we have seen** , and it is consistent with both our knowledge of al-Qaida’s doctrine and our knowledge of plots this network - and particularly its senior leadership - has been working on for years.” . . . **Tenet said the U.S. government has no specific information** pointing conclusively to where, when or how terrorists would strike. They said raising the national alert level - and taking security measures at government and business centers - makes it more difficult for the terrorists to carry out an attack. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/2 "2003-02-12T19:54:18Z")
Why do I picture George Tenet doing the “air quotes” thing as he says phrases like “it is the most specific we have seen” ? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/3 "2003-02-12T23:21:34Z")
Paraphrasing Senator Daschle, … When all the new Homeland Security Department can recommend to Americans about protecting themselves is plastic wrap and duct tape … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/4 "2003-02-12T23:52:12Z")
well duckster, i have to protect my bed with plastic wrap and duct tape due to a cat thinking it is a comfy place to pee… perhaps the terrorist are gonna pee everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/5 "2003-02-13T00:09:17Z")
Yeah agree wholeheartedly **Eve**. They are totally messing with our heads. ---
**Author:** ![petcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@petcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petcat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/6 "2003-02-13T00:13:27Z")
> [@](#): > > They said raising the national alert level - and taking security measures at government and business centers - makes it more difficult for the terrorists to carry out an attack. Gee, it also raises the amount of noise Congress has to hear from “alerted” state and local forces who need more money to prepare. They better hurry up and release that homeland security funding! And while we’re at it, we better [repeal everybody’s constitutional rights](http://publicintegrity.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=502&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0) because we’re fighting to protect **freedom**. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/7 "2003-02-13T01:41:45Z")
If you have enough time to seal up your doors and windows with duct tape, you have enough time to get in the car and _get the fuck outta there!_ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/8 "2003-02-13T03:24:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\*If you have enough time to seal up your doors and windows with duct tape, you have enough time to get in the car and _get the fuck outta there!_ :rolleyes: \*\* You’re missing the point. If everybody got in their cars and got the fuck outta there (wherever there is), they might get in the way of the **important** people getting the fuck outta there. This way, all us peons will sit tight in our “safe rooms” until the VIPs are tucked away in their bunkers. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/9 "2003-02-13T03:51:02Z")
Apparently duct tape is not only the handyman’s secret weapon, it’s also Tom Ridge’s. I’ll buy into this whole duct tape and plastic sheeting being effective crap when I see a Red Green-style protective bubble of duct tape and sheeting wrapped around the White House and other national treasures. Lead by example there, Dubya. Maybe Trojan Condoms could sponsor the protection of the Washington Monument to offset the cost to the federal government. What’s next a slick marketing campaign by the Ad Council to bring back 'Duck and Cover!"? ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/10 "2003-02-13T04:12:40Z")
Duct tape… and cover?? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/11 "2003-02-13T05:51:40Z")
I saw _Rent_ last night, and one line from the show seems appropriate: “I’m a New Yorker, fear’s my life!” We’ll pack up all our junk and fly so far away/ devote ourselves to projects that sell/ we’ll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe/ forget this cold bohemian hell ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-the-gummint-is-just-screwing-with-our-heads/154628/12 "2003-02-13T05:57:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OttoDaFe \* > \*\*You’re missing the point. If everybody got in their cars and got the fuck outta there (wherever there is), they might get in the way of the **important** people getting the fuck outta there. This way, all us peons will sit tight in our “safe rooms” until the VIPs are tucked away in their bunkers. \*\* And I only wish I could dismiss this as cynicism. It’s likely the truth. One news channel did an interesting follow-up on the congressional anthrax scare. They compared what they did for the Senators and their staff to the paltry, untimely steps they took to protect and reassure the postal workers who handled the mail at the substation the mail came through. It was enough to make you scream.