A couple of days ago, the local post office was shut down because of a letter covered with an “unknown” powder. I live in a small western KY town, so why the hell would any terrorist send anthrax here?
Anyway, it turned out that it was a practical joke played by a couple of stupid college girls who wanted to scare a girl in there dorm. I am embarassed for humanity. WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING? HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE? I just want to meet these dumb bitches and give them a good bitch-slap.
(I don’t condone violence against women, just against morons.)
I’m afraid I can’t find a cite for it right now, but I heard on the radio either yesterday or today that new legislation is being considered that would make anthrax mail hoaxes punishable with a sentence of up to life in prison. They’re taking this stuff veeeeeery seriously. Those girls were pretty fucking stupid. I hope they have good attorneys.
it’s not the war on drugs, it’s the war on people abusing our emergency systems by playing practical jokes. it’s illegal to prank call 911, and this should be illegal, too.
and i think the penalties should be heavy. maybe not life in prison, that does seem harsh, but something so that people will start fucking thinking twice before they pull this crap.
When people engage in these hoaxes, they are engaging in terrorism. By definition, terrorism is not designed to destroy hard, military targets, but to instill fear in the entire populace, making every single one of us a victim, to some degree. When dumb-asses do things like this, they contribute to the terroristic cause, regardless of their nationality, motivation, or intent. They kill a little of each of us, even if they don’t kill a single, whole human being.
I hope they DON’T have good attorneys. Fuck 'em. Let them rot. Maybe not for life, but several years in prison seems about right. They’re terrorists, through and through.
We’re at war people, whether or not one has been officially declared. Anthrax hoaxes seem like treason to me. They’re lucky we don’t string their asses up from the nearest tree.
We had an anthrax scare at my rural second-rate Mississippi state land-grant college.
A professor called the police in near-hysterics because she found a white powder…
wait for it folks…
next to her…
guessed it yet?
CHALKBOARD.
:rolleyes:
People who do this sort of thing on purpose need to be bitch-slapped, but so do STUPID PEOPLE who let fear get in the way of their (probably already sparse) common sense.
Some guy in Chicago tried a similar stunt on his roomate. He sent a letter with powder in it and expected to be home when his roomate opened it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be at home, and the roomate called the police.
Apparently, there is some new law in Chicago that says you can go to jail for 3 years for this kind of behaviour. Yikes. Do not fuck around right now, people - it’s not worth it! We’re under Martial Law, regardless of what W says about ‘maintaining a normal life style’.
The Mayor is talking about charging him the full cost for the emergency services, as well, IIRC.
I live in Boca Raton, and work across the street from the building that was first hit by anthrax. Nobody can explain why the hell we were hit. We are not a big city. The building was offices for tabloids, for Christ’s sake.
Actually, my theory is they were trying to infect the actual papers, which are sold all over the country in supermarkets next to our food. They just hit the wrong building.
Man what a wussy ass city. Usually its 5-10 years and like a 100,000$ fine + expenses. I think the main thing, is that never before have Americans had to deal with are REAL crisis so all these laws we’ve had are suddenly becoming big news.
Martial Law??? WTF? IT WAS NEVER LEGAL TO MAKE TERRORISTT HOAXES. Ya know what they do to you in the airport if you make a bomb joke? (btw really funny to do when you’re 6… what can they do to you?)
Gazoo, you’re a fuckin’ idiot (not that’s any big surprise). Martial law means that the nation is under the rule of the military. Since I haven’t seen tanks on the street, mandatory curfews, suspension of the Bill of Rights, or dissidents being shot in stadiums, I think we may dismiss your “martial law” BS. Putz.
This “white powder” hysteria is asinine, especially coming from people in Ruralville who are not anywhere near targeted areas. I live in the DC area. I saw the Pentagon burning from my office window. One of the actual diagnosed anthrax cases is near my boyfriend’s place, so you can say that I would have some reason for alarm. Am I running around like Chicken Little? No, because I know the damn facts!
Anthrax is not contagious.
It is readily treatable by standard antibiotics.
The incidence of cases is extremely low. There’s been, what, 12 cases or so, with 3 dead? In a large urban area like metro DC, that’s miniscule. I have a better chance of getting hit by a bus walking home from work than I do of catching anthrax. Chill, people!
People in Bumfuck, Mississippi, should stop panicking over a vanishingly low risk.
And thrill-seeking yahoos who phone in fraudulent anthrax alarms are taxing already strained-to-the-breaking-point rescue services. They deserve long jail terms, pour encourager les autres, if nothing else.
Let me expand my “string 'em up to a tree” remark, as I admittedly didn’t elaborate. I am first making the assumption that this could be considered treason (it’s an assumption since I am not an attorney or judge). Unless I’m mistaken, wartime treason is a federal offense punishable by (up to) the death penalty. I did not say we should form a lynch mob and inflict the ultimate punishment on the perpetrator. After due process of the law and conviction, they should be faced with severe punishment. While I don’t believe this particular crime warrants the death penalty, at some other time in American history it probably would have. In many other countries these people definitely would be windchimes if apprehended.
I don’t see treason. I see stupidity. I see wasted time and money. I think the two chicks in this story just need a little bitch-slapping. Hit 'em with a heavy fine or something. I see no reason to toss them into the already grossly over-crowded prison system.
I agree with you on the acts are stupid. And illegal. And expensive to the public. And harmful to the public’s well-being. These are all the things that make the crime worth punishing.
Drunk driving is stupid, in that no logical person would get behind the wheel inebriated and intentionally kill another person, all to save the $10 in cab fare. Murder is stupid, in that no logical person would walk into a convenience store, kill a clerk, take $20 from the register, get arrested, and spend 40 years in prison. In this country, we punish stupidity that affects society as a whole. This is no different.
We need to stop criminalizing “victimless” crimes, like drug possession, prostitution, etc. and use these resources to go after crimes that affect me and my family. This would clear up the logjam you mentioned.
Re: the separatist letter- this was quite interesting reading. I don’t think this was treason, but it should be at the very least political suicide (depending on her constituancy). I’m of the belief that Giulliani did a disservice by refusing to take the money. There are many people in need, and that sum of $ would’ve gone a long way. He should’ve accepted the cash, then throughly and publicly denounced the position the Prince took on the attacks.
People who intentionally perpetrate an anthrax letter hoax need to face some sort of mandatory prison time comensurate with their prior record of convictions. They also need to have a probationary felony conviction so that if they try anything nearly as stupid for the term of their probation they will garner one felony strike on their record.
Diverting emergency resources and increasing public fear in such a malicious fashion is nothing short of criminal and needs to be dealt with in such a fashion. Anyone who thinks that it is some sort of hilarious joke needs a quick visit to the gray bar hotel for a chance to get over their new found sense of humor. People with previously clean records can go to a minimum security facility, but to a facility they must go. This is no time to play fast and loose with what is now a threat to our national security.