This has gotten so predictable, it’s almost funny…
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/08/ridge.alqaeda/index.html
From paragraph 2:
"No new specific intelligence exists…"
So, will the American people jump like trained poodles and buy vast amounts of duct tape and plastic sheeting now? Hmm… let’s look at Bush’s poll numbers:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Presidential_Tracking_Poll.htm
Fucking ridiculous…
I thought the same thing when I saw it. But it seems a bit early. I would have thought they would have pulled this out in the Fall. Unless, of course, they plan on racheting up the warnings all the way until November.
But maybe there is merit to it. The cynic in me says no. If anything, I think the office that is in charge of alerts and warnings has to be made apolitical and insulated from politics.
No shit? I thought they were fucking baking cookies and making pot holders. In other news:
[ul]
[li]The sky is blue[/li][li]Osama Bin Laden still hates America[/li][li]French people like cheese[/li][li]So do Wisconsonians[/li][li]Al Qaeda is, was and always will be planning attacks on the US[/li][li]The Dept. of Homeland Security is a fucking joke[/li][/ul]
okay, now I’m kinda wondering…
Do you think it was to get the picture of Ken Lay in handcuffs off the front of every news web page?
Ahem
That’s Wisconsites to you, bub.
/aside
Given the disgraceful amounts of cronyism the administration has already displayed, I see no reason to assume why the DHS should be any less apolitical and agenda driven than any other agency that derives the bulk of its powers from the actions/legal interpretations/predations of Bush & Co.
I expect to see them manipulate the American people mercilessly until the election, with vague and non-specific threats that grow increasingly more strident and more frequent as we move towards the election; I fully expect that the majority of these ‘alarms’ and ‘warnings’ will just happen to correspond to major election events or information that could damage the Republlicans and the administration.
Not to say that there isn’t substantial basis for some of these warnings - I have no doubt that Al Qaeda is in the process of planning major attacks, and that many, many people in local, state and federal government as working desperately to stop it.
However, given the past actions, lies, and gross manipulation of the American public to date, I would put nothing beyond Carl Rove and his minions of propaganda.
Oh, crap, this is the Pit. Okay, here goes:
Fuck the adminstration and their propaganda machine. To quote a new tune I’m working on:
lyrics
How much blood are we gonna spill?
How many Iraqi’s do we gotta kill?
How many Marines are going up that hill
To catpure that oil for Jesus?
You got your fat cat no bid government contracts
And you really don’t care who knows it
Propaganda machines working overtime
And it doesn’t really matter who shows it
'Cause no matter which way those pundits spin it
The liberal media’s the ones to blame
Heaven forbid that you might talk straight
Shame ain’t part of your game.
lyrics
Many more verses coming soon - i’m guessing I can get Reeder, Elucidator, Muffin and Olentzero to join me in the chorus…
From the article:
Well… okay… just make sure you let me know when to be panicked and paralyzed, all right?
Umm…
There is no need to ratchet warnings all the way up till November. Just fire them off at opportune times.
For example, when John Kerry is on the front page of every newspaper and news website because he did something like, say, chose a Veep.
I can’t have been the only person to hear pretty much every single news analyst pointing out that the Pubbies would do absolutely anything to get some screen time this week.
Perhaps we could start a thread (would it be right for GD or GQ?) figuring out major media/campaigning milestones and predicting the dates the terror alerts would attempt to return the focus back to the current administration’s awesome record in the [echo effect]War On Terror![/echo effect].
The question is, will they raise it when the Democratic Convention comes up, the Republican Convention, both, or neither?
I’m guessing on just one of the two, but I can’t figure out which would be more manipulative of them. Probably the Dem convention, but I’m just not that good in predicting the future.
-Joe, prophet/pundit
Let’s see, terrorists by nature strike you when you least expect it. So doesn’t that make the terror threat level actually a contrarian indicator as to just how likely a terrorist strike might be?
Of course. But I think you misunderstand the use of the term “terror”, cc. The terror indicator is actually indicating the level of terror the administration wants US to be experiencing.
Jeez, when they want to deflect attention can’t they just follow convention and lob a couple of cruise missles?
If I were a psychic, and claimed a “success” for this prediction,Id be laughed out of these boards. The OP says, in effect, “Yep - right on schedule – another terror warning, just as I thought.”
Congratulations on correctly predicting the issuance of another warning after it happened, and using language that suggests it was obvious to you ahead of time – the obvious inference being that its timing is a matter of politics and propaganda, rather than actual intelligence information.
Of course, the usual bleatng herd has chimed in to agree.
However, let’s see how true this really is.
When will the NEXT terror alert be? I’d like specifics, please, the same sort of specifics that we, a board of skeptics, would hold a claimed psychic to for any predicitions.
Should be no problem, judging by the tone of the OP. So - let’s have it. If this is “right on schedule,” you must have some sense of what the schedule is. When’s the next one?
Hmm… my crystal ball tells me that:
Terror alerts:
End of August (to coincide with the RNC)
October at orange level of alert (at least)
International Events:
End of July brouhaha over either:
</end transmission>
This little morsel cracks my shit up: http://www.whitehouse.org/news/2004/070604.asp
Predictions:
The Day after the Democratic Convention Begins–27 July
The Day before the General Election–1 November
The Day after indictments are issued in the Valerie Plame outing(I predict 6 August).
How’s that?
I hear that good ol’ Aesop is looking to update his famous fable and make it ‘The Agency that Cried Al Qaeda’.
Oh, the depths of corrupt perfidy that freedom-haters will go to in order to denigrate the Shining One! (“Freedonia” is France, right, RT?)
Besides that, it ruthlessly slurs Pakistan, one of the most democratic and freedom-loving military dictatorships ever! Musharaff holds a proud position in the pantheon of noble allies of the USA! Franco, Pinochet, Uguarte, Trujillo - all have their honored positions, and are justly revered for their firm handed approach to governance.
But have any of these held power in a nation that conducted a nuclear Tupperware party, freely dispensing atomic info to noble, peace-loving regimes such as Libya and N. Korea! You may be sure that if there were anything untoward, anything injurious to international peace, GeeBubbya would have sternly rebuked the miscreant! The simple fact that he has not is proof positive that Pakistan’s experiment in nuclear entreprenuership is wholesome, Godly, and 100% hokey-dokey.
I can only hope that Gen. Musharaff is not cognizant of these boards, it would be pain me deeply to see such a noble and courageous heart wounded by the slurs of freedom-hating scoundrels, such as yourself!
Pretty good, but I’m thinking we’ll get a heightened terror alert at least 2 weeks before the election. Not because the evil Bush administration is trying to steal the election. Al Qaeda has already attacked in Spain just before their election, which many people believe altered the outcome of that election. AQ’s leaders surely believe that. We all would have to stick our heads in some very deep sand to not think they’d try the same thing here.
You people are so fucking paranoid it’s both scary and hilarious.
So by not running out to buy duct tape, enough plastic sheeting to open our own circus and a solar-powered water distillery, now *we’re * the ones that are paranoid?
No, you’re both paranoid, though one of you is at least taking steps to quell a neurotic fear. How appropriate that your argument is called a False Dilemma.