Posted on 10/21/2001 10:47:13 AM PDT by MHGinTN
Okay, it's time to get active, Freepers! As Lazamataz has said, 'We are 50,000 strong and a force to be reckoned with.'
He's right, ya know. We are a well connected army of eyes and ears. Here's a few things we can do in this war against terrorists in our country.
First, always take a camera with you when you leave the house to go shopping, take the kids to functions, go to work, in short, whenever you're going to be in the public sector. Why? Because a call to the FBI is one thing, but a call with photographs to document your story is far more with which the FBI or local law enforcement can work.
'Well,' you might say, 'Someone else is doing this, so I don't need to.' No, you and I are the someone else! This is our country. The FBI is under staffed, and I would prefer it stay that way. That means they can use some help in information gathering ... let them do the contact work, while we gather the data, and the better the data the better the contact potentials.
'Okay,' you might say, 'I'll take pictures if I see something my antenna says is suspicious, but what the heck do I do with that?' Well, don't just take pix, make a diary-type reference to your reason for taking the pix. Also, be mindful of things like tag numbers and any identifying characteristics you might see and/or record with the camera. It is a well know fact that witnesses don't remember as well as a 'frozen segment of time', a photograph.
You might wonder which citizens are the most likely to see suspicious things that a camera would help to nail, and I would answer everyone who goes into the public sector has the potential to see something suspicious. We Freepers could be more observant and more conscientious in our alert, and thus it might just be that we Freepers would have the camera and the foresight to record in pix and word what we and others see that is suspicious. Let's not leave it to someone else; let's take the initiative to be the ones doing the data collecting; I keep the FBI hotline number hanging from my puter desk, and I've used it once already.
Lastly, I say also go armed; if your state has a concealed carry permit, get one and learn to handle a personal defense weapon ... with the emphasis on personal defense, not law enforcement; the professionals are still our best resource when time permits; we're talking about collecting data, not killing suspects. The major emphasis ought be to collect data for the professionals who are over-worked and under-staffed for this crisis. It is our country, and we ought think enough of it to at least upgrade our alert status ... we are the eyes and ears of this nation's security on the domestic front.
If we expect our law enforcement people to be proactive instead of merely reactive, we have to give them the data to work with! Terrorist plan their strikes, sometimes for months or years. Until our national policy is wholesale deportation, we must be more alert to the planners and plotters, and we can do that without violating civil rights while asserting our responsibilities as citizens. Besides, if we expect people to be deported, it doesn't hurt to have pictures and descriptions of suspicious activity when the authorities get around to picking the deportees ... if loose lips sink ships, sharp eyes save lives.
I keep reading about how the Islamic community isn't supporting the terrorists, but until the Muslims of America begin to turn in the radicals, siditious, miscreants and criminals amongst them, we the people must get active in our own defense ... cameras with explanation of pictures is a great way to do it. I'm certain the Freeper family will now post FBI, CIA, and NSA phone numbers that can be used for contact when suspicious activity is seen and recorded. I would rather be mistaken 100 times and right one vital time than uninvolved and totally vulnerable. How about you, fellow Freeper?
Just imagine if someone had snapped Mohammed Atta's picture in a restaurant with a half dozen of his still at large terrorist pals... One picture could head off the next 9-11.
This thread really takes the ball and runs in the "but what can WE do?" department.
One last thought, since that word militia (straight out of the Bill of Rights) has been so thoroughly trashed and demonized, let's just adopt the new PC term which even Oprah could love: "neighborhood watch".
Of course, in this day and age, the "neighborhood watch" will come equipped with semi automatic "sport utility rifles" and night vision devices.....and from time to time it might have to patrol beyond the neighborhood....
Okay, that's it, back to the book.
We carry a camera everywhere and a cell phone. Just wish I hadn't gotten a digital one -- the darn thing doesn't work once you get off the highway!
patent
You've got the Mall of America. A ripe target with a lot of 'capitalist symbolism' which would have a tremendous financial impact as we approach the holiday shopping season. Also, a lot of students and middle-easterners around the area from what I've seen.
Kit.
I turned around and watched them walk past, narrowed my eyes, thought about it for a few seconds, then walked into the store. I WISH TO GOODNESS I had followed them to their vehicle, taken a picture of them, copied down a license plate number, and phoned it in. I didn't have anything to write on or a camera with me, so just went about my business. (What better place to unleash a bio-threat than inconspicuously sprinkled on the shelves of a local store patroned by thousands of people daily?) There are no community colleges or universities nearby which would draw foreigners to this little town--but that parking lot at Wal-Mart was barely two miles from the main gates of a large army post (where we live). There are a LOT of army personnel and families who shop there, and it's not uncommon to see dozens of uniformed soldiers picking up a can of shaving cream or a basket full of sodas and treats.
Needless to say, I'm watching my surroundings like a hawk these days, and I'm rapidly losing my PC "don't want to harass anyone who might be innocent" inclinations, too. Be ever viligent!
Now, my folks live in the far end of a little subdivision in a little Central Texas town, about 9-10 miles from the Bush Ranch in Crawford. Also, across the street run the railroad tracks on which dozens of trains carry goods from cotton to coal to cars, including Amtrak passenger trains from Chicago to San Antonio. The trailer in question was a 22-foot travel trailer, parked at the back of the driveway and blocked in by their vehicles. There was no For Sale sign on it, and my dad said in the 15 years they've lived there and had that trailer, NO ONE has ever asked if it was for sale. Suddenly here come two Arab guys a couple of days after 9-11 ready to pay cash. Whatever he wanted to ask for it. He said, "It's not for sale." One of the men asked again to buy it, and Dad said, "No, it's not for sale," closing the door and getting back to his phone conversation.
Meanwhile, the next-door-neighbors are sitting in their kitchen eating breakfast, facing my parents' backyard and able to see the trailer. They told my dad that before the men approached him at the door, they had spent about 15 minutes checking out the trailer, looking underneath, trying to open the (locked) door, peering in windows, etc. As my dad was discussing this oddity with them, the husband said he needed to report it (he's a Waco cop). So my dad called a man in their church who is a state trooper, and the trooper told him to hang up immediately and call the FBI, which he did. They were very polite and took all the information and asked additional questions and seemed very interested. (Perhaps the proximity to Crawford was a factor, as well.) My dad didn't take any pictures or have a license number from their pickup truck, but it would have been really easy to run a check on these two characters had he jotted down that kind of info. He has his cell phone, a notepad, and a pen with him at all times now, even by the front door!
Can you clarify this?
It makes no sense.
Bottom line?... Two levels of alert here described: 1) suspicious activities of a more active nature, such as the trailer purchase effort, or a sensitive industry being cased ... contact the FBI, etc, with immediate info/intel; 2) less immediate but nonetheless suspicious activity ... pictures, diary entry and hold onto such data for possible future offering in the event of an investigation and request from the area.
Time to get active in profiling Middle Eastern looking types. Let's Roll! Drop the PC bilge into the toilet where it belongs. We're at war, not at peace, with an enemy that wants to destroy US, not co-exist with US. We must be vigilant, proactive.
If you're kidding about Travis disregard this post. If you are not then you should review his contributions to this forum. You will find a plethora of FReepers who definitely believe he is who he is. He certainly writes the walk to paraphrase. I would also give credit to you because like travis and myself you also give a fair amount of exposure about yourself on your profile page. Better than so many FReepers who just flame away from anonymity.
Seems like for someone who attended ASU you may have turned out alright. ASU is a hippie time warp school..sort of a Madison in the Appalachins...I have a house at Hound Ears.
In any event, my correspondence with Travis indicates to me that his heart is most definitely in the right place. He's too damn consistent to be a fakir.
I also happen to think vigilence on all our parts is a wise thing. My wife lives her life on full alert these days when it comes to the Muslim community here in Nashville. Fair or not....it is a reality that they are among us and some are the enemy.
Regards
Hounds Ears huh. I worked the Robbins family. And they had Afghan employee at one time. I think I'll send someone by to talk to Harry or Spencer. Except for his blonde hair, Shane could have been an Arab.
I see you live in a beautiful part of the country. My dad graduated VMI in '55. We go up to commemorate some foundation work he bequeathed every couple of years. I love the place even though it's been compromised by the womyn. I've got a close family friend who lives on a ridgetop between Brownsburg and Craigsville on the Rockbridge/Augusta county line. Again lovely countryside.
I'll just leave the Travis issue as I stated: I believe him and agree with his posts.
regards
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