Take a deep breath, say homeland officials

http://www.nbc4.com/weather/1978310/detail.html

mm, seems like a good weekend for two separate 3-6" snow storms!

There's a fairly significant potential for 20"+ inches total from the two storms combined.

The second storm, being later, is harder to predict, and the media and NWS quite rightly are focusing on the first storm. But there's a ton of potential for a LOT more than 6" in DC from the second storm.

The Red Whale flies at night.

Purple is the sound of calculus.

Blessed are the accordians.

12 inches possible, that may be the reason there is concern from shopping malls.

They should make the Washington press corps wear gas masks. Especially Helen Thomas.

Only as long as someone reverses her filters first.

"I live in the Fairfax area. My kids are scared to death. I'm getting tired of having to reassure them that they aren't going to be killed."

Reassure your kids with the following, which appeared on a FR thread a few days ago. Also, act like you really believe that there's nothing to worry about - whether you are or aren't - as they pick up very well on non-verbal cues.

A Soldier's Viewpoint on Surviving Nuclear, Chemical and Biological
Attacks From: SFC Red Thomas (Ret) Armor Master
Gunner Mesa, AZ

Unlimited reproduction and distribution is authorized. Just give me
credit for my work, and, keep in context.

Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of
chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I
decided to write a paper and keep things in their proper perspective. I
am a retired military weapons, munitions, and
training expert.

Lesson number one: In the mid 1990s there were a series of nerve gas
attacks on crowded Japanese subway stations. Given
perfect conditions for an attack less than 10% of the people there were
injured (the injured were better in a few hours)
and only one percent of the injured died.

60 Minutes once had a fellow telling us that one drop of nerve gas could
kill a thousand people, well he didn't tell you the
thousand dead people per drop was theoretical.

Drill Sergeants exaggerate how terrible this stuff was to keep the
recruits awake in class (I know this because I was a
Drill Sergeant too). Forget everything you've ever seen on TV, in the
movies, or read in a novel about this stuff, it was all a
lie (read this sentence again out loud!). These weapons are about
terror, if you remain calm, you will probably not die. This
is far less scary than the media and their "Experts," make it sound.

Chemical Weapons

Chemical weapons are categorized as nerve, blood, blister, and
Incapacitating agents. Contrary to the hype of reporters and
politicians they are not weapons of mass destruction they are "area
denial," and terror weapons that don't destroy
anything. When you leave the area you almost always leave the risk.
That's the difference; you can leave the area and the
risk but soldiers may have to stay put and sit through it and that's why
they need all that spiffy gear.

These are not gasses, they are vapors and/or air borne particles. The
agent must be delivered in sufficient quantity to
kill/injure, and that defines when/how it's used. Every day we have a
morning and evening inversion where "stuff,"
suspended in the air gets pushed down. This inversion is why allergies
(pollen) and air pollution are worst at these times
of the day.

So, a chemical attack will have it's best effect an hour of so either
side of sunrise/sunset. Also, being vapors and airborne
particles they are heavier than air so they will seek low places like
ditches, basements and underground garages. This
stuff won't work when it's freezing, it doesn't last when it's hot, and
wind spreads it too thin too fast. They've got to get
this stuff on you, or, get you to inhale it for it to work. They also
have to get the concentration of chemicals high enough
to kill or wound you. Too little and it's nothing, too much and it's
wasted.

What I hope you've gathered by this point is that a chemical weapons
attack that kills a lot of people is incredibly hard to
do with military grade agents and equipment so you can imagine how hard
it will be for terrorists. The more you know
about this stuff the more you realize how hard it is to use.

We'll start by talking about nerve agents. You have these in your house,
plain old bug killer (like Raid) is nerve agent. All
nerve agents work the same way; they are cholinesterase inhibitors that
mess up the signals your nervous system uses to
make your body function. It can harm you if you get it on your skin but
it works best if they can get you to inhale it. If you
don't die in the first minute and you can leave the area you're probably
gonna live. The military's antidote for all nerve
agents is atropine and pralidoxime chloride. Neither one of these does
anything to cure the nerve agent, they send your
body into overdrive to keep you alive for five minutes, after that the
agent is used up. Your best protection is fresh air and
staying calm.

Listed below are the symptoms for nerve agent poisoning:

Sudden headache, Dimness of vision (someone you're looking at will have
pinpointed pupils), runny nose, excessive saliva
or drooling, difficulty breathing, tightness in chest, nausea, stomach
cramps, twitching of exposed skin where a liquid
just got on you.

If you are in public and you start experiencing these symptoms, first
ask yourself, did anything out of the ordinary just
happen, a loud pop, did someone spray something on the crowd? Are other
people getting sick too? Is there an odor of new
mown hay, green corn, something fruity, or camphor where it shouldn't
be? If the answer is yes, then calmly (if you panic
you breathe faster and inhale more air/poison) leave the area and head
up wind, or, outside.

Fresh air is the best "right now antidote." If you have a blob of liquid
that looks like molasses or Kayro syrup on you; blot
it or scrape it off and away from yourself with anything disposable.
This stuff works based on your body weight, what a
crop duster uses to kill bugs won't hurt you unless you stand there and
breathe it in real deep, then lick the residue off the
ground for a while. Remember they have to do all the work, they have to
get the concentration up and keep it up for several
minutes while all you have to do is quit getting it on you/quit
breathing it by putting space between you and the attack.

Blood agents are cyanide or arsine which effect your blood's ability to
provide oxygen to your tissue. The scenario for
attack would be the same as nerve agent. Look for a pop or someone
splashing/spraying something and folks around there
getting woozy/falling down. The telltale smells are bitter almonds or
garlic where it shouldn't be. The symptoms are blue
lips, blue under the fingernails rapid breathing.

The military's antidote is amyl nitride and just like nerve agent
antidote it just keeps your body working for five minutes
till the toxins are used up. Fresh air is the your best individual
chance.

Blister agents (distilled mustard) are so nasty that nobody wants to
even handle it let alone use it. It's almost impossible
to handle safely and may have delayed effect of up to 12 hours. The
attack scenario is also limited to the things you'd see
from other chemicals. If you do get large, painful blisters for no
apparent reason, don't pop them, if you must, don't let the
liquid from the blister get on any other area, the stuff just keeps on
spreading. It's just as likely to harm the user as the
target. Soap, water, sunshine, and fresh air are this stuff's enemy.

Bottom line on chemical weapons (it's the same if they use industrial
chemical spills); they are intended to make you
panic, to terrorize you, to heard you like sheep to the wolves. If there
is an attack, leave the area and go upwind, or to the
sides of the wind stream. They have to get the stuff to you, and on you.
You're more likely to be hurt by a drunk driver on
any given day than be hurt by one of these attacks. Your odds get better
if you leave the area. Soap, water, time, and fresh
air really deal this stuff a knock-out-punch. Don't let fear of an
isolated attack rule your life. The odds are really on your
side.

Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear bombs. These are the only weapons of mass destruction on earth.
The effects of a nuclear bomb are heat, blast,
EMP, and radiation. If you see a bright flash of light like the sun,
where the sun isn't, fall to the ground! The heat will be
over a second. Then there will be two blast waves, one out going, and
one on it's way back. Don't stand up to see what
happened after the first wave; anything that's going to happen will have
happened in two full minutes.

These will be low yield devices and will not level whole cities. If you
live through the heat, blast, and initial burst of
radiation, you'll probably live for a very, very long time. Radiation
will not create fifty foot tall women, or giant ants and
grass hoppers the size of tanks. These will be at the most 1 kiloton
bombs; that's the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT.

Here's the real deal, flying debris and radiation will kill a lot of
exposed (not all!) people within a half mile of the blast.
Under perfect conditions this is about a half mile circle of death and
destruction, but, when it's done it's done. EMP stands
for Electro Magnetic Pulse and it will fry every electronic device for a
good distance, it's impossible to say what and how
far but probably not over a couple of miles from ground zero is a good
guess. Cars, cell phones, computers, ATMs, you name
it, all will be out of order.

There are lots of kinds of radiation, you only need to worry about
three, the others you have lived with for years. You need
to worry about "Ionizing radiation," these are little sub atomic
particles that go whizzing along at the speed of light. They
hit individual cells in your body, kill the nucleus and keep on going.
That's how you get radiation poisoning, you have so
many dead cells in your body that the decaying cells poison you.

It's the same as people getting radiation treatments for cancer, only a
bigger area gets radiated. The good news is you
don't have to just sit there and take it, and there's lots you can do
rather than panic. First; your skin will stop alpha
particles, a page of a news paper or your clothing will stop beta
particles, you just gotta try and avoid inhaling dust that's
contaminated with atoms that are emitting these things and you'll be
generally safe from them.

Gamma rays are particles that travel like rays (quantum physics makes my
brain hurt) and they create the same damage as
alpha and beta particles only they keep going and kill lots of cells as
they go all the way through your body. It takes a lot
to stop these things, lots of dense material, on the other hand it takes
a lot of this to kill you.

Your defense is as always to not panic. Basic hygiene and normal
preparation are your friends. All canned or frozen food is
safe to eat. The radiation poisoning will not effect plants so fruits
and vegetables are OK if there's no dust on em (rinse
em off if there is). If you don't have running water and you need to
collect rain water or use water from wherever, just let
it sit for thirty minutes and skim off the water gently from the top.
The dust with the bad stuff in it will settle and the
remaining water can be used for the toilet which will still work if you
have a bucket of water to pour in the tank.

Biological Weapons

Finally there's biological warfare. There's not much to cover here.
Basic personal hygiene and sanitation will take you
further than a million doctors. Wash your hands often, don't share
drinks, food, sloppy kisses, etc., .... with strangers. Keep
your garbage can with a tight lid on it, don't have standing water (like
old buckets, ditches, or kiddie pools) laying around
to allow mosquitoes breeding room. This stuff is carried by vectors,
that is bugs, rodents, and contaminated material. If
biological warfare is so easy as the TV makes it sound, why has Saddam
Hussein spent twenty years, millions, and
millions of dollars trying to get it right? If you're clean of person
and home you eat well and are active you're gonna live.

Overall preparation for any terrorist attack is the same as you'd take
for a big storm. If you want a gas mask, fine, go get
one. I know this stuff and I'm not getting one and I told my Mom not to
bother with one either (how's that for confidence).
We have a week's worth of cash, several days worth of canned goods and
plenty of soap and water. We don't leave stuff out
to attract bugs or rodents so we don't have them.

These people can't conceive a nation this big with this much resources.
These weapons are made to cause panic, terror, and
to demoralize. If we don't run around like sheep they won't use this
stuff after they find out it's no fun. The government is
going nuts over this stuff because they have to protect every inch of
America. You've only gotta protect yourself, and by
doing that, you help the country.

Finally, there are millions of caveats to everything I wrote here and
you can think up specific scenarios where my advice
isn't the best. This letter is supposed to help the greatest number of
people under the greatest number of situations. If you
don't like my work, don't nit pick, just sit down and explain chemical,
nuclear, and biological warfare in a document around
three pages long yourself. This is how we the people of the United
States can rob these people of their most desired goal,
your terror.

SFC Red Thomas (Ret) Armor Master Gunner Mesa, AZ

And since Congress was scheduled for a normal recess, the politicians can leave the area without (hopefully) promoting too much alarm.

Frist had promised to keep the Senate in session if the RATs didn't allow Estrada to come to a vote.

wow this is scary. If they hit us again, I am going to have to say, I will start to support a broader war against all Arab Muslims.

sounds very similar to this -
"Kill them...kill them all." -- Darth Sidious, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

and the actions of 2% is rather stupid.

ACTIONS of 2% of Muslims? Even that is wildly inflated. More like .02%. Or .002%.

Add up the 9/11 hijackers and assorted hanger-on, Malvo and Muhammad, and the LAX shooter, and the shoe bomber, and you even have trouble getting to .002%.

A lot of people on FR are deeply frustrated that it isn't more, though.

Sounds like Frist and gang are heading for the hills!

IF this report is true, and our Congresscritters evacuate their families and there is then a terrorist attack in DC that kills hundreds or thousands - there will be Hell to pay. This won't be seen as the actions of leaders, but as the actions of cowards and criminals (which, of course, would only confirm our opinions of most of them here on FR, but would open a few eyes in Blue Nation).

They can see the endgame, and involves for them the humiliating prospect of the infidel's occupation of their heartland, having control of 10% of the world's oil, thereby obliterating OPEC and obviating any need to beg for bases of operation.

That's a good start.

Frist had promised to keep the Senate in session if the RATs didn't allow Estrada to come to a vote.

I think "threatened" is a much more accurate description than "promised."

Is Congress meeting today?

I wonder if this has anything to do with Frists weak responce to the filibuster, allowing the Dems the week off, rather then keeping them at the mike to read the phone book.

I heard on FNC last night that a move to code red means that it is believed that an attack is imminent. This is probably the reason that Frist decided to give the senate the week off instead of forcing the 'rats to stay on the senate floor for their filibuster.

Pray.

Well seeing as I live in her "home state" (at least until the next political opportunity arises for her).....no doubt she'll have her own duct tape and plastic sheeting in place just fine :-)

WRONG!

The post was on a thread about a cyanide attack, but the post specifically mentioned holding people in the subway only regarding a bio attack.

Think it through, temporary quarantining the subway makes sense when it is thought that a bio attack of a possibly contagious substance has taken place. It makes much less sense with many chem attacks(other than perhaps to prevent the spread of particles by contaminated clothing, skin, and hair), and little sense in a nuke attack(except perhaps to shelter persons from fallout, in which case they would want to allow in people from the street).

Don't be so loose in the posting of rumor info.

"I wouldn't call 85-98% of Muslims a "small percent". "

too bad that that big percentage of American Muslims can't stand up for their country and actually criticize the fanatical Islamists....

too bad they can't stand up and condemn these terrorists....

evil happens when good men do nothing....

if there are good Muslim men here in America....what are they doing?

Clicking on the link at the beginning of this thread now has a different article than the one posted which says that we can all take a deep breath of relief, that the change to code red has been cancelled.

Whew.

I'd stay out of ALL large shopping malls in any city.