"Yellow and blue makes green"
Posted on 07/04/2003 10:14:58 PM PDT by Commie Basher
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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org
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For release: July 4, 2003
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For additional information:
George Getz, Communications Director
Phone: (202) 333-0008
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Color-coded terror alert system is useless and should be scrapped, Libertarians say.
WASHINGTON, DC -- The national color-coded terror alert system should be scrapped, Libertarians say, because it only alarms the public with warnings that are too vague to be useful.
"Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge risks becoming like the boy who cried wolf with his frequent, unsubstantiated orange alerts," said George Getz, Libertarian Party communications director. "Soon the public might start ignoring him -- and that could be a real disaster."
As the Fourth of July weekend approached, Department of Homeland Security officials declined to say whether they planned to raise the terror alert level from yellow to orange, the second-highest category. Since the system was instituted last fall, the threat has been raised to orange four times, and no attacks have taken place -- raising questions about the reliability of the underlying intelligence data.
One example: In February, Americans stockpiled food and water and rushed out to buy duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal their homes after the government warned about the risk of a chemical or biological attack.
At the time, Ridge claimed the intelligence reports were based on "multiple sources, obviously credible and corroborated." But days later he quietly canceled the alert after being forced to admit that the reports were "not as accurate as we thought."
An unreliable terror alert system may be worse than none at all -- which is why the program should be dismantled, Libertarians say.
"Telling a nation still reeling from the September 11 terrorist attacks to be on alert for another horrific attack -- without telling them when, where, or how it might occur -- is nothing more than scaremongering," Getz said. "In fact, every orange alert that is issued based on flimsy evidence actually endangers the nation by making Americans more likely to ignore future warnings."
The federal system also forces local police departments to squander tax money on unnecessary security precautions, he added.
"The U.S. Conference of Mayors estimates that cities spent $2.6 billion on additional security costs since the September 11 attacks, much of it related to 'code orange' overtime costs for police and other emergency personnel," Getz said. "These warnings actually made America less safe, because every dollar spent on imaginary threats is a dollar that can't be spent arresting an actual murderer, robber or rapist."
The solution is to replace the gimmicky color-coded system with one based on law enforcement needs rather than political posturing, he said.
"If the federal government obtains a specific, credible threat, it should share it immediately with local law enforcement officials and let them take the appropriate steps to warn and protect the public," he said. "But in the absence of solid information, it should cut the political chatter and refrain from alarming 280 million Americans with a vague, generalized terror alert."
Libertarians believe that preventing another terrorist attack is one of the most important functions of the federal government -- and that's why Americans should insist that it's done right, he said.
"This Fourth of July, let's declare our independence from unnecessary fear by pulling the plug on this counterproductive terror-alert system," he said.
No, Bush said this "war" would last for decades, so the govt must curtail liberties until then. Of course, much of this "war" will be in secret, so we won't know when it's over and we can have our liberties back. Not to worry, though, the govt will tell us.
If a woman walks down a dark alley she doesn't deserve to get raped, but her foolish action was part of the chain of causality.
Moral deserts and causality are two different issues. Browne argued that US interventionist foreign policy brought on 9/11, but not that the people who died deserved it.
What a loathsome ass he is.
Would they simply ignore the problem like you ignore the question? That's one of the biggest problems with the lp...they tend to complain a lot but igore REALITY.
Because at least Commies know what they're doing. LOL
Communists killed a hundred million innocent people, Libertarians haven't killed anybody and don't intend to start. You may think Communists are better, but I'm not laughing.
That is only because it will never be a viable force outside of science fiction novels. Given their policy of totally open borders and unrestricted immigration in this day and age...the lp would end up killing millions.
Surely the lp has an approach that goes beyond complaining about the color codes...or does it?
As soon as the next Presidential election is over, they need to send a team of men in dark suits to the homes of each of the fringe candidates who ran. Have them burst into the person's home and tell them that terrorists have incapacitated all the other candidates, and as the remaining candidate with the most votes, they are now defacto President.
AND...they just received word that terrorists are planning on setting off nuclear devices in Chicago, New York and LA within two hours. "What do we do Mr. President?"
Can you imagine how funny it would be to watch them soil themselves then run to hide under their beds.
I would say "give Jack Bauer a call".
It's time you grew up and faced the reality of what the world is in the present day.
In addition, the Browneshirts would be using the full power and force of the state to protect the heroin depots from arson, and Fidel would be smiling upon their efforts.
1) The can select a target group of voters and write their party platform specifically for them.
2) They can promise the world...anything at all...with complete immunity.
3) They will never have to deliver a single campaign promise in their entire political career.
4) They will always be able to find enough gullible people to fund their fake candidacy (and make them a pretty fair living).
In return, their followers have a pretty good deal except for the fact that they're forking over good money to a huckster. Still, they can:
1) Rant on about the virtues of their candidate and how only they can put America right.
2) They will never be faced with the embarassment that their candidate couldn't deliver a pizza while it was still hot.3) They can smuggly claim that they only voted for someone who really represents their narrow views, regardless of how meaningless.
I assume you're referring to small-l libertarian Republicans when you aspeak of RINO's?
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