One can only guess what they want to replace it with...
-Jay
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.
Typical liberal crybaby stuff!! Don't tell them anything and they'd cry 'foul', give them specifics and they'd be killing each other trying to evacuate some city!
Yet the lp calls for the abolishment of all borders and immigration laws. Hmmmm? And how would that make it easier to protect us from terrorist attack?
In order to control the direction of this country with a 50/50 split between conservatives and liberals, We must elect someone who will navigate from the middle and gently steer the country in the direction we on the right want. If you that casting your vote for an extreme un-electable represenative of conservatism will change things for the better, you're kidding yourself.
We need to take a page from the liberal handbook and rally behind whoever has the best chance of defeating the democrats. They took this country away from us one step at a time and we must take it back the same way.
The 1992 election should be proof enough of what happens when the right becomes divided.
One can only guess what they want to replace it with...
-Jay
Typical liberal crybaby stuff!! Don't tell them anything and they'd cry 'foul', give them specifics and they'd be killing each other trying to evacuate some city!
Actually, I don't think many Americans are alarmed by the color codes at this point, since it's become such a joke. Comics, and even some conservative radio hosts are (finally) mocking the color codes. The Bush govt has done too much crying wolf.
I didn't believe Clinton, and I don't believe Bush. I assume his Orange Alerts are just lies to whip us up into war fever. The govt lies, regardless of who's in charge.
LOL! Thanks for the interesting peek into a mind seeped in ideology and hence divorced from Reality.
Ah, yes, and 9-11 was all filmed in a CIA movie studio, eh?
OK. Let's add terms like Acapulco Gold and Panamanian Red. That ought to quiet them down...
It will soon be two years since 9/11. We have no way of knowing all the failed attempts that have been made since then. I don't mind the alert system, we should all be alert to anything suspicous. As I said, what would happen if we weren't 'put on alert' and something happened?
Oh, I don't know - THIS guy was pretty memorable; ol' Whats-His-Name:
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