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DHS Ponders "Improving" Terrorism Alert System
An anonymous reader writes "The DHS's color-coded terrorism risk warning system has often been criticized on a number of grounds. However, it seems that at last DHS has taken note of these criticisms and is finally planning to fix one of its problems. Which one? Well, since the two lowest levels have never been used in the history of the program, the solution is obvious: just get rid of them! In the new system, the lowest level would be yellow, 'guarded,' representing 'A constant state of vigilance to protect against a terrorist attack.' While it's nice that they're at least no longer maintaining a pretense of it being for anything other than fear-mongering, I don't think this was the kind of change most people were hoping for."
Government WANK alert system. Whereby the wankiness of a government is scaled by public opinions, and if the scale hits a certain point, everyone in public office at that time is tossed out at once, and we elect a whole new batch?
We can have a National Referendum day in 60 days from the time the WANK alert is triggered. 15 days to register to run, 15 days to organize campaigns, and 30 days to run. If people campaign before the official campaign limit, they are automatically excluded from the ballot.
And nobody can run if they have ever held elected office before.
I'm sick to death of Damned Professional Politicians. Lets get some amateurs in and see if they can do better.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
If it's orange (I've flown once during orange) then there's a bit of tension in the air. Makes for a more unpleasant airport experience, but it also tends to make people more aware of their surroundings.
I've never flown in not-orange ever since they came up with the system. I'm not some business traveler, but I fly between three and six times a year round-trip to various places around the country, and I always hear the same recording of some guy saying "The current threat level is orange". And I don't think anyone has so much as batted an eye. From San Francisco to Denver to freaking JFK Intl., I've never seen people act more alert and suspicious after that announcement.
Like this B.S. threat level is so well correlated with actual terrorist plotting that, if you're worried about terrorists, it's safe to lower your guard during a "yellow" threat level. Please! People are going to react the same way to "suspicious" things they see in an airport, and they're going to pay just as much attention either way. Nobody cares about the threat level, for one because it never changes, for two because it doesn't make any sense to do anything different -- if you're paranoid about terrorists and care to be alert on the 1-in-a-billion chance you personally spot terrorist activity, you will be just as much so during "yellow" as "orange". And if you're like me, and not worried much at all about terrorists, you're going to keep a vague eye out but you're still not going to give a shit how scared TSA says you should be.
The Terror Alert is useless bullshit.
The enemies of Democracy are
Thought we already had that:
for a while we had 15 minutes of hate against insurance execs
then we had our 15 minutes of hate against auto execs
then we had our 15 minutes of hate against bankers
then we had our 15 minutes of hate against tea baggers
now were going back to having 15 minutes of hate against racists (isn't that hate for haters?)
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
No one has a Constitutional right, 2nd Amendment or otherwise, to threaten someone else.
Also, Sen. Wilson was lying himself. Yes, he has a Constitutional right to do that, but that doesn't make it a good thing.
Law enforcement use a similar color code system. Officers must always maintain the "always alert" (on guard) awareness level of vigilance. The only reason to have codes below this is for training and discipline purposes. If an officer lets their guard down and drops below the "always alert" level, the safety of the officer and/or citizens can be jeopardized. So, on a public spectrum, I agree with the change that the public only need to know our code awareness level from "Guarded" on up.
Well, actually, the Parthians were the nuissance. The Persian Empire had long since fallen.
That said, the surname of the family that gave us the now deposed (and deceased) Shah of Iran, Pahlavi, is the Old Persian word for "Parthia."
Personally, I'm just happy to see the change because it means no more putting blue in between yellow and green. That always bugged me, as a slightly OCD person who used to sort things in rainbow order, from crayons to the Skittles I was eating.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
No, you are wrong there. Libertarianism does not support even the EXISTENCE of corporations, which is an unnatural shield that is granted by the government to shareholders. Articles of incorporation are granted by states, and entitle the owners of said corporation to conduct business and obtain personal profit without liability for their actions. This is the ANTITHESIS of libertarianism.
If everyone really understood how libertarianism worked, 99% of people would be libertarians. I used to be a liberal myself, until I learned about economics. REAL economics, not the Keynesian crap they teach in macroeconomics.
If you want to learn about REAL libertarianism, I would suggest going to mises.org and reading some of the articles there. They will open your eyes.