Brenner,

A sure sign of winning a debate is when your opponent defaults to totally changing the topic as you have. Now go take your Geritol chicken little and stop believing what Bush & Co are stating about there being a terrorist in every closet.

DC

DC,

Yeah that's great....real coherent. I'm glad you took my advice to heart. Now go get yourself a snack as I'm sure you have some serious munchies.

Posted by: J. Brenner

DC,

Yeah that's great....real coherent. I'm glad you took my advice to heart. Now go get yourself a snack as I'm sure you have some serious munchies.

DC,

Yeah that's great....real coherent. I'm glad you took my advice to heart. Now go get yourself a snack as I'm sure you have some serious munchies.

Brenner,

I have absolutely no knowledge of who you are, but I do know you are a washed up "Chicken Little" has-been, out of touch with 21st century reality. There have always been terrorist attacks on this country since it's inception from one group or another. JFK discusses Native Americans an early terrorist threat to the United States in "Profiles in Courage". Presidents of the past took the threats to task and solved the problems. Bush has used terrorism and the deaths of Americans to politically manipulate the press, the citizens, and the government to forward the antiquated political aspirations of the neocon. As Huey Long stated: "When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in an American flag". We see the neocon for what he is, he was 2003 what he was in his infancy in Germany in the 1920's. God Bless America, destroy the neocon, before the neocon destroys the United States. Brenner, do us all a favor since you're such a coward to live in this country, move to Mexico or Canada.

DC

DC,
You are a twit. Your infantile little diatribe is impressive only to the extent that you have managed to say so many ridiculous things in just two paragraphs. For example:
"To terrorize us to the point we invade counties that did us no harm, causing many times more deaths and injuries to Americans than the terrorists could have hoped to accomplish on our own soil"
In fact, had the 911 attacks taken place later in the day (when more people had arrived for work) and, had the terrorists used slightly larger aircraft (triple 7s say) they might very well have achieved a 30K+ body count on a single day. There are many other hypothetical scenarios in which terrorists could expect to kill far more Americans than have died in several years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, you had better believe that if they are ever able to mount an attack on U.S. soil that kills even a dozen people, that Bill Arkin will conveniently stifle that aspect of his personality that issues shrill warnings against "worship at the altar of national security and war" and will ask why the government had not prepared us for such an eventuality.
Now, go back to your parent's basement, smoke some more weed and watch another episode of Judge Judy and stop thinking that you have a clue.
Posted by: J. Brenner

Stop the talk END the war with subs using their missles on convenient targets after our troops pull back and watch the show!!!

DC,

You are a twit. Your infantile little diatribe is impressive only to the extent that you have managed to say so many ridiculous things in just two paragraphs. For example:

"To terrorize us to the point we invade counties that did us no harm, causing many times more deaths and injuries to Americans than the terrorists could have hoped to accomplish on our own soil"

In fact, had the 911 attacks taken place later in the day (when more people had arrived for work) and, had the terrorists used slightly larger aircraft (triple 7s say) they might very well have achieved a 30K+ body count on a single day. There are many other hypothetical scenarios in which terrorists could expect to kill far more Americans than have died in several years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, you had better believe that if they are ever able to mount an attack on U.S. soil that kills even a dozen people, that Bill Arkin will conveniently stifle that aspect of his personality that issues shrill warnings against "worship at the altar of national security and war" and will ask why the government had not prepared us for such an eventuality.

Now, go back to your parent's basement, smoke some more weed and watch another episode of Judge Judy and stop thinking that you have a clue.

Brenner,

You sound like Chicken Little, "the sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling,.....). You know why they're called terrorists; it's to permeate paranoia throughout our society to disrupt our lives, there by controlling us. Control us to the point where our only concern is terrorist attack to where we can not even respond to a hurricane to rescue survivors from death. To terrorize us to the point we invade counties that did us no harm, causing many times more deaths and injuries to Americans than the terrorists could have hoped to accomplish on our own soil. Terrorize to where we spend untold hundreds of billions of dollars, yet can not even capture the leader of the Al Qaeda.

Terrorist also provide a tool for neocon brainwashing of Americans to take political control. The symbiotic relationship between the neocons and Al Qaeda provides each other with the means via fear to take control of their respective societies. The world would be a much safer place without Al Qaeda and the neocons.

DC

"Absolutely! Government propaganda efforts are premised on the lie that there are actually Islamic fanatics evil enough to carry-out attacks during baseball games. It's completely obvious that previous Islamist attacks against office high-rises in the U.S. and against train stations in the U.K. and Spain bear no resemblance to a hypothetical attack on a ballpark...other than the fact that ball parks and other sporting venues present terrorists with the prospect of large numbers of unsuspecting and distracted victims in crowded and enclosed spaces where they are highly vulnerable. Good thing we have perceptive, clear-thinking individuals like Mr.Arkin to foil these cynical government efforts to make us fearful.
Posted by: J. Brenner"

"but also because they are foot soldiers in the government's national brainwashing efforts."

Absolutely! Government propaganda efforts are premised on the lie that there are actually Islamic fanatics evil enough to carry-out attacks during baseball games. It's completely obvious that previous Islamist attacks against office high-rises in the U.S. and against train stations in the U.K. and Spain bear no resemblance to a hypothetical attack on a ballpark...other than the fact that ball parks and other sporting venues present terrorists with the prospect of large numbers of unsuspecting and distracted victims in crowded and enclosed spaces where they are highly vulnerable. Good thing we have perceptive, clear-thinking individuals like Mr.Arkin to foil these cynical government efforts to make us fearful.

perhaps we should task DHS with serving the hot dogs too. maybe all those unknown ingredients are killing us. Can the ignorant childish masses continue to function without the DHS obssesion of permeating every aspect of our lives? What we need is a government agency to identify bloated wasteful entities which have nothing real to do except self-create fear and panic in the gullible and irritate the intelligent. It really is time for congress to evaluate the billions being spent on this farce. The DHS is not the protectors of liberty, it is the thief of it.

I agree with you that this is a form of brainwashing. I am reminded of the brainwashing campaign that went with the Medicare part D campaign to 'educate' seniors about the advantages of joining in the program. It gave only the positive and completely neglected the negatives. Of course, in time seniors found out about the negatives, but it was the hard way.
I am sure the government spent a great deal of money on that campaign and it was practically all spin.
Ruth Beazer

Mr. Arkin....talk about sophomoric...is this really a paying job for you?

Amen!

The last thing that I want when I go to watch my local team play is to be "educated" by the government. Frankly, the public is tired of being blitzed with government fear-based propaganda when we're out trying to relax from the stress of our personal lives - plus all of the "shock and awe," violence, tragedy and sadness that is shoveled to us via every possible communications media, 24/7.

This type of compaign is typical of the junk homeland security is continually thinking up and unabashedly spewing out to the public. It seems to demonstrait that they are either not very smart/competent, not very focused, or just maybe when you're dishing out billions of dollars to friends and political donars via non-competative contracts, maybe it doesn't matter what you produce and send out the door. You just need to put something out on the streets so the GAO auditors can't come back after you for stealing taxpayers dollars.

I just wish DHS was this incompetent when it is spy on US citizens, tapping our phone calls and e-mail, and rifling through our library loan records!

Great piece, enjoyed the laughs!

If this is the worst offense the DHS is promulgating I'd be very, very, very surprised. Nice bit o' trivia, though.

go,

You are right on track in drawing a line between national security and regional preparation and protection. The federal system seems to have been a parasite more recently, having no other viable concept.

In general terms, I had heard of the changes you touched on, expanding federalization powers. Resources that could not have been federalized formerly, now can be. I cannot refer to the executive order or the law that recently made it so (and would like to have details from an expert reliable source), but I was definitely advised of it last month.

Good management practice is to delegate to the lowest practical level. We certainly seem to be in reverse gear on this.

The proper protection of the American public when disaster strikes is for the
National Guard to remain in the USA. The
federalizing of the National Guard is one
of the reasons Katrina magnified out of
proportion, the Louisiania and Mississippi
NG along with 70% of their heavy equipment,
emergency personal, radio communications equipment,and most important, knowledge of the local community and geography were in Southwest Asia fighting an imperial war, leaving their homes, neighbors, and families to the incompentent and predatory attentions of Chertoff's Homeland Security Gestopo. Some of our govenors have resisted
the drafting of our local fire, medical, and police personel into the imperial forces, but Congress and the GWB regime have passed a bill allowing the imperial armies to strip us of local and competent
organization and personal to handle local disasters of whatever origin. We desperately need to elect leaders who serve the people of their communities, not special interest groups such as AIPAC, Blackwater, oil and finacial elites. Bring home our National Guard!

Mr Arkin,

*Sigh* Still no insightful piece on your behalf, listing all of the "obscene amenities" you claim are being provided to our forces overseas.

Still waiting.

*chrrp-chrrp*

Still waiting.

For uncensored news please bookmark:

otherside123.blogspot.com
www.wsws.org
www.takingaimradio.info
www.onlinejournal.com

Bush skips baseball's opening day

By David Walsh
3 April 2007

If George W. Bush's unpopularity and isolation needed to be underscored, his decision not to throw out the ceremonial opening day ball of the major league baseball season served the purpose.

Bush spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore told the Washington Post that the president had been invited by the Washington Nationals baseball team to throw out the first ball at the afternoon game between the Nationals and the Florida Marlins at RFK Stadium, but "it's not possible with his schedule."

She elaborated, "He's got various meetings during the day, a meeting earlier in the morning . . . It just wasn't going to work out."

With the president's ratings languishing, the Post asked Lawrimore whether Bush "feared he'd get booed."

"No," she replied. "Certainly not."

Most people over the age of 10 would be skeptical.

According to the White House, the president's schedule included an 11 a.m. meeting on health savings accounts in the Roosevelt Room and at 2:35 p.m. the presentation of "the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the United States Naval Academy Football Team in the Rose Garden," awarded to each season's winner of the college football series among the various service academies.

Of all the recent US presidents, Bush is most closely identified with baseball, having served (profitably) as a part-owner of the Texas Rangers' franchise from 1989 to 1994. In remarks before a group of baseball Hall of Famers at the White House in 2004, Bush declared, "You know, I love the game of baseball. I grew up loving baseball." He also noted that "One of the traditions, of course, is for the president to throw out the opening pitch for baseball."

The official White House web site has special pages devoted to baseball. One begins, "When President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch at the 2001 World Series, the moment not only continued a presidential tradition, but it symbolized America's desire to continue life undeterred after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

"President George W. Bush's love of baseball began during his childhood in Midland, Texas, where he played Little League Baseball and dreamed of following in the footsteps of baseball great, Willie Mays . . .

For the rest please go to:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/apr2007/bush-a03.shtml

"Today's mechanisms of government 'advertising' are merely tomorrow's politically motivated color-coded fear-mongering manipulations of public opinion." What???!!! I guess we should take out the tornado, hurricane, tsunami response, etc... instructions from the phone books too!!!

Or maybe the folks at DHS just want people to be prepared.

Surely, Bill, you know you can't have it both ways. you can't hold the government responsible for not preparing its citizens for natural disasters, and then assail them for trying to send out preparation messages.

Oh well. I guess if you're going to have a daily blog, you have to come up with something to write about. I would've thought you'd be able find something more worthy of your talents, Bill.

Get the insurance companies involved. No readiness kit? No life insurance. Oh wait, that would require a more than infinitesimal level of risk. Never mind.

"Readiness for disaster" is a fair message to broadcast, particularly when it emphasizes readiness for temporary public service in an organized context, as opposed to unassisted anxious individual survival. Understandably, nether theme conveys very well to the leisured mindset of normal spectators of franchised professional sports. In some ways, that message positioning even trivializes the significance of making a private investment in steady and intelligent public preparedness.

Rather than preaching to the base of the population pyramid, the more serious way is to reach out to recruit and continually to renew a small cadre of adults who can volunteer to import, acquire and maintain some relevant skills, and then be on call for emergency service.

A good example would be an expansion of the State Defense Forces (official state militias) which still actively exist in some states. These represent disciplined, uniformed, unarmed, trained, and volunteer forces, under the command of the Governor, typically committing to acquire at their personal expense the necessary uniforms and gear, to travel for initial training, to travel and invest time to train during the day for a full weekend each month, and to participate in a several-day overnight annual training session conducted at a military facility. The simple act of repeatedly drilling to meet together on call is one huge first step should added help really be needed. Also, they operate at no real expense to the state or federal government.

Usually you don't have to be a veteran, just a legal resident from age 18 to somewhere in the 60s, to conform to weight and height tables, and to have a clean background. This is type of group wherein gender, race, and age prejudice is observably absent. Overall, they are possibly even more selective than the active military in terms of not granting certain waivers for negative background history.

Looking for capable individuals to cooperate to prepare for public disasters will build more real readiness, as opposed to running frightful motherly media lessons to impressionable youth or to just any lazy or clueless citizen watching a game. It makes a whole lot more sense as an effective program to emphasize the cultivation and organization of useful volunteer manpower (medical, security, engineering, communications, heavy equipment operation, cooks, shelter erectors, etc.) who add rather than subtract in a situation where there is a domestic emergency.

You ask "should there even be a federal government civilian readiness program?"

Yes, but not DHS. It should be Civil Defense.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_defense) The old style, with local volunteers involved.

We used to have that, but it was absorbed into FEMA.