LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's two main airports were hit by security alerts on Thursday with flights suspended out of Gatwick's north terminal and two arrests made close to Heathrow on the outskirts of London. Britain is on a high level of alert for possible terror attacks by al Qaeda extremists, with troops being deployed to guard Heathrow and key areas around the capital. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20030213/wl_nm/britain_airport_dc
I'm starting to see the media frenzy as a real-life version of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". I mean, we were supposed to have attacks on July 4th, Hallowe'en, Christmas, NewYears, Ramadan and other Muslim holy days, etc. Every holiday since 9-11 has been marred by fear propagated by FBI warnings. And after each terrifying panic warning, nothing. So far, nobody's got any EVIDENCE of anybody preparing terrorist attacks on America, but we've been on "Orange Alert" a few times since 9-11. All I see is that it's hampering trade with Canada, Europe and elsewhere, as incoming and outgoing goods are tied up for lengthy periods at the border. And when a Ford plant goes down and desperately needs a part that is stopped at the border, we all suffer. Any hindrance to business is BAD for the markets. I hope nobody attacks the States, but I also hope our governments (that includes Britain, etc) stop trying to frighten us into submission and compliance. We're giving up our freedom to get security, and we're not any more secure than before 9-11. Less in fact, because people feel afraid and unstable, and unstable people are dangerous. Tension is high, people have a lot less patience and tolerance than before, and seem more likely to resolve disputes with violence. That's just my observation, though, not scientific at all. The market's dead until America comes out from its bomb shelter, and the Establishment is trying to keep us there - I think so they can do what they want to the world without interference. And everyone knows that we'll all vote Republican until we feel safe again, because they wage war better than the Dems, right? It's in the Republican Party's best interest to keep us in fear as long as possible. p.s. I'm a Libertarian, and I wish I had bought shares in duct tape companies!
Hand Grenade Found at British Airport LONDON (Reuters) - A Venezuelan man carrying a live hand grenade was arrested at Britain's Gatwick airport on Thursday by police on high alert for an al Qaeda terror attack. Two people were also arrested close to Heathrow airport, on the outskirts of London, as police and troops heightened security. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20030213/wl_nm/britain_airport_dc
"So far, nobody's got any EVIDENCE of anybody preparing terrorist attacks on America" the CIA has the evidence, thats what Tenet told the congress and thats why we have the terrorism alert. I don't think the head of the CIA would risk his career by causing all this panic without any reason ( its off topic, but the CIA did predict 9/11, but nobody listened to them, they know what they are doing ). We've got that hajj thing with all the people running around frothing at the mouth in the middle east, we've got impending war with Iraq, and we've got Osama telling people to start launching suicide attacks in urban areas. Plenty of reason for fear at the moment. The conspiracy is not "the establishment" taking everything over, the conspiracy is the moslem extremists, Iraq, and a few of our so called allies plotting against the U.S. and waging a propaganda war.
as a side note, the duct tape thing is a bit loony. It reminds me of "duck and cover" which was supposed to save people from the nuclear bomb during the 50's. If your house gets hit with small pox, duct tape isn't going to save you. If your city gets hit, then you will just have to evacuate anyway, your not going to sit there inside your duct tape hell exausting all the oxygen from your living room.
The hand grenade article mentioned above says things like "a suspicious item was found in his luggage", and "it appears to be a live grenade". Why don't they just come out and say it's a grenade if it's a grenade? They're writing it as if it is, without actually saying it. 95% chance it's legit, but 5% chance that it's not. That's "a reasonable doubt", as they say in the legal profession. This morning, the same link said "Officials refuse to comment on the possibility of a hand grenade being found". That was enough to get people scared (The link's content has changed since TGregg first posted it). If the news headline screams "President Bush refuses to comment on rumors of his homosexuality" what would you think? "No comment", says Bush. That is an admission of guilt to many, but really, it's just a "no comment". You have to understand the reasons to understand the truth. Watch the movie "The Contender" to see how political and media manipulation operates. Please note that this grenade incident was in Britain, NOT the States, and the guy was a Venezualan, not an Iraqi, and probably not a moslem. Is it related to Iraq? Where is the link, and how strong is the link? The duct tape thing is like the government in the '50's telling schoolkids to hide under their desks in case of nuclear war, funny but kind of sad. If we get hit by chemical weapons or nukes here, it's over. Even if we survive the enemies' attacks, we won't survive America's retaliation, especially if Dubya goes "Nucular". Fallout lasts a LONNNG time, and blows on the wind wherever it wants to go, causing cancer to anyone in its path for years after the attacks. Read about the Chernobyl accident. Scary. They can link increased cancer rates WORLDWIDE to that mistake. Hey, at least I won't starve to death in my duct taped and plasticked house, I've still got all my Y2K food!! But we won't likely survive financially if the very fragile thread our world economy hangs by is shredded. I'm not saying it WILL happen, I'm saying it COULD happen. Have you guys seen America's debt lately? We're like a guy working at MacDonalds borrowing to buy a $50 million dollar yacht. We're in trouble if we don't kill that debt before we can't afford to pay even the interest on it. And we can't kill the debt unless we either raise taxes to get more money to put against the debt, or cut spending - which ain't gonna happen when Patriots are a million bucks a pop. I'm NOT anti-American, btw - as a Libertarian I feel more "American" than Republicans or Democrats, both of which have strayed from the American ideal in my opinion... I'm anti-fear and anti-irrationality. And there's a lot of that in the media nowadays. Journalistic integrity's gone down the tubes, what with "articles quoting other articles who quoted other articles", etc. as journalism. Even some of Colin Powell's speech info from last week was word for word off the net from a student's paper. We need to watch the quality of our information in politics as much or more than we do with our trading. If I get wiped out because of a "hot tip" or internet guru's recommendation (pump-n-dump), it's not nearly as bad as Powell giving a speech recommending pre-emptive military strikes to millions and not having accurate sources to back up his claims.... I'm sorry to be saying so many obviously unpopular things here, but traders must learn to *doubt first* until sufficient evidence proves your theory correct, and to be independent and contrarian. I know I am. Are you? I want irrefutable proof, and the CIA says they have it, but won't show us. That's not proof, that's faith. And where the government is concerned, I don't DO faith.
great post. you won't find many takers here for that kind of thinking, afraid to say, but it's welcomed nonetheless.
I really am ....we all sit and say we want concrete proof, evidence ect....then a couple towers collapse and everyone is screaming" why didn't they alert us?" Give me a break....as one CIA guy told an interviewer last year...." if we were to announce every bomb threat, nuke threat ect.. American's would be locked down in their house"...... BTW there's a simple solution to all this "terror alerts" i would support Bush if he would get up and make an announcement: If we are attacked in any way shape or form by thes Islamic fundamentalist.......We will respond by dropping a Nuclear Bomb on mecca and erasing it from the face of the earth....this way, everyday you will have nothing to bow down to pray to because it won't exist. After that make it clear, if it happens again we will then drop massive bombs on the pyramids and anything else of significance int he middle east....and if need be, what the hell, we'll take out Bethlehem just to show we care anymore. Then when all the bombing sare done, i'd still take out the eiffel tower just to piss the cowards off