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    War and Terror: Escape hoods and go bags
    Posted on Monday, February 17 @ 17:23:49 UTC
    Topic: Sociology
    SociologyBy Kurt Nimmo

    Damn, I knew I should have invested in Intertape Polymer.

    They manufacture some mighty fine duct tape. Intertape Polymer's duct tape is strong, durable, waterproof, and suitable for use indoors or out -- or so their web page claims. It's the perfect candidate for sealing yourself in a closet for that inevitable day when al-Qaeda invades your neighborhood.

    I wonder how many Americans last week actually locked themselves in a bedroom or bathroom and taped up the windows and doors with plastic sheeting. I wonder how many of them passed out from the carbon dioxide.

    I'm sure there will be a few smiles at Intertape Polymer and other companies that make duct tape this week when they check out their inventory lists. But it's not only duct tape manufacturers who experienced an increase in their earnings last week -- so did companies that sell bottled water, flashlights, batteries, and plastic sheeting.

    Good old George W. Bush and Tom Ridge prompted a run on all those things. Who said terrorism (or as Bush calls it, "terr'ism") isn't good for the sagging economy?

    Meanwhile, there was plenty of crow to eat in Washington. "Do not fall for hysteria and rumor," said Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), a former CIA officer and chairman of the House intelligence committee. "There is no justification, there's no more specificity to the threat." Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, wants Bush to address the public on what's up with the phony terrorist threats.

    Um, John? Get a clue.

    Remember Dan Rather accusing Bush of changing the subject with a terror alert when prickly questions arose about who knew what before 911? Then there was that White House memo listing the war on terr'ism as a big time political advantage and fund-raising tool. The memo also tossed around ideas on how to take advantage of terror alerts. "Of course the White House is going to exploit the terrorism threat to the fullest political advantage," said Democratic strategist Russ Barksdale. "They would be fools not to. We'd do the same thing."

    Nice, Russ. I bet you guys would mug old ladies in Rock Creek Park if it provided political advantage.

    The Bushites know exactly what they're doing. For instance, Colin Powell's dismal "evidence" against Saddam Hussein. Boy, did Colin make an ass out of himself at the United Nations on that one. It's one thing to have Picasso's Guernica covered up, quite another to pass off a grad student's thesis as a reason to invade and bomb Iraq. Colin had egg all over his face. No way Bush was going to take that one sitting down. He told Tom Ridge -- or maybe Karl Rove told Ridge -- to crank up the terror threat. Go orange, Tom. Go orange.

    Bingo. Presto. Shazam.

    Next thing you know al-Qaeda's belly crawling through the bushes clutching cannisters of sarin or maybe baggies containing some of that anthrax sold to Saddam by American corporations. I mean, Powell said Saddam and al-Qaeda are in cahoots.

    Not only are businesses stuck with tons of stuff nobody wants to buy because of the Bush recession, but now the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center wants them to double check their employees. Just in case some al-Qaeda "sympathizers" hired on. Obviously, it's easy for al-Qaeda operatives to sneak in the country and find jobs working at chemical plants and nuclear facilities. Never mind you can't find a job in this economy.

    I'm not sure exactly how you go about ferreting out al-Qaeda wannabes. Maybe double-up on telephone monitoring. Check out their email. See if they're reading the Koran over lunch. I sure wouldn't want to be an Arab working at a chemical or nuclear plant these days. It's tough all over for people from the Middle East who live here. Even Arabs born in New York or Nevada or Florida are under suspicion.

    It's no picnic for Asians, either. Last few times I went through the border check point here in southern New Mexico the cops had some Asians pulled off and were giving them the once-over. A few weeks ago they were doing the same with three blacks guys. Now I don't know what these black guys had to do with terr'ism, but then I guess you can't be too careful. I mean, Jose Padilla is a former gangbanger. But then he's Puerto Rican.

    Profiles can be tricky.

    Members of Congress were told the other day they need to get together "go bags" of supplies, sensitive documents, and important phone numbers in case of an attack. Staff members were given training recently on how to handle "escape hoods" that protect against biological or chemical substances. Our tax dollars at work. Maybe it would be easier to simply change the foreign policy of the US so people in other lands don't feel compelled to gas us or plow commercial airplanes into big expensive buildings. It's just an idea.

    Escape hoods. Go bags. Phone trees.

    Hey, I don't make this stuff up. It was published in the Washington Post.

    It helps, of course, to scare the lima beans out of Congress. Sooner or later they will be told to vote on the Son of the Patriot Act, otherwise known as the Domestic Security Enhancement Bill of 2003. Passing out escape hoods and holding seminars on biological warfare is a perfect way to make a point. So was telling senators a few months back that al-Qaeda might take pot shots at them on the golf course. Last week the FBI warned them about vanity plates on their cars. Oh, and nix congressional pins on jacket lapels. Next thing you know the intrepid FBI will be warning Congress about the wait staff at Capitol Hill restaurants.

    US Capitol Police chief Terry Gainer warned House members to be on alert for attempts on their lives. Senators asked Tom Ridge if it might be a good idea to clear their families out of Washington. No need, said Ridge, and then he told the senators the probability of an al-Qaeda attack is "50% or greater."

    Dick Cheney weighed in next. "All we can do," he told a gathering of administration officials, "is ask ourselves, Have we done everything we can to prevent an attack? I want to be able to look all of you in the eye and (have you) tell me that we have done all that we can."

    Thus the mad dash on all inventories of duct tape and plastic sheeting. Cheney will be working on additional plans to save the nation from his bunker at the US Naval Observatory.

    Please stand by for further instructions.

    But it wasn't strictly Washington freaking out about terr'ism. In New York police diverted trucks to mile-long single lanes over East River bridges, closed the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, and searched every single tunnel and bridge in the city. It was almost perfect timing on Bush's part because there was a huge demo against the impending Iraqi invasion the very next day.

    I mean, who has time to think about millions of people around the world protesting when you're busy thinking about how you're going to escape clouds of chicken pox or anthrax microbes? Priorities. Demos seem inconsequential by way of comparison.

    Bush and Crew may have screwed up on this particular terror alert, but sooner or later they'll get it right. In fact, according to Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton, Dick Cheney and Tom Ridge told her and other state government types Condition Red is "inevitable."

    Condition Red means Bush wants you to avoid "public gathering places such as sports arenas, holiday gatherings, or other high risk locations." It also means FEMA expects you to stay home and camp out before the TV or radio and wait for "official instructions about restrictions to normal activities." No work, no school for the kids. All of this is "inevitable" if Bush is going to push through his ambitious agenda.

    Nothing gets the ball rolling like Code Red.

    Not to worry, though. Cheney and Ridge said the feds will soon cut loose with some money for the states. This infusion of cash will not be slated for schools, roads, bridges, and other such mundane things, mind you, but for anti-terr'ism efforts. "They want us to direct all of it or most of it to terrorist-related investments, not to extra fire trucks," Lawton said. In other words, if your kids pass out from lack of oxygen in that duct tape and plastic sheeting safe room, don't call the local EMS because the parameds will be busy holding bake sales. Or they'll be standing in the unemployment line.

    Anyway, it might be about time to do some research on Google. Find out who makes those escape hoods. I tend to think the go bags are nothing more than plastic bags or maybe canvas sacks. But then with the egos in Congress and their penchant for spending our money of on frivolities, you never know -- they may have custom go bags made with their initials and flags emblazoned across them.

    Look on the sunny side: there very well may some new investment opportunities in go bags and escape hoods.

    Isn't America great?

    Kurt Nimmo's Another Day in the Empire: http://nimmo.blogspot.com/

     
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