TERROR ALERT: ORANGE - Get under the bed now
 

ORANGE!<BR><BR>I wish the government would be a little more vague about this whole alert system. What are we supposed to do....go out and buy bread and milk?<BR><BR>It surprises me that they keep it at the sme level during things like New Years Eve and the Fourth of July...seems that would be the time the terrorists would strike.<BR><BR>How does this impact travelers?...(just so Fodor's doesn't delete thread)

Seems to me there should just be two colors, red and green. When it's green you go about your business as usual. When it's red you pull the curtains and hide under the bed. Why do we need all these other colors? Did Tom Ridge have a bowl of M&amp;Ms on his desk when he invented this?

Here's a little something a lot of you probably don't know. While the rest of the country is under YELLOW, New York has always been under ORANGE. What does it mean? Nothing, really. Just get out there and enjoy yourselves.

The terror warning has been raised today from elevated to high. The last time that we were at the high terror warning level was in September 2002, but it was lowered back to elevated 10 days later. John Ashcroft and Tom Rich said the warning they were giving was not to stop people from traveling, just to make them more aware of their surroundings and to have all of the contact information of their families readily available. Tom Ridge said &quot;Heightened awareness and readiness saves lives.&quot; Everyone is to go about their normal course of business. The change won't have an impact on most people. Basically its to pay attention to anything that is an aberrance. One of the examples given on local television in Boston was for people to pay attention to changes in their neighborhoods (eg. a series of burglaries).

yeah, what leslie said. and it's also a cya tactic so that if something does does happen, we have no place to point a finger. sadly (and without comment as to reasons), i think government today spends as much time in cya mode as they do governing.

Terrorists are related to increased burglaries? I don't get it.

I have several relatives that work in federal law enforcement, one of whom has a fairly senior position at the DEA in NY. Based upon conversations we've had in the past, the federal government believes that some terrorist cells/groups have supported themselves through criminal activity. A suspected cell in Michigan was supporting themselves through a &quot;butt-legging ring&quot; (a scheme to avoid cigarette taxes), another in upstate NY ran a drug lab, and Al Qaeda had involvement with heroin production in Afghanistan.<BR><BR>That's probably why an increase in break-in's would be one of several items that police should monitor.<BR><BR>

OK, I tried to resist asking, but I could not. What is a &quot;butt-legging ring&quot;??

Don't mean to panic anyone but I work in a public sector building and we had it inspected and mapped out last week for emergency incidents eg registration, a Place for pets, incident control, welfare room etc etc

E, Ryan explained the butt-legging ring as a scheme to avoid taxes on cigarettes (cigarette = butt). Made me think of the many truck stops and gas stations purchased in recent years by persons of middle-eastern descent. I often wondered how they were able to sell fuel at what I thought were very tight margins. Hmmm......don't suppose they were avoiding federal and state fuel taxes in support of terrorist activities, do ya?

Has it ever been red since they have developed the color coding? When do they use the color red?

Instead of writing about the real issue of Islamic terroritst, isn't anyone shocked by how Fodors now indexes EACH AND EVERY POST BY USER? If that isn't the most intrusive, liberal-democrat thing to happen to this board in ten years I don't know what is.

Magnus, it's really not that different from the last site. They could probably &quot;index&quot; - as you say - all messages posted with the same poster name. In the old site, it would have been less reliable since there are too many xxx's, but all the same - it's just another query for data. Big deal.<BR>

I don't get it. What are you afraid of Magnus?

These alerts are horrendous. I guess I'm glad that someone somewhere is mobilizing if intelligence says there's a reason to, but for all of us great &quot;unwashed&quot; public, it's like saying: &quot;Worry! But don't worry! Things are bad, but just ignore it! Get anxious, but remain calm.&quot; <BR><BR>This business of &quot;remain vigilant,&quot; as if the only thing between US civiliation and local episodes of annihilation will be the ability of a single person to spot someone up to no good with a dirty bomb....well, &quot;CYA&quot; doesn't begin to describe it.<BR><BR>(As for our civil rights under the new Fodors regime, I think I'll search on &quot;Magnus&quot; to see what else he's said here before! And if you have any credit cards or loans, M., then it isn't those awful liberals who've been peeking under your hood. And oh, yeah, remember Ken Starr?)

I've concluded these alerts are just a government attempt at CYA. How many people are fussing about not having been warned about Sept 11. So, now, they can say, we warned you! It's all PR. Too bad.

These boards area dead. I will no longer vistit. What is the purpose of being able to view every other poster's messages except censorship? <BR><BR>Well, good riddance to bad rubbish. These boards were fun while they lasted. They hypocrit liberals have won here with their intrusive ways. It won't help much after they've been proven wrong when WMD are found in Iraq, but we knew they were idiots all along anyway.

I really look forward to being able to tell the authorities that &quot;yes, you certainly did warn us&quot; the next time some horror is visited us in one or more of our own cities. It will make all the difference.

Tom Ridge is not the M&amp;M's type. More of a Skittles guy.

Did anyone else see the Saturday Night Live parody on the color alert system? They had tan, beige, ecru, cream, off-white, you get the picture. That was too funny.<BR><BR>But seriously I think we're all more alert, no matter what the color. I live near the water, for example, and I'm just more observant of the boaters, what they're doing, whether they &quot;fit the picture&quot;. And I think we all look funny at planes flying extra low or in unusual places...it all helps.

I agree the whole point is the government policy to CYA. I can't believe they will go to red until there is an initial attack. <BR>On the other hand, I must confess that when I ride the subway I am alert to who is riding the car with me and if they seem to be doing something strange. Of course, I doubt I would ever recognize a truly suspicious person from the rest of the crowd.

Orange alerts are all in the news once again. You and I don't have shells to crawl into like a turtle, so we have to cover up in our own way. Little kids like Paul and Patty know this. No matter where they go or what they do, they always remember what to do if the atom bomb explodes right then.<BR>&quot;It's a bomb! Duck and cover!&quot; <BR>Tony's on his way to his cub scout meeting and knows that the bomb can explode any time of the year - day or night. &quot;Duck and cover!&quot; <BR>Atta boy, Tony. That flash means &quot;act fast!&quot;<BR>

If this will make people less complacent and more alert, then I'm all for it as long as it's not changed so often it loses it's effectiveness.<BR><BR>We live in Europe working for the U.S. government. An incident occurred here last September that received very little attention at home. A week before the 9/11 remembrance ceremonies a woman who worked at the American BX store made a casual comment to her neighbour; something to the effect of &quot;You should stay away from there that day; I bet something's going to happen&quot;. It was said in such a way that triggered suspician in the neighbour who called the MP's. It turns out that the woman and her boyfriend had bombmaking supplies in their apartment, along with detailed plans of the BX. They planned to set off a bomb in the store; a major gathering place for families. The female suspect is German-American and never would have been suspected. Had it not been for the neighbour being alert, God knows how many soldiers, family members and especially kids would have been killed. It sure helped to remind me that only one person can make a difference in something that most of us believe is beyond our power.

If you go to the website of the newly formed U.S. Dept of Homeland Security:<BR><BR>http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=29&amp;content=320<BR><BR>you can read all about the codes. Anybody involved in Emergency Planning knows these codes activate certain levels of security measures. It is federal law (often also enforced by state regs) that at a minimum, local counties must have an Emergency Plan. Probably worth getting familiar with your local governments before badmouthing their efforts. This plan can often be found in the local libraries, Town Hall, local Fire Department(s), etc. It is supposed to contain likely scenarios, vulnerabilities, etc.

Beachbum is correct. There have been several cigarette &quot;schemes&quot; going on around Buffalo (where there are several Indian reservations). Here's a short statement I copied from the Buffalo News... &quot;Federal authorities in Detroit say two women from the Seneca Nation of Indians' Cattaraugus reservation played a key role in a cigarette-smuggling ring that helped ship hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hezbollah, the Islamic militant group blamed for.....&quot;.<BR><BR>Hey, if there's Al-Quida in little old Buffalo, New York, then you can have them anywhere. Do you remember the Buffalo (Lackawanna) six arrested here a few months ago? They all pleaded not guilty but one by one are starting to come forward and admit that they knew what they were doing and that they had met with Bin Laden. A few more Arab men from Buffalo who own deli's have also recently been arrested for sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to Yemen without reporting it. <BR><BR>

Dear Magnus...since when is categorization a &quot;liveral democratic&quot; thing. Your past heroes like J Edgar and his G men were a bit intrusive I dare say and no one is accusing him of being liberal democrats...go back to talk radio!

Hey Magnus, doesn't look like you will be missed as your posts have nothing to do with sharing travel ideas. <BR><BR>Every site I post on has each registered person's posts available for review. I like the idea as it gives me a better feeling for that person's views and if I will find their views on whatever (stocks, wine, travel, movies) compatible with mine. The sincere members of Fodor have always posted with one screen name for the most part and with registration, the number of sociopaths has been reduced. It has also eliminated the paid flacks on the site for restaurant chains, etc. <BR><BR>Now onto the Terror Alert code Orange:<BR><BR>I will continue to live my life and travel in much the same way as I always have. I will not allow myself to be dominated by terrorists. However, I will be more alert and have alternative plans in place.<BR><BR> We are living in a very different world from 18 months ago and one must adjust. There is no sense in waiting for a return to life as it used to be. It is forever changed. <BR><BR>LilMsFoodie <BR><BR>LMF