ORANGE ALERT...again!?

i just put away my gas mask and survival kit. the department of homeland security instituted the terror alert system in order to warn americans of the level of danger of a terrorist attack in this country. since the system has been in place, the level of alert has been raised four times from yellow to orange. three times the level was lowered without a terror attack occuring, thank you very much. currently, we are under our fourth orange alert status, due to an elevated amount of "chatter", which i will assume means that the FBI, CIA, and others are hearing things that make them nervous, but my guess is that not too many people are paying much attention to the warning system anymore. the boy who cried wolf comes to mind and unfortunately, the department of homeland security is damned if it does and damned if it doesnt.

talk about CYA on a scale none of us can really imagine. on the one hand they dont want to panic the country and get people crazy about being the victim of a terrorist attack. on the other hand, they dont want to ignore warnings that they feel could foreshadow another 9/11 and be called to the carpet for keeping it to themselves. yet, the system seems flawed at its very foundation. how do you warn people about the dangers of an attack without having to answer to the consequences of what you really want, which is that nothing bad happens?!?!?

the answer is that the system should be scrapped and the nation as a whole should be on a continuous high state of alert due to the fact that we are at war with people who use terror as their weapon of choice. none of us change our behavior due to the higher alert status and most people i speak to about the system think its dumb. its not like i grab my gas mask or survival kit when i leave the house if we are at an orange vs a yellow level of alert. so whats the point. theres nothing i can do about a terrorist attack so dont warn me about it. i'm prepared for an attack because the president says we are at war. now if the local forecast was for rain, i would probably grab an umbrella, but only if it was 50% chance of rain. as for a terror attack, it will probably blow over.

have a grateful day!
larry