The End of the Rainbow

Will Obama scrap Bush's color-coded terror alerts?

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  • Posted By: bojack27 @ 07/21/2009 11:18:44 AM

    Another Obomination by this administration bent on removing the word "Terrorist" from the lips of Americans! I think we call them misguided Obominites now.

    What an Idiot and Mark Hosenball isn't giving us his unbias opinion on this matter, instead he quotes on inconsiderate public official laughing at the concerns of American citizens. This administration said it would be transparent in it's operation now they are trying to cover up the need to know of any imminent attacks planned on American soil. These color codes weren't meant to scare people but to make them aware of their surroundings and report suspicious behavior, articles and vehicles. I think 300 million pairs of eyes are far better than the simple minded bureaucrats that are in office.

    Keep thinking that were living in Neverland and this country will suffer the consequences of its lackidasical attitude towards terrorism.

    • Posted By: Pia1981 @ 07/21/2009 2:41:34 PM

      Hello Bojack. Nice to 'see' you but not necessarily nice to read you. And how are you? Doing well I hope. I see you have recovered from the religion issue tangle you had with me on that article last spring. I see you are using your favorite words, Obomanation and Obamanites...very cute...Not!  I do agree with you on the terror alert system though. Isn't it shocking that we finally agree on something? Nice running into you again...take care.

  • Posted By: Pia1981 @ 07/21/2009 2:36:22 PM

    We must keep this sytem for our safety!

  • Posted By: sieg6529 @ 07/20/2009 12:54:45 PM

    The threat advisory level should be kept internal to the relevant government agencies. The public should be able to access it online, but it doesn't need to be shouted at us in the airports. All it does is make us worried and then, eventually, jaded.

  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 07/16/2009 6:39:40 PM

    Which reminds me regarding the Vietnam Wars Operation RANCHHAND [Agent Orange].

    You may find the hexafloride Agent Orange in all finer hardware stores in the US.

    It is known as Monsantos ROUNDUP.[weedkiller].

  • Posted By: cameron3073 @ 07/15/2009 2:28:48 PM

    I would rather be cautious about something that won't happen than be taken by surprise by a complete disaster.

  • Posted By: Hagbard Celine @ 07/14/2009 3:06:56 PM

    "Funny you should say that--because until Bush Jr:

    1. America had never inititated a pre-emptive war w/o provocation"

    Ask the Phillipinos about that one.

  • Posted By: cs4455 @ 07/10/2009 8:46:08 PM

    Funny you should say that--because until Bush Jr:

    1. America had never inititated a pre-emptive war w/o provocation
    2. had never openly tried to condone and justify torture
    3.had never rounded up and incarcerated thousands of the enemy and denied them Geneva protections by relabeling them
    4.Never convened their own gov. to enact laws to justify torture or illegal concentration camps
    5. Never convened their own gov to grant immunity from war crimes
    6. Never enacted and lied about wholesale spying on their entire pop.
    7. Never betrayed and outed their own spies for political gain
    8. Never withdrew their signature from an international humanitarian document
    9. Never denied due process, no lawyers and legal recourse to captives while simultaneously removing all international protections
    10. Never deliberately used chemical agents on a civilian population while simultaneously defending the action by claiming the agents were mostly incendiary, not chemical
    11. Never openly hired mercenaries and engaged in war profiteering by granting no bid contracts to cronies
    12 Never refused to submit to internationall law or appear in a world court
    13 Never threatened attack on a world court if they tried to prosecute our aggression
    14. Never justified pre-emptive and continual aggression by blaming the victims and claiming better to fight (and kill) them over there than fight them over here--even though 'them' in Iraq had not done anything to the US

    America had never behaved like this before George Bush and the PNAC--but almost all these things had a precedent: Nazi Germany did almost every single one.

    so while evil may be inherent to power corruption--all those with power have not behaved this way. Republicans and Bush did indeed take America to a new low. Evill always seeks out the most receptive reservoir/host. It's bedmates are always greed, lies, intolerance and bigotry. It does not hit every generation in our country because until 2000, we had guarded against such contamination.

    • Posted By: SrAN @ 07/13/2009 12:31:09 PM

      Cs4455.
      1. It???s called Vietnam.
      2. In 1996 President Clinton's Intelligence Oversight Board admitted that US-produced training materials condoned "execution of guerrillas, extortion, physical abuse, coercion and false imprisonment".
      3. Umm???Look at WW2 and tell all the descendants of anyone who looked Japanese that it never happened. Their rights were walked on and hardly anyone thought anything of it until much later on.
      4. The CIA has been training people worldwide on how to administer torture. Once again read #2. If it was unlawful before Bush 2 then why was it being taught?
      5. ???
      6. ???In June 1970 Nixon met with Hoover [FBI], Helms [CIA], NSA Director Admiral Noel Gaylor, and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) representative Lt. Gen. Donald V. Bennett and told them he wanted a coordinated and concentrated effort against domestic dissenters,??? Verne Lyon - former CIA undercover operative.
      7. ???
      8. Look at the Presidents throughout history who overlooked the thousands of black Americans who were being severely mistreated. Few things were done for them and women through most of America???s history. So, I ask this, how are we to take care of others when we were not even capable of taking care of our own?
      9. Once again read #3. None of these people were given due process. Very few of them were even given a reason they were being imprisoned.
      10. Chemical warfare was used by Americans on Vietnam and even our own troops have felt the repercussions having been in direct contact with these chemicals.
      11. Look at the revolutionary war for starters. Mercenaries were used on both sides of the field there. As for war profiteering, what is the actual definition of ???war profiteering???? The definition has changed throughout history. It goes as far back as the Revolutionary War where Continental Army Officers were convicted of defrauding troops of par, embezzlement and misappropriating government property.
      12. ???
      13. ???
      14. Once again Vietnam is a shining example of what past Presidents did in order to further the American Way and to fight the threat of communism.
      The ??????s are for things that I could not back up with a clear justification. Sorry don???t have the time to look it all up. I will say that America???s history is full of sordid stories of espionage, torture and crimes against our own and against others. It did not just start with Bush 2 and it definitely will not stop with Obama.
      (

    • Posted By: alstan3 @ 07/11/2009 3:42:44 AM

      Put down the crack pipe ang get a grip.

  • Posted By: sickoflibs1 @ 07/11/2009 1:48:33 PM

    Drew- Show me anywhere in my post where I pinned anything on Obama. Again you're wrong. All I did is point out false statements and correct with facts. To try to say anything else is simply lying. So I guess I should thank you for proving my point. However, in my opinion, while Obama did inherit a bad economy, after spending 12.8 trillion dollars in six months with no good plan on how to pay it back without taxing us to death, he has bought this bad economy, and everything that goes with it.

    • Posted By: jasonparee @ 07/12/2009 4:39:56 PM

      Where did you get $12.8 T? I know when Bush came in he had a + sign at the bottom of the budget but now we have a - sign with 13 digits behind it......The money being spent now is crucial to rebuilding failing infrastructure across the country and investing in upgrading our antiquated power grid. On top of this it will provide stimulus during the natural recovery phase of the economic cycle. It's actually a very effective way to kill 2 birds with one stone. What do we have to shoe for mega deficits of the last 8 years? Nothing but a bag full of problems.

      • Posted By: SrAN @ 07/13/2009 11:25:14 AM

        Let me know when all of this work is supposed to start because I live in Washington DC and I have seen none of it. Obama did not spend the billions (or even trillions) of dollars wisely. Instead he gave most of it back to the banks that put us here because of their severe corruption and greed. In reading and watching the news it seems to me that Obama did not have a very clear cut plan on how to spend the money he just made (with nothing to back it up), how to end the war in the middle east or how to get this country back to the top of the moral and economic totel pole. I do hope that if he does have a strategy it will soon surface because I do not think the nation can keep holding onto this sinking ship much longer.

  • Posted By: abadreview @ 07/10/2009 5:21:17 PM

    We have individuals in this country, right wing extremist types, that are more of an immediate threat to American national security than any foreign terrorist group. Their ideology is extremely poisonous to American values and is one of the main reasons we're in the mess we're in at this moment in history. Until we re-educate our own people, we have no real chance against any foreign terrorist threats. They'll just keep coming...

    • Posted By: alstan3 @ 07/11/2009 3:38:32 AM

      You socialist pig. Ya we're better off now. Nationalize Nationalize. Oh, and then tax me and redistribute to the no work welfare pigs. Oh is that you?

      • Posted By: jasonparee @ 07/12/2009 4:31:25 PM

        That was productive alstan3. By the way, in case you missed it, Obama just CUT your taxes 3 months ago.

  • Posted By: abadreview @ 07/10/2009 5:15:35 PM

    He should. Those alerts make about as much sense as electing another Republican to the Presidency. Stupid and completely useless.

    • Posted By: alstan3 @ 07/11/2009 3:39:14 AM

      You socialist pig. Ya we're better off now. Nationalize Nationalize. Oh, and then tax me and redistribute to the no work welfare pigs. Oh is that you?

  • Posted By: DrewCAENG @ 07/11/2009 2:01:27 AM

    sickoflibs -hmm short memories, okay like you guys trying your best to pin our problems on Obama after 8 years of the worst administration in history. With regards to this article anyone who lets bright colors and flashing lights effect their stance and for that matter concern about world matters... well i guess vote republican.

  • Posted By: Oldenoughto @ 07/10/2009 10:08:26 PM

    Let's get this straight. The Geneva Conventions apply to UNIFORMED enemies fighting for a specific GOVERNMENT. Is that not correct?

  • Posted By: sickoflibs1 @ 07/10/2009 10:01:47 PM

    Never entered a war without provocation? What about Vietnam? Never rounded up and incarcerated thousands in illegal concentration camps? Why don't you try talking that crap to one of the thousands of oriental americans who were placed in concentration camps immediately following Pearl Harbor. I suppose that was O.K. though, seeing as how FDR was the man of the hour back then. You libs seem to have short memories, either that or you're lying to make your points. Much more junk in that post but I'm tired of proving you wrong already.

  • Posted By: BeijingBob1 @ 07/10/2009 8:44:32 PM

    Might as well get rid of the military too - why not make the US as vulnerable as Osama can?

  • Posted By: Jamesspegalan @ 07/10/2009 8:37:46 PM

    These color coded alerts were nothing but a joke.. Sitting on a toilet letting loose a BIG TURD and evaluating how dark or light it is made more sense than this crap. When will these idiots wake up! Just another way of the extreme right wing neo-cons to scare the public into favoring their agendas.

  • Posted By: kenfromillinois @ 07/10/2009 8:03:13 PM

    The next American to die at the hand of a terrorist will have been murdered by Odumbo.

  • Posted By: eskildsonloyd @ 07/10/2009 7:24:54 PM

    This is such an important topic - I'm so glad Newsweek found time to cover it. Hopefully you'll continue monitoring this situation, perhaps with a unique coded system of your own.

  • Posted By: laurendoll @ 07/10/2009 7:24:36 PM

    I've always felt these "alerts" were meaningless. Maybe we can save some cash by getting rid of these rediculous programs.

  • Posted By: coraltown @ 07/10/2009 7:15:04 PM

    The only benefit for the alerts was as an American Dad gag, and for presidential campaigning in 2004. It would have been much more valuable to have warned us of the impending subprime meltdown with a 'code-red financial scam' signal. The Bush administration was far more dangerous to the US than Al-Queda. W is gone, so no need for color coded nonsense.

  • Posted By: Vigilance @ 07/10/2009 5:41:03 PM

    Yes. Please, get rid of these. They were, and are, a joke, and in the mind of the public there's really going to only be two categories anyway: "Being attacked" and "Not being attacked". Every time the flag goes to red and nothing happens, it weakens the purpose of these alerts.

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