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This is such cynical, exploitative use of the media. The government knows it and they are cashing in on it big-time. And since Fox is one of the biggest perpetrators of biased, hysterical "news" reporting out there, they are more than willing to serve as a mouthpiece for the Bush Regime, which is easily the most cynical, arrogant, exploitative, untruthful presidential administration ever (and I'm prepared to include the Nixon and Reagan administrations in that qualification). Fox delivers quick soundbites to uninformed conservatives whose attention spans can't handle anything more complex.
A "high" terror alert makes us feel like we're keyed in, like we're part of something important, like we've got the latest information about the most critical events. But how is a Hy-Vee shopper supposed to benefit from a screen graphic that says "TERROR ALERT: HIGH" and a caption bar that reads "POLICE RELUCTANT TO NAME MOTIVES OR SUSPECTS" or "CAUSE OF BRIDGE COLLAPSE STILL UNKNOWN"? This is a hysterical, almost gossipy delivery of fragmented information, fully decontextualized in an effort to amp up the hype and paranoia.
The REAL information, the stuff that might actually help us (and "us" includes state goverments, law enforcement agencies, health care providers, Democrats, Libertarians, John McCain, and the Vatican�in short, the entire world except the Ashcroft / Fleischer / Cheney hydra) prevent and/or survive a terror attack�all this information is being kept from us because we're not part of the right inner circle. It's on a "need-to-know" basis, except even when we most need to know it, we won't. It's been a game of smoke and mirrors and you're-not-important-enough exclusion ever since 9/11, when Fleischer manufactured reports that Air Force One played hopscotch around the country all day because there was "a direct threat" to Bush's life (there wasn't) that prevented him from flying directly to DC. This cowardly behavior is masked by a very thin cloak-and-dagger charade that basically sends the message, "You're not important enough to know the details of these very serious and very scary threats. So just remain extremely terrified for the next three to five hundred weeks, while we deal with the situation in our very secret, hi-tech, invasive, probably illegal way."
So there's not much the average American can do, besides continue to let himself get raped in the same manner he has been during the first two years of this administration. In the meantime, I've got a roll of duct tape. I guess that'll have to do.
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