Auto-Rebut At The Times

Tom Ridge's announced last Sunday an increased threat to targets in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Newark, NJ. That, coupled with the follow-up news on the nature of the intelligence (something old, something new, something borrowed...) has left the NY Times editors so shocked and non-plussed that they are now opining with the Auto-Rebut feature activated. What should poor Tom Ridge do - to warn, or not to warn?

The alert system has always rested on a precarious balance. Local officials must have up-to-date information about possible danger. Private citizens need to know, too, so they can make informed choices and be on the lookout for trouble.

Makes sense. A pack, not a herd. But read on:

Ordinary people have no way of calibrating their lives to the color ladder. It does them no good to be told to be scared, more scared or really scared, especially when they are also being told to act as if nothing's wrong. Unless the government is prepared to tell people to stay home from work, there's no reason to keep lighting the terror lamps. What we need is information that we can use, not another shot of adrenaline.

So we need to be urged to be especially vigilant, without anyone actually saying anything. I urge the President to get right on this!

Shorter Times: What are people who think every word from BushCo is a lie supposed to do? And how can we be expected to live in a world where 2+2=4 even if Tom Ridge says it does?

Gregory Djerejian held the Times by the throat yesterday. So did Lynxx Pherrett.

UPDATE: Please tell me I have overlooked an earlier story at the Times. Their coverage of this announcement has already been bi-polar - alarmed on Monday, skeptical on Tuesday, red-faced on Wednesday. But here is Thursday's lede from the front page:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 - They scouted the streets. They took photographs. They wrote detailed surveillance reports. And then, after five years of patiently waiting, Al Qaeda operatives carried out the devastating suicide truck bombing at the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in August 1998, killing more than 200 people and injuring thousands.

Well, no kidding. How has this little tidbit eluded them since Monday, and when are they going to remember that it was cited in the only President's Daily Brief the great unwashed have ever read?

Maybe someone should get them a subscription to the NY Times - All The News That's Fit to Forget.

MORE: I see that Lynxx Pherrett is just murdering da bums, with a musical follow-up here.

Comments

[Jay C.]

It does them no good to be told to be scared, more scared or really scared, especially when they are also being told to act as if nothing's wrong. Unless the government is prepared to tell people to stay home from work, there's no reason to keep lighting the terror lamps. What we need is information that we can use, not another shot of adrenaline.

How much do these people get paid? It's bad enough that they contradict themselves so blatantly, but apparently have never visited the DHS website. I went there and in about a minute found a page that has links to all sorts of helpful information for us private citizens.

[TM]

How much do these people get paid?

More than bloggers.

[submandave]

"information that we can use"

Do you suppose they mean something like "terrorists have been casing the following financial buildings, please pay extra attention in your daily lives, especially around similar targets"? Did I miss something, or is this the exact message you got from the alert?

[Mike G]

Are they so dense that they don't realize that the main purpose of the terror alerts is to inoculate the people making them against the after-the-fact omniscience of people like the Times editorial board?

[Bryan C]

So, basically, they're saying that terror alerts need to be binary, either "Everything is Great" or "Attack on Citicorp at 3:35PM Today". Because we're all milling around too scared and stupid to take the information that's available and make up our own minds. Thanks, NYT, I love you too!

[Tim]

Well, they're liberals, AND they hate Bush - they can't be helped. It's been pretty clear now for quite some time that if the Times opposes it, chances are, it's the right thing to do. And the opposite it true too.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, if the terrorists ever get the bomb, you can pretty much count on them finding a way to protect the Times, since they're so useful to them.

[TM]

you can pretty much count on them finding a way to protect the Times...

I'm a subscriber, does that count?

[Brian]

Man! I am so glad I don't read the NYTimes. I want to know everything, that in it self, is comfort. The left wants to have its cake and eat it too. When will the left and the dems stop with the " 2nd great depression and the sky is falling" act, most people I talk to are starting to see the light. The more I read about Kerry, the more I don't like what he stands for. His real "Band of Brothers" has some pretty strong opinions about how the real Kerry is and I tend to agree with what they are saying. Bush has had his moments, but Kerry, wow! What a joke. I can't believe this guys thinks he should be president. From his views as a young man to his voting record in the 20yrs in the senate. I can't believe he has not split into two different mini-Kerry's!

[Jor]

Tim, perhaps if the admin didn't have such a penchant for stating 2+2=5, it'd be easier to believe them when they say 2+2=4. I can list the litany of lies and deceit (or incomptenence) if you need a reminder -- I list, you decide (incompetence or lie).

IN this case in particular -- Ridge politicized the announcement, AFTER the July Surprise story came true. The info is 3-4 years old, although it appears there might be more recent corrobating information. Personally, I don't see any value in the color coded system going public, when the threat is THIS ambigous and uncertain. They could easily alert the local police of the situation, building security, and increase security around the area -- without going public and increasing the warning system. The way things are going now, the alerts are on the brink of irrelevency from a crying wolf syndrome. So things definitely need to change.