From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 12:08:32 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: fwd from spyking@thecodex.com
In-Reply-To: <35A111DE.9C6DDDBB@brainlink.com>
Message-ID: <199807061908.PAA07802@camel14.mindspring.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Answering Spyking's questions Ray posted in reverse:

The Bronx incident started off as a major CB case,
with barricades and plastic suits galore, in accord
with the push for scare the beans out of the public
with imaginary terrorism (another WMD terrorism trial is 
due to start in NYC shortly).

It turns out that what was found were a couple of 
take-home, mildly radioactive elements (properly 
contained and marked) of a recently deceased 
employee of a plant that used them.  The story 
died quickly. NYT covered it twice, once hot,
once tepid.

Second, what's driving the nationwide push to train First
Responders and emergency room staff is Clinton's
funding the program with billions, after he read
Richard Preston's recent novel on biological
terrorism (so said news reports), and got a few 
heart-thumping briefings from if you only knew 
blackhearts.

Right now preparing for domestic defense against
Weapons of Mass Destruction is the hottest
career-jumpstart in the nation, and there's a frenzy of
competition passing as cooperation among the 
military, National Guards, intel, FBI, FEMA, state 
and local cops, EMS, sawbones, Red Cross,
CB weapons experts (US and RU), mercenaries, 
manufacturers, vets and revolving doorers of all the 
above, and, to be sure, the never-fake-it media 
goading and exaggerating (our straight-shooting 
members here excepted, well, except Y2Kites).

Like many state and local officials relishing the vital
national security role being porked to domestic forces,
neatly bypassing the military's limitations, NYC's mayor 
is happy as a pig in shit with his plan for a new $16m
anti-terrorist bunker on the 23rd floor of a buddy's office 
building across the street from the World Trade Center -- 
one RPG shot from the  23rd WTC into his impenetrable 
C4I nest. Rudy loves to watch "Patton" clad only in a 
Kevlar jockstrap.

Of course, he's a "former federal prosecutor," the most
common subtitle on TV of disembodied talking heads.