BobHarris.com - National Preparedness Month question

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Who Hates Whom:
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National Preparedness Month question

Tag it now -

Monday, 20 September 2004

Here in California, the DHS National Preparedness Month thing (first reported here) has turned out to be almost completely invisible, and that seems to be the case in much of the country -- but not all. In some places, apparently it's quite the big deal, if I'm reading your emails right.

I think I see a blatant pattern -- and one that won't surprise anyone paying attention to how the Bush people work -- but I need more data before drawing any conclusion.

So... if you have about two minutes to spare right now, please email me (not Tom -- we are still two different people) here [link removed -- see below] and tell me what state you live in and how much "National" preparedness you're seeing around you in any visible form -- TV ads, billboards, in-store displays, DHS ankle bracelets attached to your children, you name it. If you're not seeing any, please write and tell me that.

Keep it short if you can -- a few sentences, tops, since I'll have a ton to go through. I'm just looking for "Hawaii -- nothing here" or "Maine -- Tom Ridge is standing on my porch right this minute" or whatever.

Thanks.

UPDATE: About 400 emails later... glad I asked. And thanks to all for the huge, quick, smart, and concise responses. Wow.

Why I asked: a few people in swing states had seen a few things -- for example, a large billboard when entering PA from a non-swing state -- and here in CA, I've seen absolutely nothing. So I wondered if perhaps the program was selectively targeting the swing states with fearsome reminders of impending doom. Wouldn't be surprising.

But I've heard now from plenty of people from swing states who've seen absolutely nothing there, either -- and that's urban and rural, east to west, leaning-red to leaning-blue. "Chicago: nothing here." "Southern Ohio -- diddly." "Arizona crickets chirping." And so on.

So it appears the program has either fizzled, not yet kicked into high gear, or been relatively dropped.

This surprises me -- the detailed plans and large number of major national corporate sponsors indicated this was gonna be a thang, but not yet. Hmm.

What's much more disturbing -- MUCH more disturbing -- is the number of you who have written who are living next to large, obvious targets which remain completely and dangerously unsecured, three years into the War on Tara. Didn't know that would be part of the responses. Eek.

UPDATE 2: Hmm... more info keeps coming in. Reconsidering, still not sure. It's looking like there <i>are</i> a few states where National Frighten-The-Kids Month is relatively active, if not particularly huge. Still waiting for more data to draw a firm conclusion...

OK, now I'm gonna ask you not to write if you haven't seen anything. Together, we've ruled out much of the country. But if you have seen anything specifically DHS Preparedness Month related, let me know. Thanks!