Saturday, December 24, 2005

NORAD

Just now, AP published an important news story regarding our air defense systems:
In the 50th anniversary of the tradition, soldiers at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said by about 10 a.m. EST, Santa had been spotted near Fiji, Japan, travelling about 100 times faster than the 300-km/h Bullet Train.

By 11 a.m., NORAD said Santa was in the Himalayas.

Last year, the tracking Web site at http://www.noradsanta.org received 912 million hits from 181 countries, and the Santa Tracking Operations Center answered nearly 55,000 phone calls on Christmas Eve.
The obvious question: If they can track Santa, then why did the peregrinations of Atta and the lads come as such a surprise?

Also, do you think Bush wants to re-allow Santa to carry box-cutters aboard his sleigh?

Semi-seriously: If you were a terrorist, wouldn't you choose Christmas Eve to engage in frivolity? NORAD would seem to be awfully busy tonight...

(By the way, their Santa page really is kind of trippy...)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Santa's in Japan and the Himalayas, huh? My, these guys have ethnocentric fantasies don't they? It ain't just democracy spreading in the mideast, it's Santa in east and central Asia!
Any reports from the ground to corroborate NORAD's airspace intelligence?

Anonymous said...

did anyone here see the National Geographic 3 hour on 9/11 ? It struck me as both factual and apolitical.

I bring it up here because I was so struck by the segment following the first plane, where NORAD and specifically east coast air defense systems workers were hapless and helpless at tracking domestic aircraft. Some of the segment was re-created but augmented by actual audio of what was going on. Nothing in the ensuing four years has so markedly demonstrated what a waste the trillions spent on Air Defense systems has been.

As a member of the 'duck n cover' generation, I couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't a retired Soviet general watching as he sipped vodka in his dacha - ruefully musing about how we could've been had after all.

keep checking in on cannonfire after reading of you at Kos and your work on the Mitchell Wade/MZM
money laundering for GOP coffers story a few weeks back - thought I was a confirmed Abramoff junkie until that thread appeared - keep it up and thanks

Anonymous said...

luce, if Nat'l Geographic's program is based on NORAD info, its credibility is highly suspect. NORAD first said that they launched no planes until after the Pentagon was hit at 9:38--50 minutes after WTC1 was hit. Since this was clearly incredible, a week later NORAD changed its story, saying they launched planes, but the FAA was slow to notify them so the planes were late. This story didn't work either, but it stood for three years until the 9/11 Commission completely rewrote the NORAD timeline, explaining that the NORAD witnesses has been "mistaken".

Dr. David Ray Griffin says in his CSPAN-cablecast speech (late in the address, perhaps in response to a question) that NORAD had bragged that it could track anything in the N. American airspace. He didn't give his source for the assertion but I haven't caught him in a lie yet.

http://www.911blogger.com/2005/04/proper-release-of-griffin-in-madison.html

Dr. Griffin's book "The New Pearl Harbor" can be read online here"

http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/141355.php

gene_ said...

Excellent post anonymous. I'd like to bring up something here that I've been saying on other blogs.
And that is that a few months ago minority leader Harry Reid had the senate go behind closed doors regarding the second phase of the 911 investigations. After which he was promised a status report by November 14. Well here it is the end of the year and nothing is forthcoming. We need to demand action! Please visit Harry Reid's blog here> http://giveemhellharry.com/blog/65/happy-holidays
and ask him where the hell is it.

The following comment from another poster elsewhere sumarizes for me.

"If you people don’t start demanding that people like Reid respond to our nation’s needs, than you can kiss your prospects for 2008 goodbye. Reid’s inaction on the NSA spying is nothing short of treason. On virtually every KEY issue Reid has rolled over for Bush. The invasion, the Patriot Act, vote fraud, torture, Phase Two and illegal wiretaps. How many issues are you willing to watch Reid neglect before you are willing to recognize his inability and unwillingness to represent the best interests of our Nation??? As long as you people are willing to apologise for and rationalize Reid’s inaction and doublespeak, the longer it will continue. Are you really so naive that you believe Reid’s desertion of Conyers, both on the vote fraud issue, and on this latest attempt by Conyers to demand accountability, is the act of someone that can lead an effective “opposition”???

Inaction and excuses ARE the adversary, and anyone that endorses inaction and excuses IS the adversary. Not of me, but of our hopes for change. It is time to demand more from the Democratic leadership. NOW. Not tomorrow."

Thank you for this forum!