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Burn your almanacs! Burn your maps!  Burn EVERYTHING...  Let's freak the fuck out!

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/12/29/national1426EST0580.DTL&type=printable

FBI urges police to watch for people carrying almanacs TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer Monday, December 29, 2003 ©2003 Associated Press 12-29) 12:54 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning. In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning." It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways. "The practice of researching potential targets is consistent with known methods of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations that seek to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful planning," the FBI wrote. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the bulletin this week and verified its authenticity. "For local law enforcement, it's just to help give them one more piece of information to raise their suspicions," said David Heyman, a terrorism expert for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It helps make sure one more bad guy doesn't get away from a traffic stop, maybe gives police a little bit more reason to follow up on this." The FBI noted that use of almanacs or maps may be innocent, "the product of legitimate recreational or commercial activities." But it warned that when combined with suspicious behavior -- such as apparent surveillance -- a person with an almanac "may point to possible terrorist planning." The publisher for The Old Farmers Almanac said Monday terrorists would probably find statistical reference books more useful than the collections of Americana in his famous publication of weather predictions and witticisms. "While we doubt that our editorial content would be of particular interest to people who would wish to do us harm, we will certainly cooperate to the fullest with national authorities at any level they deem appropriate," publisher John Pierce said. The FBI said information typically found in almanacs that could be useful for terrorists includes profiles of cities and states and information about waterways, bridges, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, buildings and landmarks. It said this information is often accompanied by photographs and maps. The FBI urged police to report such discoveries to the local U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force. ©2003 Associated Press

 

I use to ask, where are we going as a nation ?Now I know.

WTF are they doing?  The cops' job was hard enough before fate dropped the terrorist threat in their collective laps.  Now they want the cops to investigate stupid crap like reports of somebody brandishing assault almanacs?
What's next?  One map a month?  No high capacity map books, with multiple pages?  Background check for every fotog snapping pictures of a bridge, tunnel or building?  No full auto reference books, that let you turn pages really fast?  Students have to get run through NICS everytime they want to buy a schoolbook?
I was pissed when the government decided to build a bureaucracy and exclude the American people from collective preparation, both mentally and physically.  They issue terrorist attack warnings, telling nobody what the proper response should be.  From there, it has gotten beyond ridiculous into the downright absurd.
I like GWB's international asskicking style.  This unmitigated BS makes me think twice about him, however.

dupe topic, IBTL[banana]

That's how I feel...  I mean, how far do they go with this stuff?  I used to think that if you're not doing anything wrong you've got nothing to fear.  Now, I'm starting to think that's not true.  

It’s simply an investigative clue for crying out loud!!

No doubt you guys lay awake nights worrying about this stuff!!  [:D]