Extreme Far Right scared at national EAS Test.

[mwooldri]

Somehow I ended up on the WND e-mailing list. Rather than unsubscribe from it, I thought I'd take some time and read it periodically.

Now being a broadcast tech geek, this article peaked my interest - short URL is: http://goo.gl/3QTGY The article is entitled "DID YOU KNOW FEDS WILL TEMPORARILY CUT OFF ALL TV AND RADIO BROADCASTS ON NOV. 9?" (capitalization theirs not mine). (yes it's a site launched by Glenn Beck)

Unless you're a visitor to the US, most people know that their broadcast stations do regular testing of the Emergency Alert System (EAS), and often severe weather warnings are broadcast on the EAS. It's something that happens all the time and we are used to it. In June, FEMA announced they want to conduct the first nationwide test of the EAS, indicated a date and time, and announced to those parties who would be affected the most: the broadcast stations and their engineers.

However by the time word got to the Beck-ians (my descriptive word), it turns out to be a "government takeover", that the test will happen "when ODUMBER’S Muslim friends are planning a major attack in the U.S.", and because this test happens to be on at 2pm, that this is "about FREE SPEECH and one EVIL little puppet sitting in the White House not having the right to just pull the plug on that whenever HE sees fit.". One individual who posted a reply comment even went on to say "something big is coming. Be prepared for martial law…it’s coming. Be prepared. Buy your firearms now if you don’t have them." (quotes from the link published above).

Now, all that will be happening is that FEMA will send out a code on the EAS to indicate a test. Obama will not be addressing the nation. It will be about the same as any of the normal tests that happen regularly anyway.

So why are these guys getting their knickers in a twist over an event that is of more importance to FEMA and broadcast stations than the general public?

[dkf]

1. Lol where do they get this stuff?

[rdking647]

2. bwahhhh hahhh hhhhaaaa

just when you thing they cant get any crazier... and reading teh comments is even funnier..

[AngkorWot]

3. Eh. There was somebody here freaking out about it yesterday.

[NYC_SKP]

4. I love that they think that it's just a test and that we'll actually restore transmission...

...they're playing right into our hands.

On 9 November I'll be at command post FEMA Camp #72 Clovis, Sector 7.

Big camp, near Fresno, we expect a large number of "guests".

:evilgrin:

[RKP5637]

6. BYOB! n/t

[Rabblevox]

7. In Fresno,a FEMA camp could only improve the quality of life...

I mean, seriously, I grew up there, and it's hideous.

[Ikonoklast]

8. Say, isn't Fresno where the Soylent Corporation built that huge new plant?

Big place, you can see it miles away.

[NYC_SKP]

9. Why, yes it is! The plant will provide the meals for the "Campers"...

Kind of a closed-loop system...

:P

[Merlot]

12. "IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!"

Aren't they "space-campers"

[Rabblevox]

21. "How To Serve Man" Gotta love it! /nt

[RKP5637]

5. I often wonder how much of this country is seriously unhinged. Years ago it

was stated about 20% of the population was in serious need of some psychological help. IMO that figure has surpassed 20%. I'm now starting to think it's about 35%. There are clearly a number of seriously delusional citizens walking about.

[formercia]

10. Reich-Wankers at it again.

Their Mothers were right when they told their little wankers that it would stunt their growth.

[saras]

11. Radio? TV? No telegraph? If not for DU I never would have noticed

[Pab Sungenis]

13. Dammit, I called it.

Right down to it being the Beckerheads that said this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2138614

[FarCenter]

14. There was a nationwide activation of the predecessor system

False alarm of 1971

Despite these safeguards, the system was inadvertently activated at 9:33 AM EST on February 20, 1971. Teletype operator W. S. Eberhardt accidentally "played the wrong tape" during a test of the system.<3> As a result, an EBS activation message authenticated with the codeword "hatefulness" was sent through the entire system, ordering stations to cease regular programming and broadcast the alert of a national emergency. A cancellation message was sent at 9:59 AM EST; however, it used the same codeword again. A cancellation message with the correct codeword, "impish," was not sent until 10:13 AM EST.<4>

This false alarm demonstrated major flaws in the EBS. Many stations had not received the alert, but more importantly, the vast majority of those that did ignored it, or did not know what to do during an emergency.<5> While several stations went off the air, the one best remembered was WSNS-TV (Ch 44) in Chicago, which broadcast the 1971 events as they happened, a recording of which has become available from WOWO.

Numerous investigations were launched, and several changes were made to the EBS. Among them, the on-air alert announcement was streamlined, eliminating one version of the script that warned the audience of an imminent attack against the country. (The WOWO broadcast above does not contain the reference to an attack.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System

[BiggJawn]

18. The dreaded pink envelope...

That envelope was pinned to the wall in the teleprinter room. There were several authenticator words printed on it. Receipt of an alert with any of the words in it was cause to open the envelope and follw the instructions inside.

We were to get off the air, put our heads between our legs, and kiss our sweet asses good-by. (I peeked at one of the old ones after the replacement came)

[FarCenter]

19. Yes, one of the original objectives was to get all radio and TV off the air

so that the Soviet bombers couldn't use them as homing beacons.

IIRC, buildings inside the 3 pounds per square inch blast overpressure radius were not expected to survive. Bell System microwave and cable facilities were deliberately routed well outside metro areas with drops into the metro centers.

[Duer 157099]

15. My frikken cable company does those EVERY goddamned week

It almost always messes up a recording or something I'm watching. I always use the DVR even to watch "live" stuff so I can avoid commercials, but once that damned EAS happens, it's like the cable box is turned off and you lose EVERYTHING that was rewound.

Assholes.

[TheMightyFavog]

17. They're required by law to test weekly and a slightly different test monthly.

However, if the system is activated before the test (Severe weather, amber alert, etc) that week's test can be done away with.

[Pab Sungenis]

23. This test is different.

It's the first national activation of the system in 40 years (the last one was by accident in 1971), the first national activation of the current system, and will be using an actual "national emergency" activation code to test whether the code will actually work and the systems won't time out after two minutes.

[Frustratedlady]

16. There are 737 comments and they are bizarre as h***!

I can't believe all these whackos. They come up with the strangest scenarios of why this test is being conducted. Have your food, water and survival supplies ready, as well as your guns loaded and ready. Keep your ammunition dry. WOW!

[Tsiyu]

20. Normal people don't freak

because radio is not the oxygen by which they survive.

These paranoid tools are the only ones in society who must listen daily to Rush and Savage and Beck; of course they are freaking out.

How else do they know what to think about Ugandan warlords and Kenyan presidents?

Just more proof that our "public airwaves" are used by only a few very maladjusted, low-intellect paranoids.

[ladywnch]

22. because:

1) They like having their knickers in a twist.... they find it very enjoyable.

2) they haven't had anything to put their knickers in a twist in almost a hour and their looking at withdrawal symptoms.

3) Obama is black, and muslin (not to be confused with Teflon -- or Orlon for that matter), and Kenyan, and black, and
he is President, and black....

4) #3 makes all other explanations unnecessary.