More fearmongering and stupidity from Fox "News"

Here is the headline from the article:

Dirty bomb material secured at site in Philadelphia, thousands of sites remain in U.S.

Then, in the first paragraph this:

Raw, radiological material that terrorists could use to build a dirty bomb was secured in a Philadelphia school this week.
On March 11, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (a semiautonomous branch of the Energy Department) and Philadelphia’s Temple University announced they had secured a device containing cesium 137 -- one of more than two dozen such elements used in medicine and industry that could be turned into a dirty bomb.

(emphasis mine)

This is the type of language used when discussing an actual Improvised Radiological Device. Leading one to believe that a terrorist attack had been attempted.

But no, that would not be the case. Just the routine proper disposal of old medical equipment.

In this case, the material came from a medical research irradiator that was removed from Temple University’s Old Medical School Building and transported to a secure location, where it will be prepared for disposal at a federal facility.

You would think this type of journalism would be bad enough, but no. They take it a step further with this nugget of wisdom:

...identified more than 2,700 vulnerable buildings with high-priority radiological material in the United States alone.
As of Feb. 28, 2011, only 251 of these buildings had completed NNSA security enhancements. The agency hopes the rest will do so by 2025 -- leaving another 12 years of vulnerability to theft and misuse.

Well, it's a good thing we're not broadcasting our security shortcomings to the whole world, or giving people ideas on how they could cause fear and panic...Oh wait, never mind.

Source

I know all the media networks do the same thing, and I have no love for CNN, MSNBC or any of the others. This was just the straw that broke the camels back today.

They needed federal funding to get rid of an old school microwave oven

reply to post by rickymouse


Well of course everything needs federal funding, and it's own agency. How ever would the American people go on with their day to day lives without the Govt. telling us how to tie our shoes?

Oops, I may have just given them another idea.

reply to post by watchitburn


FOX news is the "SAME" as all of the other propaganda news outlets. I don't understand that on one hand, just because FOX is right wing and the others are left leaning, how they can be any different! Divide and Conquer anyone?

I personally like to watch FOX news strictly because that is the news outlet that covertly broadcasts what the global "WAR MACHINE" is up too. John Bolton, John McCain, and many others are on FOX all the time broadcasting their opinion, (as I take the opposite from what the truth really is) and striking the fear of God into the blind masses on how we need to give up more rights for our protection from a made up boogey man!

When it comes down to it, FOX VS CNN, really isn't any different than Democrat VS Republican! Nothing more than propaganda arms of the government to keep us divided so that we argue over nonsense versus waking the hell up and realizing that we are ALL BEING MANIPULATED!!!

FOX news is basically the propaganda arm of the WAR machine, and the others are the propaganda arms of the "So Called "HUMAN RIGHTS" machine! They both serve the same purpose, thus they are all playing for the same team! GUESS WHAT? WE ARE NOT ON THAT TEAM FOLKS!

We are the ones blindly allowing ourselves to be manipulated into hating each other by these globalist criminals, and at the same time, WE defend them and allow them to destroy us!

Just put your differences aside. Read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and think of what is best for us all versus what is best for OUR TEAM!

reply to post by seeker1963


Thank you for agreeing with me.
That's basically what I said, if not in so many words, and have been saying since I got here.

Better off keeping the material around the area if its so dangerous. Ever see the wonderful area around temple university?

reply to post by Metha-Don


Touché salesman,... touché.

You make a valid point.

These kinds of devices have gotten into the hands of scrap dealers who did not know what they were. In Brazil a scrap dealer opened one. People were handling the glowing magic powder. A little girl painted her body with the powder. Several people died, including the little girl. These kinds of medical devices require very special disposal by highly trained persons.

reply to post by Magister


Yes I remember that.

But these are two completely different situations.
The incident in Brazil or wherever it was, was a barrel of the stuff just ditched nonchalantly.
The topic of this article is a small amount contained inside of a medical device, stored in a highly secure location on the university campus, and was never in danger of being hijacked by terrorists for nefarious purposes in the first place. The two are not really comparable.

reply to post by watchitburn


It seems to me that Fox is just sensationalizing the news to increase reader/viewership on their website and channel. Although in their defense, there is a lot of unsecured radiological material out there, and not a lot is being done to fix that problem. They could have at least used more neutral language instead of making it sound like terrorists were going to blow up Philly tomorrow, though.

reply to post by watchitburn


I recently read "Radiation : what it is, what you need to know" by Peter Gale. If I remember it correctly, It was a radiation treatment device that was stolen from an out of business medical office and made it's way to a scrap dealer. It contained Cesium powder. I read a lot of different topics so it's possible I mixed it up with something else I read, but I don't think so.

reply to post by Magister


You may be right, it has been several years since I learned about it.

But my argument still stands, this is present day US. Radiation safety policies have become so stringent that compasses containing tritium are now controlled items. We have radiation detectors that have .03 micro-curies of Cz-137 that require radio-active material warning labels.

The chances of such a situation happening today are effectively zero.

Whatever is spewed by fox news, just believe the opposite and you'll have a better chance of being right

reply to post by watchitburn

Well, it's a good thing we're not broadcasting our security shortcomings to the whole world, or giving people ideas on how they could cause fear and panic...Oh wait, never mind.

I was watching CNN this morning, talking about how they had to build up the defence system on the west coast, against North Korea. They were talking about how it takes "numerous" missiles to pull off shooting down an incoming missile, because the system isn't perfected yet. It takes a lot of math and physics, and that makes it hard

Yes, that's what the newscaster said.
To whoever is still watching CNN.
:shk:

"Dirty bombs" don't even work. The amount of radioactive material dispersed is minimal and for the most part contained within the blast radius. Unless you're standing right next to the thing when it goes off, you'll be fine.

But people hear the word "radioactive" and instantly flip their s*** without doing any independent research or thinking for themselves... which is exactly what TPTB want. I honestly don't understand why, at this point, when we all know how corrupted our sources of information are (and always have been), people believe anything the state or the media tells them. It should be the exact opposite.

It would be more accurate to assume that everything you're told is a lie, and then attempt to sort out the truth from there; rather than the other way around around, which is generally how it works for most people.