Mermaids, Dinosaurs Deemed Terror Targets

[DoYouEverWonder]

Oct 25, 2005

The mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs are probably not very high on the list of terrorist targets. Neither is the Styrofoam and fiberglass stegosaurus at Dinosaur World in Plant City.

Yet both facilities were on a list of sites the federal government wanted "hardened" under the $90 million Buffer Zone Protection Program, granted by the Department of Homeland Security as a way to help state and local governments secure "critical infrastructure" against attack.

Whether either tourist attraction will receive any buffer zone money is unclear. Local, state and federal officials don't like to talk about specifics, lest they tip off the enemy. But the fact that taxpayer money is being considered rankles watchdog groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste as well as local law enforcement officials, including Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Jose Docobo. It also became part of the debate over the recently enacted $30 billion Homeland Security funding bill.

"At the heart of the issue," Docobo said, "is whether we should be directing these monies to sites that truly pose an attractive terrorist target. Without saying 'Come on, Weeki Wachee, Dinosaur World, give me a break,' is this another kind of boondoggle?"

To Docobo and others, the problem is that too many "truly critical sites" are not receiving security money.

http://www.tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGBFPLLL7FE.html


More proof incompetence rules in the Bush government.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. duh.....

[A Simple Game]

2. As long as they don't bother those people at the

nuclear power plants and tank farms, etc.

[tanyev]

3. Yikes!

I just scratched them off my dream vacation destination list. Whew! Close call.

[BattyDem]

4. Tax dollars are being spent to protect a ...

styrofoam stegosaurus from a terrorist attack?!?!!?!? :grr:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. And which rethuglicans own these attractions?

Think all the money would go toward security?

Not fucking likely.

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. I happen to know the owner of Dinosaur World

and I don't think she's very political or connected to the Repug party. They funny thing is there is nothing much at this attraction. It's basically a swamp/garden with a trail that you can walk around and see the fake dinosaurs. The only substantial building is the gift shop. I guess I should be comforted that my t-shirts will be so well protected?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. That's interesting...

I wonder what their "reasoning" is?

Coin flips?

[drhilarius]

6. They hate us for our brontosauri. nt

[Vogon_Glory]

7. If I Were Trying For Mass Casualties And Embarassment...

If I were an al Qaeda terrorist trying for mass casualties and maximum embarassment to Buckaroo Bush and his fellow Republicans, I'd strike at a sin city well inland (hint: NOT Bossier City, LA) as well as someplace smug but related to the top boob. Weeki Wachee Springs and Dinosaur City not be in my attention.

[Demeter]

19. Or Any Big 10 Football Stadium

[Vogon_Glory]

20. Soccer Crowds Are Probably Safe enough

I suspect that soccer crowds might be safe enough. The G*d-drunk fools who train and send out suicide car-bombers probably have just enough connection to reality to note that Islamic world soccer fans might have just enough empathy to relate to soccer fans, if not to the crowds who got to American football games.

In any event, I hope that goodness prevails in their hearts and that they forebear.

[Bridget Burke]

8. Have militant Creationists threatened the dinosaurs?

I wouldn't put it past them.

Mermaids definitely have pagan roots. Those soggy hussies are hardly good role models for Modest Christian Womanhood.

[tanyev]

10. Watery tarts!

[Chiyo-chichi]

13. My former brother-in-law

once said on the topic of dinosaurs..."Why can't people understand that God made the earth in a complete state?" meaning that God made the earth with dino fossils underground.
:wow:
I guess he also put the dino footprints on the surface? God must be some practical joker.

[Arkana]

16. Yeah--if that's true, God's got one hell of a sense of humor.

[Nihil]

17. Read "Strata" by Terry Pratchett

"Kin Arad is a high-ranking official of the Company.
Discovering two of her employees have placed a fossilized plesiosaur
in the wrong stratum, not to mention the fact it is holding a placard
which reads 'End Nuclear Testing Now', doesn't dismay the woman who
built a mountain range in the shape of her initials during her own
high-spirited youth.

But then come a discovery of something which did intrigue Kin Arad.
A flat earth was something new..."

Just saying ... :evilgrin:

[Ravenseye]

12. Gd Help us

Will someone save us from these Republicans? Honestly. Our ports are practically open, our borders a mess, our chemical plants unguarded and even unlocked....

And someone earmarking pork for Weeki Wachee Springs Dinosaur World.

I call that treason.

[xchrom]

14. weeki wachee...

i won't get out of my head for a weeki or three.

[Arkana]

15. I bet the terraists

will use pen guns and model airplanes packed with explosives. Plus, they probably laced towels with anthrax at Bed, Bath, and Beyond! BOO!

[ikri]

18. Someone been playing with Steganography again?

Wiki article on Steganography

Steganography is the encoding of information within other information. For example, hiding text or an image within an innocent image. There was speculation after 9/11 that Steganography was being used to transfer information to terrorist cells and a massive boondoggle project was launched to find evidence of this.

Was evidence found? Sure. It'd be tough not to find map references, names, dates, etc. in random text. It has been speculated that the security warnings that led to the Warren County, Ohio debacle in the 2004 election was caused by steganographic analysis (try it, get a random text generator and generate a couple of million lines of random text then see if the words "warren" and "county" appear, they probably will).

It makes perfect sense that through analyzing text, images and audio files for potential terror targets you will eventually find threats to areas like Weeki Wachee.

[noonwitch]

21. Anyone seen the mermaids of Weeki Wachee? I've always been curious

I know it's a tank, and they have hoses to breath through and all, but still, I love roadside attractions, they are so fun.