NORAD Will Track Santa Despite Orange Terra 'Lert

[matcom]

:eyes: but they couldn't/didn't track hijacked aircraft :eyes:

<snip>

WASHINGTON -- The nation's air defense command will carry on its nearly 50-year tradition of "tracking" the Christmas Eve flight of Santa Claus tonight despite the "orange" alert and warnings of a possible Al Qaeda plot to hijack foreign airliners and crash them into US cities and industrial sites over the holiday season.

Officials at the joint operations of North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, and the newly established US Northern Command, or Northcom, will combine their serious responsibilities -- monitoring early-warning radar and satellites to direct the stepped-up fighter jet patrols and newly installed antiaircraft missile batteries around major cities -- with the annual exercise in whimsy.

"If we stop doing what we planned to do, then the terrorists win," said Michael Perini, a spokesman for the agencies. "The children of the world deserve to have Santa tracked. We feel that doing that and getting Santa safely around the world also hopefully reminds people that it's safe to fly."

The radar image -- along with Web cams showing Santa as he passes over 24 parts of the world -- may be accessed at noradsanta.org. Perini said they follow the sleigh by locking in on the glow of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with space-based cameras built to monitor Soviet missiles.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/12/24/norad_to_track_santa_despite_terror_alert/

[matcom]

1. kick for underpants

:D

[underpants]

2. Don't just read about it DO IT!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=571849

[matcom]

3. LOL

:bounce:

[underpants]

4. First Sighting!

Dressed as Santa Claus, Spencer Slate is towed by an underwater scooter, around the Christ of the Deep statue in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, about four miles off Key Largo, Florida, December 23, 2003. A Key Largo dive shop owner, surprised his customers with the Santa costume as a pre-Christmas treat. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY NO SALES REUTERS/Bob Care/Handout

[Skittles]

7. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ANGRY SKIVVIES ?

HE LOOKS . . . PSYCHO. :(

[underpants]

8. Dazed confused

:bounce:

The other ones REALLY needed a good washing.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

5. Aww man!! I hope the Australians don't get ALL the good stuff.

[Robb]

6. I dunno...

I mean, I don't remember the North Pole sending any troops to Iraq. :shrug:

Hope that sleigh has flares and chaff. ;)