Gary Hart worried that Denver will be a Terrorist target.

[coloradodem2005]

I don't know if any of you read the Denver Daily News, but Former Senator Gary Hart (1975-1987) has expressed concern that terrorists may target Denver. It is in that paper. He wrote a report called "Denver in the age of Terrorism."


Three sobering questions he had were:
Is Denver Prepared for a Major terrorist attack?
What is the communication capability between the police department, the fired department and state patrol?
Is Denver a plausable site for a future terrorist attack?


He is urging citizens and council members to seek more info regarding the city's response and prevention capabilities and urging the private sector to get more involved in working with government to prevent attacks, citing the Pepsi Center, Invesco Field and the Qwest building as potential targets.

This is not on a website, otherwise I would post it. It is in The Denver Daily News, which you can pick up for free at newspaper stands throughout Denver. As for this, this is something to consider. Considering he cowrote the Hart Rudmann report and definitely seems to have a grasp on this issue.

[travisleit01]

1. He spoke of this at the Hudson Gardens lecture

a few weeks ago. Saying that he believes the next targets will be Denver, Dallas, and Cleveland - pretty heartland cities that are somewhat isolated and don't feel as big as LA/NYC. With 9/11 being thousands of miles away, many people feel like that won't happen to them. So he speculated on 20 al Qaida members voluntarily infecting themselves with smallpox, then going to those three cities and attending sporting events, shopping malls, and public places to spread the virus. 10-14 days later, when people start showing signs of the disease, they will have spread it to thousands more people, and it will go exponentially out of control. Something to think about... (and nothing that the strip searches at the airport will stop.)

[politicat]

2. Strip searches wouldn't do any good, depending on time frame.

Remember when you had chicken pox? SP has a similar vector - you're contagious before you break out.

The good thing is that it's hard to be mobile when you're infected - my grandmother said it was like getting beaten with a board for a week on end and then the sores popped out. Insult to Injury.

Nonetheless, SP is a huge issue that we've ignored. It cannot be contained effectively by ring quarantine, because of the incubation period. It has a 40% morbidity rate, a 40% mortality rate, and the down time is 6-12 weeks. Yes, weeks, not days. And since the patient needs supportive care, and our hospitals don't have that kind of bed space....

All it would take is a single road warrior of the sales and marketing type, the kind that hits 3 cities a week, sees 20 clients in that time.... and treats the flu with sudafed and tylenol. I've worked with these walking plague monkeys. They don't consider any illness significant until it turns them into a roadkill, and not always then. These people scare me because of their ability to infect so many with their nasty germs.

And how do I know the SP stats? History major, specialty: epidemic diseases of the Renaissance. (Dual degree.)

You think SP is scary? Tomorrow's bedtime story is yersina pestis. 1348. That which our prairie dogs carry. That which is wild all over the west (which SP is fortunately NOT.) Plague won't let you sleep if SP keeps you awake late.

Pcat (who would say the prayer in the time of pestilence if she thought anyone was listening....)

Pcat

[travisleit01]

3. Thanks for all the info., Pcat!

You seem very knowledgable on the subject. GIVE US THE PRAYER :) We need all we can get...

[politicat]

4. Per request: Sophocles, Prayer in the time of pestilence.

This is in the public domain, being Sophocles, who was dead long before copyright.

http://www.vasudevaserver.com/home/sites/poetseers.org/html/the_classics/sophocles/prayer

Prayer For Deliverence From The Pestilence


Lord of the Pythian treasure,
What meaneth the word thou hast spoken?
The strange and wondrous word,
Which Thebes has heard,
Oh! it hath shaken our hearts to a faltering measure!
A token, O Paian, a token!
What is thy boon to us?
Shall it come soon to us,
Shall it be long e'er the circle bend
Full round to the fatal end?
Answer us, daughter of Hope,
Voice born Immortal of golden Hope!

First therefore thou be entreated,
Divine unapproachable maiden,
And Artemis with thee, our aid to be,
In the mid mart of our city majestical seated,
And Phoebus the archer death-laden!
By your affinity
Helpfullest trinity,
Help us. And as in the time gone by
Ye have bowed to our plaintive cry,
Bowed to our misery sore:
So come to us now as ye came before.
Ah me! it is a world, a world of woe,
Plague upon the height and plague below!
And they mow us with murderous glaive,
And never a shield to save!
Never a fruit of the earth comes to the birth,
And in vain, in vain
Is the cry and the labor of mothers, and all for a fruitless pain.
Away, away,
Ghost upon ghost they are wafted away:
One with another they die,
Swifter than flame do they fly
From life, from light, from day.

Ah me! it is a world, a world of dead,
Feverous and foul, with corpses spread:
And they lie as they lie, unbefriended.
Where are the mothers, and where are the wives?
They are fled, fled for their lives,
To the alters to pray,
There to lie, to sigh,
And to pray, and to pray unattended,
With choir and cry
Lamentation and litany blended.
And only, O Maiden, by thee may our marred estate be mended.

The fiend of plague, whose swordless hand
Burns like battle through the land,
With wild tempestuous wailing all about him,--
O cross his track and turn him back
O meet him, thou, and rout him!
Let him sink again
Deep in the deepest main!
Let him mingle in horrible motion
With the wildest ocean!
(For still what 'scapes the cruel night,
Cruel day destroys it quite.)
But oh! with thunder-stroke
Let our enemy and thine be broke,--
O Zeus! --
Father! -- let him know thy wrath, thy wrath divine!

O God of light, from lightsome bow
Cast abroad thy fiery snow,
Like morsels cast thine arrowy, fiery snow!
And thou, O mountain maiden pure,
His sister, stand our champion sure,
Stand and strow
Arrows, as fire, below!
Thou too -- thou art Theban -- O Bacchus,
Thou -- art thou not Theban? -- O Bacchus,
In rosy bloom, elate and strong,
Lead thy madding train along,
Until thy fiery chase
Hunt the demon from the place
Afar, afar!
O follow, follow him far, afar!