November 2002 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[ARRL-ODV:7988] Re: Continuing Saga
by Tuck Miller NZ6T ARRL SWD Vice Director 27 Nov '02

27 Nov '02

Wonder what JUNO's or even MSN's response would be if our members who have paid accounts with their services would discontinue their accounts and go elsewhere. Curious to see if that would change their minds.... 73, Happy Thanksgiving to all, Tuck NZ6T Shelley, Barry, N1VXY wrote: > We have confirmation this morning that MSN is now also blocking mail > being forwarded to their customers from the arrl.net server. But in an > even more draconian move, they have also blocked mail from the whole > range of IP addresses held by our vendor in Indiana, DCC. This means > there is no mail for any DCC customer that is being accepted by MSN. > > We are trying to contact someone at MSN to resolve this situation. > Unfortunately, our member who helped us with Hotmail is apparently on > the wrong side of some Chinese Wall in the beauracracy of the > Microsoft Network and can't be as helpful as he was in resolving the > Hotmail situation. Oh yes, Juno has been basically unresponsive to > this point as well, despite several e-mail messages from our members > to the president of Juno. > > I will be sending a message out to our arrl.net users who are having > their mail forwarded to msn.com accounts this morning. > > On a more pleasant note. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. > > 73, > Barry, N1VXY > -- ************************************************ ARRL The national association for Amateur Radio Remember, Helping Others....Always Worthwhile!! Southwestern Division Vice Director Are you a member yet? If not, please join! Personal Web Page: http://www.qsl.net/nz6t

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[ARRL-ODV:7987] Continuing Saga
by Shelley, Barry, N1VXY 27 Nov '02

27 Nov '02

We have confirmation this morning that MSN is now also blocking mail being forwarded to their customers from the arrl.net server. But in an even more draconian move, they have also blocked mail from the whole range of IP addresses held by our vendor in Indiana, DCC. This means there is no mail for any DCC customer that is being accepted by MSN. We are trying to contact someone at MSN to resolve this situation. Unfortunately, our member who helped us with Hotmail is apparently on the wrong side of some Chinese Wall in the beauracracy of the Microsoft Network and can't be as helpful as he was in resolving the Hotmail situation. Oh yes, Juno has been basically unresponsive to this point as well, despite several e-mail messages from our members to the president of Juno. I will be sending a message out to our arrl.net users who are having their mail forwarded to msn.com accounts this morning. On a more pleasant note. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. 73, Barry, N1VXY

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[ARRL-ODV:7986] Re: Good things!
by Kay Craigie 27 Nov '02

27 Nov '02

This is a handsome-looking page that should spark additional interest in joining the ARRL. I hope we'll see a link to the QST page placed prominently on the opening page of the Web site, so visitors will go see it early and often. Applause to the staff who came up with this idea and made it happen. About the financial plan ... yes, it was good to get the book early enough so I could read through it before the lunacy of the holidays, CQWW CW, and other seasonal distractions pleasant and un-. 73 - Kay WT3P --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com) Version: 6.0.423 / Virus Database: 238 - Release Date: 11/25/2002

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[ARRL-ODV:7985] Good things!
by Tom Frenaye 27 Nov '02

27 Nov '02

This was nice to see on the ARRL web this morning! >> QST Page Debuts on the ARRLWeb (Nov 27, 2002) -- Today, ARRLWeb inaugurats a new section devoted to QST. The QST page provides a complete list of the contents of the current issue, along with a downloadable sample article or column. Hyperlinks take readers to the Product Review archive, propagation charts, Amateur Radio glossary, VHF/UHF standings, QST Feedback (corrections to past articles), The ARRL Letter online newsletter and much more. The QST page will be updated at the end of every month. The project was a collaboration between the QST editorial, marketing and web services/software development departments. http://www.arrl.org/qst/ Also, on another topic, I don't think I've ever received the Budget/Plan document so early - mine arrived last Thursday. Thanks to those in Newington and on A&F for getting it out so quickly - and I promise to read it before Christmas this time so I can find out if Section News is gone or not. :^) -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki(a)arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444

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[ARRL-ODV:7984] Hotmail Unblocked
by Shelley, Barry, N1VXY 26 Nov '02

26 Nov '02

The situation whereby e-mail was not being delivered to hotmail accounts has now been resolved. That's the good news. Unfortunately, we have not heard from Juno.com and, it appears the blocking problem has spread to MSN.com, the corporate parent of Hotmail. We are trying to verify this at the moment. I should say that one of our members, Mike Myers, KF6IHL, an MSN network employee (and user of arrl.net) was instrumental in helping resolve this situation. I am trying to contact him now about the MSN issue. I am sending a note to our members who have their arrl.net addresses forwarded to hotmail accounts this afternoon. More information as it becomes available. 73, Barry, N1VXY

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[ARRL-ODV:7983] Re: National Journal Article
by Hobart, Mary K1MMH 26 Nov '02

26 Nov '02

I"ll find out, Greg. I have a hard copy from the author, Jonathan Rauch, so I"ll email him and ask. Stay tuned... -----Original Message----- From: Milnes, Greg (Dir, NW) Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 5:39 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [ARRL-ODV:7981] Re: National Journal Article Mary Can excerpts from the article be used?? Or the entire article?? 73/Greg W7OZ ----- Original Message ----- From: Hobart, Mary <mailto:mhobart@arrl.org> K1MMH To: arrl-odv <mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 1:38 PM Subject: [ARRL-ODV:7979] National Journal Article The following article appears in the Nov 23 edition of the National Journal, a weekly publication in Washington focusing on politics and government. The readership is mainly on the Hill in Washington. The article came as a result an interview I did with author Jonathan Rauch about a week ago. He told me then that when he interviewed Leslie Lenkowsky of CNCS and learned about all the grantees, he felt Amateur Radio was the most interesting. Mary, K1MMH > > National Journal Copyright 2002 by National Journal Group Inc. All rights reserved > Saturday, November 23, 2002 America's Secret Weapon in the War on Terror: Americans by Jonathan Rauch > As everyone knows, today's Americans are pampered, cynical, and > self-absorbed. The Greatest Generation served nobly, but then the mold > broke. After 9/11, the government asked Americans to give but little, and > little is what they gave. As everyone knows. > Suppose what everyone knows is not actually true. Suppose President Bush > called for volunteers in the war on terror, and thousands of people came > forward. Suppose they created volunteer networks for disaster relief, > emergency preparedness, and civil defense. Suppose they did most of this > work at the community level, under the radar of the national media. And > suppose it all happened not in the massive, militarized, top-down mode of WWII but in > the networked, decentralized, bottom-up manner of WWW. Well, brace yourself. Americans have heard the call. > WASHINGTON-In his office a few blocks from the White House, Leslie > Lenkowsky waves a magazine editorial lamenting America's post-9/11 > complacency. Then he fills me in on things the editorialists probably did > not know. > Lenkowsky heads the federal Corporation for National and Community > Service, a dinky (by government standards) agency that runs the AmeriCorps > national-service program and makes grants for volunteerism. Two months > after 9/11, Bush gave a speech challenging the public to volunteer "in our > own communities" to make the homeland more secure. The national-service > agency responded by rummaging through its budget and coming up with $10.3 > million in grant money for 9/11 volunteerism. Five worthy proposals poured > in for every one that the agency could fund. Nonetheless, by July the > corporation had approved 43 three-year grants to nonprofit and public > agencies in 27 states. > Some of the programs, Lenkowsky explains, are relatively conventional: > money to place AmeriCorps workers with the Red Cross or to enlist > volunteers in cities' homeland security efforts. Some, however, break new > ground. Milwaukee will teach public-housing residents to patrol for > suspicious goings- on, use two-way radios, coordinate with police, and so > forth-skills that, not coincidentally, will also be useful against > ordinary crime. A program in Manhattan's Chinatown will create an > immigrant network to communicate with non-English-speakers in time of > crisis. > Then there are the hams. "If you had told me we'd be giving a grant to a > ham- radio group," Lenkowsky says, "I wouldn't have believed it." NEWINGTON, Conn.-America boasts 650,000 licensed ham-radio operators. > About 1,500 of them are certified in emergency communications and are > prepared to rush to the scene of a forest fire, flood, or hurricane with a > "jump bag" full of portable radio equipment. "Amateur radio has been doing > this for decades, with their own equipment, at no cost to the government > or any corporation or community," says Mary M. Hobart, of the American > Radio Relay League. When there is a major train wreck or chemical spill, > "sometimes hams will show up and not be needed, but hams will show up." > That can be crucial. When phone lines, radio towers, and even satellites > go down, hams-broadcasting each to each, and operating self- sufficiently > on batteries or generators-stay on the air. After September 11, when New > York's cell phones turned into paperweights (remember that giant antenna > atop the World Trade Center?), hundreds of hams, some from as far away > as Texas and California, turned out to provide radio lifelines for > emergency workers and relief agencies. > Not all of those people had been trained, and, says Hobart, "during an > emergency is not the time to train someone." So, with its government grant > and some private money, the Relay League has embarked on an effort to > increase the country's supply of emergency-ready hams from 1,500 today to > at least 6,500 in three years. Just since last month, 600 hams have begun > the training. > "We have the ability to create a national platform for emergency > communications," says Hobart. "If, God forbid, something were to strike in > both Virginia and California, we have the mechanism to connect those two > together." > On 9/11, of course, all commercial air travel halted. If that happened > again, how could hams, and other urgently needed personnel, be rushed to > the site of an attack? > VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.-You may have heard of Angel Flights. Under the > auspices of a national nonprofit called Mercy Medical Airlift, 4,500 or so > private pilots around the country volunteer themselves and their planes to > fly patients long distances for specialized medical care..... > FALLS CHURCH, Va.-Those people swarming around the Pentagon after 9/11? > Many of them were volunteers, too. The American Red Cross, according to > Susan Aarhus, is 97 percent volunteer...... > One could go on. Maryland's Frederick County-home to Camp David and the > army's Fort Detrick biowarfare lab, among other potentially juicy > terrorist targets-is readying an Alpha Squad of police, fire, and medical > units to respond to a bioterror attack. I missed their joint > decontamination drill a couple of weeks ago, but later I caught up with > Alan E. Imhoff, a retiree who is helping organize hundreds of the county's > retired doctors, nurses, and other health personnel into a volunteer > medical-reserve corps. "Basically," says Imhoff, "our whole focus is on > what we do locally for the first 72 hours, until state and national > assistance reaches us." He adds that preparedness programs are sprouting > in Maryland so fast it's hard to keep up with the acronyms. The jihadists of militant Islam are reported to believe that as they > toppled the Soviet colossus, so, in time, they can topple the American > one. What they do not understand is that the Soviet state made war on > civil society for most of its 70-year rule. Americans, meanwhile, have > nurtured their churches, charities, and clubs. The Soviet Union fell > because it was brittle as well as brutal. America, with its countless > nodes of activity and authority, is somewhat more vulnerable than the > USSR, but it is infinitely more robust. More robust than Al Qaeda > realizes. More robust, even, than many Americans realize. > "Through this tragedy," Bush said in November of 2001, "we are renewing > and reclaiming our strong American values." So we are. This Thanksgiving, > Americans have much to be thankful for-beginning with each other.

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[ARRL-ODV:7981] Re: National Journal Article
by Greg Milnes 25 Nov '02

25 Nov '02

Mary Can excerpts from the article be used?? Or the entire article?? 73/Greg W7OZ ----- Original Message ----- From: Hobart, Mary K1MMH To: arrl-odv Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 1:38 PM Subject: [ARRL-ODV:7979] National Journal Article The following article appears in the Nov 23 edition of the National Journal, a weekly publication in Washington focusing on politics and government. The readership is mainly on the Hill in Washington. The article came as a result an interview I did with author Jonathan Rauch about a week ago. He told me then that when he interviewed Leslie Lenkowsky of CNCS and learned about all the grantees, he felt Amateur Radio was the most interesting. Mary, K1MMH > > National Journal Copyright 2002 by National Journal Group Inc. All rights reserved > Saturday, November 23, 2002 America's Secret Weapon in the War on Terror: Americans by Jonathan Rauch > As everyone knows, today's Americans are pampered, cynical, and > self-absorbed. The Greatest Generation served nobly, but then the mold > broke. After 9/11, the government asked Americans to give but little, and > little is what they gave. As everyone knows. > Suppose what everyone knows is not actually true. Suppose President Bush > called for volunteers in the war on terror, and thousands of people came > forward. Suppose they created volunteer networks for disaster relief, > emergency preparedness, and civil defense. Suppose they did most of this > work at the community level, under the radar of the national media. And > suppose it all happened not in the massive, militarized, top-down mode of WWII but in > the networked, decentralized, bottom-up manner of WWW. Well, brace yourself. Americans have heard the call. > WASHINGTON-In his office a few blocks from the White House, Leslie > Lenkowsky waves a magazine editorial lamenting America's post-9/11 > complacency. Then he fills me in on things the editorialists probably did > not know. > Lenkowsky heads the federal Corporation for National and Community > Service, a dinky (by government standards) agency that runs the AmeriCorps > national-service program and makes grants for volunteerism. Two months > after 9/11, Bush gave a speech challenging the public to volunteer "in our > own communities" to make the homeland more secure. The national-service > agency responded by rummaging through its budget and coming up with $10.3 > million in grant money for 9/11 volunteerism. Five worthy proposals poured > in for every one that the agency could fund. Nonetheless, by July the > corporation had approved 43 three-year grants to nonprofit and public > agencies in 27 states. > Some of the programs, Lenkowsky explains, are relatively conventional: > money to place AmeriCorps workers with the Red Cross or to enlist > volunteers in cities' homeland security efforts. Some, however, break new > ground. Milwaukee will teach public-housing residents to patrol for > suspicious goings- on, use two-way radios, coordinate with police, and so > forth-skills that, not coincidentally, will also be useful against > ordinary crime. A program in Manhattan's Chinatown will create an > immigrant network to communicate with non-English-speakers in time of > crisis. > Then there are the hams. "If you had told me we'd be giving a grant to a > ham- radio group," Lenkowsky says, "I wouldn't have believed it." NEWINGTON, Conn.-America boasts 650,000 licensed ham-radio operators. > About 1,500 of them are certified in emergency communications and are > prepared to rush to the scene of a forest fire, flood, or hurricane with a > "jump bag" full of portable radio equipment. "Amateur radio has been doing > this for decades, with their own equipment, at no cost to the government > or any corporation or community," says Mary M. Hobart, of the American > Radio Relay League. When there is a major train wreck or chemical spill, > "sometimes hams will show up and not be needed, but hams will show up." > That can be crucial. When phone lines, radio towers, and even satellites > go down, hams-broadcasting each to each, and operating self- sufficiently > on batteries or generators-stay on the air. After September 11, when New > York's cell phones turned into paperweights (remember that giant antenna > atop the World Trade Center?), hundreds of hams, some from as far away > as Texas and California, turned out to provide radio lifelines for > emergency workers and relief agencies. > Not all of those people had been trained, and, says Hobart, "during an > emergency is not the time to train someone." So, with its government grant > and some private money, the Relay League has embarked on an effort to > increase the country's supply of emergency-ready hams from 1,500 today to > at least 6,500 in three years. Just since last month, 600 hams have begun > the training. > "We have the ability to create a national platform for emergency > communications," says Hobart. "If, God forbid, something were to strike in > both Virginia and California, we have the mechanism to connect those two > together." > On 9/11, of course, all commercial air travel halted. If that happened > again, how could hams, and other urgently needed personnel, be rushed to > the site of an attack? > VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.-You may have heard of Angel Flights. Under the > auspices of a national nonprofit called Mercy Medical Airlift, 4,500 or so > private pilots around the country volunteer themselves and their planes to > fly patients long distances for specialized medical care..... > FALLS CHURCH, Va.-Those people swarming around the Pentagon after 9/11? > Many of them were volunteers, too. The American Red Cross, according to > Susan Aarhus, is 97 percent volunteer...... > One could go on. Maryland's Frederick County-home to Camp David and the > army's Fort Detrick biowarfare lab, among other potentially juicy > terrorist targets-is readying an Alpha Squad of police, fire, and medical > units to respond to a bioterror attack. I missed their joint > decontamination drill a couple of weeks ago, but later I caught up with > Alan E. Imhoff, a retiree who is helping organize hundreds of the county's > retired doctors, nurses, and other health personnel into a volunteer > medical-reserve corps. "Basically," says Imhoff, "our whole focus is on > what we do locally for the first 72 hours, until state and national > assistance reaches us." He adds that preparedness programs are sprouting > in Maryland so fast it's hard to keep up with the acronyms. The jihadists of militant Islam are reported to believe that as they > toppled the Soviet colossus, so, in time, they can topple the American > one. What they do not understand is that the Soviet state made war on > civil society for most of its 70-year rule. Americans, meanwhile, have > nurtured their churches, charities, and clubs. The Soviet Union fell > because it was brittle as well as brutal. America, with its countless > nodes of activity and authority, is somewhat more vulnerable than the > USSR, but it is infinitely more robust. More robust than Al Qaeda > realizes. More robust, even, than many Americans realize. > "Through this tragedy," Bush said in November of 2001, "we are renewing > and reclaiming our strong American values." So we are. This Thanksgiving, > Americans have much to be thankful for-beginning with each other.

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[ARRL-ODV:7982] Re: arrl.net blocked
by Tuck Miller NZ6T ARRL SWD Vice Director 25 Nov '02

25 Nov '02

If I am not mistaken don't our Nigerian friends use Yahoo? They will probably be next to try to block the arrl.net address. Shelley, Barry, N1VXY wrote: >Bill: > >Thanks for pointing that out. I had a statement to that affect in the first draft of the note, but deleted it as I thought it might be too judgemental. Of course, my personal opinion is that these two entities could be the two largest purveyors (or at least "allowers") of spam on the Internet! > >73, >Barry, N1VXY > >-----Original Message----- >From: Edgar, William (SM, Western PA) >Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 3:12 PM >To: arrl-odv >Subject: [ARRL-ODV:7977] [ARRL-ODV:7976] arrl.net blocked > > >Barry, > >Thanks! > >I find this fascinating in that a lot of spam that I get comes from juno >or hotmail accounts. <grin> > >- Bill N3LLR > >AR>I wanted the Board to know the following in case you started to hear from >members. > >We just received word this morning that both Hotmail and Juno.com have >blocked all e-mail traffic coming from the arrl.net server. This is >ostensibly a "bully list" type of procedure to try and have others deal >with the problem of spam on the Internet. Unfortunately, it is becoming >more and more frequent. At the moment, approximately 5,800 of our >members are affected by this action. (roughly 10% of the arrl.net users) > >We are in the process of working, through DCC the arrl.net vendor, to >try and get the blocks removed but this is not something that will be >accomplished in short order, if they even bend to our position. We will >send a message directly to those affected members to let them know of >the situation as well as post a item on the web page. > >There is some indication that the Hotmail block (they are owned by MSN) >is a block on all 3rd party provider e-mail but this is not confirmed at >the moment. Beyond the current situation we are concerned that they may >be sharing this information with others and, if so, similar blocks might >be in the offing. If AOL were to take a similar action, another 6,800 >members would be affected. > >We will keep you apprised of any information as we go forward. > >73, >Barry, N1VXY > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- ************************************************ ARRL The national association for Amateur Radio Remember, Helping Others....Always Worthwhile!! Southwestern Division Vice Director Are you a member yet? If not, please join! Personal Web Page: http://www.qsl.net/nz6t

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[ARRL-ODV:7980] FCC Technological Advisory Council
by jmax＠attglobal.net 25 Nov '02

25 Nov '02

>From WA8DZP's web site - " The next FCC Technological Advisory Council (TAC) meeting will be on December 4th. I wanted to let everyone on this list know that the FCC's Spectrum Policy Task Force (SPTF) will be making a presentation at that meeting. They will be discussing some of the technical considerations behind their final report. This will be the first time some of this material will be made public. I encourage those of you who are interested in this subject and who can't attend the meeting to listen to the webcast. Information on how to tune is is available on the FCC website under the topic 'Audio/Video Events'." -- Dewayne P.S. de Jim, W6CF - That's at http://www.fcc.gov/ . The links to Audio/Visual Events are toward the bottom of the page on the left side of the screen.

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[ARRL-ODV:7979] National Journal Article
by Hobart, Mary K1MMH 25 Nov '02

25 Nov '02

The following article appears in the Nov 23 edition of the National Journal, a weekly publication in Washington focusing on politics and government. The readership is mainly on the Hill in Washington. The article came as a result an interview I did with author Jonathan Rauch about a week ago. He told me then that when he interviewed Leslie Lenkowsky of CNCS and learned about all the grantees, he felt Amateur Radio was the most interesting. Mary, K1MMH > > National Journal Copyright 2002 by National Journal Group Inc. All rights reserved > Saturday, November 23, 2002 America's Secret Weapon in the War on Terror: Americans by Jonathan Rauch > As everyone knows, today's Americans are pampered, cynical, and > self-absorbed. The Greatest Generation served nobly, but then the mold > broke. After 9/11, the government asked Americans to give but little, and > little is what they gave. As everyone knows. > Suppose what everyone knows is not actually true. Suppose President Bush > called for volunteers in the war on terror, and thousands of people came > forward. Suppose they created volunteer networks for disaster relief, > emergency preparedness, and civil defense. Suppose they did most of this > work at the community level, under the radar of the national media. And > suppose it all happened not in the massive, militarized, top-down mode of WWII but in > the networked, decentralized, bottom-up manner of WWW. Well, brace yourself. Americans have heard the call. > WASHINGTON-In his office a few blocks from the White House, Leslie > Lenkowsky waves a magazine editorial lamenting America's post-9/11 > complacency. Then he fills me in on things the editorialists probably did > not know. > Lenkowsky heads the federal Corporation for National and Community > Service, a dinky (by government standards) agency that runs the AmeriCorps > national-service program and makes grants for volunteerism. Two months > after 9/11, Bush gave a speech challenging the public to volunteer "in our > own communities" to make the homeland more secure. The national-service > agency responded by rummaging through its budget and coming up with $10.3 > million in grant money for 9/11 volunteerism. Five worthy proposals poured > in for every one that the agency could fund. Nonetheless, by July the > corporation had approved 43 three-year grants to nonprofit and public > agencies in 27 states. > Some of the programs, Lenkowsky explains, are relatively conventional: > money to place AmeriCorps workers with the Red Cross or to enlist > volunteers in cities' homeland security efforts. Some, however, break new > ground. Milwaukee will teach public-housing residents to patrol for > suspicious goings- on, use two-way radios, coordinate with police, and so > forth-skills that, not coincidentally, will also be useful against > ordinary crime. A program in Manhattan's Chinatown will create an > immigrant network to communicate with non-English-speakers in time of > crisis. > Then there are the hams. "If you had told me we'd be giving a grant to a > ham- radio group," Lenkowsky says, "I wouldn't have believed it." NEWINGTON, Conn.-America boasts 650,000 licensed ham-radio operators. > About 1,500 of them are certified in emergency communications and are > prepared to rush to the scene of a forest fire, flood, or hurricane with a > "jump bag" full of portable radio equipment. "Amateur radio has been doing > this for decades, with their own equipment, at no cost to the government > or any corporation or community," says Mary M. Hobart, of the American > Radio Relay League. When there is a major train wreck or chemical spill, > "sometimes hams will show up and not be needed, but hams will show up." > That can be crucial. When phone lines, radio towers, and even satellites > go down, hams-broadcasting each to each, and operating self- sufficiently > on batteries or generators-stay on the air. After September 11, when New > York's cell phones turned into paperweights (remember that giant antenna > atop the World Trade Center?), hundreds of hams, some from as far away > as Texas and California, turned out to provide radio lifelines for > emergency workers and relief agencies. > Not all of those people had been trained, and, says Hobart, "during an > emergency is not the time to train someone." So, with its government grant > and some private money, the Relay League has embarked on an effort to > increase the country's supply of emergency-ready hams from 1,500 today to > at least 6,500 in three years. Just since last month, 600 hams have begun > the training. > "We have the ability to create a national platform for emergency > communications," says Hobart. "If, God forbid, something were to strike in > both Virginia and California, we have the mechanism to connect those two > together." > On 9/11, of course, all commercial air travel halted. If that happened > again, how could hams, and other urgently needed personnel, be rushed to > the site of an attack? > VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.-You may have heard of Angel Flights. Under the > auspices of a national nonprofit called Mercy Medical Airlift, 4,500 or so > private pilots around the country volunteer themselves and their planes to > fly patients long distances for specialized medical care..... > FALLS CHURCH, Va.-Those people swarming around the Pentagon after 9/11? > Many of them were volunteers, too. The American Red Cross, according to > Susan Aarhus, is 97 percent volunteer...... > One could go on. Maryland's Frederick County-home to Camp David and the > army's Fort Detrick biowarfare lab, among other potentially juicy > terrorist targets-is readying an Alpha Squad of police, fire, and medical > units to respond to a bioterror attack. I missed their joint > decontamination drill a couple of weeks ago, but later I caught up with > Alan E. Imhoff, a retiree who is helping organize hundreds of the county's > retired doctors, nurses, and other health personnel into a volunteer > medical-reserve corps. "Basically," says Imhoff, "our whole focus is on > what we do locally for the first 72 hours, until state and national > assistance reaches us." He adds that preparedness programs are sprouting > in Maryland so fast it's hard to keep up with the acronyms. The jihadists of militant Islam are reported to believe that as they > toppled the Soviet colossus, so, in time, they can topple the American > one. What they do not understand is that the Soviet state made war on > civil society for most of its 70-year rule. Americans, meanwhile, have > nurtured their churches, charities, and clubs. The Soviet Union fell > because it was brittle as well as brutal. America, with its countless > nodes of activity and authority, is somewhat more vulnerable than the > USSR, but it is infinitely more robust. More robust than Al Qaeda > realizes. More robust, even, than many Americans realize. > "Through this tragedy," Bush said in November of 2001, "we are renewing > and reclaiming our strong American values." So we are. This Thanksgiving, > Americans have much to be thankful for-beginning with each other.

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