In The Balance

[Akira 0]

Was wondering if anyone caught the new PBS show "In The Balance"? Was on Monday night.

For those that don't know it, it's a rather fascinating show. It takes a "mock trial" approach to a hypothetical situation, in this case, a biological attack. First, let me give the guests for the show:

The guests included the Mayor of Baltimore, Governor of Virginia, Rep. Rangel, the Public Health Director of Oregon, Police Chief of Washington DC, Richard Clarke, Head of emergency medicine at NYU, former counterterrorist head of the CIA, a CNN news correspondant, and an ABC correspondant. There was one or two others that I can't remember (one a former Rep).

Basically the guests were lead through the situation. For example, it started with the two news guys receiving a tape stating a biological attack would take place over Thanksgiving at malls in 4 cities. The moderator would then just let them talk about what they would do, and how they would handle it. Eventually it turned to how would they let the authorities know. There was a very interesting exchange between the group representing the government (Clarke, and a couple former intelligence types) about when news organizations should hand over evidence, specifically evidence of a national security measure.

In any case, the hypothetical situation progressed, eventually causing each panel member to become involved and interact with the others. Each member was given a specific role (based on thier expertise), and had to interact with the others as if they were talking to that person in that specific scenerio.

It's hard to explain, but if you get a chance watch it. Next episode deals with another terrorist attack, but this time a suspect is caught prior to the attack. One of the questions raised is is torture justified? It looks like it gets pretty heated.

EDIT: Forgot to add the link: In The Balance

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And since a thread will just get closed for me stating I'm just to say I'm happy to be back, I'll tack it onto here.

Been gone the past 6 weeks or so, in Ft. Lauderdale earning my FAA Aircraft Dispatch license. Was tough but rewarding.

Carry on.

[Bordoy 0]

We had something like this the UK last year. Was very interesting, with goverment advisors going on etc

I can remember on one case, they were too late to shoot down a hi-jacked plane and it flew into the houses of parliament.

And another case which had an hospital which had a deadly virus going round. So the closed it off with high metal fences and all the patients and staff went outside and trying to push through the fence. And the advisors gave the order to open fire if anyone looks like getting through, and they did and killed a few people. That better then letting them out and infecting the rest of london.

Good program though, would like to see it back.

[Bernadotte 0]

Sounds interesting but are the scenarios flexible or does everyone on the panel know to expect the worst?

Using Bordoy's example, if the panel decideds to shoot down a plane that is not responding to communication and flying directly towards a built up area is there a possibility that the plane's radio was broken or some other innocent explanation like the recent Cypriot airliner decompression?

And in the upcoming case for/against torturing a terrorism suspect, is there any liklihood that he will end up being innocent after having been tortured?

Could be a great show if it focuses on the costs of making (or not making) difficult decisions. The cost of our humanity... etc etc.

[Akira 0]

Quote[/b] ]Sounds interesting but are the scenarios flexible or does everyone on the panel know to expect the worst?

Not sure, since there has been only one episode so far. However the panelists don't know at all what the scenario may lead to or be about.

Quote[/b] ]And in the upcoming case for/against torturing a terrorism suspect, is there any liklihood that he will end up being innocent after having been tortured?

Not sure, though that will undoubtedly be brought up in the ensuing arguements.

Quote[/b] ]Could be a great show if it focuses on the costs of making (or not making) difficult decisions. The cost of our humanity... etc etc.

It does that for sure. It was interesting to see the panelists reactions when she said "Thanksgiving comes and goes...and nothing happens." after the panelists had been pretty much at each others throats about how to act.

Though in order to advance the hypothesis, and to see what would be done or needed to be done if it DID happen, she said "...a couple days later John Smith comes in to the emergency room, never been sick before, coughing up blood." Thats when the medical experts finally came into play.

[Bordoy 0]

Sounds interesting but are the scenarios flexible or does everyone on the panel know to expect the worst?

Using Bordoy's example, if the panel decideds to shoot down a plane that is not responding to communication and flying directly towards a built up area is there a possibility that the plane's radio was broken or some other innocent explanation like the recent Cypriot airliner decompression?

And in the upcoming case for/against torturing a terrorism suspect, is there any liklihood that he will end up being innocent after having been tortured?

Could be a great show if it focuses on the costs of making (or not making) difficult decisions.  The cost of our humanity... etc etc.

Uep it is possible, it is unknown if it was a terrorist attack or not at the time. But the plane was following flight plans until the last minute to fly into parliament. Kinda like real life, not all the information is known.

Yer the UKversion was wicked, they had like sky news and bbc news doing the news for the program to make it look authentic, so the politicians and advisors could see bbc news 'reporting' an inncedent and see what info the public know etc.

[Bernadotte 0]

You can be sure that if I was a terrorist I wouldn't miss a single episode.  

Oh yeah and congratulations on getting licensed, Akira.  

[Eda Mrcoch 0]

Yer the UKversion was wicked, they had like sky news and bbc news doing the news for the program to make it look authentic, so the politicians and advisors could see bbc news 'reporting' an inncedent and see what info the public know etc.

...and then 28 days later...

Oh fuck, FDF airforce saved you.

Ok, it IS interesting, but when reality comes knocking on your door the shit is quite different. Let me be sceptical: we're always prepared for yesteryear problems. The funny/sad thing is that no catastrophe is repeatable.

[Bordoy 0]

Yer the UKversion was wicked, they had like sky news and bbc news doing the news for the program to make it look authentic, so the politicians and advisors could see bbc news 'reporting' an inncedent and see what info the public know etc.

...and then 28 days later...

Oh fuck, FDF airforce saved you.

Ok, it IS interesting, but when reality comes knocking on your door  the shit is quite different. Let me be sceptical: we're always prepared for yesteryear problems. The funny/sad thing is that no catastrophe is repeatable.

But you was scared to come in before that, while people were being killed