Handouts For The Homeland -60 Minutes

[Rose Siding]

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Chris Cox, says the bulk of security money is not being spent to make America safer, but for items such as bulletproof vests for dogs, air-conditioned garbage trucks and traffic cones.

CBS) Since Sept. 11, Congress has appropriated nearly $10 billion for homeland security to protect Americans from terrorism. The money is being doled out over a four-year period, with much of it going to local police and emergency services charged with preventing and responding to terrorist attacks.

Now, congressional critics, armed with independent studies, are alleging the money is being squandered, and that programs are riddled with handouts that have little to do with making the country safer, and everything to do with restocking police and fire departments with all sorts of equipment that has nothing to do with terrorism.
.....

Of Oakland CA's "first-ever, lead-lined, weapons-of-mass destruction container"....

"If you come up with biological or radiological material, you put it in there, and cart it away?" asks Kroft.

"Yeah, it's really state of the art, and we were the first to get it," says Plummer . "I don't think anyone has one."

Plummer says they haven't used the container, which costs $400,000, yet and it's the only one in the United States like it.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/31/60minutes/main684349.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=Politics_684349

[rodeodance]

1. they are worried about this 10b-well what about the billions thar are LOST

in Irag? Who will be accountable for thet?

[hlthe2b]

2. Hey! I've got NO problem with them buying bullet proof vests for dogs...

I've been in three communities where police dogs were shot by perpetrators (or accidentally by "friendly fire." If we are going to train these loyal and intelligent animals to risk their lives in our service, the least we owe them is to try to protect them. That this is lumped in as a wasted expense, pisses me off to no end. :mad:

[obxhead]

7. I'm sorry i gotta say,

I've had pets (dogs & cats) in my life for over 2.5 decades now and I would do anything to save them from harm. I do love animals of all kinds.
But...
Honestly now, shouldn't we worry about the kids in Iraq a little more????

[Orangepeel]

3. "restocking police and fire departments with all sorts of equipment "

I don't know if I'd call that squandering, exactly. It's not like they are spending it on strip clubs.

[truthisfreedom]

4. well, this is the thing. in the normal course of things, sh*t happens,

then you know what you need to stock up on next time. we aren't under terrorist attack because the whole WTC thing was concocted by MIHOP people, so we aren't gaining any experience as to how to deal with terror attacks. realistically, we should look at what other countries have stocked up on and what tools they use to combat conventional terrorism, because that's the type of stuff we need to really be worrying about, imho.

[NYC]

5. The real waste of money was reported about 6 months ago.

They were transporting lawnmowers in Texas for some kind of lawnmower races. There's a thread on DU.

[pfitz59]

6. Cox is DeLay's man.....

Trying to ignite outrage over the issue 'du jour', iot deflect interest in the BugMan. If PigBoy, Spinsanity or O'Lelly start ranting about this you know the 'hand of rove' was involved.