Reply #49: If the threat of nuke attacks in cities is real,

[JDPriestly]

Bush/Cheney are to blame because they gave the lion's share of the anti-terrorism funds to rural areas -- like Wyoming -- instead of to big cities that needed it. Did Bush/Cheney really think that terrorists would bother to blow up some farm in Idaho?

My mother's small town in Ohio has installed an automatic telephone call system that dials each household in the community in emergencies. And what emergencies trigger calls? How about an Alzheimers patient on the loose in his PJs? Seriously, she got a call from the system advising her of an Alzheimers patient on the loose. A terrible thing, but nothing to do with terrorism. What I would like to know: Where did her town get the money to install the system? My first guess is Homeland Security money. I also wonder how much the system cost, and what friend of what right-wing politician was paid to install it.

Meanwhile, here in a big city in California, our ports are vulnerable. I have no idea how I would know if a terrorist attack was imminent or even under way. Thanks to all the bogus terrorist alerts, our city barely has the money to keep our exhausted policemen on the streets. There certainly is no money for an emergency phone system. Thanks to Bush and Cheney and their warped priorities.