| Topic: |
Science > Abortion |
| User: |
"james g. keegan jr." |
| Date: |
01 Jun 2006 02:58:40 PM |
| Object: |
Feds to City: Drop Dead |
Feds to City: Drop Dead
By Michael Saul and Michael McAuliff
The New York Daily News
Thursday 01 June 2006
Homeland honcho cuts funds by 40%.
The city was stunned yesterday to find that its share of federal
anti-terror funds was slashed nearly in half by bureaucrats who said
it has no national icons to protect and lousy defense plans.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff determined, however,
that cities that have never been targeted by Al Qaeda - like
Louisville, Atlanta and Omaha - deserve whopping increases.
"This is a knife in the back," fumed a furious Rep. Pete King
(R-L.I.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. "As far
as I'm concerned, the Department of Homeland Security has declared
war on New York."
Mayor Bloomberg ridiculed Homeland Security's reasoning.
"When you stop a terrorist, they have a map of New York City in
their pocket. They don't have a map of any of the other 46 places or
45 places [that get funding]," he fumed.
The city will get $125 million from the feds' high-threat bank
account, a 40% cut from the $207 million it received last year. The
Homeland money pot was smaller overall this year, but the rest of the
country is being trimmed just 14%.
The lowball dollar amount puts at risk the NYPD's plan to build a
"ring of steel" of security measures around lower Manhattan -
surveillance cameras, computerized license plate readers and vehicle
barriers.
The NYPD had asked the feds for $89.1 million for the system,
modeled after London's security program. London's system gained
worldwide recognition last summer when police cameras provided images
of the bombers who attacked its transit system.
Heaping insult on injury, Homeland Security reviewers slammed
some of the city's key anti-terror programs as among the worst in the
nation - including the vaunted NYPD counterterrorism unit.
Emergency plans for the police, fire, hospitals and other city
departments were considered so inferior that "a special condition
will be included in the grant award prohibiting drawdown of funds ...
until they have been approved through DHS," Homeland's assessment
concluded.
"These are the same bean counters who think that the Statue of
Liberty, Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge are not national
monuments or icons," scoffed Bloomberg spokesman Jordan Barowitz.
A Homeland Security spokesman insisted New York's cut was based
on a powerful new matrix that crunches millions of bits of data to
figure out where money is most needed.
"We're quite frankly getting highly sophisticated in our ability
to analyze threat," said Russ Knocke.
Knocke would not address specifically why a threat-based
assessment cut funds for a city that has been attacked twice and
targeted repeatedly by Islamic terrorists.
"It's not so much fighting the last war, it's taking in the
threat picture today," he said. "We've got to apply dollars where
they will have the greatest impact."
But a document obtained by the Daily News that explains what
Homeland Security reviewers were looking at in their analysis
suggests key data were missing.
For instance, in the category "national monuments and icons," the
feds list none. For banking and finance businesses, they could find
only four worth more than $8 billion, when the Bloomberg
administration estimates there are at least 20.
"How do you leave every single landmark in the most famous city
in the world off of that list?" said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.),
who along with King was demanding a meeting with Chertoff.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blamed the White House and said, "I
don't think the President should come back and express solidarity
with New York until there is more funding."
Bloomberg said the city wouldn't change its approach. "We're
going to continue to do what it takes to keep this city safe and then
worry about the money," he said.
More Money to Guard Nothing
The fire chief of Charlotte, N.C., admits his city doesn't have
any national monuments in danger of being bombed. And a spokesman for
Omaha is "not aware" of a single credible threat against his
municipality since 9/11.
Yet these cities are among 15 that received an increase in
homeland security funding this year, while New York City's allotment
was slashed.
Most of the lucky localities are using their windfall to buy
equipment, beef up training or create emergency response plans.
In Louisville, Ky., for instance, the money will go toward
creating a new communication system for first responders to a
disaster.
A spokeswoman drew on the failure of FDNY radios in the World
Trade Center attack on 9/11 - even though the tallest building in
Louisville tops out at 35 stories.
Here's how some cities are faring under the new budget:
* Jacksonville, Fla. 2005 funds: $6.8 million. 2006 funds: $9.2
million. Increase: 26%. Major landmark: Alltel Stadium, home of
Jacksonville Jaguars.
* St. Louis; 2005 funds: $7 million. 2006 funds: $9.2 million.
Increase: 23.6%. Major landmark: Gateway Arch.
* Louisville, Ky.; 2005 funds: $5 million. 2006 funds: $8.5
million. Increase: 41.2%. Major landmark: Churchill Downs race track.
* Omaha 2005 funds: $5.1 million. 2006 funds: $8.3 million.
Increase: 38.2%. Major landmark: Offutt Air Force Base.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060106L.shtml
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| User: "Attila2" |
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| Title: Re: Feds to City: Drop Dead |
01 Jun 2006 03:14:37 PM |
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On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:58:40 -0400, "james g. keegan jr."
<jgkeegan@gmail.com> in alt.abortion with message-id
<jgkeegan-011878.15584001062006@individual.net> wrote:
More propagandizing spam from one of the usual sources.
.
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| User: "james g. keegan jr." |
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| Title: Re: Feds to City: Drop Dead |
01 Jun 2006 03:37:24 PM |
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In article <0liu729hf5u6j0b2sv6gedtpgfovncttb4@4ax.com>,
Attila2 <prochoice@here.now> wrote:
On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:58:40 -0400, "james g. keegan jr."
<jgkeegan@gmail.com> in alt.abortion with message-id
<jgkeegan-011878.15584001062006@individual.net> wrote:
More propagandizing spam from one of the usual sources.
more control freak behavior from a hypocritical, senile old man
.
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| User: "Vandar" |
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| Title: Re: Feds to City: Drop Dead |
02 Jun 2006 01:44:04 AM |
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james g. keegan jr. wrote:
In article <0liu729hf5u6j0b2sv6gedtpgfovncttb4@4ax.com>,
Attila2 <prochoice@here.now> wrote:
On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:58:40 -0400, "james g. keegan jr."
<jgkeegan@gmail.com> in alt.abortion with message-id
<jgkeegan-011878.15584001062006@individual.net> wrote:
More propagandizing spam from one of the usual sources.
more control freak behavior from a hypocritical, senile old man
That too.
.
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