Well, this won't help.
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration intends to slash counterterrorism funding for police, firefighters and rescue departments across the country by more than half next year, according to budget documents obtained by The Associated Press.The Homeland Security Department has given $23 billion to states and local communities to fight terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks, but the administration is not convinced that the money has been well spent and thinks the nation’s highest-risk cities have largely satisfied their security needs.
The department wanted to provide $3.2 billion to help states and cities protect against terrorist attacks in 2009, but the White House said it would ask Congress for less than half — $1.4 billion, according to a Nov. 26 document.
Look over to the right sidebar. See that number? Now take the $3.2 billion that has been requested to protect us here at home, and look two spaces to the left. That's what we've spent on Bush's war in Iraq that has made us less safe, that has ravaged a country that was not a threat to us, and that has taken the lives of 3,882 Americans so far.
We're spending $3 billion in Iraq every 10 days. That's 157 times the proposed DHS request But we can't afford to spend that on our safety here at home, because this guy says so.
But "the surge is working", they argue, in an attempt to justify continuing the quagmire in Iraq. Well, actually, no. It isn't. That's just the latest false argument trumpeted by the administration and the media to cover for the fact that the we're spending $10 billion a month. Sure, where our troops are located, violence is down. That's because the troops are doing their job. The administration and the Iraqi politicians, however, are not.
- The purpose of the troop escalation was to give politicians 'breathing room' for a political solution. They are nowhere near a political solution, and in some cases, it's getting worse.
- There is new fighting in Northern Iraq between the Kurdish PKK rebels and Turkey.
- Sectarian partitioning, ethnic cleansing and dead and displaced Iraqis is not success.
- We shouldn't have gone in the first place.
While our Democratic Senate is working to ensure our safety here at home, the administration is cutting funding for emergency responders because they've spent all the money we don't have on Bush's senseless and immoral war in Iraq. It almost defies belief, doesn't it? Except we're living in Bushworld. I hope we make it to '09.
Here are a couple examples of how we should be spending money to keep America safe:
BOSTON – Senators John Kerry and Edward Kennedy today announced that the Partnership for Effective Emergency Response (PEER) in Boston will receive $2.4 million in funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
BOSTON – Senator John Kerry today released the following statement on a new report about Massachusetts’ Homeland Security Strategy.“Governor Patrick is taking a smart, proactive, comprehensive approach to homeland security rather than waiting for tragedy. Federal under-funding of counterterrorism requires states to do exactly what the Governor is doing,” said Senator Kerry. “We’ve got to be prepared for the worst. As the Bush Administration’s hands-off response to Hurricane Katrina proved, it’s not enough to hope for the best from Washington. I will keep working with federal, state and local officials to implement the Governor’s recommendations to help keep Massachusetts safe.”
