Since Homeland security was a horse and pony show.....

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Hmmm........seems to me she has been decrying her innocence on this issue since it was brought up. What struck me the most during the convention when giving her speech written by Dubya's speechwriter - was the fact that she paraded her poor pregnant daughter in front of the masses - the girl looked terrified - and then they passed that tiny 4-month-old baby around like he had something big and stinky in his diaper (evident by the pained expression on Cindy McCain's face). I think they should be ashamed of themselves for USING her children like circus freaks. And.....Lord have Mercy........people are falling all over themselves for this soap opera.

This is about section 899A (3), developing home grown terrorists in our own land (civil defense).

There should also be a law passed that states if Republicans obstruct a bill they may not be allowed to take credit for it if it passes. I knew this was coming, didn't you?

Last week, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) slammed President Obama�s recovery and reinvestment plan. �Hold on to your wallets folks because with the passage of this trillion-dollar baby the Democrats will be poised to spend as much as $3 trillion in your tax dollars,� Bond said. �Unfortunately, this bill stimulates the debt, it stimulates the growth of government, but it doesn�t stimulate jobs,� Bond insisted.

However, today Bond is touring Missouri to tout the very stimulus plan he railed against. In a press release, Bond boasted about an amendment he included in the bill to provide more funding for affordable housing � and that will create jobs:

Last week, Bond led a bipartisan group of Senators in introducing an amendment to help provide needy families affordable housing. Bond�s amendment provides $2 billion to fund low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects that have been stalled by the financial credit crisis. As part of the Democrats� spending bill now signed into law, the Senate unanimously accepted Bond�s provision. [�]

This provision will have a real impact in Missouri, especially for low-income, working families in need of safe and affordable housing. � Bond�s amendment will save more than 700 housing units and create 3,000 new jobs in Missouri.

�This is the type of emergency stimulus spending we should be supporting � programs that will create jobs now and help families,� Bond said.

I love the fact that Goober Graham is gladly taking the money:

� Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who also campaigned ardently against the bill, said he would nevertheless gladly accept its funds for his state. �You don�t want to be crazy here,� he said.

And Digby finds this nugget about the psycho right wing Govenors that may want to refuse some of the money. Stupidly, Clyburn , inserted a clause in the bill that says legislator's can override the Governor and accept the money. I know he was just looking out for the people in the states where Republicans are more interested in playing politics than helping their constituents.

In fact, governors who reject some of the stimulus aid may find themselves overridden by their own legislatures because of language Clyburn included in the bill that allows lawmakers to accept the federal money even if their governors object.

He inserted the provision based on the early and vocal opposition to the stimulus plan by South Carolina's Republican governor, Mark Sanford. But it also means governors like Sanford and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal � a GOP up-and-comer often mentioned as a potential 2012 presidential candidate � can burnish their conservative credentials, knowing all the while that their legislatures can accept the money anyway.

I guess these people are placing their political bets on the economy not being so bad that they get blamed, but still bad enough that they can blame Obama. It's quite tight rope they're walking.

If the Democrats were as ruthless and reckless with other people's lives as the Republicans are, they wouldn't have put that clause in the legislation and would have let the Republicans pay the price for this nonsense. You know if the shoe were on the other foot, the GOP kamikazees would have forced the Dems to bear the brunt of such a decision. But then, that's the reason why the country is in this catastrophic mess in the first place isn't it? The Republicans just don't give a darn about the people they are supposed to be representing.

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/republicans-taut-stimulus-plan-after-th

Nearly three years after it was formed, the immense Department of Homeland Security remains hampered by severe management and financial problems that contributed to the flawed response to Hurricane Katrina, according to an independent audit released yesterday.

The report by Homeland Security Inspector General Richard L. Skinner aimed some of its most pointed criticism at one of DHS's major entities, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Katrina and a subsequent storm, Rita, increased the load on FEMA's already overburdened resources and infrastructure, the report said.

In addition, the report found, the circumstances created by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita provide an unprecedented opportunity for fraud, waste and abuse, primarily because FEMA's grant and contract programs are still not being managed properly.

While DHS is taking several steps to manage and control spending under Katrina, the sheer size of the response and recovery efforts will create an unprecedented need for oversight, the report concludes.

The audit is the latest in a series of tough assessments of the beleaguered department, which has been widely criticized since it was formed in March 2003 by combining 22 disparate agencies. In a final report card issued earlier this month, for example, the former members of the Sept. 11 commission gave the DHS low or failing grades in many key areas, including airline passenger screening and border control.

Earlier this week, a group of House Democrats issued a report alleging that the department had failed to follow through on 33 promised improvements to border security, infrastructure protection and other programs.

In an 11-page response to the inspector general's findings, homeland security officials acknowledged problems but disputed some of the criticisms and offered explanations for others. For example, the department said it has created a special procurement office to oversee hurricane contracts and is using consultants to monitor the process.

Department spokesman William R. Russ Knocke said that retooling FEMA is one of our greatest and most urgent priorities.

We continue to make programs more efficient, effective and results-oriented, Knocke said, adding that the department is making substantial progress in implementing several core management initiatives, including improvements in personnel policies and financial accountability.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who took over the department this year, is in the midst of implementing a broad reorganization of the 180,000-employee department and has announced initiatives in border security and other areas.

But the department's bumbling after Katrina prompted widespread criticism -- along with the resignation of FEMA's director -- and many lawmakers have since questioned whether DHS is capable of handling recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast. White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend is reviewing the hurricane response by DHS and other agencies.

Congress has approved more than $63 billion in disaster relief funding, and some estimate that the total federal recovery costs for New Orleans and other storm-ravaged areas could exceed $200 billion. As of last week, officials said, more than $4 billion in Katrina-related contracts had been awarded by the department.

Skinner's audit deals not only with the department's response to Katrina but also with an array of broader management challenges that have troubled DHS. The department brought together immigration and customs agencies, the Secret Service, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration, among others. Although there has been progress, integrating its many separate components in a single, effective and economical department remains one of DHS' biggest challenges, the audit said.

The report found, among other things, that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has failed to maintain proper financial records; that much of the department's technology infrastructure remains fractured and ineffective; and that DHS faces formidable challenges in securing the nation's borders.

Skinner also reiterated complaints about poor coordination between the border patrol and immigration investigators. Chertoff has rejected Skinner's recommendation that the agencies responsible for these employees be merged.

The audit followed a report Tuesday by 13 Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee, who alleged that the administration has failed to fulfill promises for improvements in areas such as border security and intelligence sharing. The report also noted that the department has missed deadlines to create a comprehensive database of critical infrastructure targets that face a high risk of terrorist attack.

The findings of the report are significant because they uncover a number of unnecessary vulnerabilities to our homeland security that the American people deserve to know about, the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), said in a statement with the report.

Knocke disputed many of the Democratic criticisms, arguing that they ignore many specific changes that are underway and do not take into account significant progress in homeland security since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Virtually each of these claims fall short of reflecting the substantial work that has been done in securing America since 9/11, Knocke said.

Homeland Security opening private mail
Retired professor confused, angered when letter from abroad is opened

Even Bush finally came clean and said there were none. That's when the *reason* for the war changed from WMDs to freeing the Iraqis (while ignoring bin Laden in Afghanistan).

I find it very, VERY interesting that his sudden *find* came less than 24 hours after PBS aired a very revealing show (*The Dark Side*) about the Iraq war, Bush, Tenet, Rumsfeld and Cheney, with the majority of the people interviewed being CIA agents, who generally had more than 20 years of service with the CIA, and they said some pretty shocking (but not too surprising) things about this whole war. (If you'd like to see this show, you can view it in its entirety on line by going to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/; I'd personally recommend it.)

When it's all said and done, though, regardless of how many facts are presented, Santorum could have declared to the world that there's evidence that Saddam had SLINGSHOTS, and some unfortunate souls on these boards would still say, *See? We told you he had WMDs.* It's really difficult to even be upset, frustrated or angry with them any more. I just mostly feel sorry for them.

Did you not watch the video???? That is EXACTLY what Obama said. So now you are saying that Obama himself is not credible????

What I found even MORE ridiculous is what he said before having said "I am the change."

lips. DO NOT post the entire article. Post only excerpts from it with link to it.

Do you want the owners of this board in a legal battle? All it takes is someone reporting one of your posts for that to happen. I am warning you for your own good. If you don't care about the owners of this board, others of us do.

I appreciate that question because I, in the state of Texas, had heard a lot of discussion about a faith-based initiative eroding the important bridge between church and state.

I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial profiling, which is illiterate children.

See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.

The law I sign today directs new funds and new focus to the task of collecting vital intelligence on terrorist threats and on weapons of mass production.

Are you saying that a United States Senator, now internationally known because of his historic run for United States President, who is constantly surrounded by Secret Service people, is unable to pass a SECURITY check?

Yes, I applied in April of 2008. Was denied. Filed Request for Reconsideration. Was denied. Am now awaiting a hearing, which might take another year. Since my initial application, I've developed a few more diseases, and I'm hoping to talk with my lawyer today to see if we can send a "Dire Need Letter," since the situation is now dire.

As far as quarters, I have plenty of them and was even told when I applied how much I could expect to receive each month.

I never, EVER thought I would be in a position like this. If anything, I've softened my attitude about "those people" who are forced to take advantage of government assistance. You just never know when it might happen to you.

No drug laws? I thought libertarians only objected to posession of marijuana as a crime. I didn't know you actually objected to all drug laws. So then, you believe all drugs should be legalized?

You don't believe in a standing military. I am not sure I remember that right. It's hard to remember that very long list without it in front of me. So is your plan then that we should all live in a drug-haze, leave all other countries to their own devices and we won't need a military because we won't be bothering anyone and who will care anyway because, of course, we will all be stoned? I can't say that I see any cogent thought behind this list. It's a morally relative list of Doctor Feel Good. I thought libertarians had more sense. What a bummer dude.

Since Homeland security was a horse and pony show.....

Hypocrisy Alert: Republicans take credit for the stimulus plan after they voted against it.