Northeast Corridor

DHS FUNDS

I heard Secretary Chertoff on Hannity today giving a rational for cutting %40 of funds from New York. He said that deciding that New York has no national landmarks is good for New York because buildings with people in it are more important. Fine, that makes sense, but why is there no category called landmarks-with-people that would be the most important of all? By making all office buildings the same he makes no distinction between the Empire State Building and an office park in Peroria. He later said that New York is getting it's funds cut because "we have locked the front door, now we are tending to the side door and window". Here's what Hannity should have said: Secretary Chertoff, with 12 million illegal immigrants in this country, our front door is not secure. Our front door is wide open with a big welcome sign on it. I would have also asked him how come coming up with a biometric ID card for guest-workers will take 18 months when the DOD already has a biometric card for it's workers. It is called a CAC card and by using it for ID the DHS could share costs with the DOD and use an existing software. To go one step further it could be used as an optional national ID card.

posted by Long Island Bob @ 2:55 PM