#21 is classic! I love the internet

Buffalo's funds got cut too, and no one can figure this one out. We're on the border with another country-ok, so its polite Canada, but what about people not so polite, and not so Canadian, who might be terrorists? Eh? And, ok, we're on a river, but every year, the coast guard and local cops find people coming across the Niagara River illegally on boats and even rafts. A few years ago, someone tried to hide inside the wheel well of a bus...needless to say, he didn't make it far, and it was rather messy. And, what about the two major power plants, Adam Beck on the Canadian side, and Robert Moses (boo) on the American side, which aren't all that far from Buffalo? Does Bush like us to have blackouts?

I think he gave this project to Mike "heck of a job, Brownie" Brown.

#25, your comments might make more sense if budgets across the board were reduced. When other, more rural cities and towns are afforded increases in anti-terrorism budgeting, your argument goes out the window.

Try this easy sniff test: which American city/state would you feel LEAST safe living in right now from a terrorism point of view?

This is the most ridiculous excuse I have ever heard. It does not make any sense whatsoever to increase assistance to Omaha where the terrorist theat is close to 0, and decrease funding for New York and DC that are always at the very top of the list of potential terrorist targets. I think we should write letters to our elected officials and protest it any way we can.

Now we learn that the city will never plug those areas or increase the effectiveness of its programs to a reasonable level and hence will forever see the Homeland security funds as a permanent backup to its budget. That's not how the program was supposed to work.

[25] Posted by: jmchez

If this isn't the STUPIDEST comment I've ever seen, I don't know what is.

Hullo? How long as Al Qaeda been planning attacks? How long did Bush say the war on terror would last? How much in overtime do you expect NYC to pay FOR THE FUCKING FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S MISTAKES????

Thus endeth the truth.

Any Federal program with a purpose that uses money as a means to an end (any end) is going to be seen as a permanent entitlement by everyone. "Oh, look, NYC is now going to get millions every year for eternity!"

I thought that for the first few years , NYC should have gotten money to help it in areas where the city had problems. Now we learn that the city will never plug those areas or increase the effectiveness of its programs to a reasonable level and hence will forever see the Homeland security funds as a permanent backup to its budget. That's not how the program was supposed to work.

I find it hilarious that you guys actually think Chertoff and homeland security is responsible for any of this. Homeland security is just basically a puppet organization set up so that all the ire of fucking up is directed at it and not at the real wishepeople responsible, namely the president and the vice president. Chertoff basically gets paid for a thankless task of conveying the presidents orders. They might as well rename Homeland Security into the "Blame us, hate us, but not Bush" office

We interrupt this blog to bring you breaking news...

New York has no national monuments or icons, according to the Department of Homeland Security form obtained by ABC News. That was a key factor used to determine that New York City should have its anti-terror funds slashed by 40 percent---from $207.5 million in 2005 to $124.4 million in 2006.

The formula did not consider as landmarks or icons: The Empire State Building, The United Nations, The Statue of Liberty and others found on several terror target hit lists. It also left off notable landmarks, such as the New York Public Library, Times Square, City Hall and at least three of the nation's most renowned museums: The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan and The Museum of Natural History.

Sorry, New York. The goal of the Department of Homeland Security is to protect our real national icons. Following is a partial roster of landmarks on the evildoers' hit list that need our full attention...and the amount allocated to protect them according to the latest DHS "Freedom Budget:"

Alexandria, Indiana: The World's Largest Ball of Paint ($12 million)

Niland, California: Salvation Mountain ($16 million)

Alamo Heights, Texas: Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum ($10 million)

Dedham, Massachusetts: The Museum of Bad Art ($31 million)

Key West, Florida: The Chicken Store ($7.5 million)

Alliance, Nebraska: Carhenge ($25 million)

And Soap Lake, Washington: The Giant Lava Lamp ($143 million)

Thank you, Secretary Chertoff, for seeing through the elitist city-slicker spin, and allocating America's resources where they'll protect our heritage. Nay...our legacy.

If Pataki and Bloomberg haven't been pulling their weight in DC then what do you call the effort put in by Clinton, Schumer and the 20 other dwarves we sent to the House? You know, our ACTUAL REPRESENTATIVES. Maybe fewer press conferences and more action? If they put in the same effort they put in against Supreme Court nominees maybe we would get somewhere.

hey massive ego, tiny penis,

I don't know what makes a "real New Yorker" but I guarantee you I know far more about Homeland Security than you do. Use your blue state "highly educated" brain power to figure out why that might be.

we need more money for blowing off Iraqi's heads. The homeland is secure cause it's "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"

Answer this honestly, people: Has Homeland Security done a single useful thing since it was formed? Seems to me that the portrayal of it on "24" as an opportunistic, power-grabbing organization was dead-on. Oh, that's right, we get color-coded alert levels. Talk about useful.

Yeah, the police are a real deterrent to terrorism or any crime in a crowded public space such as Penn Station or a parade route. Get two or more cops in the same place and it turns into a coffee klatch - everyone facing the center of the circle with their backs to the world.

Hey "grow up all of you," you're no more an expert than any of us armchair security gurus. We're all a bunch of amateurs.

One thing is clear - we can tell who are the real New Yorkers are around here.

by Unions, I hope you include

the PBA and Uniform firefighters union.

anyway as sec'y chertoff mentions, no skin off his back and do you know where you get your food and power from,

keep sending those cards, like he cares.

funny though because I thought he made a name for himself in NY.

Do any of you actually know anything about security or are you simply measuring everything according to dollars and your massive egos?

And I know one way to clear up some extra money at Homeland Security. Tell the unions to stop filing so many grievances that require an army of lawyers to investigate. The unions lose most of the time or they withdraw the grievances at the last minute. They use the threat as a pathetic attempt to stay relevent.

And speaking of asleep at the wheel - where was our Republican Governor in all this? Maybe he should come home from Iowa and protect the state that he still ostensibly leads.

I loved Shumer's quote about how Bush shouldn't bother with any mpre propaganda attempts at Ground Zero while he continues to screw over New York. It's about time someone called Bush out as the hypocrite he is. I wonder if he did it at a Sunday press conference.

"back to the drawing board. i was aiming for heehaw-ville, nebraska, but now they are armed to the nines! didnt want to do new york again, but now their guard is down"

Lest anyone doubt how many of the "good, churchgoing people" in the "red states" really feel about New Yorkers, this excerpt is currently online at http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/06/01.html#a8537

Strap on your seat belts and hold onto your dashboard Jesus, because the story of how this violent, theocratic video game is being network marketed through pastors and churches only gets deeper and stranger from here.

"A top aide to mega-church pastor Rick Warren is advising the makers of a children's video game in which characters kill New Yorkers while shouting "Praise the Lord." When children tire of converting or killing New Yorkers, they can switch sides and command the demonic armies of the AntiChrist, and kill the conservative Christians. The real-time strategy game, slated for release in October 2006, is based on the best selling series of Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The web site of Left Behind Games states the involvement of Mark Carver on its Advisory Board. This web-based marketing tool also highlights his role as Executive Director of Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church. What appears to be going on here is an old-fashioned business practice called "endorsement by association."...read on"

As Henry Kissinger once said: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they really aren't out to get you."