If NYC is on Orange Alert, and...

[mburbank]

Much of the information that made Tom Ridge decide it should be on Orange Alert is THREE YEARS OLD,

How come...


" The city now has 4,000 fewer police than on Sept. 11, 2001, and this year New York was given $5.47 per head in homeland security grants -- the second lowest in the nation."
-AP Wire.


The place where the GOP will hold it's convention, the place on Orange Alert, has the SECOND LOWEST Homeland Security Grant in the Nation? And I'm supposed to believe that the administration isn't politically manipulating these terror alerts and take it seriously?

Okay, fine. What explanation then can I possibly give for a city that's been under speciffic threat for THREE YEARS getting the SECOND LOWEST Homeland Security Grant in the Nation?

Gross incompetence on the part of the administration? Gosh, THAT makes me feel safer.


I have a new campaign theme for the GOP convention:

NOT LYING, JUST STUPID AND SLOW.,

[Spectre X]

Just like Bush, when he's not lying.

[punkgrrrlie10]

I wonder if the 3 year old intelligence is b/c whatever it is has been planned that long. It's not like 9/11 was hatched within a couple months. Obviously it takes a while to get this stuff going b/c of the covert nature of this activity.

[kellychaos]

Could they have conveinientll leaked info to intelligence agencies as a smoke screen to other activities? Oh, what a tangled web!

And what does one wear to an orange alert anyway?! They never tell you those things either. They just toss the question off exasperatingly and tell us to wait and see if anyone around you is dressing suspiciously and wear whatever they are wearing. >:

[ScruU2wice]

C'mon guys the statue of liberty is opening up again.

If that doesn't justifying scaring the crap outta people I don't know what kinda country we live in anymore..

[ItalianStereotype]

ORANGE YOU GLAD I DIDN'T SAY BANANA

[Stabby]

C'mon guys the statue of liberty is opening up again.

If that doesn't justifying scaring the crap outta people I don't know what kinda country we live in anymore..

Only the base. We wouldnt want to take the risk of any terrorists getting to the top of the statue, because that is where freedom comes from.

[Preechr]

LOL.

[ScruU2wice]

And the fact that it's been said to be pretty fricken dangerous to go up there regardless of terrorist attacks.

[Captain Goodtimes]

C'mon guys the statue of liberty is opening up again.

If that doesn't justifying scaring the crap outta people I don't know what kinda country we live in anymore..

Only the base. We wouldnt want to take the risk of any terrorists getting to the top of the statue, because that is where freedom comes from.

Of course, they could spray ectoplasma, play some jackie wilson, and control the whole statue :eek

[glowbelly]

it took al queda almost 6 years to plan 9/11. it doesn't matter how old the information is, i think that it's good that they are acting on it.

i mean, what if one of these places were attacked and then it came out that the current administration had intelligence about these specific targets, but did nothing about it? would you be able to forgive them because the intelligence was 3 years old? i don't think so.

as for the money stuff, that is ridiculous...but i'm pretty sure that in that 9/11 commission report they stated that the disbursement of homeland security funds is all stupid and needs to be changed.

[Ant10708]

New York has far more important things to spend taxpayer money on then counter-terrorism, like a new Jets stadium

[Geggy]

the terrorists are winning the war on terror.

[mburbank]

The homeland security money is federal, not state.

And the first report I read made it sound as if the bulk of the information on the computer they stole merely coroborated information they'd had for three years, hence my reaction.

Here's my question, though. If the new info is three years old, does this mean NYC will now be on active Orange Alert from now on? I mean, if there's no expiration date on this sort of info?

I'm not saying they shouldn't act. I agree with glo that if something happened, they'd had this info and they'd done nothing, that would be bad. I'm posing the question. What IS the appropriatte reaction to the discovery of this sort of information?

[Preechr]

Ridge: Terror Data Were Updated Recently
NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004

NEW YORK – Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, visiting one of the financial institutions believed to be targeted by al-Qaida, said Tuesday that terrorists updated their surveillance of those buildings as recently as January but that there was no evidence they had visited them recently.

After meeting with government officials and financial executives at Citigroup Center in midtown Manhattan, Ridge said al-Qaida was an organization that "does its homework."

"There's no evidence of recent surveillance ... but the information about the casings that we revealed Sunday have been updated as recently as January of this year," he said. "We know that this is an organization that plans in advance."

The government triggered the concerns Sunday when it announced that terrorists had recently observed the stock exchange and Citigroup, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, and Prudential Financial Inc.'s headquarters in Newark, N.J.

Since then, officials have acknowledged that the information came largely from a Pakistani computer engineer captured last month and that most of the information about the buildings was amassed in 2000 and 2001. No timetable for potential attacks has ever been specified.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg waved aside suggestions that the intelligence was outdated and that the city overreacted in enacting new security measures.

"The only thing you ever know about security measures is when you didn't take enough," he said Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show. "You never know when you took too many of them. We do what we think is appropriate."

"Some of this information is old, but what is clear is it has been updated, and more of it became available to the intelligence community on Friday," he said.........

Ah... er, yes... it's a Newsmax (http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/8/3/113534.shtml) Link... but...

[Zebra 3]

C'mon guys the statue of liberty is opening up again.
:( - The public still can't go inside her.

[mburbank]

You can still enter her, you just can't get as far up. It happens to the best of us.

[kellychaos]

as for the money stuff, that is ridiculous...but i'm pretty sure that in that 9/11 commission report they stated that the disbursement of homeland security funds is all stupid and needs to be changed.

I live in a border city (to Canada) and a lot of the money they put into homeland security when into beefing up the budget/assets of the border control agents. They've done an excellent job in increasing their security and patrols. The only problem is that a lot of people who've they've detained have to be released because of federal prison budget cuts. Is this a war on terror or a slap fight?

[El Blanco]

C'mon guys the statue of liberty is opening up again.
:( - The public still can't go inside her.

Meh, we've still got Paris Hilton.

[Cosmo Electrolux]

but she's all beat up and shit :(

[mburbank]

I hear she's only closed from the neck up.

[Preechr]

There's plenty of video proof to the contrary... Nose up, maybe...

[kellychaos]

I'd like to find the terrorists responsible for introducing Paris Hilton to the mainstream media.

[mburbank]

I hear she has sex often.

[kellychaos]

Then the terrorists have already won in using this deadly bilogical agent.

[punkgrrrlie10]

I'd like to find the terrorists responsible for introducing Paris Hilton to the mainstream media.

The other day on last comic standing one of the comedians said she was proud of Paris for breaking down barriers....proving that you don't have to be poor to be white trash.