John's Blog

Emergency signs used to promote fish fries
Homeland Security officials in the state of Indiana purchased 11 electronic message boards at the cost of $300,000 to warn local residents in the event of terrorism or natural disaster. But those aren't everyday events, and spaghetti dinners, carnivals, and fish fries are so the signs have been used to advertise those functions. But Homeland Security seems to feel that this isn't a proper use and have told the county officials who were using them for this purpose to stop.

But at least someone was getting some use out of it, since I have to think that much of the expenditures in this area are needless pork barrel spending that yields worse results than these. Since Dubya seldom has a well thought out plan for anything, federal spending on HS has failed to reflect any sort of a consideration of real risks, as the recent reduction to the funding levels for NY & DC and that silly national asset database (featuring petting zoos) demonstrates. Maybe one day, we can have government that actually cares or takes the job seriously. The voices of frustration grow louder, let's hope this translates into Democratic success in the coming midterm elections. Heck, even some Republicans think that's a good idea!