Firefighters slam Bush cuts

[Nambe]

Portsmouth Herald

Officials from both the Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards campaigns waged a miniature turf war in Portsmouth on Monday, staging separate press conferences to tout their respective candidate’s stance on homeland security.

Calling U.S. ports "the most vulnerable part of the nation’s security today," Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called upon citizens to support the homeland-security platform of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry and vice-presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards. ..

Bush has cut port-security grant funding by 75 percent, from $200 million in his 2004 budget to $50 million in his 2005 budget, according to information provided by Kerry-Edwards campaign officials. That information also indicates the president cut funding for state and local homeland-security grants by $800 million in 2005.

Putting faces behind those numbers at the Kerry-Edwards press conference was Hampton Fire Department Lt. David Lang, who is the president of the Professional Firefighters of New Hampshire.

"We’re are not receiving the training, the equipment, nor the staffing" to get the job done, he said of his firefighting brethren.

He noted the town of Newington - home to Public Service of New Hampshire’s power plant, and several fuel-company operations and large shopping malls - employs two firefighters. ...


Very Good Voter’s Guide

[Dhalgren]

1. Why isn't anyone in the "media" asking

the Idiot in Chief how can we be on a high level of terist alert, yet it is ok to cut funding for serious security issues? This just points up what a scam all of this terrorism bullshit really is. There is no "war on terror" and we are in no more danger from a terrorist attack than we ever have been. Can some terrorist, somewhere attack us? Sure - they always could. Does that mean that we have to trash our entire country and way of life just to guard against that possibility? Hell no! Which is worse, the possibility of a terrorist attack or our education system falling completely apart? Terrorist attack or destruction of our environment? Terrorist attack or the children living in poverty? Terroist attack or 100 million Americans being under insured or with no health insurence at all? Terrorist attack or our elders becoming poverty-stricken and homeless? We have all bought into this "terrorism" bullshit at the expence of everything that would make this country worth living in. I'm sorry, but I say let's approach security with reason and common sense and guard our nation rationally, but concentrate our efforts on getting our nation out of its hole and back on track - for the good of all! Ok, the soapbox is now free.