Homeland Security Help is Gathering Dust

Only about a quarter of the Homeland Security money sent to Tennessee for first responders has been used for anything. More than $42 million is sitting around doing nothing in the Volunteer State. And a Congressional report shows that 20% of the money sent to the states for Homeland Security has not been spent.

Tons more money has been used for questionable purchases:

• Missouri spent millions to buy 13,000 chem-bio warfare suits at $400 a piece -- one for each and every full-time law enforcement officer in the Show-Me How to Blow Money State, regardless of where they work -- and whether that town would be a terrorist target
• Colchester, Vermont (population 18,000) used $58,000 to buy a search and rescue vehicle capable of boring through concrete to search for victims in collapsed buildings where the tallest building is four-stories tall
• Grand Forks, North Dakota (population 70,000) stocked up on biochemical suits and decontamination tents, and are considering buying a $175,000 bomb-detecting robot.

(Al's Morning Meeting)