Ah yet another Sunday morning that finds something that just makes you say (WTF) or at least it should.
Today we find that Homeland Security has spent 75 million dollars on a study to find out that what we known all a long, the ports aren't safe. Read On>>>
AP
The previously undisclosed results from the study found that cargo containers can be opened secretly during shipment to add or remove items without alerting U.S. authorities, according to government documents marked "sensitive security information" and obtained by The Associated Press.
Now don't get me wrong, 75 million for our safety is not really that much on the grand scale of things. What does bother me is the fact that we are now in the 5th year since 9-11, and there have been other studies done and the results are the same if not worse in some cases.
The study points out that records are not being kept, the US scores lower than Pakistan, Turkey, and Brazil when it comes to warehouse safety. In my opinion the finding should warrant concern.
No records were kept of "cursory" inspections in Guatemala for containers filled with Starbucks Corp. coffee beans shipped to the West Coast. "Coffee beans were accessible to anyone entering the facility," the study said. It found significant mistakes on manifests and other paperwork. In a statement to the AP, Starbucks said it was reviewing its security procedures.
_Truck drivers in Brazil were permitted to take cargo containers home overnight and park along public streets. Trains in the U.S. stopped in rail yards that did not have fences and were in high-crime areas. A shipping industry adage reflects unease over such practices: "A container at rest is a container at risk."
Containers could be opened aboard some ships during weeks long voyages to America. "Due to the time involved in transit (and) the fact that most vessel crew members are foreigners with limited credentialing and vetting, the containers are vulnerable to intrusion during the ocean voyage," the study said.
These next two are the best of the study, because they show the love that others have for the US.
Practices at Turkey's Port of Izmir were "totally inadequate by U.S. standards." But, the study noted, "It has been done that way for decades in Turkey."
Some governments will not help tighten security because they view terrorism as an American problem. The U.S. said "certain countries," which were not identified, would not cooperate in its security study -- "a tangible example of the lack of urgency with which these issues are regarded."
With those two reasons alone "You can feel the love", can't you? end
Sort'a Make's You Wan'a Say, (WTF)
A few polls taken show that most of the country thinks the government is to secretive. They feel that to have a democracy work it needs to more open. Well good luck with that.
What we need to ask these new comers is, where the hell have you been?
Although I look at the next paragraph of the article
The polls released Sunday also found, however, that the public believed government should keep some information private, particularly if it was necessary to combat terrorism.
, and I wonder if these are the same people that felt that the NSA domestic spying was ok? If so I see that you really haven't changed that much.
Another poll taken shows that we are still divided when it comes to what documents should be released to the public. The Port study is a perfect example of this, seeing as it would not have been released by the
AP. The polls only show that we have a long away to go on reeling this administration in.
Americans were more closely divided on when government information should be made public, according to the telephone poll of 1,007 adults.
Forty-six percent said government records should be considered public and their release should only be blocked when it "would do harm"; 42 percent said the government should protect its information and only release it if there is a "sound legal case" for it to be public.
A separate poll released Sunday found respondents were supportive of open government and access to public records -- though solid majorities also said that government officials should keep records secret if "necessary", or to help in the war on terrorism.
Well seeing that the Bush administration is using that excuse all the time they are saying to let things go on as they have been for the past five years. Unfreaking believable.
ABA