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| Obama's Scheme to Gut the Coast Guard |
| 2010-03-18 |
| We should all know by now that the Obama administration's plan to spend up to $200 million on civilian trials for terrorists is dangerous. It's also wasteful. Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is a site perfectly suited to such trials--and detentions. If not there, then Adak, in the middle of the Aleutians would do just fine. The Washington Post shows us why that $200 million is also a waste of money. The U.S. Coast Guard should play an important role in our homeland security. After all, that was the stated reason for moving the Coast Guard out of the U.S. Transportation Department and into the newly created Department of Homeland Security. Liberals are forever going on about "first responders." Well, the Coast Guard should certainly be considered first among the first responders. Yet, the Coast Guard has come on hard times. The Post recently reported that of 12 major cutters assigned to Haitian relief earlier this year, ten of them broke down. Three were forced to limp back into port. The Obama administration plans to cut 1,100 active duty personnel from the Coast Guard, the smallest of our military services. Funds for port security--our first line of defense--will be cut by $100 million. Even Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) calls the cuts in the Coast Guard's budget "penny-wise and pound foolish." Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee. Because of the administration's cuts to the Coast Guard budget, their cutters will not be able to keep pace with the Navy in important combined missions. The average age of a Navy warship is 14 years, while that of a Coast Guard vessel is 41 years. New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans will now be less secure, Rogers charged. Meanwhile, the Mexican drug war is heating up. Last weekend, two U.S. consular officials were murdered. Congressman Rogers noted that it was foolish to spend money on unnecessary civilian trials for terrorists and for increasing the DHS bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. The incoming Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Robert Papp, has said he would have to consider cutting homeland security training and operations. This is tantamount to announcing to the terrorists "the coast is clear." We have an administration that is grossly wasting money. They have doled out hundreds of millions in failed "stimulus" funds. Many of these projects have been shown to be going to ZIP codes and congressional districts that do not exist. This administration is even spending $900 million on the Palestinians, people who name public squares and schools after suicide bombers. But when it comes to basic homeland security, they are cutting. Hearing stories about cutting cutters, and ships breaking down for lack of funds for proper maintenance, we cannot help but think of the infamous "hollowed out" military of the days of Jimmy Carter. But why is President Obama still following in Carter's footsteps? He already has his Nobel Peace Prize! |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 we are being set up for more attacks, and the American people will pay with their lives. Voting for these kinds of people in the Executive and the Legislative branches can cost you your life. The USA will have to lose many more of its citizens before a substantial majority of the electorate wakes up and stays up. When they do, it may be too late. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-03-18 15:25 |
| #9 Baja smugglers' use of boats rising rapidly |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-03-18 14:05 |
| #8 The Coast Guard has had more and more missions dumped on it over the years, with less and less funding for the mandate. It is not incompetence on the part of the Administration, but rather ideology that keeps denying our military and the Coast Guard their resources to support the mission. People just cannot believe that the Executive would do this, but the evidence shows that it is exactly what they are doing. Bottom line, we are being set up for more attacks, and the American people will pay with their lives. Voting for these kinds of people in the Executive and the Legislative branches can cost you your life. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul in Hooper Bay, Alaska 2010-03-18 11:39 |
| #7 This is the wrong place to start making budget cuts. It's his nature. When it comes to being practical, the guy couldn't find his @$$ with both hands. He just doesn't get it, and he's too conceited to hire someone who knows more than he does about anything. Watch for him to start giving out "Field Guidance" soon. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-03-18 10:56 |
| #6 One of the unmentioned but critical Coast Guard missions is to stop foreign cargo ships about 300 miles off the coast, to make sure they aren't carrying any missiles with nuclear weapons. Since the Democrats have eliminated the airborne laser, and tried to neuter US coastal anti-missile defenses, maybe they should follow up by giving Hutchinson Whampoa its own docks at Bremerton and San Diego. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-03-18 10:16 |
| #5 What Sherry said!!!!! But the Coast Guard is a liability if your goal is to allow illegal aliens and drugs to enter the country. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-03-18 08:51 |
| #4 OTOH SAME > [Guardian.UK] TO RE-SHAPE THE WORLD THE US MUST FIRST LEARN TO RE-SHAPE ITSELF. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-03-18 01:03 |
| #3 ION WORLD NEWS > OBAMA: IRAN NUKES MAY TRIGGER MIDEAST ARMS RACE. * SAME > NEW VIDEO SHOWS RADICAL ISLAMIC NETWORK IN NEW ENGLAND. Iff MAIN STREET/ANYTOWN, USA thought it + CONUS was immune from [budding] MIDLE EAST, ETC. STYLE [budding Violent]Domestic Terror, or that LOGIC TWAS RATIONAL, dey'se were wrong. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-03-18 01:01 |
| #2 Due to all the rush to Blame Bush for Katrina and the response, the Coast Guard never got the credit they were due for what they accomplished. They were there before any one even knew there were problems. The dramatic rescues we saw? The media was quick to show, but never gave credit to the Guardsmen that put their own lives in peril those first 72 hours. The U.S. Coast Guard & Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters to ever strike the United States. The U.S. Coast Guard played a key role in the planning, response, and recovery efforts in three mission areas: search and rescue, marine pollution response, and the management of maritime commerce. Of the estimated 60,000 people that needed to be rescued from rooftops and flooded homes, Coast Guardsmen saved more than 33,500, including rescuing from peril 24,135 lives and evacuating 9,409 medical patients to safety. The rescue and the response efforts were some of the largest in Coast Guard history, involving units from every district as well as a total of 5,600 Coast Guardsmen. With a cut of 1,100 folks, how many more lives would have been lost without the numbers of folks available to pull people from those roofs? And he is taking that force away.... |
| Posted by: Sherry 2010-03-18 00:46 |
| #1 This is the wrong place to start making budget cuts. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-03-18 00:31 |