[Chicago Sun Times] Project Shield was supposed to make citizens safer. But in the end, the $45-million Homeland Security program more resembled a disaster, wasting taxpayers' dollars and failing to make a single citizen more secure.
The failed Cook County initiative was replete with equipment that failed to work, missing records and untrained first responders according to a report by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The report, to be released Monday but obtained by The Sun-Times and NBC5 News, found "millions of tax dollars may have been wasted."
Under Project Shield, two police squad cars in all 128 Cook County suburbs were to be fitted with cameras capable of feeding live video to a central command. In addition, fixed mounted cameras were to be installed to feed pictures in case of a terrorist attack or emergency in Cook County.
A six-month investigation by the IG found "equipment was not working, was removed, or could not be properly operated."
How much of it was in the homes of various police officers?
Investigators visited 15 municipalities between January and June last year and found "missing records, improper procurement practices, unallowable costs and unaccountable inventory items."
Like I was saying...
Project Shield began under the administration of Cook County Board President John Stroger. The majority of the work, however, occurred during the term of his successor and son Hereditary Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.
Installations began in March 2005. By 2008, complaints of mismanagement and fraud were raised, led by then County Commissioners Tony Peraica, Forrest Claypool and Mike Quigley.
In 2009, Quigley, then a congressman (D-5th), asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate, saying, "We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars across the country on homeland security. If Project Shield is any indication, we are less safe."
Sen. Mark Kirk, who was then a congressman, joined in, complaining to Homeland Security Director Big Sis that money had been completely wasted and the department inattentive.
"A Google search of $43-million wasted should come to your attention," Kirk said at a 2010 congressional hearing.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2012 00:06 ||
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#2
Hey! Let's give our supporters in Crook County (D) $43 Million and have the program overseen by our supporters in the State of Illinois(D)! What could possibly go wrong?
[Arizona Star] Fending off pressure from the mining industry and congressional Republicans, the Obama administration is moving forward with a plan to ban new uranium mining claims on 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to finalize a 20-year ban on new mining claims on public land surrounding the Grand Canyon at an event Monday in Washington.
Salazar, who twice imposed temporary bans on new uranium claims, said last year that uranium remains an important part of a comprehensive energy strategy. But he said the Grand Canyon is a national treasure that must be protected.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2012 00:06 ||
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#1
Just when Uranium material is about to explode in use worldwide. I guess our congressional representatives got some insider trading going. We were getting it dirt cheap from Russia but that's over now.
#2
Salazar has a California attitude, which is that the US shouldn't mine, drill, refine, or have any other kind of industry when we can pay foreigners to do so in their countries. "Super-NIMBY".
That's why California gets much of its water from the Colorado river, its potable water from Mexican desalinization plants, much of its electricity from Palo Verde nuclear in Arizona, its crude oil imported before it is put through their unique refining, which makes it very expensive, etc.
Freedom of speech might allow journalists to get away with a lot in America, but the Department of Homeland Security is on the ready to make sure that the government is keeping dibs on who is saying what.
Under the National Operations Center (NOC)'s Media Monitoring Initiative that came out of DHS headquarters in November, Washington has the written permission to retain data on users of social media and online networking platforms.
Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use "traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed."
According to the Department of Homeland Security's own definition of personal identifiable information, or PII, such data could consist of any intellect "that permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information which is linked or linkable to that individual." Previously established guidelines within the administration say that data could only be collected under authorization set forth by written code, but the new provisions in the NOC's write-up means that any reporter, whether someone along the lines of Walter Cronkite or a budding blogger, can be victimized by the agency.
Also included in the roster of those subjected to the spying are government officials, domestic or not, who make public statements, private sector employees that do the same and "persons known to have been involved in major crimes of Homeland Security interest," which to itself opens up the possibilities even wider.
The department says that they will only scour publically-made info available while retaining data, but it doesn't help but raise suspicion as to why the government is going out of their way to spend time, money and resources on watching over those that helped bring news to the masses.
The development out of the DHS comes at the same time that U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady denied pleas from supporters of WikiLeaks who had tried to prevent account information pertaining to their Twitter accounts from being provided to federal prosecutors. Jacob Applebaum and others advocates of Julian Assange's whistleblower site were fighting to keep the government from subpoenaing information on their personal accounts that were collected from Twitter.
Last month the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk Massachusetts District Attorney subpoenaed Twitter over details pertaining to recent tweets involving the Occupy Boston protests.
The website Fast Company reports that the intel collected by the Department of Homeland Security under the NOC Monitoring Initiative has been happening since as early as 2010 and the data is being shared with both private sector businesses and international third parties. Anyone else starting to feel the cold breath of Big Brother going down their necks?
#2
I'm with you, Tamir, but in the meantime - red on red. :-D
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/10/2012 15:56 Comments ||
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#3
Ron Paul has Dual Citizens In Helping Bring Forth Votes On : Freedom Of Expression : Parti - Europe / America ! Viva la Ron Paul
Posted by: Flreekin Scourge of the Platypi4401 ||
01/10/2012 16:45 Comments ||
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#4
Certainly journalists and lawyers have special constitutional protections. I don't know that I would protect union thugs coordinating front lawn invasions via twitter.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/10/2012 19:45 Comments ||
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#5
The good news for the Huffington Post is that someone now will be reading them...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2012 20:11 Comments ||
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#6
*Snort*
Good one, Steve. :-D
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/10/2012 20:28 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON -- When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.
But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.
In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, which is made from wood chips or the inedible parts of plants like corncobs. Refiners were required to blend 6.6 million gallons into gasoline and diesel in 2011 and face a quota of 8.65 million gallons this year.
"It belies logic," Charles T. Drevna, the president of the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association, said of the 2011 quota. And raising the quota for 2012 when there is no production makes even less sense, he said. And the liberals wonder why the economy is still in the shitter and people are starting to get really pissed off at them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/10/2012 14:29 Comments ||
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#3
Damn, Darth - you beat me to it.
If I were the companies, I'd take this to court. It would cost a lot less than $6.8 million. :-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/10/2012 15:51 Comments ||
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#4
Democrat ruling parties prefer you donate to them after or before you file for a waiver. After all not all companies are equal. Some are corrupt, just enough corrupt, or totally corrupt. But none match their master, the Elect in Washington DC. The ultimate money launderer.
And if you cannot pass a law, get Betsy - the nice girl in forensics to stop all work to impose a stop work in time for a recess of Congress so you cannot make payroll for the month because of a bug in the clay that's endangered.
But OBAMA's personal Frankenstein SOLYNDRA, LIGHTSQUARED, Evergreen, SpectraWatt, BrightSource, Tonopah Solar, Abound Solar, Nevada Geothermal Power, sun power, Granite Reliable, ProLogis, Monroe Regional Airport, Beacon power, Siga Technologies Inc, VOLT, Fisker gets a totall pass.
#5
The corn subsidies have stopped as of January this year. I know of a corn plant shutdown and another never to be built. We are losing about 100 farms a day now. Everything costs too much. Go green on your farm and get some breaks. Then you can't stop people coming onto your property even for hunting. Your stream is blocked with a fence and they plant whatever they want. No payments for not growing crops as in the past. Million acre company farm has its own small town, bank, and all the bells and whistles. Expensive farm equipment and money in the bank. Small farms are being forced out. Just like small business. OH, you have to be 18 to operate farm equipment.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
01/10/2012 21:06 Comments ||
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Vinod Khoslas Range Fuels has declared bankruptcy Range Fuels received a $76 million federal loan from the George W. Bush administration in 2007 and another $80 million from the Obama administration in 2009.
If you can't make it with a federal mandate to use your product then you suck beyond measure.
Summary: the state of Texas stands before the Supreme Court, arguing that judges cannot redraw district lines to suit themselves without concrete violations of voting rights.
Summary: the state of Texas stands before the Supreme Court, arguing that judges cannot redraw district lines to suit themselves without concrete violations of voting rights.
#1
Whew, by SCOTUS standards, that is the closest thing to a fist fight. I don't think I have ever heard of a Chief Justice having to intercede as a moderator.
This is going to be one heck of a SCOTUS term. They are going for some huge issues. Some of the cases:
1) Obamacare.
2) Warrant-less GPS surveillance by secretly attaching devices to private vehicles.
3) Strip searches for petty offenses (in this case for unpaid parking fines.)
4) Can voters overturn homosexual marriage enacted by legislatures or judges?
5) Most of Arizona's SP-1070 immigration law.
6) Race based college preferences.
7) Can investors sue corporations for insider trading?
8) Can individuals sue states to force compliance with federal law?
9) Can churches fire employees who are disabled?
10) Can foreign corporations be sued in the US for human rights violations in other countries?
11) Can a state force a non-union employee to pay a union for them to engage in political efforts in which they disagree?
12) Does EPA have dictatorial powers on scant accusation, and can someone sue against such dictates before they have been severely punished, so have actual damages?
13) Can congress put public domain works back under copyright for the benefit of whoever they give the copyright? (This includes H.G. Wells 'Things to Come', Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis', and the musical compositions of Igor Stravinsky.)
14) Can 'thought' be patented?
To explain this last one: one company holds patents to methods that assist doctors in figuring out through observation and testing the effective dosage of synthetic drugs to administer. This includes a drug testing kit. They argue that the results of using this kit are part of their patent. The appeals court agreed with them.
15) ASCAP is suing on the principle that selling music downloads requires they be paid royalties, in that it is the same as selling performance or broadcast of their works. Appeals court found against them, that downloading is copying, not performance.
16) The STOLEN VALOR Act.
#4
When they make laws based on race they throw logic and fairness out of the window. How can it be defended when the only sense it makes is to screw the white man?
#5
..don't forget the 'New White Man' - Asians who are actively discriminated against in the CA university system because they disproportionately rate higher in academic achievement and would displace others if counted as a 'minority' deserving unequal consideration. Of course CA's history of segregation and discrimination of Asians for the first half of the 20th Century gets ignored.
To explain this last one: one company holds patents to methods that assist doctors in figuring out -- through observation and testing -- the effective dosage of synthetic drugs to administer.
I hate process patents almost as much as I hate "look and feel" patents.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/10/2012 13:06 Comments ||
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..don't forget the 'New White Man'
I guess all minorities are equal. It's just that some minorities are more equal than others. But what's gonna happen in California when the "old white man" becomes a minority? Can we start filing discrimination lawsuits then? Boy, that'd be fun.
#9
In Texas, a three-judge federal district court heard arguments that the new map violates Section 2 of the VRA, which makes it illegal for states to enact voting changes with the purpose or effect of reducing racial minorities' voting strength.
Is the argument that the three-judge panel found the state guilty without "identifying specific statutory or constitutional violations." ?
How did that work?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/10/2012 17:48 Comments ||
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#10
You need to keep up, the white man is a minority in California now. per Wiki, which in this is likely accurate:
"No single racial or ethnic group forms a majority of California's population, making the state a minority-majority state. Non-Hispanic whites make up 40.1% of the population. Spanish is the state's second most spoken language, especially in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the US-Mexico border counties of San Diego and Imperial, and the San Joaquin Valley. Nearly 43% of California residents speak a language other than English at home, a proportion far higher than any other state.[
[Fox News] William Daley is resigning as White House chief of staff and budget chief Jack Lew will take his place, President B.O. will announce Monday, Fox News has learned.
Daley entered the White House a year ago after Rahm Emanuel left to become Chicago mayor, replacing Daley's retiring brother, Richard Daley, in that post.
Obama was to announce the change in a statement Monday afternoon. The change will be effective at the end of this month.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2012 00:06 ||
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Hmmmm, could someone be worried about fundraising and losing his 'home' state? Naaah!
#2
That's what I suspect. I don't think Daley was pushed out of the White House, I think he was just needed more in Chicago. Fund-raising might be running short of expectations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2012 7:42 Comments ||
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#3
Zero can't lose Chicago unless the dead change parties.
#6
Mr. Daley was pretty much pushed out. Unlike his predecessor, the now-former Chief of Staff was quite a bit more formal in his dealings with staff and Congress. Both staff and Democratic members of Congress were used to pretty much having ready access to the CoS and the Oval Office than they were getting with Mr. Daley.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Freedom of speech might allow journalists to get away with a lot in America, but the Department of Homeland Security is on the ready to make sure that the government is keeping dibs on who is saying what.
WASHINGTON -- When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law. 
