T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 0 7 , 2 0 0 5Bush's Failure To Make America's BordersSaferby Michael in New York on 7/07/2005 04:35:00 PMSure, they've raised the color alert from yellow to orange.</p><p> But Iam still angry about Bush's weakness as a commander in chiefand his failure to make our borders more secure.</p><p> And to thosewho suggest I'm trying to score political points: wrong.</p><p> I'mtrying to make America safer.A thousand different issues are contained in making ourcountry safer and it wouldn't be surprising if something fellthrough the cracks.</p><p> But our ports have been front and centeras a vital and vulnerable area of our borders.</p><p> Our coastlinesand shipping have been front and center too.And the Coast Guard issue didn't fall through the cracks.</p><p> Bushfocused in on it.</p><p> He looked at an aging fleet among the oldestin the world, one around when we were still in Vietnam.</p><p> He sawplans developed three years BEFORE 9-11 to upgrade theCoast Guard in 20 years at about $20 billion.</p><p> With the war onterror at full blast, with the 9-11 Commission highlighting thevulnerability of the ports (one of the Coast Guard's duties),with Republican Senator Olympia Snowe calling for the plan tobe accomplished in 10-15 years, what did Bush do? He decidedto DELAY the upgrading of our Coast Guard until 2030 to savea few bucks.</p><p> That means a child born today will graduate fromCOLLEGE before Bush has gotten around to fully upgrading ourCoast Guard.A real Commander in Chief would look at the Coast Guard inthe light of 9-11 and say $20 billion to upgrade it in 20 years?How fast can we upgrade it? How much to do everything in twoyears? $30 billion? $40 billion? Do it.Would any American question that expenditure or think it apoor decision? Of course not.</p><p> Bush's failure to make ourcountry safer is a sign of weakness and incompetence.It's been 4 years since 9-11 and we STILL don't have acombined list of terrorists that can be checked against peoplecoming into our country by plane, car or boat.</p><p> It was crazy wedidn't have this before 9-11.</p><p> It's criminal that we don't have itnow.It's been 4 years and Bush has failed to strengthen securityaround our highly vulnerable chemical and nuclear energyplants.</p><p> Why? Because big business doesn't want to pay forincreased security and Bush is putting their concerns ahead ofthe safety of America.It's been 4 years and Bush is delaying the strengthening ofour coastlines and ports to two and a half DECADES.</p><p> Anyreasonable person would speed up the strengthening of ourcoastlines and ports.</p><p> Why isn't Bush?It's been 4 years and Bush has failed to hunt down and killOsama Bin Laden.It's been 4 years and Bush can't even ferret out a felon in theWhite House.</p><p> Ben SmithGoing small - My story tonight: President BarackObama came alive about 50 minutes intoWednesday night’s news conference – whensomebo9 minutes ago HuffPost PoliticsHuckabee's Huck Pac In Turmoil With StaffTurnover, Mounting Debts - Former Arkansas Gov.Mike Huckabee's political action committee, HuckPac, is undergoing a "restructuring," ExecutiveDirector Sarah Huckabee said Wednesday....23 minutes ago Daily KosOpen Thread and Diary Rescue - *Today, srkp23(pulling a double shift), ybruti, taylormattd,ItsJessMe and vcmvo2 combed through hundredsof diaries to find this powerful list.</p><p> Today's...1 hour ago EschatonOvernight - Folk On.</p><p> Newish.1 hour ago Crooks and LiarsOpen Thread - Open Thread below...1 hour agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S Show AllEnd Deadlock? 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