Toledo City Paper on Homeland Security expenditures...

There is a really great indepth article entitled "Monkey Brained?" by Veronique de Rugy that I highly recommend reading.

It raises some interesting questions as to if money that is supposed to be for Homeland Security needs is being used wisely and where it is really needed. From reading the article it would appear that these funds have become more about pork and less about making anyone actually safer. A few examples from the article:

$7.9 million for investigations of missing and exploited children; $102,000 to promote public awareness of the child pornography tip line; $203,000 for Project Alert, a drug use prevention program for schools; $15.8 million to enforce laws against forced child labor; $500,000 to continue steel tariff training, a program "to ensure Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforcement of U.S. trade laws benefits from the expertise of the steel industry in classifying steel goods"; and $15 billion for bridge alterations in Mobile, Ala.; LaCrosse, Wis.; Chelsea, Mass.; Galveston, Tx.; Morris, Ill.; and Burlington, Iowa.

$58,000 on a rescue vehicle capable of boring through concrete to search for victims in collapsed buildings in Colchester, Vt.

On Christmas 2004, the department handed out $153 million to programs offering food and shelter for the poor, a significant increase from the previous year’s budget. In September 2004, the Senate attached $2.9 billion to the fiscal year 2005 homeland security bill for disaster aid to farm states affected by droughts, floods, and freezes.

An additional article written by Rick Claypool focuses on how Lucas County spends money for Homeland Security needs.