Did you know that being married is like being nibbled to death by a duck?

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Tax Dollars, Hard at Work

HOMELAND SECURITY: U.S. data on LV challenged - Bah, we here in Las Vegas don't mind. We're not important.

The federal government relied on inaccurate data to help justify dropping
Las Vegas from a list of cities eligible for special anti-terrorism funding,
according to county officials who viewed the information last week.
The
officials said they identified at least 25 mistakes in classified U.S.
Department of Homeland Security data, including information asserting that the
Las Vegas area has no convention centers or military bases.

No convention centers or military bases. Umm, come again? Are we talking about the same Las Vegas? Perhaps they mean Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Marc Short, a spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, said the
convention centers might not have met the standards for what his agency
considers "critical infrastructure."
"There needs to be a threshold of
traffic or economic consequence or number of innocent victims that would be
affected by an incident that would qualify it to be counted as infrastructure,"
Short said.

True. Las Vegas doesn't get many business related tourism. Or do they...

John Piet, senior research analyst for the Las Vegas Convention and
Visitors Authority, said the city's convention centers are among the biggest,
busiest, and most economically important in the nation.
Last year, 6.2
million people visited the convention halls, creating an overall economic impact
of $7.6 billion, Piet said.

Huh. There is definitely some sort of discrepancy there. Not sure what, but I'm working on it.

Short said he couldn't comment about the Air Force base not being
listed.

Yeah, I don't blame him. Nellis AFB is, after all, just small time. It's not like the Air Force runs their biggest exercise outside of actual war there. Oh wait, yes they do.

It's a wonder how it is that the Department of Homeland security is able to even tie its own shoes with oversights like this one. This is the type of thing that blows conspiracy theories out of the water. Departments of the government don't even know what resources they have let alone how to manipulate them. There is a lot more in the article, if you want to be depressed about the quality with which your tax-dollars are being flushed, er, spent.

8 comments:

Kell said...

And the kind of work you would like to do was....... what was it again? I forgot....

Don't worry, I bought you some nice Velcro sneakers so you don't have to worry about the whole tying of shoes thing. You will make management in no time!

Mr. Twisted said...

I'm not allowed to have velcro. "They" say it causes too many disruptions in my magnetic field.

Kell said...

How do you feel about Birkenstocks then?.... Or some cute slip on clogs...

I am just trying to help!

Mr. Twisted said...

Oh mercy no. Anything made with something that used to be "alive" (i.e. leather, wood, etc.) has far, far too many voices coming from it.

Kell said...

excellent. I have it!! They are called Crocks. Sensible plastic clogs in really cute colors. pink, yellow, black, olive, or blue?

Sobek said...

"Perhaps they mean Las Vegas, New Mexico."

When I moved out here, I drove through New Mexico, and I saw the sign that says "Las Vegas, 91 miles" or something like that. And for a second I thought "Wow! We're making amazing time!!!" Then I got really depressed when I realized it wasn't the right Las Vegas.

Thanks for reminding me of that painful memory.

Mr. Twisted said...

No problem Sobek. I had a very similar experience when I was young and taking a trip with my parents. We were going from Arizona to Colorado, and I fell asleep in the back seat. When I woke up, we were going through Las Vegas. Freaked me out at the time, because I had no idea there was a Las Vegas, NM. I thought my parents had gone the wrong way.

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