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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has come under increasing
fire in the past week from critics, some within the government itself,
who say the bureau is wasteful, unresponsive, and failing in the job it
was created to do: keep America
safe.
A
series of articles from the Washington Post detail many of the
criticisms leveled at the DHS recently, from inefficient contracting to
lax border control and what many groups believe is wrongheaded
allocation of resources to the states. Click here (1)to find out more
from the Post's investigative reporting about the DHS, and read comments
on the report from Clark Kent Ervin, former Department of Homeland
Security Inspector General. Inter Press Service News Agency also has an
interesting article
investigating claims that the DHS has been lax in preventing another
terrorist attack. Another recent article,
this one from US News and World Report, claims that profligate
procurement policies have made the DHS into "a big old government
ATM."
Senators
Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT), the chairwoman and
ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee, responded to some of the media
criticism with a Letter to the Editor (4) of the New York Times.
In
an attempt to reform Homeland Security, lawmakers have recently
introduced two bills intended to allocate more resources to areas
considered most at risk for a terrorist attack and to provide
"faster and better funding for first responders." The Senate
bill S.1013
has been reported out of the Homeland Security Committee, and H.R.1544
has passed the House of Representatives and been referred to the
Senate. Please click on the bill for more information. Both resolutions
enjoy bipartisan support and should become law soon. Keep informed on
new developments about Homeland Security on our website.
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Official
identification of remains from Ground Zero has come to a halt, but the
final remains of many victims of the attacks have never been
identified. Our friends at WTC Families for Proper Burial, New York
Chapter, are supporting a bill mandating that remains would be removed
from the Fresh Kills landfill and "placed in a respectful and
dignified memorial/cemetery to be determined by the Governors of NY and
NJ." Please read their letter (1) on this important issue.
Residents of New York
State should contact
their local Representative or Senator using this form (2) to make their
feelings known. Addresses are available for the NYS Assembly and Senate
here.
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In considering the
comparisons being made between 9/11 and Pearl Harbor,
John Michelotti was struck by a troubling fact:
he, like many others, knew nothing about the individual victims of that
attack. As a result, he strongly felt that the victims of 9/11 should not
be remembered simply as numbers, but as individuals. That belief, along
with the idea that these individuals killed simply for being Americans
should somehow be tied to a symbol of America, led to the creation
of the Flag of Honor and Flag of Heroes. Since then, these flags have
traveled the world over, serving as a symbol of freedom and an enduring
tribute to the victims of 9/11. We thank John, and all those involved in
the creation of the flag, for their hard work and dedication in creating
this powerful memorial. For more information, please visit www.flagofhonor.org.
If you would like to purchase a poster or flag, please click here.
PEN-T will unveil the
first of its 34 foot high, stainless steel Twin Tower memorials. This
permanent memorial contains the names of the nearly 3,000 victims of
9/11, beautifully engraved in its pentagon shaped granite base. A
luncheon will follow the ceremony.
When: June
1, 2005 at 12:00pm
Where: Green Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:
George Ecker at (920) 439-1853 or by
email at eckerprof@new.rr.com.
We try to keep the most
up-to-date information on memorials and foundations available on our
website. If you would like to have information on your event, memorial,
or foundation listed, please click here.
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