They call it "taking them to task"

Today at Tom Tomorrow's blog, Tom's blogmate Bob Harris posted a series of articles that all start with the phrase "They call it". Bob takes the administration to task on supporting our troops, Iraqi freedom, fighting terrorism, and homeland security. Particularly damning is the report by the Council on Foreign Relations entitled "Emergency Responders: Drastically Underfunded, Dangerously Unprepared". Here are four facts from the report that should concern you:

• On average, fire departments across the country have only enough radios to equip half the firefighters on a shift, and breathing apparatuses for only one third. Only 10 percent of fire departments in the United States have the personnel and equipment to respond to a building collapse.
• Police departments in cities across the country do not have the protective gear to safely secure a site following an attack with weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
• Public health labs in most states still lack basic equipment and expertise to adequately respond to a chemical or biological attack, and 75 percent of state laboratories report being overwhelmed by too many testing requests.
• Most cities do not have the necessary equipment to determine what kind of hazardous materials emergency responders may be facing.

Of course the Dept. of Homeland (in)Security spokesman says that the recomendations in the report written by a former senator, 4 former Whitehouse advisors, 4 former military comanders and 3 Noble Laureates was "grossly inflated". Posted by Noah Brimhall at June 30, 2003 12:26 PM