Do this:

Ask Not what they can do to protect the Statue of Liberty... Ask what the Statue of Liberty can do to protect Us.

Pray that it's spirit protects us.

I think we are being sold out by our own goverment.Bush and his buddies are pullin the wool over our heads and we are eyes wide open and lettin it happen. He will still be screwin us after he is not in office.I mean look at Chaney, do you know anyone who would resign as ceo of Haliburton I guess it was OK the company gets all the gov. contracts anyway its all a mess..

The title of this post should not be "DHS Explains Itself", but rather, "Blotter Blog Admits Sensationalist Fearmongering".

wait... if the brooklyn bridge and the empire state building aren't national monuments, then what are those plaques at their bases doing? the ones that say "register of national sites"?

I accept the idea that some objects like the bridge, ESB, etc, are put into different categories so they are not counted twice - my question is, do "national monuments" equate to more threat and more $$ than "tall buildings" ? Who knows.

The point is not that the accounting methods used here are weird - it's that NYC (and Washington DC) are taking big cuts in funding for anti-terrorism efforts. Maybe DHS thinks terrists are tard of hittin' NYC and DC? Terrists gonna attack Wichita? Here is GWB hisself on the subject:

"The terriss - you see, on 9/11 - the terriss changed everything. We got ta change the terriss. Terriss are tard o blowing up libruls like in New yo-werk. They got ta blow up some good folks like Trent Lott. Imoan go on the record as sayin' I doan want Trent Lott ta git blowed up, so we got ta give Trent some money to blow up th'Terriss when they come. Now Trent's house is lookin' mighty fine, by the way, so doan worry."

'They were not including as "national monuments" as this would have unfairly counted both structures twice.'

Their failure to write proper English aside, this is clearly a dodge. ANy reasonable person simply would have excluded them from the "office building" and "bridge" lists and moved them over to "national monuments".

But, hey, the Empire State Building doesn't convey the struggle of the working man during the Depression to the same degree as the World's Biggest Ball Of Twine, I guess.

Why shouldn't the Empire State Building be counted twice? Isn't it a much greater target than some anonymous building in Omaha or Charlotte?

Only if your main goal is security, as opposed to spreading pork to buy votes in swing states.

Incompetence, thy name is George W. Bush. You're doin' a heckuva job!

The Empire Estate Building equal to any tall building in say Denver? The Brooklyn Bridge equal to any bridge over the Mississippi?

The Statute of Liberty doesn't count because it is on Federal Land? What? No NYC first responders would respond if it were attacked? In the minds of most of the world's population (and that of terrorists), is it not associated with NY City?

Wrong to count those structures twice? Are they not more likely to get targetted than any genetic tall building that nobody in the world knows about? Are they not iconic targets different than the thousands of tall buildings in just Manahattan? Are there tapes shot by Alqueida showing terrorist filming themselves going through tunnels in say Nebraska? Is there a Santa Claus?

With all due respect, "stupid" is not the right word,... hm... what I am looking for here? Ah... yes: Heckuva job!