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South Dakota Sixth in Homeland Security Dollars Per Person; New York Tenth

Hey, New Yorkers! Want a reason to be a bit miffed at South Dakota? Try reporter Joe O'Sullivan's list of the states that got the most Homeland Security dollars per resident in 2011. New York, where al-Qaeda terrorists killed 2,977 Americans and ushered in the police-state era, ranks tenth, at $4.70 per person. South Dakota, where terrorists haven't killed anyone since, well, ever (AIM debate, anyone?), ranks sixth, at $6.20 per person.

O'Sullivan notes that we'd have a hard time proving to our New York neighbors that South Dakota is really combatting terrorism with all that anti-terrorism money:

All that spending came in a state that arguably has very little threat of terrorism. According to a 2010 Washington Post report, South Dakota is one of 15 states that federal intelligence agencies ruled has "no specific foreign or domestic terrorism threat."

...a federal government report released in May has questioned South Dakota's ability to even measure whether the homeland security money is being put to good use.

"We were unable to determine the extent to which the [federal homeland security] grants enhanced the state's ability to prepare for and respond to disasters and acts of terrorism," according to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General Report. "The state does not have a system to measure preparedness" [Joe O'Sullivan, "State Gets Millions in Homeland Security Grants, But Where Does It Go?" Rapid City Journal, 2014.06.08].

We have a state government demanding more tests and more accountability before they'll deign to give schools any more money. But scare us with terrorism, and we'll throw all sorts of money at the police and never ask for proof that that money is addressing real threats and making us safer.

43 Comments

  1. Kal Lis 2014.06.08

    I admit to only skimming the original article, but I'm curious as to how many of these grants had one-time money or required the state to take over programs after a few years.

    Surely conservative principle that forbids taking funding to expand Medicaid because of future financial risks would apply to these federal dollars as well. After all, we are a self-reliant lot here on the prairie.

    By the way, the link too me to a cache with no articles. Maybe it's just Chrome, but thought I'd give you a heads up.

  2. Tim 2014.06.08

    Just one more of the many reasons why Ms.Wismer should ask Mr.Daugaard why he hates the poor. Since we obviously have no problem taking any and all other federal money, it must be his hate for the poor that stops him from expanding medicare. Maybe it's because all of those poor people make his republican ran state look bad.

  3. Tim 2014.06.08

    Since the feds are now stuck in the usual politics of funding the hwy bill, any bets on if Daugaard will turn down hwy money because he is afraid it will dry up? Yeah, didn't think so.

  4. Jerry 2014.06.08

    So, exactly where did the 100 million go? I see a couple of ambulances and cameras, communications, but a 100 million? I think they should use those cameras and communications to tell us what happened to Benda and where the EB-5 money went.

  5. Tim 2014.06.08

    Jerry, seems that would be another question for Mr.Rounds, since he was running the show when those millions started coming in, also maybe Mr.Daugaard would like to account for the money that has entered the coffers in his four years. Cory, have you received your invites to the many debates these candidates will have so we can make informed decisions this voting season?

  6. Douglas Wiken 2014.06.08

    Some of the money has gone to fencing a small area of the Winner Airport. Go about 50 feet in any direction and the chainlink turns into 3 barbed wires.

    Apparently a new truckload of money will go into fencing the whole airport, which also makes little sense. Having a secure area for airplanes would make more sense. The rest of the fence only needs to keep cattle and deer off the runways.

  7. Jerry 2014.06.08

    Who gets the contracts on the work being done, are the projects bid out Mr. Wiken?

  8. Roger Cornelius 2014.06.08

    Where'd $100 million go?
    Consultants, lawyers, protecting Mt. Rushmore, Republican vendors, this is how it works with federal dollars coming to South Dakota.
    And these are the same Republicans that are standing in line to cash government checks while complaining about wasteful government spending.

  9. grudznick 2014.06.08

    Mr. C, why do you hate others so badly? You should read my pamphlet on tolerance and loving one's neighbors. grudznick used to be a tree hugger you know.

  10. Roger Cornelius 2014.06.08

    Where does hate come in grudz? Point out where I said hate in the post.

    If reality hurts your little ole heart grudz, there is nothing I can do about it.

  11. grudznick 2014.06.08

    I feel your hate, Mr. C, and the soft libbie part of my heart weeps for you.

  12. Nick Nemec 2014.06.08

    Grudz is one of those people here in South Dakota who thinks questioning the status quo is evidence of hate.

  13. Roger Cornelius 2014.06.08

    grudz,

    Your insanity is more than showing.

    Just as feel can feel hate, I can feel ignorance.

  14. grudznick 2014.06.08

    Mr. C, if you'd attend some of my breakfast gatherings you would feel less ignorance.

  15. grudznick 2014.06.08

    Nobody, Mr. C, should feel ignorant in these days of blogs and internets. Not even you

  16. Roger Cornelius 2014.06.08

    Enough of you grudz.

    You're wasting valuable space and time with your trivial pursuit of whatever.

  17. grudznick 2014.06.08

    Indeed, Mr. C. Indeed. There is that hatred seething out of you again. If it's OK with you, I'll stay in my space and keep as much time as I can, because that's all any of us really have, isn't it? Our tiny space and tiny time. I choose to use mine to promote love and tolerance.

  18. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.06.08

    O.K. Grudz, enough coyness. If you're serious about having Roger over for breakfast, tell him your name and where and when to meet you. You come here and waste our time with your generic pot-stirrers, never citing facts, never offering evidence, just recycling your tired personal distraction techniques. Add some meat to the stew, or go stir someone else's pot.

    Roger made a valid point about how Homeland Security funding is just another way to dress up South Dakota Republicans' addiction to the federal gravy train. The government's own analysis, cited by reporter O'Sullivan, says that South Dakota is one of the last places where we need to concentrate anti-terrorism resources. We are in the least danger, yet we are spending more per person on security on each South Dakotan than we do on each resident of 44 other states.

    Roger and I and other South Dakotans shouldn't feel hate about that. We should feel embarrassed.

  19. Roger Cornelius 2014.06.08

    Actually Cory, it isn't embarrassment that I feel, it is more like outrage.
    That this state would squander a $100 million on gadgets and whatever is irresponsible. There are so many more purposeful uses for that kind of money.
    Somehow, someway that money ended up in a third person's pocket and there likely be no accountability for it, just like EB/5.

  20. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.06.08

    How did we get the money? I mean, how was it allocated? Do governors request it? Or Congress people? DoD?

  21. grudznick 2014.06.08

    Ms. Geelsdottir has a very valid question, Mr. H (and Mr. C.) I would ask you how much of this money came through the state to the eventual users of the money. Or are you fellows all agnarled about money that the federal Obama government gave straight on to your local school districts or water zones or county governments? Where are the awardings from the federal government that would tell us who was in charge of each of these Security Dollars?

    More importantly, is it bad that SD got to have this money? As a conservative I would hold back all of it, as a libbie some of you should open your maws and gulp it down.

  22. grudznick 2014.06.08

    Question One for Ms. Wismer, who no doubt reads these bloggings: Ms. Wismer, would you as Governor turn away all the federal Homeland Security money sent to South Dakota and order any counties and private non-profits who have received such money to never again accept it?

  23. larry kurtz 2014.06.08

    Question for D squared: ever have a real job?

  24. Jerry 2014.06.08

    It looks like the monies are allocated for each state for every year and you request the grant money. http://www.fema.gov/fy-2012-homeland-security-grant-program

    It is a conservatives wet dream, to be able to tap a resource at taxpayer expense and be able to deny that you have contributed anything to this mythical debt they carp about.

  25. Jerry 2014.06.08

    Question 1 for any governor or possible one would be, can you account for the monies that have been allocated? If so, where and how were they dispersed? If there was an kind of open bidding for the products or goods and services that were requested and how many bidders were active? Simple questions that should be answered without issue.

  26. larry kurtz 2014.06.08

    grud: your own children are for sale, right?

  27. Roger Cornelius 2014.06.08

    Deb,
    When the Dept. of Homeland Security was first approved it allowed each state to open its own Dept. of Homeland Security which is the mechanism for funding. As Jerry pointed out, on an annual basis the state can request additional funding for any number of other programs.
    The problem is, for Muslim fearing South Dakotans, there hasn't been any accountability as pointed out in the article by Joe O'Sullivan in today's RCJ.

  28. Jerry 2014.06.08

    If these resources were so badly needed here in South Dakota and not fulfilled, where are our tax dollars going? Are we leaning on the resources of other states, undoubtedly blue states, to tap them for our needs and then claim to be balancing our books? We already do that in many forms, is this just another way of cooking the books by gaming the system? Sure looks like a duck and quacks like one.

  29. Anne Beal 2014.06.08

    the money makes sense if it reflects either the percentage of residents who own guns or are veterans, (or, gasp! both!) DHS thinks we're really scary, y'know.

  30. mike from iowa 2014.06.09

    DHS spending makes sense,when you consider someone has to protect all the bovines and bovine excrement(free speech) that accompanies bovines. If wingnuts can have clown cars,cattle can have armored personnel carriers and drones.

  31. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.06.09

    Ha ha, Anne. Your comment would make sense only if we were talking about the feds marching in and taking action against those gun owners. That's not what's happening. The South Dakota conservatives you vote for dip their buckets in the trough and spend that money on their preferred local pork.

  32. mike from iowa 2014.06.09

    Nevermind-the article basically says that in 2007 SD refused to abide by open records law because of the cost of printing documents. Nothing to see here. MY bad. :(

  33. mike from iowa 2014.06.09

    As Kal Lis originally stated,there is no articlwe there. I use IE and got zippo.

  34. Jerry 2014.06.09

    Oh, dear Anne. I am so sorry that you have been out of country for some time. Please sit down and allow me to explain some things. Here is what happened: In 2001, there was a dreadful attack and that opened the door for an unlimited amount of borrowed money to flow like mint juleps in the clutches of an August afternoon. Of course, your dear party was at the helm of the good ship America at this time of peril and they browbeat us into a friggin pulp to allow the unlimited dollars to be broadcast all over these precious states. Our own state, South Dakota, which has little terrorist value with the exception of the car museum in Murdo, was showered in this moolah.

    It remained that way until we fast forward to 2008 and the election of Obama, the congress was for a small time under control of the Democrats, but alas that changed in 2010 and here we are, still with the same golden shower we have been getting since 2001 and for the good news, it is unaccountable monies. You heard it correct, in a so called red state, that claims it is fiscally conservative, we have a 100 million dollar money hole that helps to balance our budget so our leaders can lie about that as well. So it would not matter if there were veteran gun owners, of which I am, or simple folk like yourself, we get the same. Kind of like Communism only wrapped around an American flag. Makes you feel warm all over doesn't it? Now, for the small towns that received ambulances and other necessities that will help the populace, that is great news. I think though that we could approach that in a more open arrangement and take care of those issues through our combined taxes here rather than manipulating from the general tax payers, don't you?

  35. Kevin Weiland 2014.06.09

    This all came about during Bush II and the paranoia of the masses to a terroristic threat. Recall the anthrax scare with our own Sen. Tom Daschle just after 911? Then there was the fear of small pox as well as threat to our food supply. I know of a few of the beneficiaries to the money were my colleagues in medicine. Doctors throughout the state were paid consulting fees for being a part of a response team in the event of a biological terroristic event. They usually met during our state medical conventions for updates and educational seminars. They were equipped with state of the art radios, educational material and even a Hazmat outfit. Some acted like Barney Fife but most had good intentions. The group dissolved not too long ago as the funding dried up.

  36. Roger Cornelius 2014.06.09

    Kevin,
    I remember those days when doctors at Regional walked around and attended meeting with those bulky radios and other toys. Some were pretty gungho and looked ridiculous.
    I wasn't aware at the time that they were actually getting paid for their tomfoolery.
    As I recall, their biggest concern was that Bin Laden was going to attack Mt. Rushmore and Regional had to prepared for any resulting trauma.

  37. Douglas Wiken 2014.06.09

    Jerry, I think the sign on the first fence had "Michaels Fence" of Sioux Falls or something similar. The surveying for the airport has been done by an engineering outfit out of Aberdeen. I have no idea what kind of a bid process was or was not used. I do not always read all the very fine print in the Weekly Incontinent. The local airport has been a money sink into poorly planned and executed changes with wasteful shortsightedness. That is everything about it and not just the anti-terrorism dribble.

    One interesting comment from an engineer here a few years ago. He said, "I don't understand my boss's politics. They are rabid Republicans, but they get their business mostly when Democratic presidents are in office."

  38. Jerry 2014.06.09

    Thanks Mr. Wiken for checking on that. I do not check on the bid requests of interest anymore and I should start doing so, just as a matter of my business as a tax payer. To be honest, I never knew that such a program like this Homeland Security money ball, even existed in South Dakota, so the post and article was very interesting to me. Your engineer friend is correct, republicans bitch and moan all the way to the bank about the damn Democratic leadership that provides them with so much. The last conservatives were really all of our parents and grandparents, as they knew the value of money and knew how to utilize it completely and then manage to put a little in the coffee can in the yard. All we have now are speculators that claim to be conservative but are simply bigoted with a sense of entitlement.

  39. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.06.09

    Thanks for all the info on how the money gets here. So our state government, Republicans, have to ask for it.

    Republican hypocrisy writ large.

    Shamelessness is not a virtue, Christian or otherwise.

  40. Douglas Wiken 2014.06.09

    The business of being a taxpayer does not seem to be particularly rewarding these days.

  41. Joan Brown 2014.06.09

    Several years I ago I heard and read on the news that the county that part of Ms. Noem's ranch is in received a quite large van of some kind to be used strictly in case of terrorist shenanigans. The sheriff of that county didn't see the necessity of having the vehicle to sit in a garage, so he was going to see if it could be used routinely. I don't know what ever happened in that situation. I found it kind of interesting because that is also the county that I grew up in.

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