Congressman Harold Ford Jr. recently dashed off a letter to the soon-to-be-ex-director of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, asking why Memphis home to the busiest cargo airport in the world, numerous chemical plants, and a major port will see an $8.2 million cut in Homeland Security funding. Ford told the media, “Eliminating this funding while providing it to smaller cities that may be at less risk makes no sense.” Other cities losing funding for the Urban Area Security Initiative include Orlando, St. Paul, Albany, New York, and New Haven, Connecticut. All five cities supported Senator John Kerry in the recent presidential elections. Of course, we all know there’s not a vindictive bone in the entire Bush administration, so that last little factoid surely has nothing to do with the UASI cuts and should probably be ignored by everyone, especially the media. Happy New Year, anyhow. — Chris Davis
Plante: How It Looks
