How many millions have we spent
I wondered that when I heard about the homeless individual in New York who had built a small shack under the Manhattan Bridge in New York City. Let me set the scene. For a year now this individual identified only as Joey has lived strung between two girders in a makeshift ramshackle abode barely larger than a coffin in full view of thousands of people every day.
The NYPD having learned about this from reporters who published the story finally acted.
Now, we have spent how many millions of dollars on bridge safety and security since 9-11. God alone probably has the total available. But suffice to say that surveillance of all the bridges was supposed to be ongoing. Yet no one noticed a homeless man carrying wood up to the bridge, maneuvering it between the girders, and placing a home there. Nobody noticed this for a year.
I'm betting if the homeless guy had used his cell phone to tell someone else about it, then the various billions we spend on security would have noticed, they would have had a message pop up that someone was planning something dastardly with a bridge. But since nobody sent an email, there was nothing for the various law enforcement and security folks to focus on, except the daily travelings of this one guy for a year, oh and the presence of plywood in full view of the world for a year.
Now, I have to wonder, what did all the money spent go to if nobody actually goes across the bridge and looks around for things like a plywood shack built into the ceiling.
Perhaps now it is time to start negotiating the terms of our surrender. I'm thinking we've lost the war on terror.
