LukkyKnight
Equal Opportunity Enjoyer
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2001
- Posts
- 58,516
We (OK, Reagan) talked the Soviet Union into tearing down the Berlin Wall. According to the Associated Press, the measure regarding the new Berlin Wall along the Mexican Border with the USA which President Bush is to sign into law later today, "offers no money for the fence project covering one-third of the 2,100-mile border."
While the AP story goes on to say, "a homeland security spending measure the president signed earlier this month makes a $1.2 billion down payment on the project. The money also can be used for access roads, vehicle barriers, lighting, high-tech equipment and other tools to secure the border." I'm more than a little puzzled why this bill, "authorizing 700 miles of new fencing" opposed by T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing Border Patrol agents, who cites statistic below, is supposed to accomplish.
"Customs and Border Protection statistics show that apprehensions at border crossings are down 8 percent nationally for the budget year that just ended, Bonner said. Apprehensions were up in the San Diego sector, he said, an area of the nearly 2,000-mile border that has the most fencing." (again, from the same AP story on the wire this morning.)
Is this one of those "Do as I say, not as I do." deals? The mixed messages inherent in this boondoggle are rampant. Has anybody got information on who owns the companies likely to win the construction contracts? Are we trying to buy some key Republican voters, I take it? Can one of you Rove~Cheney cabal experts shed light on why the wall is so crucial to the election strategy?
Surely this new icon of American Freedom and Liberty isn't the oft-mentioned October Surprise, is it? Yesterday's news conference was limp, but this?
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
While the AP story goes on to say, "a homeland security spending measure the president signed earlier this month makes a $1.2 billion down payment on the project. The money also can be used for access roads, vehicle barriers, lighting, high-tech equipment and other tools to secure the border." I'm more than a little puzzled why this bill, "authorizing 700 miles of new fencing" opposed by T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing Border Patrol agents, who cites statistic below, is supposed to accomplish.
"Customs and Border Protection statistics show that apprehensions at border crossings are down 8 percent nationally for the budget year that just ended, Bonner said. Apprehensions were up in the San Diego sector, he said, an area of the nearly 2,000-mile border that has the most fencing." (again, from the same AP story on the wire this morning.)
Is this one of those "Do as I say, not as I do." deals? The mixed messages inherent in this boondoggle are rampant. Has anybody got information on who owns the companies likely to win the construction contracts? Are we trying to buy some key Republican voters, I take it? Can one of you Rove~Cheney cabal experts shed light on why the wall is so crucial to the election strategy?
Surely this new icon of American Freedom and Liberty isn't the oft-mentioned October Surprise, is it? Yesterday's news conference was limp, but this?
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
