But what I really wanted to talk about is...
Massaging the base
What about that fence? To keep out the Mexicans. That little 14 miles of fence along the California-Mexico border. Estimated at $14 million - a million a mile. Whose first nine miles actually cost $39 million.
Weren't we supposed to build some more? In Texas?
President Bush authorized the construction of a border fence. [...] In October of last year, just before the midterm elections, the president signed the Secure Fence Act. It authorized the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling and prevent terrorists from sneaking into the country. The act also authorized additional checkpoints, lighting, and high-tech devices to monitor the border. But the problem is the word "authorized." "No money was attached to the bill," says Democratic congressman Silvestre Reyes of El Paso [...] "It was more of a political piece of legislation designed to appeal to conservatives before the election."[...]
While the Secure Fence Act did not provide any funding, Bush had already signed a spending bill that allocated $34.8 billion to homeland security. Of that, $1.2 billion was earmarked for a "security barrier," though that language is intentionally vague. [...] Initial estimates ranged from $2.2 billion to $9 billion. That difference seemed ridiculous enough until a government study came out in January that suggested the price could swell to more than $60 billion after figuring in costs such as purchasing the private property that lies in the path of the fence and solving environmental issues related to construction. And that's not even for the whole border.
What a surprise, eh? Like Bush's support of anti-gay marriage legislation.
And what do Texan politicians think of the deal?
Governor Rick Perry said, "Building a wall across the entire border is preposterous." Then he joked that a wall would only benefit "the ladder business." (That's a pale version of what Arizona governor Janet Napolitano said in December 2005: "Show me a fifty-foot wall, and I'll show you a fifty-one-foot ladder at the border.") Of course, Perry didn't think it was so preposterous to have cameras at the border hooked up to a public Web site so that average residents could report suspicious activity, but that's another story.
Yes, that is another story. Part of the story of how a bunch of people with European heritage manage to steal land and dignity from native residents time and again.
Where is the study that elucidates the differences in relations between the descendents of the European invaders of this part of the North American continent and Mexican-Americans, Native-Americans and Afro-Americans? There is some national tendency toward an apology for the treatment of Native Americans. At least there is some sense of national guilt about it. But the Euro-American attitude toward Mexican-Americans seems to be more like our attitude toward Afro-Americans. Why? Mexican-Amerians are natives to the southern US. They weren't imported for slavery like Africans. They were swallowed up. Much more like Native-Americans. Well, in fact, they are Native Americans.
But...back to that fence...
In September Boeing won a contract, estimated to be worth $2 billion, from the Department of Homeland Security to construct a "virtual fence." The project, known as the Secure Border Initiative, or SBInet, doesn't focus on permanent walls; it features a series of 1,800 towers similar to the ones you find in shopping-mall parking lots during the holidays. In addition to cameras, these towers will be equipped with high-tech heat sensors and motion detectors. Boeing will install the first group of towers along a 28-mile stretch of the border near Tucson, Arizona, and the company says it can have the entire program up and running in three years.
Estimated cost: $8 billion, possibly ballooning to $30 billion.
Sooooo much better a deal than the fency fence that never got funded anyway. I feel safer already. Oh, wait. I'm on an island in the Gulf. I want some floating patrol piers. With helipads.
We need a president who will actually do something here. Actually fund something. None of this pretty talk to sucker us into voting and then letting us hang out in the wind!
Seriously, this is a matter under the control of the Department of Homeland Security. Terrorists and illegal immigrants fall under the same agency. They're starting to all look alike to us pale-faces.
Raise the drawbridge!
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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