In these tough economic times, it's been very, very, very difficult for the Obama Administration and the Democrats to find any government expenditures which can be cut. But fortunately, the president has finally found something we had way too much of: border security!
Which is why the number of National Guard troops stationed at our southern border is going to be cut by at least half next year...with the proposed number of Guardsmen patrolling the California border reduced from 264 to just 14.
The troops, originally assigned to supplement the Border Guards who were busy dodging bullets from "Fast & Furious," are said not to be needed anymore because...because...
Hang on. We've got to take a deep, cleansing breath before writing this next part which is truly staggering in its monumental stupidity.
Okay. The Department of Homeland Security says that the troops aren't needed because our southern border is now more secure than ever. And how do they know that? Not because there are fewer people crossing the border and entering our country (which they have no way of measuring). But because Homeland Security, with its diminishing resources, is catching fewer people. Which must mean security is better! Right? Right...?!
By this same logic, if we pull out all the National Guard troops and Border Guards, we won't catch anyone sneaking in...which will mean (in Washington, anyway) that we've achieved 100% effective border security which doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime!
Of course, all of this only makes sense to someone who has way too much access to tequila. Which makes it painfully clear that this is really another thinly-veiled way for Barack Obama to throw open our borders (and increase the number of people demanding services paid for by the evil rich) during a hotly-contested election year.
Come to think of it, maybe a shot of tequila isn't such a bad idea.
As an additional security measure, the Obama Administration
is bracing the Mexican-American border fence with sturdy escalators.
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28 comments:
There can be no honest discussion of this issue as long as Turdboy and his liberal minions claim that we, who still believe in the rule of law, are "anti-immigration". The converse, of course, is that open-borders proponents are "pro-immigration". It's the same dishonest wordplay that renames killing the unborn as "pro-choice" and those who seek to preserve the lives of the unborn are "anti-choice".
My ancestors immigrated to the US from Ireland, England, Germany and most recently, Canada. (Some were here when the boats landed, saying in their native tongue "There goes the neighborhood") My wife's family immigrated from Poland in 1949. I'd be hard-pressed to justify an "anti-immigration" position...and I don't. My family and my wife's family did it the right way, the legal way. But I guess in this age of instant gratification that's just too damned hard anymore. Finally, as commensurate with this regime's tactics, if you can't change the law through normal channels, just stop enforcing it. Same result. Once you decide that nothing matters but what you want personally, it's pretty easy.
Your escalators are brilliant - put them up, and turn them off. That will trap all those future democrats right at the border! See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4XgKGUGKJo
BTW: My wife's family "emigrated" from Poland. I know the difference. I just get lazy sometimes.
What a win-win for Obama. He gets to take credit for actually cutting spending on something, while increasing the number of likely Democratic voters. Quite brilliant, really. Can't wait to see what other creative debt-busting-vote-enhancing he has up his sleeves.
@ John the Econ:
re: new Democrat voters...
What are the odds that Obama is researching ways to confer citizenship on these illegals without going through Congress? Can that be done by executive order? Frankly, who's to stop him?
@Angry Hoosier Dad- You bring up a bunch of good points. The mangled meanings of words and labels, for instance, which make us xenophobic bigots if we're in favor of legal immigration. And of course, there are no "illegal aliens," only "undocumented immigrants." Making me wonder why we have a term for bank robbery when we could just as easily refer to "undocumented withdrawals."
Your point about the federal government refusing to enforce immigration laws (and bringing suit against states who want to) is an important one. What do laws, and the lawmaking process, even mean if this is an option?
@Emmentaler- While the escalator trap would certainly work for Democrats who are already here, I suspect it would be less effective when used with the more highly-motivated folks coming in from Mexico.
@John the Econ- You have to give Barry credit for working the angles (for himself, anyway). And when you mention his creative debt-busting ideas, I'm reminded of one from a couple of years ago that never really caught fire: to cut down costs associated with medical service for our military, he wanted to force our soldiers to buy their own private insurance to pay for any injuries they receive while at war. The idea was quickly shelved (and buried by the MSM) but it provided yet another window into the way this president really thinks (and the low regard he has for the military).
@My Dog Brewski- I don't know if there's a way to confer citizenship without the blessing of Congress, but I have no doubt that Obama is researching it. Or perhaps he can circumvent the whole matter by simply making it illegal for anyone other than a federal officer to check for citizenship (and then tell federal officers not to check), which is essentially the case he's brought against Arizona.
And of course, THIS is why people are against id matching at the polls, to ensure that the person IN the booth is the SAME one on the registration list.
Don't even get me started on the validity of the lists...
Funny thing, at the borders here, all incoming trucks get "X-rayed" (some kind of scanner) looking for a) radioactives b) explosives c) people (yes, amazingly, people DO pay to get smuggled IN to Detroit)
Every once in a while, we see on local news the story that they caught someone smuggling in money - $20M, $40M in cash. Oddly, it never makes the national news.
Gotta wonder who's planning to buy what...?
All Obama needs is an activist Supreme Court. He's made a good start with Kagan and his "wise latina" Sotomayer (however her name is spelled). By the way, are those both "up" escalators?
Couple of years ago, when there were all those Immigration protests / rallies, one of the local meat packing houses refused to give anyone the day off to march in the 'parade'. I mean, they're a business, right? Jobs to do, and all that, right?
So half the plant didn't show up, and got fired. (ok, "1/2 the plant" is probably exaggeration - linked article says "15")
Took it to court, who ordered company to hire them back, w/ back pay. As I recall, company "double checked" paperwork, found out most of them were illegals, fired them again, and had ICE waiting to pick them up when they showed up for work. Needless to say, THAT did not go over well. I think company was fined, and workers were NOT prosecuted. Go figure.
http://www.wehirealiens.com/employer/index.asp?id=6637
Angry Hoosier Dad: My father's family came from Poland - legally. He's the youngest of 13 kids, and the only one born in here. My mother was born and raised in Terre Haute. Maybe we're related...
Stilton: they're not "undocumented immigrants." They're "future democrat voters."
Along those lines, Eric Holder was near my neck of the woods recently (Austin, TX) when he announced "the Justice Department would be aggressive in reviewing new voting laws" including one here that requires a photo id to vote.
Holder went on to deny that there is any meaningful voter fraud, using the same "we didn't find any so there must not be any" logic that DHS applies to border security. Of course, that conveniently ignores the brewing scandal in Indiana were the head of the democrat party has resigned amidst allegations of fraud in the 2008 presidential election.
Check out the NY Times article linked above. There's plenty of fodder there for a post or two.
It is strange to hear liberals extol the virtues of Mexican culture and yet seemingly encourage the entire populace down there to abandon the place and come to the "evil" USA. Meanwhile, Obama's dragging the economy down here has indeed slowed the numbers of people coming north, for there are no (or fewer) jobs.
And then, the US has done a poor job of making legal immigration or even work permits possible -- for instance, for the states of Sinaloa and Sonora there is exactly one tiny window the size of your computer screen, set high up in a wall in the consulate in Hermosillo, where Mexicans who wish to enter legally can seek permission.
On top of this there are more Americans moving south, for it is cheaper living -- and the Mexicans complain that signs are cropping up in English (I have lived for long periods of time in Mazatlan, and have seen it first hand.) Still, Mexico does have a program to teach all k-12 kids English, and in a generation or two there might not be any Spanish speakers down there at all.
Not to mention that the newspapers of the Northwest states argue for a US style Bill of Rights and Constitution and scrapping current Mexican law, and everyday I noticed that nearly 1/3 of the people seem to wear Red, White & Blue.
So in the spirit of Jonathan Swift -- let us depopulate Mexico of the natives, and send them north, and those of us who wish a free limited government capitalist Republic head south and take over the emptied country and start over.
@ Jim
I love your idea. I'd love to move to Mexico and start over. The winters wouldn't be nearly so cold and as long as we can keep the libs and Democrats out it could become a lovely, thriving capitalist home.
@Stilton, Obama, like most liberals for the last several generations have all but abandoned the "Military" vote, and have actually taken legal steps to quash it. So it hardly came as a surprise that for the one group of Americans for whom the Federal government should actually be providing health care, he'd suggest that they should go out and fend for themselves. Nice. I'm sure that made them feel all warm and fuzzy inside towards their commander in chief.
As for our immigration policy with Mexico: If I were President, I'd present legislation that would "rationalize" our immigration policy to match each other's policies towards Americans. For example, there are restrictions on American's owning outright property in certain areas of Mexico. The same should apply to Mexican citizens in the US.
I have friends that are here legally with green cards. I also have a friend who is here legally and went through all the expense and study to become a legal citizen.
Talk about "equal rights"...it is SO unfair that my friends had to go through all the many challenges of legal immigration while others come through illegally and are still rewarded (even more so, since my friends also work and pay taxes).
Legal and illegal immigration are SO totally different...uh...thus the words "legal" and "illegal". Kinda like driving the speed limit is "legal" and picking off your neighbor from the top story window is "illegal".....
@Pete(Detroit)- There's a piece on Drudge today about Eric Holder "declaring war" on Texas because of voter laws. This is the freakin' meathead who says that Black Panthers with nightsticks using racial epithets at a polling place isn't intimidating, but asking a voter for an ID is unacceptable.
As far as the truckloads of money going to Detroit, I'm assuming they were simply bailouts going to the UAW and car companies from Washington.
@CenTexTim- Whoops! That's what I get for replying to comments before I've read all of them: you're all over the Eric Holder vs Texas thing. And interestingly, part of his problem with Texas voter policies is that we've "failed to prove lack of discrimination." Excuse me?! It seems like Holder should be the one who has to prove discrimination or STFU. What law (or Constitution) is Holder citing when he claims that anyone needs to pre-emptively prove their innocence, especially when no violation of the law has even been alleged?
@Jim Hlavac- You've seized on a great irony! Liberals say that our country sucks, but that Mexicans should be part of the misery.
@graylady- I would say that I'd have a hard time adjusting if I moved someplace where everyone speaks Spanish...but it turns out that I already did, almost 30 years ago: Texas. (Although back then, the language was mainly English)
@John the Econ- There's no question in my mind that Barack Obama holds the military in complete contempt.
Regarding immigration, I've seen a listing before of what Mexico's policies are regarding illegal immigrants in their country, and it's pretty draconian. Which would make it perfect for us to enact here for their misplaced citizens.
@Suzy- You're right that it really comes down to the difference between legal and illegal, and whether people (including those in Washington) respect laws or don't.
@Earl- Oops, didn't mean to skip your comment! I would assume that those are both up escalators, but I suppose one of them might be going down to make it easier for those returning to Mexico who are loaded down with guns from Eric Holder.
When will the nightmare end??? Oh yeah, we have to endure at least another year, right? Are enough people awake to boot this guy out of office--along with his liberal cronies? May God bless us and help us--may it not be too late to reverse the damage done by these loonies in Washington. May we strengthen our faith in God and each other that we may have hope for REAL change in 2012!
I once foolishly argued with a liberal who claimed that my disparaging remarks about illegal Mexican immigrants was patently racist. It was a bit surprising to realize that I had to point out that 'Mexican' is a nationality, not a race, and that a significant portion of the Mexican population is made up of Caucasians of western European descent - and not just from Spain. Of course, arguing with a liberal is verily much like playing whack-a-mole. So rather than concede my point, he shifted the argument and confidently stated that only Mexicans of a certain race jumped the fence. He rationalized that this wasn't a racist statement since they were probably escaping the oppression of the white majority ('majority' now being his interpretation of 'significant'). Explaining that seventeen percent is no majority was of no use, since whitey is always the oppressor in the mind of a chimp. My only conclusion from this was that anyone who was still a liberal beyond the age of thirty was probably functionally retarded.
As with progressives in general, the current administration presents something of a Necker cube as regards this conclusion... one minute, I see incredible stupidity stumbling along the uneven terrain of misinformation. The next, I see pure evil hell bent upon the destruction of all things good about America. But once you get past the optical illusion, it becomes clear that it's really just a two dimensional outline pretending to have depth. What these morons are only now beginning to realize is that America has a low center of gravity, and the only stampeding cattle thus far have been their own useful idiots. Policy decisions such as this are clearly acts of desperation... more of a pattern of behavior rather than the unfolding of a grand plan. And they're only going to get more brazen as we near the end of this presidency. We're in for a ugly ride, folks. Hang on to your ass.
I understand the concept of wanting to leave a crap-hole of a country for a chance at a fruitful life, but what I find the most truly aggrivating is the attitude of too many of these illegal aliens (yes I said ILLEGAL ALIENS. I don't sugar coat the truth!) that come to America and act like we owe them a life despite the fact that they don't bother to try and learn english, go to places like hospitals for free healthcare, churches and community food banks for free food, thrift stores who give away the clothes that they couldn't sell every month, and anything else that is intended for LEGAL citizens of this country, and act like it's all for them. They fly the Mexican flag and have stickers of the name of the city in Mexico they came from on thier cars, which incidently they get to keep now if they get stopped by the police and should have impounded, but are given the chance to have a family member come get thier car so someone can keep thier job and income to support thier huge family. They shout insults at Americans when they think we don't know what they're saying, step right in front of us when they see something they want at the store and don't say "excuse me" or even "Excusemente" for that matter, and after they get payed for the jobs they shouldn't have, they send most of the money to thier families in Mexico so the ones there can pay the coyotes to sneak them over the border too. WHEN DOES IT STOP????? Why do I have to press 1 for english in a country where english is the official language of the land? Call me prejudiced if you want to and you'd be right! My prejudice is stupidity and the total lack of common sense that comes with the acceptance of these things that are eroding the freedom of American citizens constantly! I don't hate any particular nationality, but I do hate STUPID AND RUDE PEOPLE no matter what nationality they are!!!!!
@Cookie- Amen!
@Mike Porter- Great comments. I don't even have anything pithy to add other than that I completely agree with you.
@Anonymous (directly above)- Like you, I certainly don't begrudge anyone who wants to come to this country (legally) to enjoy the opportunities. But also like you, I'm disturbed by an entitlement mentality that presumes that once someone has crossed our border they should be treated like a lottery winner. And I particularly dislike having the attitude encouraged by the people who hang onto political power by arguing for more and more of our money for these "necessary" services.
In some ways, I liken the United States as a lifeboat which can hold exactly 50 people without sinking...and there are 100 people in the water. When you tell that 51st person that they can't get in the boat (and defend the boat's borders) are you being heartless? Racist? Sexist? Or are you trying to assure that 50 people will live instead of all 100 people dying?
Stilt, love the lifeboat analogy
Also, the $$$ was coming in over the border, from Canada - which makes it unusual. Cash headed to / from union goons / mobsters / rum runners is *ancient* history (see "Purple Gang" and "Jimmy Hoffa") Drugs / Booze coming in from Canada also common. CASH? Not so much.
Especially in trucks being driven by guys w/ mid-east sounding names.
Not finding link, it WAS a few years ago (and not easy to find then) will keep poking at it..
Mike Porter - Liberals are nearly incapable of 'arguing' anything "Rationally" as their 'arguments' are (nearly always)based on 'feeling' not 'facts'. When they dance away, and change topic, Smile, say "that's one, thank you" and pretend to listen to their 'new point'. When they go 'one what?' point out that every time they change topic, reply w/ a logical non-sequitor, straw man, ad hominum, or other logical error (note - YOU have to know what they are to call THEM on it) they are effectively conceding the argument (and the point) to you. at 10 points, they have to a) buy you the next round and b) STFU about politics for a week. (note - you do NOT say that politics will not be discussed, only that THEY have nothing to say) About 8 they get extremely annoyed, but usually shut up. If not, you at least get a drink at 10.
If they refuse to pay up / shut up (I never agreed to that! Well, you kept talking. Yes, but I never agreed to anything) the proper response is "Get out. Get out of my sight, get your stench out of my SMELL, get your aura of mentally inept corruption out of my presence. Your utter lack of honor, decency, and even base common sense leaves you socially useless to anyone w/ the sensibility of a garden sparrow, much less a fully functioning pigeon. Go, find the worms who's approval you crave, and cozen up to them, for you are dead to me. Dead and utterly useless. You, sir, are breathing my air, and I wish you to stop. Now please, just go, or I shall have to taunt you further."
In a perfect world, that would get them to leave you alone.
Realistically, you will probably get to play variations on that scene many times.
It is marginally possible that your associate might discern that his positions are utterly lacking in logical support, and we win a convert.
Good luck w/ that.
@Stilton said "There's a piece on Drudge today about Eric Holder "declaring war" on Texas because of voter laws. This is the freakin' meathead who says that Black Panthers with nightsticks using racial epithets at a polling place isn't intimidating, but asking a voter for an ID is unacceptable."
Sounds like fodder for another great cartoon; Panel 1 with a bunch of angry Black Panthers outside the booth, 2 with a poll worker asking for an ID, and 3 with Holder saying something pithy about how one is more threatening than the other.
@Mike Porter said "What these morons are only now beginning to realize is that America has a low center of gravity, and the only stampeding cattle thus far have been their own useful idiots."
Brilliant analogy. I will have to start using that.
I must point out that The Dear Golfer's excellent economic policies are doing a good job at slowing, even reversing in some areas, the flow of illegal Mexican citizens into the USA. With the collapse of our economy, staying in Mexico with a job looks much better than paying to get smuggled into the USA just to be unemployed and worried about getting deported. Tuesday's WSJ made this observation. Well done, Ovomit!
The untruths totally motivated by political gain from this administration are really incredible...I watch day by day as facts are twisted, or totally omitted to be replaced by a complete fabrication designed for an unwitting and ignorant populace!
Can be pretty formidable coupled with the MSM's bullshit too!
Aye caramba!
El Linko:
Reaganite's Sunday Funnies
Hi, I'm actually quite liberal, but in this case I think I agree with you. Leaving the door open will certainly help people who want to come to America for a better life, but it'll also help criminals and smugglers. Would you say the solution is to this problem? More security at the border, or more wide-reaching immigration reform?
@Anonymous (immediately above)- Glad to have you here! Personally, I think that stronger border security is essential because without it, no other policies will really accomplish diddly-squat. Once the borders are controlled, then immigration reform should be seriously addressed - and I rather liked Newt Gingrich's suggestion that we look at a pathway for people who are already here to become "legal" without becoming citizens. I have to admit that I could also be happy with large scale deportations, but I doubt that Americans will have the political will to do that, which is why Newt's idea seems more practical.
Eventually, I'd like to see our country return to celebrating and encouraging legal immigration again.
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