Posted on 10/06/2006 6:49:47 AM PDT by engrpat
WASHINGTON - No sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built, at least not as advertised, according to Republican lawmakers and immigration experts.
GOP leaders have singled out the fence as one of the primary accomplishments of the recently completed session. Many lawmakers plan to highlight their $1.2 billion down payment on its construction as they campaign in the weeks before the midterm elections.
But shortly before recessing late Friday, the House and Senate gave the Bush administration leeway to distribute the money to a combination of projects -- not just the physical barrier along the southern border. The funds may also be spent on roads, technology and "tactical infrastructure" to support the Homeland Security Department's preferred option of a "virtual fence."
What's more, in a late-night concession to win over wavering Republicans, GOP congressional leaders pledged in writing that American Indian tribes, members of Congress, governors and local leaders would get a say in "the exact placement" of any structure, and that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff would have the flexibility to use alternatives "when fencing is ineffective or impractical."
The loopholes leave the Bush administration with authority to decide where, when and how long a fence will be built, except for small stretches east of San Diego and in western Arizona. Homeland Security officials have proposed a fence half as long, lawmakers said.
This case reflects political calculations by GOP strategists that voters do not mind the details, and that key players -- including the administration, local leaders and the Mexican government -- oppose a fence-only approach, analysts said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dfw.com ...
In my lifetime, we always have been, always will be. The federal gubbmint is so huge now, there is no fighting them. Vote and elect anyone you want. Get back to me if you find any significant difference afterwards.
FMCDH(BITS)
"They could have pushed for specific targetted money and lost the vote, leaving NO money at all to build our fence."
"What are you bitching about this time?"
"That isn't the car you showed me in the showroom!"
"So what? It costs the same."
"But this car isn't a convertible, doesn't have air bags, is a stick shift, and has those god awful Mexican rims."
"So?"
"So, I don't want it."
"Sorry, it's too late. The contract you signed allows me to use my judgement."
"Then I'll never sign a contract with you again."
"There'll be a contract whether you sign it or not, citizen, and you'll be just as bound by it."
"This isn't right."
"Look at it this way. It's a compromise. We got your money, we're going to spend it, and you can always walk. That's the only way we could get the manager to agree on this deal."
"No deal would have been better than this."
"You don't understand. I have to make my quota before the weekend. Can't wait."
"Oh, well. That's very different. Pardon me while I don't give a damn."
"That's okay. We get that all the time. Next time will be different, just like I told you last time about this time."
"Screw you. I'm going to an independent dealer next time."
"Sheeyeah. Right."
I ABSOLUTELY KNEW this was going to happen, yet it still INFURIATES me!
Things are getting truly scary. When the government not only ignores the wishes of a majority of the people but disses them so arrogantly, it has ceased to be a legitimate government and has become a TYRANNY.
Can anyone explain to me why today's situation is any different than 1775?
Like the bumper sticker I saw at one of those World Bank protests said, "If Voting Could Change Anything, It Would be Illegal."
Well, I'd never buy a car from our government.
Unfortunately, our government has 535 congressmen, representing almost 300 million people, and some of them don't think like us.
And we need at least half of them in the house, and 60 of them in the senate, to get what we want.
And that means that sometimes you have to compromise. And if that compromise offers the hope of what you want, you don't throw it away, unless you are sure you could get a better deal -- something that there's no evidence for.
If we manage to hold the house and senate, the republicans can push for more money, or better control of the money, next year.
If we lose the house, OR the senate, you can kiss that money and the wall goodbye, and say hi to "comprehensive immigration reform" that will be WORSE than what the senate agreed to last year, WORSE than what the president was calling for, and DEVASTATING to our country and the republican party.
The anti-illegal-immigrant crowd was screaming for something to be done, or else they would stay home. They got a good number of people on their side, the american people who will vote are falling our way.
If the anti-illegal crowd runs around now yelling about the republicans being untrustworthy on the issue, those people we have won over will stay home, the democrats will win, and we will LOSE EVERYTHING.
If that's worth it to some to "punish" the republicans, I don't understand it -- I'd rather live to fight another day than shoot myself in the head in the hopes that after the bullet goes through it might hit a couple other people I don't like.
I'm not a suicide bomber.....
Sooner or later-------BITS
"I'm not a suicide bomber.....'
If the spending of Homeland Security money on non-terrorist stuff like SWAT teams in Kansas didn't tell you something, and the spending of fence money on non-fence infrastructure (pork) doesn't bother you, then fiscally, I'd say suicide-bomber isn't far off the mark.
Here's my prediction:
STAGE ONE (our lifetime): America continues to slide into a Brazilian model of a few rich elites & a large mass of increasingly poor, increasingly Third World commoners. Elites live increasingly like kings, and identify more with the elites of other counties than their own fellow citizens.
STAGE TWO (several generations from now): America slips into the Haiti model, where the elites are so few that they cannot control the masses any longer. America stops being the economic engine of the world. Global depression & chaos reign. New Dark Ages ensue.
STAGE THREE (?? how long): The earth's population plummets without modern Western civilization's technology. The stupid & lazy cultures are hit hardest. Out of the Dark Ages, pockets of Western civilization thrive and multiply. New Western civilizations do not buy into the "we're all the same/diversity is our strenght" nonsense. New Renaissance arrives. World is a better place.
Too bad we only get to live through the downhill parts.
Your analysis is perfect and all too real.
Not only have the Republicans ceded the government over to the Democrats (and it will be with a large, veto-proof Dem majority) but they have launched an unstoppable train that will forever change America.
City-by-city (LA already), state-by-state (California almost), the illegals will become the voting majority, and laws will be enacted to expand the access of even more foreign hordes. America will take on the semblance of an Argentina or worse a Mexico.
The globalists and the elites will still live in luxury, joined by the corrupt Hispanic politicians. The real irony is that the pandering politicians who brought this about thinking it will guarantee them permanence in power will be tossed aside by these hordes who value race and tribe above Republican or Democrat labels.
It was a nice 200 years. Too bad we couldn't last as long as Rome before the Huns and Vandals stormed the gates. At least you won't have to worry about laws anymore.
Get ready for another Dark Age.
But you will trust "our" governemnt to run your life.
I agree with gcruse on this one and his analogy is spot-on.
Bears repeating.
FMCDH(BITS)
That "anti-illegal crowd" (and they are the overwhelming majority) is yelling that the Repbublicans are untrustworthy BECAUSE THEY ARE!
This double-cross, just the latest of many on this issue by the Republican elites who don't give a damn about the middle class, is probably the straw that broke the camel's back.
Like 1974, they can't take the lies and duplicity anymore, and they are going to stay home. Until now, there was hope, and the election might have been close. Now it will be a disaster. A 50 seat loss in the House and an 8 seat loss in the Senate can be expected. Let's see how traitors like Warner and McCain and Hagel and Graham like life in the permanent minority. (Actually, they have acted as if they were in the minority the last 12 years, so it shouldn't bother them too much.)
Who cares if the Democrats take over and the war is lost if in 30 years America will resemble Mexico? With the Republican elites in concert with the Democrats screwing the hardworking conservative middle class, let's throw in the towel and start living off the welfare state. Except for the occasional riot, Paris is still pretty in the spring.
OK, I guess you can take the loss and try to grab it as a repudiation of their treachery -- but the republicans are going to think it's because they tried to appeal to the anti-illegal people but they didn't show up anyway, and realise they should have tried to woo the pro-illegal crowd, since the democrats won with that position.
I neither trust the government nor the saps in the Washington Post who cite not one complete sentence, nevermind one full paragraph from the legislation that was just passed.
But you will trust the WP, right?
Yada, yada...
So many useless, made-up quoted statements from God knows what that you use in your post.
Why don't you or the author of this article do something useful with double quotes and actually quote full sentences and paragraphs from the legislation, to try and make a point.
If you can't figure out a two-way conversation is taking place, then this obviously wasn't written for you.
They DID try to woo the pro-illegal crowd - that,s why the base will stay home.
If you can't figure out a two-way conversation is taking place, then this obviously wasn't written for you.
Non-sequitur.
I never said that it wasn't a two-way conversation. I did say that you quoted a lot of made up BS instead actually quoting the legislation to try and make a point.
That's not to hard a understand, except apparently it is for you.
"Virtual fence is a real nothing. "
It's the perfect way to get a legimate count of the number of illegals crossing the border.
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