OK, I'm convinced ...
Elves on the Border!
Posted on 12/19/2002 11:49:09 AM PST by firebrand
It's just another example of Emerson's famous quote, "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."
It seems to escape the folks who make arguments like this that there is more than one reason to be concerned about immigration....
ROTFLMAO!!!! I might have to steal that one from you.
What about the 55,000 illegals who don't? How do they survive and who pays for it?
Tell me walls like they had at 'Helm's Deep' wouldn't make the Border Patrol's job on the borders easier. Note the doors along the ramparts that swing open that would give the Border Patrol a clear shot at any climbers with their new pepper ball launchers, while still protecting them from projectiles.
There's the guys that can build them for us. Peter Jackson's crew look like bonafied experts at building those fortificationss.
Look at all the room for advertising space on those walls!
Can't you just see the McDonald's, Pepsi, Coke, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Sears industrial, digging, drilling and cutting tools ads on those walls, now?
Those walls would generate a positive cash flow! ;^)
Kindly note that it's much easier (and much cheaper) to create the illusion of immense walls on a movie screen than it is to build those walls in reality.
Did you see the movie, yet? Did you get a load of all of that potential advertising space?
Why we can pay for the construction of the walls, their maintenance and upkeep and retire the 'national debt'!
Not a "little" harder.
It will be MUCH harder. Those walls were probably a mixture of a few tens of feet of outdoor set and computer-generated imagery.
A real wall of that size would consist of 2,100 miles of concrete and rebar stretching tens of feet skyward.
It would thus be much more expensive.
Did you see the movie, yet? Did you get a load of all of that potential advertising space?
I haven't seen the movie. I've read the book, and I know what you're talking about.
Why we can pay for the construction of the walls, their maintenance and upkeep and retire the 'national debt'!
Advertising costs depends in part on how much traffic goes past the point where the advertisment is placed. On most of the US-Mexican border, that traffic, excluding jackrabbits, coyotes, and rattlesnakes (all of which do not have money), is "nil," which in turn indicates that the advertising revenues will be nil. You wouldn't even break even on the cost of building the walls.
A construction plan from 1978-1981--the MX ICBM Mobile Protected Shelter (MPS) basing concept in the Nevada/Utah Great Basin--would have been the largest public works program in the history of the United States had it gone forward. It was killed mostly due to the enormous price tag it would have cost if everything had gone perfectly. The missiles wound up getting built and stuck into existing silos in Wyoming, so they weren't the main issue.
Your proposal dwarfs the MX MPS program by a wide margin, and would probably not survive Congressional debate as a result.
OK, I'm convinced ...
Elves on the Border!
Dwarves on the Border!
Ah, but you didn't say we wouldn't make any money at all. So, how much do you believe we would make?
Would the advertising cover half the cost?
What was the projected cost of the MX ICBM project back in 1978 - '81?
With the walls providing protection and security, more people might be motivated to live near the border.
Hey Ajnin, you resemble any of the characters in 'The Two Towers'?
Heck, that'll make it even easier than I thought.
Logic never goes very far with those consumed in the search for False Dilemmas. America can protect the borders of other countries quite effectively but somehow when it comes to protecting our own borders the task suddenly becomes "too expensive" or "impossible". It's amazing how some peoples' agenda will warp their ability to reason.
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