Monday, October 30, 2006
Good fences make nervous neighbors
President Bush has signed the bill for a fence between the United States and Mexico into law. It seems odd to me because, when I was a youngster, we were passing laws to build space rockets to explore what lies beyond. Now, we are trying to block others from getting inside, as if a 700-mile obstruction would do any good on a 2,000-mile border.
One little fact that seems to be missing from all the coverage of this momentous signing is the cost of such an extravagant project. If you have ever put up a fence, you know it is not cheap, and this one will have two layers, so that is actually 1,500 miles of fencing.
Let me give you some perspective.
Estimates of the number of undocumented residents is somewhere between 12 and 20 million. The population of Arkansas is about 2.5 million, so the total number of illegals already here would fill up Arkansas six to ten times over. Got it? This is big. I suspect it is beyond control and more creative thinking is in order.
Given the War in Iraq and the so-called wars on such nouns as terror and drugs, the country does not even have the muscle to deal forcibly, if there were the political will. Enter this fence alongside of Iraq and Katrina for Bush administration fiascos.
(Broadcast October 27, 2006)
One little fact that seems to be missing from all the coverage of this momentous signing is the cost of such an extravagant project. If you have ever put up a fence, you know it is not cheap, and this one will have two layers, so that is actually 1,500 miles of fencing.
Let me give you some perspective.
Estimates of the number of undocumented residents is somewhere between 12 and 20 million. The population of Arkansas is about 2.5 million, so the total number of illegals already here would fill up Arkansas six to ten times over. Got it? This is big. I suspect it is beyond control and more creative thinking is in order.
Given the War in Iraq and the so-called wars on such nouns as terror and drugs, the country does not even have the muscle to deal forcibly, if there were the political will. Enter this fence alongside of Iraq and Katrina for Bush administration fiascos.
(Broadcast October 27, 2006)
