The Citadel of Sanity

"The Atlantic and Pacific are our walls. Broad, stout walls. The Citadel of Sanity! If we get in it we'll go bankrupt like the others and lose a couple million of our finest young men."


Ike Lacouture, on why the U.S. should avoid entry into World War II, The Winds of War, by Herman Wouk. The character of Lacouture may have been based on the real life isolationist Senator from Michigan Arthur Vandenberg.

Houston Chronicle, 19 JUL 07:

Construction of a polarizing fence along the Texas-Mexico border is expected to begin by this fall, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff confirmed Wednesday, adding that border communities will be consulted "in terms of style" so the government doesn't "create any eyesores."

Chertoff said he had seen some fencing "that was quite attractive" during his visits along the South Texas border.

"I think I was in Brownsville ... and I saw some very nice fence that was ornamental but it did the trick," he said.

Similar to how effective the isolationist camp's views were in the lead up to the U.S.'s entry into World War II (all Pearl Harbor attack conspiracy theories non withstanding...) border barriers of any kind serve no purpose but to antagonize the nation that didn't build them and make life difficult for the people and other life living on either side of the border on all sorts of levels.

Oh, yeah, it probably won't keep folks from crossing the border in search of work and a better life, either. Despite what some of the commenters on the piece from yesterday had to say:

44mag wrote:
The fence won't solve all the problems on the border, but it will help. The open borders lobby knows this to be true, hence their hysterical opposition - it will ruin the environment, cause flooding, kill livestock, destroy the economy, bankrupt farmers, blah blah blah.

texrob1 wrote:
Build It! It certainly won't hurt anything,all these people claiming the fence will hurt the environment,what about the tens of thousands of Illegal aliens trampling all over the environment? I guess they are careful as they are entering our country Illegally, to not hurt any plants or animals,what a Joke.

sportfanatic wrote:
I want a fence with electricity, just like jurassic park.

Ahhh, I love Texas, just not too fond of some of my fellow Texans...

Back to Thursday's article:

Chertoff, however, pledged Wednesday to consult with border leaders on the fence design, but said "we can't give border communities a veto."

The homeland chief on Wednesday said he "can't rule out" that the government would use eminent domain to seize private property to make way for the fence. Governments use eminent domain to take private property for public use.

In a state rich in property rights history, that acknowledgment will likely earn a fiery reception along the border.

Yes, it will and it has:

Chronicle, 20 JUL 07:

(John Cornyn showing some intestinal fortitude on one thing at least)

"I assure you there will be local consultation," the Texas Republican said in a call with state reporters. "There will not be ... unilateral actions on the part of the Department of Homeland Security without local input."

"This could not be mishandled any worse, as far as I'm concerned," said Cornyn, who voted last year for legislation mandating the construction of 700 miles of double-layered fencing at the Southwest border but insisted that local leaders be consulted.

Or, maybe just self preservation by trying to please everyone on some level:

The fence issue is a tricky one for Texas elected officials in Washington, and particularly for Cornyn, who is up for re-election next year. On the one hand, Cornyn and other Texas congressional delegation members are pressing for increased border security. But they also are facing a huge wave of opposition to the fence from border officials and landowners who view it as the wrong approach to border security.

I myself like this comment:

txnflfan wrote:
Cherfoff says that construction was to begin by this fall... Hmmm
Weren't these the same people a few weeks ago who ran around talking about urgency, and the need for immediate legislation.
The last time I checked we are at the end of July, and the fall is in October.
Where is this urgency they were talking about???

I say get rid of every incumbent in office regardless of party. Perhaps the next batch will actually do the will of the people who sent them to Washington.

If only wishing would make it so. These Congress critters are worse than cockroaches in terms of getting rid of them for good. Remember our good buddy Tom Delay from Sugarland? He's still weighing in with random idiocy like this that Hill went off on the other day.

But I'd like to go back to a phrase from the article on Thursday:

The homeland chief on Wednesday said he "can't rule out" that the government would use eminent domain to seize private property to make way for the fence.

Ummmmm, excuse me? Homeland Chief? As in, "Jawohl, mein Commandant?" He's not my homeland chief, I'll tell you that right now.

Let's keep it in perspective and call him what he is, the Homeland Security Chief.

Amazing what the omission of a single word can do to a title... maybe I should apply as a copy editor over there at the Chronicle....

Another great passage that somehow didn't make it into the online article was a quote from none other than the Shrub himself on the merits and risks of stepping on the toes of landowners here in Texas over the issue of this pesky fence:

By the way, in my state of Texas, when it comes to the fencing, I would strongly urge those who advocate it not to go down there and go face to face with some of these Texas ranchers down there.

As Hill would say:

BwaaaaaaaaaahahaahAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I can call Texas my state before he can, even though I've only been back for 12 years after being spirited away by parental units at the tender young age of one...

Remember: Broad, Stout Walls! Bigger Fences Make Better Neighbors!

Just ask the Israelis about how well their wall is working over in the West Bank.

Col. (res.) Shaul Arieli, who was the last commander of the Gaza regional brigade of the IDF, has stated that the effectiveness of the barrier will only be short-term. "The fence provides a partial security response to the terror threats and a good response to prevention of illegal immigration and prevention of criminal acts," he explains, "but on the other hand, in its current format it creates the future terror infrastructure because this terror infrastructure is precisely those people living in enclaves who will support acts of terror as the only possible tool that they perceive as being able to restore them the land, production sources and water wells taken from them."