Debbie Schlussel: Good News: Border Fence on Hold Due to Govt.
Remember the virtual fence that was supposed to be constructed on the Arizona-Mexico border?
Well, it's on hold indefinitely. And, per usual, it's on hold because the right hand and left hand of the U.S. government don't know what each other is doing.
The Interior Department hasn't signed off on use of its federal lands for the virtual fence. And it hasn't indicated when it will do that.
Interior officials refused to accept a proposed finding in an environmental assessment produced for the U.S. Border Patrol that putting towers on Interior Department lands would have no significant impact, said Mike Friel, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.Authority to waive environmental laws for border security projects was granted to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff under a 2005.
How convenient for the Bush Administration, which controls both the Department of Homeland Security (in charge of "erecting" the virtual fence) and the Department of Interior (which won't sign off). More Bush Administration buckpassing. T Minus Four Months.
By the way, isn't that the whole point of a "virtual" fence--ie., that you don't use the land, but for erecting cameras and computer equipment on towers? Wasn't the point of a virtual fence to avoid this kind of "approval" and "sign-off" problem from holders of the land?
As I've already noted, the already-erected portion of the virtual fence a/k/a "Project 28" was an $84 million failure. This is more failure on top of that failure. And who knows how many more millions that's costing?
Twenty years from now, we'll still be wondering when that fence will be completed. . . to separate the Islamic States of Aztlan from Peru.
Don't forget: Barack Hussein Obama claims the virtual fence is the way to go.
Posted by Debbie on August 21, 2008 09:11 AM to Debbie Schlussel