Comments on: DHS Waives Environmental Rules for Border Fence

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:12:32 +0000

April Fools!!! Right?? I mean, what kind of moron would place the ecosystem upon which all of mankind depends at risk to bust a few illegal immigrants whose net effect on our economy is a fraction of the cost of keeping them out?

Ha, ha, ha. Good one, James. You had me going there for a second.

By: carpeicthus

carpeicthus — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:22:04 +0000

I second the Florida Masochist. That's a ridiculous story that needs telling more broadly.

These descriptions of the regulations being waived are so terse that anyone talking about it will be speaking entirely from their preconceptions.

By: The Florida Masochist

The Florida Masochist — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:42:56 +0000

Ask why CIS contiunes to deport foreign born legal immigrant widows of US citizens and why the dept Chertoff oversees sees this as important. 130 men and women, is it cost effective to deport these people plus fight the class action lawsuit that's going on at this time?

Bill

By: Which could it be?

Which could it be? — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:56:16 +0000

It's not the first question I'd ask, since my goal would be to try to reveal that his job description and his job (as ordered by Bush) are two entirely different things.

But, for an easy question, you could always ask him why he doesn't discuss the fact that one of the lawyers on the other side has a series of links to a certain foreign government. One guess which government it is. Details at my name's link.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:15:09 +0000

What are the projected maintenance costs (both financial and environmental) to this whole project? I mean, presumable this is going to be a permanent fixture, and presumable it will be vandalized regularly on top of all the elements of nature taking it's toll.

By: Steve Plunk

Steve Plunk — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:04:01 +0000

It's disheartening that the government can waive the rules only for itself. While the rest of us bear the costs of overreaching environmental regulations those who write them get a pass.

Like royalty before them governments who do not apply the same rules to themselves show outright contempt for the people. Instead of serving us the government is simply serving it's own interests first. From city councils to congress we are seeing this more and more, government putting itself ahead of the people.

By: Patrick T. McGuire

Patrick T. McGuire — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:01:52 +0000

Just one question: With the massive grassroots effort to have this fence built for so long with little more than token efforts being made by DHS up to now, why now is there such a push to get this built?

By: MichaelB

MichaelB — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:58:52 +0000

From what I've seen, DHS and the Bush administration really would rather not build the fence at all. I think it has been seized as an opportunity to appear tough on illegal immigration (hopefully) without having to do anything.

This seems like an opportunity to do more of the same "see, we're even waiving all sorts of regulations that would normally apply!"

With that in mind, I would try to ask some very specific questions about what is being done. Try to find out whether it's more building a fence, or more throwing a bone to a vocal lobby.