We went to the moon with computers less powerful than a pocket calculator, but we can’t build a virtual fence.

After all the fuss and the promises about “securing the border first.” After President Bush in May of 2006 called the virtual fence “the most technologically advanced border security initiative in American history.” We find out that there are so many problems with what Boeing has developed, the project will have to be delayed another three and a half years while the project managers and bureaucrats work out the kinks.

This will put completion near the end of the next president’s first term in office, which almost certainly means “never.”

According to the article in the Washington Post,

“Investigators for the Government Accountability Office had earlier warned that the effort was beset by both expected and unplanned difficulties. But yesterday, they disclosed new troubles that will require a redesign and said the first phase will not be completed until near the end of the next president’s first term.

Those problems included Boeing’s use of inappropriate commercial software, designed for use by police dispatchers, to integrate data related to illicit border-crossings. Boeing has already been paid $20.6 million for the pilot project, and in December, the DHS gave the firm another $65 million to replace the software with military-style, battle management software.”

Read the whole sickening thing here, including the part where Richard M. Stana, the GAO’s director of homeland security issues says:

“The total cost is not yet known,” testified Richard M. Stana, the GAO’s director of homeland security issues, because DHS officials “do not yet know the type of terrain where the fencing is to be constructed, the materials to be used, or the cost to acquire the land.”

Good Lord. Six-and-a-half years after 9/11. Nearly a year after the Amnesty Bill went down in defeat, and this is the best we can do.

Just wait until these same people start providing you with universal health care. Who knows how long you’ll have to wait for an MRI.

An Arizona District Judge Who Gets It

According to a report in the Tucson Citizen, Arizona District Judge Neil Wake has denied a request by certain Arizona business groups to put the employer sanctions law on hold while an appeal is heard. The law, which took effect on January 1, provides fines and strict punishment for businesses who knowingly hire illegals. Businesses who care more about cheap labor than they do a secure border have been kicking up a storm of protest to get the law overturned. Judge Wake said in his ruling that the business groups “don’t have a probability of success of appeal, much less a strong probability.”

Oh, I hope he’s right.  

The Plight of the Undocumented: College Graduate Style

I know I said I would have to take a hiatus from posting, but this one caught my eye this morning. It’s a perfectly idiotic piece by Jessica Chou, a staff writer for the Daily Bruin. The Daily Bruin is the student newspaper for the University of California, Los Angeles.

This is a story about a young woman named Stephanie Solis who’s parents never got around to telling her that she was in the country illegally. Now she’s graduating college from a top program, and feels nothing but betrayal. Poor Stepanie. She had to work odd jobs to put herself through school. It was exhausting. It took her extra time. Waaa.

Here’s a pic of the poor dear looking glum even though she’s about to graduate from one of the finest universities in the country, and a link to the article.

I’ll be back.

You may (or may not) have noticed that it has been a few months since I have posted to this blog. It’s not because everything is hunky-dory on the border. Far from it. It’s actually because I have been working on a book of family history for my grandkids, which has turned into an enormous project. It took me a while to figure out that I just can’t do everything at once, but eventually I had to reluctantly put the blog more or less on hold. I wasn’t even going to mention it, but people do still drop by from time to time, and I didn’t want anyone to think that something bad had happened. It’s nothing like that. So never fear. I will continue to post from time to time, and then come back to do my bit in earnest as soon as I can. 

In the meantime, of course, the border is still porous. Police and right-minded government officials are doing what they can. The open borders / sanctuary crowd is as busy as ever taking everyone to court, and the rest of us continue to suffer the ill effects of illegal immigration on our culture and economy. So it looks like all of this will still be here when I get back. For now, let’s steal a line from a certain political candidate (although he would never mean it this way) and “hope” for some order on the border.