So Long, New Jersey . . . .

And thanks for all the fish! (With apologies to Mr. Adams.)

When I first conceived of this blog entry, I intended to say that there weren't any fish. However, it later occurred to me that that is not exactly true. Minado on Rt. 10 has what is far and away the best sushi buffet I've ever enjoyed.

With so many reasons to be thankful about for leaving, it is nice to be able to come up with one true regret. I will truly miss stuffing myself so full of raw fish that it is necessary to unbuckle my belt just to sit down in the car.

Border Security with Lower Taxes

“What this country needs is a good 5¢ cigar.”

That sentiment has driven a lot of the innovation and success that defined the United States of America throughout the twentieth century. Come up with a good, solid, desirable product at an affordable price and come up with a means of getting it into the hands of the consumer. It is in that spirit that I am proposing the Border Security Tax Reduction Act of 2007.

From the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, rather than a wall we should erect a line of .50 caliber machine guns. Spaced at intervals of 500 yards, these weapons would have a high degree of overlapping coverage. Even 1000 yards would suffice, if the government wanted to institute this option on the cheap. A supply tunnel would be required to run behind the border line. A tunnel, because the maintenance workers would likely prefer to avoid stray fire when reloading or servicing weapons.

Production of the weapons, implementation, and maintenance of the system would be highly labor intensive. The preferred source of labor for all these endeavors would be those who are currently in this country illegally. Let them earn legal status by helping defend the boarder they thumbed their noses at previously. After say, ten years, they could be promoted from recognized illegal to legal immigrant status. Progressive steps could be included in the program to answer the demands of the path-to-citizenship crowd. Taking the equivalent of the entire New York metropolitan area population and attempting to deport them is logistically unfeasible. Therefore, we should take these lemons and make lemonade. Those who truly seek to better themselves will welcome this opportunity, since an ever increasing pool of undocumented labor continues to depress the wages they could otherwise demand for their services.

So, up to this point there is a tremendous amount of capital outlay for creation and maintenance of this neo-Maginot Line. The astute reader might well wonder where the tax reduction portion of this program comes from.

The Internet.

That’s right, the World Wide Web. In 2005, the web site www.live-shot.com caused quite the uproar by offering internet based hunting opportunities for those who are handicapped, or simply couldn’t face hunting that wasn’t reduced to the personal interaction level of a video game. The same concept can be applied here. Instead of live operators manning the guns 24x7, the weapons would instead be remotely operated via internet link. Cameras for sighting and automated firing mechanisms are proven concepts and can be readily incorporated into this plan. And that is where the profit making, tax reducing opportunity of this program comes in.

Charge Americans – heck, anyone in the world who wants to do their part to preserve the Union – one dollar per minute to man the machine guns and have their opportunity to take out those who would violate the integrity of our sovereign soil. Approved border crossing sites would be protected, and legal immigrants would be welcomed with open arms. Those who think they have a better idea for entering this nation will be forced to think again. The entrepreneurial spirit of the Coyotes will need to be channeled in other directions – perhaps creating legitimate businesses to grow the Mexican economy and make it less necessary for their citizens to leave home in search of a better job? Stemming the tide of otherwise honest people who are simply looking for a leg up in life would have the added benefit of thinning the human smokescreen that facilitates would-be terrorists sneaking in.

The US-Mexico border is 1,951 miles long, or 3,433,760 yards. With a machine gun erected every 500 yards, that would require 6,868 emplacements. That represents 9,889,920 billable minutes per day, or potential annual revenue of $3,609,820,800. More than enough to self-fund this program. Premium rates could be applied for target rich times and locations to further enhance revenue generation. With current border defense resources able to be redirected to other needs and the surplus also incorporated into the federal budget, while it might be minute the net result would be the opportunity to lower taxes for the nation.

That’s a pretty good 5¢ cigar indeed.

Starting Over - Again

It is more than a little amazing to realize eight months have passed since the list time I visited here. I certainly thought about it regularly, but always found something more important - or at least pressing - to do with the time. Here lays down one more well intentioned brick.

Tonight was the first Republican debate of the 2008 election cycle. Yes, flipping through the dial I was snagged by the Democrats last week. This week I quite intentionally sought out the Republicans. It is far too early to pay any attention to the polls or even manage to work up the slightest bit of real emotion about this election. Even with every state trying to snag February 5, and no doubt preferably figure out a way to get January 1 without tipping their hand, the truth is that what is important today will for the most part not even be discussed nine months from now. Iraq is one glaring exception to that - but doesn't an exception need to exist to prove the rule? My reason for watching was simple: I unashamedly admit that I'm a junkie. Thank you MSNBC for two fixes in two weeks, and only seven months after the last general election. I'm almost over withdrawal!

One observation: The Republicans as a group were for less interesting to look in on than the Democrats were. Who would have thought that Joe Biden would stand out as a rock star compared to the men from the Red State world, or that Ron Paul would be the closest thing to a counter punch Mike Gravel would face?

At least with this absurdly extended campaign season we can count on plenty more opportunities to enjoy these theaters of irrelevancy.

One sad note for me came during the "pre-game show". Nancy Reagan first posed for a picture with the debaters in the mock-up of Ronald Reagan's Oval Office. Later, she was escorted to her seat on the arm of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both instances served to define what a frail, tired looking old Lady she has become. Nearly all vestiges of the fashion plate we remember from the White House years have been erased by time. It was a kick in the gut on a par with watching Ronald Reagan give his address to the 1992 nominating convention. No one knew yet of the Alzheimer's that would soon be disclosed, but even so it was painfully obvious that something was terribly wrong with The Great Communicator.

Without question she was not always loved, or lovable. But Nancy Reagan was every bit as important to the success of the Reagan Era as Ronald himself. Be well, Mrs. Reagan.

Do Jack Boots Come in Hip-Wader Length?

One can only hope so if one is a resident, or perhaps even just a visitor to, Ohio.

I first became aware of this story through this link

here.

From that page I was able to follow a link to the longer story in the Toledo Blade,

here.

In a nutshell, "An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they've never been charged with a crime."

The "good" news is that after six years someone registered as a sex offender through this mechanism can petition to have their name removed from the registry "if there have been no new problems and the judge believes the person is unlikely to abuse again."

Why not just haul everyone into court and ask if they've stopped beating their spouse yet? Heck, why even waste all that precious court time since convictions or even basic charges are not a requirement to have one's name and likeness placed on the internet? One compliant judge and a disgruntled partner/friend/co-worker/neighbor/fool-you-cut-off-in-the-Wal-Mart-parking-lot is all it really takes.

It is growing increasingly difficult for a right leaning libertarian to feel comfortably at home in the land of his birth.

Help! I Agree with Nancy Pelosi!!!

H.R. 2389 passed the United States House of Representatives today by a margin of 260-167. The bill is intended to protect school children across this fair land from the horrid fate of being prevented from uttering the Pledge of Allegiance in their classrooms because it contains the phrase "Under God".

Quoting Jim Abrams from his Associated Press article "House OKs bill guarding Pledge from courts": Opponents said the legislation, which would bar federal courts from ruling on the constitutional validity of the pledge, would undercut judicial independence and would deny access to federal courts to religious minorities seeking to defend their rights.. . . . The pledge bill would deny jurisdiction to federal courts, and appellate jurisdiction to the Supreme Court, to decide questions pertaining to the interpretation or constitutionality of the pledge.

It is this element of the bill that is particularly frightening. How could the Congress possibly imagine it can pass a law that is not subject to judicial review? Schools may in theory be local institutions, but the reality is that federal funding has effectively nationalized all public education. The provision of the bill that would allow individual states to determine whether the Pledge passes local muster is purely cosmetic and not at all a viable solution in the real world. When little Johnny's parents move up the street from Bristol, Tennessee, to Bristol, Virginia, is he going to be tossed in jail the first day in his new school for inadvertently uttering the "G" word in front of his highly impressionable peers?

The world is becoming a truly frightening place when I am forced to admit that I wholeheartedly agree with Nancy Pelosi. Commenting on the bill she said, "We are making an all-out assault on the Constitution of the United States which, thank God, will fail."

If Pelosi is talking sense, can the men with the extra long sleeved white jacket be far behind?