I realize Kossacks get hit up all the time to donate to worthy causes: a smart progressive candidate who's trying to take down a corporate shill, a Native American school that just needs pencils and books, a military project that provides goodwill to the soldiers in the field and their families at home, a colleague hoping to afford a vital operation.
Now the Arizona legislature is giving you the opportunity to support another important cause:
Arizona officials are gearing up for a July 20 launch of a website to accept donations to pay for construction of additional fencing along the state's portion of the U.S.-Mexico border. Arizona Republic
That's right, "because the federal government won't protect our borders," which is the canard we've been hearing ever since a Black Democrat stepped into the White House, the state's 2/3rds Republican wackadoodle legislature passed a bill in April that allows the state to accept donations and use inmate labor to "build the dang fence," as former fence-hater and now fence-champion John McCain famously quipped.
And you don't want to be left out of the kick-off event, which takes place July 20 in Casa Grande, home of the bill's sponsor, Senator Steve Smith. There you'll be able to rub Anglo shoulders with the likes of Senate President Russell Pearce and AG Tom Horne.
Never mind that no one really knows any details of this cockamamy scheme -- where the fence will be built, who will build and maintain it, what it will look like, what it will cost. Or the constitutionality of a state interfering with Federal policy. But that doesn't stop the mouth-frothing GOP from kicking off this lame excuse for genuine border security and immigration reform. Smith's even got a business plan for his snazzy website:
The fence web site, Smith said, will feature a picture of the border and a "relatively concise" description of the perceived situation -- "drugs, illegals, terrorists, so on and so on" -- to explain it to Americans across nation. "We're going to have some bullet points on what is going on on the border," Smith said.
Senator Smith, I've got a few bullet points for you:
• political grandstanding
• fear-mongering
• not feasible
• ecologically destructive
• a Tea Party feel-good distraction
• costly and ineffective
Too bad Senator Smith and Governor Brewer, who signed the legislation, didn't think of this scheme to help the more than 100 patients who were kicked off Arizona's organ transplant list.
And, oh, need I point out that border crime and crossings are down from the eight years Bushie occupied the White House, when we didn't hear a peep about the Feds "not protecting us"? Or that President Obama has sent more men and resources to the border than his predecessor? And deported far more undocumented immigrants than Bush? Or that the County Sheriffs along the border think this is a lame idea? Or that fences can be dug under and climbed over? Or that most undocumenteds come through the security checkpoints that already exist?
So look for that website on July 20 and be sure to click the "Donate" button. If they raise a couple million bucks from Arizona's infomercial, maybe they can build another 20 feet of fence! Senator Smith is keeping the URL a secret, however, until the big roll out in two weeks, because he thinks it might "confuse" potential donors to release the address now. If people donate to this they're already confused.