Land of the heavily surveilled and home of those cowering behind doors duct-taped with plastic sheeting?
-Joe
Maybe we will. The Mythbusters already showed your catapult idea doesn’t work.
First of all, you’re talking about fences in Europe which covered a much smaller area than what we’re talking about-- say the difference between the size of Connecticut and Texas as a basis of comparison.
Secondly, there’s no way to say for sure that it worked “99.9%” of the time-- how do they count the ones who got through undetected?
Lastly, why would you say they had more incentive to leave than Mexicans do? (Unless their faimly was a direct target of an investigation or oppression, of course.)
I don’t see how a fence will stop chases. They’ll have to chase after them once they corss the fence, won’t they?
Yeah, we have ground-penetrating radar, but it only covers a small area. Buying enough systems to monitor the entire fence would be astronomically expensive.
The 9/11 hijackers were screened, too, you know.
What catapult idea? I don’t pay my cable company enough money for them to let me watch Mythbusters.
Bastion of Genetic Cleanliness ?
Well, how long is the DMZ between North and South Korea?
Of course, that’s an effective barrier because there are large numbers of troops stationed along every mile of it on both sides, all the time.
Illegal drugs, you mean.
That tunnels is (was?) used by druggies, not coyotes.
Sure, but if one, why not the other? One of the convenient things about illegal immigrants is that you can make your money ahead of time.
That, and they have their own legs, so they can walk themselves across the border.
-Joe
They are, but reportedly not through that tunnel.
[Homer] mmmmm, the land of chocolate…[/Homer]
I am sorry. I thought that most people could understand the difference between IN and OUT. The East German wall and border fencing was made to keep people IN. Just as prison fencing is designed to keep those people IN. Do you seriously think that prison fencing makes us a less free country? Or maybe you think that it exists to keep the rest of us from breaking in and enjoying the delights of living in prison? The East Germans made that claim as well. They said it was to keep the rest of the world from breaking in and enjoying the delights of living in a Stalinist state. I see that you are among those.
As for the feasibility of the fence, just along the East German portion of the border it was 840 miles long. That was just a small part of the border fencing that was installed in the Cold War. Europe is small, but not THAT small folks. It is still a continent and a good sized one. My guess would be that the border fencing was at least well over the 2000 miles that is our border with Mexico.
I saw in the news that the Europeans are building their own fence to keep out the Russians, and Ukrainians who are coming across the borders. So I hope that you will call attention to the fact that Europe seems to think a border fence is just fine with them. Maybe you can send some protests to the EU and demand that they let in the poor Russians and Ukrainians who want nothing more than a better life and who also have a right to become Poles, Germans, etc… Otherwise they are racists and bigots who hate others. Not to mention the fact that putting up such a fence will make them a dictatorship and not a free part of the world.
There are those who say so. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_abolition_movement
Actually, the coyotes do NOT make their money ahead of time in many cases. The reason that many are armed is to keep their illegals in control as prisoners until they get paid by relatives. We had a nice little shootout here in Houston between rival gangs who were trying to steal some of the illegals so that they could collect the money that was owed. That is another joy of not having a proper border fence. Folks far from the border get to experience combat in urban settings and mainly Hispanic neighborhoods. I am sure that the folks who were diving for the floors in the area were singing the praises of porous borders.
What is wrong with my country, that people look to the Iron Curtain for an example?
Mr. Bush, tear down this fence! Better yet, don’t build it!
Good move there, pal; piss me off right from the start.
Why, yes!, how did you know?; my heart pounds just at the thought of living on a Stalinist state! :rolleyes:
Now for more amusement, tell me in which number I´m thinking right now?
To beging with, cite?
Next, if it is so I´ll argue against it just as I´m doing here, so if someone posts a thread about “Time For The Fence Along The Border” between Western Europe and Eastern Europe based on the same premises as your OP you can bet I´d pretty much say the same things as I said here.
But hey!, if you enjoy making strawmen and pounding them be my guest, just don´t expect much respect in return.
[QUOTE=Ale]
Good move there, pal; piss me off right from the start.
I can care less about your emotional state which judging from the lack of arguments is about all that you have going for you. I hardly think that observing that fences have different purposes is all that hard to fathom, except for some. A gun in a cops hand is good, one in a crooks hand is bad. The gun is neutral, as is a fence, but it is the purpose of it that matters as well as its effectiveness.
My real point in bring up the new eastern European fence is that they have personal hard experience in using fences to surpress them and their rights. Yet they feel that such a new fence is NOT an infringment of their new found liberty, but a means to secure it. I think that they are right.
[QUOTE=randyjet]
They also once thought that getting rid of the Jews was a pretty swell idea. Just because something has popular support does not make it the right (or smart) thing to do.
Instead of spending billions of dollars on what will almost certianly be a folly, why not spend that money on hiring more INS agents and equipping them with the latest non-lethal technologies? Not only will it create a hell of a lot more jobs for Americans, it has the added benefit of possibly working.
[QUOTE=Lissa]