The "where in the hell is the fence" saga continues.

The "where in the hell is the fence" saga continues.

It appears that members of Congress are hell-bent on derailing the border fence. According to a front page article in the January 11, 2008, Express-News Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican, managed to attach an amendment to the federal omnibus spending bill that many say killed the border fence.

President Bush signed the bill on Dec. 26, 2007. Hutchinson's amendment stripped the requirement for a double-layered fence from the Secure Fence Act and left it up to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to decide the fate of the fence.

Chertoff has not been a big supporter of building the fence in the past. Last July he said, "The idea that fencing alone is a solution, I think is overly simplistic." Conservative columnist and Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin, blasted Hutchinson saying it was the "incredible shrinking border fence." Others called her a "traitor" and compared her to "Benedict Arnold."

"We don't appreciate the way it was put through.

It was done behind the scenes, it was last minute, it wasn't done in front of the people. I personally take offense to it and I think most Americans who want our borders secure take offense to it," said Ron De Jong of Grassfire.org. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., former Homeland Security Chairman and sponsor of the 2006 Secure Fence Act said Hutchinson's amendment "was a deliberate attempt to disregard the border security of our country.

As it's written, the omnibus language guts the Secure Fence Act almost entirely. Calif. Republican Rep. and wannabe president Duncan Hunter also believes it was a sellout and has gone on record as saying, "The Mexican border is our biggest Homeland Security problem and this administration has a case of 'the slows' on border enforcement." So far Hutchinson has come up with a bunch of lame excuses for her "delay the fence" amendment. "Coyotes and drug-runners were altering their routes as fencing was deployed, so the amendment gives our agents discretion to locate the fence where necessary to achieve operational control of our border," she said. Really now. I guess those nasty old coyotes and drug-runners are outsmarting the "fence" builders again. The Secure Fence Act called for over 850 miles of a double-fence to be built in five areas. So far only a little over 5 miles have been built in Arizona.

What a shame. A country that can put a man on the moon and a space probe on Mars can't build a simple fence to protect its borders. I suspect the real reason behind Hutchinson's sellout is to garner the Hispanic vote when she runs for governor. A significant amount of land on the Texas border is privately owned by Mexican/Americans. Besides Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, thinks it's a good idea and says so. In the meantime the Texas/Mexican border is wide open with all signs pointing north. A situation that doesn't appear to bother the Bush administration or Congress.
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It looks like Nathan Michael Hoin, a 21-year-old student at Trinity University, is in hot water over guns. According to a Jan. 12, 2008 Express-News article by Melissa Ludwig, Hoin had three "assault" rifles and two handguns in his dorm room.

SAPD officers also found 440 rounds of ammunition in his vehicle.

Hoin told police he collects Russian-style weapons and is associated with an organization that re-enacts Red Army battles. A 2005 commended scholar graduate of Reagan High School he doesn't appear to be any kind of a threat, other than he collects firearms.

Unfortunately, in today's liberal, anti-Second Amendment world anyone with guns is a threat regardless of their intent. As far as we know Hoin is not a mental case or someone with a criminal record or as Trinity officials said, "There was no evidence he intended to hurt anyone."

Hoin just liked to collect firearms. However, possessing weapons, regardless of intent, on a college campus is a third-degree felony, punishable by two to 10 years in prison. The Virginia Tech University shooting by a Korean nut-case that left 32 students dead in a "gun free zone" last year put liberal college officials across the nation in a dither. Virginia Tech campus security officers were unarmed and useless in protecting themselves or students and faculty from an armed killer. Ask Jeanne Assam, the "armed" security officer who shot a rampaging gunman in a church in Colorado, how she feels about "gun free" zones.

Still, many college and university campuses across the nation insist on "gun free zones" and unarmed security to guard them. Many students, are begining to question this policy that leaves them vulnerable to attack by an armed thug or mental case and want to have their own firearms on campus for protection.
Had Hoin been attending Virginia Tech last year he may well have prevented the mass murder of 32 students. As I have often said if the bad guys have guns and you don't you're going to lose everytime. Posting "gun free zone" and "no firearms allowed" signs are open invitations to armed thugs and crazies. Hoin may not have used good judgement in having his gun collection on campus but I don't believe he should face 10 years in prison as a result. Of course the liberal, anti-gun, anti-military, America is bad crowd running most of the colleges and universities would disagree. Why, we can't have students arming themselves they might kill the bad guys.

No kidding. Mere possession of a firearm with no criminal intent should not be a crime.
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US military "Rules of Engagement" that got US troops killed in Vietnam and are now getting our troops killed and wounded in Iraq and Adfgahnistan are threatening US Navy ships and crews operating in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere where they are going in harms way.

On Jan. 6, 2008, three US warships a cruiser, a frigate and a destroyer were operating in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz when five gunboats from the Iran Revolutionary Guard IRG swarmed within 200 meters of the ships.

The ships received a radio call that "US ships would explode." Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff said the incident lasted less than 30 minutes. He said the US ships blew whistles, issued radio warnings and took evasive action. One of the ships even took a video of the encounter.

That must have scared the hell out of the Iranians. Cosgriff said the captain of one of the ships "almost" opened fire. Really. Why that nasty old captain might have killed those poor, little Iranian scumbags.

Thanks be to Allah that the ROA prevented the US Navy ships from leaving five little oil slicks and debri in the water and food for sharks.

I'll bet Iran's dictator Mahmoud "Little Hitler" Amadinejad was jumping with joy over the news that his ragtag navy had played "chicken" with the mighty US Navy and won. Of course Iran says it never happened and the video taken by US ships was a fake.

It was ROA that resulted in the capture of the USS Pubelo by North Korean ships in January 1968. One crew member was killed and 82 crew members were taken prisoner for 11 months. The Pubelo is still on display in North Korea.

It was ROA that resulted in the al-Qaida terrorist attack on the USS Cole on Oct. 12, 2000, while refueling in Aden Harbor in Yemen. The crew failed to take action against a small boat loaded with high explosives that was allowed to come along side the ship. Seventeen sailors, including women, were killed in the attack and thirty-eight were wounded. The attacks on the Pueblo and the Cole were "acts of war" but the US did nothing.

Even the latest Iranian gunboat incident in the Persian Gulf should be viewed as an act of war. Let's face it folks America is at war.One can only imagine what action Adm. "Bull" Halsey of WWII fame would have taken in the Persian Gulf incident. I'll bet he wouldn't have been blowing whistles, taking evasive action and snapping pictures.It's a sad state of affairs when the US allows a bunch of Iranian thugs to harass our ships on the high seas and get away with it. It's even worse when the captains of our warships are so hamstrung with ROA that they fail to take action.

There is no place in the military for "timid" commanders. The minute those gunboats showed up they should have been blown out of the water. As a start,, we should take back, by military force, the Pubelo from that pint-sized dictator in North Korea.

Then we should use superior US firepower to take out the Iranian Navy base that launched the gunboats against our ships. How about it Mr. President. I'll bet you would be overwhelmed with eager volunteers for these missions.

Col. Jim Miles, TXSG (Ret)