The last thing any canoe country enthusiast wants is more people in the wilderness. HR 1505 could put not only more people into the widlerness but possibly towers, buildings, roads and basically whatever else they wanted there. Would it ruin the character of the BWCA? Let's just say HR 1505 doesn't make any sense in the border country where we reside.
This is a time for people to get involved and contact their representatives in congress. The reasons for HR 1505 may make sense for the border country down south but it certainly doesn't make sense for the wilderness areas along the border of Canada.
I've posted an excerpt from this full
article for you to ponder.
The stated reasons for HR 1505 are:
1. Reason given: To stop the turf war between federal agencies. The Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) don’t like DHS on their land. Hmmm. Maybe they have good reasons to keep DHS off their land.
Solution A: Let the county sheriff decide who comes into his county, as according to the US Constitution. This is Rehberg’s proposed amendment.
Solution B: Return all federally confiscated land back to the states. This should be done anyway.
The irony is DHS-CBP never asked for power to overrule land managers or ignore environmental laws. Last spring the Government Accountability Office found,
“Most agents reported that land management laws have had no effect on Border Patrol’s overall measure of border security.”
2. Reason given: Drug growers are hiding in our forests.
Solution A: Declare state sovereignty over federal drug laws. We don’t need feds coming into Montana enforcing federal laws that conflict with Montana laws.
Solution B: Stop America’s War on Drugs.
America’s War on Drugs is a scam. It keeps the price of drugs high by limiting supply, so drug cartels and our CIA can make money selling drugs. It hires police to catch pot growers and smokers who overflow our prisons. But wealthy drug dealers who pay off the police have a free run. The solution is not to give DHS control over our land. The solution is to stop the War on Drugs.
Solution C: Rather than a War on Drugs, how about a massive information campaign in media and schools telling people how bad drugs are? Think we can’t do it? Why did we make Joe Camel illegal? Because Joe Camel proved good advertising will influence people’s behavior. Look at what the government has done to influence people to “believe” in global warming. With massive spending, media hype, and school indoctination they have accomplished a virtual miracle in causing people to believe in global warming when no evidence exists. This proves it would be easy to get most of our population to give up drugs, and this would be far cheaper and more effective than the War on Drugs.
Solution D: Let DHS prove themselves on our southern border first.
Virtually all drugs used in America come across our southern border and DHS has not been able to stop it. So why should we allow DHS to control non-existent drug traffic over our northern border when they can’t stop the problem where it exists?
The National Drug Intelligence Center, a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, recently released a document entitled the “National Drug Threat Assessment 2011”. The Assessment’s Executive Summary states
The illicit trafficking and abuse of drugs present a challenging, dynamic threat to the United States. Overall demand is rising, largely supplied by illicit drugs smuggled to U.S. markets by major transnational criminal organizations (TCOs).
Major Mexican-based TCOs continue to solidify their dominance over the wholesale illicit drug trade as they control the movement of most of the foreign-produced drug supply across the U.S. Southwest Border. The estimated economic cost of illicit drug use to society for 2007 was more than $193 billion.”
One of the contributing factors is the high demand for drugs in the United States. This high demand finances the drug cartels, allowing them to spend more and expand their operations.
The Southwest Border remains the primary gateway for moving illicit drugs into the United States. Most illicit drugs available in the United States are smuggled overland across the Southwest Border…”
Despite enhanced detection efforts and better countermeasures, Mexican drug traffickers will continue to build tunnels under the Southwest Border.
That DHS would be involved in controlling drug operations begs the question of what is the role of DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)? Is DHS is taking over all police powers of the federal government?
3. Reason given: To catch criminals who are hiding in our forests.
Solution A: This is a county sheriff problem. The idea that we need HR 1505 to find Dave Burgert who is hiding somewhere in the mountains is ridiculous. He did not commit a federal crime. Besides, he may be found innocent if he could get a fair trial but he cannot get a fair trial. Finding Burgert has nothing to do with controlling our borders. The Burgert problem may have more to do with corruption in our law enforcement and legal systems that should be investigated by our FBI.
More importantly, using the Burgert example shows the real intent of HR 1505 is to control American citizens.
4. Reason given: To stop illegal aliens from coming into America.
Solution A: Stop all the benefits the illegal’s receive free from the American taxpayer.
Solution B: Elect a president who will get serious about stopping illegal immigration.
Tom DeWeese “E-Verify and the Emerging Surveillance State” says,
The fact is, the U.S. government is not doing its job to secure the border and stop the flood of illegal aliens from rushing across it. Even though Congress passed legislation demanding that a fence be built, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has dragged its feet, deliberately holding up the project.
Moreover, DHS is fighting efforts in local communities to allow police to arrest illegal’s. There is little effort to tighten visa security, or allow law enforcement to track down and deport those who stay here past their allotted time. Those illegal’s caught committing crimes are still allowed to leave, only to easily and surreptitiously return at their will. The border is a sieve. There is no border control – period.
DHS imprisons border guards who actually do their jobs, like stopping an illegal from crossing our border. Our Justice Department sues Arizona for attempting to do the border control job DHS is supposed to do. Does this sound like they are serious about stopping illegal immigration?
Obama recently announced he would allow illegal immigrants to remain in the US so long as they are not caught committing a crime. As a result, our Border Patrol has halted its long-standing routine searching of buses, trains and airports for illegal immigrants at transportation hubs. This routine has long been considered an effective tool for finding illegal immigrants. Now, these border patrol agents spend their days doing crossword puzzles.
Do you see a pattern here? All the claimed reasons for HR 1505 are the result of federal laws or lack of enforcement of our Constitution. Now the feds want another law to supposedly cure the problems they created.
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