‘Can someone please tell us how U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job?’
April 23, 2009
Can someone please tell us how U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job? She appears to be about as knowledgeable about border issues as a late-night radio call-in yahoo.
In an interview broadcast Monday on the CBC, Ms. Napolitano attempted to justify her call for stricter border security on the premise that “suspected or known terrorists” have entered the U. S. across the Canadian border, including the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack.
All the 9/11 terrorists, of course, entered the United States directly from overseas. The notion that some arrived via Canada is a myth that briefly popped up in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and was then quickly debunked.
Informed of her error, Ms. Napolitano blustered: “I can’t talk to that. I can talk about the future. And here’s the future. The future is we have borders.”
Just what does that mean, exactly?
Just a few weeks ago, Ms. Napolitano equated Canada’s border to Mexico’s, suggesting they deserved the same treatment. Mexico is engulfed in a drug war that left more than 5,000 dead last year, and which is spawning a spillover kidnapping epidemic in Arizona. So many Mexicans enter the United States illegally that a multi-billion-dollar barrier has been built from Texas to California to keep them out.
In Canada, on the other hand, the main problem is congestion resulting from cross-border trade. Not quite the same thing, is it?
April 23, 2009 at 8:15 AM
And that’s not the worst of her blunders. She made a statement to the effect of “Crossing our border isn’t illegal”. Her point was that breaking that particular law was treated as a civil matter. Several blog commenters quoted the law that clearly states the first offense is a misdemeanor, the second one a felony.
She sees border enforcement as a political tool instead of a legal issue, and is therefore unfit for office.
What’s the point of having laws on the books but not enforcing them?
April 23, 2009 at 2:08 PM
Hmmm is she the Maureen Dowd of the DHS or what?
I think we should give her a dementia test and failing that ..heh..reassign her to the museum of natural history as a neandrathal in one of the diaramas about cave dwelling. In short a time before the difficult concept of borders came to be.
April 23, 2009 at 2:51 PM
Napolitano has made an international ass of herself. If you have a bit of time, check out the online Canadian media to see how they’re reacting. I recall when Clinton made a comment that he hoped the US could become better trading partners with Canadian. Then-ambassador Blanchard (Dem. former Michigan governor) was mighty embarrassed, considering they were (and are) our #1 trading partner.
Napolitano is making what I call “south border stereotypes”. I’ve heard (repeatedly) supporters of open borders say rhetorically, “Why don’t they build a fence along the US/Canadian border?” I got blank stares when I pointed out that a great part of the northern border is defined by natural barriers, such as the Great Lakes.
There are, of course, illegal border crossings. However, they aren’t Canadians. In my bordertown, we talk about the morons who paid a Canadian tribe to transport them in winter. One fellow was dumped in the river; the others were dropped off on an island that can reach the American mainland only by boat. That’s not even counting the geographically-challenged Middle Eastern family who hopped in a cab in Port Huron and offered the cabbie $200 to take them to Chicago.
The busiest border crossings in North America (yes, including Mexico) are Detroit-Windsor and Port Huron-Sarnia. You have to take a bridge across a river (or a tunnel). Those two crossings account for almost half the traffic crossing the US/Canada border. You can take ferries, but the Customs inspections are tighter, if anything. Same thing with those land-crossings between small border towns in the more sparsely-populated areas.
I myself am planning to get an enhanced driver’s license later this year. It’ll cost $45, but that’s a cheaper than renewing my passport and a lot more convenient than digging out my IDs every time I want to have an impromptu lunch with friends in Ontario.
April 25, 2009 at 4:46 PM
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May 1, 2009 at 4:08 PM
Well to answer the question she was appointed by the President. Last I check, the President was the executive office which means his office is to ENFORCE the laws. But since the President does not seem to care much for the law, but rather for his own agenda, he appoints someone who obviously has no INTENTION to enforce the law.