On The Border, Nada

The Department of Homeland Security just can't get behind the idea of developing a metric to evaluate progress (or lack thereof) in securing our borders:

Officials Concede Failures on Gauging Border Security

By JULIA PRESTON

More than two years after Homeland Security officials told Congress that they would produce new, more accurate standards to assess security at the nation’s borders, senior officials from the department acknowledged this week that they had not completed the new measurements and were not likely to in coming months, as the debate proceeds about overhauling the immigration system.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were taken aback at a hearing on Wednesday in the House of Representatives when Mark Borkowski, a senior Homeland Security official, said he had no progress to report on a broad measure of border conditions the department had been working on since 2010. The lawmakers warned that failure by the Obama administration to devise a reliable method of border evaluation could imperil passage of immigration legislation.

Even the "Wave 'em in" Democrats had to pretend to be shocked, shocked:

Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, a Democrat and strong a supporter of President Obama’s immigration proposals, was more blunt. “I would say to the department, you’ve got to get in the game,” she said.

Obviously, these Dems will eventually accept whatever bone the Administration tosses them. If any:

Obama administration officials said on Thursday that they had resisted producing a single measure to assess the border because the president did not want any hurdles placed on the pathway to eventual citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally.

They also said security conditions could change very rapidly along the border depending on where smugglers tried to bring people and narcotics across, and where border agents were concentrating their technology and other resources.

“While border security is complex and cannot be measured in a single metric,” said Peter Boogaard, a spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, “in every metric available to measure progress, we’re heading in the right direction, including decreased apprehensions and increased seizures.”

It's complicated! And the dog ate their study.

Democrat passivity notwithstanding, Republicans seem to have a bit of an issue with this:

Amid contentious discussions in Congress over immigration, one point of wide agreement is that an evaluation of border security will be a central piece of any comprehensive bill. A bipartisan group in the Senate is working to write legislation that includes a “trigger,” which would make the path to citizenship for more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the country contingent on measurable advances in security at the borders.

Lawmakers have been pressing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to devise a measure they can use to judge if the Obama administration’s claims of significant progress in border enforcement are justified. Republican senators in the bipartisan group have said a border standard is pivotal to their efforts.

“We need to have a measurement,” Senator John McCain of Arizona insisted at a hearing in the Senate last week.

“We need to assure the American people that we have effective control of the border and we have made advances to achieve that,” he said. “I need to have something to assure people they are not going to live in fear.”

We eageraly await an opportunity to assess the quality, consistency and odor of the BS to be shoveled upon us if and when Team Obama can be persuaded to address this.

Comments

[narciso]

I think we call it a fizbin (it's a nonsensical
move in a made up card game in that Trek episode, about a mob dominated planet)

[Captain Hate]

How did the titans of industry succeed without metrics?

[NK]

It's really time to call the bluff of the Open Borders' types. Deport 11 million-- what will happen? A lot of landscapers will have to hire unemployed HS kids, Medicaid and Food Stamps costs will go down, low income housing will have vacancies, and that's about it. It will be like the sequestration dog that didn't bark.

[Appalled]

The hearing generating this NYT article is here (no transcript, dammit):

http://homeland.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-measuring-outcomes-understand-state-border-security

I sampled it briefly -- gleaned a nugget that the Obama administration stopped providing the metric talked about in the article in 2010, and that there is a GAO report about this somewhere.

I might try attacking this in my own blog. This seems like a big deal for getting immigration reform done, and shows an attitude that Obama's folks are committed to NOT getting data about border security.

[narciso]

You would think, this was 'his bag' as Austin Powers would put it.

http://www.afceadc.org/events/bios-presentations/bio-mark-borkowski

[Threadkiller]

I think this answers my approval rating question on the last thread:

The nationwide shortage of ammunition has left many police departments scrambling to get their hands on the necessary rounds - with some even bartering among each other.

Meanwhile, Rep. Timothy Huelskamp (R-Kansas) says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has failed to respond to multiple members of Congress asking why DHS bought more than 1.6 billion rounds in the past year.

Police Chief Cameron Arthur of Jenks, Oklahoma says,"Ammunition and assault weapons in general have skyrocketed...In addition to the fact, not only is it a lot more expensive, but the time to get it could be six months to a year, or in some cases even longer."

Arthur says he is waiting on an order placed last October and that many departments have begun to trade and barter with each other because of the high demand

http://m.cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/police-departments-beg-and-barter-ammo-while-dhs-buys-16-billion

The Leaden Rule. He who controls the lead...

[narciso]

The answer is they don't have an answer, that will stand up to scrutiny;

http://washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-is-border-secure-administration-doesnt-have-a-clue/article/2525060?utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20-%2003/22/2013&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest

[Extraneus]

This seems like a big deal for getting immigration reform done illegals the vote

FTFY

[Clarice]

Some more examples of great ot spending schemes:

(a) http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/lets-get-serious-about-government-lesbian-studies-t10885.html

(b)http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/bidens-one-night-paris-hotel-tab-58500050_708799.html

(Recall that just blocks from this hotel is our very large and well-furnished embassy)http://photos.state.gov/libraries/france/5/embassybuildings/residence.jpg

[Neo]

WASHINGTON — Even as they lost scores of illegal firearms in their Fast and Furious operation, federal ATF agents asked their Border Patrol counterparts not to pursue criminal leads or track gun smuggling in southern Arizona so they could follow the firearms themselves, and senior Homeland Security agents “complied and the leads were not investigated,” according to a new Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s report.

The report, obtained Thursday by The [LA] Times, also said that a Homeland Security special agent on the border was collaborating with the ATF in Fast and Furious, but his “senior leaders” in Arizona never read his updates about fundamental flaws with the failed gun tracking operation. Had they done so, Homeland Security officials could have tried to close down the operation before one of their Border Patrol agents, Brian Terry, was killed not far from Tucson.

Furthermore, the report determined that top Department of Homeland Security officials in Washington did not learn about Fast and Furious until Terry was shot to death in December 2010 and two of the 1,430 lost firearms were found at the scene of his murder.

LUN

[narciso]

Shirley they can't be serious, Dennis Burke, top Napolitano lt, was running the program in Arizona, you had imput from a whole host of agencies, including NSC

[bgates]

Even as they lost scores of illegal firearms in their Fast and Furious operation

Scores. Groups of 20. How many groups of 20?

Terry was shot to death in December 2010 and two of the 1,430 lost firearms were found at the scene of his murder.

Seventy one and a half groups of 20.

"Scores".

[bgates]

Rush Limbaugh claimed on Thursday that Obama administration officials had resisted producing a single measure to assess the border because the president did not want any hurdles placed on the pathway to eventual citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally.

You know, I try to defend the guy, but to say not only that the administration is completely disregarding a bipartisan directive from Congress, but that they're doing it because the president doesn't want to jeopardize his plans for amnesty by revealing to the American public how porous the border is under his administration, that's just a slur that is only going to reinforce the idea that conservatives are more interested in creating absurd caricatures of Democrats as lawless anti-American ideologues than they are in actually

-oh. Never mind.

[jimmyk]

Via Clarice's 1:39 link:
“It is now well-established that women of minority sexual orientation are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic, with it continues. “In stark contrast, among men, heterosexual males have nearly double the risk of obesity compared to gay males.”

So it would seem that being attracted to women causes obesity.

[Porchlight]

Clarice's a) link at 1:39 is making me cry tears of real laughter.

Here it is again, be careful with the photos:

http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/lets-get-serious-about-government-lesbian-studies-t10885.html

[Melinda Romanoff]

Neo-

I fixed the typos in that story for you.

"The report, prepared Thursday for The [LA] Times, also said...."

[narciso]

Well the drunk squirrel was the one who signed off on the project.

[Janet]

Not sure where to put this -

"Florida Atlantic University professor Deandre Poole instructed his intercultural communications class earlier this month to write the name “Jesus” on a piece of paper, then drop it on the floor and stomp on it.
...While the incident has made the news, the media has failed to report a key component of Poole’s resume: He is vice-chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party. His recent actions add fire to an already-disturbing pattern of hate coming out of the local party."

bold mine

[maryrose]

Janet:
Palm Beach has nevr gottn over the 2000 election They spent weeks counting votes, took Thanksgiving off and then proceeded to miss the deadline Katherine Harris had given for all the disputed counties. The dems drove the designer of the "butterfly ballot out of their party.Is it any wonder Allen West was robbed of his seat.

[narciso]

Interesting, how it was that this occurred;

http://www.examiner.com/article/dhs-fast-and-furious-oig-report-fed-to-los-angeles-times-not-to-public

[Janet]

So...
It seems like pretty much every fed. group involved with illegal immigration refuses to do their job. Even the desk guys won't do anything.
no studies, no deportations, no border security...
Why even have these people? Let's at least save money. Close down the shops & let's quit pretending.

[pagar]

IMO, there is a very real effort by the Obama regime to spend every US dollar they can get their hands on that will no have any benefit for Americans. If the project could actually benefit Americans it will be cancelled.

Here is some Steve Peacock articles which seem to bear that out.

http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/strapped-feds-have-money-for-gopher-tortoise-survey/

"The creation of environmental-themed public murals, conducting student field-trips to “environmentally important sites” in Hebron and Jericho and holding environmental summer camps for Palestinian children are among programs that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service intends to fund. And USDA is procuring the services of the Palestinian Association for Child Arts and Culture to carry out these tasks for youth in the city of Hebron."

http://patriotupdate.com/articles/obama-spending-500-million-on-foreign-readers/

"A $500 million reading-skills project has been unveiled by the Obama Administration. And young readers all around the globe—except United States citizens—will benefit from it."

[Threadkiller]

The purported cousin in question is named Linda Joy Adams. Her blog is located here. She has been posting comments all over the place regarding Obama's past for a long time. She claims to have birth announcements and other evidence that shows Obama was born at Forbes Air Force base in Topeka, Kansas. Carl Gallups mentions the Adams story towards the end of the video. Aired on WEBY.

Excerpt from one of the many comments post by Adams:

January 22, 2013:

Just get the real records out of Topeka Ks! And explain did you know and when did you know it. there were so many phonying up records and maybe most really did not know of his birth At Forbes Air Force base in Toepka Ks and the reason for the fake bio put in place soon after he was born by his maternal grandmother, He should have been told and I blew it in 1/71 and was stopped from saying anything to him. I am not in Ks and have mo money for legal fees, etc nor to even pay for om e of the websites needed to locate records. The Toepka Capitol Journal Editors won;t even permit her reporter;s to check their archives when I called last year to get the articles, [...]

March 21, 2013:

The newspaper announcement read: Mr and Mrs Baruch Obama , bay bot born at Forbes Air force Base Hospital, Topeka ks. My mother, Florence Hardy present at birth. Marriage announcement a couple of months early of a marriage arranged by my Dad, Rev Tracy Hardy and he married them at Mcvicar Chapel Washburn University with members of the Alpha, Black sorority in attendance . Marriage arranged as real Dad murdered in a racist attack on his parents. Fake bio put in place by his maternal grandmother and apparently she also filed documents in Hawaii. I had asked Sheriff Joe to check for a criminal investigative file in Hawaii from 1961 for stolen blank forms from the hospital listed. [...] ( Hat tip Before It's News and CommieBlaster. )

http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2013/03/sheriff-joe-may-investigate-obama-cousin.html?m=1

Ok....

What???

[jorod]

Immigration has worsened since NAFTA.

[daddy]

Poole’s resume: He is vice-chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party.

How unsurprising Janet. Honest to goodness it sounds like a comedy skit parodying Lefty stereotypes that might be done if there was a Conservative equivalent of SNL.

[engincomo]

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