On the House Floor
This week, the House approved H.R. 569, the Water Quality Investment Act, by a margin of 367 to 58. It requires projects receiving sewer overflow control grant assistance to be carried out subject to the requirements applicable to projects receiving assistance from state water pollution control revolving funds. Also passing by a vote of 368 to 59 was H.R. 700, the Healthy Communities Water Supply Act of 2007. It amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to increase the amount of authorized appropriations for the pilot program for alternative water source projects. Additionally, H.R. 710, the Charlie W. Norwood Living Organ Donation Act, passed without opposition.
Terrorist Flag Protection
Finally, an American institution of higher learning is standing up to “radical” college students for willfully engaging in flag desecration. Nearly 18 years after the U.S. Supreme Court imposed on the nation its Johnson v. Texas ruling – asserting that the Constitution projects one’s right to burn, trample, or desecrate a flag – San Francisco State University is considering whether or not to punish, possibly even disband, a club on campus for desecrating flags during a protest that occurred last October. On its face, many may be surprised by the university’s politically incorrect regard for safeguarding the flag. However, just when it seems the academic establishment has been turned on its head, there is a twist in the story. The flags which were stomped upon were not replicas of Old Glory but of the flags representing Hamas and Hezbollah.
That’s right, school officials view the trampling of banners affiliated with some of the bloodiest terrorist organizations in the world during an anti-terror rally as a cause for deep concern because it “attempts to incite violence and create a hostile environment.” Apparently, the cause of offense for some fellow students was the dishonor shown to Allah whose name appears in Arabic on both terrorist flags, unbeknownst to the protesters at the time. By immediately blotting out the offensive words once learning of their significance, the protest organizers clearly demonstrated that they did not intend to demonstrate religious intolerance while decrying the murderous acts of thugs in the Middle East. Nevertheless, that was not enough for university administrators. One wonders if the university would have acted similarly if people sympathetic to Hamas and Hezbollah would have trampled the flag of the United States on campus. Sadly, something makes me think it would have become a matter of free speech in that case.
Border Crackdown
Over the last two years, Congress and the president have enacted significant plans to improve the detection of illegal border crossings. As a result, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is setting up new technology under the Secure Border Initiative – a program expected to cost $7.6 billion over the next five years. The program will hire thousands of new border patrol agents and give them new high-definition cameras and sensors that can sense illicit crossings. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles in conjunction with agents on the ground will greatly enhance the ability to capture drug traffickers and terrorists seeking to steal into our country. Fortunately, these efforts so far have discouraged land crossings. The bad news is that smugglers are increasingly trying to build tunnels that are difficult to detect.
Since September 11, 2001, the Border Patrol has discovered more than 40 tunnels under the U.S.-Mexican border. While most of them are shallow, hand-dug passages, a handful are far more advanced. Some even have water pumps, ventilation systems, electricity, and rails as far as 80 feet underground. In response to this, DHS is offering $3 million over the next two years to companies that develop better systems to detect such tunnels. Given that incentives will always exist for some people to enter the U.S. illegally, we must remain constantly vigilant. Although even our successes in this fight lead to new challenges, it remains a fight worth fighting.
Quote of the Week
“Without execution, vision is just another word for hallucination” - Mark Hurd, CEO, Hewlett-Packard Co., Forbes, March 12, 2007.
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