Posted by
tohu.vavohu on Saturday, October 14, 2006 4:54:22 AM
Len Munsil points out something profound in one of his recent blogs in regards to statements made at the October 10th gubernatorial debate. If you haven't seen the debate yet, at the very end, they had about thirty seconds to fill up, and the moderator Bill Buckmaster said "...I want a one word answer from each of you, 'What is the key to this campaign?'" Barry Hess said, "Votes!" It caused a bit of laughter because anyone would agree, Mr. Hess would need a substantial amount of votes to become our next governor, and most everyone would agree that it is pretty unlikely that this will happen. For him, votes just may be the key to the campaign. Janet looked a little unsure of what to say and decided to ignore the one word criteria and rode the coattails of Mr. Hess by saying, "More votes then Len or Barry!?!" Then giving the look of "what are you going to do?" as I have freezed in the screen capture posted. Len Munsil said, "Border!"
Yeah, in a way, the key to a campaign is votes. Of course to win you need to get the most votes, but this is such a superficial statement. What a great opportunity missed by both Mr. Hess and Ms. Napolitano. When one word could have carried the weight of the issues of a campaign, they resorted to cling to the votes. Votes that are casted at the end of the campaign. The issues placed at the wayside, with no real sign of being addressed. It was a missed opportunity especially for Ms. Napolitano. For the Governor of Arizona, that has been in office for the last three and a half years, to only think of more votes then her rivals is deplorable. When the issues range from the border, to education, to traffic gridlock now and the future (the widening of I-17 is a 20 year plan ~ voter approved?!?), to protecting marriage, to our security, to health care, to taxes, to the possible ban of smoking, to personal rights being challenged, to property rights in question, to etc, etc, etc. Janet has spent the majority of her time trying to defend her record on the debates and say that it's great, but to her the key is votes? What about Arizona, the voters, the issues? Is it like my father puts it, it all boils down to power? She just wants the power? votes = power? And what if she does care about the issues? Is it not a little troubling/saddening to think that the only thing she could think of in seventeen seconds from the question, to Barry's response, to after the laughter is "...votes..."? That is why it is great to hear Len Munsil stay on point and have an answer to what he believes to be the key to the campaign. The "...border...". Now why the border? If you have been paying attention to anything Mr. Munsil has been blogging about, or reading responses in newspapers, or listening to interviews (as I have linked to before), or watching the debates, when he talks about the problem with the border it has not been solely on the expressed illegality associated with the people crossing the border. He has pointed out how it has encompassed a large number of the issues we face today. Munsil says some of our education problems is a direct result of people crossing the border to settle in Arizona illegally. Munsil has said that problems in health care and in hospitals has a direct correlation to illegal immigration. The increase in traffic congestion has some roots in illegal immigration. Len believes our porous border has adversely affected many things in our society. He seized the opportunity to poignantly present the key to discussion for this campaign. To try and sum up the concerns of his constituents. You may not agree with his idea of what "...the key..." is, but I would hope you would agree that he believes in something more than votes. And I hope you take that into consideration when you are weighing your campaigning candidates (singular entities), and I don't mean just for the governor race.
Our porous border is a concern and it should be. Living in Arizona, a border state, I am aware of our direct border issues. I have recently come across two stories I would like to share with you. Reuters has reported, along with other news entities, that "...U.S. border police..." have "...seized a van with fake Border Patrol markings used by smugglers..."
When the smuggler driving the van noticed the real Border Patrol, he turned the van around and floored it to the border. About "...100 yards from the border..." the smuggler jumped out of the van and made a mad dash on foot back across the border. The smuggler had abandoned "...30 undocumented immigrants crammed into the back of the van..." They have since been arrested. (oh yeah, note: undocumented immigrants — unpolitically correct term: illegal immigrants) "The Tucson sector is one of the most heavily crossed stretches of the
U.S.-Mexico border, and accounted for more than 40 percent of the
almost 1.2 million immigrants arrested crossing the frontier in 2005." But this type of vehicle disguise is nothing new as "...agents [have] encountered several attempts by smugglers to [use] disguised trucks to beat steadily tightening security... ...in recent years." Now this happened Thursday. I haven't seen any coverage of it in our state paper or our state news agencies!?! Huh? Interesting. Maybe you can help spread the word since our news can't.
A story that has been covered in at least our state newspaper, The Arizona Republic, is that "for the second time, protected land on Arizona's border with Mexico has
closed to the public because of security concerns surrounding illegal
immigration."
"Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge closed 3,500 acres..." due to "violence against immigrants and law enforcement officers..." A closure is "...usually prompted by natural disasters like floods and last 30 days or less." But since there seems to be no end or let up to the violence "...the land will be indefinitely inaccessible to the public" and "a metal vehicle barrier on the border is under construction." "More than 250,000 illegal immigrants entered the refuge in 2004 and
2005. Their footsteps and vehicles have cut more than 1,300 miles of
trails through the native grassland, some of which could take more than
a century to recover. The landscape is dotted with rusting, abandoned
vehicles and tons of clothing and trash." "Buenos Aires is the second public space that has had to close because of problems with illegal immigration." This has an apparent affect to hunters because the Arizona Game and Fish Department have acknowledged the concern by saying they "'...hate to see areas get closed, but... ...[they] don't want to put our hunters' lives in danger...'" (information for photograph used: a-borderfence0821 08/16/06 Mitch Ellis (cq), Refuge Manager at
Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge surveys garbage at a staging area
for undocumented border crossers at the refuge. Photo by Corinne
Purtill / The Arizona Republic)
So what do you think?"Votes!"or"More votes then Len or Barry!?!"or"Border"orinsert your key to campaign here "_____________________"~tohu.vavohu