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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Fences

We can all sleep a little easier now that Arizona has passed a state law that allows for private donations to be used to, in the immortal words of John McCain, R-Never Never Land, "build the dang fence."

The sponsor of the legislation, Steve Smith, R(was there any doubt?)-Maricopa, hopes to raise $50 million (from like minded saps) across the nation. Good luck with that, Steve!

Some quick math: according to the bill's supporters there are more than 240 miles of Arizona's 370 mile border with Mexico that need to be fenced. It cost $3 million a mile to build the existing fence. So $50 million will cover less than 17 of the 240 plus miles. But by all means give until it hurts. Look on the bright side: according to Smith, your contribution might be tax deductible.

It should be no surprise that Arizona is the first state to enact this type of legislation. When it comes to jousting with windmills we take a back seat to no one.

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