Obama Sends Troops to the Border (finally)

The headlines in the local paper proclaimed Obama's actions to assist the US Border Patrol (the name has changed, I suppose, but the function is the same) since border conditions have "deteriorated."

Question Mr. President: Why did it take so long? Why did you only take this action "under pressure?"

Enough questions for the President. He has a lot on his mind. Unfortunately the plight of the citizens of Arizona, and all the border states, as well of the concerns of a great majority of American citizens across the nation, was not on his mind. At least, not until the Arizona legislature took action, which was then signed into law by the governor. The State of Arizona had to take action when the US Government would not. This after years of seeing American citizens (of whatever race, national origin, etc.) being threatened, abused, robbed, and yes, even murdered by undocumented aliens crossing through the deserts and wilderness to get into the United States.

PAUSE

Did I say "undocumented?" No, that is what the government, media, and the president of Mexico all insist on labeling these people. No Congress, no Mr. Obama, and NO!!! Mr. Calderon, they are not "undocumented aliens." They are criminals because they immigrated ILLEGALLY into the United States. IT FOLLOWS THAT THEY ARE UNDOCUMENTED!

I commend the Arizona government and the people of Arizona for taking this action in the face of total apathy on the part of the United States government. It forced our president to act, and to act quickly, as the line of an old, funny movie says "to protect our phoney-baloney jobs!" All the sudden Mr. Obama realizes the border situation has "deteriorated." Wow! And now troops are needed to support the Border Patrol. What an epiphany!! Oh yeah, and there was the pressure from that pesky new Arizona immigration law.

I would like to see the Texas Legislature take the same action. I know it won't happen...votes from a loud minority are more important than the desires of the mostly silent majority. But a little more pressure on DC would certainly be in order. May it happen soon.

I have nearly come the complete circle. After having lived in the Houston area for two years, I am returning to West Texas in line with a job station transfer. There were many things I liked about the Third Coast, including the many days strolling along the seashore in the morning or the dusk, the many interesting things to see and to do, and getting to know family that were as strangers before. But the down side of course was the rat race, and I mean RAT RACE, that was the lifestyle in the greater Houston area. The highway carnage was daunting, and the effort it took to run the smallest of errands in Houston and the outlying cities was just too much. A good place to visit, but I will leave the living there for those better adjusted to hectic, clamorous, faceless existence required of a mecca like Houston.

In just a couple of weeks I will be back to the quiet of the semi-desert and the somewhat relaxed life allowed by residing in the middle of nowhere special, yet a special place it really is. For one, the sunsets are most spectacular, unequaled in nearly two years on the Third Coast. The desert itself, for another, is a great draw for me. As a teenager I remember standing outside my home in Central Texas, feeling some thing, some force, as it were, compelling me to go to the west. It was years later that I finally did so. In the time since then, we (my family) moved out of the area once, but returned within the year. It is the same now...after all the great advantages realized with the move to Houston, I am yearning to be back to West Texas.

And will be...soon.