I’m just gonna rant. Here’s the short version:
On Sunday, there was rain – about 1.5 to 2.5 inches -- on the border between Arizona and Mexico. It’s a desert, but sometimes clouds open up and pour down water. The water runs downhill into gullies (also called washes or arroyos) and it just keeps running downhill. Sometimes the water picks up various sorts of debris such as grass, leaves, tree branches, rocks, dirt, plastic crap, Coke cans, whatever.
On 8/14 a flash flood river hit the border fence designed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during the Bush Administration’s attempt to keep “illegals” (a word I insist on putting in quotation marks) from crossing into the U.S. The fence had some openings in it, but the debris piled up, forming a dam. Water has weight. I remember the rule of thumb that “a pint’s a pound the world round,” so 2000 pints would be a ton of water. Tons of water kept coming and coming and the pressure eventually knocked over the fence.
This happened in the area called the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. In 2007, Organ Pipe officials told the Homeland Security people that this would happen. And, sure enough it did. And it will probably happen again.
Here’s a link to a short news item with some details: Rain washes away 40 feet of US-Mexico border fence.
I’ve been thinking about this story and I’ll give you some thoughts about it below the orange squiggly Fleur de Kos…
It’s Just Basic Science
Republicans hate science when it interferes with their irrational beliefs and the Republican agenda (which in this case is “we need a great big fence to keep those awful brown people out of our country!”).
Pay attention, class, while we review some basic scientific facts. Water is a liquid that flows downhill. Small things get caught in the flow. If you build a barrier, the debris will pile up and form a dam. Pressure builds up. In the rock-paper-scissors game, water beats fence every fucking time. It barely counts as science; it’s just common sense.
The people who work in the National Park there, who know about the land and the weather (and who work for the government, by the way, so they’re on the same goddamned side) warned the DHS about the problem:
The problems were anticipated by Organ Pipe officials.
In October 2007, before the fence was built by Kiewit Western Co. for $21.3 million, Organ Pipe officials told the U.S. Department of Homeland Security they were worried that the design would impede the movement of floodwater across the border; that debris would get trapped in the fence; that water would pool; and that the lateral flow of water would cause damage to the environment and patrol roads, according to a report issued by Organ Pipe in August 2008 about flooding that summer.
In response, the Border Patrol issued a final environmental assessment with a finding of no significant impact. It also said the fence would not impede the natural flow of water or cause flooding.
And something similar happened three years ago…
After the July 2008 flooding, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument officials issued a 17-page report detailing how it happened. Baiza said then he wanted government officials to revisit the design to prevent future problems.
To remedy the problem, the Army Corps of Engineers installed 50 to 60 liftable gates in 11 drainage systems as part of a 2010 drainage-improvement project. The system calls for the gates to be raised by a hoisting apparatus during storms so water can freely flow.
On Sunday, though, the gates were down, Baiza said.
That’s the DHS solution to the problem: Open up the fence when it rains. That will fix things. If I were in Mexico, trying to get across the border, I’d wait until it rains. Then I’d crawl under the fence.
I could go on a rant about Republicans hating science (climate change, evolution, and so on) except when they believe the science works (internal combustion engines, nuclear weapons in Iran or North Korea, computers, GPS and so on), but I won’t. Instead I’ll rant about this:
Did God Send A Flood To Destroy The Fence?
This is a ridiculous theory, but bear with me while I speculate. Maybe God disapproves of the border fence. Maybe the fence is evil.
There’s a certain group of Republicans who believe that God wants this or that. Or that God sends natural disasters to manifest His will. Or that if you pray hard enough, He will help your football team win. Or help you win the lottery. It’s funny, but if you think about it, the most Southern Baptists are in the South. Maybe God doesn’t like Southern Baptists and their evangelical ilk. Maybe tornadoes and hurricanes are God’s version of that blue stuff you put in the toilet. Plus he sent alligators and kudzu. Maybe the states that have gay marriage and higher taxes and social safety nets are beloved by God. They don’t get nearly as many tornadoes, hurricanes, alligators, or kudzu.
Nah. How would you test the God hypothesis scientifically? I’d like to see Mississippi or Alabama do something progressive. I’ll bet they’d get fewer boll weevils or idiot politicians. Maybe the obesity index would decrease.
The Melting Pot That Hates Outsiders
Why are we building a fence in Arizona in the first place? I guess it’s because we don’t want Mexicans to sneak across the border. They’ll disrupt our society, right? They speak a different language and have different customs.
The U.S. has a long history of xenophobia. Ben Franklin wanted to keep out the Germans way back in the 1700s (you can Google it and it’s public domain). The Irish came to America around 1850 and were hated at that time because they were outsiders. In 1920, Congress passed a law setting immigration quotas based on 1890 numbers (because in 1890 lots of white people from Northern Europe were coming here, and not very many swarthy skinned Italians (who were Catholic) or Greeks (Orthodox) or Eastern Europeans (Jews) were immigrating.
Mexicans are just the latest version of “those outsiders will ruin our culture.” Same song, different words. Or maybe it’s “If those people keep having so many babies, they’ll eventually outnumber us and vote us out of office.” Look at Israel or South Africa or Northern Ireland. If the ruling elite belongs to one tribe (or one religion or one race) they’re not going to want to share political power with or yield it to outsiders.
The Roman Empire built Hadrian’s Wall to keep the uncivilized Scots (Caledonians) out. The Chinese built a great wall to keep the Mongolian barbarians out. The East Germans built a fence around West Berlin. Do fences actually work?
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Here’s a poem about fences:
Mending Wall
by Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Capital, Labor, and Deficits. Does North Dakota Have a Trade Deficit with Minnesota?
What is the trade deficit between ND and MN? Are people or companies moving from one state to the other? North Dakota ships wheat to Minnesota. Minnesota ships cheese (or whatever) to ND. What about Mississippi and Alabama? What about Idaho and Washington? Are people sneaking across the border between those states?
Nobody thinks about trade deficits between states. Nobody worries about all those awful outsiders moving to Massachusetts from Connecticut. I tend to think that if capital can move from one state to another (or from one country to another) then labor should be able to do the same. And vice versa. If we're going to close the borders to workers, we should make it difficult for companies to move to another country. Either open up the borders to both or close the borders to both.
And that’s the end of this rant.