Monday Roundup: Border Patrol

Sheriffs and officials along the US-Mexico border have a grievance: they've been cut out of most of the money meant for them and other law enforcement in this year's budget.

The Dallas Morning News sets up the story by reminding us that Rick Perry often talked about border sheriffs during the 2006 election cycle and of the work they do in combating the drug trade and engaging in vital homeland security operations. This year's budget appropriated $110 million for law enforcement, homeland security, and border patrol operations. Most of it went to state level operations, however; about $17 million or so will pay for gear and overtime to local border law enforcement. The governor's office argues that the state money will trickle down through various programs, but if that were guaranteed, I feel like border law enforcement would be less riled by the division of dollars.

Speaking of the border: if you'll remember, I have been commenting here that I have yet to see a treatment on what the environmental impact of the border fence will be. While not a time-series or anything (what's a time-series?), the Statesman's Juan Castillo does look into the matter, and the news isn't good. I think as this aspect of the fence gets more attention, support might erode further. Bad press is bad press, and while the environment is seemingly almost never a deal breaker in Texas, the public sours on bad news, even here.

Aside from the environmental impact is the fact that more and more people are unhappy about the plans for the fence, and they are getting more and more vocal about their opposition. The Star-Telegram profiles a few border businessmen and families and discovers that, in general, they think the fence is a dumb idea. Again, bad press is bad press.

The GOP's line on the immigration bill continues to affect their relationship with Hispanic voters, and that's going to continue until they restructure their entire party's platform, I guess. Socially conservative Hispanic voters are pulling away from the GOP, and I don't see Republicans having a change of heart on amnesty or paths to citizenship in the near future. Or ever. The article from the Express-News also has some useful information about how explosive the growth of the Hispanic voter bloc has been. I've said it before: this story isn't going away, and I expect it will just get more prevalent in the coming months.

Elsewhere in the state, here is a product of Bush's sagging popularity I hadn't considered: the tourist trade in Crawford is, according to the Houston Chronicle, in the doldrums. Many of the shops have closed. The article makes a comparison to the cycle of tourism success and failure in Plains, Georgia during the Carter administration. That's rough.

John Edwards grabbed some news over the weekend. First, he made the salient point that money does not guarantee a nomination. He reminded the press that Howard Dean is a perfect example of the flaw with that logic. It is always an interesting argument: you have to have enough money to run your race, but you don't have to have the most money to win. Obama and Clinton's money may actually help Edwards, because they are going to beat on each other rather than on him.

The second news was the revelation of his upcoming poverty tour. Mike Allen at Politico has it that Edwards is going to spend three days outside of the primary states raising awareness on poverty and its associated issues. The prime comparison in the piece is to JFK's West Virginia pre-primary tour.

Lastly today: I am a fan of the newspaper. I think there's something special about the printed page that can't be replicated on the internet. Even if I weren't a fan of newspapers, though, I would know that for the last several years, for various reasons, they've been on the decline and in trouble. The Dallas Observer has a story this week about Manny Mendoza and Mark Birnbaum who are making a documentary on the future of newspapers. Since I happen to think newspapers are an integral part of a free press and thus a cornerstone of democracy, well... the story is important, and the story about the story is pretty well-written.