Relax, border hawks…Virtual Fence 2.0 is on the way!

By see-dubya  •  June 25, 2008 07:44 AM

It’s back! Virtual fence 2.0–now with 57 towers–is bigger than ever! Excited?

I’m not, especially since I’m not sure that they’ve ironed out the kinks yet. When they 86′d the original Boeing project, they thought it would take three years to fix it.

Software glitches aside, there are inherent problems in the whole virtual fence concept. As a supplement to an actual physical barrier that spots breaches in the fence and people who come through, the concept makes a lot of sense. On its own, I’m not sure it’s worth much. It’s like having an alarm system on your house but no locks on the doors. As I mentioned here, I’ve never quite been sure why somebody in a ghillie suit with a .270 couldn’t shut down the entire operation.

_________

{Post by See-Dubya. Hat tip to a commenter whose name I’ve forgotten, sorry.}

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Comments


  1. #359330
    On June 25th, 2008 at 7:56 am, Rob said:

    Put a few army sharp shooters up on those towers and they would work.

  2. #359331
    On June 25th, 2008 at 7:57 am, Rob said:

    Put a few army sharp shooters up on those towers and they would work…

  3. #359333
    On June 25th, 2008 at 8:03 am, meatpieandtatters said:

    #1…the East German comparisons just keep rearing their ugly heads. Again, practicalities people:
    1. 1,989 miles of US/Mex Border
    2. 5,525 miles of US/Canuk
    3. 95,000 miles of coast

    To the advocates of fences. Do you own a fence company?

  4. #359338
    On June 25th, 2008 at 8:07 am, JHSII said:

    This reminds me of those home-protection systems I see advertised all the time on tv. You know the ones – where the intruder breaks in the door, and the panicky wife calls the number to have an operator tell ehr that everything’s going to be ok because the police have been informed and are on the way.

    What the commercial doesn’t tell you is that it may take the police anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 days to get there. The criminal therefore has plenty of time to rape and kill everyone and then loot the house before escaping. By the time the police arrive, the bad guy is long gone.

    This is the same thing – on a much larger scale.

  5. #359356
    On June 25th, 2008 at 8:29 am, 30 pcs of silver said:

    The will of the people being subverted… once again. shocker.

  6. #359358
    On June 25th, 2008 at 8:31 am, WarEagle82 said:

    Well, I suppose if you only care about “virtual security” then this makes sense. Obviously no one in the GOP cares about actually physically securing the border.

    Bush and the RINOs will do anything except their job when it comes to the border. Who do I call at the GOP to get back my votes for the last 20 years?

  7. #359360
    On June 25th, 2008 at 8:32 am, Mohawk said:

    This technology is just to close to the ground.

    Why aren’t they using drones?

    It’s something at least, I guess I can at least say it’s something.

    Better than the nothing we have been getting.

  8. #359361
    On June 25th, 2008 at 8:37 am, ajmontana said:

    waiting to see the end user results….
    did Boeing ever talk to the end user? lol….. things that make you go, hmmmmmmm. :roll:

  9. #359369
    On June 25th, 2008 at 8:43 am, Goldwater Knight said:

    This reminds me of those home-protection systems I see advertised all the time on tv. You know the ones – where the intruder breaks in the door, and the panicky wife calls the number to have an operator.

    Right, usually the intruder is a white male and the husband goes into a fetal position on the carpet while the wife takes care of the situation.

    It’s totally contrary to the reality the man of the house is going to get supercharged with testosterone and adrenaline then pull out a sweet a$$ semi automatic shotgun.

  10. #359375
    On June 25th, 2008 at 8:47 am, Barry F. said:

    It’s back! Virtual fence 2.0–now with 57 towers–is bigger than ever! Excited?

    I’d have more respect for the Feds, if they would just tell me to STFU, because they aren’t going to build a real fence, instead of toying with me by doing these half-assed things they call border security measures. :roll:

  11. #359399
    On June 25th, 2008 at 9:09 am, Dandapani said:

    I’ve never quite been sure why somebody in a ghillie suit with a .270 couldn’t shut down the entire operation.

    Funny. I was thinking a few snipers on our side could shutdown the entire illegal boarding crossing problem… snort.

  12. #359415
    On June 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am, terrig said:

    JHSII, I have experienced the alarm company in the ad you’ve mentioned and waited over 30 minutes for the police to arrive. It is sort of like this virtual fence-you think it gives you some measure of security but it doesn’t.
    This is a joke.

  13. #359430
    On June 25th, 2008 at 9:45 am, graysonret said:

    Typical political solution: Doing something about the problem, but not really solving it. Looks good to the constituents, but solves nothing. Makes for a good “see what I’m doing” speech.

  14. #359431
    On June 25th, 2008 at 9:48 am, swmbo said:

    Post #3, you have that part right. Sooooo, let’s kill two bad guys with one blog, Gun Rights and a Fence.

    By the time the police arrive, the bad guy is long gone.

    Let’s post snipers at regularly space intervals while the ‘fence’ is being built? Whacha think?

  15. #359433
    On June 25th, 2008 at 9:53 am, bit_boy said:

    Another example of 43’s obstruction to having a Duncan Hunter caliber fence built. When the virtual fence is operation, like a sieve, the opposition to a real fence will parade their conventional wisdom that a fence will not work when it is the Bush administration that will not work.

  16. #359436
    On June 25th, 2008 at 9:56 am, Weary Citizen said:

    Government once again proves its ineptness and ignorance. “The defininition of insanity is doing the same thing over and………” If this does not fit bureaucrats perfectly I don’t know what does.

  17. #359437
    On June 25th, 2008 at 9:57 am, et said:

    Can we make immigration an environmental issue? Fewer people = lower carbon footprint for the nation = lower oil prices.

    Hey Al how about actually doing something constructive for the environment and support the border fence. Or would you rather make fistfulls of money selling carbon offsets, which do nothing for the environment? Never mind the question answers itself.

  18. #359454
    On June 25th, 2008 at 10:07 am, Christian Soldier said:

    The silence and inaction from the GOP officials and the GOP’s LOTE candidate is >>>>>>>>>

  19. #359460
    On June 25th, 2008 at 10:11 am, Boomer said:

    Great, another government funding boondoggle into unproven technology by a company that needs to stick to building aircraft instead of a virtual fence that will only catch virtual intruders. I prefer the type of fence Israel and Spain are using to secure their borders after all the SCOTUS finally did something right by allowing the Department of Homeland Insecurity to go full steam ahead with building it. You hear that Chertoff we are waiting, but smart enough not to hold our breath!

  20. #359462
    On June 25th, 2008 at 10:13 am, DesertLover said:

    Let’s see … first priority on the Coyotes’ and drug smugglers’ revised action list …

    Recreate 9/11 in the desert and bring down the virtual border towers …

    Bingo … end of virtual fence …

    geez … what a bunch of idiots we have in DC … what world are they living in? … it sure isn’t the same one as the rest of us …

  21. #359464
    On June 25th, 2008 at 10:16 am, DesertLover said:

    et …

    I’ve been asking that question for months …

    I am sure if we got rid of 12-20 million energy-gasoline-health services-welfare using illegals we could easily meet the requirements in those areas for the legal residents and citizens of the USA …

  22. #359494
    On June 25th, 2008 at 10:40 am, txvet2 said:

    On June 25th, 2008 at 9:57 am, et said:

    Can we make immigration an environmental issue?

    Nope. The border in Arizona is an ecological disaster area from all the trash, brush fires, etc. caused by illegals. MSM won’t touch the story.

  23. #359549
    On June 25th, 2008 at 11:19 am, CleanGuy said:

    When someone crosses a virtual fence are they virtually arrested, virtually detained and virtually deported? How does that look in realtime?

  24. #359550
    On June 25th, 2008 at 11:21 am, Southpaw said:

    We built the Alaska pipe line. A border fence that contained solar cells and wind turbines could generate enough power to be able to tell Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Venezuela to “take a hike”.

  25. #359573
    On June 25th, 2008 at 11:40 am, cpodug said:

    Software for vFence by Microsoft

  26. #359593
    On June 25th, 2008 at 11:55 am, IndyRich said:

    You’re right, Meaty #3. Let’s build that fence where it’s needed the most…the 95,000 miles of coastline.

  27. #359697
    On June 25th, 2008 at 12:55 pm, rightisright said:

    On June 25th, 2008 at 8:31 am, WarEagle82 said:
    Bush and the RINOs will do anything except their job when it comes to the border. Who do I call at the GOP to get back my votes for the last 20 years?

    Your exactly right, my back’s been bleeding since Reagan left, and something tells me it will for along time.

  28. #359766
    On June 25th, 2008 at 1:39 pm, Weary Citizen said:

    On June 25th, 2008 at 9:57 am, et said:

    I have always argued this point. To no avail though. Mass immigration is an environmentalists worst enemy. And I take that from the libs themselves that people are the reason for global warming and pollution. They continually enact/propose laws that are in direct conflict with one another. This is the prefect example. We are told we need to cut emmisions, use less water, etc etc. But they encourage millions of legal immigrants to enter the US each year. And do nothing to stop 500K-1M illegal immigrants coming in each year as well. The US population is projected to hit 500M by 2060 by the Cenus bureau. So, they want to bring people in from countries with small carbon footprints and put them in America which has a huge carbon footprint. How is that goign to reduce carbon emissions? They bring in millions who need houses, schools, roads, businesses, etc. Building these things take natural habitat from animals that will never be recovered. Not to mention the millions of trees that are cut just to build the homes and schools. Of course the new citizens use eletricity and drive cars adding tons of pollution. They set goals to reduce carbon emmissions by 20% over 20 years, all the while growing the population through immigriaotn by 30% over the same time period. Then, to make it personal for us, the cities tell us we need to ration water and recylce more because the landfill issues. Only to turn around and encourage population growth which puts even more stress on the resources. So, we (passee americans) are asked to give up the way we have lived for decades to accomodate and make room for the immigrants. I don’t want to sacrifice anything, just so the gov’t can bring in more 3rd world people. Makes no sense to me why liberals support this invasion, then preach about conservation and the environment. The 2 are in direct odds. Eventually, there will not be enough resources to go around, and we can all thank our PC gov’t for it.

  29. #360010
    On June 25th, 2008 at 3:32 pm, juliesa said:

    A couple of the environmental groups have come out against illegal immigration. The Sierra Club had a big internal fight about this, and I don’t know which faction won.

    Also, Laura Ingraham interviewed a guy from some other org–I don’t remember the name, but it’s a population control group. He wants to keep out illegal immigrants for population reasons, and Laura said he was kind of a racist for trying to control the population of darker-skinned people.

  30. #360018
    On June 25th, 2008 at 3:34 pm, juliesa said:

    BTW, does anyone know what happens when the 2006 appropriation for the fence expires in August? Does congress have to get an extension, or what?

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