Well.. ever since the War of 1812, Canada and the US have been cosy bosom buddies and, with the latest cuddle-up between Canuck Peter McKay, Canada's Foreign Minister and US Sec of State, Condoleeza Rice, who, apparently, are gaga over each other and even shared a Tim Horton's coffee in Pete's hometown..the ' best friends' myth has been kept front and centre..

One of the biggest parts of the myth has been " the world's longest undefended border " between two nations [ yeah, right ]..well now, fact is going to erase fiction, as we're no longer going to pretend that no one ' defended ' the border ever since the 19th century dust-up..


and its all the US's fault. Some scaredy cat guy from Georgia, a Republican congressman who probably couldn't find Canada on a map if asked to [ but who probably has a cousin who once got drunk in a bar in Alberta and saw the movie ' Saskatchewan ' with Alan Ladd, when he was a kid ] has shouted out that he wants 12,000 armed National Guard [ but not rrpearso ] to take up the slack, plus ' additional ' agents to man - sorry - staff - the border to keep out insurgents and other undesirables from slipping through Canada's ' porous ' border [ hey the holes are on your side, too ] and making a muckers in America..

Canada's Prime Minister has decided that Canada can make do with arming our border guards [ a few at a time each year - budget problems y'know ] and that will do to keep American riffraff out like Army deserters, Sean Penn, Michael Moore and the like [ though we had to let them in for the film festival but we gave Sean a nasty talking to for flouting our anti-Smoking bylaws when he lit up in a - gasp - hotel room full of reporters and fawning paparazzi ]

anyway, all told, the Hon. Member from Georgia wants, along with the National Guard, 1600 Coast Guard and other Naval Reserves, 400 patrol craft, 160 aircraft, 1200 Air National Guard and an additonal 1000 US border guards and 25% more customs personnel. This should add only a measly $ 700 to 800 million to the budget -petty cash from the Dubya Oval Office desk should cover it.

hmmm, wonder what happened with the bill to make all you canucks citizens by proxy?

It better not cause a beer shortage from Canada!

although i enjoy the porus border and yes it is porus. we are at war so we need to up security, i would rather show my passport than have another 9/11. mybe one day we will have the open borders again.

It doesn't matter, porous borders or not. If they want to get in, they will find a way. Airport security is a joke, and even with the so called beefed up security, people still get through with unauthorized items everyday.

Getting a bit paranoid now, boys?

US to set up 900 watch towers along Canada Us border.. high tech surveillance being proposed by Boeing Corporation to scan and track illegal immigrants..using buried sensors, infra-red / motion detectors,cameras and remote controlled aircraft...

Still, I guess if it stops just one Celine Dion clone from infiltrating Las Vegas it would be worth the $ 80 million to $ 2.5 billion Boeing's contract is worth...

hmmmm, looks to me like this is just another means to obtain the Homeland Security funding....

You can never be too safe...

uo.......