Firewall Around America? Thank you, Colin Hanna!

The latest FactCheck article dismisses an ad showing in the US regarding building a fence to keep illegal immigrants out of the US from crossing at the Mexican border. I think a lot of people are familiar with that "Let Freedom Ring, Inc." that wants to build a gigantic fence across the Mexican border. They have a webpage - you go Google it.

Anyway, they're trying to sell it as a good idea through these ads.

The group is currently showing this ad because it:

... says that "illegal immigration from Mexico provides easy cover for terrorists" while showing video of a hijacked plane slamming into the second World Trade Center tower on September 11, 2001. The narrator says "we need to secure the border." Viewers are directed to a website promoting the building of a 2000-mile security barrier similar to those built by Israel: 50 yards wide and including a ditch, coils of barbed wire, two tall wire fences, and sensors to warn of any incursion, at an estimated cost of between $4 billion and $8 billion.

It first continues to propagate the myth that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were connected with illegal immigrants but then goes into this giant fence-building nonsense.

But, it gets better:

In summary, the best evidence available, as well as the evidence cited by the sponsors of the ad, makes a better case for building a fence at the Canadian border than it does at the Mexican border – that is, if Let Freedom Ring's object is truly to stop illegal immigration from Muslim countries rather than from Mexico and Central America.

Yes, that sounds stinky too, but wait for it ...

When we asked [Colin] Hanna about this, he said "93 per cent of OTM (Other Than Mexican) illegal aliens cross the southern border." That's true, but the vast majority of those "OTM's" crossing the Mexican border come from non-Muslim nations such as El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and elsewhere in Central American and South America. When asked if he believes the US should build a fence on the northern border, Hanna said, "Yes. I think we need to seriously consider it but we must begin with the southern border."

Emphasis mine.

There you have it. After Scott Shotwell (guy who said it would be okay for softwood lumber to flow into the US from Canada tariff-free only if it was in aid of hurricane relief), I couldn't imagine somebody else qualifying for the "Ass Clown of the Year Award".

But, there you have it. Colin Hanna, you are also up for the award. Build your fences, go ahead. I don't care anymore.

And yes, it's that same Colin "Our display of the Ten Commandments plaque is entirely consistent with the original intent of the First Amendment" Hanna.

Tags: ass clown of the year nominee, canada, canada-us relations, immigration, politics, usa