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Monday, May 9, 2011

Internal Passport: Terror Alert Overload Leads To Call For “No Ride List”

Steve Watson & Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
May 9, 2011
Internal Passport: Terror Alert Overload Leads To Call For No Ride List 090511subway2
In the wake of rampant and escalated fears over terror attacks on transport systems in major US cities, and a spate of false alarms, a US Senator is leading the call for a government “no ride list”, that would see potential suspects banned from boarding trains. The move is part of a long-planned agenda to force Americans into accepting an internal passport that they would need to display at security checkpoints littered across the country at so-called “soft target” locations like subways, malls and sports stadiums.
An internal passport for Americans is codified under the December 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which Congressman Ron Paul warned at the time would, “Allow the government to establish a Soviet-style internal passport system” that would subject “every citizen to surveillance and screening points”.
It’s also about isolating so-called “domestic extremists” under the terms of the MIAC report who will have their freedom of movement restricted and basic liberties such as Second Amendment rights stripped by the federal government. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants people on the “no fly” list, and by extension a “no ride” list, to also be on a “no buy” list and be prevented from purchasing firearms.
Just as the federal government currently maintains a terrorist no fly list, Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for the same rules to apply to Amtrak trains in the US, following the claim that intelligence was recovered from Osama Bin Laden’s computer pointing to apparent spectacular terror plots to target trains.
“Anyone, even a member of al-Qaida could purchase a train ticket and board an Amtrak train without so much as a question asked,” Schumer said. “So that’s why I’m calling for the creation of an Amtrak no ride list. That would take the secure flight program and apply it to Amtrak trains.”
The Democrat Senator from New York says the list is vital in order to prevent future attacks. Critics charge that the move would represent nothing more than an open move towards domestic checkpoints and internal passports.
Last week the government issued an advisory to law enforcement agencies, warning them to increase security around train stations and subways.
Material supposedly gleaned from Osama’s house in Pakistan revealed “an operation against trains at an unspecified location in the United States on the 10th anniversary” of the 9/11 attacks.” reported NBC News.
The advisory claimed al-Qaeda plans “to tip a train by tampering with the rails so that the train would fall off the track at either a valley or on a bridge.”
Yet, it is not clear how the government reached this conclusion, given that according to US officials there are no references to specific plots or to to specific cities, nor is there any imminent threat.
“We have no information of any imminent terrorist threat to the U.S. rail sector, but wanted to make our partners aware of the alleged plotting,” Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler said in a statement.”We want to stress that this alleged al-Qaida plotting is based on initial reporting, which is often misleading or inaccurate and subject to change.”
Since the ever increasingly farcical Bin Laden death raid, there has been an overload of paranoia and false terror alarms in major US cities.
A show of force has been initiated at major rail stations with militarized police in camo gear and TSA VIPR teams conducting increased amounts of random warrantless searches.
The following CBS news video highlights these suggestions and notes that such heightened security is the norm in Israel, intimating that the US should follow suit.


There have even been suggestions that security checkpoints could be installed at all “soft target locations” including transport hubs and even department stores. We have long documented the agenda to shift strict airport style security, including radiation firing body scanners, to the streets of America.
The current government terror watch list represents a subversion of the first and fourth amendments, is inherently flawed and, it can be argued, is harmful to the security of the nation.
The list now contains well over one million names, and is exponentially expanding. Reports have confirmed that the watch list contains the names of thousands of innocent Americans, including children, lawyers and even a retired Air National Guard brigadier, now a commercial pilot for a major airline.
In some cases credit reports have been used in calculating the risk score, while the list has also been used to target political activists opposing the death penalty and the Iraq war. Some, including former White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel have suggested restricting the constitutional rights of those placed on the list.
Those flagged on the watch list, established pursuant to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, can be blocked from flying, stopped at borders or subjected to other scrutiny.
In 2008, the chairman of a House technology oversight subcommittee warned that the database used to produce the government’s terror watch lists is “crippled by technical flaws,” and the system designed to replace it may be even worse.
In a letter to the inspector general at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) warned that the upgrade “if actually deployed will leave our country more vulnerable than the existing yet flawed system in operation today.”
Critics have charged that the list is already far too expansive to be in any way effective. Expanding the list to include Amtrak trains, as suggested by Senator Schumer, would only add to this problem.
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The idea that “members of al Qaeda” could board trains, as Schumer suggests, are predicated on the long debunked notion that there is a sophisticated web of interconnected terrorists operating inside the US. In reality, every single major terror threat to have emerged since 9/11 has been proven to be vastly over hyped, contrived or outright staged at the hands of government intelligence.
Restricting the movement of more innocent Americans and implementing more draconian police state measures will do nothing to increase security and serves only to foster a constant state of fear and unease.

Get Ready: The Last Pleasant Way To Travel Is About To Be Hell

subway
Image: @NYCTSubwayScoop



Following last weeks seizure of al Qaeda documents from Osama Bin laden's compound, there has been a flood of intelligence prompting U.S. attention.
Among the released data, the most compelling so far, has been the planned rail attack on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
While not confirmed, and still lacking an official location or time, U.S. officials have treated the potential attack with enough seriousness to have increased rail security, and brought the possible attack to the country's attention.
In a report by Reuters on the official U.S. response:
Since the raid, the Department of Homeland Security has taken a number of steps in reviewing measures at all potential terrorist targets, including transportation systems across the country. It added more officers at airports and at the borders.
Senator Charles Schumer has taken this one step further, and on Sunday suggested there should be a "do not ride" list list for rail travel to match the "do not fly" list for airlines. This, despite the fact that the attacks outlined by Bin Laden's papers indicate an attack on the rails themselves, not on-board the train.
According to ABC News:
"The targeting of the railroad infrastructure itself is a much smarter move on the part of the terrorists, because you get more bang for the buck," said Kevin Lynch, a retired freight rail police chief who consults on railroad police practices.
Despite these warnings, reports from The New York Post have surfaced this morning pointing to two startling rail security breaches on NY transit lines over the weekend.
The first incident, Sunday, near the World Trade Center, 20-year-old Reymundo Rodriguez entered a train tunnel and walked it through to New Jersey. Spotted by a Port Authority contractor as he exited, he told police he left a bomb in the tunnel.
The tunnel was shut down while a Joint Terrorism Task Force and dogs searched for the device, which was never found. Rodriguez was charged with trespassing, evaluated at a hospital and let go.
The second involved four "urban explorers" reportedly entering an under construction subway tunnel. Carrying roman candles and cameras, the four twenty-somethings said they planned to take pictures by the fireworks in the Second Ave. subway tunnel.
The four were also charged with trespassing after Harlem resident Jerry Jackson called police and told them he had seen the four entering the subway around 112th Street.

School district to give away iPod, laptop to children who participate in vaccination contest

Ethan A. Huff
NaturalNews
May 9, 2011
The Chapel Hill – Carrboro City School (CHCCS) district in North Carolina has launched a shocking new vaccination contest that offers prize incentives to students who get vaccinated. According to the CHCCS district website, for each vaccine a student receives, he or she will also receive an entry into a drawing to win an Apple iPod or a laptop computer — and students that get the entire recommended vaccine schedule, which includes the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for both boys and girls, will be allowed extra entries into the contest and more chances to win than other students.
According to the CHCCS website, the three vaccines being promoted are the Meningococcal vaccine, the Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) combination vaccine, and the HPV vaccine. Between April 1, 2011, and May 31, 2011, students are encouraged to get one or all of these vaccines, and present proof to their school nurse before June 1. Those that do will receive individual entries for each vaccine, and four entries total if they get all three.
The stunt is taking place under the leadership of superintendent Neil Pedersen, and is being promoted by both school nurses and the Orange County Health Department. The CHCCS information page explains that the contest was made possible by a donation from a family whose daughter allegedly died from meningococcal disease, but it does not explain why the Tdap and HPV vaccines are also included in the vaccine drive.
The Tdap vaccine, of course, is a highly dangerous vaccine that has been implicated in causing permanent brain damage and other serious injuries. Just a few months ago, a Texas man explained to My FOX Houston that the Tdap vaccine caused his otherwise healthy and bright young daughter to basically turn into a vegetable, suffering hundreds of seizures daily as a result (http://www.naturalnews.com/031469_v…).
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And the HPV vaccine is widely known to cause neurological damage, seizures, heart problems, autoimmune diseases, vision and hearing loss, chronic fatigue, paralysis, and death (http://truthaboutgardasil.org/). NaturalNews has an extensive archive of reports about the HPV vaccine that you can explore here:
http://www.naturalnews.com/HPV.html
That the CHCCS school district has chosen to push a series of high-risk vaccines on young students using alluring prize incentives is both irresponsible and unethical. In fact, it is borderline child abuse, as the HPV vaccine in particular has absolutely no proven benefits, and only an extremely high risk of serious injury and death.
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To help speak out against this vaccine drive, please check out this informative Action Alert which provides details on who to contact, as well as some helpful talking points:
http://movingstronglyforward.typepa…
Sources for this story include:
http://www2.chccs.k12.nc.us/educati…

How Perverted Have We Become?

Butler Shaffer
LewRockwell.com
May 9, 2011
Michael: My father is no different from any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.
Kay Adams: Do you know how naïve you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don’t have men killed.
Michael: Oh, who’s being naïve, Kay?
~ The Godfather(1972)
When I was in high school, one of my teachers showed the film The Ox-Bow Incident. For those unfamiliar with the movie, it is a western that takes place in 19th century Nevada. Three strangers are captured by townsfolk – who had formed a posse – and accused of having murdered a local cattleman and stolen his cattle. The three are in possession of the cattle, but claim they had bought them from the owner. As the sale took place out on the range, no bill of sale accompanied the transaction. In due course, most members of the posse conclude these men were guilty of the crime, and decide to hang them, which they summarily do. Shortly thereafter, the posse meets up with the sheriff who informs them that the cattleman had been wounded, but not murdered, and that the wrongdoers who had shot him had been caught.
I recall no lengthy discussion of this film once it ended. Its message was as evident to each of us as it was to theater audiences; its meaning stood on its own. Unlike so much of the public response to the killing of Osama bin Laden, there was no post-lynching praise of the posse for having performed a community service; no bestowal of “hero” status upon the perpetrators.
Like most Americans – and, perhaps, people in general – I have no defense to make of bin Laden. Outside of his own circle of operatives, the only person I can recall who had good words to say about this man was Ronald Reagan. It was during his presidency that the U.S. government helped to create and fund Al Qaeda – with bin Laden in a leadership role – to help drive the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. For those of you who derive your sense of history from motion pictures, you might want to watch Charlie Wilson’s War. Having been established to serve American Cold War interests, when Al Qaeda’s success in evicting the Soviets was no longer useful to such purposes, it pursued other foreign invaders (i.e., its creators)! Once again Boobus Americanus is confronted with Newton’s “third law of motion” which, in matters political, is known to thoughtful minds as “blowback.”
My criticism of bin Laden’s killing has less to do with what was done to him, than with the morally depraved character of so many Americans who, once again, react to the crimes of its leaders by waving flags and chanting “USA, USA!” My children and grandchildren will have to live in – and, hopefully, not have to escape from – this country whose fate is so utterly a matter of indifference to most of their neighbors. Thanks to the influence that politics, government schools, and the mainstream media have had in anesthetizing minds to the pain of clear, self-directed thinking, the kinds of principles that used to define the essence of American society, have become labeled “extremist ideology” or “crackpot” thinking. After all, what do such notions as “constitutional restraints,” the “rule of law,” “due process,” “individual liberty,” “privacy,” “fair trials for the accused,” the rejection of “torture,” and other related ideas, have to do with such “real world” matters as details of the royal wedding, or the question “who will be the next American Idol?”
This is what America has become: a nation of people who accept what the Nuremberg trials declared to be the most serious of war crimes, namely, the starting of wars; people who regard “liberty” as the condition that derives from obedience to authority; for whom “justice” means nothing more than the redistribution of violence; and who are willing to accept heroes on the cheap. The official story of how bin Laden was killed has changed so many times that it remains uncertain what actually occurred. What can be distilled, at this point, is that Navy SEALs were brought to bin Laden’s residence by helicopter; he was unarmed and put up no resistance; and, having been captured, was then shot and killed, and his body dumped into the sea.
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It borders on the psychotic for Americans to cheer, as “heroes,” men who, not defending themselves from gunfire, and having captured a now helpless old man, would then commit such a cold-blooded atrocity. Why was he not taken into custody, and allowed to stand trial for his alleged deeds? Was it preordained that, no matter the circumstances, bin Laden was not to survive his capture; that, as Noam Chomsky and others have observed, the United States did not have concrete evidence of bin Laden’s responsibility for the crimes of 9/11? Was there, perhaps, the greater fear that if bin Laden – a creature of American foreign policy – were to be subjected to a public trial, the underside of such policies might be revealed; that such evidence – coupled with the revelations coming from Julian Assange and his Wikileaks organization – might prove embarrassing?
If American troops are to play the role of “hit men” for the political establishment – gunning down those who might inconvenience the purposes of statist godfathers – what are we to think of our neighbors who see such behavior as a matter of national greatness? It is now the common wisdom among the political talking-heads – whose opinions are all too common – that Obama’s criminal act greatly boosts his reelection chances. Has the market for moral principles so bottomed out in this country? Is it in the dregs of human character that future historians will find the essence of 21st century America?
Nearly six years ago, British policemen tackled a young Brazilian man in a subway station on his way to work. After getting him down, he was shot five times in the head and died, for which FOX News’ witless commentator, John Gibson, praised the police, adding “five in the noggin is fine.” It was later revealed that the victim of this murder was innocent of any wrongdoing. In a rational world, it would be the purpose of a public trial to determine whether a suspect was guilty of a criminal offense. In whatever form a lynch-mob appears, the society that condones – or worse yet glorifies – such practices destroys itself.
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Hero-worship is far too overdone in this country, and is often confused with fame. Nonetheless, those who seek heroic behavior can find it if one is discriminating in where to look for it. One can sometimes find it within the military, although such persons are often treated as pariahs. One example can be found in the U.S. Army helicopter pilot, Hugh Thompson, who came upon the systematic murdering of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai, led by Lt. Calley. When Thompson figured out what was occurring, he turned his helicopter toward the American soldiers and ordered his crew members to open fire on them should they persist in their slaughter. For his heroic act of decency, Thompson spent much of his remaining years being treated more as a villain. Boobus has been too conditioned in his support of the state to be willing to make independent judgments, particularly about anything that lays too great burden upon his mind. A more recent example of military heroism is seen in Private Bradley Manning, who has been accused of providing WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange with the restricted material that Wikileaks later released. For a nation that professes to operate on democratic principles, Manning and Assange are providing the public with an essential service: a documented awareness of what its government has been doing. If anyone wants to build a monument to any of these genuine heroes, please let me know where I can send my donation!
Butler Shaffer teaches at the Southwestern University School of Law. He is the author of the newly-released In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign Against Competition, 1918–1938 and of Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival. His latest book is Boundaries of Order.

Obama: “We Could Not Say Definitively That Bin Laden Was There”

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
May 9, 2011
During his 60 Minutes interview with CBS News last night, Barack Obama admitted that US intelligence was only 55/45 confident that Bin Laden was even in the compound raided last Sunday night, fearing that the occupant could actually have been a “prince from Dubai,” a skepticism shared by residents of Abbottabad, one of whom told the BBC that the man seen watching television in the tapes released by the White House Saturday was in fact his neighbor, not Bin Laden.





The relevant comments are made after the 10 minute mark.
“Obviously, we’re going into the sovereign territory of another country and landing helicopters and conducting a military operation. And so if it turns out that it’s a wealthy, you know, prince from Dubai who’s in this compound, and, you know, we’ve spent Special Forces in — we’ve got problems,” Obama told 60 Minutes host Steve Kroft.
“At the end of the day, this was still a 55/45 situation. I mean, we could not say definitively that bin Laden was there. Had he not been there, then there would have been significant consequences,” the president added.
The White House’s massive uncertainty that Bin Laden was even in the compound and that US forces could instead have been raiding a “prince from Dubai,” is interesting given the fact that the vast majority of neighbors who lived around the house in Abbottabad remain convinced that both the man who lived there and the individual shown watching television in the tape released by US officials Saturday was not Bin Laden.
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In a BBC News report, Orla Guerin interviewed dozens of people who were adamant that Bin Laden did not live in the compound, with none of them ever witnessing him or hearing rumors that he was there in the five years that Obama claimed Bin Laden was a resident in the town.
“It’s all a fake, nothing happened,” said a newspaper seller who has been working in the town for 50 years.
Another resident told Guerin that the man seen in the video footage of Osama allegedly flicking between television channels is in fact his neighbor, not Bin Laden.
“His name is Akhbar Han, he owns the house they said was Osama’s house, I know him very well,” the man stated.
After speaking to “more than 50 people in the market,” Guerin found only one who believed that the man watching television was Bin Laden.
As we documented on Saturday, while the face of the man watching television can hardly be seen, the other videos released by the White House show a Bin Laden that looks a lot younger and healthier than he did in 2001. All of the other videos look almost identical to footage first released in 2007 by the Pentagon front group SITE.



A separate CCTV news report featured interviews with Abbottabad residents who swore that “Osama was never here,” and that a fable had been invented to help the US isolate Pakistan geopolitically.
“I have lived here all my life, I have never seen Osama Bin Laden come or go from here, we are a close knit community, at least we would have seen him once, but we did not,” said another.
Members of Pakistan’s anti-terrorist unit could not confirm Bin Laden’s presence either, according to the report, which noted that the consensus that the whole operation was a “hoax” prevailed.
Last week, another Abbottabad resident who lived 5 minutes from the alleged Bin Laden compound and also owned a house next door said he never saw any sign that Bin Laden lived in the house, adding that the area was restricted due to it being next door to a Pakistani military facility, and that all new residents had to show ID cards before they could enter the area.


Schumer Calls for Train Station Gestapo Zones

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
May 9, 2011
New York senator Charles Schumer is calling for no ride lists for Amtrak similar to the no fly lists currently used in the nation’s airports.

“Anyone, even a member of al-Qaida could purchase a train ticket and board an Amtrak train without so much as a question asked,” Schumer said. “So that’s why I’m calling for the creation of an Amtrak no ride list. That would take the secure flight program and apply it to Amtrak trains.”
Schumer issued his demand after the Pentagon supposedly gleaned information about terrorists attacks from Osama bin Laden’s home in Pakistan. The Department of Homeland Security sent an advisory to law enforcement officials around the country stating al-Qaeda discussed tampering with an unspecified U.S. rail track so that a train would fall off the track at a valley or a bridge.
Protecting the rail system in the United States would be virtually impossible. There is 140,000 miles of freight and passenger track in the country, not counting subway systems and light rail. In addition, there are 3,100 train and transit stations. There were over four billion passenger rail trips last year.
Last year Amtrak police doubled their bomb-sniffing dog teams, randomly screened thousands of bags and periodically sent “surges” of militarized cops into train stations, Amtrak police chief John O’Connor told Newsday.
In October of 2002, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a FOIA to obtain information about the then secret no-fly list compiled by the Transportation Security Administration under the Department of Homeland Security. When the TSA failed to respond to EPIC’s request, EPIC filed suit in December 2002.

In late 2002 it was learned that the government used the list to prevent political activists from flying. In 2006, the TSA and the FBI agreed to pay $200,000 in attorneys’ fees for two anti-war activists who sued after they were told by airline agents at San Francisco International Airport that their names appeared on a FBI no-fly list.
In addition to targeting political activists, the lists are used to intimidate the public and acclimate them to the police state.
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“What the ‘watch list’ or ‘no-fly list’ is doing is training Americans to submit to warrantless searches, to abandon their constitutional rights, and to submit to humiliation by thugs and bullies,” writes Paul Craig Roberts. “A Gestapo is being trained to have no qualms about searching and intimidating fellow citizens, using any excuse to delay or arrest them. Americans are being taught to use arbitrary power and to submit to arbitrary power.”
In November, DHS boss Janet Napolitano said naked body scanners would eventually find their way into U.S. public transportation.
“I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?” said Napolitano, indicating that naked body scanners and invasive pat downs will eventually become a necessity in order for Americans to use mass transit.
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The following month, Napolitano said her agency was looking at expanding its presence into hotels and shopping malls. She said the DHS has trained employees in Stasi techniques. “We look at so-called soft targets — the hotels, shopping malls, for example — all of which we have reached out to in the past year and have done a fair amount of training for their own employees,” she said.
Following a tidal wave of hype after the government claimed it killed Osama bin Laden – a claim made without evidence and accepted as fact by the corporate media – numerous law enforcement agencies around the country stepped up a militarized presence at airports, train stations, and mass transit hubs.
The corporate media is already hyping the supposed threat to mass transit, as the following video from a Dallas television station demonstrates:

Gold, Silver Prices Recover After Carnage

Gold for June delivery was adding $11.80 to $1,503.40 at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling 4.8% in a week. The gold price Monday has traded as high as $1,510.70 and as low as $1,489. The spot gold price was rising $8.70, according to Kitco's gold index.
Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com
Silver prices were adding $1.54 to $36.83 an ounce after plummeting 27% last week.
The consensus seems to be that silver has more downside now than gold. Barclays Capital thinks that silver will find support in the low $30s as "retail demand" takes the lead but that "longer-term investor interest in gold remains robust." Barclays cites Asian demand as a key factor for higher gold prices.


Goldman Sachs seems to be in agreement, issuing a 12-month silver price target of $28.20 with silver slipping as low as $24.70 in the next three months, while gold's one-year target is $1,690 an ounce after falling to a three-month low of $1,480.


"There is overhead resistance in silver," said David Morgan, founder of silver-Investor.com, "the ratio will favor gold" for a while. The ratio refers to how many ounces of silver it takes to buy an ounce of gold. The ratio fell to as low as 31, when silver hit a recent intraday high of $49.82, and has now risen to 40.
"We're seeing gold outperform silver on a ratio basis ... I'm not that eager to get back into the market," Morgan said.
Morgan thinks the ratio could move even higher, as much as 50:1, which implied more downside from the $36 level, but that long term he is sticking by his ratio of 16:1.
"The fundamental fact remains that you cannot print wealth and as long as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other central bankers in the world try to print wealth you're going to have more and more upside for the metals," he said.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's bank participation report for May shows that gold long positions fell 7% as of May 1 compared to April 1, but short positions stayed relatively the same, whereas silver's long position rose 25% and short positions fell 18%.

Arizona now accepting donations to complete border fence

Arizona now accepting donations to complete border fence; Democrats call legislation 'symbolic'

Sunday, May 8th 2011, 8:33 PM
A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border fence.
John Moore/Getty
A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border fence.
Arizona lawmakers have launched their latest attack on illegal immigration: an online fundraising campaign to build more fencing along the state's border with Mexico.
State Sen. Steve Smith, sponsor of a new bill aimed at bankrolling the additional fence, said the goal is to use online donations and prison labor to build beefed-up border security.
Donors to the cause may even be given certificates declaring they helped build the wall, Smith told reporters last week.
"I think it’s going to be a really, really neat thing," he said.
Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill late last month allowing lawmakers to go through with the planned website where they will attempt to raise donations.
"If the website is up and there is an overwhelming response to what we've done and millions of dollars in this fund, I would see no reason why engineering or initial construction or finalized plans can't be accomplished," Smith told The Associated Press.
650 miles of fence already exists along America's border with Mexico, much of it in Arizona, a major gateway for illegal immigrants and drug trafficking. But that hasn't been enough for Arizona lawmakers -- including Sen. John McCain who in a 2010 interview about border control quipped part of the answer to securing Arizona was to "Complete the danged fence."
Brewer recently requested additional help from President Obama to secure the border.
The fence bill is just the latest legislation supported by Arizona Republicans in an effort to boost border security.
The state is already using public donations to support the legal defense of its controversial immigration legislation, SB1070, which requires immigrants carry registration papers. A federal judge issued an injunction on the enforcement of most of the controversial parts of that bill. Arizona has sought to reverse that decision in a federal appeals court.
Smith, a staunch anti-illegal immigration advocate, has often spoken out for increased funding for border protection, even as Arizona is mired in a budget crisis. While passionate about the issue, his numbers haven't always been accurate.
In a May 5th debate to send more money to the Pinal County Sheriff to increase border security, Smith claimed "half of the illegals that come through the country go through Arizona and 80 percent of those go through Pinal County."
The Arizona Republic reported those facts were dubious, at best. In 2009, 44.7% of illegal immigrants apprehended by border patrol were indeed in Arizona -- but since 90% of illegal immigrants are apprehended within five miles of the border and Pinal County is 70 miles from the border, Smith's 80% figure is doubtful.
Democrats called the legislation nothing more than “symbolic” in the April 18 debate.
"If we are here to pass symbolic legislation and not really address border security, SB1406 does the job. But people don't benefit from symbolic legislation," Democratic Rep. Catherine Miranda of Phoenix said.
With News Wire Services

nmandell@nydailynews.com