>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 05/13/06 7:40 PM >>> Yes! There are "red herrings" to be pursued! Governors & constituents to be coerced! Tightening the border Newsday.com via Topix.net BY CRAIG GORDON May 13, 2006 The National Guard plans appear to offer Bush something he badly needs - a way to do better at sealing off the leaky border in the face of complaints by state officials that they can't handle the problem on their own. In addition, National Guard forces could be deployed almost immediately, as a temporary measure, while additional Border Patrol agents are trained. The cost and duration of any possible deployment was unclear Friday night. But the plan would pose risks as well, not least of which is the specter of the United States militarizing its border with a friendly neighbor, Mexico. In addition, the National Guard already is facing severe strains from repeated deployments to Iraq - a concern that arose when state governors needed reservists to deal with Hurricane Katrina. <<<<<>>>>>
congress authorized presidents to employ state militia (now called national guard) in early days of the republic pursuant to article 1, section 8, clause 15 of the u.s. constitution, congressional language authorizing presidents to *federalize* refers to situations involving combinations of persons to powerful to be dealt with through conventional procedures, but presidents have done so in order to take a state's guard away from gubernatorial command... current federalization is governed by so-called montgomery amendment (named for long-time mississippi house member sonny montgomery who died the other day) that congress enacted after several governors objected to reagan calling their respective state guards into training exercises in Honduras in early '80s, in sustaining the constitutionality of montomgery, a unanimous supreme court rejected gubernatorial claims that the amendment violated clause 15 which provides for calling the guard into federal service for 3 reasons - execute federal laws, suppress insurrections, repel invasions, court's ruling held that clause 15 must be interpreted in terms of article 6 *national supremacy*, justices also so noted that congress provides most of the funds for the guard... increased use of national guard troops in u.s. wars since vietnam can be traced to nixon secretary of defense melvin laird's *total force policy* which was intended to partially accomplish - without specific congressional authorization - what both wilson and truman administrations had failed to do, make federalization of national guard a permanent fixture of u.s. military... mh Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
