The Guard Tower.

A rifle shot rings out across the desert, a voice yells “Rider coming in!”. The location – somewhere in the Arizona Territory, the time – sometime in the 1870s. Pedro, as vigilant as ever in the guard tower, warns the occupants of The High Chaparral of a possible threat to their safety.



This was a work of 1960s television fiction, of course. The tale of a rancher who, in this lawless west, takes a stand against any and all who would destroy his vision of the future. Having lost his first wife to an Apache arrow shortly after moving to their new home, he steels himself for the task ahead when many would give up.

With Apache raids from the north and Mexican cattle rustlers from the south, vigilance is the keyword in the survival of his family and loyal ranch hands. As a side note, I always felt sorry for Pedro. Maybe he was unlucky in drawing straws for guard tower duty.

Fast forward about 140 years to modern day Arizona. No longer a ‘territory’ but a fully-fledged state, with laws and agencies in place to protect the citizens against incursion by hostile forces. There is only one problem…

Big John Cannon would have welcomed the creation of the Border Patrol. So would Pedro, not having to spend so many hours up in that tower under the blazing sun. I don’t think they would be so impressed by a federal government that takes the teeth away from an agency designed to protect them. Or the fact that those gunless wonders in Washington are willing to sue their elected state officials for attempting to help them.

What goes around, comes around. Well, it sure does in the case of Arizona. From lawless, dangerous, hostile territory to safe, civilized, law-enforced state… and back again.

It’s a sad and deeply tragic state of affairs. The world’s only superpower, in the guise of the Obama administration, can not defend (or is not willing to defend) its own people against the constant threat from across the border. This is a threat far more dangerous than has been seen at any time in history. In the 1870s it was small groups of bandidos, armed with revolvers that were pretty inaccurate even at point-blank range. In 2011, they are heavily armed with automatic weapons… and they are highly organized.

In a recent news report, it was revealed that the Mexican drug cartels obtained weapons due to a botched operation by ATF, whereby they knowingly supplied firearms to drug smugglers in an attempt to trace them back to source. That really inspires confidence.



Inability, incompetence, unwillingness… Is it surprising that with these all too familiar hallmarks of federal authorities that people, like Richard Humphries, are forced to take drastic measures to protect themselves? Mr Humphries, a rancher, has built a watchtower on his 75 acre ranch in an attempt to monitor the movements of illegals.

Perhaps it’s time for the president and his administration to watch more ‘High Chaparral’ and less ‘West Wing’, in order to understand the real America.

(Editor Dee is in for Skip today)

It’s Time To Put The Heat On The Border.

Everyone is focused on Egypt and the other suddenly unstable middle east dictatorships… with the expected hard left mantra of freedom and democracy for the masses. It’s being trumpeted by all the lame stream outlets. The same morons who bleat that the Muslim Brotherhood is ‘non political and sectarian’. They just want to make nice and sing kumbaya, somehow ignoring that the Brotherhood is Hamas, is Al Qaeda, is a half-dozen splinter groups, each in its own way more dangerous and radical than the others.



This is who Barack Obama and the regime actually support. Take all the lies and obfuscations away, strip his arrogant statements and what’s revealed is again Obama’s repeated affinity for all things Islamist, to the detriment of this country and the office he is supposed to be serving.

Turning from the bad guys in Egypt and the middle east to the open wound of our own southern border with Mexico. We, as patriots, really have got to turn up the heat on this one. The border issue is going to reach critical mass before too long.

The increasing crimes against our citizens perpetrated by illegal aliens, the property crimes, drug and gun running, the increasing reach of the drug cartels as they spread their reach into America through their street soldiers… the Mexican gangs. More and more violent, gang-related incidents are occurring. More innocent Americans are dying, and we have a government who has repeatedly failed to live up to promise after promise to control the border!

We shouldn’t have to push and prod our lawmakers to do one of the only fundamental legitimate duties that it has under the Constitution. It’s known that many, not a few, middle eastern types have crossed into this country over our southern border in the years in which our border has been a sieve. The numbers are in the thousands… actually they are in the multiples of thousands. I have no reason to believe that these fine folks were just seeking employment as taxi drivers.

Get on the horn, on the keyboard, or go down to your representatives’ offices and tell them that the border has got to be closed to smuggling, human or otherwise.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2011