National Guard troops have started leaving the U.S.-Mexico border. About 6,000 Guard members have been on the border since May 2006, where they were deployed by President Bush to back up the Border Patrol until more agents could be hired. The troop reductions began July 15. The Bush Administration wants to cut their numbers in half by Sept. 1.
The Border Patrol plans to add 6,000 agents by the end of the year for a total of about 18,000. There are about 14,000 agents now. New graduates will be sent to five sectors - San Diego, California; El Paso and Laredo in Texas; and Tucson and Yuma in Arizona.
Many saw the Guard deployments as a 2006 election year ploy to demostrate to Republicans in Congress that Bush was committed to stemming illegal immigration. Guard troops were not allowed to make immigration arrests, but did free up border agents for the field by taking over camera rooms and helping man checkpoints.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico, sent a letter to Bush this week asking him to keep troops on the border until more Border Patrol agents are trained and assigned. In Texas, the number of guardsmen will be reduced from about 1,500 to 900.
The parable of the two wolves: One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith ("faith in me and you"). The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
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