CleverAmerican cares deeply about our nation's safety. So when we seek out clever and cost-effective solutions to our border security issues we put politics aside. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Chuck Norris... or somebody lucky enough to look like the ruggedly handsome star of "Walker, Texas Ranger." His name is actually John Keeley, and he's the "Director of Communications" for a conservative think-tank known as the Center for Immigration Studies.

But like so many who leap to criticize CleverAmerican, this cocksure mouthpiece does very little thinking before flapping his yap.

Recently we made a modest proposal that would undeniably increase our chances of halting terrorist activity along America's southern border. It would serve to encourage millions of the very people most likely to encounter the agents of Al Qaeda to play a productive role in the terror war. And it would cost just a few bucks.

In a nutshell, we want to place Spanish-language billboards along the border that would simply alert Mexican nationals to the millions of dollars in rewards available to them through the Rewards for Justice program for information about terrorists attempting to infiltrate our country. This continues to be a major part of the U.S. State Department's strategy in the Middle East, where rewards have resulted in the capture of scores of fugitives, including Saddam Hussein.

So why did Mr. Keeley crap all over our idea with barely a thought? Because it doesn't suit his own narrow purposes, among them to link illegal Mexican immigration with terror and to downplay the beneficial and necessary role of Mexican labor in our economy. Mr. Keeley and his ilk can't deal with the idea that the vast majority of illegal aliens share our interest in apprehending terrorists, and could play a crucial role in doing so.

When asked to comment on CleverAmerican's proposal, Keeley's strained to be as negative as humanly possible toward the harmless idea of the counter-terrorism billboards, discounting entirely the good they could do.

"While the president suggested four years ago that all Americans need to be the eyes and ears of the community, in a sort of community watch for a post-9/11 world, this is not really keeping in the spirit of that task," Keeley told reporter Monisha Bansal of Cybercast News Service.

"THIS IS NOT REALLY KEEPING IN THE SPIRIT OF THE TASK?" Is it in the "spirit of the task" to avoid a dirty bomb from detonating in the heart of San Diego? Is it in the "spirit of the task" to avoid a biological attack in downtown Houston? You would think actual border security would matter more than kissing Tom Tancredo's ass.

"If you stop illegal immigration, you by definition stop OTMs," Keeley continued disingenuously. But we all know this won't happen overnight. Still, Keeley would rather avoid using all of the resources at our disposal in the hope of ensuring that man who saved Phoenix won't be a busboy from Mexico City.

"The task of securing the country against terrorism is appropriately the responsibility of Homeland Security and other federal law enforcement," Keeley added haughtily. That's all well and good, Mr. Keeley, but Homeland Security acknowledges we are in a poor position to defend the border due to budget shortfalls created by the Iraq conflict. So presumably you feel that merely arguing about it in the halls of Congress is preferable to acting to stop this terror scourge today in whatever way we can?

"The idea that [illegal immigrants from Mexico] should be regarded as deputies of our homeland security seems pretty far-fetched to me," Keeley concludes. If this were a meaningless political debate that didn't implicate the very real dangers we face, that kind of banal rhetoric might be appropriate. As Keeley fails to understand, publicizing the existing "Rewards for Justice" program does not "deputize" Mexican nationals any more than Pakistanis and Iraqis who report Taliban and insurgent activity have been deputized. The founder of the State Department's Rewards for Justice program, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, was not only referring to red-blooded Americans like John Keeley when he said:

“Rewards for Justice gives us millions of additional pairs of eyes and ears to be on the lookout. It puts potential informants in every place a terrorist might try to hide or operate in. And it works.”

Keeley knows how the Rewards for Justice program is supposed to work. And he knows illegal aliens are excellent candidates to participate since they are best situated to witness terrorist infiltration along the border. But, again, it's all about politics for these inside-the-beltway mouthpieces.

Surely we are not stupid enough to reject quality intelligence about, say, WMDs on our doorstep or the smuggling of terrorists across our border by the notorious MS-13 gang simply because it came from somebody who doesn't happen to have a green card?