COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, June 05, 2008

NYTimes - "$1.4 Billion aid to Mexico is not enough"

Yesterday the NYTimes acknowledged the crisis in Mexico. They also indicated that the $1.4 billion aid package is "not enough." Let's see how long they support this "war."
Mexico at the Brink
June 4, 2008
NY Times Editorial


The War on Drugs may be fading from memory north of the Rio Grande, but south of the river, bloody battles are threatening to overwhelm Mexico’s democratically elected government. The timid assistance package proposed by the Bush administration and pared down by Congress suggests that Washington doesn’t grasp either the scale of the danger or its own responsibilities.

President Felipe Calderón’s decision to take on the traffickers shows great courage and a sound understanding of the threat they pose to his country. But he seems to be in over his head. More than 4,000 people, including about 450 members of the police department, have been killed in drug-related violence since he took office a year and a half ago. Just last month, four top security officials were gunned down in Mexico City, including the acting chief of the federal police.

Mexico cannot wage this battle alone. Its police forces are ill equipped, ill trained and riddled with corruption — and clearly no match for the drug barons, with their enormous wealth and firepower. President Calderón’s decision to turn to the military is understandable, but the army is not trained for the policing and intelligence tasks or for dealing with the civilian population. Human rights advocates are already accusing the army of abuses.

The United States has a clear interest and a clear obligation to help. This country is the main market for the methamphetamine cooked in Mexican labs and the cocaine moving through Mexico from the Andes. It is also the source of the traffickers’ weapons. And no fence will stop the gun battles from moving across the border.

The Bush administration is right to acknowledge the shared threat and the common responsibility. But the three-year, $1.4 billion aid package it proposed doesn’t do the job. It is too small, notably so when compared with the billions the cartels earn in the United States. And far too much of the aid is military hardware when Mexico has other more urgent needs.

Above all, Mexico needs help rooting out corruption and creating a well-equipped, well-trained and respected civilian police force. The Mexican police need help improving their skills in forensic investigations, prison security and witness protection. And Mexico needs a transparent, fair and competent judiciary to prosecute traffickers as well as officials and members of the police who have been bought by the traffickers or are guilty of human rights abuses.

Any aid would have to require close monitoring to ensure that it is not squandered and that reports of abuses are not swept under the rug.

Washington’s role does not end there. Mexico has no hope of defeating the traffickers unless this country is also willing to do more to fight the drug war at home — starting with a clear commitment to stop the weapons smugglers and to do more to take on the narcotics networks on the American side of the border.

Unfortunately, rather than bolstering aid to Mexico, Congress is shrinking it. The House approved a first installment of only $400 million, not the $500 million requested by the White House. The Senate approved only $350 million. Both have also attached sensible human rights conditions — but neither the administration nor Congress has made any effort to sell those conditions to Mexican officials. Some of Mr. Calderón’s aides are now suggesting that they might reject the help. After years of blaming each other, the United States and Mexico are finally ready to fight the traffickers together. Both governments need to work, urgently, to salvage the aid package and that cooperation. The threat to Mexico, and this country, is far too dangerous.


96 comments:

  1. Washington’s role does not end there. Mexico has no hope of defeating the traffickers unless this country is also willing to do more to fight the drug war at home — starting with a clear commitment to stop the weapons smugglers and to do more to take on the narcotics networks on the American side of the border.

    Hmm...I wonder what the Times has in mind. Are they advocating a crackdown?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Spitzer Milky Way

    The United State is being ruined, by that open border.

    From the Desk of:
    Steve Elliott, President, Grassfire.org Alliance


    6/5/2008

    Dear MRC Friend,

    Next Tuesday, Ron De Jong and I will be on Capitol Hill presenting
    your petition to key members in the House--demanding that our
    borders be secured.

    I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to represent you, and promise
    that when I stand at the podium on Cannon Terrace, surrounded by
    boxes of petitions, I will deliver a powerful and poignant message
    to leadership that grassroots Americans will prevail in moving the
    government to build the double-layered fence as promised.

    I believe a strong grassroots presence will also stimulate The
    Fence By Date Certain Act--a critical piece of legislation that
    seeks to restore the original mandates in the Secure Fence
    Act--most notably the promise to build 800 miles of double
    layered fencing.

    That's our goal with this delivery--which is why I want to make
    certain we do everything in our power to make it our best presentation
    to date...

    But as usual, I need your help.

    MRC Friend, Tuesday afternoon, I want to present at least 250,000
    petitions to Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC). Right now we are about 20,000
    petitions shy of this quarter-million goal.

    With your help I want to make one final push over the weekend
    to reach this dazzling goal.

    ++Action Item--Rally your friends

    Forward this message to 25-35 friends and family urging
    them to take action by signing our petition demanding the
    fence be built as promised, by clicking here:

    http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?u=7965&PID=16625537

    I would love to represent your friends and family at this upcoming event.
    Please impress on them the importance of this issue, and what ultimately
    is at stake!

    Thank you for taking fast action with me.

    Steve

    ++Help Grassfire Secure the Fence:

    http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=7962&CID=242&RID=16625537

    ReplyDelete
  3. No kidding whit.

    Seeing as the narcotics networks are primarily run by ethnic Colombian (did I spell it right trish?) and Mexican gangs mixed in with other ethnic minority gangs at street-level distribution, seems that the Times would piss their pants the minute La Migra y Los Federales took the definitive steps to shut 'em down. Can't have that now, can we?

    It's fun to throw stones from a crumbling, ivory tower I guess.

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  4. You guys miss the American point.

    DC needs to fund the following objectives, in Mexico.

    Above all, Mexico needs help
    1. rooting out corruption and
    2. creating a well-equipped, well-trained and respected civilian police force. The Mexican police need help improving their skills in
    3. forensic investigations,
    4. prison security and
    5. witness protection. And Mexico needs
    6. a transparent, fair and competent judiciary to prosecute traffickers as well as officials and members of the police who have been bought by the traffickers or are guilty of human rights abuses.


    The roghts of man advance, incrementally, but the NYTimes does call for DC to require close monitoring to ensure that it is not squandered and that reports of abuses are not swept under the rug.

    One America, the NYTimes approves

    ReplyDelete
  5. How does a country rebuild its' judiciary, with foreign aid, and remain truly sovereign?

    It cannot.

    It will not

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's never enough. I bet if we looked back in decades past, we'd be amazed at the amounts in aid, and the stories about 'it's not enough.'

    ReplyDelete
  7. Like giving money to Mugabe.

    Mexico had a great oil industry and managed to screw that up.

    The kleptocracy that ran that Mexico will steer the Ustados Unidos de Mexico into the ground as well.

    Don't forget, the federales here have us $99.2 trillion in the hole on Medicare and SS. You can bring the entire Mexican population into the tax system and it still won't cover the debt.

    Some politician and the pliant slobs that worship them will always vote themselves more largess than can ever be paid.

    The Sedentarian Party.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Some politician and the pliant slobs that worship them will always vote themselves more largess than can ever be paid.

    That's the only thing that will save us: It can never be paid. And there's a limit to how much can be borrowed as well. If your debt load becomes too great, you are evaluated as a credit risk, and your cost of borrowing goes ever up. When the entire revenue of the federal government goes to service the debt, it can grow no larger.

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  9. DR,

    Are you ever going to quit starting 80% of your posts with telling someone they've missed the point?

    "You guys miss the American point."

    I know when I was here last I mentioned how obnoxious it was but I guess obnoxious people continue obnoxious habits..

    Do this dude. Just state your point without "holding court". You ain't all that hot shit.

    ReplyDelete
  10. bobal said...

    Just inflate the money.


    And the Fed stopped reporting the M3 numbers in 2005.

    I wonder...hmmm...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Mexico may reject U.S. aid package to fight drugs

    By Oscar Avila

    MEXICO CITY - Even though Mexico has just endured an especially deadly month, top Mexican officials said this week that they are ready to walk away from a historic U.S. aid package to help combat drug-related violence.

    Mexican officials said they will not accept the Bush administration's proposed Merida Initiative if it includes requirements to overhaul their country's human-rights institutions as a growing number of U.S. lawmakers insist.

    Mexico Wants The Money No Strings Attached

    ReplyDelete
  12. Then do not read it, amigo.

    If it does not suit you

    At least I'm not a fraud and a liar.

    What years were you in the military, in what locales and with which Units, fatulance?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I always like money with no strings attached. It's the best kind of money there is. Unfortunately, in my case, the bank has always wanted to 'attach' something, in the way of 'security', the bastards. They be messin' with my sovereignty.

    I don't want no stinkin' strings.

    ReplyDelete
  14. That the NYTimes supports the expansion of DC authority in Mexico comes as a surprise?

    The NYTimes is all about the expansion of the Federal authority, always has been. They sometimes harp upon the Governments' application of power, but never the accumulation of it, by the Feds.

    It's a long and windy road we have embarked upon, but fear not ...

    The McCain Comprehensive Immigration Plan will save US, Mexico and all Americans, where ever they were naturally born.

    Then the Carbon Cap and Trade will save US from Global climate catastrophe.

    While AirBus fuel tankers supply our fighter fleet of aircraft.

    While no one can discuss it, and reference the politicos responsible, in public, 90 days before an election.

    McCain success stories, future, present and past

    ReplyDelete
  15. Habu has a glass jaw. What a sensitive lad he is.

    ReplyDelete
  16. In other news, Turkish Court Upholds Headscarf Ban

    Makes one sometimes almost think Canada and the USA might be better off with Turkish judges.

    ReplyDelete
  17. $1.4 billion USD over three years.
    $466 million annually

    While they supply US with around one million two-hundred thousand barrels of oil per day.

    At $130 USD per barrel.

    $156 million USD per day

    ReplyDelete
  18. How does a country rebuild its' judiciary, with foreign aid, and remain truly sovereign?

    It cannot.

    It will not

    Thu Jun 05, 08:05:00 PM EDT

    Rat, that's ludicrous.









    All: As long as demand remains steady, there is no winning the War on Drugs. At home or abroad.

    Successful eradication and/or interdiction in state/region/locale A, moves the business to state/region/locale B (C, D, and E).

    It's a costly and Sisyphean struggle, creating the very conditions it sought to prevent.

    Bout time to rethink it.

    ReplyDelete
  19. While the industrial production worker, in Mexico ...

    MEXICO CITY: Mexican auto unions are taking a cue from U.S. labor leaders by offering two-tier hiring schemes and salary cuts that bring already low wages down to near-Chinese levels.

    As more automakers turn to Mexico, a big argument for the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 — that Mexico's low wage rates would slowly rise to close the gap with U.S. wages — seems to have been thrown in reverse.

    "The pressure has not been to raise the Mexican wages up, it's been to push the U.S. wages down," said Ben Davis, the director of the AFL-CIO Solidarity office in Mexico City.

    And now Mexican wages are being pushed down even more.

    Wage concessions were apparently key to persuading Ford Motor Co. to direct many of the 4,500 new jobs involved in building Fiestas to the Ford plant in Cuautitlan, on the outskirts of Mexico City.
    Union leaders at the plant told The Associated Press they had agreed to cut wages for new hires to about half of the current wage of US$4.50 per hour.


    Wait just a minute, what he say ...

    agreed to cut wages for new hires to about half of the current wage of US$4.50 per hour

    Half of $4.50, why that's $2.25 per hour!!!

    Little wonder then that GM closed a Canadian and two US plants this past week.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Half of $4.50, why that's $2.25 per hour!!!

    Meaning a Mexican can earn more doing yard work in Boise than in an industrial job back home. I know I'm supposed to be for free trade and all, but how does this benefit us, unless we own stock in GM?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Does the Mexican government under these trade agreements have any ability to demand the workers in a GM plant in Mexico get a certain minimum wage? We have a minimum wage here. Or are they all bought off?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Not to a Mexican Nationalist, trish. As noted by bob, it seems they are rejecting the offer.

    They will reject the strings, the proposed incentives are way to small, for a country like Mexico.

    As long as the contrabandistas traffic in drugs and not ideology, the Government will function just fine.

    As long as the safety valve in Nogales is open.

    Refugee from a Mexican Civil War?
    Make todays' traffic seem a trifle.

    The US cannot manage a country of 25 million people with 160,000 troops, Mexico has 110 million people.
    Its' GDP (purchasing power parity):
    $1.353 trillion (2007 est.)
    of which 0.5% is spent on their military.
    $6.45 billion USD
    per anum

    Want to get their cooperation, triple their defense expeditures, and the points the NYTimes requested, too.

    Still cheaper than 90 days in Iraq.
    Closer to home, too.

    ReplyDelete
  23. "It's a costly and Sisyphean struggle"
    ---
    It would be a cheap and easy struggle if we built the F...... Fence and secured the border.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I know I'm supposed to be for free trade and all, but how does this benefit us

    - bob

    You assume Americans work but don't also consume.

    ReplyDelete
  25. One for bob, mat and trish

    Wind debate splits Bisbee
    Ryan Randazzo
    The Arizona Republic
    Jun. 5, 2008 12:00 AM

    Talk of a wind farm has blown into the artsy community of Bisbee, the latest in a long list of cities across the country now mired in the clean-energy debate.

    Some residents of the southeastern Arizona city support the renewable-energy source, while others don't want to see or hear turbines, typically hundreds of feet tall, spinning on their hillsides.

    The controversy highlights the dilemma faced by energy companies trying to pitch the inexpensive, non-polluting power source that, unlike many power plants, can't be tucked out of sight

    ReplyDelete
  26. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  27. Mexico’s war on drugs Journey into a lawless land

    "You want to buy some?" said Pancho without further ado, referring to the local marijuana, "$100 a kilo."

    "Ah, no thank you."

    "How about grenades? I have some good grenades and a rocket for them."

    "The rocket shoots the grenades?"

    "Yes. It works very well, very strong." He held up his arm and slapped it.

    "It's not my business, but why would anyone need rocket-propelled grenades in Urique Canyon?"

    Pancho gave me the patient, pitying look. "Helicopters," he said. "Sometimes the army comes in helicopters. We used to string cables across the canyons to bring them down, but these work much better."

    "But I don't need to shoot down any helicopters."

    "Hombre, you can use them for anything you want. If there are bandits on the road ahead, you stop and – BOOM!"

    "How about some parakeet?" chimed in José. "We can get some right now from Pancho's aunt."

    "No thank you. But tell me, how are the police here? Do they make trouble?"

    "There is no problem," said José. They both grinned. "My brother is a police officer and we are training to be police officers ourselves."

    ReplyDelete
  28. Go ahead and build the fence. I got no problem with that (but I've a good idea why tis admin does).

    What you're going to find is profound and systemic corruption on BOTH sides in just about every facet and level of law enforcement.

    ReplyDelete
  29. "Artsy"

    Well, yeah. It's that, too. : )

    ReplyDelete
  30. "As long as the contrabandistas traffic in drugs and not ideology, the Government will function just fine."

    Um, no.

    And the government is not functioning "just fine."

    ReplyDelete
  31. Even to Iraq, $50 billion must be real money, aye?

    The "Independent" out of the UK, is it reliable, as a source?

    US issues threat to Iraq's $50bn foreign reserves in military deal

    By Patrick Cockburn
    Friday, 6 June 2008

    The US is holding hostage some $50bn (£25bn) of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely, according to information leaked to The Independent.


    US negotiators are using the existence of $20bn in outstanding court judgments against Iraq in the US, to pressure their Iraqi counterparts into accepting the terms of the military deal, details of which were reported for the first time in this newspaper yesterday.

    Iraq's foreign reserves are currently protected by a presidential order giving them immunity from judicial attachment but the US side in the talks has suggested that if the UN mandate, under which the money is held, lapses and is not replaced by the new agreement, then Iraq's funds would lose this immunity. The cost to Iraq of this happening would be the immediate loss of $20bn. The US is able to threaten Iraq with the loss of 40 per cent of its foreign exchange reserves because Iraq's independence is still limited by the legacy of UN sanctions and restrictions imposed on Iraq since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in the 1990s. This means that Iraq is still considered a threat to international security and stability under Chapter Seven of the UN charter. The US negotiators say the price of Iraq escaping Chapter Seven is to sign up to a new "strategic alliance" with the United States.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Want to get their cooperation, triple their defense expeditures, and the points the NYTimes requested, too.

    - Rat

    Pardon me for going at it piecemeal.

    Increasing defense expenditures is one part of what must be a comprehensive approach - to include judicial reform. The two most important strategic goals are expanding/extending the reach, authority and legitimacy of the gov at all levels, and growing the licit economy.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Depends upon ones perspective, trish.

    There is little doubt that one of the trainee groups through SoA at Ft Benning have gone over to the Cartels.

    So obviously we are further behind the curve, in Mexico today, then we were in 2004, in Iraq. When the Iraqi Security Forces cut and ran

    Only it was not the foot soldiers that deserted, in Mexico, oh no, it was the Mexican Army's US trained elite. The Honor Squad.

    But the Mexico still functions, just fine. There have been bandits in the hills, siempre'

    ReplyDelete
  34. Make Mexico lool like the United States, that's the solution.

    Raise their per capita GDP to $25,000, as President Fox said.

    Create a consumer credit market, which Wal-Mart is doing.

    Provide easy access to US credit and labor markets.

    But the United States, so out of favor, we'll just substitute "America", to cover all the bases.

    Make Mexico lool like "America", that's the solution.

    ReplyDelete
  35. To where it can integrate into the hemispheric society, seamlessly

    ReplyDelete
  36. Bisbee-area residents are conflicted.

    "It's hard to get a handle on it because you want to save the environment, but you're destroying it to save it," said Todd Bogatay, a local architect and sculptor who crafted an off-grid home in the hills north of Bisbee. "There's got to be a better way."

    Bogatay's eccentric hand-built home and guesthouse sit along a road cut years ago into the Mule Mountains for a failed development, which left the road in eroding disrepair.

    He fears dozens of roads connecting the wind turbines and allowing service trucks to reach them will damage the landscape.

    And the irony that his home is entirely powered by solar and small wind turbines isn't lost on him, nor is it on other off-grid homeowners in the area.

    Pamela Housh has woken up to beautiful sunrises and even a javelina or two outside her window overlooking the Mule Mountains.

    After retiring from law enforcement in Colorado, she spent four years building her house by hand. It is complete with a solar-power system and rainwater collector on the roof. She even designed the bedroom window to catch the breeze and cool the place.

    She worries that turbines catching the same breeze will ruin what she has worked for.

    "I have my own solar power, so it won't help me any," Housh said.

    If Clipper or anyone else builds turbines in the Mule Mountains, they certainly will be visible from the homes of Housh, Bogatay and dozens of other rural dwellers.

    But Bisbee itself clings to hillsides in a nearby ravine and likely wouldn't have a turbine in sight from downtown.

    ReplyDelete
  37. SoA aside, Colombia went through much the same thing. And damned near lost everything for about five years. The drug cartels' power and reach vastly outgrew that of the government. And double-dealing was endemic from top to bottom.

    So we've been through this before.

    Same story, different location.

    And the Afghans certainly can sympathize. They're only beginning to realize progress against many of the same conditions.

    ReplyDelete
  38. But while the Colombian cartels no longer threaten Colombia, the drug trade still seems to flourish.

    So the reality on the ground is that the cartels stick to business, in Colombia and Mexico. When the Government begins to interfere with business, violence erupts.

    If the bandits were to find an ideological leader, it'd be a sad day, indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Last time we were in Arizona, we were perusing the local real estate rags which had any number of "off grid" residences, from hi to low tech.

    Nifty idea. Not sure I'd wanna do it. Or why.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Some residents of the southeastern Arizona city support the renewable-energy source, while others don't want to see or hear turbines, typically hundreds of feet tall, spinning on their hillsides.

    Don Quixote would vote si and Sancho would laugh.

    ReplyDelete
  41. "(but I've a good idea why tis admin does)."
    ---
    Do Tell, please.

    ---
    Bush really is a quick draw cowboy, when it comes to throwing money at non-solutions, as he persistently ignores cheaper REAL solutions.

    ...and his corrupt buddy Sutton cruises on, while the border gaurds and their families rot.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I think it's time to march on Washington.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I can't listen to KGO anymore. I can't take anymore of this praise the Lord Obama's the new JFK magnified crap. Obama the world traveler, Obama the man with the world in his very genes, Obama the intellect, ah man.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Improved eradication and anti-trafficking operations have seriously bit into narco profits here, which were at one time 3 percent of GDP. The business has been made more costly, and law enforcement more effective. And again, the growing economy provides greater incentive and opportunity for legal profit-seeking.

    You're not going to get rid of the business, but neither is it necessary to live with the staggering violence and corruption that often accompanies it.

    Absent an end to Prohibition, and given invariable demand, the best you can do is counteract its worst effects.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Bush sees a largely unfenced border as a concrete symbol of our relationship. Fence that border and you've created a different symbol.

    ReplyDelete
  46. (Note: The business flourished here to begin with because it had been successfully pushed out of Peru and Bolivia.)

    ReplyDelete
  47. Improved eradication and anti-trafficking operations have seriously bit into narco profits here, which were at one time 3 percent of GDP. The business has been made more costly, and law enforcement more effective. And again, the growing economy provides greater incentive and opportunity for legal profit-seeking.

    There you go. Spoken like a good drug enforcement agent. We don't have to legalize drugs. No new paradigm needed. Push it right on into the ocean eventually. Don't have to give in to the poison pushers.

    Fence that border and you've created a different symbol.

    Absolutely. USA for the USA. We just need to follow the example of Mexico and their southern border.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Bob. We and Europe are the DEMAND end. Not the supply end. Again, the business relocates, and reinvents itself, to meet that demand. It is endlessly adaptable and on the move.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Pretty cool. Wonder what's in the real bright center?

    ReplyDelete
  50. Yeah, I know. But you identified three countries were it has been successfully pushed from. I know, you say it's a balloon, squeeze here, it expands there.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Sounds like terrorism networks. We're doing a fair job in that war. Just gotta keep on keepin' on, on the drug war.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Lots and lots of stars and gas, I think, Sam, and at the very center a big black hole, having dinner.

    By the way, I talked to a girl at Farm Service today who confirmed the story of the steelhead returning to Troy, Idaho. They had seen four or five, by the city park near the school.

    ReplyDelete
  53. 3% at the Peak?
    Crap, what's Mexico, 50%?

    ReplyDelete
  54. Hey, neat stuff. Gotta get my bearings right, here. Where's Troy from Boville?

    What river is that?

    ReplyDelete
  55. "Just gotta keep on keepin' on..."

    My husband's not here right now, sam, but he'd surely be nodding his head at that.

    Could be his epitaph.

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  56. I usta catch steelhead right outside our back door, Sheik al-Bob!

    ReplyDelete
  57. 3 percent at peak and now .5.

    DOS has Mexico's numbers.

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  58. (So long as you know you're headed in the right direction. Which is sometimes a luxury.)

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  59. From my link above:
    "The largest component of Mexico's economy is still drug trafficking, estimated at about $50bn. According to a leaked study conducted in 2001 by Mexico's internal security agency CISEN, if the drug business was somehow wiped out, Mexico's economy would shrink by 63 per cent. "

    ReplyDelete
  60. Hang on, I know where it's at. It's the first town out of Moscow on the way to Boville, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Troy is the first bedroom community east of Moscow, Deary(Dreary) next, Boville further on out. It's the north fork of the Potlatch, I quess it's called, or maybe the north fork of the north fork of the Potlatch. Just call it the little creek that runs through Troy:)

    In Walla Walla, Doug, right in the middle of town, where my cousins lived, we used to see them in a little running creek no more than three of four feet wide. They'd be hanging in there, exhausted. Really amazing how far they can go.

    There's a lake called Redfish Lake way in the higher country that got it's name as it is small and turned red from the salmon returning to spawn. Alas, no more, or not much. They have had troubles there trying to bring it back.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Well.






    That's just fucking frightening.

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  63. Allowing "free trade" from slave states like the Chi-coms crowds out any chance for Mexico to get a start on that 25k/year per capita.

    Free Trade w/Free People!

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  64. 7 year old data?

    C'mon, Doug..

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  65. Indeed it is, Trish,
    and with an open border,
    even MORE f..... frightening.

    ReplyDelete
  66. It's just gotten worse since then, Sam.

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  67. Juanita creek, where I grew up used to be like that, Bob. Little feeder creek in the north end of Lake Washington. Tiny, tiny. Near my house, a couple of feet across, shin deep water, big salmon on the banks, resting in peace.

    Used to be, anyways.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Outta here. 3 day weekend here. Talk to you guys Tuesday (or Monday your time).

    I wanna see a picture of one of them fish next week, Bob.

    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Mexican general makes explosive accusations La Plaza Los Angeles Times

    In an extraordinary public airing of alleged police corruption, a Mexican general has identified several law enforcement officers whose criminal activities include kidnapping, drug smuggling and operating protection rackets.

    Corruption accusations are nothing new in Mexico, but Gen. Sergio Aponte Polito offered details of specific cases and named more than one dozen officers, some of them high-ranking officials.

    Aponte, who heads the anti-drug offensive in Baja California, made the revelations in a letter published Wednesday in the Tijuana newspaper Frontera.

    The accusations, which cover two pages in the paper, touched off a firestorm of controversy. Legislators demanded the firing of every named officer, a business leader called for the resignation of the state attorney general, and Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos appealed for calm.

    Among Aponte's charges: Baja California's anti-kidnapping squad is actually a kidnapping team working in league with organized crime; police double as bodyguards for drug cartel leaders; and former federal agents have coordinated the landing of airplane drug shipments outside Mexicali.

    The general lists several recent incidents, including some high-profile kidnapping cases and the attempted murder in December of Rosarito Beach's new police chief. Aponte says the attempt was carried out by an assassination squad of more than one dozen officers from Rosarito Beach and Tijuana.

    Aponte said corruption existed in every major Baja California city and extended from municipal departments to federal agencies. There were many more corruption examples, Aponte wrote, but he couldn't fit them all in the newspaper.
    "What a shame for the society of Baja California," Aponte wrote.

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  70. Due diligence, sam. The EB needs fresher numbers. Would you care to oblige?

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  71. I have a hard time buying 63% but I admittedly don't know much about it. They say British Columbia's economy's biggest sector is marijuana and I don't believe that. Shit, we'd all be stoned 365 days of the year.

    Lake Washington is beautiful. Dad and mom used to fish over there at times after they got married. Mom was from around there. Those salmon there didn't have to work so hard, to get home:)

    Have fun Sam. Don't think I'll have a picture for you though. Maybe I'll steal one off the internet.

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  72. "Among Aponte's charges: Baja California's anti-kidnapping squad is actually a kidnapping team working in league with organized crime;

    police double as bodyguards for drug cartel leaders; and former federal agents have coordinated the landing of airplane drug shipments outside Mexicali.
    "

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  73. "We were for millions in cuts before we were for Billions in Aid!"
    ---
    The Administration's budget request for FY2008, $27.8 million, cuts U.S.counternarcotics assistance to Mexico by 22% compared to FY2007 levels. In its CongressionalBudget Justification, the State Department contends that these cuts are appropriate because Mexicois the thirteenth largest economyin the world.

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  74. Ayup.




    At the same time everyone's supplementing their income, those at the bottom of the official racket also have among the shortest life expectancies in any field. In any country.

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  75. I guess the question is: Are those cuts being made up by Mexico itself, out of its own coffers? Here, for instance, the host country increasingly picks up the tab. Because it can.

    Otherwise I can't see the sense to it.

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  76. PDF! PDF! PDF! PDF! PDF! PDF!

    You'll like this one, Trish:

    State of Siege Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico


    Unintended Consequences of the War on Drugs

    The war on drugs plunged Mexico into violent depths in 2005, especially along its northern border. Drug-related homicides soared, and former elite soldiers on the payroll of a drug cartel were responsible for numerous kidnappings and killings.

    Murder victims’ tortured bodies frequently appeared on roadsides in key drug trafficking hubs throughout the country – and scores more victims, including more than 40 U.S. citizens, vanished without a trace.

    From within maximum security prisons, cartel leaders continued to run their illegal enterprises, killing rival inmates and ordering hits on enemies beyond the prison walls. Wild shootouts erupted on city streets as police and soldiers battled criminals, who on occasion were themselves law enforcement officials in the employ of traffickers.

    This record-breaking year of drug-related violence closed on a chilling note – with the release of a video showing four bound and bloodied men describing to unseen interrogators their work as drug cartel assassins and alleging corruption in the highest levels of Mexican law enforcement.

    The video ends when one man is shot point-blank in the head by his off-camera captor.

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  77. The Catholic Church in Mexico doesn't seem to have much pull when it comes to urging the flock to straighten up and fly right, take the gospel road, but then again it would probably be worse without it, except for that birth control business. I got to catch some winks, but I leave this ecopoem from a book I am reading, trying to convince me the end is near--

    it's 3:23 in the morning
    and i'm awake
    because my great great granchildren
    won't let me sleep
    my great great grandchildren
    ask me in dreams
    what did you do while the planet was plundered?
    what did you do when the earth was unraveling?

    surely you did something
    when the seasons started failing?

    as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?

    did you fill the streets with protest
    when democracy was stolen?

    what did you do

    once

    you

    knew?

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  78. Sounds like an episode from Miami Vice.

    grrnite

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  80. That pile of crap out in the Ocean is pretty impressive, al-Bob.
    Barfing on our beaches, no less!

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  84. (Detroit Higher than all but Nuevo Larredo!)

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  85. Why are we such a violent society?

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  86. While being amongst the most benevolent and orderly?

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  87. "And far too much of the aid is military hardware when Mexico has other more urgent needs."

    I just wanna say that military hardware has been key for Colombia. No one needs any white elephants, but unless the NYT is more specific about "far too much" I'm inclined to disregard it.

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  88. Rat, I would like to see more follow-up on your Independent piece. It a tainted source, but it can surprise and is often correct, sort of...

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  89. Why are we such a violent society?

    Crime stats--


    Colombia, Murder Capital of the World

    You seem to be at ground zero there, Trish.

    Don't know, but we sure lead the industrialized world in the percent of people in prison. Heard some blurb on that yesterday. We have somewhere like 5 times as many folks in jail as the average EU country.

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