Friday, January 27, 2006
SABER-RATTLING BY NEWSMAX
And now from the shallow end of the gene pool…
NewsMax Reports:
“Incursions Spark Tension on U.S.-Mexico Border”
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/26/152430.shtml?s=lh
“Armed Mexican government personnel made five unauthorized incursions into the U.S. in the last three months of 2005”…
I’m not making light of the border mess, but really, I can’t see the point to their “Enquirer” style of sensationalism…
First point: By their own numbers this is business as usual. NewsMonkey tallies 231 incidents in ten years; there “should” be five or six incidents per quarter…
A bit of the usual:
NewsMonkey refers to an incident involving a black 2006 Cadillac Escalade loaded with nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana, was abandoned near the border…a Mexican military Humvee – equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun –and two other vehicles, one of which became stuck:
According to Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West: “Mexican soldiers and civilians began unloading marijuana from the stranded vehicle. About 20 Mexican personnel in military uniforms, with insignias on their caps, pointed automatic rifles at about half a dozen sheriff's deputies and state troopers.
"They were daring my guys to make a move"…
Three-quarters of a ton of weed worth??? How much weed made it back home?
And a “military” Humvee. I wonder: Does the US have Humvees on the border?
When are “we” going to face reality: The war on drugs is lost! It was a damnfool idea in the first place; all it’s ever done is enrich black-market entrepreneurs and pliable public officials: These petty scofflaws running the border could have been either or both. There is a huge amount of money to be made here, and economic systems treat unrealized opportunities the way nature treats a vacuum.
Check this out: FoxNews reports
“Authorities Find 'Massive' Border Tunnel Full of Pot”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,182897,00.html
Almost half a mile long. Somebody put a lot of work into this. Two tons of weed worth???
Huge for profit criminal ventures undoubtedly reaping equally huge profits.
And bet your last peso it isn’t always big dealers…
Mexican Nationals have many reasons for entering the US. Some of those reasons make doing so illegally more attractive. If you are a day laborer, a young man seeking his fortune, you can make your trip north to pick fruit extra profitable if you bring a profitable commodity with you. Or you can carry somebody else’s stuff.
A personal tale: Years ago when I worked Christmas tree harvests, I knew of people who did this. They would cross the border in the spring or summer with drugs, maybe work in Texas or California, come north to Washington for the fruit harvests, then cross the Cascades and work the trees, after which they went home. Their stash was their grubstake, and a sure ticket to popularity when they arrived…
The point being it’s profitable, from one end to the other. Take the profit out of it – or more accurately, divert the profit via taxation of a legal commodity – and suddenly a big part of the reason to run the border goes away, and maybe a bunch of the running goes too.
It makes more sense than a border war…
NewsMax Reports:
“Incursions Spark Tension on U.S.-Mexico Border”
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/26/152430.shtml?s=lh
“Armed Mexican government personnel made five unauthorized incursions into the U.S. in the last three months of 2005”…
I’m not making light of the border mess, but really, I can’t see the point to their “Enquirer” style of sensationalism…
First point: By their own numbers this is business as usual. NewsMonkey tallies 231 incidents in ten years; there “should” be five or six incidents per quarter…
A bit of the usual:
NewsMonkey refers to an incident involving a black 2006 Cadillac Escalade loaded with nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana, was abandoned near the border…a Mexican military Humvee – equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun –and two other vehicles, one of which became stuck:
According to Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West: “Mexican soldiers and civilians began unloading marijuana from the stranded vehicle. About 20 Mexican personnel in military uniforms, with insignias on their caps, pointed automatic rifles at about half a dozen sheriff's deputies and state troopers.
"They were daring my guys to make a move"…
Three-quarters of a ton of weed worth??? How much weed made it back home?
And a “military” Humvee. I wonder: Does the US have Humvees on the border?
When are “we” going to face reality: The war on drugs is lost! It was a damnfool idea in the first place; all it’s ever done is enrich black-market entrepreneurs and pliable public officials: These petty scofflaws running the border could have been either or both. There is a huge amount of money to be made here, and economic systems treat unrealized opportunities the way nature treats a vacuum.
Check this out: FoxNews reports
“Authorities Find 'Massive' Border Tunnel Full of Pot”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,182897,00.html
Almost half a mile long. Somebody put a lot of work into this. Two tons of weed worth???
Huge for profit criminal ventures undoubtedly reaping equally huge profits.
And bet your last peso it isn’t always big dealers…
Mexican Nationals have many reasons for entering the US. Some of those reasons make doing so illegally more attractive. If you are a day laborer, a young man seeking his fortune, you can make your trip north to pick fruit extra profitable if you bring a profitable commodity with you. Or you can carry somebody else’s stuff.
A personal tale: Years ago when I worked Christmas tree harvests, I knew of people who did this. They would cross the border in the spring or summer with drugs, maybe work in Texas or California, come north to Washington for the fruit harvests, then cross the Cascades and work the trees, after which they went home. Their stash was their grubstake, and a sure ticket to popularity when they arrived…
The point being it’s profitable, from one end to the other. Take the profit out of it – or more accurately, divert the profit via taxation of a legal commodity – and suddenly a big part of the reason to run the border goes away, and maybe a bunch of the running goes too.
It makes more sense than a border war…
