Trouble on the South Border
A while ago, during a conference at the Army's war college, Prof Andrew Bacevich made a comment that the United States had a greater national security interest in the drug wars south of the border than in Afghanistan. He probably got a lot of criticism for that statement, but was he wrong? I don't think so. This AP article talks about the bullets that are flying over the river into El Paso.
At least eight bullets have been fired into El Paso in the last few weeks from the rising violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, one of the world's most dangerous places. And all American police can do is shrug because they cannot legally intervene in a war in another country. The best they can do is warn people to stay inside.
"There's really not a lot you can do right now," El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles said. "Those gun battles are breaking out everywhere, and some are breaking out right along the border."
Police say the rounds were not intentionally fired into the U.S. But wildly aimed gunfire has become common in Juarez, a sprawling city of shanty neighborhoods that once boomed with manufacturing plants. It's ground zero in Mexico's relentless drug war.
There is an amusing side to this story (in a twisted kind of way). Of all people, Governor Rick "Let Us Secede From the Union" Perry is losing his cool and is calling for the federales to come save him from the border war. He thinks that there are bombs going off in El Paso (actually not happening). Again, back to the AP article:
And Monday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued a statement demanding more security.
"It's time for Washington to stop the rhetoric and immediately deploy a significant force of personnel and resources to the border to protect our homeland," Perry said.
Katherine Cesinger, a Perry spokeswoman, said the governor believes that more security - in the form of federal agents and even troops - could all but shut down the border to smuggling and help put Mexico's warring cartels out of business.
No, it's not that simple, Gov. Perry. You don't get to bad-mouth the federal government only when it's politically convenient. You don't get to refuse federal stimulus funds and make wild statements about "state rights" and then turtle up when the shots start firing. As governor, you have the ability to move National Guard troops down to the border - go do it. Send some Tea Party militias and Minutemen people, too. Make sure they're well-armed - well, I guess you don't need to do that, they already are. So where are your balls, big man? Are you running a self-sufficient Republic or is Texas actually part of the Union?
Just another example of Republican governors who can't stop running to the federal treasury while badmouthing the current administration's attempts to govern. Same shit, different day.
I wish this guy would secede from this country but leave Texas in the Union because we need the oil.
Dallas Sucks!
Mines Pinaud's Eau de Quinne.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Truer words were never written.
Soooo . . . . . there are no jobs so the town has turned into a slum with loads of guns and drugs and all kinds of mean and nasty things. Is that what will happen to Detroit if the republican'ts get their way? Next thing you know Canada is going to start debating whether or not to put up a fence to keep us out.
Detroit is already like that.
AP Video: Bullets From Mexico's Drug War Cross Tx. Border
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61_iNsFLwFE
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
"Send some Tea Party militias and Minutemen people, too. Make sure they're well-armed..."
Please, by all means!!! Send busloads of these teafuckers down there and let's see 'em, uh, git 'er done! Let these pussies who won't volunteer for the US armed services (too many rules...) go down there with their own weapons and play Rambo. If anything is guaranteed to thin out the crowd of brain-dead 'bagger militia wannabes, it's a cartel battle.
You can only buy so much ammo at an El Paso Walmart, folks. Cartels have no such difficulties, thanks in large part to your NRA buddies' desire to keep US-made weapons flowing southward. So if you take a few rounds in "battle", just tell your future widow to please recycle the lead.
Good night, and good riddance.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
There's enough feces and urine in the Rio Grande, when these people see what actual violence is like, the shit will really hit the fan (water).
he already knows how to shoot 'coyotes'. as he's the Guv he can set the example for all Texans.
Arizona will want cooperation from the Latino communities to do something, anything about actual violent crime that is creeping its way over the border.
But since the teabaggers and immigrant haters have to let their hate flag fly, the communities will not trust local law enforcement and will not help, despite the fact that Mexican-Americans know better than anyone else the horrors the cartels are capable of.
That's what I call shooting oneself in the proverbial foot.
I've never seen change without a fire
Unless all his National Guardsmen are stuck in Iraqistan.
I remember the good old days when the NG got sent to work during hurricanes or other local crisis duties, not used as a replacement for the regular army - which has been replaced by mercenaries. Like the man said, "what a country..."
...the federal titty!
Well, then again they wanted a drug war, and now they have one.
...privatize the (insurance/prescription) profits.
As for Governor Perry, as the video said, "Don't let Oklahoma hit you in the ass on the way out."
Not some US citizen but a Mexican teenager (in Mexico) shot dead in a volley of gunfire by some cranked up US border guard (in the US).
daughter are holed up in a cave on the border and are on top of this issue.
http://forums.mvgroup.org/release.images/hayd...
I know I'm just a Texan, but here's my response in the DMN blog where one of the regular conservative smart-alecks was asking where in the Constitution is "Obama-care?"
Well for one thing it's not Nationalized care which is what the liberals wanted, but simply using the existing insurance system.
It does mandate that everyone be covered under some sort of plan, but even that is not without precedent, since the Militia Act of 1792 require those in the militia to buy their own guns, and mandated the type, the form of missile, powder etc, by the individual members, whether they were in state or federal service.
You're also ignoring the Necessary and Proper clause.
And the powers listed in Article I, Sec 8 are not the entirety of legislative powers, since the states can transfer powers via Amendment X, and the people can vote for policies they want via Amendment IX and X. In Article VI you see an example of this, "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or LAWS OF ANY STATES to the Contrary notwithstanding."
This shows right in the text of the Constitution not only the possibility of state usurpation of federal power by the states, but also shows the possibility for shared power, and states legislating in the absence of federal laws, until the federal government decides to address the issue.
Article I, Sec. 8 details those powers that the Federal government has EXCLUSIVELY from the States such as the minting of coins and setting weights and measures. The passage says nothing of what powers they share. That would fall under the art of politics and due process. For example, not every state has to ratify an amendment, only ¾ of them is required. Now the other ¼, roughly 18 or 19 of our 50 states don’t then have the power to say we didn’t vote for the amendment, so we don’t have to enforce it. Article VI would mandate that they do.
We see another example of shared powers in Article I, Sec 8 art.14 and 15, Article II, Sec. 2 and Amendment 2.
One reason for the necessity of federal legislation is similar to why some cases are heard by the Supreme Court. That is because there are too many interpretations among the varied states and they need a law or a case precedent to provide more uniform issue resolution, without which they become worthless under the concept of stare decisis We are also both a Constitutional nation, and a Common Law nation, unlike the French and other legal systems that are more in the Justinian Codex tradition. Stare Decisis is one of the basic concepts of American justice.
Federal legislation also helps provide the guarantee that is Amendment XIV Equal Protection clause. Insurance is also a part of interstate commerce, which Congress has the power to legislate, when the company has it's HQ and letters of incorporation in one state, but sell services in another state. But because state's vary in economic strength, due to various taxation rates, resources and output of services, insurance companies can ride roughshod over them. Meanwhile because of The McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 (15 U.S.C.A. § 1011 et seq.), they are only regulated by state, and engage in what is essentially price-fixing that varies from state to state. For example, Florida and Arizona have a high geriatric demographic, and the costs of the geriatric medicine is quite considerable. Without Medicare and Medicaid those two states would be in serious fiduciary difficulties.
So trying to resurrect the old antebellum "null-and-void" argument that was settled back in 1865 will do you no good.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
is a precedent requiring citizens to purchase health insurance.
Yeah, it's people like Rick Perry, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Tom Delay, Phil Gramm, Joe Barton, Bill Clements and a few dozen others..that give Texas a bad name.
The problems AT the border and in some of the southern Mexican states may be lessened with a new assault weapons ban, stricter gun control laws, and the decriminalizing of marijuana and the possession of small amounts of other drugs. Decrease the demand in the U.S. for drugs and decrease the American made weapons entering México to decrease the narco-violence.
And, for the record, some parts of México are quite peaceful. I am an American expat living in a community of Mexican Nationals, expat Americans, Europeans, and Canadians. We have lots of "snowbirds" and "sunbirds" that live in the area part-time. We do not see the problems that they see just this side of the border.
Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS? Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?
Please! We live in a northwest side neighborhood of Chicago called Logan Square. If we went a single YEAR with only eight bullets we'd be HAPPY!
Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS? Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?Eight bullets? EIGHT BULLETS? EIGHT BULLETS?
We raised our kid in Logan Square, with all the shooting and killings. And it was a normal life. Our daughter graduated from a great high school, is in college, and is about to go on to upper graduate school. EIGHT bullets indeed. YAWN.
much more e-ee-eeville than US bullets. They're taking US bullets' jobs!!1!!!!!
me-oww!
Yeah, the good old days, huh?
;)
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
The only legal way to buy ammo in Mexico is through the Secretariat de Defensa Nacional, and the bullets in question seemed to come from guns not available for legal sale in Mexico, nor used by Mexican miltiary or police units. Now, I suppose it's possible that they were smuggled in from South Korea or Russia or Guatemala, but El Paso is a heck of a lot closer, and an easier place to acquire those bullets that flew into (or maybe back into) Texas.
I wish I could report that this will be Governor Hair's last in office in Austin. Alas, after gerrymandering by his buddy Tom DeLay, and because Texans tend to be, by an large, conservatives, it looks like we will be stuck with the bastard for another term.
"Respect for the rights of others is peace." --Benito Juarez
Comments are closed on this entry