Do You Feel Safer Now Than On The Morning Of 12 September 2001?

[Richard Allan Jenni]

Faster Times, 3 February 2011: “Manuel Farfan, the police chief of the border city Nuevo Laredo, was shot dead last night alongside two members of his security detail and his personal secretary. A spokesman for the city’s public safety department says that two other guards were wounded as well. Reports claim the attack took place at the center of the city while the chief was being driven home. Manuel Farfan was one of at least eight ex-military officers who were recently given high-ranking positions within police departments in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, where Nuevo Laredo is located. The state has become one of the most violent battlegrounds in the Mexican government’s war on drugs because of its proximity to the United States border. Nuevo Laredo itself shares the Rio Grande with the Texas city of Laredo. Manuel Farfan retired from the army at the age of 55, with the rank of brigadier general. Appointed to his post on January first, he was in office for 33 days before his murder.

And from Fox News back on 30 November 2010: "The woman leading the police department in the northern Mexican town of Meoqui was slain while driving to work, the Chihuahua state Attorney General's Office said Monday. Hermila García was named last month as chief of the 90-strong police force in Meoqui, located 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Chihuahua city, the state capital. García was found fatally shot in her car at a spot near her home about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the town center, the AG's office said. Authorities suspect the police chief, whose prior experience included working as an investigator for the federal AG’s office, was murdered by gunmen working for drug traffickers or other organized crime elements…”

And from CBS News on 22 October 2010: "She’s been called the bravest woman in Mexico after taking a job no macho man wanted. Marisol Valles, a 20-year-old mother and student, is the new top cop in Praxedis, a small town situated along a key drug smuggling route just across the border from Texas. Her predecessor was kidnapped more than a year ago. His head was deposited outside the police station a few days after he disappeared. After that, no one came forward to fill the police chief vacancy for more than a year- until Valles put her name down for the position. The town’s former mayor was killed in June, but the spiraling violence in the state of Chihuahua- Mexico’s deadliest- didn’t deter the young criminology student and mother to a baby boy. She says she took the job because she wants a better future for her son…”

The Guardian reported on 13 January 2011: “A total of 34,612 people have died in drug-related killings in Mexico in the four years since President Felipe Calderón declared an offensive against cartels shortly after taking office, officials said tonight. Killings reached their highest level in 2010, when there were 15,273 deaths, up from 9,616 the previous year. At a meeting with anti-crime groups at which the government presented a data system to track drug-related crimes, Calderón said 2010 had been ‘a year of extreme violence.’ The office of federal security spokesman, Alejandro Poire, said the four-year figure included 30,913 execution-style killings, 3,153 deaths in shootouts between gangs, and 546 deaths involving attacks on authorities. Calderón said many of the killings in 2010 were generated by the turf war between the Zetas drug gang and their former allies in the Gulf cartel.”

I know the Egyptian crisis is important- but it seems one thing after another overshadows the crisis unfolding in neighboring Mexico. Yes, I’m sorry a journalist was beat up in Cairo yesterday- but both the lamestream media and our federal government seem to be obsessed with that mess. And since Barry’s likely been hobnobbing with the Muslim Brotherhood, maybe it’s a good thing if Hosni does hold on for a while. At first I was all for Mubarak immediately handing the reigns over to the military, but now I’m not so sure. The wildcard here is the actual strength of the Muslim Brotherhood- and anytime I find myself agreeing with Barry Obama, I reflexively take three steps back and reconsider my position. Sometimes slower is better- and with all the billions we have invested in Egypt, plus the threat of some loose Egyptian nukes, what’s a few more months? Oh, what joy if we were rid of Obama that soon!

In any case, the deterioration of Mexican law and order has serious implications for our national security. The drug cartels are already exporting their poison to numerous American cities- and I can’t help wonder if the frightening increase in law enforcement deaths in 2011 is cartel related.

Did the Obama administration choose to seal the southern border? Effectively help President Calderón stem the tide of murder and mayhem? No and no. They chose to sue Arizona instead…

We live in a strange and unfriendly world where things are seldom what they seem- a global hotbed of murder and intrigue further complicated by our own government and mainstream media often hiding or misrepresenting the truth.

Do you feel safer now than on the morning of 12 September 2001? More confident about America’s future? Better informed by Washington and the mainstream media? Less concerned about our diminishing liberty? I think not.

[Sandra]

Gordon, still the unanswered question on the video... It needs to be settled and damn soon!

[Sandra]

Obama needs to keep his stupid mouth shut! He s recognizing the muslim brotherhood which is only 3% eo Egyps population, and so why does he not recognize the tea party demonstrations that where a lot larger....He is supporting an uprising in a foreign country, is that not another treasonous thing to add to the ever growing list. Obama's apology tiur has shown him as a weak person and now they don't trust us or like us any more... Dangerous times...

[Richard Allan Jenni]

Fred Dardick  Friday, February 4, 2011: "Egypt is a bubbling cauldron ready to explode and what do we get from our President? A cryptic message about 'change' and 'now' that no one understands. Politicos around the world over are trying to figure out exactly where the Obama Administration stands. 

Is Obama calling for Egyptian President Mubarak to step down immediately? Probably. Does he recognize the danger should Islamic extremists conquer Egypt. Probably not. What is his vision for the way forward? Your guess is as good as mine.

Like Jimmy Carter before him, Obama waffles while the Middle East burns. Rather than using the power of the presidency to influence positive change in Egypt – namely facilitate an orderly transition of power from Mubarak to a democratic, pro-Western leadership in a workable timeframe - he remains on the sidelines while the most extremist elements of an Islamic society run rampant.

Obama seems surprised that Mubarak has unleashed thugs on the streets to crack down on dissent, but back in the real world this sort of thing has been commonplace in Egypt for decades. Dictators don’t remain in power because they’re nice guys.

The simple truth is the United States needs Mubarak to remain in control until the next Presidential election. Dictator he may be, he is still a far better alternative than the complete breakdown of society like what happened in Iraq not so long ago. When Saddam Hussain was overthrown by the American military, the power vacuum was filled with bloodthirsty fundamental Islamists, Iranian saboteurs and the centuries old Shiite-Sunni divide. The consequences were terrible as thousands of Iraqis and American soldiers were killed in the resulting chaos..."

[Gordon Ray Kissinger]

 

[Sandra]

How sad for that young woman and the others before her... None of our presidents seem to want o close the boarder. Easy enough done with the troupes, bring em home and put them all along  it. There is too much money made off the dug trafficking there. Many economies must make some decent money from the side effects of it, attorneys, judges, cities, hospitals etc.The only losers are the people who have to live in the chaos.
Going to be a bad thing iif Egypt falls to the brotherhood. Zero may have to hide under the covers, they will smear his name along with our country.  Hearing Hillary speak was enough to make one ill, the spin crap coming out of her mouth is not practiced by she or any of them...  Freedom, democracy etc, oh my.... If only they applied that to us and our country, I guess she thought it sounded good. I don;t think they bought it tho...
When zero sided with Mexico against AZ, that was also a treasonous act. I am losing count of all of them! Dark days for us right now. If he is dealing with the brotherhood behind closed doors, that to is treasonous...  A shame he turned into what  he has, he had a good shot at doing the right thing, but then again, do very many from Chicago...
Thanks for a goodie as always....