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Who for you, Brewer or Obama?

I support the President. The lesser of two (or more) evils is not much of a recommendation but faced with an either/or .....

Thank you , reader this is a longish post but I liked it well enough to share it here
and it has a longer than usual list of amazon.com offerings by and about the conversation's topics.Feel free to click on the link or image and it will take you to amazon directly. I do not participate in those transaction and receive a small commission for posting the link
I know I have been dormant for a long time but have resolved to post a minimum of 52 times.
That makes me 4 weeks behind schedule - So what else is new as I sit here laughing out loud.


Jack Lynn via Governor Jan Brewer

Visit and "Like" Governor Jan Brewer's Page
www.facebook.com
Saturday at 6:08pm · Like · Comment · Share
Chris Pentecost, Jack Lynn and Mike Jenkins like this.
Robert Blakeslee yeah, when elephants fly and hell has snowballs to throw. Did you see her try to debate in her last race? she was afraid to show up on live TV after her momumental fiasco. At least she's no Fife Symington. But then, she's not competent enough for that comparison
Saturday at 8:24pm · Like
Chris Pentecost With or without the debate, she won the election by a good margin.
Saturday at 9:19pm · Like
Robert Blakeslee The same voters that have kept Jerk Arpaio in office. Winning an election in Arizona isn't about being right its about how many people you can scare. Truth doesn't matter - like Phx being the kidnapping capital of America and the non-existent headless bodies "found" in the desert. What next, the Iranian published pamphlet "found" in the desert was left left by a terrorist? Someone trying to sneak in wouldn't leave evidence and a true believer would not let it out of his possession.- another plant to scare the sheep.
Saturday at 9:51pm · Unlike · 1 person
Saturday at 9:51pm · Unlike · 1 person
Mike Jenkins So.......are you suggesting we elect the person with the least votes!
Yesterday at 8:42am · Like
Robert Blakeslee Better than re-electing Brewski and arshitso
Yesterday at 8:50am · Like
Jack Lynn I like her stand against the over reaching power grabbing by the Federal Gov.
Yesterday at 10:00am · Like
Mike Jenkins I agree!
Yesterday at 11:28am · Like
Chris Pentecost Bert, you sound like a disgruntled voter with the fancy name calling and stuff. The GOP will help you get over that.lo. Oh yea Bert did you see on the news that another drop house was busted this last week with 52 people being held inside against their will. That's a lot of unlawful detainment and kidnapping charges. What other state can even compare. You show me proof otherwise. Or do like Billy Mays says.
Yesterday at 11:31am · Like
Robert Blakeslee I heard on the news this morning that a recall drive has been launched against Russell Pearce. I heard that the Mexican drug cartels are buying their weaponry in Arizona because we have the most lax gun laws in the nation. And that Arizona is trying to unilaterally rescind the Fourteenth Amendment Arizona GOP is trying to pass a state law to require the US President to unseal his birth records sealed by the secret service as a security issue. So one of you disbelievers that didn't pay attention when they were presented for all the world to see during the campaign can't access them and alter them to suit their own political agenda. The Republican has a history of trying just that ( see Richard Nixon in your history books in case you have forgotten). Only party worse is the Tea Party who worship criminals.
Yesterday at 12:00pm · Like
Chris Pentecost You heard wrong.
Yesterday at 12:09pm · Like
Robert Blakeslee Ch. 12 news this morning, right after Meet the Press
Yesterday at 12:16pm · Like
Jack Lynn The Gov. of Hawaii can't seem to find it (birth Cert) and if your parents where in France when you were born does that make you french...that's just crazy. I don't want a socialist government and many feel as I do....if that makes me a criminal worshiper...then who or what do YOU call a patriot?
Yesterday at 12:37pm · Like
Robert Blakeslee NOT Sam Adams. Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington are heroes to me. What is it that makes Sam Adams or was it his illegal activities that the Tea Party venerates. What makes that Rum-runner any different than a smuggler bringing anything into The US (or into Mexico, for that matter) by a route and method to evade detection and taxation. Oh, also in the news - now that Arizona Voters have passed Mediical Marijuana for the third time the GOP legislature (disgruntled elected public servants?) now want to tax it at anywhere from 100 to 300% even though we do not tax prescription medication. Where is the inherent superiority of the Majority here? Fife Symington and Evan Meacham are proof that the Arizona voters can be fooled and/or scared once or twice but then the populace didn't elect either of them three times
Yesterday at 1:01pm · Like
Yesterday at 1:01pm · Like
Jack Lynn The tea party of today didn't destroy anyones property they just are using the term to object to what this government is doing now. So tell me who you think are good politicians... not from 200 plus years ago...the world is slightly different now then it was then.
6 hours ago · Like
Robert Blakeslee Modern Heroes, like Pat Tillman who gave up a lucrative NFL contract to serve his country and government and you an me , by the way. His forsaking the cushy life for what he felt was his duty to place himself between us and our sworn enemies was heroic, not the circumstances of his demise. Another would be Stormin' Norman Schwartzkopf who engineered the brilliant "end run" during the first Gulf War saving thousands if not hundreds of thousands an both sides. And lest you confuse my meaning, I am not a Hawk but a patriot and am proud to have served honorably and honor my brothers past, present and future who do the same. Jonas Salk, comes to mind who persisted and finally found a way to attenuate the Poliomyelitis virus and create a vaccine that has saves literally millions despite the conventional wisdom of the day that the virus was too small and intricate to be manipulated
3 hours ago · Like
2 hours ago · Like
Jack Lynn What do you think of Obama?
2 hours ago · Like
Robert Blakeslee His competency may be in question, he's too young to hold the office in opinion but the framers set the age at 35 so its legal. I'm a McCainocrat. I have been a fan and supporter for decades. Anyone that gave 5&1/2 years in the Hanoi Hilton, refusing release before those that were imprisoned before him were sent home is OK in my book and he became a hero to me about a decade ago when he addressed the Senate defying his own Party as they tried to railroad a budget bill through with a strike all amendment the day before adjournment the bill was a stack of paper over a foot tall and the Elephant hierarchy expected everyone to just follow the party line unquestioningly. That was the first introduction of Ted Stevens' Bridge to Nowhere. But Odrama (sic)(he certainly excited the right) and then pissed off the left. Sure looks like a centrist to me. Its been a while since we've had one of those.
Robert Blakeslee Ike is the last one I can remember.I admire JFK greatly for putting us on the road to Space even if astronauts are still scared of going up on a missile built by the lowest bidder. And he was obviously a master at brinkmanship when you look at the facts behind the Cuban Missile Crisis. Remember, the Russians only put them in their Client State because we wouldn't remove our ICBMs that we already had put in place in Turkey. not all that much further from the Soviet border than the Cuban weaponry was from Washington. Miami never was the target. D.C. and some sites in Maryland and of course, Langley. The spooks were in their heyday then. It was shortly thereafter that The US declared that assination woud no longer be used as a tool of State.
But MaCain would have made a much better President, but I still don't trust the extreme far right to not have at least tried to remove him even with extreme prejudice to place their pawn in the catbird seat. I am surprised you never (bring u , ed.)the 'conspiracy to murder JFK" by hardliners that did not like his 1)civil rights stand 2)his willingness to enter into a dialog with the Russians,and 3) his brother's crackdown on organized crime. there were a number of upset mobsters after they helped get Jack elected (check your history especially in regards to the late, late and questionable returns from Chicago) when Papa Joe called in his markers from HIS rum running days. From my perspective, Bootleggers seem to permeate the Republican Party. Please understand that I was a staunch republican after LBJ's terms. I enlisted in the Army in 1969 believing in Mom, Apple Pie, Barry Goldwater and Nuke the Commies, even I knew some of the more obscure history of Ho Chi Minh and his attempts to get the US to help him get rid of the colonial French
Jack Lynn all returns from Chicago are questionable....!!!!!
29 minutes ago · Like
Robert Blakeslee ‎. Uncle Ho the son of a minor Provincial official, had the contacts and wherewithal to go to France ( the Colonial owner of French Indochina) where he apprenticed in the Culinary Arts - might of been Paris, before moving on to Russia to matriculate at the International University in Moscow or Leningrad, where doesn't matter, the school produced the leaders of nearly every leftist revolution from 1945 on. I think the curriculum consisted of mostly Red Doctrine Ho's aim was not a Communist state, He was out to get rid of the hated colonial rulers and anyone that would help was his friend. He thought that having thrown off our own colonial yoke we we be eager to assist them. but the powers that were, being WWII Vets, Ike and JFK, we were beholden to our allies the Free French, ( led by that long drink of water Charles Degaulle, (another WWII hero -Ike's French counterpart ). You do realize I hope that the Middle Eastern Crises we face today stems from the way the defeated Ottoman Empire was carved up after WWI and the Brits were given the oil rich deserts of Palestine and Lebanon. The technology wasn't there to drill offshore in the North Sea in 1918 and the British needed oil they did't have in their own country. A century we are faced with Arab terrorists (they don't have the resources to equip a modern army) fighting over the greed of the Allied victors of the 'War to end all Wars". I'm not a Historian but I have paid attention to why the world is the way it is politically.
23 minutes ago · Like
Robert Blakeslee I don't think Barrack Hussein is a student of History, as I understand it he was a rabble rouser oop sorry, community activist, in , of all places that hotbed of voter fraud, Chicago (second only to Florida I think) ( how does that republican prayer go? "thank you Lord for Hanging Chad. he's swinging high from the ballot box now.You put the Blessed Cross-hairs on his neck.....") and as a successful politico I suspect he's more worried about re-election than a little old bomb or two going off in the good old USA.The thought of a Palin Presidency scares me a whole lot more. And we have had Presidents that were much worse. Ol' Hickory's treatment of the Cree and Seminole and Cherokee nations when he forced them out of Georgia at gunpoint to get at the gold in Stone Mountain made us enemies within our own boundaries and whose wounds still fester. I'm more afraid of my Apache Brothers than I am of a few towel head fanatics. But whatever shortcomings He (Obama) may have in understanding the World Politic, it only does our whole country a great disservice to make up lies about the man to try and get him out of office before his duly elected term expires. I have enjoyed this conversation, you have raise a few valid points and parroted a few hysterical accusations but that has been a part of American political discourse since at least 1750. Some gentle labellings and name calling have always been part of the process I am going to post my comments on my Blog and would like the permission of everyone who has taken part in it so far include their contributions as well. Unlike Fox News I do believe in fair and balanced reporting. when it comes to politics and religion there are as many opinons as participants and I do hope I haven't bored you with this little history lesson.
23 minutes ago · Like
Robert Blakeslee Next, Lets take up Gun Control, as a starting point let us use the Front Page Story from this morning's Arizona Republic - above the fold. Now that we can carry concealed without a perm the 18 Dwarves as EJ Montini used to call our Legislat...


See More

The Original FCIC
amazon.com
This "page-turning" history of the lawyer who put the titans of finance on trial for the Great Crash is one of the best books of 2010!


SNext, Lets take up Gun Control, as a starting point let us use the Front Page Story from this morning's Arizona Republic - above the fold. Now that we can carry concealed without a perm the 18 Dwarves as EJ Montini used to call our Legislature, want to take it a step further. I will share some information about our inestimable Senate President R. Pearce (R) W. Mesa in a private forum as I do not want his good buddy Joe's minions camped outside my front door like they do with their most vocal political opponents. tell me when and where....
Facebook © 2011 · English (US)I don't think Barrack Hussein is a student of History, as I understand it he was a rabble rouser oop sorry, community activist, in , of all places that hotbed of voter fraud, Chicago (second only to Florida I think) ( how does that republican prayer go? "thank you Lord for Hanging Chad. he's swinging high from the ballot box now.You put the Blessed Cross-hairs on his neck.....") and as a successful politico I suspect he's more worried about re-election than a little old bomb or two going off in the good old USA.The thought of a Palin Presidency scares me a whole lot more. And we have had Presidents that were much worse. Ol' Hickory's treatment of the Cree and Seminole and Cherokee nations when he forced them out of Georgia at gunpoint to get at the gold in Stone Mountain made us enemies within our own boundaries and whose wounds still fester. I'm more afraid of my Apache Brothers than I am of a few towel head fanatics. But whatever shortcomings He (Obama) may have in understanding the World Politic, it only does our whole country a great disservice to make up lies about the man to try and get him out of office before his duly elected term expires. I have enjoyed this conversation, you have raise a few valid points and parroted a few hysterical accusations but that has been a part of American political discourse since at least 1750. Some gentle labellings and name calling have always been part of the process I am going to post my comments on my Blog and would like the permission of everyone who has taken part in it so far include their contributions as well. Unlike Fox News I do believe in fair and balanced reporting. when it comes to politics and religion there are as many opinons as participants and I do hope I haven't bored you with this little history lesson.
What does the Arizona immigration law actually say?(INSIDE TRACK): An article from: The New AmericanArrest everybody: Arizona encourages police to emulate "the toughest sheriff in America.".(Columns): An article from: ReasonJonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine (Inventions and Discovery)Killing their own poster boy: Pat Tillman's parents are no longer silent.(CHURCH)( Funeral of an American soldier who died in Afghanistan): An article from: Catholic New TimesWho killed Pat Tillman?(UP FRONT: NEWS AND OPINION FROM INDEPENDENT MINDS): An article from: The Humanist(PAT TILLMAN - A HERO OF WAR)Pat Tillman - A Hero of War by McCaulay, Philip Martin(Author)Paperback{Pat Tillman - A Hero of War}on 11 Jan 2010Probing Pat Tillman's final mission.(THE BEAT)(Mike Fish's 'An Un-American Tragedy'): An article from: American Journalism ReviewBoots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat TillmanBoots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman(AMERICAN MILITARY PERSONNEL KILLED IN THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN (2001-PRESENT)) PAT TILLMAN, MICHAEL P. MURPHY, JARED C. MONTI BY LLC, BOOKS (Author) Paperback{American Military Personnel Killed in the War in Afghanistan (2001-Present): Pat Tillman, Michael P. Murphy, Jared C. Monti}on06 May -2010)Dejo millones por ir al ejercito. (Deportes).(Pat Tillman, jugador de futbol americano ): An article from: Semana
Robert Blakeslee Next, Lets take up Gun Control, as a starting point let us use the Front Page Story from this morning's Arizona Republic - above the fold. Now that we can carry concealed without a perm the 18 Dwarves as EJ Montini used to call our Legislature, want to take it a step further. I will share some information about our inestimable Senate President R. Pearce (R) W. Mesa in a private forum as I do not want his good buddy Joe's minions camped outside my front door like they do with their most vocal political opponents. tell me when and where.Facebook (1)

Grievous Bodily Harm

Like it or not, violence and mayhem is part and parcel of humanity. We have not progressed so far as to leave our animal natures completely behind. Approximately 90 per cent of human action is behavior, unreasoned reaction to external stimuli. Though we wish we were rational and thoughtful in all we do, the truth is we carry our ancestors' genes and the survival traits that got us to this point, have not atrophied because we started wearing clothes and writing our contemporaneous history. Wars are fought even today and Boxing and Cage Fighting have never been so popular. The British, with their civilized veneer have sought to codify rights, responsibilities and what behaviors are acceptable and which need to be sanctioned. since at least 1215 and the first drafts of the Magna Carta. The Offences against the Person of 1861,oft referred to as GBH is the list of NoNo s and if we abhor the primitive actions, we must applaud Rational Man's attempt to describe and prohibit them is specific terms

McCAIN PARROTS RIGHT WING HYSTERICS, CLAIMS PHOENIX 2ND IN WORLD FOR KIDNAPPINGS

I read a summary of John McCain's Sunday Morning Meet the Press interview.

 I saw the interview. this is my reaction to the summary. 

TO READERS OF THE HUFFINGTON POST

As the standard bearer for the elephants in the last presidential mudfest, John McCain shed his maverick ways and words and became a (shudder) politician. It was a prerequisite for the nomination. He is now locked in the race of 
his political life, a primary challenge from talk show host, infomercial spokeswonk, former Representative J. D. Hayworth. If he (McCain)is to hang onto his conservative base against the uber -right upstart, he must make these silly comments out of the Arpaio/Brewer handbook consisting mainly of half-truths and hyperbole. Recall, please that this (Illegal immigration) was a non-issue until Joe Arpaio started his own brand of ethnic cleansing in Maricopa County. Lest anyone doubt the criminality of any person with dark skin who happens to speak Spanish, Joe and his cronies and followers paint an increasingly dire picture of Our Neighbor to the South as an entire country of Thieves, Murderers and Drug Cartels, Hellbent on the destruction of everything America Stands For. As tension mounted and tempers flared on both sides, reason fled and Sheriff Joe got his wish, a County and a Country divided over what is
American. The entire US is now hostage to the bigotry of a venal little man and his dopple-ganger, State Senator Russell Pearce. Between them,  they have planted the notion in America's political psyche that all Mexicans are trying to invade our Country with the avowed intent of living a criminal life as a member of a vicious street gang. Go ahead and laugh. I read that very assertion in an essay by James Welch to which I replied in an earlier post. 

The thumbnails below are links to amazon.com and their products relevant to the discussion of illegal immigration as I see it. I have tried to present opinions from both sides. I do not have a monopoly on the Truth.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO CLICK ON THE LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE BE AWARE THAT THE PRICES QUOTED ARE THE REGULAR AMAZON,COM  CHARGES. I DO NOT PROVIDE A DISCOUNT NOR ADD A PREMIUM.  AMAZON.COM IS THE VENDOR AND WILL PROVIDE YOU A SHOPPING CART, HANDLE THE TRANSACTION AND THE SHIPPING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE,  ANY AND ALL COMPLAINTS AND REQUESTS FOR REFUND SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO AMAZON. COM. I receive a commission on any purchases I send amazon's way but there is no additional cost to you, reader, and I make the choice as to what is featured and not.You are welcome to proceed to amazon.com and do your own search, I have provided these 
links to save you the trouble and try to present the spectrum of opinion surrounding this subject. 
If you wish to read more of my commentary on the Mess in Arizona you can find it
BELOW THE LINKS   on         BERT Sez

Jan Brewer: Most Illegal Immigrants Are Smuggling Drugs

Jan Brewer: Most Illegal Immigrants Are Smuggling Drugs


ARIZONANS STUCK WITH BREWER
I watched Jan Brewer, currently Governor of Arizona, on a local Phoenix, Arizona television
station, NBC affiliate KPNX 12. To the world, please remember that she does not speak
for all Arizonans. Her rhetoric panders to a larger, national audience, not a platform on which she ran and was elected to.
I wondered how such a person could be the Governor of my State. Indeed, she is not
elected as Governor but as the Secretary of State that inherited the seat when Janet
Napolitano accepted the Homeland Security position. We can't impeach an unelected
Governor and cannot impeach Brewer for any possible crimes committed in an elected office she no which she longer serves. I think, despite her tax increases whose parity I question,
signing SB 1070 was unconstitutional insofar as it enacted the legislation that is criminal
when it takes effect and American citizens' rights are violated, about a month from now. I look
for the two events to be simultaneous if the DOJ lawsuit doesn't stop it first.
In the meantime, she is a folk hero to a segment of populace that always blames
the nearest target for their own shortcomings. It is shameful that twenty States have
considered enacting similar measures. Brewer fans the flames of hysteria with hyperbole
about imagined threats.
Arizonans bear the blame for electing her to a minor office with potential and, to our chagrin,
we are stuck with her until the inauguration day following the next (2010) elections.

Facebook | A Billion People for "NO MORE OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING" (snowball effect)

Facebook | A Billion People for "NO MORE OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING" (snowball effect)Betting man that I am, I'm taking wagers: the Gulf Oil Disaster clean up will be done in a () week () month () year () decade () century () NEVER My money is on the latter, I hear tar balls are still washing ashore in Prudhoe Bay.
We must switch to sustainable, renewable resources, like, yesterday. Henry Ford designed his horseless carriage to run on Methanol derived from Hemp. Save the corn for the hungry. You can get 5 times the paper from an acre of hemp than from an acre of trees. And with one fifth the the chemicals (From where? Anybody?) needed to process woodpulp. Save the Old growth Forests not to mention the Rainforests. Rope made from Hemp, pound for pound, is stronger than nylon (made from petrochemicals, if you recall). Brilliant, courageous men of the mid 18th century such as G. Washington and T Jefferson grew hemp as a cash crop as well as a basic resource for their plantations. Until Titusville in the mid 19th century the world relied on renewable, agrarian sources for fiber and fuel and even food and dietary supplements. And lest anyone accuse me as being a seditious, drug obsessed Hippie, I am NOT speaking to the proven medicinal benefits of cannabis whose three famous species comprise a subset of the Hemp family.
The World is at this critical Juncture because of, in a word, GREED. The profits from pumping the nonrenewable crude from the ground far outstrips what can be made from a crop that can be harvested three, four, even five times annually from the same patch of dirt. We MUST STOP poisoning our air, our water, our land, our Planet, OURSELVES. We bury our dead not for religious reasons, not out of respect for the departed, but because dead things are toxic to living beings. We humans are not carrion eaters. Nature has provided us a few to clean up the unburied but absent vultures, bacteria, and bugs, unburied flesh, and plant matter, putrefies and liquefies. Just because the cycads and dinosaurs died and were buried millions of years ago does not mean the toxins from decomposition disappear.
No cleansing of the material, no purification occurs due to time or distance in a closed system thousands of feet underground. Like the bodies that produced them, the toxic oils have nowhere to go, cannot escape their crypt [with a few notable exceptions such as La Brea] until set free by the drillbit. We as a community, as a Nation, as a world, as a species cannot afford any longer to allow the oil barons, individuals or corporate to sell us death for comfort and convenience in a market that they created. the collusion between the automakers and Big Oil and the Chemical Giants {Dow, DuPont, Monsanto} to stifle and or eliminate competing products that endangered their monopolies is well documented and further discussion in this essay, needless.
I wholeheartedly join and SUPPORT this group "NO MORE OFFSHORE DRILLING" knowing that no more onshore drilling is every bit as important. We need a group for it as well. And another, umbrella organization promoting the health and wellness reasons to wean ourselves from the deadly fuel that powers us now. The move to Wind, Solar, Tidal, Geothermal, agricultural and even nuclear power sources cannot come too soon. Oil profiteers were offshore because despite the slightly higher cost of drilling a mile underwater was well offset by the lower cost of the lease acquisition and the suspected size of the reserve. The name of the game is MORE PROFIT. let us raise our collective voice and say NO!

I don't know about you, reader, but I cannot STAND to see the same commercial over and over again. SO the SHOWBERT SURPRISE for this week is a post of my picks of amazon.com's picks. The outlaw country section will be moving to page 2 and this week's shopping will focus on Classic Rock of the post Psychedelic era. That drug induced Hippie Rock is its own sub genre as is the first British Invasion - next time.

Super Granny | Funniest Video of the Day

Super Granny | Funniest Video of the Day

Mom Said I Could. | Funniest Video of the Day

Mom Said I Could. | Funniest Video of the Day

Systematic review on GetGlue

Systematic review on GetGlue
I am thinking about Systematic review and I suppose that, in a world of circular definitions the concept of Standards Of Practice need to be tied to the fact that medical practice is based on prior Trial and error, successes culled from the data and reported to the .Medical Community. Remember that, like lawyers, Physicians Practice their Profession, The preparers of "Current Therapy". systematically reviewing all reportage on every and any given topic, .provide an invaluable service to patients and Doctors alike,.I t supplies everyone of them with identical findings, saving each physician the hours of research needed to look at everything reported on every topic in what would probably be a haphazard methodology, squeezed between the Hospital and the office. Thus, it frees up Doctors' time to see patients, the raison d'etre for medical training. OF note is the fact that despite the annual increase in the number of medical school graduates, consumer driven demand for utilization of the newest, most technologically involved and most expensive generally, necessitates more of a doctor's time in evaluation, interpretation and explanation of the results to the patient than any time in History. Patient involvement in ordering diagnostic testing makes it increasingly difficult to parse a finite amount of physician/patient/ time among the same or greater number of clients. Yet another reason Health Care costs soar while the economy shrinks.

BERT ANSWERS AN ANTI-IMMIGRATION BLOGGER PART I

 I clicked on an ad on Facebook the other day that was asking if the Gulf  Oil disaster was Obama's Katrina. Right  away I knew it was an anti Obama lure so I clicked to find out what it was about. It was a subscription drive for a right wing (uber) newsletter called Newsmax. The ploy was a phony poll regarding President comparing him and his actions with our last White House Resident (Bush43). The poll asked if Obama was doing a good job, if the media was going easy on him and if the campaign contributions from

Big Oil had influenced his decisions. The published results were overwhelmingly negative. Surprise surprise. This was of course, from an audience predisposed toward defense of the man famous for "You're doing a helluva job, Brownie". but I soldiered on and reached the Newsletter page where and ad  for a subscription to something or other would get me a radio. Not just any radio, The Department of Homeland Security said everybody should have an emergency radio and theirs was multiband with a a flashlight and.. Whoopdedo. I gotta have one Janet Said So. Hold on just a minute, Janet Napolitano was governor here in Arizona and that doesn't sound like her. I sounds like an underling left over from the previous administration, if the statement were current at all. Trying to prey on peoples fears to sell magazines seems questionable to me but then I read the blogs or at least the headlines.

       Until I came to a Blog by a Mr. James Walsh  who equated every Mexican in America with gangsters. Something to do with brown skin I think, How else can you tell who they are? I reply:    

             BERT Sez:     Dear Editor, Newsmax Magazine. I think you are wrong and wrong headed.  At the moment, I especially  disagree with Mr. James Walsh and his characterization of the Border situation, illegal immigration, the Arizona 'solution' and the "Threat to National Security". From the statement that the border has been unsecured for at least 24 years (more like 24,000) to the "inescapable conclusion"  that the border needs to be secured to the anecdote about the pages of the quoran that were reputedly found among dead border crossers, hyperbole, half truths and hysteria define his May 24, 2010 post.

        

          I have lived in Arizona since 1964. I know lots of folks hereabouts, some here longer than I, that  were born in Mexico and brought here by parents as infants but to whom the concept of carrying 'papers' is as foreign to them as it is to me. I traveled and worked in Mexico, on a tourist Visa.    Oops that makes me an illegal alien in Mexico. I was working on the wrong Visa. ICE estimates there are 11 million 'illegal' aliens,in the US. Half entered the Country legally and overstayed their visas. Half of those came across the Mexican American border. And not all of those were Mexican but included other Central and South American nationalities Honduran, Guatemalan, Panamanian, El Salvadoran, Wait a minute, aren't the El Salvadorans the greatest threat to American peace of mind since 9/11? To believe Mr Walsh, every person crossing the border northward is on his way here just to join the ruthless, despicable MS13. Wake up people, none of the 9/11 Hijackers came across the Mexican Border. Whoever didn't sneak in from Canada flew in direct from Europe or Africa.

          

        From what I know of Mexico and Mexican Culture, if los brincados (the jumpers) were carrying Koran, more likely than anything else they were carrying it for toilet paper. Seventeen dead bodies found in the desert of unknown causes, reportedly, along with some pages from the Q'ooran.  A quoran, mmmm  in Arabic? in Pashti? in Spanish? I've never heard of that one. I don't care how you want to spell it, Mohammad's scribblings are no more or less valid than the New Testament, the Old Testament, the bhagadad Vida, the TAO or the Confucian writings or The Little Red Book of Mao's sayings. The writings that various faiths base their beliefs on are translations of translations of miscopyied translations, endlessly. And the topic of another Blog post.

        

          I don't believe for a millisecond that Mexican fence jumpers or riverwaders (los mojados) are converts to anti-American terrorism. Those folks are trying to get some of the American Dream that,, until the end of the Cold War, was a worldwide desire. After the Soviet Bloc broke apart and the former slave states tasted Freedom and Capitalism, the pressure to escape and migrate westward diminished. It didn't stop the Bosnian Mob though, or the Russian Mob or the Jamaican Gangs (remember the bloodbaths in New York) from moving here in search of greater profits. Generally, except for prostitution operations, they preyed on their own ethnic brethern (same modus operandi as the Italians) ruthless tactics to punish a few and let the grapevine  blow it out of scale and proportion. It is the way Warlords rule in Somalia. It is the same way Genghis Khan ruled the world. Wholesale slaughter of the subjugated is not cost effective. If you kill them all off, who is going to pay taxes? Population elimination means ruling an empty kingdom: no production, no power. One or two examples of unbelievable horror and the problem solves itself

    

       Fortunately or not, it is Not So with Mexico. Mexico, Land of the Meek, A country of personal cowards. Mexicans in Mexico seldom make eye contact with strangers or officials or Cops. They might be robbed or worse have to pay mordida, literally the 'bite' a bribe or even a payoff demanded from an individual for no other reason than the traffic cop wants a coke. Mexican citizens expect oppression and corruption from officials and law enforcement types. Mexican Citizens don't walk with heads held high, they shuffle with face to the floor. Guatemalans and Hondurans, as short as they are, walk facing front. I watch them all walk past my office window every day.

      

       The Mexicans and the Mexican Americans and the American of Latin descent all look the same to me They speak the same languages I do (Spanish and English) and think with good reason when the see the rich US as a place to make their way up the socio-economic ladder, to better their lot and escape the ponderous poverty and the haves that keep the have-nots in their place. the vast majority do not see the US as a place to go because they want to join a street gang. I ask Mr. Walsh:, Have you ever been to Mexico? Do You speak Spanish?  Do you know anything of Mexican Culture or History; Aside from Taco and Burrito and Tortilla that is? How then can you condemn an entire population for sharing the dreams of your forefathers?

        

       Or on a slightly different  tack, I know from experience MS 13 is a bunch of punk wannabees. They started a recruitment drive in my neighborhood and set up across the street from my house, giving me the 'look' as I watched from my porch. The next night they returned to 'tag' the street  in front of the house. I took a can of spray paint and occluded all of it.  When they returned a few days later I strapped on my .45 and stood in the front yard with my arms folded. They left and never returned. Mr. Walsh should grow a pair and not hide behimd J. Edgar's apron strings. Fear of children does not become him.

      

       Do you know Mr. Walsh, that MS 13 started in California's penal system, as a reaction to the treatment they received from not the guards so much as the Mexican Mafia. El Salvadorans are second class citizens in Mexico. I believe that your information is dated, sir. The Mexican Mafia and MS13 were once major forces on the streets of many Western cities.  MS13 and the MM are now no more vicious than any other ethnic based organized crime syndicate. In my eye they are sissies compared to Al-Quaida with their public beheadings and the Taliban  playing polo with victims' heads and stoning women for imagined sins.

    

       Are you old enough, sir, to recall the headlines in or from New York City, screaming news of the Mob violence with the pictures of dead bodies on the streets and falling out of cars? How about the depredations the Whites wrought upon the Blacks in the South in the Twenties, Thirties, Forties, Fifties and Sixties or what those same folk did to the Whites that came south to march in support of civil rights? Church bombings killing children, Young men murdered and buried in a levee, lynchings. Do you remember any of this Mr. Walsh?  Or are you proud of the way America has treated Her minority citizens, visitors and immigrants.

                                                       

                                                   READ ON FOR PART TWO