AMERICAN FRIENDS DEBATE THE MATTER
We are under assault from across the border'
Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey says U.S. officials "in denial" over Mexican
border threat.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44647976#44647976
I could not agree more with the General. The real war and our future
security is not in the Af/Pak region, but along our borders both in
controlling illegals coming in, including terrorist cells, as well as
drugs. Instead of deploying our dollars and military overseas, I would
deploy them along our borders and use drones mainly for surveillance,
and if you were 100% sure maybe tactically against the drug cartels.
However, in the long-run, the war, as in Afghanistan will not be won
purely through the barrel of a gun. If you cosmetically cut a wart off
your nose while your body is riddled with cancer, in the short-run you
may look good but in the long-run you will lose. The above treats the
symptoms, but does not get down to the causes, proximate versus
ultimate.
One must ask:
1. Why are the drugs flowing across our borders?
2. Why are people flooding across our borders?
If you don't deal with these issues, then a militaristic approach
along the borders my slow the problem, but it will not solve the
problem. The following are my impressions
Question #1 Why are the drugs flowing across our borders
I am sorry to say, but in my opinion, America today is not the country
I grew up in as a boy back in the 1950s/60s. Our society is broken:
1. Largest consumer of addicting drugs/illegal drugs in the world,
2. High divorce rates – around 50% - sanctity of marriage out the window,
3. 40% of the kids born out of wedlock and most likely raised in
single family heads of households greatly diminishing their chance for
succeeding in this world - and easily turned towards drugs
4. Millions of abortions with no thought for human life,
5. Crass materialism - the opiate of the masses – 1984!
6. Failed War on Drugs, incarcerating many kids for a bit of marijuana
who go in as teenagers needing guidance & come out as hardened
criminals.
I could go on about the evolution of our non-representative government
and the evolution of our country from a Republic to a so-called
Democracy to a corrupt self-serving Corporatocracy, but I won't.
Issues that must be dealt with if the flow of drugs is to ever stop
include:
1. Welfare Reform & Family Structure - back in the early 1990s
when I worked for an 8A (Black owned company) the first thing they
told me was that Segregation was bad, but the worst thing that ever
happened to the Black families in the inner cities was Welfare that
broke up nuclear families. Women started having kids out of wedlock to
collect child support money - in essence a way of earning regular
wages. Like foreign aid, welfare takes away the pride and dignity of
people, makes them dependent, takes away the drive to better oneself.
Seems like it should be a short term solution and rather than just
handing out food stamps and welfare checks, people should be put to
some kind of work. What is the chance of a kid being raised by a
single woman-headed household making it in life – pretty slim?
"Children raised in single-parent families are one-third more likely
to exhibit anti-social behavior. (3) Moreover, O'Neill found that,
holding other variables constant, black children from single- parent
households are twice as likely to commit crimes as black children from
a family where the father is present. Nearly 70 percent of juveniles
in state reform institutions come from fatherless homes, as do 43
percent of prison inmates. (4) Research indicates a direct correlation
between crime rates and the number of single-parent families in a
neighborhood". http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-wc67.html I am sure
you can add to that drug use!!
1. War on Drugs Reform - Needs reform from everything I have read and
heard. Maybe something like marijuana needs to be legalized and taxed
- don't know. Hell, and they should let the Cuban cigars into our
country - I miss my Jose Piedra's. "Our current policy mix is not
working the way we want it to. The ease with which drugs can be
obtained, the price, the number of people using drugs, the violence on
the border all show that. We need to rethink our responses to the
health effects, the economic impacts, the effect on crime. We need to
rethink our approach to the supply and demand of drugs" - James Webb,
U.S. Senator (Virginia), 2008 in
http://www.massbar.org/media/520275/drug%20policy%20task%20force%20final%20report.pdf
. Also see Global Commission on Drug Policy June 2011 War on Drugs
http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/Report
2. We need to get religion back into the classrooms
3. I saw Denzel Washington the other day as a promoter of Boys Clubs -
I don't have kids so I am not very aware of what options exist today,
but when I was a kid the elementary schools during summer vacations
were turned into activity centers for us kids from tether ball,
athletic competitions, etc. Seems like this should be a major focus
4. Somehow we need to get our family structure back to husband/wife.
If I did not have my Father around as a boy to discipline me, make me
study, make me work grinding steel 8 hrs/day and running electrical
lines for pre-fabricated harness boards to see what awaited me if I
did not study - I could have easily ended up in a gang and in trouble.
I am who I am because of my Mother & Father- takes a team to raise a
kid – and the first 8-9 years – the Formative Years as my 97 year old
Mom - a retired school teacher tells me – the child you see at that
age is the adult you will see in another 10 years or so!
I don't have all the answers, but these are issues that need
addressing. As long as our societies are broken socially and morally
there will be a demand for these illegal drugs and someone, some way
will provide them, just like gun control - criminals don't buy them
legally and all the stupid rules like not letting me bring back my LM4
from South Africa don't make much sense when I can buy a Century Arms
Golani with a few American made parts right here in the SA. Criminals
will always find ways to get guns and so with drug addicts. If you
don't address the socio-economic issues of why people are consuming
these drugs and turning to crime, the War on Drugs and Gun Control
will and are failing.
Question #2 Why are people flooding across our borders?
There are lots of reasons why this is occurring:
Brain Drain & Economic Political Manipulation of Developing Countries:
A CIA agent in Guyana once told me - a major goal was to identify the
best and brightest, giving them scholarships to study in the USA and
then keeping them in the USA. I have no problem with someone from
Europe coming and staying - plenty of educated people over there, but
if they are from a Developing Country - when they finish we need to
pull their student visa and send them home. The "Brain Drain" stealing
the best and the brightest is morally wrong - then those countries
will not develop (and until now we have not wanted them to - as a
means of accessing cheap natural resources, put in puppet leaders and
dysfunctional one man one vote cookie cutter democracy, and manipulate
their economies and politics with IMF/World Bank/Western Donor
money/policies). As is occurring now - there will be a flood of the
poorest of the poor from these Non-Developing countries (like Africa
into Europe & Latin America into the USA) risking to sink the Our
ship. As one guy told me in El Salvador when I was a PCV back in the
early 1970s: "When the ship sinks the rats will swim. The ship is
going down and I am going to the Promised Land – your country -
America. I'll share a room with 5-10 other guys and instead of US$
1.25/day I'll make that in an hour, send money home so my folks can
buy a TV, frig and open a tienda. Wonderful thing is, if I get caught,
the USA sends me on vacation to see my family and I'll be back in 2-3
months"!
From DeGeorges & Reilly (2008): "There are approximately 640,000
African professionals in the U.S., with over 360,000 having PhDs
(Sankore, 2005). In total an estimated 30-40% of college graduates
from Sub-Saharan Africa have emigrated to developed countries
including the U.S., Britain and France (e.g., Gambia/63%, Ghana/46%,
Kenya/38% and Angola/33%). Almost 50% of doctors migrate within five
years of graduation (Mantey, 2006). "Nigeria alone has 33,000 doctors
living in the USA, while the country suffers a healthcare crisis"
(Sankore, 2005). Among this brain drain is a critical loss of
university faculty to the First World (Schoetzau, 2005). Many Africans
with doctoral and masters degrees are driving taxis in the United
States or Europe, since there is no economy to absorb them or because
of the low pay relative to the cost of living in their own countries.
As the veterinarian graduates from Karen Veterinarian School explained
to the principal author in the early 1990s, the majority of the
graduating classes over the last three years had had to leave Kenya to
find work. In fact,
'at present there are more African scientists and engineers working in
the USA than in Africa" (Commission for Africa, 2005)' ".
If these facts are true, how many Professionals have next door Latin
American countries lost to America – orders of magnitude more??
Seen the same thing in South Africa since most of the subcontinent is
not developing due to mainly USA/French interventions - South Africa
suffering from this flood of humanity because of the lack of
development! Of course African leadership is a disaster and also to
blame for buying into these schemes. I got on a plane one day to Dar
es Salaam. Half the plane was full of young illegal Tanzanians being
flown back by South African Immigration Officials – you can be sure
they were back in RSA within 2-3 months. Another time on South African
TV, they had a program showing illegal Mozambicans being transported
back via train. By the time the train arrived at the border, most of
the illegals had jumped the train in South Africa. I have also seen
Britain steal away South African nurses with better salaries after
their education has been subsidized by the South African Government
and there is a shortage of nurses in the country.
Years ago, I was conducting a fisheries survey for the USEPA (U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency) around Hilton Head South Carolina.
Hilton Head is a resort/golf island for the idle rich, but part of it
is inhabited by Gullah (people from the Gulf of Guinea, Africa) who
early on escaped from slavery to the barrier islands of South Carolina
& Georgia. Anyway – the USEPA was worried that sewers in the wrong
place would push the Gullah off the Island by raising land prices.
While conducting the survey I ran into Gilbert Maggioni (See
attached), one of the top bird carvers in the world whose family had
the second largest oyster cannery on the East Coast (see attached) and
well - I would say a member of the KKK/John Birch Society or who
espoused their views only liking WASPS (White Anglo-Saxon
Protestants).
Mr. Maggioni gave me a very racist book and said here lies the future
- "Camp of the Saints" (See attached) about some place like Bangladesh
- in the end instead of the people waiting for the food aid they
commandeered the ships and invaded Europe - with the last stronghold
for the Whiteman being in the Swiss Alps. I skimmed the disgusting
book - written in the 1970s by a Frenchman – and put it aside - but it
is happening today as we speak - to Europe, South Africa and the USA
among other places (see attached). The West is seeing a mass migration
from the Third World/Developing World into the West/Developed World.
No one wishes to leave their home/culture/families - but if countries
are held back from development - we will reap what we sow as the young
seek a better life – the Third World living within the First World –
not just the best and the brightest but the disenfranchised masses.
This is placing tremendous pressure on both social and physical
Infrastructure such as roads, schools, hospitals, etc. In South
Africa, they would arrive, find no work and turn to crime!
The other risk is the countries having the resources will become
unstable/ungovernable as the poor disenfranchised and even educated
masses rise up against the political elite often put into and kept in
power by the West (more Arab, African and Latin American Springs)
making access to the natural resources very difficult. There is no
guarantee that so-called Democracies will emerge with leaders
compliant to Western Governments. In fact, it is likely they will be
wary – due to past history – of jumping into bed with America and
Europe!
Think I have said enough – just trying to get across the point that
the issue is very complex and a purely military response to the
problem will fail unless socio-economic & political issues are dealt
with.
Regards
Mr A
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barry has this absolutely correct - Af/Pak is not an existential
threat to the US while that evil that is flowing across the Mex border
is. If you have any ideas on how ADG can further underscore this issue
for all interested - please let me know. While I do not like the trend
toward sanitized killing that hi-tech drones are bringing about it has
occurred to me that the Mex border would be the exception to the rule:
i.e., if it moves drugs - it deserves summary execution - period - and
drones could provide that instant judgment (i.e., anything near the
Mex side of the border brandishing a klak, etc. should be sent to meet
its Maker as expeditiously as possible).
Some tragic, personal experience has convinced me that cocaine is
pure, distilled evil and all who traffic it are rotten to the core as
they purvey nothing but misery, and the murder of bodies and souls. I
used to think that the movie, "No Country for Old Men," was way over
the top but I now know that, once again, Hollywood got it all wrong -
as that flick does not even come close to illustrating, with any
accuracy, the brutal reality surrounding the unparalleled violence
that the river of coke flowing across the Rio Grande brings with it in
its flood! "Hang em high" is the long over-due justice that should be
meted out to every last dirty rotten wetback and gringo bastard that
has anything to do with that.
Mr B
============================================================
it is a very dire assessment. I think a bit nostalgic too.
Are we the biggest consumer based on number or percentage of people
using drugs? In a Nation of 300 million i rwckon it is number? That
doesnt necessarily reflect a collapse of morality but rahter an innate
HUMAN need and tradition to alter ones perception. From what I have
read, heard and seen about the past century, substance use has always
been a BIG part of life. From opium being widely used by over 50% of
American house wives in the 1940s to 50's to Nixon tripping on LSD
while literally in the Oval office to Hilter on anphetamines to
Donovan (OSS) drunk off his ass.... Multiply it times millions. My
point is that I am not sure we are any weaker morally than any other
culture at any time in history.
Marriage. Are two people tethered together in misery better than
being seperated or divorced? In the glorious golden age, many just
tolerated each other for a lifetime. As a person who witnessed
parents ruthlessly and violently fighting as well as infidelity, i
promise you that divorce would have been better than that. But I had
an Irish mother who believed in marriage for life. At one point that
translated in to trying to then MURDER my father because there was
desperation from being in a self made prison of misery.
Life wasn't the Cleavers. Marge was likely high on over the counter
opium while dad was banging his secretary who lost her sole bread
winner in the war. The daily martini likey helped sooth the guilt.
The Baby Boomers in large sent us on this downward spiral. I would
task them to help fix their mess that is now everyones mess.
Materialism is inate. I was just in Ethiopia. The tribal guys like
beads and nice blades. It has always been that way. The ONLY way to
reduce it is to reduce opportunity. That isnt very American.
I think religion back in the classrooms is not the answer. I
personally want to limit the indoctrinations my kids get. I dont need
some stranger who does not share our values telling my girls to box
God into a limited image that ultimately degrades what she can
experience spiritually. How did state religion work out for the
Italians, Irish et all? Not good. People still had naughty thoughs
and deeds and it was on steroids due to the Judeo Christian rocket
fuel poured on it.
The abortions are a horrible thing. No arguing that.
Bottom line - Mexico needs to fix their shit. They have a wealth of
natural resources. They have former Special Forces running cartels.
Their people are leaving because they cant get to the natural
resources in their country. They need to either kill / capture the
cartel members or ask us for help. I worked the border in Cali when I
was a Marine. Most of those coming across are "non combatants" some
with babies. BAD idea to take combat vets and combat oriented orgs
and put them on that task. Did you know that some women get so scared
when making that journey that they drop their babies while running?
Lets reserve all the lofty social goals and focus.
1. Mexican officials reform their social system.
2. Dismantel the cartels. Especially the Zetas.
3. Stay out of my kids lives.
My point of view.
Regards,
Mr C
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