The killers arrived at the motel in the predawn gloom.
Dressed in military-style uniforms and armed with automatic weapons, they forced the manager to hand over a guest list, then stormed from room to room, pointing their guns at the terrified occupants.
In Room 49 they opened fire on the man and woman inside. The woman’s body was on the floor next to the bed, and the man was in the bathroom. At least 100 bullet casings were found, police said. The killers escaped in three late-model SUVs.
These were but two of eight killings in this grim border city as Good Friday turned to Black Friday, culminating one of the bloodiest weeks in memory, officials and residents said…
Most of the killings Friday were believed to be related to the ongoing battle between the Juárez and Sinaloa drug cartels, U.S. and Mexican officials said. More than 160 people have been slain in Juárez since Jan. 1, including about 30 in the past week…
Earlier this week, hitmen left two bodies, their hands tied behind their backs, at the entrance of the city of Palomas. Police Chief Emilio Pérez, whose force has had two officers killed, was threatened by phone and told that he would be next. Within hours, the six remaining police officers quit their jobs. Mr. Pérez drove across the border and asked for political asylum, a U.S. law enforcement agent said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
I’ll repeat the obvious. A system of law – in practice – that allows corruption and cronyism, a culture that casts a blind eye on gangsters and politicians who are nothing more than thieves, is destined to devolve into anarchy.
“Police Chief Emilio Pérez, whose force has had two officers killed, was threatened by phone and told that he would be next.”
Members of the police force are killing their own kind and threatening the Police Chief as well? So if the Chief knows which of his officers are killing other officers, at least he can give the Federal police a place to start looking? Or did you mean to write instead that “Since January 1, two of Police Chief Emilio Pérez’ officers have been killed. Perez was recently threatened by phone and told that he would be next.”
…to lead to revolution, not anarchy. At least you were close.
They can flush the whole country as far as I’m concerned. If Mexico fell off of the map I doubt few would notice or care.
Can you believe that Benito Mussolini was named after Benito Juarez? And Mussolini didn’t like Gabriele d’Annunzio, but had to tolerate him, because he invented Fascism?
I ran into this web site by accident this Easter morning. It was not because I once taught myself to type on August Dvorak’s keyboard, or because, in my childhood my family lived on a road named after the composer Antonin Dvorak.
It was because I did a Google search for the words “Mensa” and “Horowitz.”
A letter, published on Page 5 of the March issue of the Mensa Bulletin, was attributed to a certain “Jeff Horowitz,” whose email address was given as “thewitz@cox.net.” The letter had an interesting philosophical angle, so I wrote to him, but got a return message that said my email was undeliverable.
I then wrote to the Bulletin’s Editor, Dick Hodgson, and got the reply that HE could send email to “Horowitz,” and implied that there was something wrong with my computer, or the Yahoo carrier I used.
I then asked him to forward my letter to Mr. Horowitz,” and he didn’t reply.
I wrote separate emails to four or five Mensa bureaucrats. Two of them replied, promising an inquiry, and that’s the last I heard from them.
I’m beginning to wonder if that “Jeff Horowitz” ever existed.
Curiously, I’ve belonged to Mensa for 42 years, since 1965. Since I almost never go to Mensa meetings, or even read the Bulletin, I finally decided, two months ago to stop wasting money on dues, and let my membership expire.
The last straw was a pro-war article, published in the January Bulletin. Mensa has always made a big deal about being non-political, but there was no offer to publish any anti-war article.
In fact, Mensa’s policy, in recent years, has been to have “contests,” in which various people “submit” articles, and only those that are the “winners” will be published.
The alleged author of the pro-war article was said to have joined Mensa last August, so he hadn’t been a member for even half a year, when the article was published. Also, there was no indication that he’d won any kind of “contest.”
In the letter that I tried to send to Horowitz, that Hodgson wouldn’t forward, I mentioned a letter that I’d read in the Mensa Bulletin, during the Viet Nam War, in 1968. The author mentioned that the percentages of Mensans that were in favor of that war, and of those opposed to it, didn’t differ significantly from the corresponding percentages among the general population.
Oh the scandal! Lets be utterly judgmental about our southern neighbors. Let’s not look at our own inability to control violence between our own borders or in Iraq, a country for which we are de-facto responsible.
More retarded comments please. Violence in the US isn’t 1/10th what it is in Mexico.
“Oh, the sun is rising” – blah, blah, blah, venezuela.
“The Iraq War sucks” – blah, blah, I’m the only expert on Latin America.
“Mexican drug dealers own more cops than the average Chicago wardheeler” – blah, blah, venezuela, Latin America, it’s all Steve Jobs fault.
Almost as pitiful as James Hill.
gquaglia –
As always when you have no facts you just throw insults.
Fact:
Death rate per 1000 (smaller number is better)
Mexico: 4.76
USA: 8.26
All deaths combined, not only violent death. So statistically you are almost twice as likely to die in the USA as you are in Mexico in any given year.
Source: CIA (yes, that CIA)
Fact: In the USA, in 2005 there were 18,124 homicides. Yes, that is correct, 18,124 murders. Source: CDC
The crime rate in the USA, overall, is THREE times higher than in Mexico. You are three times more likely to be the victim of a violent crime in the USA as you are in Mexico. Source: United Nations statistics.
So take my statistics and choke on them.
Did you notice that the words SECURITY, DEPORTATION, WALL, or FENCE are not mentioned in the article. Just another example of our screwed up priorities.
Good news: US to spend $23 million on border fence
Item: The US government is forking over $23 million to help build the border fence and calling in the Army Corps of Engineers to assist with construction.
Bad news: The money is going to build the border fence in… Egypt.
Un-freaking-believable. The US is going to spend $23 million on building a fence in Egypt via a transfer of US aid money. Oh, and there is MUCH more.
In addition to the $23 million for Egypt’s border fence, we are sending teams from our Army Corp of Engineers to help them move these plans forward.
I wonder if the Egyptian wall will be finished before any of our walls are built.
Those who are in border states and those who have seen the failures of the levees in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina (and other floods) are sure to appreciate the full ramifications of this idiotic decision. Gee thanks.
I think my head just exploded.
The crime rate in the USA, overall, is THREE times higher than in Mexico.
Crime is where the money is.
And a portion of the crime is thanks to all the Mexican gang members who have moved to the USA.
Racist Mexican gangs are indiscriminately targeting blacks and other minorities who aren’t even involved in gang culture, as part of an orchestrated ethnic cleansing program that is forcing people to flee Los Angeles. The culprit of the carnage is the radical Neo-Nazi liberation theology known as La Raza, which calls for the extermination of all non-Latino races in America.
And we want to give them amnesty?
Man… this sounds it came right out of the movie “No Country for Old Men”. Remember the motel scene when the Mexicans finally tracked down Llewelyn in El Paso?
#5–Hey Reykr==you crack me up. Interesting stuff you post but its related to this thread in what way? I’d like to see the Mensa Way to connect these dots?
I find #9’s data fishy.
According to http://tinyurl.com/r7het which uses UN data, the murder rate in Mexico is 0.130 per 1,000. The US rate is 0.042. Murder is generally thought of as being the most reliable statistic of violent crime, because things like rape and robbery often are not reported / recorded, but murder almost always is. So, by this, Mexico is 3 times more violent than the US.
By the way, Colombia is the worst, 0.618 per 1000. Canada is 0.015, the UK 0.014, Ireland just 0.009.
more police!!11!!!eleven!one!
#14–Canucklehead==I’m with you. Drug violence and armed insurrection mark Mexico as probably having a higher murder rate, the enfluence of the Catholic Church notwithstanding.
I have to say though that I did not dismiss #9 Awakes’s statement of “facts” out of hand even though there was no link.
Interesting to note how “a firm statement” is powerful even with nothing to back it up. Those NeoCons really are onto something.
Thanks for your post.
Even though the mexican justice sistem sucks, the main problem are that all these drug dealers have to sell drugs to someone. The majority of those drugs end, one way or another on american consumers. So Eideard, instead of criticizing the mexican culture, ask yourself if you have ever consumed drugs, because every consumer is partially responsible for every drug releated murder.
“I’ll repeat the obvious. A system of law – in practice – that allows corruption and cronyism, a culture that casts a blind eye on gangsters and politicians who are nothing more than thieves, is destined to devolve into anarchy.” – You mean like Amerika under the RepubliKKKans ??? The clock is ticking !!!
Mexico became the conduit for South American drugs after the Feds militarized the Caribbean. With huge profits in an historically corrupt country, it is inevitable that the Mexican authorities become involved. There are stories from Arizona claiming that the Mexican military guards major drug shipments and, if true, this shows corruption at a very deep level.
Drugs are bad, mmmkay? But we are conducting a drug war that we know we cannot win and Mexico is just our latest victim.
I live in Juarez heh, this month has been harsh. A lot of cops have been killed, about four days ago I was driving through one of the main streets at 4pm and some dudes in a truck were pointing a rifle at another one, we just hit the pedal. Most have died under suspicious conditions though. It seems like there’s a change of mafia leadership going on and they’re “cleansing”.
oh and @Eideard: Who are you referring to in your last comment? I guess americans love to generalize ;).
Here is the link for per capita murders.
http://tinyurl.com/r7het
I suggest that the murder rate both in Mexico and the US is highly influenced by drugs.
We all know that Jimi in #17 has it right. Whichever social conditions which exist here in the US that drives drug use drives the drug trade. The “war on drugs” isn’t attacking the root of the problem.
Rational people know free handouts and givaways are not the answer. Jobs, educations, and self-respect are.
Of course, I’m preaching to the choir.
#17 Jimi said, “…ask yourself if you have ever consumed drugs, because every consumer is partially responsible for every drug releated murder.”
That sounds nice, however it isn’t correct. Actually, it’s the people and the laws that make the drugs illegal, which are responsible for every drug related murder. History has shown us that we here in the US experienced the same type of increase in violent crime during the Prohibition. A law didn’t stop the desire for alcohol. The laws inflate the price, and the illegal products become nice profit centers for criminals, and organized crime.
Since the product is illegal, there are no legal avenues to find justice during disputes. You can’t sue your dealer for selling you bad drugs. One supplier can’t sue another for predatory business practices. Lots of money, huge profits, heavy penalties for getting caught, and no legal recourse. Is it surprising that it produces violent arbitration?
The person who earns his living on making, transporting, or selling drugs, is the last person in the world who wants to see their product become legal.
I know that it sounds crazy and counter intuitive, but the closest we can ever get to winning in the war on drugs, is if we were to legalize and control them, as we do with alcohol. The huge profits would disappear, so would the criminal element. The wretched users and addicts, could get their daily dose for a few dollars. When they don’t have to pay the artificially inflated price for their fix, they will be less likely to have to resort to prostitution or stealing, to support their habits. The profits the state generates from sales, can help fund education and rehab.
In the last 20 years, tobacco is the only drug that has seen any significant decrease in use. Cocaine has, but that’s because of meth. The point is, we didn’t make smoking illegal, we increased education and awareness of its ill effects. Education works better than laws. I know, it sounds crazy.
Think about it, as regular citizens, we have a lot to gain from legalizing and controlling drugs as we do now with alcohol. Over night, it puts all the drug dealers out of business. That lowers drive by shootings in our cities, as well as the drug related murders south of the boarder. Since the addicts don’t need a small fortune for their daily fix, there would be less prostitution, less muggings, less theft. Thousands of nonviolent criminals, would empty thousands of prison beds, go out in the world, find a job, and pay taxes. Thousands of new people, paying taxes, paying rent, buying cars, and contributing to our economy, rather than sucking taxes, and spending their days and nights trying to fit in with violent thugs. Less crime means we spend less on police, the courts, and incarceration. Less broken families, might help reduce future crime.
Huge up side. The only down side is that we would have to be responsible for learning about the evils of drug use, and teaching them to our family and friends.
“Think about it, as regular citizens, we have a lot to gain from legalizing and controlling drugs as we do now with alcohol. Over night, it puts all the drug dealers out of business.”
We also will put a lot of other people out of business. Police, prison guards, drug courts. And probebly a whole lot more. The drug business is not just the dealers and users.
#23, You are correct, sir. One would think the US learned from Prohibition, wouldn’t one?
The “war on drugs” — it is to laugh.
Reminds me of a Bob Dylan song, Tom Thumb Blues, The Grateful Dead always do a great cover of it.
“When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez and it’s Easter time too
When your gravity fails you and negativity don’t pull you through
Don’t you put on any airs when you’re lost on Rue Morgue Avenue
They got some hungry creatures there, they’ll surely make a mess out of you”
I’m with #23. I’ve never seen it put more eloquently. If there’s a gallery for the best comments, JimS has my vote for that one.
With regard to violence levels, in recent decades there has been less violence in Mexico than in the USA. However, each country has its hotspots that people with the wherewithal tend to avoid. Of course, reports of Mexican violence have a certain exotic tinge which adds a frisson. But for victims, let’s face it, when you’re dead, you’re dead.
I also agree with 23 to a great extent. However,while the U.S. or the world for that matter, may eventually, and have begun to, legalize mild drugs like marijuana, I don’t forsee hard drugs like heroin or cocaine being legalized in our liftime. Those types of drugs are not the same as Pot. Just like alcohol, heroin and cocaine don’t always produce the same results in the user or users. A heroin user may nod off and enjoy his buzz one day, and set fire to his apartment the next. Cocain, when used over long periods of time can and will cause delusions, paranoia and violence. Legal or not, these are the direct results on the user, not the general population or the dealers. If any drug law reform needs to be done, in my humble opinion then, legalize marijuana and opium, put tighter restrictions on alcohol, and publicly execute anyone caught peddling or smuggling heroin or cocaine. Might I add, LSD, mescaline and peyote are also “non-violent” drugs and shouldn’t be illegal.