Congress tells Mexico to polish the brass

Congress is making a bold statement

MEXICO CITY — The United States Congress has scaled back on President Bush’s anti-drug plans for Mexico and put human rights conditions on some of the aid, drawing fire from some Mexicans who accuse American lawmakers of meddling in their country’s internal affairs.

: at the same time as the Mexican Police in a couple of small towns.

Acapulco, Mexico (AP) - A southern Mexican town's 15-member police force has quit for fear of being assassinated in retaliation for a shootout with gunmen, a security official said Thursday.Zirandaro was the second town in less than two weeks to be left without its police force as Mexico's drug cartels wage increasingly bold attacks against security forces. On Monday, the military took over a town near Texas after all 20 of its police officers were either killed, run out of town or quit.

Do we have a right to ask for certain improvements or addressing human rights to people we give money to; most certainly. Not doing so for too many years in the Middle East has got us to where we are now. The big difference is that Mexico for all of its faults and corruption is still a functional democracy. That puts it a huge step up from the tyrants and thugs that seem to predominate the ME.

But at issue is the performance of Mexico’s army and the police, which have been accused by human rights organizations of engaging in abuses as they chase down the country’s drug cartels.

See those who most object about the present plan are those who are most concerned with how the criminals are treated. The criminals that profit off the misery and death of others. The criminals that will kill anyone that gets in their way.

Where is the line drawn between the need to get rid of the scum and protecting their rights as (barely) humans?

University Punishes Those Who Disagrees

In the real world this would be unthinkable but in academia not doing so would be unfathomable.

The University of Toledo has suspended with pay one of its administrators for writing a newspaper op-ed that questions whether homosexuality is a civil rights issue. The school said the administrator was suspended precisely because her views on homosexuality do not comport with those of the university, a state institution.

This teacher is suspended not for expressing her opinion on campus but in local paper (Toledo Free Press) in response to an editorial. This wasn’t a hate speech, it was questioning on whether a choice of lifestyle should receive the same protection as non-choice issues such as race, gender or handicap. It was a person engaging in dialogue or debate.

And another thing, the state currently doesn’t recognize “gay rights” on the same level as race, gender or handicap. Those things are protected under federal laws while “gay rights” are not. Unless of course homosexuality is a physical (genetic) or mental handicap.

Who could see this coming?

Put out a helping hand to a group of thiefs and thugs and what do you get? A stump.

Myanmar's junta impounded two U.N. food aid shipments at Yangon airport on Friday, officials said, triggering more outrage at the military government's refusal to accept a major international relief operation.

When you rule through fear and suppression, the one thing you can never allow your subjects to see is kindness.

The ruling junta can not allow a show of weakness on any level even if it means letting their subjects die. It is about caring for the people. It never was, it all about themselves and what they have or what they can get. If there was a need to show what evil looks like then this would be a perfect, blaring example. This is the stuff that should have people screaming in the streets. In Burma the people who object soon find themselves in a very painful or dead situation.

I have written about Myanmar (Burma) before and I always find a disconnection between the people who claim to be concerned about human rights and those who actual do. There are too many people out there who want to complain and attack safe targets. In America, a person can call the President of the US any sort of name they want and never fear a midnight knock on their door. In certain areas, the wrong political belief, religion, race or dress code will get you drug through the street in the middle of the day just to set an example. Where are the human shields to protect these people, oh yeah they are dead.

Update:
How generous the junta is. They are allowing us to send in ONE plane when we are ready to give much greater aid with out a lot of strings. How is it that the US is the source of all evil?

Johndroe also said that while the U.S. still has limited leeway to help, "One flight is much better than no flights."

"They're going to need our help for a long time," Johndroe said. He spoke in Crawford, Texas, where President Bush's daughter, Jenna, will be wed on Saturday.

Noble Freedom Fighters

If there was any doubt to the character of the terrorist, let this rid you of it.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two mentally disabled women were strapped with explosives Friday and sent into busy Baghdad markets, where they were blown up by remote control, a top Iraqi government official said.

"By targeting innocent Iraqis, they show their true demonic character," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, spokesman for the Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

This is what the anti-war crowd wants America to ignore. The anti-war crowd wants us to leave millions of people at the mercy of these human monsters. All the atrocities that America and the West in general gets accused of does not even come close to the unadulterated evil. To America, waterboarding of terrorist suspects is questionable while cowardly blowing up innocents is the bread and butter of the noble, freedom fighters/ insurgents.

Bill Gates' Nation Nightmares

For a smart, rich person, you would think Bill Gates would understand that you can’t fix a problem from the outside.

He also called for making changes to capitalism so that corporations and governments devote more time and money to doing work that "eases the world's inequities" - and bringing science and technology to everyone.

You have to crawl into the problem and fix it at it’s’ core. When it comes to people, they have to be involved and not bystanders.
I like watching the BBC version of Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares. Last night was a new to America episode that involved an owner that didn’t have a clue on how to run a successful restaurant (actually all episodes operate on that idea). Gordon came in, developed a winning menu, worked with a new talent chef and laid down a good business model. He walked away with the business going strong but came back 6 weeks later to find the door closed. Even with the assistants he provided, the owner wasn’t willing and/or capable to do the right thing.

Most of his episodes consist of him helping owner learn how to do the right thing but it up to them to actually do the right thing. That is what the world is faced with when it comes to poor countries. They have to be taught to do the right thing, they have to be capable of doing the right thing and finally they have to be willing to the right thing. Throwing money, science and technology at them does none of the above. You would thing a smart rich guy like Bill Gates would understand that.

Posting

I seem to to be getting back into stride with posting. I have been holding off on the ECN post because I fould that it had become instead of normal posting instead of in addtion to. I think it will be my rule of thumb not to post an ECN unless I already have a post for the day.

The future dictator of Venezuela continues to show his true colors.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to nationalise farms, in an effort to tackle food shortages.
Government controls keep food prices low in shops to help even the poorest Venezuelans feed themselves.
But some farmers prefer to sell their produce in neighbouring countries where prices are higher, leading to shortages of bread, milk, eggs and meat.

Prices are kept artificially low in an effort to “feed the poor”. If farms sell at that level they will soon be part of the poor. Even I see a whole slew of alternated methods to achieve the same result.

• Allow the prices to elevate a little and apply an export tax on the food staples. All of the proceeds from the tax could then go to the poor so they could afford the slight increase. This would allow capitalism to work hand in hand with socialism agendas.
• Simply require a percentage must be sold locally.
• Tax breaks or other incentives to those who sell locally.

Maybe I can’t see the whole picture but taking away property only makes more people depended on the government and creates a larger class of poor. It is a downward spiral that sunk the USSR ship. Because socialism is unattainable without complete buy-in the entire exercise is doomed to fail eventually. The structure needed to enforce the “sharing” or “all are equal” creates inequality and overburden that can never be balanced against available resources.