What a Mess - nationalized heath a stimulus? And Mexico is on the verge of colapse
Posted by Tony Vilgiate at 2/11/2009 7:00 AM 
Categories: Barack Obama, Finanacial Crisis, TAXES, Economics, Political Culture
Categories: Barack Obama, Finanacial Crisis, TAXES, Economics, Political Culture
Don't know how closely you have been following the "stimulus" bill... the only thing stimulating about is the proverbial... never mind...
Seriously, sneaking a national health information technology bureaucracy into a bill that is aimed at "kick starting" the economy is vile. The language of the bill (I previously posted the complete text) is hideous. Words like "will effect every individual in the country" and "provide guidance for doctors" to find "most cost effective treatments" There are plenty of sites dedicated to exposing the socialist mechanisms behind the Daschel inspired health measures. This is a federal power grab that will ultimately lead to rationing of health care, limitations of services and a "board" making critical decisions about your health, not your personal doctor. Make matters more revolting, there are penalties (unspecified) for doctors who do not make a "meaningful" use of the systems (undefined as well). This is a totalitarian modeling in one of the most private and personal services an individual can procure. - There is still time to stop it, so call your congressman and senator, let them know that provision needs to be debated and passed as a stand-alone bill, with transparency and full discloser.
Another warning that was made here came from the Joint Operating Environment report. Mexico is on the verge of colapse. What will that mean for our security? For our economy? Daily, we are getting reports of major gun battles between the ex-military gangs hired by the drug cartels and the Mexican regular army forces. This is moving much faster than most folks realize.
From the AP:
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — A drug gang kidnapped and killed six people near a town in the U.S.-Mexican border region Tuesday, prompting a series of gunbattles with soldiers that left 15 others dead.
The violence started when gunmen kidnapped nine alleged members of a rival drug gang in Villa Ahumada and later executed six of them along the PanAmerican highway outside of the town, 80 miles south of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, said Enrique Torres, spokesman for a joint military-police operation in Chihuahua state.
Assailants later released three of the men, although their whereabouts was not immediately known, Torres said.
Soldiers later caught up with the gunmen and a series of shootouts ensued, leaving 14 alleged gunmen and one soldier dead Tuesday, Torres said. Another soldier was wounded.
Mexico has been besieged by drug violence amid a two-year government crackdown. President Felipe Calderon said Monday that more than 6,000 people have died in drug-related violence.
Villa Ahumada, a town of 1,500 people, was virtually taken over by drug gangs last year when gangs killed two consecutive police chiefs, and two officers. The rest of the 20-member force resigned in fear, forcing the Mexican military to take over for months until the town was able to recruit new officers.
The town's mayor, Fidel Chavez, fled to the state capital for his own safety.
Also Tuesday, Tijuana city police said emergency officials responding to a report of a car on fire found a sport utility vehicle engulfed in flames and two charred bodies inside.
And in Tepotzotlan, a small town outside Mexico City, two heads in coolers were found inside a car, according to an official with the Mexico state prosecutor's office, who was not authorized to give her name. The heads were accompanied by a message threatening the municipal police chief. Decapitations have become commonplace in Mexico's drug violence.
In other violence late Monday, armed men forced their way into a Mexican prison in Torreon, then killed three prisoners by beating them and setting them on fire in a bathroom. The assailants also freed nine inmates before escaping, state prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday.
Fighting between rival gangs left another two inmates dead Tuesday at an overcrowded prison in central Mexico, said Carlos Gil Abarca, a spokesman for the prevention and rehabilitation office of the Mexico state government.
Seriously, sneaking a national health information technology bureaucracy into a bill that is aimed at "kick starting" the economy is vile. The language of the bill (I previously posted the complete text) is hideous. Words like "will effect every individual in the country" and "provide guidance for doctors" to find "most cost effective treatments" There are plenty of sites dedicated to exposing the socialist mechanisms behind the Daschel inspired health measures. This is a federal power grab that will ultimately lead to rationing of health care, limitations of services and a "board" making critical decisions about your health, not your personal doctor. Make matters more revolting, there are penalties (unspecified) for doctors who do not make a "meaningful" use of the systems (undefined as well). This is a totalitarian modeling in one of the most private and personal services an individual can procure. - There is still time to stop it, so call your congressman and senator, let them know that provision needs to be debated and passed as a stand-alone bill, with transparency and full discloser.
Another warning that was made here came from the Joint Operating Environment report. Mexico is on the verge of colapse. What will that mean for our security? For our economy? Daily, we are getting reports of major gun battles between the ex-military gangs hired by the drug cartels and the Mexican regular army forces. This is moving much faster than most folks realize.
From the AP:
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — A drug gang kidnapped and killed six people near a town in the U.S.-Mexican border region Tuesday, prompting a series of gunbattles with soldiers that left 15 others dead.
The violence started when gunmen kidnapped nine alleged members of a rival drug gang in Villa Ahumada and later executed six of them along the PanAmerican highway outside of the town, 80 miles south of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, said Enrique Torres, spokesman for a joint military-police operation in Chihuahua state.
Assailants later released three of the men, although their whereabouts was not immediately known, Torres said.
Soldiers later caught up with the gunmen and a series of shootouts ensued, leaving 14 alleged gunmen and one soldier dead Tuesday, Torres said. Another soldier was wounded.
Mexico has been besieged by drug violence amid a two-year government crackdown. President Felipe Calderon said Monday that more than 6,000 people have died in drug-related violence.
Villa Ahumada, a town of 1,500 people, was virtually taken over by drug gangs last year when gangs killed two consecutive police chiefs, and two officers. The rest of the 20-member force resigned in fear, forcing the Mexican military to take over for months until the town was able to recruit new officers.
The town's mayor, Fidel Chavez, fled to the state capital for his own safety.
Also Tuesday, Tijuana city police said emergency officials responding to a report of a car on fire found a sport utility vehicle engulfed in flames and two charred bodies inside.
And in Tepotzotlan, a small town outside Mexico City, two heads in coolers were found inside a car, according to an official with the Mexico state prosecutor's office, who was not authorized to give her name. The heads were accompanied by a message threatening the municipal police chief. Decapitations have become commonplace in Mexico's drug violence.
In other violence late Monday, armed men forced their way into a Mexican prison in Torreon, then killed three prisoners by beating them and setting them on fire in a bathroom. The assailants also freed nine inmates before escaping, state prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday.
Fighting between rival gangs left another two inmates dead Tuesday at an overcrowded prison in central Mexico, said Carlos Gil Abarca, a spokesman for the prevention and rehabilitation office of the Mexico state government.
Just wanted to add something to the end of your statement: "Mexico is on the verge of collapse. What will that mean for our security? For our economy? Daily, we are getting reports of major gun battles between the ex-military gangs hired by the drug cartels and the Mexican regular army forces. This is moving much faster than most folks realize."
Yes!, It is moving faster than people realize, but let's also remember who it is that is consuming all those illegal drugs and that without the billions generated from the sale of those drugs Mexican drug cartels could not so easily buy so many U.S. made weapons, not to mention dole out millions in bribes to officials on both sides of the border.
My point is simply that if we are going to look towards Mexico and demand more action and accountability on their behalf for allowing the drug cartels take over their country and bring it the brink of collapse, What's our share of the responsibility? What is our responsibility for the mess in Mexico given that we provide such a huge market for all those illicit drugs?
Regards,
Tony
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All Good Points...
But like the age old riddle... "What came first the Chicken or the Egg?"
Do you stop supply and end the drug problem? Stop drug use and end the problem? Do you legalize or de-criminalize and end the problem?
There have been close to 18,000 AWOL soldiers in the Mexican Army. They are leaving for higher paying jobs with the Zetas and taking their weapons, training and gear with them when they leave... This is trend is troubling. We have a very well armed, well trained (by USA) criminal militia on the southern boarder that threatens the stability of Mexico, and subsequently the USA.
If anti-immigration honks think that it is bad today, wait until 5 million refugees start to flee a collapsing Mexico.
What is the solution?
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We can't stop supply, not as long as we have drug addicts. As a nation we have a dismal record of providing treatment for drug addicts and choose instead to lock them up, no nation on this earth jails more of its citizens than the United States. But, that's another issue.
The Mexican Army has been losing soldiers to the drug cartels for years. Those soldiers are following in the footsteps of other Mexican law enforcement personnel that elect to join the drug cartels. I agree with you that there is a very small, and growing criminal militia on the southern border and it's a threat to both Mexico and the USA, but once again I reiterate that such problem is solely the responsibility of Mexico. A solution to this mess will require bi-national initiatives and cooperation that at the time being neither country is actually considering.
What is the solution? I think that there are a few steps we can take towards resolving them, such as passage of a Comprehensive Immigration Reform that provides some definition as to the status of the 12 million undocumented immigrants, who provide some degree of an economic safety net to the potential "5 million refugees" of which you speak, and I think you are being conservative in your estimates, but I'll leave that for another discussion.
I fear that elected officials on both sides of the border don't have any realistic or pragmatic solutions. In the US our collective minds are focused on fixing our economy, so a fix to our drug and immigration problems are not receiving the needed attention. In Mexico, their rightly or wrongly placed sense of Nationalism prevents them from allowing the U.S. to provide the military intelligence and personnel to appropriately address the problems and come up with workable solutions, one of which may be the legalization of certain types of drugs, such as marijuana.
It is a riddle...."What came first the Chicken or the Egg?, as a country we tend to be more reactionary than we are planners, so I fear that the US is likely to experience a degree of "narco-terrorism", just like we increasingly see in Mexico. It's only then that the a bi-national solution will be propose.
The only question then, just like now with our "Economic Stimulus Package" is, Will it work?
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