Mexico City: 42% of Mexico's prison inmates are innocent

This is a bit of a shocker. The Open Society Institute, which has conducted studies in over 60 countries, along with Mexico's own Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo (CIDAC), says that Mexico's prisons are filled, on average, to 130% of capacity with some at 300% of capacity. What's worse, 42% (90,000 inmates) of those in prison in Mexico have never been sentenced. They are legally innocent.

And the reason they've never been sentenced is usually because there is not enough evidence to convict them. So the prosecutors never call their cases. The inmates have no lawyers representing them to force the issue. So they are forgotten.

The OSI says that judges are loathe to release a possibly guilty person, prosecutors are given quotas of jailed persons to fill and police likewise have weekly and monthly quotas. This results, says the OSI, in police and prosecutors going through the paperwork formalities of multiple arrests for basically the same crime. OSI cites as a common example the arrest of someone for armed robbery. Then paperwork is filled out and the person, from behind bars, is arrested again for carrying an illegal weapon.

This results in a judge, or sometimes multiple judges, seeing an inmate in court once for one crime, then sometime later for another crime, instead of hearing all the charges at the same time which resulted from one arrest only. More paperwork, more bureaucracy. It's so bad in the courts, says OCI, that judges cannot physically hear all of the cases assigned to their courts. Because most courts still use typewriters to record proceedings, the proceedings last for hours. Judges end up having secretaries or even unqualified "stand-ins" fill in for them when they are too exhausted to continue holding court.

OSI says that, in spite of the judges', or the stand-ins', reluctance to release possibly guilty persons for lack of evidence, some 40,000 arrested people are released every year for lack of evidence against them. I would assume that this lucky 40,000 all had access to lawyers. For those without resources sufficient to hire lawyers to spring them from trumped up charges, it's just like in Russia -- tough Shishitski.




And inside the prisons life is hell. The prisons, according to OSI, are run by the inmates. Crime inside the prisons is much higher than on the streets. Murder and suicide rates inside the prisons run between 8 and 9 times higher than on the streets.

OSI says that Mexican prisons are "warehouses for human beings where any type of rehabilitation is unthinkable." "They are rife with corruption and lack health and hygiene sufficient for human survival."

The OSI charges that the prison system, "has been used irrationaly and indiscriminately and is a pillar of a crime policy made desperate by a justice system swamped by the crime phenomena and the citizenry's demand for security."

It's the Queen of Hearts approach to crime fighting. "Off with their heads."


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Mexico City, Open Society Institute, CIDAC

Mexico City: "Supercop" dies of cancer -- in prison

Alberto Pliego Fuentes, once admiringly called "Supercop", has died from cancer. He died in the El Altiplano prison (formerly known as La Palma) where he had been allowed to leave periodically for cancer treatments.

Pliego Fuentes was the policeman who tracked down and finally captured Daniel Arizmendi and the rest of his gang in 1997. Arizmendi, known as "Mochaorejas", was the bloodiest and most feared kidnap gang leader in Mexico and maybe in the world. His nickname means, literally, "ear muncher". He was so named for his proclivity to cut off an ear of his victim and mail it to the family to impress upon them the urgency of his ransom demands. He also would send along other pieces, like fingers and toes, if the family did not immediately pay up. There was a reference to this during the opening credits of the movie "Man On Fire".

In 1992, Pliego Fuentes caught noted kidnapper Andrés Caletri in a Mexico City suburb. Somehow, Caletri got loose. In 2000, Pliego Fuentes also participated, along with other federal forces, in tracking down and capturing Caletri once again, this time in Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca.

But, as is so often the case here, he couldn't resist the lure of big money offered by the drug cartel leadership. He was arrested in another Mexico City suburb in February, 2005, and charged with aiding and abetting, in the form of information and protection, the Juarez drug cartel operating in Morelos. Pliego Fuentes was charged with using his position and information he gained to protect Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, "El Azul", one of the principals of the Juarez cartel.

A truly sad end for what had been the spectacularly successful career of a much admired law enforcement officer.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts

Mexico City: 500 police protest corruption and extorsion

Some 500 state police in Mexico City districts marched in various locations to protest their salaries, lack of training, lack of clearly defined shifts (1st shift is dawn to dusk, 2nd shift is dusk to dawn, 3rd shift is everything in between), and an end to being extorted by their commanders for money. The cops say they have no choice but to extort money from motorists in the form of bribes because they have to pay their superiors for their "rights". Those rights include the privilege to pay their superiors for their rights. Whatever.

This is the oldest story in Mexico. It happens in every police force, in every labor union and in most plants and factories. If you want the good job or the best hours or the prettiest co-workers nearby, yuh gotta pay.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts

Chilpancingo, Guerrero: Louie Louie's gold mine back in business.

The Luismin gold mine that I wrote about here and here, which has been shut down by a blockade for almost 60 days, is back up and running.

The ejidatarios (small land owners/farmers who don't really own the land and, in any event, are all poorer that the dirt and rocks that comprise said land) have agreed to lift their blockade after an agreement was reached with Louie Louie. Crisóforo Guzmán, "one of the leaders" of the ejidatarios and Eduardo Luna Arellano, Director General of Louie Louie mines, announced the following.

As to the demand of the ejidatarios for an annual payment of 90,000 pesos per year per hectare for some 700 hectares, the two sides agreed to abide by a appraisal of the value of the gold stake vis a vis Luismin's previously negotiated payments to the ejidatarios for "their" land. That appraisal will be made by the local Tribunal Unitario Agrario, or Dept. of Agriculture tribunal. Har.

As to the demands by the ejidatarios for more "public works" to be paid for wholly by the mine owners, the following was promised by the mining company:

1. Any miner who took part in the blockade and was then fired by Luismin will be returned to his job with full back pay.

2. The mining company will finance a computer center

3. The mining company will complete a highway to the village of Carrizalillo

4. The mining company will pay for the purchase and installation of a water tank (I would presume this actually means a water tower) to bring or to pressurize the potable water system to Carrizalillo

5. The mining company will remodel the village's health center

6. The mining company will arrange for a mobile dental health lab to visit weekly

7. The mining company will organize a basketball tournament (Larry Bird and Magic Johnson anxiously await invitations).

Now, this agreement with the ejidatario "leader" would have to be considered shaky, at best, in light of the mining company's project manager's statements of just 2 days ago. Tomás Iturriaga said that the angry ejidatarios were "little representative of the whole". He said that the ones who were blockading his project were only some "30 of 160 ejidatatios". That means that his company has a very tentative agreement with a "leader" who represents less than 19% of the total campesinos affected.

Just like negotiating with the hydra of APPO leadership.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Luismin, APPO

Mexico City: Take a train, drive an automobile, ride a burro. Do NOT fly with a Mexican airline.

The national carrier Azteca has been given 5 days by a Mexico City judge to get out of Mexcio City International Airport. Azteca, the country's 5th largest national carrier, owes the airport 76 million pesos. The airline owes the airport operator a lot more. The airport's operator, AICM, has filed 11 seperate lawsuits over time against Azteca. This decision only covered 3 of those lawsuits.

The airline also owes the federal government 62 million pesos for fees connected with operating in Mexican airspace. Azteca also owes 15 million pesos for aviation fuel.

So, an airline is in financial trouble. So what? It happens every day, right? Well, listen, or rather, read this: Last December, 18 Aztec pilots, including the company's chief pilot, resigned because the airplanes were not safe to fly.

Azteca Airlines carries 2000 passengers a day. The chief pilot and 17 other company pilots resign because the airplanes aren't safe. The response from the government?

Nada.

Wear a parachute.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Azteca Airlines

Oaxaca, Mexico: downtown small businessmen sue state and federal governments

Downtown businessmen, that is to say, the small businessmen, have sued Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, President Calderón, the federal tax collectors (Hacienda), the state tax collectors (Finanzas), the federal police (Seguridad Pública), the federal small business loan commission (Crédito Público) and the state police (Protección Ciudadana de Oaxaca) for 200 million pesos in damages suffered during the 7 month teachers strike and APPO uprising. Note that no big business was involved. That's for two reasons. There ain't no big business here, and anyone who considers himself a "big businessman" is in too tight with the political powers-that-be to sue any of them.

The small businessmen are threatening to present evidence that the state government supported the most radical of the insurgents, like Rueda Pacheco of Sección 22 and the Sosas of APPO, and then lost control of them. Hell, we already all knew that. Those of us capable of independent thought knew that. The long-haired-Birkenstock-wearers, of course, continue to maintain purity of thought and action.

Former Governor José Murat Casab used to rent luxury tour buses, at the state's expense, to help the striking teachers leave his zócalo in Oaxaca for the beeeeg one in Mexico City. Both Murat Casab and Ruiz Ortiz bought off the Sosa's with taxi concessions. Both governors bought off the various odd and sundry (and numerous) "campesino" movements with cash, food and other goods and services. This has been going on for years.

It wasn't until current governor Ruiz Ortiz and ex-governor Murat Casab got into a poo slinging contest over just who got theirs the firstest and who got the mostest that all hell broke loose. Social movemment? Nah. A fight over pie slice proportions was all it ever was.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, José Murat Casab

Oaxaca, Mexico: teachers fighting over the schools, fishermen fighting over the fish, SNAFU

Another normal day passes in Oaxaca. 7000 teachers (according to their numbers, I've yet to see even one) are supposedly camped out in front of various state offices throughout the city, demanding . . . more. What they really want are the 250 schools supposedly still under the control of parents and local politicians who won't let members of the striking Sección 22 back in. What they really, really want are the 2000 schools and 20 alternate teaching sites manned by members of the rival (and non-striking) Sección 59.

The government, now pretty much cowed by the teachers (Sección 22) and wary of another explosion such as occurred from last May through November 25, has managed to wrest 77 of the schools away from the parents and municipal leaders who don't want Sección 22 to return. That leaves about 173 by my count, 198 by Reforma's count, still in the hands of those other than Sección 22 or Sección 59. For its part, the newly formed Sección 59 just wants to hang on to what its got. This group of teachers has not been making any noise about taking over any more schools. They probably should have.

Their leader, Erika Rapp Soto, is now accusing the state government of being so frightened of Sección 22 that it has sent out "brigades", consisting of 2 employess of the state education commission and 2 from the state secretary of state's office. They are, according to Rapp Soto, driving around from occupied school to occupied school, telling the teachers and the parents that their Sección 22-less schools will not be accredited so their kids cannot graduate.

Rapp Soto says this is illegal, but it works. She says the government has managed to get 77 schools freed by the frightened parents so that the lazy, good-for-nothing members of Sección 22, along with their bought and paid for fake diplomas, can re-enter the schools.

Rapp Soto says that the Sección 22 leadership is doing its own dirty work also. She charges that teachers and administrators are withholding records and accreditations for students that willfully attend any school staffed by Sección 59 members.

So, we're back almost to where we started back in May, 2006; teachers camped out in the streets. The question remains, will we end up back where we ended up on November 25, 2006; with war in the streets?

Leaving the blissful environs of the state's classrooms behind, we move on to the tuna war. The fishing fleet out of Puerto Angel arrived back in port yesterday and began unloading wounded fishermen -- 15 in all. They had been shot by members of the "northern tuna fleet." According to boat captains, the Puerto Angel fleet had been having problems for some time with the northern fleet encroaching on their fishing territory.

Yesterday, they ran into about 20 boats from the northern fleet. According to Gener Pineda Cervantes, president of the Oaxaca Fishermen's association, they tried to signal their intentions to hold a meeting to discuss the intrusion by the northern fleet into Oaxaca territory. It was then they were attacked.

Pineda Cervantes says he's taking this fight to Greepeace. "There are dead turtles and bottlenosed dolphins. They are killing off some species like the bonito and salmon, species they are not supposed to catch. They are leaving us with nothing.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Sección 59, Puerto Angel, Greenpeace

Mexico City: Secretary of Defense Galván, "We'll win this fight."

Mexico's Secretary of Defense, Guillermo Galván:

In no way, never, are they (narco traffickers) going to win this battle. We have a united front composed of all the sections of the executive branch and we are surely already tipping the balance in our favor.

galván, speaking to the senate, warned that "this foght will not be won in a day" and that it might take years to reach the goal of crushing the drug cartels once and for all.

Galván emphasized that law enforcement was approaching ever closer to the bases of the drug cartels, as evidenced by the narco traffickers' violent reactions against civilian government and civil service employees. Those actions included the attempted assassination of a federal deputy in Nuevo Laredo just last night.

PRI deputy Horacio Emigdio Garza Garza was hit by three bullets in the drive-by shooting. His driver / bodyguard was killed. Garza is also a two-term ex-mayor of Nuevo Laredo.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Mexico City, Nuevo Laredo

North Korea: Kim Jong Il orders all Japanese cars confiscated

North Korea's tin pot dictator, Kim Jong Il, he of elevator shoes and Chia-pet hair, is in a snit at the Japanese. So he ordered all Japanese cars in his wart which he calls a country to be confiscated.

That got me to wondering. What would America's highways look like if George Bush ordered all Japanese cars confiscated?

Like this.

George Bush orders all Japanese cars confiscated!!





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Cross posted at Pale Horse Galleries

TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, [tagname]

Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico: Update on Louie Louies's mine

For yesterday's post where I mentioned a dispute between ejidatarios (dirt poor campesinos) and a gold mining company called Luismin (Louie Louie's Mine) comes new information. The campesinos, who are blocking the entrances to the mine and have been for some 40 days and 40 nights, are demanding a more just payment from the Louie Louie as well as the reair and reclamation of their damaged land once the mining company has moved on.

The campesinos are demanding 90,000 pesos per hectare per year for rent of the 700 hectareas the mining company is digging up. That is a pretty good chunk of change, be it pesos or whatever. That's a payment of a bit less than 6 million dollars annually for the extraction of gold from about 1400 acres. That does seem a bit excessive.

I cannot determine the value of the gold being extracted nor the cost per ounce to remove it. These numbers are very difficult to check. However, Louie Louie has threatened to pull up stakes and go elswhere unless the campesinos back off. The campesinos did have control of the mine itself, but were forcibly removed on January 20 by police. Now they block ingress and egress. The mining company is claiming a loss of 88 million pesos during the 40 day shutdown.

If that loss represented, say, a 50% profit margin (not unheard of in Mexico when exploiting the land and poor folk), that's a profit of 8 million dollars every 40 dys or, roughly 72 million dollars annually. The campesino's demand for 6 million dollars does not then look so excessive. If, however, the 40 day loss represents a profit potential of 15%, then Louie Louie would be looking a an annual profit of less than 16 million dollars. The 6 million dollars demand by the campesinos would then be usurious.

Since the numbers are almost impossible to pin down, who knows?

The company Luismin is a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldcorp. If you follow that link you can read about the company's wonderful relationship with the surrounding communities and about how 85% of the people view the company favorably and only 9% view it unfavorably. There is no mention of exactly how the process worked whereby the company got mining rights from the government to explore and drill on campesinos' land nor how much, if anything, the campesinos are being paid.

This article says that the campesinos are being paid 800,000 pesos annually, or less than 77,000 dollars. The article goes on the say that Luismin/Goldcorp/Louie Louie's expects to extract some 2 buillion 322 million pesos in gold each year from the land, or about 200 million dollars. At 30% profit, that's 60 million dollars. Again, who knows?

2 + 2 = 5.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Luismin, Goldcorp

Oaxaca, Mexico: Biblical cedars?

Some people down the street began construction on a new house. Here in Mexico, if you aren't familiar with it, almost all homes are built behind walls. Everybody lives behind a wall. There was a line of nice cedar trees planted down the edge of the sidewalk -- public property -- but they interfered with the new home construction. Or better, they interfered with the construction of the wall which would surround the property.

So, as is quite common here, the people simply cut down 3 of the cedars. Again, publicly owned trees on public property. However, as I was astonished to see, even with no rain since October, the cedars are pulling a Lazarus.

I don't know how this is possible with almost no water whatsoever. The people left only 3 stumps, all about a meter high. And from those three stumps are sprouting new cedar branches.

Here is what the trees looked like before.

This is one of the stumps. See the new sprouts?

Look at these 2 stumps. Completely covered in new sprouts.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, cedar

Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico: Governor seriously ill; struck deaf, dumb and blind.

"We have been asking for months that Governor Torreblanca meet with us but he neither sees us nor hears us nor listens to us."

That's from Pedro Nava, leader of the Organización de Pueblos y Colonias de Guerrero (OPCG). There are several issues of great urgency to the campesinos but of no particular import to hizzoner. Guerrero is building a dam, La Parota, which will submerse all the campesinos' land with little or no recompense. OPCG would like to discuss that with the governor.

OPCG also comes on behalf of the citizens of Carrizalillo, who want to be paid a fair amount by the gold mine company Luismin (Louie's mine) that is extracting the precious metal from their lands. I think that Luismin is currently paying them something like $0.02 (USD) per 16 tons and what do you get? For the citizens of Carrizalillo, only another day older and deeper in debt.

OPCG says that the governor has had several meetings, all with the mining company.

OPCG is really upset now and promises to demonstrate in front of the governor's office on Monday. The reason they are so upset is that they were promised a meeting yesterday with the governor's secretary. When OPCG representatives arrived at the state house, they were told that the secretaries were all gone for the day, but that the secretaries' "representatives" would meet with them. The OPCG delegates declined to meet with representatives to the secretaries to the governor.

What a bureaucracy, eh? The secretaries to the governor have representatives.

Q: "And what is your job here in the state house, sir?"

A: "I'm a personal representative to a personal secretary to the governor."

Q: "And what does that entail?"

A:" Uh . . . I represent a secretary who secretaries for the governor. What, are you stupid or something?"

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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Guerrero, Mexico, Zeferino Torreblanca

Hollywood, USA: Judge agrees with Winnie the Pooh; "Disney don't own me."

In a court case stretching back over 15 years, the Disney Company was dealt its final setback over the rights to Winnie the Pooh as well as the other A. A. Milne characters from his Christopher Robin children's books. Now Disney faces a monstrous 2 billion dollar lawsuit demanding residual payments from the several gazillion bucks the company has earned from sales of toys, clothing, books and just about everything that you can imagine that has carried Winnie's name and/or likeness.

In dismissing Milne's grandaughters' suit against the Slesinger family, which bought the rights to Pooh et al in 1930 from Milne himself, the judge cranked the Disney company pretty good yes. Disney was not tecnically a party to the suit but had paid all of the Milne grandaughters' legal expenses, no doubt totaling many millions of dollars. Disney is, however, still under the gun for claims by the Slesinger family over the money earned from sales of Pooh stuff, which, in 2006 alone, totaled 6 billion dollars.

The Slesinger family has not had great success in their pursuit of this money but I would think that this latest action by the federal judge can only help them. The family's lawyers just recently filed actions with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office seeking to have Disney's trademark rights to the Pooh canceled. The Slesinger family's claim is that Disney did not have rights to the characters and, therefore, any trademark rights granted to Disney are improper.

This will go on for many more years, I'm afraid. And it has been a dirty fight, so far. A California state court judge sanctioned Disney for destroying millions of pages of evidence. Then another California judge dismissed the Slesinger's suit for royalty payments after discovering that a Slesinger family private investigator, who learned of the ongoing destruction of the records, admitted sifting through Disney's garbage in order to retrieve the records. It seems that neither side can count on victory when dueling judges rule one way one day and another way another day.

However, the Slesinger family's latest broadside will be filed in federal court, not a California state court. That action will seek redress from Disney for breach of contract, copyright infringment and fraudulently underpaying royalties. And the federal courts, up to and including the United States Supreme Court, have been exceedingly kind the the Slesinger family so far.

Don't tell the kids.

See ya, Disney! It's time to pay up.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Winnie-the-Pooh, A. A. Milne, Disney Company

Puebla, Mexico: City mayor perfectly describes Washington politics in his annual speech

Puebla's Mayor Enrique "The Artful" Doger gave his annual report to his cronies on the city council, yesterday. During his speech, he criticized (and rightfully so) the political atmosphere of

. . . constant problems, artificial conflicts and being held the economic hostage of the state.

Today we live in a situation where political and social life are being made more difficult and are deteriorating. We're being taught a lesson in the use of force and power, of blackmail, of using the lie as method, of causing problems and scandals when the people are demanding results through effort and coordination.

Wow. He just described the Congress to a tee. Oh, wait, he was talking about Puebla City versus Puebla state. I thought he was describing the Democrat party in the House and Senate. You know, "the loyal opposition".

As if to punctuate the mayor's remarks, a group of 25 protesters began shouting epithets at him while unfurling banners decrying a lack of public works in four different municipalities bordering the city. He stepped back from the podium and diplomatically asked them to hold it down until he could finish his speech and he would "attend to them".

Instead, the rabble cranked up the volume to the degree that security officers had to move to them. Then a press photographer took a picture of the protesters and got slapped by one of them. Then all heck broke loose with protesters, photographers and security officers pushing, shoving, slapping and punching each other. Doger, ever the artful one, continued with his speech.

What probably happened here was this. These protesters were a little gift from the state's governor. Doger and the governor of Puebla state have been at odds since Doger took office. While that may seem strange, what with both of them being PRI stalwarts, there is a big difference between the two. Mario Marín, the governor, is a slimy sleezeball (allegedly) and accused murderer (allegedly) from the old school of PRI politics. He's a long time PRI apparatchick from the streets who used murder (allegedly), extorsion (allegedly), blackmail (allegedly) and bribes (indubitably) to ascend to his current lofty position. He's also an ex-mayor of Puebla City. He slimed his way into the governor's chair and is now busy stealing (allegedly) everything not securely bolted down.

Doger, however, is the former rector of the big Puebla University, -- UAP (pronounced, I kid you not, "wop".) He's fairly young, smart, and a corrupt Mexican politician of the more modern variety. He'd fit right in in Washington, Boston, Philly, Chicago, LA, San Francisco etc. etc.. Hence, his style clashes with Marín's lack thereof. Marín is a street thug whereas Doger is a wielder of the scalpel.

Case in point: Two years ago or so an investigative reporter in Cancún named Lydia Cacho wrote a book in which she described a ring of pedophiles operating in the resort. She said that the ring's membership was made up of some very wealthy and well known Mexicans and she named names. One of those guys, Jean Succar Kuri, is now cooling his heels in jail while two underage girls wait to testify about his sexual proclivitities towards little girls, aged 6-14.

Cacho also named as a member of the ring a big shot in Puebla, one Kamel Nacif, also known as "The King of Bluejeans". Nacif got pissed and called his buddy, Governor Marín. Someone, no one knows who or why, taped the conversation. It is suspected that the AFI (kind of like our FBI) was either tapping Nacif's phone or the governor's phones, or all the phones. In any event the phone call was released to the press by person or persons unknown.

The taped conversation has made Marín the laughingstock of the country, which is saying a lot because the country is jamb packed with laughingstocks. In the phone call, Nacif is thanking Marín for a big favor, says he'll send him two bottles of the very finest cognac, and addresses Governor Marín as "Mí gober precioso," -- "My precious little gov," -- if you hadn't figured that out already. Well, "Mí gober precioso" has now appeared about 10 million times in print media, signs, banners, on TV and everywhere else you can imagine, all to the chagrin of the gober precioso.

And what was this big favor that accused pedophile Nacif was calling to give thanks for? He apparently was so incensed with Lydia Cacho's accusations that he called upon his gober precioso to do something about it. Now remember, Cacho is in Cancún, state of Quintana Roo, several hundred miles and several states away from Mario Marín, governor of Puebla. Not a job too challenging for an old time street thug like Marín, however.

He simply called upon a friendly local judge to issue an arrest warrant for the journalist. Then he dispatched two carloads of Puebla police officers across several states to visit the condo of Lydia Cacho, in Cancún in the middle of the night. They arrested her, illegally as hell, and dragged her back to Puebla. Hence the slobbering phone call of thanks from accused pedophile Kamil Nacif to street thug Governor Mario Marín.

That is tantamount to the governor of Missouri sending Missouri State Police officers, in the dark of night, across several states to Ohio, and arresting a citizen of Ohio and dragging said citizen back to Missouri. You can't do that, even in Mexico.

Bad move all around. Not only does the tape get released, but Lydia Cacho had a whole lot of evidence, like video tapes of sex parties with little girls, gynaecologists reports of the physical damage to the children and still photos of the goings on as well as dozens of witnesses tucked away. All this in anticipation that her book would cause just such a reaction from the pedophiles and their corrupt politician/fellow pedophile friends.

Lydia's lawyers managed to get her out of the Puebla jail on bail before she could be murdered. The charges against her were "defamation of character". It took a year for her lawyers to get those charges dropped. Here is how that went down and it is an interesting study in Mexican "justice". After the taped phone conversation turned this into a national cause celebre, the bought-off Puebla judge who issued the illegal arrest warrant suddenly declared "not my jurisdiction". Then she resigned.

Nacif pressed the same charges in Quintana Roo, but a very wise judge there, that is, one who was reading the newspapers, said that the book was published in Mexico City, therefore the alleged crime of defamation did not occur in his state, hence, no jurisdiction either, or also, or whatever. So Nacif, still dumb to the mountain of bad publicity beginning to descend upon his head, pressed charges in Mexico City. Before he could do that, however, the Mexico City government threw out its defamation laws as far as journalists are concerned. So, one year after her original illegal arrest and transport across state lines, a Mexico City judge threw out the charges because defamation is not a crime in Mexico City.

Now, the Puebla judge who issued a clearly illegal arrest warrant has resigned in disgrace, Kamel Nacif is frantically trying to stay out of jail, several dozen other pedophiles are fleeing the country or hiding under their beds and Mario Marín is defending himself in the Supreme Court on charges of official misconduct. If the court finds him guilty, an iffy proposition at best, his political career is over and he might well end up in jail. And Lydia Cacho, released from her illegal incarceration, is busy helping federal prosecutors put several people away for a long time.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Puebla, Mexico, Enrique Doger, Mario Marín, Lydia Cacho, Kamel Nacif, The king of bluejeans, Jean Succar Kuri

Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico: Do not drink the water II; Because it's ours

Remember "Do not drink the water!, where I wrote about the water company's monopoly? Where the water company drills water wells right next to contaminated rivers and streams and then supplies water to the cities and towns which is contaminated with fecal coliform and heavy metals? And about how the water company won't allow cities, towns and villages which are sitting on or near clean water supplies to tap into those supplies?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about a newly drilled government water well that has supplied nothing but mud since it began operation?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about a newly built water treatment plant put in operation to treat the water (mud) from the new government-operated well which only lasted for 25 days before the equipment all went kaput because of the mud?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about the state's governor and other members of the hoi polloi dedicating the aforementioned mud-producing water well and soon-to-be-kaput water treatment plant in a big public "Look-what-we-did-for-you-today?-vote-PRI-early-vote-PRI-often ceremony, 25 days after which the water treatment plant went, "Phhhhtttt"?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about the local people, using donated brick, tools and labor, digging, entirely by hand, their own water well because their neighborhoods had not a drop to drink? Then when the city discovered that nice, clear, somewhat clean and somewhat drinkable water was being produced by a well dug, entirely by hand, by simple folk who just needed water in their homes, sending in work crews to begin laying pipe to divert the water from the neighborhood well away to other neighborhoods?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about Huatulco's mayor, José Humberto Cruz Ramos, fresh from appearing alongside the governor at the dedication of the mud-producing government water well and soon-to-be-in-25-days-kaput water treatment plant, decreeing that the water producing water well, dug entirely by hand with donated labor, tools and bricks, should be named in hizzoner's honor?

Wait, because it may get worse even yet.

The citizens who live in the colonia El Crucero 20 de Noviembre weren't taking this lying down. They attacked the work crews laying the water pipe and chased them away. They now stand guard over their precious water-producing water well 24/7 to protect it from . . . their own city government.

And why can't we reach some accord here? A little cooperation? A little go along to get along? It's the politics of revenge. The inhabitants of El Crucero 20 de Noviembre vote predominantly PRD. The mayor is PRI. The governor is PRI. Now, to be honest, a lot of money was thrown away by the incompetent PRI government on a mud-producing well for the PRD neighborhood as well as the 25 day water treatment plant wonder, and the governor did arrive to dedicate the mud . . er . . . water well. But as soon as he left and the government's failures became obvious, the local political hacks stepped in and the fun began.

As I write this, the citizens of colonia Crucero 20 de Noviembre, joined now by neighboring colonia Fraccionamiento el Zapote, face off 24/7 against city police with violence to soon ensue.

Does one wonder why it is so easy for politically corrupt "people's leaders" to get otherwise honest, hard working folk to march in the streets, burn buses, assault unarmed traffic cops and spray paint a 500 year-old city?


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Huatulco, Oaxaca

Madeira Beach, Florida: It ain't just Mexico, folks.

Readers, especially those who either haven't been around long or who haven't had time to browse my archives, may think that I think that corruption, hanky de pankies, hornswoggling, flim-flamming and cork-screwing are limited to Mexico -- and Venezuela -- and Cuber -- and Bolivia. It just ain't so.

When was the last time you sat down in a US restaurant, especially a Florida restaurant, to a dinner of "fresh Gulf grouper"? Chances are it wasn't grouper at all. This article lays out how diners, restaurants and even multi-million dollar seafood distributors are being defrauded by mislabled fish -- fish filets labeled as Gulf grouper but actually something else. And sometimes that something else is laden with salmonella and carcinogenic fungicides. And sometimes that something else cannot even be identified by laboratories and fish scientists (ichthyologists).

Asian farm-raised catfish, emperor fish, painted sweetlips (what the hell is that?), tilapia and green weakfish (or weak greenfish, I'm not too sure) were fish species identified from samples served at Florida restaurants, all of which thought they were serving Gulf grouper.

So as to avoid confusion in the future as well as fishy fraud, I'll show you what all these fish look like before being fileted.


Gulf Grouper - the real thing

Painted Sweetlips - I think

Emperor fish - sometimes swim with grouper


Tilapia

Self explanatory

Cheap-ass Asian catfish


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Gulf grouper

Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico: The woven web becomes more tangled.

This article caught my eye and I read it, did a little Google action on it which led to more links which led to, well, you know the drill. It concerns one Jesús Argüelles Mandujano, aka Felipe de Jesús Argüelles Mandujano, aka "El Rayo", former Chief of Police of Cancún.

In November of 2003, 5 agents of the AFI (kind of like our FBI) were executed in Cancún. In December of 2004, just over 1 year later, Chief of Police Argüelles Mandujano -- "El Rayo" -- along with some other city, state and federal officials, were taken into custody and sent off to a federal prison in Mexico state. Their arrests were propogated based on information obtained from four "protected witnesses", known by code names as "María", "Rosendo", "Arturo" and "Samantha". The first three appeared in court yesterday in a "careo" against ex-chief Argüelles Mandujano who had just been flown back to Cancún to face a criminal court judge. I don't know what happened to "Samantha".

A "careo" is, literally, a face-to-face confrontation between an accused and his/her accuser(s) in front of a judge. The judge gets to use this faceoff as a means to determine which side is most likely telling the truth. These "careos" are a good reason why sex crimes go unreported here or, if reported, un-prosecuted. A lady knows she is going to have to face her attacker, in close proximity, in front of a judge who has the power to declare the accused innocent on the spot, depending upon how much the judge has been paid by the lawyer and family of the accused, and allow him to walk out of the courtroom along with his accuser. An uncomfortable thought for most ladies, I'm sure.

In any event, I Googled 'ol Jesús, or Felipe de Jesús, or "El Rayo" and guess whose name also popped up? Remember this guy?

That's right, it's Raúl Luis Martins Coggiola, pimp king of Cancun

Three months ago, the Cancún offices of the daily Por Esto!, out of Mérida, Yucatan, were bombed, or rather, hand-grenaded. Por Esto! says that it was the work of Martíns and a group of narco traffickers known as "Grupo Tabasco". The daily charges that the bombing was planned in Martíns night club/whorehouse "The One" and carried out by Martíns personal chief of security, one "Edgar", aka "La Guacha". The newspaper further alleges that Martíns helped Edgar, La Guacha, escape Cancún on the night of the bombing and moved him to the USA where he is currently in hiding. Calling all CIA and DEA!!

But, oh my, the newpaper doesn't stop there. Por Esto! says that its facility in Cancún was bombed because the newspaper has in its possession documents and a list of local businessmen and politicians who have been benefiting from drug proceeds by laundering the money through their hotels, restaurants, night clubs, tourist docks and piers, salons, boutiques etc..

And who handles all that cash -- we're talking tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of Yankee dollars here? Why, our old buddy, pimp Raúl Martíns. Need a gigantic loan that a bank won't touch? See Raúl at The One. Need a politician or group of politicians bought off and you're just a bit short of the necessary cash? See Raúl at The One. Or, on the other hand, if you've got a dozen suitcases stuffed with several millions in hundred dollar bills and need someplace to "invest" it all, see Raúl at The One. "We washee weely kleen."

Grupo Tabasco, according to Por Esto!, is headed by Clemente Soto Peña aka "Jesús Canchola" and Joel Montoya Félix aka "El JR". These guys, along with Edgar "El Guacho", make their money dealing cocaine out of some 600 drug houses throughout Cancún and Quintana Roo's gold coast. In other words, they cater to tourists as well as rich Mexicans who have homes, villas and condos in the area. This is the high end retail end of the drug business in Mexico.

The newspaper charges that former governor Joaquin Hendricks "covered up" the formation of Grupo Tabasco during his reign. It is alleged that "El Rayo", now on trial for the murder of the 5 AFI agents, became chief of police after working his way up through the ranks by means of murder. This gave Grupo Tabasco control of the police force in Cancún and carte blanche for both their drug distribution/sales operations as well as the money laundering operation which was spearheaded by Martíns along with his businessmen and politician buddies.

A retired Mexican army colonel managed to get himself appointed chief if staff of the local police force. What he found horrified him. He went public with the information that he personally knew of at least 167 drug houses in Cancún. He further stated that "organized crime in Cancún is a 'floating business' that changes location all the time." Col. Wilfrido Flores Saucedo and his bodyguard, Alejandro Morales Xicoténcatl, were found machine-gunned to death in their car last June in downtown Cancún.

Add into the mix the secret videos that Martíns is known to have made of local businessmen and politicians playing with Martíns imported Argentine beauties, bombed Jewish social centers and Israeli embassies in Argentina, and it's a real cesspool. By "secret videos" I mean that one doesn't know they exist until one refuses to go along with some sleazy scheme or another. Then, out pops the weasel. And one usually just decides to go along so as to, uh, get along.

Por Esto! charges that the bombing of its Cancún offices was planned during a meeting in The One by Martíns, "El JR", "Jesús Canchola", "El Guacho" and a guy named Mariano Galué Ancona, an ex-assistant police chief to "El Rayo". Now, how do you suppose that the newspaper Por Esto! would come by all of that information? The girls are talkin', Raul, and they'll burn you yet.

We hope.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Cancun Mexico, Raul Martins, Joaquin Hendricks

Oaxaca, Mexico: Do not drink the water!

A city official, the Regidor de Contraloría (comptroller) warned residents that the city's water supplies are of "low quality and, furthermore, contaminated by fecal coliform." Yuuck. No link provided because this is from yesterday's print editions.

Diego Marcos Ortiz Silva was interviewed in his office in City Hall, where he said that the drilling of water wells in close proximity to the rivers and creeks guaranteed that the water delivered to the city would be contaminated. He said that the rivers and streams had been contaminated "for decades with raw sewege, trash, garbage, dead animals, waste oil and heavy metals."

Ortiz Silva accused the water company, ADOSAPACO (don't ask) of failing to test water supplies before drilling the wells. He claims that the state-owned water company prefers to maintain its monopoly on the city's water supplies rather than allow many municipalities and colonias to find their own water. In other words, the water monopoly is supplying contaminated water to communities which are sitting on or near clean water supplies but are not allowed to tap those supplies.

The Comptroller pointed out that the majority of people in the city lack resources sufficient to buy bottled water, so they must drink it from the tap. And it is poison.

Now, if this happened in any civilized country, there would be a water emergency declared. The city, state and federal governments would swing into action to haul in supplies of clean drinking water. Engineers and scientists would be called in to go to work to clean up the water supply so that it no longer would cause the people to sicken and die.

But not here. Here, a city official bitches about it and the newspaper prints it and nobody else really gives a shit so nothing will be done, at least in our lifetimes. Lifetimes that will be considerably shorter if we drink the water.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, fecal coliform

Oaxaca, Mexico: Oaxaca's observatory vandalized and abandoned

Yet another victim of the violence that wracked the city and state from May through the 25th of November is the vandalized and heavily damaged observatory, officially known as the Observatorio Astronomico Canuto Muñoz Mares, located, I think, atop the Cerro de Fortin - the big hill you probably drive around on the northwest corner of the city. This observatory, or at least the telescope therin, was a gift from the city of Palo Alto, California in 1972.

The observatory was attacked, vandalized and stripped of anything that could be carried away at the same time that the Guelaguetza amphitheater was vandalized and burned. According to the Oaxaca daily El Imparcial,

The vandalism and sacking of the observatory by the teachers and other political groups that participated in last year's conflict jsut about destroyed it completely, says the Society (Sociedad Astronómica de Oaxaca), and the city governmet has taken no action to retore it.

Now, the competing daiy, Noticias, which is the virulently anti-government print voice of APPO and the striking teachers and which just could not bring itself to denounce the violence against innocent citizens and institutions, played this just a bit more discreetly. Noticias says,

The lenses and telescopes were the most expensive items lost during the socio-political conflict through which Oaxaca lived.

Noticias says that the director of the city's social development said that "deterioration was inevitable" (meaning it was caused by age) and that he didn't know the total cost of the "sacked" components, broken windows, smashed doors, lost files, etc.

Noticias also immediately changes the subject to two other locales which are in need of repair/restoration due to being abandoned by, er, everybody. Those are another observatory and a library which nobody has ever heard of and probably never will.

Noticias reports the city official as saying that the observatory restoration is well on its way, is 90% complete and should be finished in "a month to a month and a half."

That's not what the director of the Astronomical Society told El Imparcial. He says that the society has just now solicited the city council to do something about the observatory to save it and that the director of social development still has to get a budget approved. So, who to believe?

Newspaper War!!!

I don't believe anything I read in Noticias but you make your own decisions.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Oaxaca observatory

Abraham Lincoln: Happy Birthday!

The Big Trunk (Scott Johnson) at Powerline reminds us to remember the man on his birthday.

Lincoln's words of wisdom, preserved for us in a myriad of sources as quotations, are too numerous to list here. My favorites, however, are:

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.

Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

Whenever I hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

This for the Mexican governors, the state and federal legislatures, the judges and the police:

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.

And, finally, for our friends in APPO and Sección 22:

There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.

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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Abraham Lincoln

Mexico City: Felipe Calderón vows, "We won't surrender" to narco violence.

In a speech at an Air Force base, Mexican President Felipe Calderon answered both the weepy hand wringers as well as Mexican organized crime. And he did so in no uncertain terms.

We will not surrender, neither to threats nor to overt attacks against the security of all Mexicans.

While organized crime's actions against society may be becoming more violent, the response by all three levels of government (local, state, federal), the armed forces and by society itself will become more implacable.

We will neither offer truce nor safe harbor to the enemies of Mexico. This is a fight that we will win if, among all Mexicans, we continue to join forces and solidify our energy, our talent and our will.

The president asked for the help, understanding and patience of the Mexican people, local governments, all political parties, the press, and the Church, because, he emphasized, this subject (organized crime) is of the utmost importance to the nation.

The president mentioned the church in particular perhaps in response to the Bishop of the Diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa (Guerrero - one of Mexico's most violent states), Alejo Zavala Castro. He sniffled that "More police and weapons are not going to solve the narco-terrorism problem. You've got to give the people more economic opportunities."

Right. Calderón will immediately inaugurate programs whereby grade school dropouts can earn a million bucks a week, pay no taxes, cruise around in limousines and yachts and watch all the competition get gunned down in the streets. Programs like that are just a dime a dozen, there, Bishop.

Oh, and the Bishop also declared that he and his flocks have been diligently praying for, er, what, I'm not exactly sure. I would presume that the Bishop's most heart-felt prayers have been going out to all those who have only recently stopped a bullet or 30.

Mexico's Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera believes in being a lot more practical. After Calderóns call yesterday for the support of the country, Cardinal Rivera Carrera responded during his Mass this morning. He said that the president's call to arms was "very opportune" and that "all Mexicans have something to contribute."

He said that the fight was not that of the State nor the government alone, but had to start within each family "because that's where the problems originate, where there is a lack of values." OK, I'll buy into that much, your Eminence.

Later, at a news conference, he added that the government, all institutions (including, presumably, the Church) and all the citizenry had the duty to join forces against "this cancer of narco traffickers." That's better yet, your Eminence!


Cardinal Rivera Carrera: "I'll whack 'em with my stick.
It's really heavy. It's 24 ct. gold. It'll hurt a lot."


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Felipe Calderón, Cardinal Noriberto Rivera Carrera, narcotraficantes

Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: More on porn, phone porn, this time

Horacio López, sub-director of Colegio de Bachilleres 43 ( a bachiller is kind of a college prep high school), announced that cell phones would be banned from the school's campus. He said that for several days last week teachers and school officials noticed that students were passing a file around over their cell phones.

A teacher snatched a phone and was horrified to find that a porno video was the reason of all the activity. Some number of phones were confiscated and all others have been banned from the school. Parents were notified to "watch their children closely to assure the kids were using cell phones as well as other audio and video equipment solely for school work". Right.

Colegio de Bachilleres 43 must be a prep school for future municipal employees destined for jobs in Guanajuato.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, high school pornography

Uriangato, Guanajuato, Mexico: Busted with porn!

The mayor of Uriangato, suspecting that some hanky de pankies were occurring on his watch, pulled a surprise computer inspection throughout Uriangato municipal offices. Guess what he found? Here, I'll let Mayor Carlos Guzmán tell it:

"More files of photos of naked women and sex acts were found than official government files or projects."

"Everything from nude men to nude women to sex acts were found."

Among those busted in the surprise porno inspection were the municipal Director of Economy, Enrique Patiño; the Director of Public Works, Felipe de Jesús Mora; and the Director of the Property Title Office, Joaquín Mora. 17 other municipal officials were likewise ensnared.

The mayor will dock the 20 officials' paychecks 2 weeks pay for the infractions. He threatened to fire anyone caught a second time. He told the city council:

"We're not going to spend the municipal government's work time and computer equipment on immoral activities."

"This could be considered as the illegal diversion of funds and materials for personal use."

"Watching porno is not the work of a city employee and they should be ashamed to collect their salaries while failing to perform the duties which they were assigned."

The 20 municipal porno monitors had no comment for the press.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Uriangato, Guanajuato, Mexico, pornography

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico: Calderón calls in the Mounties while incompetent, corrupt, local officials whine.

On 8 January, a Canadian citizen, one Adamo de Prisco, died in the middle of Avenida Escénica in Acapulco when he was run over by a car. Acapulco police officials ruled it an unfortunate accident. This in spite of a host of eyewitnesses who claimed that de Prisco was first savagely beaten inside the discotheque Mandara by club employees. Those witnesses told investigating officers that de Prisco managed to get away, then fled out the door into the street where he was subsequently squashed by a passing automobile.

All of that beating and fleeing stuff was too messy for Acapulco police to deal with, so they shoveled it under the rug and declared, "accidental death, nos sentimos muchísimos." Federal authorities were not in quite such a hurry to get back to that week's edition of Juana La Cubana on channel 9, however.

The feds, led by, as you may recall, their commander-in-chief, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, were just a bit too busy rounding up drug cartel capos, triggermen and money cleaners and shipping them off to the USA to disappear forever into the gaping maw of the federal prison system, to take direct action. So, they did the next best thing. They invited the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to come to Acapulco and conduct their own investigation.

RCMP Capt. Edward Nelson bids adieu to his girlfriend,
Donnie MacJeanne, as he takes leave for Acapulco.

WHOA!! That pissed off state and local authorities who thought they had cleverly solved and closed the case. The Guerrero state governor, Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo, managed to remain relatively calm as he said that the decision to call in the Mounties was a federal decision and he would welcome the presence of the Mounties with "appreciation", eh. Right, eh.

One of his flunkies, the city's director of tourism, was not nearly so restrained in voicing his opinion. Said an outraged Miguel Angel Elías Aguirre while quaking at the thought that a tourist's death was caused by hired dance hall gorillas, spit,

"I don't like what has happened because it is the jurisdiction of the Mexican government. I would like that the competent authority release its official report."

See, Miguel Angel, that there is the problem. The competent authorities are, er, not competent. But the Mounties certainly are.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Acapulco, Mexico, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Felipe Calderón

Lansing, Michigan: Gov. Granholm to release 5000 criminals because she's not "mad at them" anymore.

PARTEEE!

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, already riding the crest of unpopularity in her state, has proposed releasing 5000 parole-eligible prison inmates, er, immediately. State Corrrections Commissioner Patricia Caruso says,

We need to decide who we're afraid of and who we're mad at.

We need to be sure the people we're afraid of are locked up. Are we mad enough to spend an average of $33,000 a year to lock them up until they die or until they finish every last day of their sentence?

Note that Michigan is a matriarchal society. Other examples of matriarchal societies would be the US House of Representives as well as hyena clans, but I repeat myself.

Charles Manson sings,
"Slide, ride, fly to Michigan
Stomp, romp, hop to Michigan"

Manson has been eligible for parole sine 1978. Under Granholm's grand plan, he would have been loose on the streets for the past 29 years. Think about that.

Manson, imprisoned, unfortunately, in California back when they could get a conviction there, described Governor Granholm and the other Michigan matriarchs quite well during his 1998 parole hearing:

So don't blame me and say I'm taking over your minds,
because you didn't have any to start with.

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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Michigan, Jennifer Granholm

Caracas, Venezuela: Chávez says, "Let'em eat . . . chicken feet?"

Ooh, yummy!

Hugo Chávez's garden of Eden in Venezuela has run out of beef. And pork and chicken breasts, thighs, backs, legs and wings. All he's got left are chicken feet.


Nobody here but us chicken's feets.

Could these people be any more stupid? Chávez and his government toadies are blaming "hoarders and speculators" for the shortages. The real problem is Chávez's price controls. Beef is artificially priced at $1.82 per pound when $2.41 per pound is required just to get it to the supermarket shelves. That means that the supermarkets have to sell it at cost, which they refuse to do, and the middlemen have to eat a $0.59 per pound loss, which they also refuse to do. Hence, no beef. Since the cattle raisers can't sell their beef to anyone, I guess that means they are hoarding it.

Chávez insituted price controls on over 400 basic items in 2003 in an effort to control inflation and help the poor. He successfully reduced the inflation rate from 25% where it was in 2003 to 78% where it stands today. And now the poor can't afford to buy even chicken feets. Nice job, Hugo!

The same problem exists for chicken parts (parts is parts, right?) of the more edible varieties, leaving nothing but chicken feets on the menu. As if this wasn't enough, the same thing is happening with sugar, so if you can manage to choke down your chicken feets, they'll go down bitterly, literally.

As a friend of mine once wisely remarked,

"I ain't eatin' nuthin' that's been stompin' around in chicken shit."

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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela, chicken feet