The American Spectator

WRTolkas| 2.5.10 @ 7:56AM

War on Drugs - What a bunch of hooey. Acres of land are needed to grow drugs. I'll bet satellites have pinpointed those acres and the drug factories. Most of those drugs have found their way into the United States. That sounds like an attack to me.

OK, maybe this is a simplistic idea; but nothing else has worked: We have gallons of herbicides, we have fleets of B-52 bombers. Why don't we use herbicides delivered by those bombers and douse the acres of poison weed? No more cocaine, heroin, or marijuana. Get the job done and apologize later.

Comments?

Regards,

WRTolkas

S.L. Toddard| 2.5.10 @ 8:46AM

Why not bomb Mexico because degenerate Americans, as a people, lack the backbone to abstain from illegal narcotics?

Here's an idea: seal the border and guard it.

WRTolkas| 2.5.10 @ 9:49AM

Dear S.L. Toddard,

I agree with you about no backbone to abstain from illegal narcotics. And I also fully agree with you about sealing and guarding the border.

So to sum this up:
1. People lack backbone to stop using drugs
2. Congress lacks backbone to seal the border.

Now what can we do?

Best regards and I hope you miss the snow,
WRTolkas

geoff beneze| 2.7.10 @ 1:00AM

Stop getting in Darwin's way!

Legalize the drugs. Then let OUR government "control" them, that'll take the profit motive way from the Cartels and reduce crime in our country, as much of the crime feeds drug habits.

Then let the people who do drugs have all they want, on the condition that they trade their drugs for medical treatment. If they want to fry their brains, or OD, or any of the other problems associated with illicit drug use, it's their choice. They get the freedom to do what they want, we get the freedom not to subsidize their medical treatment.

In two to three years, Darwin will have done his job, our Government will have bankrupted the drug trade and the cartels will have moved on to legitimate businesses.

Of course then we have the problem of what to do with DEA and all the drug agencies the Government created in their phony "War", the one they couldn't, and never intended, to win.

Melvin| 2.5.10 @ 8:06AM

The Rio Grande could reverse course and flow blood run from all the spilled blood of dead Mexican citizens that are being caught up in their war.
And our government would still turn a blind eye, and call it what it isn't.
Come to think about it I couldn't even blame our government for withholding this information from the American people, because frankly the American people couldn't handle it emotionally.
Since our government governs more on emotion than the rule of law I can see why.
Americans on a whole are a bunch of lilly livered scared rabbits who cringe in fear in thinking that pigs can fly and that is how pig flu is spread.
The world is mean and getting damn meaner by the second and all the Republican Party and Sarah Palin can worry about is Rahm Emanuel's vocabulary.

S.L. Toddard| 2.5.10 @ 8:48AM

"Americans on a whole are a bunch of lilly livered scared rabbits who cringe in fear"

Exactly - Iran, "The Terrorists", ACORN, Kenyan Manchurian Candidates Who Are Marxist Nazis etc. It is pathetic, the long list of things Americans cower from in terror. Lily livered is spot-on.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.5.10 @ 9:36AM

Melvin,
you are being a grump today. heh.

Melvin| 2.5.10 @ 3:13PM

Good afternoon Ken, Yea, I guess you could say, I got something crossway's. But have ya ever seen a mass of people be so butt blind to the obvious especially when the obvious is standing right in front of them?
This is pretty much my opinion today. From terrorists to drug lords whose intentions are out in the open, and the masses still as the dumb question of, "Are these guy mad at us?"

Richard Baker| 2.5.10 @ 8:40AM

Tell me again. What is Mexico doing that we in the US should emulate? Not a trivial matter and even without the drug cartels Mexico would be and is always on the verge of a Revolution of some sort. Look at their history particularly since the '20s. If I were a Mexican, I'd be mad as hell at all the Americans who want to stay stoned and are the reason that the drug trade flourishes. My solution is to legalize ALL drugs in the US. Within 12-18 months the number of overdose deaths will rid us of these weak sisters. It could happen.

LiveFreeOrDie| 2.5.10 @ 8:25PM

"What is Mexico doing that we in the US should emulate?"

They have a very secure southern border, we should do the same.

Louis Jenkins| 2.5.10 @ 8:50AM

Mexico is a hot spot that needs our attention, but the question is how much? I recommend first and foremost to secure the porous border. At least slow the drug traffic and illegal crossings. Make it more expensive to move the product by apprehending more of both. Its easy to say "capture" the king pins, but if nothing else add some misery to their existence by actively searching for them. However, the drug money in that nation speaks volumes, and from what I've read almost anyone with authority is on the dole. Arms shippments from the USA to Mexico is not the problem. If you have an unlimited amount money at hand you can buy high tech from anywhere. I'll agree that our government has turned a blind eye, in fact, they've literally turned their backs.

arlo price| 2.5.10 @ 8:57AM

The obamagedon PIMP thugocracy sputters along.....

3rd in oil imports??? DRILL BABY, DRILL !!!

Seal the border, aggressively patrol the coastline, shoot to kill!!!

8000 Border Patrol personnel to watch/guard a 2000 mile border (not counting DEA, ICE or state and local enforcement). Typical government inefficiency. Do the math, you could literally station a 'border patrol' agent every 1320 feet along the border.
We'll just let this problem continue to fester until it infects the U S of A. Anarchy is desirable to this administration in order to implement marshal law.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.5.10 @ 9:42AM

Mr. Wittman

Thank you for the info. I live in Houston, and I was not aware of the scale of the mess.

I do believe we must honor the border...BUT...let some honorable Mexicans rise up and do that "personally responsible thing" we all talk about.

pugsley| 2.5.10 @ 4:13PM

Ken-you live in Houston and are not familiar with the scope of the drug problem? Even if you live in Sugarland you should have a very good notion of what is going on. Doing that personally responsible thing down south can lead to a very quick and ignoble end also. Why can't we get a handle on the drug problem? To many people in the upper class are making too much money off of it. Quick example (1) back in 82 I was driving through the OK panhandle and a news story came on the radio about 8 men being arrested in Guymon OK, 2 lawyers, 1 doctor, 1 assistant DA, 2 bankers and 1 other person I can't remember his occupation but all were professional people all for dealing in drug trafficking. (2) much closer to home, we just built a beautiful home on our ranch in OK, I can see the next house from my sun room. Every night about good dark a steady stream of cars come and go very quickly like a drive through at McD's. Got in touch with a good friend of mine with the US Marshalls service and let him know what was going on. As a courtesy to local law enforcement he let them know the Marshalls would be working the area. The very next night not one vehicle showed up, and for the next three nights the guy has left about dark and returns about 2 am. He is still selling just takes it somewhere else to do business. The corruption is wide spread and very serious, just too much money envolved and it will never stop. You could kill every drug kingpin and the next month a new crop of leaders would have already assumed leadership of the cartels. Other than that have a great weekend and I too will be watching the game and laughing at those commercials.

JohnMD1022| 2.7.10 @ 5:59AM

Let's wait for the 'moderate' Muslims to rein in the terrorists while we are at it. :)

Thomas| 2.5.10 @ 10:36AM

Mexico is largely responsible for the problems that they face now. For decades, the Mexican Government and the upper class [yes, Mexico has a very real and strict class system] have turned a blind eye to any enterprise [human smuggling, drug trafficking, etc] that pumps money into the Mexican economy from the gringos in Los Estados Unidos de America. By allowing this activity to proceed, largely unchecked, they created the second largest industry in the country. As the industry is unregulated, competitors attempt to gain a competitive edge, not through lower prices and superior product, but by simply eliminating the competition.

The Mexican government is now far behind the curve in the war against organized crime in their country. There is no quick fix to the problem. And the US can do very little about the activities south of its border.

The government of the United States has to decide, and soon, exactly what they are willing to commit to securing the borders of this country and keeping the violence out. There are not a lot of options, and none are really very good. But for the US to continue to ignore the threat posed by the narco-terrorist organizations is to invite that violence into our own country on a greater scale than exists already.

Cris Worth| 2.5.10 @ 11:48AM

My father told me in 1969 that Mexico was an enemy of the United States. So true, Mexico will tweak the gringo at every turn, just pick your poison.

Louis Jenkins| 2.5.10 @ 12:51PM

An approoriate article popped up at lunch. It paints a dire picture of what the USA has going in within its borders, and what the future may hold if the Mexican Problem isn't dealt with. The number of warrants written in SW cities for murders committed by illegals is an eye opener. I believe that many of us here know how to deal with the situation, unfortunately, those in authority will never listen.

Follow the link

http://www.examiner.com/x-3582.....ur-streets

Irish Spectre| 2.5.10 @ 12:54PM

This illustrates the fundamental failure of culture and its catastrophic effect, and all the fence-builing and government forces buildup in the world is doomed to failure so long as the widespread acceptance of Judeo-Christian values remains absent.

Mexico has frankly been on the edge of disaster since the get-go, the elusiveness of human rights for the commoner due to the guile of the upper, corrupt ruling class being a constant over the course of its history.

America's increasing materialism started in the latter decades of the 20th century, including the the breakup of the family, perpetual adolescence, and the resulting increasing subjugation of her citizenry to her shameful drug habit, which Mexico is only too prepared to accommodate.

Maybe a little reading of Roman history's in order about now.

Jose| 2.5.10 @ 3:02PM

Just got back from vacation in Mexico (Cancun).

Activities director for the resort we stayed at said he buys all his pot from the local cops.

Don| 2.5.10 @ 3:34PM

If you make me King, one of the first things I will do is grant American citizenship to all Mexicans. :: ))

Louis Jenkins| 2.5.10 @ 4:15PM

For the ultimate get away vacation, sign on now to the Gang Tour of LA. Link below:

http://www.lagangtours.com/locations.html

Dixie Pixie| 2.5.10 @ 6:56PM

As a general rule of thumb, conservatives abuse alcohol, Liberal / Progressives abuse recreational drugs. Why not try stopping drug use at the demand level. Certainly the Enforcement paradigm has not stopped the illegal drug trade. Why not try something new.

If there was no demand for illegal drugs by the Liberal / Progressives then there would be no financial incentive to ship illegal drugs through Mexico. The obvious solution is to eliminate the Liberal / Progressives life style. Comments anyone.

Don| 2.5.10 @ 10:51PM

Never mind the politics, I have been saying much the same thing and adding the use of Youth as drug traffic mules, the whole thing becomes morally reprehensible.
Actually now that I look at your last sentence,...eliminate what?
I would prefer to persuade.

Dixie Pixie| 2.6.10 @ 3:54PM

Aggressive deprogramming works. Unfortunately this course of action requires Conservationism to have confidence in the rightness of its beliefs. It would also require that Conservativism reverse the sociological positions that there should be tolerance for Liberal beliefs and intolerance for Conservative beliefs. Not going to happen under the current leadership.

Under the current Republican leadership there is no imperative to promote Conservativism, even much less to the point it would impact Liberal Drug use. Look to the Republican Party to promote the same useless policies.

bill| 2.5.10 @ 7:39PM

Ban alcohol. oops, that didn't work. Legalize it.

Ban drugs. oops, that didn't work. ???

You don't have to be a rocket scientist.

albert constantine, jr| 2.8.10 @ 5:48PM

When prohibition was lifted in 1933, organized crime in America ended (they all became legit liquor distillers and distributors), didn't it, and there are no more crime problems associated with the use of alcohol. Oh wait, didn't organized crime actually leave importation of illegal alcohol, and switch to illegal drugs? If narcotics are legalized, don't expect those currently involved to become pharmaceutical companies. Expect instead that organized crime will create a new destructive commodity to market and make significant profits, and an increased number of "legal" narcotic addicts, as well.

Jim Hlavac| 2.5.10 @ 11:40PM

Where to begin to contest and dismantle the above (mostly) collective mush, article and posts combined, is hard to tell. I speak Spanish, and I lived in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, third largest port in Mexico, a city of 600,000 or so, for a combined 15 months in three years. I have been to small towns, medium sized cities, and big cities like Guadalajara, Monterrey, Zacatecas, Hermosillo, and all points in between, since I did land travel throughout this northern and western swath of the nation of 2.2 million square miles.
What revolution? All these places are astoundingly calm, and no more violent than New Orleans (which I live near now) or Detroit, or NYC in the 1970s. In fact, never in my time south of the border did I fret for safety like I have in New Orleans. Never heard a gun shot. Never saw a car chase. Didn't even see a mother yell at her kids. Late at night, 11 PM, kids and grandmothers frolic in parks and plazas. The newspapers report the few murders related to the criminal class with no more frequency than the Chicago papers during Capone years, or the LA Times of Compton. Do not extrapolate Ciudad Juarez to the country as a whole.
Marijuana is a naturally occurring, God decreed weed. To eradicate it is laughable. You have a better chance against crab grass. Plus, most pot in the USA is grown right here, it's not imported. Americans like Kine Bud from Mendocino Cty, CA, not Mexican brown from south of the border. But, indeed, the stuff grows on every continent, several species, except Antarctica. To even suppose that B-52s defoliating the forests to find the small plots -- and more importantly, the naturally growing plants, is absurd. One plant can yield several pounds. 100 plants would fit in a one car garage. How will you find this in the vast Sierra Madre of 9000 foot peaks?
Mexico has always had a higher level of lawlessness and corruption than the US, so what? Nothing is new under the sun there. Indeed, from 1825 to 1917 the most common means of presidents leaving office was "he was taken out and shot." At least that hasn't happened in a while.
Mexican states, to their chagrin, and as well documented in the newspapers there, are mere administrative districts of the central government -- but they want it to end. In fact, Noreste, the paper of Sonora & Sinaloa, two states I know well, editorializes incessantly about adopting the US Bill of Rights.
English is taught in all schools. Teens are required to find gringos to practice with, and request the gringo do fill out a report card. There's an English school on every other corner, even in tiny places like La Cruz, Municipalidad Elota, Sinaloa, etc, over and over every where.
There is a growing wealth, and middle class, the stores are jammed with goods and shoppers. There are no lazy people, and the few who are are excoriated. Work, and lower taxes, and less rules and regulations -- tea party stuff -- is rampant among all I spoke with. Few, a handful of bitter folks, are anti-American - -far better for us to build on the good will of the 99.9% of the people I met who expressed a great admiration for the ideals of the USA -- oddly Obama is not nearly as beloved in the streets as he is by the intellectuals in Mexico DF> just like in DC> odd indeed. And that across all the country I traveled the most popular color combo for clothes is Red White & Blue. It's like a Republican Convention! 1 out of 3 daily in RWB.
Cocaine is a natural Andes Mtns plant ideal for altitude sickness -- DEA agents are given coca tea when they get to Quito and other high Andean cities. Medicinal coke indeed.
Much of this violence in CJ is from who gets to bring the illegal aliens north -- more money to be made for sure. But there in Hermosillo, just four hours south of the border, at the Consulate which gives visas to all the 5 million or so of Sinaloa & Sonora have but one tiny window, the size of your computer monitor, to handle all the many requests to join the American Dream. There are daily thousands of people peacefully and patiently waiting their turn at that tiny window. No wonder people try the illegal route. -- we make it impossible to even apply. Make it easier to go back and forth, lessen the trafficking. Help those people get rich!
In Phoenix, AZ, where I lived for the past 7 winters in a Mexican neighborhood downtown there is an English language school on every other corner. People will come up to native speakers in the streets to try to learn. They all want jobs.
At the social service administration in this zip code the vast majority of applicants are blacks and whites, not Mexicans.
It's like -- what planet are so many here on?
It would take a book to refute all that is presented here, but I have no time for that now.

arlo price| 2.6.10 @ 1:00AM

The planet most here are on is Planet U S A!!! We have a Constitution, it is a representative Republic, it is a country where the rule of law is supposed to be of the first order.

We are tired of our entrenched political representatives paying us lip service and we are holding them accountable.

I don't believe any post here made any derogatory comments about the general population of Mexico, yet you go to extremes to extol the virtues of the paisano, campo & pueblos. Most all negative remarks in this post are directed at the ruling elite of Mexico who have had a stranglehold on the populace for centuries. Why so defensive??? It appears as a soft sell for amnesty.

Our only question for the paisano's who love the english language, dress in red white and blue so as to appear like a republican convention is,why don't you get off your duff and straighten your own country up (I read the article as that being an underlying issue)? We wish to enforce our laws and since you show a lack of respect for our laws by ILLEGALLY entering our Country, it is difficult for us to show you ANY respect at all. The only respect an illegal alien deserves is of the same kind that other criminals get, 3 hots and a cot.

The differences in justice between the 2 countries are that in Mexico the money is on top of the table and in the USA it is under the table.

The conservative believes that money has absolutely nothing to do with JUSTICE.

I spent some time in Sonora in '74, Imuris, Magdalena and San Ignacio in particular. Speaking of which, did they ever 'solve' the murder of the American professor tourist from 1972 I believe??? Didn't think so. Those ciudads and pueblos are not as quaint and sleepy as the picture you paint.

Your focus is your reality, and reality is that our neighbor south of the border has some serious problems that need to be addressed now, and amnesty is NOT the answer.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.6.10 @ 6:32PM

Jim,
Thank you for your clear observations, (on the ground).
I really appreciate the time you spent here above.

If I were a good, courageous Mexican father, I would try to come across. I've known a bunch of them.
The thing they like here...and take home with them often, they are not robbed by our police folks.

laurie| 2.6.10 @ 2:47AM

handouts to idle people and affluence in usa are the cause of problems like this.

Oscarhox| 2.6.10 @ 3:23AM

I think the U.S. government should grow and process marijuana, cocaine, heroin and any other currently illegal substance that we are capable of producing here. Then give it away to any adult who wants it at hundreds of distribution centers throughout the country. We sometimes call it "junk", so treat it like junk - give it away to any fool stupid enough to use it. The total cost of the project would probably be less than 50 years of the "war on drugs". And tell me that wouldn't instantly impoverish all the Mexican drug cartels.

Dixie Pixie| 2.6.10 @ 4:09PM

The Darwinian solution requires a society which would allow the chemically impaired to die. Not a Judeochristian characteristic.

Margie| 2.7.10 @ 3:34PM

"I think the U.S. government should grow and process marijuana, cocaine, heroin and any other currently illegal substance that we are capable of producing here."

Yeah, that's the ticket. I will agree with you but up to a point. Allow Obama & co. grow and process enough of the stuff but for themselves only. This way, while they're all high on drugs the good people of this country can take our country back while they're not paying attention. Confine them to the White House and we'll have the National Guard watch them so they can't leave. By then it'll be time for the 2012 elections.

ACynic| 2.6.10 @ 10:55AM

Decriminalize all drugs.
Prices will drop drastically and profits will disappear.
You do not see smugglers dealing in apples, toilet paper, chicken, steak, paper, socks, shirts, etc etc.
Why ??????
There is NO MONEY to be made in these hi-demand products, that's why.
All drugs used to be legal in the USA until about 1915 or so.
Prohibition showed that criminalizing something, renders that something very valuable.
Basic economics 101 .
Take all the money used to "stop" drug importation, drug use and jailing of tens of thousands of drug dealers, and use it for a hard hitting, focused advertising (O.K., propaganda program) against drug use.
Effective and ubiquitious advertising (propaganda) can render drug use socially unacceptable.
If you think I am wrong, well, how many folks believe in the phoney global warming scam.
How is it that folks came to believe in this scam.
Simple; repeated and consistent messages promoting the scam.
Just as cigarette smoking was glorified in movies, TV and advertising to hook millions into believing that smoking was cool, suave, sophisticated etc., advertising (propaganda) can be very effective in rendering drug use as a very bad and undesirable activity.
the taxpayers will save billions, drug cartels will literally go out of business, and, by the way, many left wing movements as well as the Taliban, rely on drug profiteering to support their murderous activities.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.6.10 @ 6:35PM

ACynic,
You make a lot of good sense.

May we start the propaganda three years or so before we de-criminalize?

Fawnridge Farm| 2.7.10 @ 7:59AM

Ronald Reagan was, perhaps, the most honorable president of my lifetime, but he bears, in my estimation, much blame for the current situation in Mexico.

While most drugs were illegal in the U.S. by the early part of the twentieth century, it was Reagan's "War On Drugs" which created the huge federal Drug Enforcement Administration. He initiated a massive flow of federal tax dollars towards efforts to eradicate drug crops and interdict drug supply lines south of the border; and to arrest American drug marketers on our side of it. These efforts continue to this day and yet, as with Prohibition, the government's last failed attempt to legislate the morality of it's people, this law enforcement-induced constriction in the supply of drugs has nothing, of course, to reduce the demand for them. By merely reducing the supply and increasing the risk of marketing drugs (through harsher drug laws), Reagan's legislation thus increased both the price of drugs and, concurrently, the profitability associated with dealing them. Thirty years of these profits later and organized criminal cartels now have the wealth, boots, guns and bullets necessary to launch, as Mr. Wittman to aptly puts it, "a full-scale civil war".

It's a conflict that will not end until the U.S. government learns the simple lesson from Prohibition and launches instead a "War On Drug Profits" by decriminalizing all drugs. Criminalizing alcohol merely increased the risk and reduced the supply. Those two factors, in turn, drove up both prices and profits. Increased profitability not only increased the incentive to bootleg, it also gave rise to large criminal marketing organizations, such as Capone's in Chicago, who then used their wealth to attack government through both violence and corruption. Just as repeal of Prohibition destroyed the profits associated with the alcohol business, so too will the repeal of the Reagan-era drug laws destroy the profitability of the drug trade. It would also adversely affect vast numbers governmental employees, such as judges, police officers, parole officers and prison guards, many of whom find that the War On Drugs provides them with employment.

Denny| 2.7.10 @ 5:20PM

Wow, and Obama wants to cut 180 Border Patrol Officers...just what we need, more kaos! Drug lords are already coming in and taking U.S. Citizens for ransom....This has to be kept under control....or else???

Jackgn| 2.8.10 @ 4:35PM

Make them legal and tax & regulate them. Survival of the fittest will do the rest.

mili8951| 5.8.10 @ 1:37AM

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explosion proof light| 11.15.10 @ 8:56AM

Obama's stage props, the guys with the white jackets, are here to take you away, to the funny farm, where everything will be alright.

Converse| 8.12.11 @ 3:43AM

is good