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Monday, December 31, 2012

Democracy for Drugs in Afghanistan

We invade Afghanistan pushing democracy for drugs.  What can go wrong with that? 

Sunday, December 30, 2012

A Great Story Idea!


My name is John Randolph.  I am a retired US Border Patrol/INS/ICE Agent.  I have started a petition to Harvard University asking them to rescind the teaching contract of ex-Mexican President Felipe Calderon.  Here is a published  letter to the editor of the Wicked Local of Cambridge, MA which contains my petition link:   

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1107418337/LETTER-Deny-Felipe-Calder-n-as-a-Harvard-Fellow#axzz2Ft7kEnAa

I have 6,700 signatures to date.  I find the petition comments from many Mexican citizens to be of  particular interest.  Here is another link that  synthesizes  those messages of those Mexican citizens in the know: 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Symbol-of-Corruption-an-by-John-Randolph-121216-72.html 

Here is another exciting twist.  A Mexican citizen by the name of  Educardo Cortes Rivadeneyra has taken the initiative not only to start his own similar petition, but to contact me by phone too!

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1107418337/LETTER-Deny-Felipe-Calder-n-as-a-Harvard-Fellow#axzz2Ft7kEnAa

This controversial petition idea has even been publicized in Mexico:  http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=327830 

This to me is a fascinating story of two people from different countries uniting through social media for an one important cause.

Please consider doing a story about Calderon, Harvard, and our petitions.  By the way, Eduardo speaks English fairly well, and I speak Spanish fairly well. 

Respectfully,

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Why I Tattoo

 

It is about a lot of things.  Feeling so strongly about a topic that I choose to put it in ink on my own skin.  Expressing on the outside what is inside.  Taking risks.  Being cool. 

Thursday, December 27, 2012

American Exceptionalism: Crystal (Meth) Clear

In response:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/el-platanar-de-los-ontiveros-gunfight_n_2366779.html?utm_hp_ref=latino-voices&ir=Latino%20Voices



Greed is such an insidious motivation to kill. Cartels use their thugs, governments use their soldiers and politicians use their lies and laws. At least the Mexican cartels' motives and actions are crystal clear.

I guess Americans should in some twisted way be proud that their addiction to drugs fuels this type of violence?

Opps, I forgot - "it's not our fault Mexico has so many problems".

Good old American exceptionalism. So many soldiers and law enforcement officers have died for that lie. We will too if we are not careful.

So if you are still able to question, look deeply into the bi-national 1%'s motives behind Mexican drug wars and illegal immigration. I know many of you will have to look beyond the obvious signs on your own town's street corners.

Bill Clinton championed NAFTA which pushed our undocumented population from 3 million to some 12 million. Someone profits from NAFTA, and it isn't me or you.

The undocumented would not come here if they could make a decent living wage at home. Are you naïve enough to believe that the American 1% does not in some way profit off of the undocumented and the status quo? Think big AGRA, big prisons, big politics, big hotel and garment industries etc.

And if you are not stoned on drugs, think big banks, big PHARMA, big weapons, big prisons, big drug war budgets, border militarization, CIA funding, and the never ending never to be won 40+ year war on drugs.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The Probem is the 1%'s Greed

In response:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/immigration-deportation_n_2348090.html?utm_hp_ref=latino-voices&ir=Latino%20Voices

If we want to solve this problem we will have face the truth about the 1% greed that causes it.

Undocumented people do not cause this problem. The greed of 1% who export them from their home countries and the greed of the 1% who import them to the US are the problem.

For example, the Mexican 1% profit by exporting their poor (and their educational and medical expenses) while simultaneously "importing" money back to the Mexican 1%'s economy via remittances. That is slick.

Of course you know who is paying for all this or you would not bother reading this.

On the other hand the US 1% imports cheap labor, prison inmates, political capital and political proof that the US border needs to be for ever militarized.

Emotionally bind taxpayers blame the undocumented as if their angry cries for justice will someday be heard by the ruling 1%' s cronies. The illusionary carrot dangles in front of the taxpaying burros while the status quo grinds on unchanged.

Monday, December 24, 2012

A Bi-National Problem

In Response:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/23/mexico-drug-war-missing-list_n_2355789.html

Many Americans do not see that this is a bi-national problem. Mexico makes our drugs and we make their guns. The bi-national elite make unfathomable profits from this illegal set up while the good people on both sides of the border pay the price.

Banksters, privatized prisons, and the border industrial complex all profit from tax payer money. To ad insult to injury those same taxpayers not only accept but promote their own captors' lies as solutions the problem.

It's all about profit, propaganda and ignorance. The drug war can not and will not be won. There is no profit in winning it because all of the profit is made in prolonging it!

BTW, the undocumented come here because the 1% on both sides of the border profit from that set up too. They would not come here if that filthy corrupt co-conspirator of the US 1% took care of its own people.

The 1% who run our country care about us about as much about as the 1% who run Mexico care about their 99%. Zero, nada!

If arrogant Americans would wake up they might even consider joining forces with our good Mexican friends and stop this bi-national madness.”

So Many Ignorant and Insensitive Posts

In response:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/John_fulano_de_tal/mexico-drug-war-missing-list_n_2355789_216249597.html

So many ignorant, insensitive posts below.

I am not saying that Mexico does not have some of the most violent and corrupt people in the world.  They do just as we do here in the US too. Yet many posters carry this negative mindset which plays right into the game plan of the 1% profiteering bi-national elite.

Most Americans are unaware that the bi-national elite not only contribute to but benefit from failed drug and immigration policies. The 1% from both countries profit from illegal immigration. US taxpayers foot the bill and that is wrong. Yet most Americans typically believe the 1%'s propaganda and blame the undocumented for this problem when in fact the 1% who run both governments ensure that the systematic rape of those same taxpayers continues.

The bi-national 1% profit from illegal drugs. Cartel thugs, privatized prisons, security and border militarization corporations rake in the profit from this status quo. The drug war has drug on for over 40 years! US banks have blood soaked hands by laundering drug money from Mexico.

Educate yourselves. NAFTA destroyed bi-national jobs and brought on the largest influx of undocumented Mexicans ever. Who profits and who pays for that?

Mexico is America's 2nd largest source of oil and cross border trade equals 1.25 billion per day.

This is all about money. Profit between the rich in both countries dictates the bi-national drug and immigration policies. You are being used as pawns if you do not look beyond the typical 1%'s political rhetoric.”

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Sandy Hook Elementary School - The Shots Heard Around The World?



How do you change the mindset of an American culture that has lost its moral compass and its good common sense?
 
Many Americans hang on to their assault rifles because those weapons are the only objects that can give these people a sense of power in a greedy, frightening dog eat dog world.
Irrational fears and ignorance are insidiously fueled by the media and propaganda of the 1% corporate profiteers. 

The 1%'s politicians attempt to mediate between the two groups (the 1% and the 99%).  They serve their masters while pretending to appease the masses.

Will the gunfire at the Sandy Hook Elementary School be the shots heard around the world?    

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Ownership of a Gun

Does not the ownership of a gun give a person some sense of power and control (albeit false) in a world where that person has so little or none?

Monday, December 17, 2012

"A Symbol of Corruption and Blood" - HKS Fellowship of Felipe Calderon


"A Symbol of Corruption and Blood"  -  HKS Fellowship of  Felipe Calderon

The petition asking Harvard President Faust to rescind former Mexican President Calderon's HKS fellowship has now surpassed over 6,300 signatures.   http://www.change.org/petitions/harvard-university-president-faust-deny-outgoing-mexican-president-felipe-calderon-employment-at-harvard

Over two thousand of those signatures came in a two day period resulting from this article in the Mexican Newspaper PROCESO http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=327830

One Mexican woman by the name of Florele Sena from Tecouluta, Mexico commented on the petition website by writing  Calderon is "a symbol of corruption and blood". 

Ms.  Sena's comment is a symbol of the hundreds of comments received on the petition website.  Comments reveal  Calderon's 2006 presidency being forced upon Mexico despite overwhelming evidence of election fraud.  Then Calderon makes the fatal decision to use the Mexican Military to fight the US backed war on drugs in Mexico. 

Read these comments yourselves as many of the Spanish words are recognizable in English:  corruption, cartel connections, genocide, murder, US drug war puppet, civil rights abuse, total absence of morals, ethics, integrity, accountability, justice, and regard for the Mexican people, the shame of Harvard, and  Calderon's escape to the US for possible immunity from criminal charges.

Don't be fooled by the special interest propagandists  who tout that the majority of the  +/- 100,000 people killed in the Mexican drug war were mostly "bad guys killing bad guys".   It will never be known how many innocent deaths were caused by Calderon's own corrupt Military.  Put another way, this rhetoric  is simply an attempt by the Harvard decision makers and their allies to ease their own consciences and justify Calderon's disgraceful fellowship.    

How dare Harvard insult the intelligence of Mexicans and Americans who know and care about the truth of Calderon's presidency!  Calderon's fellowship at Harvard in nothing more than the "good old (Harvard) boy system" of the bi-national elite covering each other's backs.   Your propagandized  attempt to make Calderon a US drug war "hero" and an exemplary international  diplomat cannot erase his real world  legacy - " a symbol of corruption and blood".  

Finally, are there any Harvard students who will stand up against this insidious Harvard fellowship decision?  Or are you too going to shed your moral compasses with the hope of someday being  rewarded by the same "good old (Harvard) boy system"? 

All of this is a microcosm of our failing "special interest for profit"  government today.          

 

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Drug War/Immigration Enforcement Insidiouly Intertwined

The US drug war and immigration enforcement complexes are insidiously and deviously intertwined. They profit by not only simultaneously maintaining the illegality of their primary commodities (drugs and undocumented people) but by maintaining the necessary propaganda that these enforcement "wars" can be won.
Check out how they just rewarded their retiring Mexican CEO Felipe Calderon.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/cam...
Please sign the Harvard Petition linked in the above article.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Who Wins By Losing The Drug War?

Cartels, drug enforcement corporations and their 1% politicians all win by maintaining the failed drug war status quo.  Check out how Washington just rewarded one of their Drug Enforcement CEO's from Mexico!

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1107418337/LETTER-Deny-Felipe-Calder-n-as-a-Harvard-Fellow#axzz2EBtjsolR

Saturday, December 8, 2012

LETTER: Deny Felipe Calderón as a Harvard Fellow

I am appalled to learn that outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon has been selected to teach at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Calderon’s 2006 decision to use the Mexican military to fight the Mexican drug cartels brought on one of the most violent periods in Mexico’s history. During his six-year presidency, some 40,000 to 100,000 people have been murdered. Many of those people were innocent bystanders. Tens of thousands of people were displaced. Thousands are missing and orphaned.
Author Charles Bowden is a veteran expert on Ciudad Juarez and Mexico’s drug war. He labeled the Mexican Army as the biggest (drug) cartel of them all.
Has Calderon’s U.S.-backed war on drugs been beneficial to either Mexican or American societies? Those within the Bi-national Drug Enforcement Industrial Complex will say yes. Those who know the truth will say no. Illegal drugs are more prevalent and potent than they have ever been. Billions of U.S. dollars still are flowing south as Mexico’s drugs flow north.
Chapo Guzman, Mexico’s -- and the world’s -- most notorious cartel leader is still doing going strong in Mexico.
Thugs and corrupt officials control Mexico’s streets. Complaints of military corruption, murder and civil rights abuses abound. It is also very common for Mexican journalists and government officials to be forced to either accept bribes or be killed if they challenge the system.
Does Harvard University care about what the majority of Mexicans and many Americans know about Calderon? Does Harvard University know that students and faculty at the University of Texas (Austin) protested and convinced UT decision-makers not to employ Calderon?
Or are those who profit at Harvard within the same elite who profit from our failed drug war? Put another way, is Calderon being rewarded for his obedience to the U.S. government’s war on drugs?
I have started a petition to Harvard President Faust to deny Felipe Calderon as a Harvard Fellow. Please educate yourselves and sign if you agree.
At some point we Americans need to start doing the right thing. Hiring Felipe Calderon is not one of them.


Read more: LETTER: Deny Felipe Calderón as a Harvard Fellow - Cambridge, Massachusetts - Cambridge Chronicle & Tab http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1107418337/LETTER-Deny-Felipe-Calder-n-as-a-Harvard-Fellow#ixzz2ETRcNZaI