Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
OK, here are portions of two paragraphs from the story:
| …the ___ ambassador to ___, says his country wants the ___ government to fully enforce ___ laws, crack down on….
“If Mexico and the United States are going to be successful, we are going to have to tango together,” ___ said. |
What’s the subject: drugs, guns, immigration?
I was stunned to see the red headline on Drudge a couple mornings ago: US military report warns ‘sudden collapse’ of Mexico is possible.
| Mexico is one of two countries that “bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse,” according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.
The command’s “Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)” report, which contains projections of global threats and potential next wars, puts Pakistan on the same level as Mexico. “In terms of worse-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico. “The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone.” |
That matters to me. Not just because Mexico shares a long, relatively-porous border with the US, but because I grew up there as an MK. And because I served as an adult missionary there for some five years. And because the Mission Board I chair presently has workers there. As you might imagine, I have lots of friends there.
Oh, the news story ends with this interesting sentence:
| The U.S. military report, which also analyzed economic situations in other countries, also noted that China has increased its influence in places where oil fields are present. |
So there you are.
I know this is nothing new for this part of Mexico, but still….
| Death in Chiapas
When the 11-year-old daughter of Antonio Gomez became ill of a stomach ailment, her father decided that it was due to witchcraft committed by his evangelical neighbor. Gomez, of the Jolitontic community of Chalchihuitan municipality in Chiapas state, gathered seven friends to kill the family of the supposed culprit. After midnight on August 23, they allegedly killed three adults – the parents and their eldest son – and wounded six children with machetes. Mariano Lopez Perez, public prosecutor of Indian Justice, reportedly said neighbors regarded the father in the attacked family, Pedro Gomez Diaz, as “an evangelical who prayed a great deal.” The neighbors reportedly denied that the family believed in or practiced any kind of witchcraft as far as they knew. According to Tuxtla Gutierrez-based Cuarto Poder newspaper in Chiapas, all eight of the men who participated in the massacre of three Indians in Jolitontic are now in jail in San Cristobal de las Casas, awaiting justice. The attackers burst into the hut of the family to kill first the eldest son, Rene, 32. They then slashed the mother, Marcela Hernandez Giron Gomez, and the father, Gomez Diaz. Before he died Gomez Diaz’s cries alerted the rest of the family, but the murderers managed to seriously wound six other children: Esteban, 4; Ernesto, 6; Anita, 7; Maria, 14; Petrona, 16; and Martin, 18. They were all taken to the public health hospital of San Cristobal de las Casas. |
As someone who grew up in Mexico (I lived there close to 22 years), I don’t understand the logic behind unmarked and/or unfenced boundaries.
Makes no good sense to me at all.
| Border patrol agent held at gunpoint
A U.S. Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint Sunday night by members of the Mexican military who had crossed the border into Arizona, but the soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents responded to assist. Agents assigned to the Border Patrol station at Ajo, Ariz., said the Mexican soldiers crossed the international border in an isolated area about 100 miles southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who was not identified. It was unclear what the soldiers were doing in the United States, but U.S. law enforcement authorities have long said that current and former Mexican military personnel have been hired to protect drug and migrant smugglers. |
In a Roth Administration, both US borders would be well-fenced and well-monitored and well-enforced.
In the period up to the completion of a secure physical structure, two spy satellites would be “parked” over each border and fully-authorized-to-detain-or-repel agents would be exclusively assigned to the most troublesome areas. Wherever there is an incursion, drone aircraft would supplement satellite coverage.
It took me less than two minutes to figure that out. 😯
Maybe I have more common sense than’s required to be one of them there run-of-the-mill political types. 🙄 😆
All that aside, how about some good news?
| Good news keeps pouring out of the epicenter. Oil prices are falling (20% of record highs earlier this summer). Domestic gas prices are falling. Violence in Iraq continues dropping steadily. Moqtada al-Sadr, head of the Mahdi Army, is telling his forces to lay down their arms. And the U.S. just convicted one of Osama bin Laden’s closest aides in the first military trial in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Are more tough times ahead? Undoubtedly. But let’s take a moment to say a prayer of thanksgiving. |
OK, first off, in the Strange Little People Department we have this:
| Former NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell – a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission…says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions – but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades.
Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as ‘little people who look strange to us.’ […] “I’ve been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes – we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it’s been happening quite a bit.” Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated. |
For the record, I tend to believe non-human alien beings have visited planet Earth. And continue among us. 😯 Just not the sort of ET aliens that Mr. Mitchell describes.
Did these aliens get turned around by about 90 degrees to the West and jump in the wrong body of water?
| Federal officials said they netted 43 illegal aliens in an immigration raid on O`ahu.
[…] The 43 men were all citizens of Mexico. |
Were? Did they die or otherwise give up their Mexican citizenship? Oh, I know: As a reward for their record-breaking swim, they were awarded honorary US citizenship. 🙄
Once upon a time, in the United States of America, this wouldn’t have been alien at all:
| Elective Bible courses in Texas high schools received the blessing of the State Board of Education on Friday, but local school officials will have to figure out how to design those classes so they don’t violate religious-freedom protections.
[…] Attorney General Greg Abbott has told the board that although the state standards for the Bible class appear to be in compliance with the First Amendment, his office can’t guarantee that the courses taught in high schools will be constitutional because they haven’t been reviewed. Critics contend that the standards – based on old guidelines for independent studies in English and social studies – are so vague and general that many schools might unknowingly create unconstitutional Bible classes that either promote the religious views of teachers or disparage the religious beliefs of some students. Earlier this year, the Ector County school board agreed to quit using a Bible course curriculum at two high schools in Odessa that the American Civil Liberties Union said promoted Protestant religious beliefs not shared by Jews, Catholics, Orthodox Christians and many Protestants. […] The course is supposed to be geared to academic, nondevotional study of the Bible, and cover such things as the influence of the New Testament on law, literature, history and culture. |
That’s a good step. I think. I hope.
Or at least check out these view “establishers.”
My wife Ruby and I were in Guaymas Valley (Mexico) again; this time, the last part of June. And we stayed with Margaret Miller again. (Did I already tell you that in an earlier post?)
For breaks and entertainment, I experimented with various “frames” for some pictures.
looking east now, the length of the back porch
vertical view out of a jug
(me looking into a homemade clothespin holder/hanger)
Gadget aims to put 3D person ‘in your palm’
| Researchers in Japan are developing a gadget that could enable people to hold a three-dimensional image of someone in the palm of their hand.
They hope the gCubik, which is still at the prototype stage, will later be developed to move in real time and appear to speak. “The ultimate image we have in mind is having a small person in your palm,” said Shunsuke Yoshida, one of the researchers involved in the study at Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology. “Suppose you have a picture of your girlfriend smiling on your desk. She could be smiling as a 3D image in a cube,” he told AFP at a recent gathering of imaging researchers here. Grandparents could use the device — which comes in a 10 centimetre (3.9 inches) cube — to see a 3D image of their grandchild living far away, while business people could view a prototype product from afar and school teachers could use it in science classes, he said. |
As usual, much potential for good. And evil.
I’d say the pornography kings are gleeful at the prospects of putting this technology to work for them.
Maybe they’re even funding it! 😯
But how would you envision using it for good?
As one who’s extremely interested in teaching and encouraging and discipling pastors in Mexico through pastors’ conferences and seminars, I could dream of doing multiple simultaneous such seminars with one of these things.
Oh, wait! This can already be done with video.
Besides, I’d rather be there in the flesh.
Anyway, what are your ideas?
Oh, here’s another one: Instead of having them sing to me from my CD player, I could have A Cappella Harmony Quartet sitting between my keyboard and my monitor!