I've somewhat been following the controversy over school lunches and the language that Congress used to establish the tomato paste used on pizza as a serving of vegetables. It floors me that a so called "reasonable" group of people could say the ingredients in a rectangle school pizza would count as a serving of veggies. I found an additional article today in the LA Times that gave the whole story about the controversy and the reactions to the decisions. One of the points made in the paper was about the language being changed to count pizza as a serving of vegetables under the pressure of major frozen food distributors like Schwann's and the American Frozen Food Institute. I don't think that anyone can deny that big business played a part in having legislation changed to benefit them. The article also stated that politicians in the states where those businesses were based wrote letters and used their political persuasion to make sure the interests of the businesses were protected. No telling how many millions of dollars every year are donated to these politicians on the behalf of business interests.
I think one of your best points was our country being too obese to defend itself. I hadn't thought about it like that, but I am now. Stuffing children full of junk food from the lowest bidder has got to be the quickest and easiest way to keep our society obese. Hopefully people will come to their senses soon and we can start to educate children on the importance of nutrition.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Crime on the Border
In my last post I wrote about illegal immigration and how we could make it easier for illegal immigrants already living in this country to assimilate and become citizens. I got a great response from one of our fellow classmates about what I had written. He pointed out to me that he was from the border and had personally experienced the violence and turmoil there. Given that the issues on the 1254 mile border we share with Mexico are right in our backyard, I decided to write about the issue. I mentioned in my profile that I have worked for the State of Texas for three years. I didn't mention that it was in capacity of a state police officer. In the last three years I've been assigned numerous cases on the border and I have actively engaged in law enforcement activities there. I can tell you from first hand experience that the border is a wild and dangerous place where a war between the cartels and Texas Law Enforcement Officers is waged everyday.
I think that your average illegal immigrant in the United States is here searching for a better life. I also think that the vast majority of those illegals are hard working decent people that want, and deserve a chance to become American citizens. However, there are large drug cartels operating on the Texas border that move millions of pounds of illegal narcotics and engage in human trafficking for huge monetary gain. These factions are willing to kill to make sure their business is able to run into America without major interruption.
The FBI compiles statistics about violent crimes every year and they release that information in their Uniform Crime Report. Recently the numbers were released for 2010. The Austin-American Statesman reported differences in the violent crime and murder rates for counties on the border from 2006 to 2010. They reported that while several of the counties along the border saw decreases in violent crime during the four year span, Starr and El Paso Counties saw a 90 percent increase in violent crime. The report indicated that the majority of these crimes were felony aggravated assaults perpetrated in the rural areas of the counties. This is not surprising considering rural areas are prime locations for cartels to move narcotics into the US. The city of El Paso also saw a 26 percent increase in aggravated assaults within the city.
These two counties did not see the largest increase in crime rates though. Kinney, Terrell, and Hudspeth counties saw crime rates increase dramatically. The paper reported that the rise was due to property crime increases relating to auto theft and burglary. These numbers are also not surprising. An untold number of firearms are stolen from rural border county residences every year. Also, vehicles are a prized commodity to cartels moving drugs and people through rough southwest Texas brush land. Ranchers and other residents in those areas primarily drive trucks suitable to traverse that type of terrain. My point is that the crime rate increases in these rural counties can be directly attributed to the cartels and the illegal drug trade. To make matters worse, six of the seven major Mexican drug cartels have set up command posts and networks in major Texas cities.
President Obama said in May during a speech in El Paso that the border was more secure than ever and that his administration had done everything Republicans had asked for. He even quipped that they might ask for a mote filled with alligators next. The truth is that the border isn't safe at all. It's like stepping into the wild west as soon as your south of Falfurrias or when you hit the Webb County line. The president was wrong in his statements about the border being secure and anyone within 500 miles of Mexico knows it.
So what do we do about it. I think the first step is deploying the National Guard to assist law enforcement in combating the cartels on the border. The more boots on the ground we have, the more effective and thorough enforcement officials can be in combating the violence. Also, at some point we have to meet this threat with overwhelming force. Unfortunately, force is the only thing killers and drug dealers ultimately respond to.
Secondly, further diplomatic solutions need to be explored by the current administration. More pressure needs to be placed on Mexican officials to attack the problem from within their own borders. It has to be an attack on the Cartels from both fronts. As it stands, many government officials in Mexico are in the back pocket of the cartels, either for money or out of fear for their very lives.
Third, we have to address the drug problem in this country. The United States consumes more that 60 percent of the all the illegal drugs produced world wide. There is a high demand in this country for illegal narcotics and the cartels know it. They're bringing a product here by any means necessary because they know it will sell, hands down, no questions asked. We have to find a way to educate people and keep them off drugs. No demand, no product, less violence.
I was in Laredo last year working a case that involved child pornography and possible human trafficking of children across the border for production purposes. I coordinated with several officers at the Webb County Sheriffs Office to assist me in the case. While I was there one of the told me that he had been shot at from across the border more than half a dozen times while he was working patrol around the city of Rio Bravo. He told me without excitement or emotion in his voice. It had become commonplace to him and his fellow officers there. I was stunned. I worked in a patrol function for more than 8 years and dealt with some pretty serious characters and situations, but no one had ever cracked a shot at me. To those guys, it's just another day at the office.
Border reform has to addressed and soon before the violence rages out of control and we are confronted with all out war. Towns and counties on the border can't be forgotten or ignored, they're just as much in America as New York or Los Angeles. Our government has a duty to protect the border. If they don't, towns and counties there will be in very real trouble.
Articles I read and gathered information from are cited below. They're worth a read.
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/border-crime-cant-be-categorized-as-one-statistic-1940935.html
http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/7485-three-texas-lawmen-refute-obamas-claim-that-border-is-secure
I think that your average illegal immigrant in the United States is here searching for a better life. I also think that the vast majority of those illegals are hard working decent people that want, and deserve a chance to become American citizens. However, there are large drug cartels operating on the Texas border that move millions of pounds of illegal narcotics and engage in human trafficking for huge monetary gain. These factions are willing to kill to make sure their business is able to run into America without major interruption.
The FBI compiles statistics about violent crimes every year and they release that information in their Uniform Crime Report. Recently the numbers were released for 2010. The Austin-American Statesman reported differences in the violent crime and murder rates for counties on the border from 2006 to 2010. They reported that while several of the counties along the border saw decreases in violent crime during the four year span, Starr and El Paso Counties saw a 90 percent increase in violent crime. The report indicated that the majority of these crimes were felony aggravated assaults perpetrated in the rural areas of the counties. This is not surprising considering rural areas are prime locations for cartels to move narcotics into the US. The city of El Paso also saw a 26 percent increase in aggravated assaults within the city.
These two counties did not see the largest increase in crime rates though. Kinney, Terrell, and Hudspeth counties saw crime rates increase dramatically. The paper reported that the rise was due to property crime increases relating to auto theft and burglary. These numbers are also not surprising. An untold number of firearms are stolen from rural border county residences every year. Also, vehicles are a prized commodity to cartels moving drugs and people through rough southwest Texas brush land. Ranchers and other residents in those areas primarily drive trucks suitable to traverse that type of terrain. My point is that the crime rate increases in these rural counties can be directly attributed to the cartels and the illegal drug trade. To make matters worse, six of the seven major Mexican drug cartels have set up command posts and networks in major Texas cities.
President Obama said in May during a speech in El Paso that the border was more secure than ever and that his administration had done everything Republicans had asked for. He even quipped that they might ask for a mote filled with alligators next. The truth is that the border isn't safe at all. It's like stepping into the wild west as soon as your south of Falfurrias or when you hit the Webb County line. The president was wrong in his statements about the border being secure and anyone within 500 miles of Mexico knows it.
So what do we do about it. I think the first step is deploying the National Guard to assist law enforcement in combating the cartels on the border. The more boots on the ground we have, the more effective and thorough enforcement officials can be in combating the violence. Also, at some point we have to meet this threat with overwhelming force. Unfortunately, force is the only thing killers and drug dealers ultimately respond to.
Secondly, further diplomatic solutions need to be explored by the current administration. More pressure needs to be placed on Mexican officials to attack the problem from within their own borders. It has to be an attack on the Cartels from both fronts. As it stands, many government officials in Mexico are in the back pocket of the cartels, either for money or out of fear for their very lives.
Third, we have to address the drug problem in this country. The United States consumes more that 60 percent of the all the illegal drugs produced world wide. There is a high demand in this country for illegal narcotics and the cartels know it. They're bringing a product here by any means necessary because they know it will sell, hands down, no questions asked. We have to find a way to educate people and keep them off drugs. No demand, no product, less violence.
I was in Laredo last year working a case that involved child pornography and possible human trafficking of children across the border for production purposes. I coordinated with several officers at the Webb County Sheriffs Office to assist me in the case. While I was there one of the told me that he had been shot at from across the border more than half a dozen times while he was working patrol around the city of Rio Bravo. He told me without excitement or emotion in his voice. It had become commonplace to him and his fellow officers there. I was stunned. I worked in a patrol function for more than 8 years and dealt with some pretty serious characters and situations, but no one had ever cracked a shot at me. To those guys, it's just another day at the office.
Border reform has to addressed and soon before the violence rages out of control and we are confronted with all out war. Towns and counties on the border can't be forgotten or ignored, they're just as much in America as New York or Los Angeles. Our government has a duty to protect the border. If they don't, towns and counties there will be in very real trouble.
Articles I read and gathered information from are cited below. They're worth a read.
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/border-crime-cant-be-categorized-as-one-statistic-1940935.html
http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/7485-three-texas-lawmen-refute-obamas-claim-that-border-is-secure
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