Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Another Killing failed

Mexico troops find hybrid marijuana plant By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
Wed Dec 20, 5:35 AM ET



LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico - Soldiers trying to seize control of one Mexico's top drug-producing regions found the countryside teeming with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with pesticides.

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Soldiers fanned out across some of the new fields Tuesday, pulling up plants by the root and burning them, as helicopter gunships clattered overhead to give them cover from a raging drug war in the western state of Michoacan. The plants' roots survive if they are doused with herbicide, said army Gen. Manuel Garcia.

"These plants have been genetically improved," he told a handful of journalists allowed to accompany soldiers on a daylong raid of some 70 marijuana fields. "Before we could cut the plant and destroy it, but this plant will come back to life unless it's taken out by the roots."

The new plants, known as "Colombians," mature in about two months and can be planted at any time of year, meaning authorities will no longer be able to time raids to coincide with twice-yearly harvests.

The hybrid first appeared in Mexico two years ago but has become the plant of choice for drug traffickers Michoacan, a remote mountainous region that lends to itself to drug production.

Yields are so high that traffickers can now produce as much marijuana on a plot the size of a football field as they used to harvest in 10 to 12 acres. That makes for smaller, harder-to-detect fields, though some discovered Tuesday had sophisticated irrigation systems with sprinklers, pumps and thousands of yards of tubing.

"For each 100 (marijuana plots) that you spot from the air, there are 300 to 500 more that you discover once you get on the ground," Garcia said.

The raids were part of President Felipe Calderon's new offensive to restore order in his home state of Michoacan and fight drug violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives in Mexico this year.

In Michoacan, officials say the Valencia and Gulf cartels have been battling over lucrative marijuana plantations and smuggling routes for cocaine and methamphetamine to the United States. In one incident, gunmen stormed into a bar and dumped five human heads on the dance floor.

The president, who took office Dec. 1, sent 7,000 soldiers and federal officers to Michoacan last week.

Officials have arrested 45 people, including several suspected leaders of the feuding cartels. They also seized three yachts, 2.2 pounds of gold, bulletproof vests, military equipment and shirts with federal and municipal police logos. More than 18,000 people have been searched, along with 8,000 vehicles and numerous foreign and national boats.

"We are determined to shut down delinquency and stop crime in Mexico because it is endangering the lives of all Mexicans, of our families," Calderon said, calling the operation a "success" so far.

In the past week, soldiers and federal police have found 1,795 marijuana fields covering 585 acres in Michoacan, security officials said.

Officials estimate the raids could cost the cartels up to $626 million, counting the value of plants that have been destroyed and drugs that could have been produced with seized opium poppies and marijuana seeds.

On Sunday, federal authorities announced the capture of suspected drug lord Elias Valencia, the most significant arrest since the operation began.

Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, started out with enthusiastic U.S. applause for his own fight against drug trafficking. U.S. officials called the arrest of drug bosses early in his six-year term unprecedented, while Fox boasted that his administration had destroyed 43,900 acres of marijuana and poppy plantations in its first six months and more than tripled drug seizures.

Yet drug violence has spiked across the country in recent years, with gangs fighting over control of routes following the arrest of drug lords, authorities say.

Mexico has also continued to struggle with corruption among its law enforcement ranks. Garcia said authorities did not tell soldiers where they were being sent on raids and banned the use of cell phones and radios.

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Tuesday, December 5, 2006

The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of all household wealth, according to a new study by a United Nations research institute.

The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of all household wealth, according to a new study by a United Nations research institute.

the poorer half of the world's population own barely 1% of global wealth

What they mean by wealth in this study is what people own, less what they owe - their debts. The assets include land, buildings, animals and financial assets

Wealth is heavily concentrated in North America, Europe and some countries in the Asia Pacific region, such as Japan and Australia.


In richer nations, landowners can afford not to farm their properties

These countries account for 90% of household wealth

Monday, December 4, 2006

Thank God for failure

Cat Travis (mail) (www):
What's scary is that this could have suceeded. Then we would really be off to the races. This way we'll get a little respite. We got about 30 years with Vietnam. I don't think we can wait that long again. Time will tell.

Friday, December 1, 2006

IRAQ IS THE WHOLE USA'S MISTAKE
by: cat00012000 (47/M/Missouri) 12/01/06 09:52 pm
Msg: 9 of 9

We wanted it. We got it. It was a very popular war when it began. There's nobody to blame but ourselves. Bush just gave us what we wanted

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

What Liberals want

HERE IS THE LIB PLAN ON EVERYTHING
by: firebird_5416 11/29/06 09:03 pm
Msg: 645951 of 645994
4 recommendations

ON THE ECONOMY
- Balanced budgets
- Tax cuts for the middle class
- Repeal of Bush's tax cuts to the rich
- An end to tax loopholes that lets corporations pay no taxes if they have headquarters overseas
- An end to tax cuts to the oil industry that obviously does not need them
- Better economic growth
- Better job growth
- An increase in the minimum wage
- An increase in real median household wages
- A reduction of the poverty rate
- Destroy the link between lobbyist and legislation
- Incentives to keep corporations from outsourcing
- An end to free trade pacts such as NAFTA and CAFTA
- A return to trade based on a country's personal self interest (not corporations)
- An increase in education spending
- An increase in job training
- An increase in poverty reduction programs
- An increase in scientific research
- A comprehensive solution to the healthcare problem in this country
- A plan to use medicare/medicaid mass purchasing power to negotiate for lower prices

ON SOCIAL ISSUES
- A push to keep government out of people's personal social decisions
- A push to give states more leeway as long as its not unconstitutional
--- Examples:
--- Oregon's right to die law
--- California medical marijuana law
--- Massachusetts gay marriage law
- Yes to morning after pill
- Yes to stem cell research
- Immigration reform not immigrant bashing
- Freedom of religion for all religions and freedom from it
- Separation of religion and the state. We don't want no taliban around here.
- No more censorship of scientists as seen under Bush
- A return to the Fairness Doctrine that gives opposing views equal time

ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
- An end to the Cuban embargo
- Renewed relations with Cuba with Cuban concessions
- A carrot and stick approach with N.Korea as opposed to complete failure under Bush and GOP
- Implementation of all the 911 Commission recommendations
- A presumption of innocence before being proved guilty in a court of law
- Continued spying of terrorists, however, with warrants from the FISA court
- Peace deals between Israel and its neigbhors as Carter and Clinton did with Egypt and Jordan
- Covert funding and support in the middle east for:
--- secular schooling
--- secular government
--- feminist groups
--- liberal reformers
--- anti-poverty programs
--- sabotage of religious schooling
--- sabotage of religious conservative leaders (think adultery scandals)
- Support for creation of liberal muslim media alternatives in the middle east
- Use of that media to create stories of the victims of terrorists
- Use of that media to paint religious righters in the middle east in a bad light
- Change in military tactics:
--- A recognition that mass troop movements are useless in guerilla warefare
--- Removal of U.S. troops from Iraqi urban centers where they are sitting ducks for snipers and bombers
--- Use of U.S. troops as quick strike forces, quick to pull out once the job is done.
--- Get european as well as middle eastern allies to help in war effort