Are We Responsible for the Chaos in Mexico?

*First off I just wanted to state that I think drugs are disgusting and why anyone in their right mind would use them is completely beyond me. That being said, I wonder if our War on Drugs is part of the current problem in Mexico and along the US/Mexico boarder.

It seems that we, the United States, has royally screwed Mexico in two ways with regards to the current violence and unrest. One, is the worldwide global recession (that really is our fault), and the other involves the ongoing War on Drugs. Both have major consequences on their own, but combined create an incredible powder keg.

By waging a war on illegal drugs have created a vast and lucrative black market. This has allowed what were once simple petty thugs to rise and become powerful, wealthy, and very dangerous cartels almost overnight. If you you don't believe that is the case, simply look at what happened to crime after the 18th Amendment (Prohibition of alcohol) was passed in 1919. Before the amendment, most crime was done by thugs and was mostly unorganized. But after the amendment passed, suddenly there is a rise in organized crime full of very wealthy, powerful, and dangerous people such as Al Capone. When the 21st Amendment (repeal of the 18th) was passed in 1933, all these groups took a massive hit in the wallet because after alcohol became legal again, their black market cash cow disappeared. By stopping the drug war and legalizing drugs, we not only cause the black market on drugs to crash but was also help our own government by creating a new area of tax revenue. We can also use regulate quality and safety of the drugs which in turn is better for your health (in a manner of speaking). The revenue could even be used to help fund treatment centers to eliminate or drastically reduce drug addiction [thanks for that idea Carey lol].

The Recession has only made this whole situation drastically worse. Due to our own actions, greed, and deregulation, we were the spark that ignited the powder keg. All the drug cartels have always competed for profit but in good economic times people are willing to spend more and not be as picky about price. As a result there is enough demand and profit so that the cartels can somewhat coexist with each other. During bad economic times, such as right now, people spend less and religiously hunt for bargains on any and everything. This in turn drastically cuts into the profits of the cartels and causes them to start fighting for their share in the market. No different than a regular business, except when cartels fight for the market they use lethal force and are ruthless. As a result anyone in the way gets caught in the crossfire and the effects spread from there. Just like a group of innocent bystanders getting trapped between two (or more) rival street gangs.

So to me it seems that we have three options that we can choose to try and stop what is happening down there. 1) Continue as we are, change nothing, just simply try and keep the situation contained so that it doesn't get any worse. 2) Stop the war on drugs, legalize drugs, which causes their profits in the black market to crash, which destroys the profits and power of the cartels. Or 3) Some other form of action that no one has yet thought of.

Logically, I would think that option 2 would be the best path to take but this is a decision for smarter people in the government need to make. All I know for sure is that if the status quo is allowed to continue, I fear that it could cause not only the drastic weakening, or failure, of Mexico but also many other countries in Central and South America that are dealing with this very same problem.

Great Job Republicans...

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/03/11/1832273.aspx

I just wanted to send my heart felt congratulations to all the Senators (mostly Republicans) who voted AGAINST the 2009 Omnibus Spending Bill. Your stance against earmarks is truly a great thing and must spread more widely through the government to curb wasteful spending. With special thanks going to my own two US Senators (Hatch and Bennet) as well as Senators Mitch McConnel and James Inhofe. What an impressive rock hard stance on principles Senators! *applause*

I also want to congratulate said Senators for filling this bill with earmarks of their own. No one would dare think that a person who voted against the bill would have the audacity to fill it with earmarks of his/her own despite voicing outrage and disgust at earmarks.

Seriously people, if you are going to lead a pointless and asinine "crusade" against earmarks DON'T FILL BILLS WITH YOUR OWN AND THEN VOTE AGAINST THEM! Either vote against every bill with earmarks and DON'T include any of your own, or SHUT THE HELL UP!

History clashing with Today

http://www.sltrib.com/utahpolitics/ci_11829373

http://www.sltrib.com/utahpolitics/ci_11882229


Ok to sum the subject of these articles up, they concern a future FrontRunner (commuter rail) and an ancient native american site.

I don't care how invaluable something could be to the future (even if it is something like mass transit) it pales in importance to knowing about our past. If we don't know or care about our past civilizations we greatly hurt our present one. Things this old just don't pop out of no where everyday and to destroy them is unacceptable in my mind. I would bet money that there are acres of undeveloped residential land (that will not be developed anytime soon) where this station AND business park could go instead of this site. Plus those undeveloped areas may even be CLOSER to Draper than this site is.

We don't have huge ancient monuments that can't be overlooked (like the pyramids) in this state, or frankly hardly any in the entire country. Ancient people here lived WITH the land and as a result their remnants are rare and often have been reclaimed by the land. Its easy to just turn the ignition and bulldoze a piece of land, but its much harder to restore and remember everything that that bulldozer buries.

As for Greg Curtis, what he did as Speaker of the House (Utah Legislature) was absolutely wrong! I don't care if he did it in session or not, he abused his position as Speaker. When there is an obvious law on the books, and you are representing a person whose interests conflict with that law, you yourself are in a conflict of interest! The fact the he was Speaker adds insult to injury because even if he didn't mean for it to happen, his position influenced people and their subsequent decisions. If any other person had done this (esp if part of the minority party), they would have been busted on the spot and kicked out of their jobs or the Legislature.

I really hope that the Governor vetoes this bill, and if he doesn't I will be very disappointed and sad because we will have lost yet another small piece of the puzzle to what life was like thousands of years ago.

Well what do ya know

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11821265

http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=11821265&siteId=297&startImage=1

Guess what fellow Utahns, we are the nation's leading state for online porn subscriptions! Wait though...I thought it destroyed society if even a tiny bit of skin was shown and yet there isn't a smoldering crater where Utah now sits is there?

Once again I say this: HIDING SOMETHING DOES NOT MAKE IT GO AWAY! Utah is so antisex (esp premarital) its not funny and yet low and behold people do it anyways and watch other people do it too. Funny how saying how bad something is night in and night out leads to Utah having this unique distinction.

If people want to do something they are going to do it whether its hidden or not. The only difference is by hiding it people are more likely to do something irresponsibly because for some reason hiding rules this state and not PROPER education on responsibility should you decide to do something, be it alcohol, sex, or whatever.

So please Utah and every other paranoid state, GROW UP!