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Chihuahua, Mexico: Deadlier Than Afghanistan

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[I was going to ease off the politics for today, but the information now revealed won’t wait. –BZ]

According to CNSNews.com, the Mexican border state of Chihuahua was deadlier, in 2011, than the conflict in Afghanistan:

(CNSNews.com) – Organized crime-related deaths in one Mexican border state during the first nine months of 2011 exceed the number of Afghan civilians killed in roughly the same period in all of war-torn Afghanistan.

According to the Mexican government, from January through September 2011 2,276 deaths were recorded in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which borders Texas and New Mexico.

A Nov. 2011 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report states that over nearly the same period – January through October 2011 – 2,177 civilians were killed in Afghanistan, where a U.S.-led war against the Taliban is underway. It did not provide a breakdown of responsibility for that period, but said that in 2010, 75 percent of civilian deaths were attributed to the Taliban and other “anti-government elements.”

Per capita, a person was at least nine times more likely to be murdered in Chihuahua last year than in Afghanistan. (Chihuahua has 3,406,465 inhabitants, according to Mexico’s 2010 census; the CIA World Factbookreports that in July 2011 the estimated population of Afghanistan was 29,835,392.)
But, of course, we need to ensure that our borders remain porous with our loving neighbors to the south.
And one thing not pointed out: because of the poor economy in the US, border incursions don’t exhibit quite the rampant numbers once shown. Still, despite that, Mexico is deadlier than it’s ever been. And that violence bleeds over — literally — into border states and border towns and border ranches in America.
Can you even fathom being an American rancher on the border? The illegal incursions? The trash? The trespassing? The violation? And the physical threat to you and your family from not just coyotes but drug cartels as well?
Further: could you fathom not just the indignancy, the indifference, but the pointed scapegoating of you and your fellow ranchers by the federal government?
The numbers diminish slightly; the violence and danger increases.
BZ
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Clinton & Gingrich

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People are shocked — shocked I tell you — that there was a period of marital strife in the past of Newt Gingrich. And that he has more than one wife or two or whatever.

I would merely proffer this:
William Jefferson Clinton.
Stained blue dress. Arkansas State Troopers. Gennifer Flowers. Monica Lewinsky. Paula Jones. And an additional veritable cast of thousands.
Shall we even address the issue of “open marriage”?
How about Hillary and Bill sleeping apart from each other for the past ten+ years?
Nah.
Completely irrelevant.
(Fade in Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man.”)
BZ
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Canada to America: You Won’t Take Our Oil? China Will.

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Just as I wrote this past Thursday, Canada has confirmed:

If America doesn’t want the Keystone XL pipeline for a continued flow south to the Texas Chemical Coast, China would most certainly up the ante and take that offer, with a pipeline west from Alberta to the BC coast for blue water shipping.

From Bloomberg.com:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a telephone call yesterday, told Obama “Canada will continue to work to diversify its energy exports,” according to details provided by Harper’s office. Canadian Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver said relying less on the U.S. would help strengthen the country’s “financial security.”

The “decision by the Obama administration underlines the importance of diversifying and expanding our markets, including the growing Asian market,” Oliver told reporters in Ottawa.

Currently, 99 percent of Canada’s crude exports go to the U.S., a figure that Harper wants to reduce in his bid to make Canada a “superpower” in global energy markets.

Mr Obama, with this completely ridiculous and uninformed decision based but upon incorrect ideology, jeopardizes this country on almost every level.

And here’s a Newsflash: China also is jumping on Brazilian oil — over the US as well. Imagine that.

BZ

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Newt Gingrich: Kicked CNN John King’s Ass in the SC Debate

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And it, oddly enough, was somewhat difficult to find and isolate on the internet after it occurred.

Imagine that.

The reference via CNN:

To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine,” Gingrich told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, the moderator of the CNN-Southern Republican debate.

Good for Gingrich, is all I can say. In his further comments, which are not yet transcripted, he took King to the damned woodshed. As well he should.

BZ

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