After the tragic murder of his son, Mexican poet and journalist Javier Sicilia transformed his grief into a national rallying cry against the War on Drugs. In May of 2010, Sicilia addressed students and faculty of the School of Authentic Journalism at its graduation dinner, where he received the first diploma of the evening.

Was Former DEA Agent Jailed for Exposing ATF Arms Trafficking?

Posted by Bill Conroy -

Iran/Contra-Era Whistleblower Cele Castillo Alleged in 2008 That Federal Agents Were Helping to Smuggle Guns into Mexico
Cele Castillo, a former DEA agent who blew the whistle on the CIA-backed arms-for-drugs trade used to prop up the 1980s Contra counter-insurgency in Nicaragua, is now sitting in a federal prison for what may well be another act of whistleblowing in this century.
Before Castillo reported to the federal pen in July 2009, where he is now stuck until April 2012, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records, he shared with this reporter a series of revelations concerning arms trafficking and what he thought were corrupt ATF agents.
Those revelations, now some three years old, dovetail in great detail with the still unfolding ATF Fast and Furious operation, in which federal ATF agents allowed thousands of high-powered weapons purchased by criminal operatives at U.S. gun stores to be smuggled into Mexico unimpeded.

By Lauren Goodrich
U.S.-Russian relations seem to have been relatively quiet recently, as there are numerous contradictory views in Washington about the true nature of Russia’s current foreign policy. Doubts remain about the sincerity of the U.S. State Department’s so-called “reset” of relations with Russia — the term used in 2009 when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed a reset button to her Russian counterpart as a symbol of a freeze on escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington. The concern is whether the “reset” is truly a shift in relations between the two former adversaries or simply a respite before relations deteriorate again.
The reset actually had little to do with the United States wanting Russia as a friend and ally. Rather, Washington wanted to create room to handle other situations — mainly Afghanistan and Iran — and ask Russia for help. (Russia is aiding in moving supplies into Afghanistan and withholding critical support from Iran.) Meanwhile, Russia also wanted more room to set up a system that would help it create a new version of its old empire.

By Scott Stewart
The online activist collective Anonymous posted a message on the Internet on Oct. 31 saying it would continue its campaign against Mexican criminal cartels and their government supporters despite the risks.
The message urged inexperienced activists, who might not be practicing proper online security measures, to abstain from participating. It also urged individuals associated with Anonymous in Mexico not to conduct physical pamphlet drops, participate in protests, wear or purchase Guy Fawkes masks, or use Guy Fawkes imagery in their Internet or physical-world activities. Guy Fawkes was a British Roman Catholic conspirator involved in a plot to bomb the British Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605. The British celebrate the plot’s failure as Guy Fawkes Day each Nov. 5. In modern times, the day has come to have special meaning for anarchists. Since 2006, the style of the Guy Fawkes mask used in the movie “V for Vendetta” has become something of an anarchist icon in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

The Rising Threat from Nigeria's Boko Haram Militant Group

By Scott Stewart

The U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, issued a warning Nov. 5 indicating it had received intelligence that the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram may have been planning to bomb several targets in the Nigerian capital during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, also known as Eid al-Kabir, celebrated Nov. 6-8. The warning specifically mentioned the Hilton, Nicon Luxury and Sheraton hotels as potential targets.
The warning came in the wake of a string of bombings and armed attacks Nov. 4 in the cities of Maiduguri, Damaturu and Potiskum, all of which are located in Nigeria’s northeast. An attack also occurred in the north-central Nigerian city of Kaduna. The sites targeted in the wave of attacks included a military base in Maiduguri and the anti-terrorism court building in Damaturu. Militants reportedly attacked these two sites with suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs). The Nigerian Red Cross reported that more than 100 people were killed in the attacks, while some media reports claimed the death toll was at least 150.
According to AFP, a spokesman for Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks Nov. 5 and threatened more attacks targeting the Nigerian government until “security forces stop persecuting our members and vulnerable civilians.” On Nov. 7, a Boko Haram spokesman claimed that his group employed only two suicide operatives in the attacks and not 12 as reported by some media outlets.
Though Eid al-Kabir passed without attacks on Western hotels in Abuja, a deeper examination of Boko Haram is called for, with a specific focus on its rapidly evolving tactical capabilities.

A Deadly U.S. Attack on Pakistani Soil

By Nate Hughes

In the early hours of Nov. 26 on the Afghan-Pakistani border, what was almost certainly a flight of U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and an AC-130 gunship killed some two dozen Pakistani servicemen at two border outposts inside Pakistan. Details remain scarce, conflicting and disputed, but the incident was known to have taken place near the border of the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar and the Mohmand agency of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The death toll inflicted by the United States against Pakistani servicemen is unprecedented, and while U.S. commanders and NATO leaders have expressed regret over the incident, the reaction from Pakistan has been severe.

Spotlight on Iran Update

Iran's activities this week, including war scenarios, the IAEA Board of Governors, Iran's internal power struggle, and Islamic law enforcement campaign and finally the Azeri separatism at Iranian soccer match.

Possible scenarios of war against Iran: a look from Tehran

This week the official website of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei uncharacteristically published a commentary article titled “Possible scenarios of threat against Iran”.

The article, also published in the daily Resalat, was written by Dr. Amir Mohebbian, a top Iranian political commentator affiliated with the conservative camp. In light of the media discourse about a possible attack on Iran, the author of the article offers an in-depth analysis of three possible scenarios of an attack on Iran led by the United States and its allies, and estimates the likelihood of each.

Mohebbian argues that the main objective of the West is to topple the Iranian regime. Having tried and failed to achieve this objective through various means, it is now left with two options: weakening the regime to render it more vulnerable, and launching a military attack.

He details three possible scenarios of war against Iran: an all-out war of attrition combined with ground intervention, a limited war that includes action against the command centers of the regime and is aimed to promote political objectives, and a selective war against specific targets aimed to strip Iran of its offensive capabilities.

The Danger Within: Militant Islam in America. DANIEL PIPES

In the aftermath of the violence on September 11, American politicians from George W. Bush on down have tripped over themselves to affirm that the vast majority of Muslims living in the United States are just ordinary people. Here is how the President put it during a visit to a mosque on September 17: "America counts millions of Muslims among our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country.

Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads." Two days later, he added that "there are millions of good Americans who practice the Muslim faith who love their country as much as I love the country, who salute the flag as strongly as I salute the flag."

These soothing words, echoed and amplified by many columnists and editorial writers, were obviously appropriate at a moment of high national tension and amid reports of mounting bias against Muslims living in the United States. And it is certainly true that the number of militant Islamic operatives with plans to carry out terrorist attacks on the United States is statistically tiny. But the situation is more complex than the President would have it.

The Muslim population in this country is not like any other group, for it includes within it a substantial body of people—many times more numerous than the agents of Osama bin Ladin—who share with the suicide hijackers a hatred of the United States and the desire, ultimately, to transform it into a nation living under the strictures of militant Islam. Although not responsible for the atrocities in September, they harbor designs for this country that warrant urgent and serious attention.

In June 1991, Siraj Wahaj, a black convert to Islam and the recipient of some of the American Muslim community's highest honors, had the privilege of becoming the first Muslim to deliver the daily prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives. On that occasion he recited from the Qur'an and appealed to the Almighty to guide American leaders "and grant them righteousness and wisdom."

The Homosexual Agenda In Our Public Schools

I have posted several articles on the very fast moving agenda in our schools that will cause terrible harm to our children. The homosexual agenda could destroy the moral fabric of our country as they target children, since that is where our future lies. Have you checked your local school's curriculum and textbooks? California's news law and our own government's initiative is on the move to indoctrinate our children into the homosexual agenda.

Activist Homosexuals Promote these video to elementary schools across the nation and is an active project. Homosexuals brainwashing our children in elementary schools (Part 1 and 2)

Main Article Gary Yinger's Article is below

Seduction To Destruction: The Homosexual Agenda

In numerous civilizations throughout history, personal values and morality have slid into the pit and were attended to by God's wrath. The slide is, again, well underway in our great USA today. The destruction of Sodom is the classic example in history where the town was obliterated for practicing the homosexual lifestyle.

Homosexual activists have set a well planned and well financed agenda that started in the 1960s and now includes not only tolerance of their lethal lifestyle but acceptance with privileges as a special class, as a minority group. The key target is our youth. This can be seen in the following written by "gay revolutionary" Mark Swift and printed in the February 15, 1987 issue of Gay Community News. These excerpts are reprinted from the Congressional Record:

"We shall sodomize your sons, We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your youth groups, Your sons shall become our minions and do our bidding. They will come to crave and adore us. All laws banning homosexual activity will be revoked. Instead, legislation shall be passed which engenders love between men. Our writers and artists will make love between men fashionable.... We shall raise vast, private armies...to defeat you. The family unit....will be abolished. Perfect boys will be conceived and grown in the genetic laboratory....All churches who condemn us will be closed. Our only gods are handsome young men. All males who insist on remaining stupidly heterosexual will be tried in homosexual courts of justice and will become invisible men. Tremble, hetero swine, when we appear before you without our masks."

Why Is Immigration Illegal Anyway?

Benjamin Powell, Art Carden
Birmingham News

As two economists interested in immigration, one an Alabamian by birth, we’ve kept an eye on the fury surrounding the Alabama’s new immigration law. Proponents tout it as a matter of law and order and promise it will “save jobs.” There’s a larger question at stake, though: Should we even be restricting immigration in the first place?
American immigration restrictions have a long history, but they have never been a good idea. Economist Thomas Leonard documents how even some Progressive Era economists supported immigration restrictions and minimum wages because they wanted to shut members of what they called “low-wage races” out of the American labor market. American reformers who pulled up the ladder in the early 20th century condemned many potential immigrants and native-born Americans to poorer, less fulfilling lives than they would have had if the United States had welcomed more immigrants.

Moderation in Following the Constitution Is No Virtue

Moderation in Following the Constitution Is No Virtue

Ivan Eland

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a victim of torture in the Vietnam War, is considered a moderate on issues relating to “war on terror” detainees. This time he has paired with a moderate Democrat, Carl Levin, chairman of that same committee, to insert in the 2012 defense authorization bill a provision requiring military detention only for al-Qaeda members who are suspected of planning or perpetrating attacks against the United States. The bill even allows the executive branch wide latitude in determining who fits into this category, provides it a waiver to hold such detainees in civilian custody if it serves the national security, explicitly authorizes the transfer of military prisoners to civilian custody for trial in federal courts, and makes it easier for the president to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo to the United States or foreign countries. In a bout of bipartisanship, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved these measures unanimously.

Job Creation

By Randall Holcombe

With the unemployment rate remaining persistently high at 9%, politicians seem intent on passing legislation that will create jobs. Never mind that job creation legislation hasn’t worked for four years now. What the job creation rhetoric fails to recognize is that jobs fall on the cost side of the ledger. The benefit is what jobs produce.

The Government Is Expropriating Private Wealth at a Rapid Rate

By Robert Higgs |

About a month ago, I posted in regard to what I called “the euthanasia of the saver.” This comment had to do with the fact that nominal interest rates in the United States for financial investments such as bank certificates of deposit and bank savings accounts—the kinds of investments traditionally employed by retired persons and small savers, who wish to gain income without exposing their funds to great risk of capital loss—now fall considerably below the rate of inflation, and hence the real (or inflation-adjusted) yield on such investments is negative. That is, the nominal payoff is insufficient to offset the loss of purchasing power of the money invested.

Senate defies threat of veto in terrorist custody vote

By Stephen Dinan

The bill also recodifies existing law on indefinite detention and the right of the administration to try suspected terrorists in military commissions rather than civilian courts — authority that the Bush and Obama administrations have exercised, but which Mr. Levin said he wanted to reiterate. Mr. Levin said the administration thought the restatement unnecessary, but didn’t object to the language.

KERPEN: Obama’s Boeing bandit poised for promotion Senate must vote on job destruction czar

Lafe Solomon is one of the most powerful bureaucrats in America and is about to get much more powerful. He is the acting general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), best known for suing Boeing Co. over the opening of a billion-dollar manufacturing plant that created thousands of jobs in South Carolina. He also is suing four states - Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah - for enacting state constitutional protections for secret ballot voting. He is about to inherit broad powers intended to be exercised by the NLRB itself, effectively making him President Obama’s newest czar. Perhaps he’ll be called the “no new jobs czar.”

BIRNBAUM: Why this election will matter - for a change

Washington is in a tizzy over the failure of the supercommittee. Well, the city hasn’t seen anything yet. Wait until Election Day next November when voters will decide what to do about the capital’s incompetence.
Yes, incompetence. The primary reaction to the supercommittee’s inability to agree on a deficit-reduction plan was, “What else is new?” Americans have grown accustomed to watching lawmakers and government officials fail to deliver whenever they take on major projects. And they are tired of the pattern.
That’s not to say that Congress and President Obama don’t enact new laws. They do. They’ve blended to approve many - from the stimulus program to health care reform. But whether Washington acts or doesn’t act, voters see the same result: The nation’s problems remain unsolved.

GHEI: Eurozone free-fall U.S. taxpayers may bankroll Old World’s big spenders

There’s no end in sight for Europe’s debt crisis - unless it is the end of the euro itself. The finance ministers of the 17 eurozone countries are meeting in Brussels this week, desperate to come up with a solution as Italy heads toward financial chaos. The world’s central banks, spearheaded by the Federal Reserve, are coordinating efforts to provide liquidity to global markets.
Investors are fleeing. Italy had no choice but to entice bondholders with a record 7.89 percent yield for three-year bonds, up from the high but still bearable 4.93 percent it paid as recently as October. The cloud of recession looms over the Continent, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development slashing its prediction of Europe’s economic growth to 0.2 percent.

Bye-bye, Barney Rep. Frank shuffles off

By R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

Illustration: Barney Frank by Alexander Hunter for The Washington Times

When Barney Frank announced Monday that he was shuffling offstage after three decades in the congressional limelight, I was brought back to 1980, when some very thoughtful friends from Harvard told me to watch him. Paul H. Weaver had been an aide to Irving Kristol, the godfather of neoconservatism, which was lustrous in those days, and rightly so. Paul was one of the brightest young neocons of his generation. I always took him seriously. He thought Rep. Frank was principled, stupendously intelligent and of good cheer - a wit. It seemed Mr. Frank was going to be another Daniel Patrick Moynihan or at least an Allard Lowenstein, the former congressman and principled liberal activist who had been murdered recently.
Boy, were Paul and the others up there at Harvard wrong. I followed Mr. Frank’s trajectory for years, and it always proceeded downward. If he was principled, it was the principle of sticking with your team, however far to the left it might go. If he was intelligent, it was the intelligence of the banal. There was never anything fresh or surprising about him. He followed the liberal herd, and if he was clever, it was in implementing the herd’s desiderata. As for wit, all I noticed was a clownish demeanor, somewhat reminiscent of W.C. Fields, though without the booze. A specimen of it was presented on National Public Radio for us to savor the other day. In responding to a contrary constituent in 2009, Mr. Frank said, “Trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table.” Oscar Wilde he was not.

Keeping Up with Newt's Evolving Views

Bank of England Warns of Systemic Crisis

China's Superior Economic Model The free-market fundamentalist economic model is being thrown onto the trash heap of history.

By ANDY STERN

Andy Grove, the founder and chairman of Intel, provocatively wrote in Businessweek last year that, "Our fundamental economic beliefs, which we have elevated from a conviction based on observation to an unquestioned truism, is that the free market is the best of all economic systems—the freer the better. Our generation has seen the decisive victory of free-market principles over planned economies. So we stick with this belief largely oblivious to emerging evidence that while free markets beat planned economies, there may be room for a modification that is even better."
The past few weeks have proven Mr. Grove's point, as our relations with China, and that country's impact on America's future, came to the forefront of American politics. Our inert Senate, while preparing for the super committee to fail, crossed the normally insurmountable political divide to pass legislation to address China's currency manipulation. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama all weighed in with their views—ranging from warnings that China must "end unfair discrimination" (Mrs. Clinton) to complaints that the U.S. has "been played like a fiddle" (Mr. Romney) and that China needs to stop "gaming" the international system (Mr. Obama).

By DANIEL HENNINGER

In what all say is an "historic" election, the GOP is fielding its B team while the A team sits in the locker room. Since when does that win the big games?
Mitt Romney, stuck forever at 25%, has been a front-runner out of a Henny Youngman joke. Take my candidate—please. Gov. Romney has been such a front-runner that virtually any new face in the race momentarily catches him—Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry and now even an old face, Newt Gingrich.
The question asked everywhere is, Why is this the field? How did it come to this? Desperate questions bring desperate answers, such that I have been overheard mumbling of late: "Maybe it's time to bring back the smoke-filled rooms."
This was the nearly mythical system of selection in which party leaders and party bosses gathered over cigars, bourbon and branch to pick a candidate "who could win." The most famous smoke-filled room pick was William McKinley, anointed for the 1896 election by Ohio kingmaker Mark Hanna (though in fact Hanna got McKinley nominated over the opposition of GOP party bosses).

Dan Henninger on why repealing campaign finance laws could improve the crop of presidential candidates.

While I merely grumbled, my former Wall Street Journal colleague Robert W. Merry explicitly wrote "Bring Back Those Smoke-Filled Rooms" last month on the website of the National Interest magazine, which he edits. Notwithstanding distaste for the politicians picking candidates, he wrote, "consider the dangers inherent in our system now, when candidates emerge based on their own judgment of their overwhelming talents and virtues, rather than those of their political peers, and when the vetting process has been truncated to a point where it relies on happenstance to save the system from people nobody really knows and who may be hiding serious flaws"—he was writing about Herman Cain—"that add up to political liabilities. It was a pretty good system we had in the old days."

INTERMEX POWER

Thursday, December 1, 2011

The War on the War on Drugs (Part 1 of 2)

Mexico's Failed Drug War

Gangster's Paradise - Mexico

Javier Sicilia's Call to Journalists