The revelation prompted, first, a wave of denials and bitter accusations within the government; then, a series of investigations and an admission of wrongdoing by Attorney General Eric Holder.Now, it's happened again: the federal government, in its rush to help Mexico fight the drug cartels, toed the line separating legal and illegal. This time, according to an investigation by Ginger Thompson in the New York Times, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) members "laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds."
All this occurred, according to the paper, in the quest for the identity of the cartel leaders.
This is an ambition that, while certainly laudable, has proven irrelevant in the six-year war on drugs declared by Mexican
President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa.
Every few weeks, local news outlets announce dramatic drug seizures and the arrests of local, regional, and even national cartel leaders. The crime bosses are handcuffed and paraded for the news cameras, staring straight into the lens. Before them, mounds of drugs allegedly taken during their capture. Behind them, always masked and heavily armed, soldiers or police escort them.Then, the suspects disappear. You seldom hear about judicial process or the charges filed. After the next raid, new reputed capos are paraded for the cameras.
And when those disappear, scores of new "leaders" take their places, sometimes peacefully, sometimes with bloodshed.
While trying to achieve what years of military confrontation with the armed wings of drug cartels failed to do, the operation unveiled by the New York Times emphasizes the blurring of "the line between surveillance and facilitating crime" because "as it launders drug money, the agency often allows cartels to continue their operations over months or even years before making seizures or arrests."
But what makes this story stand out is that fact that similar operations organized by American agencies occurred in other places. After all, people close to the DEA told the Times, the operation wasn't as dangerous as running guns.
In Mexico operation such as these were forbidden in 1998 after the government learned -- only after the fact -- that an American sting operation was illegally carried out on Mexican for three years, as Julia Preston reported in the New York Times:
"The three-year undercover operation, code-named Casablanca, was described by officials of the United States Customs Services as the largest and probably the most successful in American law enforcement history. According to indictments in Los Angeles stemming from the investigation, employees of 12 Mexican banks laundered at least $110 million for drug organizations based in Colombia and Mexico."
This time, though, the operation was apparently launched after an invitation from the highest echelons of the Mexican government. That is where President Felipe Calderon considers his legacy, with national elections to replace him next July, of success or failure in his war with the drug kingpins.
Critics claim that Calderon's stubborn assault on the cartels has unleashed an unnecessary bloodbath in which close to 50,000 were killed.
However, a measure of the urgency and importance of the latest operation is that it marks a frontal assault where it hurts most: in the deep pockets of the cartels, in their financial arm.
A recent article in the Los Angeles Times by Ken Ellingwood and Tracy Wilkinson, reported from Mexico, comments on a dirty little secret known to many there: drug money shines "in gleaming high-rises in beach resorts such as Cancun, in bustling casinos in Monterrey, in skyscrapers and restaurants in Mexico City that sit empty for months. It seeps into the construction sector, the night-life industry, even political campaigns."
Actually, according to the L.A. Times, the amount of laundered money could reach $50 billion, or around 3 percent of the national economy. Last year, only 37 people were arrested for that crime.
(Other sources mention different amounts for laundered money; the "Informador" placed it at $25 billion, while the N.Y. Times story reported an "estimated $18 billion to $39 billion in drug money that flows between the countries each year."
The Calderon administration has asked the congress for restrictions on dollar transactions in an attempt to curb the money laundering
The latest revelation, in the New York Times, didn't cause the stir that followed news last February of the Fast and Furious debacle.
Perhaps it is because, as two former DEA agents told the N.Y. Times' Thompson, there is a difference between the operations. While F&F had to do with dangerous weapons still at the hands of criminals and possibly related to the death of an American agent, their own actions dealt with "just" money.
These operations are part of the regular work the U.S. conducts in several countries. According to the N.Y. Times, there are about 50 operations of this kind around the world at any given time.
Yesterday, it was announced that Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will investigate the operation.
Attorney General Eric Holder will appear before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The conservative blog Townhall, immediately unleashed a barrage on the Obama administration, accusing Washington of not only supplying the drug cartels with weapons but also money "to carry out their operations."
Other shots at the White House followed: "Breaking: Obama Administration Caught Laundering Money For Drug Cartels" in Godlike Productions.
In a popular right-wing blog, Freerepublic.com, the story prompted comments like this: "I am starting to wonder just how many elected officials and bureaucrats are on the cartel payrolls. My guess is, it is approaching 50 percent of that bunch in Washington. And even higher among officials along the border."
OH ANDD
1) Tobacco is cancer causing largely because it delivers specific carcinogen­s such as NNK and NNAL that are not present in cannabis. Not all "tar" is created equal, and tobacco has some of the most carcinogen­ic types of tar known to science, whereas cannabis does not.
http://jnc­i.oxfordjo­urnals.org­/cgi/conte­nt/full/91­/14/1194
2) Cannabis (marijuana­) use is associated with a DECREASE in several types of cancer... potentiall­y even providing a protective effect against tobacco and alcohol related cancer developmen­t.
Donald Tashkin, a UCLA researcher whose work is funded by NIDA, did a case-contr­ol study comparing 1,200 patients with lung, head and neck cancers to a matched group with no cancer. Even the heaviest marijuana smokers had no increased risk of cancer, and had somewhat lower cancer risk than non-smoker­s (tobacco smokers had a 20-fold increased lung cancer risk). Tashkin D. Marijuana Use and Lung Cancer: Results of a Case-Contr­ol Study. American Thoracic Society Internatio­nal Conference­. May 23, 2006.
I just spent a good hour of my life trying desperatley to show people the truth about 9/11, the new world order, who the military fights for, war on drugs war on terror, etc...
Nobody listens. They sit on their rear end and watch football all day long, steadfast in their opinions about mainstream politics.
How do I wake them up? Every time I try, it is 10 to 1 against me and they all say the same crap "soldiers fight for our freedoms, go f*** yourself b****"
How can they not see how they can now see..i mean how stupid they are?....>

.GLP-TRUTH

so that was christmas

12-26-2011

So christmas time- I am in bed sitting alone. woke up alone- feeling very alone. i feel like my best friend is going into another direction- I feel empty that if it wasn't for my gfs parents i wouldnt have had anything at all for christmas... i guess thats a weird feeling when it comes to a realization point that yes im friends with people..but what is meaning to them?

I guess i shouldn't complain - but its just a reminder of the truth of my life here. if i wasn't here- the world would keep turning because my feelings are really only important to me and no one else. How can i change the world with the closest people i would think i could relay on don't always seem to care and make me feel bad ... i have come to a ledge and i really dont know if i will always be able to keep fighting to keep balance. SO this is christmas- the act of giving of oneself - i gave of myself to make others happy and in return i am given the gift of sight- to see that my importance here is totally a disillusion. i am something but its hard to not feel like nothing. at all.

These Sun..Times

Today is a strange day- Dec 20-2011

I feel that a lot of my inquiries about our nature, our history, our mental abilities, religions, origins of words, and the SUN.. has me targeted for some reason.. maybe i am just experiencing a number of possible reasonably explanations..like beta testing or somekind of UN-announced testing of a program platform - like that amazon (knows where your going based on your recent moves) program, or a tracking one for all my spamming or security firm that is private like a black water type for w/e reasons. But I also feel like since so much info is out there its hard to truly establish what is coincidence, consciousness, or divine intervention.. I have found a something that concerns me. When someone finds info that shouldnt, there is usually a lot that can happen to the person that found it.. Sometimes they are harassed to see if they can mess up or lead to something or someone bigger, sometimes they are made out to be unstable or have a mental disorder or problem to discredit what they are saying, sometimes they are noticed and helped to make a positive shift(i like this one).. though the word positive must be defined.. We are living in socially closed - opened - micromanaged times.. and i feel it will only get worse.. that and the weather.. That sun.. SOlar flares.. SuperNovas.. I feel something could be done..but to what could be, or what will be is all in the realm of the potential. Life Just Is.

But if i die sooner then later.. i would wonder what my actual death would be from rather then what is said or told...