Wednesday 28 December 2011

It Never Ends


     The Old Gringo is too lazy anymore to rile up big.   But when there is a boatload of bilge that is bigger than Beaumont and Baton Rouge combined, a Hulk just has to say something.
     The  Chairman of the Democrat Party of Texas has decided to point out that Rick Perry is a big ole' meanie.  In his recent editorial release for publication throughout the Republic of Texas, the Chairman points out that Perry hates  school children who attend schools with very few children in the classrooms.   El Gringo Viejo went to school in the first two grades of primary with 40 beaming little, snotty faces in the room....no air conditioning...McAllen, Texas.   No problem.
                               Boyd Richie states,"Our school-children are being shoved into already overcrowded classrooms and media reports indicate that tens of thousands of teachers will lose their jobs because of Republican budget cuts.   Not even Pre-K children was (sic) left un-scathed as $208,000,000 were cut from vital Pre-K programs on which countless Texans depend. (?)  And Medicaid was funded only through three-fourths of the budget cycle.   So if the legislature isn't able to quickly fill in that budget hole before 2013, set up the guest room, because nursing homes are shutting down and grandma will need a place to stay." (There are four false or ignorant statements included in the short quote above.   Send a note to the Gringo Viejo pointing out those four statements  plus 5 dollars and he will give you winning numbers for lottery tickets....free!)




    He goes on with the marvellous, and ever so original Democrat/Socialist saw of ".....Campaigning on a platform to kick people off the government dole while treating himself to a government funded life of luxury most taxpayers can barely imagine, is shameful".    It is particularly poignant when one considers the image of Father Obamaham splittin' rails for the po' folks down there in the South....way south....like Hawai'i for seventeen days
     LET'S TRY ONE MORE TIME, BOYD RICHIE, and see if you are in need of remediation or if the task is hopeless and you should be promoted to a higher level of incompetency.  The person you have employed to write your editorial comment is in desperate need of a basic English language rhetoric and composition class.
This is the Governor's Mansion as it appeared before
the "incident".   It was actually a bit smallish, although
extremely elegant, august, and a point of pride for all
Texans.

     Governor Perry draws the ire of Boyd Richie because the Governor draws a salary of 150,000 yankee greenback dollars per year.   Mr. Richie is also angry because the Governor uses up 10,000 dollars per month to live in a fancy rental somewhere in an area of Austin where there is segregation.....like where Democrats might not live in abundance.   Like almost all Democrats, Mr. Richie cannot avoid steering into the morass of a "mistruth" when he could just as easily practice some form of veracity.

This is how the Mansion looks after considerable repair
work has been done.   The vandalisation, of course, is a story
unto itself.   It was torched by a person that would be
a good candidate for leader of the OCCUPY movement.

      His biggest lie is a bit more skillful.   He can plead ignorance.   He can plead stupidity.   He can say, "I'm too busy and important to have to bother myself with things like incontrovertible evidence, truth, and/or facts."   Mr. Richie is a very important person, it is true, and since he is a Democrat, he is allowed to lie without fear of challenge by anyone in any form of the more traditional media.    Democrats can lie, because it is only fair, since they are doing good and Republicans only do bad.
       Mr. Richie points out that not only does the Governor's salary place him very close to being in the 1%, especially in Texas, but he has also used his influence and special interest, lobbying power to extract money from the Retirement fund.    And he is even eligible to receive health care for the rest of his life, provided by the State of Texas.    BUT THEN, HERE IS THE AWFUL TRUTH.    In Texas, the Texas State Employees' Retirement System is not like the Social Security Ponzi Scheme System of the Democrats.    In Texas, each employee in service to the State of Texas pays a portion of his salary each month into his own, personal, assigned, and dedicated retirement fund.   The employees of the various school districts in the State....be they teachers, aides, administrators, janitors, bus-drivers, or whatever....participate in a similar system but exclusively reserved for them, called the Texas State Teachers' Retirement System.
At any time that a person has laboured well for the State of Texas in one of these areas at some combination of years of life and years of service that equal 80 years, that person can elect to remove any or all of that retirement fund....under certain caveats and conditions....both to the favour of the State and to the Pensioner....to his personal control.
      During the time of employment, the money contributed to the fund is invested in fairly dull and boring instruments and the pension fund grows.   The Trustees may well be cronies and political appointees, but their record in the handling of many, many billions of dollars in trust for these employees is better than Father Obamaham's most trusted go to guys...like Corzine, and another favourite contributor, Madoff, or perhaps that great investor, Marc Rich.   What a team you could make with Clinton's and Obamaham's financial people....throw in Fannie and Freddie and Franklin Raines....wowsers....!
      But in Texas, you see, we are all rather backwards....Jed Clampett type folks....so we have the system that allows a person to own his retirement.   If he dies, the balance or a system of payments is paid to the survivours or beneficiaries.   How novel.    Nobody who can avoid it is on Social Security....because Social Security is a Ponzie Scheme, illegal if attempted by any private person....only permitted if it is operated by people who need a system to try to scare the heeby-jeebys out of dull, stupid people who think that Obama gives them a check every month for being good proles.    Even we geezers who take our Social Security checks know that it is a scam and a sham.....
      But not the Texas State Retirement Systems.   The recipients OWN THEIR PENSIONS.   They paid for them.   GOVERNOR PERRY HAS THE NUMBER OF YEARS OF AGE AND SERVICE TO EXTRACT HIS PENSION IF HE CHOOSES.    ACCORDING TO THE LAW HERE, HE IS FURTHER ALLOWED TO APPLY HIS SERVICE AS AN AIR FORCE OFFICER TO THAT TIME.   HE AND ALL OF THE PEOPLE IN THE SYSTEM CAN CHOOSE TO MAINTAIN THEIR PARTICIPATION IN THE HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN OPERATED BY THE STATE.   IT IS NOT PAID BY THE STATE.   IT IS PAID THROUGH PREMIUMS PAID BY THE PENSION POLICY HOLDER.    BY COMMON LAW, THE LAW COMMON TO THE PAUPER IS APPLIED TO THE PRINCE, AND PERRY IS PLAYING BY THE LAW.

 The plane in front is like the one  Capt. Rick Perry
flew in the Air Force.

   In fairly short order, the larger part of Perry's "windfall" will be gone, and his pension will be paying him a little shy of 90,000 yankee greenback dollars per year.   Much less than Barney Frank who never flew a C130 under any condition....or an A6 Torpedo bomber...or an F4 Phantom....or an F105 Interceptor....but who did manage to allow his "friend" to operate a male prostitution ring out of Barney's apartment for a year....but Barney assured us he never knew about it, and received a standing ovation for it when he came back to the floor of the House of Representatives after lying about every aspect of his situation.   Barney needs his pension....a pension that is thrice the size of Perry's.  Barney helps the poor and the little people.   He gives them Social Security.

     El Gringo Viejo closes with this paragraph from Mr. Boyd Richie, the Chairman of the Democrat Party of Texas....this is a complete, free-standing paragraph....not taken out of context in any way.    It represents the best thought of the Democrat Party of Texas.   Mr. Richie boldly states, "Clearly the only person Rick Perry believes should be the beneficiary of any kind of state benefits is Rick Perry."
     
Wondering why there is no picture of Rick Perry pushing Grandma off the cliff in her wheelchair, and not being disposed to vote for Rick for anything unless he is chosen to run against Father Obamaham in November....we remain ever grateful for your patience.

El Gringo Viejo

Gringo? Perceptions and misconceptions

Green Grow The Rashes

This song was known from the time of Bobbie Burns, the Scottish Poet, and a literary genius many times over.   He was obviously influenced by the English and the Irish, and he influenced them.  He was the Gringo Viejo's father's favourite in the panoply of those who job it was to stain paper with ink.   Over the years Robert Burns has risen in the estimation of this writer as well.
      The thing is, although many would never admit it, and many more have never heard of Bobbie Burns, there are those who would say that this famed bard was the father of the term or word....."gringo".    A poem this short-lived, talented man wrote, and titled Green Grow the Rashes, Oh! was a popular ditty set to music in various pubs throughout the British Isles.   Songs, with varying lyrics, some quite bawdy, some quite delicate were sung by men in all corners of the world.   It is thought that exhanges between the lines during the War Between the States were sung by soldiers during the night.   The Gringo Viejo's mother and grandmother....the ones from the South...both sang this song while doing housework or driving in the auto.   At times, they would sing it as a lullaby for a feverish, sick, or injured child or grandchild.
     They both would use the Scottish or original form which is printed below.....

Chor. - Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent amang the lasses, O.

There's nought but care on ev'ry han',
In ev'ry hour that passes, O:
What signifies the life o' man,
An' 'twere na for the lasses, O.
Green grow, (refrain)

The war'ly race may riches chase,
An' riches still may fly them, O;
An' tho' at last they catch them fast,
Their hearts can ne'er enjoy them, O.
Green grow, (refrain) 

But gie me a cannie hour at e'en,
My arms about my dearie, O;
An' war'ly cares, an' war'ly men,
May a' gae tapsalteerie, O!
Green grow, (refrain)

For you sae douce, ye sneer at this;
Ye're nought but senseless asses, O:
The wisest man the warl' e'er saw,
He dearly lov'd the lasses, O.
Green grow, (refrain)

Auld Nature swears, the lovely dears
Her noblest work she classes, O:
Her prentice han' she try'd on man,
An' then she made the lasses, O.
Green grow, (refrain) etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT....
     However, the OROG will see below where it is stated that ".....other scholars date the term...." the Old Gringo would like to dissuade any OROG from consideration of such a statement as anything remotely possible.    The term "gringo" most certainly became a part of the constant Mexican vernacular suddenly during the first months of the  Mexican - American War of 1846 - 1848.   It was heard by John J. Audubon when he left the wharfs of Vera Cruz during his sojourn in Mexico even during the hostilities in 1847.
     The term began to be used during the penetration by American forces under the commands of Generals  Taylor and Worth on the route between Matamoros and Monterrey in 1846.   Troops would draw up in rank and file, and in parade order when moving through the various small towns and major ranch communities, so as to control the men under military discipline and to provide the Mexicans with the fair impression that the invaders were civilised and intended no harm to the general populace.
     Part of this march order presentation was to sing marching songs.   Two of the songs were those posted here.   The lyrics had perhaps hundreds of slight variations, scores of geographical variations, and different venues where one set of lyrics might have been more appropriate than others.   Children would run out of the villages when the American soldiers would come near....demanding "Gringo...!   Cantan Gringo!    Cantan!!!"   Sing...Sing the Gringo song....Sing!
     Gringo as a word in Spanish was the best effort made by people unused to new words, especially with the use to two hard "g's" and one with a following sub-ligual "r" ....and an "r" that was not a rolled double "rr"  such as the two adjacent words "Green grows the grass"....Difficult for any Mexican, literate or illiterate, and impossible for almost all children.   Further, the Mexicans had made it fairly clear that their citizenship and patriotism were not for sale, but their amiability and desire to do business with the "new reality" was certainly "for lease".     So, the relations were not perfect, but there were wide areas of common effort and interaction "for the greater good". 
      This assisted somewhat lax relationship between invader and defender helped an Irish-Mexican priest from one of the local parishes to penetrate the Americans security apparatus and in fairly short order seduce away about 500 recent Irish conscripts and/or voluteers in the advancing American army.   This formed the nucleus of the famous Batallon de San Patricio, with made up a smart and effective infantry and light artillery unit, finally numbering about 700 effectives.   These fellows would see heavy action during the enagements in and around Monterrey later, and then once again to the southeast of Saltillo where the Mexican Army essentially defeated the American Army, and then for some unknown reason pulled away and moved to the south, without taking the surrender or forcing the retreat of General Taylor.   The Americans, the Irish defectors, and the general demeanor of men away from home, children, and the innate sense of hospitality of the Mexican at any level brought two adjacent words into eternal fame as a contraction that identified that new race of man, the American....the Gringo.
      Couriers and other transfer of information could normally link the Capital of Mexico with these outlying areas in about one week....very quick by American reckoning for the day....so the tales about the children, the songs, and the interaction between invader and defender were fairly well known in fairly short order.   In 1847, the term "Gringo"  was published in newspapers quite commonly, and referred always to Americans, American soldiers, and American whatever.    Therefore, whomsover believes that the term comes from the green uniforms and gold buttons of General "Black Jack" Pershing, and his mainly Negro units of regular cavalry and mounted infantry during their pursuit of Pancho Villa.....that is fine....but whomsoever professes it as knowledge of fact to other people, is an ignorant fool.    Simply not true....simply 70 years too late....    And yes, they referred to the Negro soldiers as Gringos, too.

      Finally, as has been stated before, the word "Gringo" is not a perjoritive unless it is used as one.   El Gringo Viejo and his late brother made a pact to restore and maintain the word "Gringo" as the neutral title for Americans and things of and/or of an American nature.













Information







Lyrics
(The following is presented from a source which is, in its first part, probably substantially accurate.  The second part is patently untrue. It is probably also false that Pancho Villa's forces had anything to do with the attack on Columbus, New Mexico or on about 99% of the banditry and Mexican military provocations during the terms of Carranza and Obregon during their presidencies the 1916 through 1924 period on the American border with Mexico.) 






This ballad is based on a similar song, Green Grows the Laurel, that was popular in 17th century Scotland. The American ballad tells the story of an American soldier's love for a Mexican lass. Though I don't have the words for the earlier version, it evidently had a similar theme, albeit with different nationalities.There are countless versions of the song, I have included only two.
One story of the songs origin speculates that Cowboys in South Texas loved to sing the song. Across the way, Mexicans, who could not understand the words, could only hear "GREEN GROW". So white Americans became known as "Gringo" by the Mexicans. However, other scholars date the term to the incursion of American troops in Mexico to search for Pancho Villa.
Green grow the lilacs, all sparkling with dew
I'm lonely, my darling, since parting with you;
But by our next meeting I'll hope to prove true
And change the green lilacs to the Red, White and Blue.

Green grow the lilacs reminding me of
The ones that I brought you with all of my love,
The gates of my country will open for you
And change the green lilacs to the Red, White and Blue.

Green grow the lilacs, Your favorite flow'r,
So sweetly perfuming - a sad parting hour.
Oh send me a message - That you love me too,
Let's change the green lilacs to the Red, White and Blue.

Repeat first verse.


Alternate Version:

Green grow the lilacs, all sparkling with dew
I'm lonely, my darling, since parting with you;
But by our next meeting I'll hope to prove true
And change the green lilacs to the Red, White and Blue.
I once had a sweetheart, but now I have none

She's gone and she's left me, I care not for one
Since she's gone and left me, contented I'll be,
For she loves another one better than me.

I passed my love's window, both early and late
The look that she gave me, it makes my heart ache;
Oh, the look that she gave me was painful to see,
For she loves another one better than me.

I wrote my love letters in rosy red lines,
She sent me an answer all twisted and twined;
Saying,"Keep your love letters and I will keep mine
Just you write to your love and I'll write to mine."





This picture was taken during happier times, and included General Alvaro Obregon (l), General Francisco Villa (c) and General Black Jack Pershing in El Paso, Texas in 1914, before Villa and Obregon went at each other in a series of famous battles during the Mexican Revolution of 1910 - 1917.    Pershing and his white and mainly Negro forces were all considered "Gringos" even before the later incursion in 1916, which pitted the two friends, Pancho and Black Jack against each other in a confrontatin neither wanted, and both knew to be a CYA by Woodrow Wilson and his lackies who were trying to cover up the failures of their Mexican policy.  The next year, 'peace candidate' Wilson would have the "Gringo" in a war in Europe.   Wilson's Mexico policies indirectly would be the cause of 50 years of ensuing rot, corruption, and socialist misery.

Saturday 24 December 2011

So that the OROGs know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth

     So that the member of the Order of Readers of the Old Gringo will be certain that you are not reading the scribblings of some Pollyanna, pro-Mexican idiot who is not well planted in some zone of reality, we are including the following couple of reasonably accurate local news articles.   This is being done because the spate of news articles published by agencies ranging from the BBC to the Los Angeles Times and others in the MSM, have been really, really confusing and inaccurate to the point of exasperation.
      This was not a good time for the area of what is called the Northern Huasteca, which includes the northernmost part of the State of Vera Cruz, the southernmost part of the State of Tamaulipas, and the far-easternmost part of the State of San Luis Pososi'.   On your Google Earth, click into....for instance the towns of Ebano, Tampamolon, Valles, Tamosopo, Tamuin, all in San Luis Potosi State.    Then, look for Tempoal, Tantoyuca, El Higo, and Panuco in the State of Vera Cruz.    The places lie about 100 - 150 miles south of Victoria, Tamaulipas and about 60 - 100 miles southeast of Tampico.   Much of it lies about 250 years in the past, and includes large numbers of people who speak no Spanish.    Another oddity of the area is that most of the white people in this zone are actually 4th - 6th generation French in their ancestry, and quite a few have some traces of Confederate refugee bloodlines.

      The bad part of this blog entry is that eleven civilians were uselessly killed...murdered for no reason good or bad....by cartel brigands on the 21st of this month.   Two busses were assaulted at the Tempoal - Huejutla intersection, known locally as the "Y"   (or i- griega, meaning 'Greek i).   Tempoal is a nice little town, very productive in terms of citrus and even some chocolate.    A group of cartel leftovers, having been driven literally into the mountains and into very traditional Indian areas, had tired of their rough treatment by the locals and their inability to "discipline" the natives with terrorism and harassment.   Army patrols were closing in on them, mile by mile, and the Indians had been giving the military good data about specific places and types of vehicles and types of armament with reference to the cartel holdovers.
      Apparently, in some form of ridiculous frenzied hope of escape from the jaws of a three sided, strategic military assault against this small band of 20 +/- of the very worst, the cartel holdovers launched an all out attempt to change their geographic hiding grounds.   The problem is that at the very moment they left their hidey-hole outside of the village of Tomasopa, San Luis Potosi....running to the east....they learned that a large military convoy was coming down from Tamuin to the north.  Before the made it to the State border of San Luis Potosi' and Vera Cruz contact was made by helicopter scout and by an advance platoon of infantry.    The criminal element drove into El Higo, Vera Cruz with 5 late model, stolen pickups.   They discarded two of the trucks with mechanical problems, and attempted to replace them with less ostentatious mounts.  Three fruit vendors/purveyors were killed but the criminals could not start their delivery truck and leave its loading station so they went further into town, threw an old hand grenade at a man coming out of his house, and managed to not only kill the man, but also to essentially totally render useless the intent of their actions...the theft of his pickup.    Not smart.
      The forward element of the Army convoy then engaged the one pickup that had been pointed out by El Higo citizenry and chased it to a nearby point on the river that borders this sugar-mill town.    After a brief engagement, all five (it was thought) of the criminals were killed.   The Army suffered no casualties.   More citizen outcry advised the soldiers that there were four more pickups that had gone to the main highway and then headed to Tempoal to the south about 14 miles.   The military convoy reformed and then went to the south, arriving too late to salvage the issue wherein the criminals had assaulted two busses, and killed two drivers, and five passengers.  Oddly, the criminal group turned and went back to the north, apparently fearing a response from the huge army bases outside of Cerro Azul (25 miles away) and/or Tuxpan (Army and Naval Infantry about 50 miles away on the coast).    The highway leading to the site of the crimes from those bases is not very good, so it was ill-advised on the part of these particular criminals to flee to the north.   It leads one to the conclusion that they were very low level both in terms of pecking order and intellectual capacity.
     As the Army convoy turned south, the assaulters had already passed by the critical intersection coming out of El Higo (The Fig) in their northbound flight.    The 15 vehicle convoy arrived 40 minutes after the tragedy at the Tempoal intersection.   The Recon helicopter was uselessly sitting on the highway....pilot and recon man talking to excited citizens and bus passengers saying..."The bad guys went back to the north!  The bad guys went back the way they came in".     This made no sense in terms of any logical action.  If they were trying to escape, they should have taken the highway Huejutla...to the west.   But, the people were adamant, and when the convoy reformed, leaving the dead and wounded to local authourity, they retraced through the fog of war to the north.   Correctly, a rear guard had been left at various points where the criminals could have turned off into temporary hidey-holes or dead-end escapes, and the helicopter was combing back and forth as they went....then it was joined by two more helicopters from the Naval Infantry facility in Tampico.  The city of Panuco, Vera Cruz was sealed of from entry from the south, and then the real live combing began.
      Yesterday, in desperation, the criminal group, numbering eight individuals, arrived at a Bancomer bank in the town of Ebano, Vera Cruz.   They were driving in two remaining pickups, both stolen a few days earlier.   While two remained at the wheel, three guarded the entry/exit, and three assaulters crowded into the smallish local bank and demanded "all the money".   According to local reports, one of them discharged his automatic rifle into the ceiling, but the action jammed after two or three rounds.   They were given several hundred thousand pesos and left hurriedly.    They had entered onto the precincts of the small bank at 10:30 in the morning.
      When they had gone only 6 miles to the east....heading into the Tampico area (30 miles), exactly the wrong direction for any hope of escape....the two-pickup, group of eight was being lined up for removal to the morgue at the State Medical University in Tampico...now 24 miles away.  The encounter was brief and no quarter given.
       During the periods leading up to all of this, locals around El Higo had reported finding four wounded parties from the very first assault, hours earlier.   The platoon left in El Higo to restore order and abate anxiety among the citizenry went out and found two resisting criminals who refused to surrender.   Two of their group had died shortly after being wounded. 
     So, the final count of criminals  was 17 dead, no prisoners, no wounded.   The Army and Naval Infantry suffered two slightly wounded effectives.   According to the command of the 6th Military Zone, they are convinced that these individuals had a falling out with several in their group at a place some distance to the south of Tampico and on the beach.   They feel that there was a fight in which the some of the winners and all the losers died, and the bodies of the latter were mutilated.    The military and federal police place this episode somewhere around the 15th of December, according to information derived from locals who were just glad to see them gone.    The entire group had been described as continuously drunk and drinking....always aggressive and arguing among themselves at beachfront cabana "bars".....not paying their tabs and even beating up the barmaids.   There had been some shooting one night, and then the next day everyone was gone, including their new pickups.   About a day later, about 12 bodies and one pickup with mechanical difficulties were found at a place a few miles to the north of the arguments.

      Save for the victory by the forces of order, there is little good in any of this.   If one looks at it from the point of view of the people who were just going down the road, minding their own business....there is no good "spin" for them or their families.
       What little good there is can be enumerated thusly:

               (1)   As usual, the Army and Naval Infantry won.

              (2)    The citizenry co-operated and gave worthwhile, current information to the forces of order.

               (3)    For the Northeastern part of Mexico, this is seeming to be an outlier event.   Other altercations between the Military and the elements of organised crime have been isolated from the citizenry in general.   Other incidents have occurred between opposing groups within the universe of organised crime resulting in casualties among they themselves.


               (4)     These flashes of irrational violence will continue for another 6  to  12 months.   Our analysis continues to be the same as stated during our last projections, and on the same time line.   The greatest problem we have at this point is that elements of the criminal cartel group will join with leftist political groups after the up-coming Presidential and National Elections to bring as much anarchy as possible to the unavoidable protests that will follow the defeat of the various leftist candidates and positions.    This "joining" will not be so much for political reasons as for the simple desire to destroy and to ruin.   In that sense there is considerable overlap between the political left and the cartels.

Below, we have included two articles that are better than what was found in the mainstream media.   Oddly, according to some, one is essentially the summary of the Official Military Statement which focuses very well onto the other known facts concerning this encounter....while the other story comes from a scandal rag newspaper that does some pretty good reporting at times....kind of a regional "National Enquirer".    The articles are in Spanish, but it can be easily read by people who just have confidence that they can swim if they just jump into the pool.    Other information has been gleaned from truckers and bus drivers who call in  on an overnight Mexican truchers' radio program.    The Gringo Viejo has, over the years, always found their gossip and news to be reliable.     We have also taken information from local radio reports from the Tempoal AM news and information radio...XETI -750am, as well as certain television reports from TV - AZTECA and Televisa....which seem to have been reliable and not laden with political commentary.

     Anyone wishing to have a translation of the articles below can request one....perhaps after these next days up in Central Texas...there will be time to do a fair and complete formal translation worthy of the OROG community.  

11 personas perdieron la vida en el Higo Veracruz confirma Sedena


Personal militar repele agresión armada en el poblado de El Higo, Veracruz
La Boticaria, Ver.- En relación a los hechos suscitados en esta fecha en el municipio de Pánuco, Ver., en los que “lamentablemente” fallecieron 11 personas como consecuencia de los asaltos y agresiones en contra de la población por parte de integrantes del crimen organizado, la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional condena categóricamente estas reprobables acciones y expresa sus más sentidas condolencias a los familiares de las víctimas.
Asimismo, por conducto de la Comandancia de la VI Región Militar se informa que en el marco de la Estrategia Integral del Estado Mexicano en contra del Narcotráfico y la Delincuencia Organizada, durante las primeras horas de esta fecha, al atender una denuncia ciudadana referente a que en la carretera Pánuco-Tantoyuca, Ver., un grupo de individuos armados se encontraban asaltando a varios autobuses de pasajeros y agrediendo a la población civil, personal militar del Ejército Mexicano perteneciente a este mando territorial procedió a trasladarse al citado lugar para ubicar a los agresores y salvaguardar la seguridad de la población.
Al efectuar reconocimientos en la mencionada área localizaron a un grupo de individuos, quienes al detectar la presencia militar agredieron a las tropas, por lo que los efectivos castrenses repelieron la agresión, falleciendo en el lugar de los hechos cinco agresores y asegurando cinco armas largas, 58 cargadores diferentes características y un vehículo.
Es importante señalar que este grupo de delincuentes durante las primeras horas de esta fecha, en el poblado de El Higo, Ver., privaron de la vida a tres personas que se encontraban cargando una camioneta de verduras y en otro punto de la población arrojaron una granada provocando la muerte de una persona más.
Posteriormente, sobre la carretera a Tempoal, en el punto denominado la “Y” asaltaron un autobús en donde asesinaron a dos pasajeros; después continuaron sobre la misma carretera para detener a un segundo autobús sobre el que efectúan disparos de armas de fuego, ocasionando el fallecimiento de otras cuatro personas; para verificar lo sucedido, el conductor de un tercer autobús descendió de su automotor y fue asesinado por los citados delincuentes.
De estos hechos tomaron nota las autoridades correspondientes, ante quienes quedaron a disposición los cuerpos de los occisos y lo asegurado por las tropas.
Con estas acciones el Ejército y Fuerza Aérea Mexicanos refrendan su compromiso de salvaguardar y proteger a todos los mexicanos, actuando con estricto apego de la ley y respetando en todo momento los Derechos Humanos.



ENFRENTAMIENTO ENTRE SICARIOS Y MILITARES EN EBANO, SLP -  EL EJERCITO GANO'  - 8 A 0
Mata el Ejército a ocho asaltantes de un banco
San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí.- Ocho asaltantes murieron abatidos en un enfrentamiento con el Ejército luego de que atracaron ayer por la mañana una sucursal de Bancomer en Ebano.
Los hechos se registraron a las 10:30 horas en la sucursal Bancomer ubicada en la avenida Vicente Guerrero y calle 1 de Mayo.
De acuerdo con la información proporcionada por las autoridades los delincuentes viajaban a bordo de una camioneta roja, y al llegar a la sucursal bancaria tres sujetos fuertemente armados ingresaron y tras amagar al personal y a los clientes les exigieron la entrega de todo el dinero.
Luego de obtener el botín el grupo de asaltantes salió del banco para huir con rumbo al oriente, hacia Pánuco, Veracruz.
A los pocos minutos arribaron a la institución efectivos militares y agentes de la Dirección General de Seguridad Pública del Estado, quienes establecieron un cerco policial sin resultados inmediatos.
Pero más tarde, hacia las 11:00 de la mañana, los asaltantes fueron reportados cerca de la comunidad conocida como “Calentadores”, municipio de Pánuco, Veracruz, donde efectivos militares habían montado un retén, les cerraron el paso sobreviniendo entonces el enfrentamiento a tiros.
Los delincuentes intentaron huir, pero fueron abatidos a balazos por las fuerzas militares.
Al lugar de los hechos acudió personal forense del municipio de Pánuco, Veracruz, para hacer las diligencias del caso, ya que el poblado “Calentadores” se encuentra en la entidad veracruzana, a unos 20 minutos del puerto jaibo.
HERIDO UN HIJO DE ROSA MA. HUERTA
En un evento muy diferente sucedido en Tamasopo, resultó herido de un balazo en un glúteo el joven Mauro Quintero Huerta, hijo de la secretaria del Comité Directivo Estatal del PRI, Rosa María Huerta Valdez. Se desconocen los pormenores de la forma en que ocurrió este hecho, pero circuló otra versión en la que se indica que Mauro Quintero Huerta fue herido en el enfrentamiento de elementos del Ejército Mexicano con los asaltabancos la comunidad conocida como “Calentadores”, municipio de Pánuco, Veracruz.

Friday 23 December 2011

Take Comfort

We take comfort in knowing that the minions of the left, the trodding masses of the oppressed who are forever "poor" (and therefore morally superior to the "rich"), and their marxist, elitist allies in the press and on campus are a shallow lot.   They are superior to us only in the sense that they know how to play three notes on the piano, over and over and over again.
      (A)  It's not fair.

      (B) The rich don't need that much money.

      (C)  Republicans want old people, children, minorities, left-handed pygmies, to
              (1) starve
             (2) die
             (3) suffer
            (4) lose their
                                 (a) Social Security
                                 (b) medicare
                                 (c) medicaid
                                 (d) food stamps
                                (e) AFDC
                                (f) Head Start
                                (g) student loans
                               (h) ethanol, GM VOLT, etc. subsidy
                               (i) school breakfast, lunch, snack, summer meals
                               (j) Supplementary Security Income
                              (k) Section 8 housing allowance
                              (l) Aunt Zietuni Memorial Public Housing free apartment
                              (m) Uncle Onyango Memorial free legal representation
                              (n) WIC program for women and miracle babies feeding program.
                              (o)  liberal Democrat Bankers, GM/Chrysler/UAW/Solyndra Welfare
                                      for the DNC and Obama Campaign Fund
    Print this and carry it with y0u.   It is the constitution of every leftist demagogue movement in the world.   Just change the formal names of the parties and players and you are there.   This list of relativist "realities, rights, and necessities" replaces the  American Constitution and any practice of common law.   Correct groups that are to receive will be deigned and correct groups to be taxed into submission or oblivion will be marked, identified, vilified, ridiculed, and driven to the margins of the "real communal core" of the nation.
We just want to help you.
     The deigned groups will always be those who are willing to be tagged "in need" because on the left, poverty and sloth and stupidity are superior moral positions.   "Unto each according to his need" becomes the method by which peoples' souls are bought and put into an incinerator.   "From each according to his ability" is the sickle used to slice off the producers' feet and the hammer by which they break the artesans' fingers.
      Take away vestiges of the past and the traditions of the past so as to make the transition to being a grey, blank-stare, drooling prole, eating two large bowls of gruel every day easier in generations to come.   Take Latin out of the Catholic mass, take Old English out of the Anglican mass, take Mandarin and Cantonese and Japanese and other calligraphic characters out of the Oriental languages and great writings (replace with western alphabet and pronunciation) and soon entire nations, ethnicities, races, and other diverse human groupings will have no past.....and therefore no future.
       What is left is a group with the guns....about 10 percent of the population....left with 90 percent to wait on them hand and foot or die.     That is the true "Occupy" formula.   Cuba perfected it....it's taking a little longer in Red China, but they are almost there....it collapsed  Russia, simply because they ran out of vodka that was not poison.....and there was nothing left to corrupt.....and it was just to cold to suffer any further.  From each according to his ability and to each according to his need finally becomes "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us". 

      Republican measures to blunt and/or turn back this "inevitable march of Progress" will win.    The reason is because conservatives think along a line that connects the past to the future.   We do not forget, and our decisions are based upon natural law, truth, and experience.    All extreme leftists deal only in the moment, always seeking the quick win, like a purse snatcher or a shyster artist at the Carnival.   They are erstwhile whitetrash looking to shout-down any speaker who dares oppose them, to foul with septic mess and garbage at every gathering the same environment they pretend to wish to protect.    No socialist country ever protects Yahweh's Creation.   They hate Yahweh and all the good in Creation.   They  love disease and AIDs, they love filth and squalour, and they especially love open sewers draining into the pristine bay.   It gives them something to blame on the "rich" although it is their same programs and policies that cause it.

She was great in Around
the World in 80 Days
     FINAL THOUGHT:    Remember the difference between high wage - high income people and "the rich".   It is imperative that the socialists equate the two.   "Anyone making 200,000 dollars a year can afford to pay a little more".... we are told by Father Obamaham.   The leftists among the truly very rich (estates of 100,000,000 dollars or more) do not want "little people" to crawl through the fences around the Chapaqua of Hillary's precincts.....Shirley Maclaine moans and whines to the local zoning authourity in Taos, "We have to restrict further arrivals into the community.   The reason I built here was to get away from all those people".... a very democratic Democrat Leftist fundamental belief system.
       Ranks up there with, "We'll have to vote for the bill to find out what's inside of it"....and Harry Reid's, "These people coming here as tourists really smell bad..."   And these are the leaders.    The indolently rich....Kerry and his catsup widow, the Kennedys...none of whom could ever fill one finger of the glove of John Kennedy....and 80% of the rich who are, in fact, liberals and socialists  dedicated to the idea of "let them eat cake, but only after we take away their bibles and their pick-up trucks and their guns...so tacky, you know.    But make sure that they use skimmed milk and low fat margarine..no butter and the flour has to be organic and the oven solar powered.   Remember, the real stuff and the gas stove is only for people like us."

    Take faith that the GOP elected "officials"  will have an avalanche of ire dumped on them during the Kwanzaa / Solstice Vacation Period by other elephant-people in their districts.  The eye-0n-the- ball part of all of this for us is to put the Keystone Pipeline into service.   The next action to take is to allow the Social Security tax holiday to expire in the next (Republican) budget, and  simultaneously trumpet the attendant reduction of the income tax withholding back to where it was before the Social Security Tax Holiday period....and then start moving the Social Security Ponzi Scheme into a system more like the Texas Public Employee Retirement System and the Texas Teachers' Retirement System.   That way, the Democrats and the marxist elitists will not be able to flog that mule every two years to try to scare geezers to death (actually it doesn't work as well as the Democrats think, that's why they had to come up with the SSI bribe).  THIS NOTE:   The geezers know....80% see their checks as a payback.   But the Democrats hate them for lack of appreciation for everything the Democrats have "given" the geezers.    THAT IS WHY THE OROGs SEE SO MANY ADVERTISEMENTS BY BOTTOM FISHING ATTORNEYS ASKING US TO LET THEM "HELP" US WITH OUR SSI AND DISABILITY CLAIMS AGANST THE SS SYSTEM.

Thanks for your time and patience.   We'll be folding for the next couple of days...perhaps an entry or two more....Check out the Anglican Curmudgeon...some really good articles there concerning conservative and orthodox issues.
El Gringo Viejo   

Wednesday 21 December 2011

This entry has knawn at my gizzard for a bit, (amended on 22 December during the late afternoon)

     It should be of some interest that in Mexico, Christmas is an important issue.    Beginning on the 12th of December  the entire Republic, no matter what, goes into kind of a slow motion brought on by the Celebration of the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Otomi' Indian man in 1532.   The appearance occured, ostensbily, on the Hill of Tepayac, situated on the northeast corner of the the most intensely populated part of what is present-day Mexico City.    You are spared the explanations about the solution to the problems presented by this apparition.   Suffice it to say that all Mexicans pay serious homage to the Virgin de Guadalupe as this apparition of Saint Mary is known.  All Mexicans...observant Catholics, non-participating Catholics, atheists, agnostics, Jews, non-Spanish-speaking Indians, foreigners, Protestants, and the entire rest of the country is committed to the celebration of this Apparition and its importance to Mexico.
      It is commonly observed that Yahweh and Esua are only God and Son, while Mary is the Mother of Mexico. During the days leading up to the 12th of December and the days shortly after, there is said to be the arrival and departure of 3,000,000 visitors, pilgrims, visitors, and other sorts of interested participants and bystanders.    Numerous Indian dance groups and Matachines....people from parishes throughout Mexico who form Indian dance groups but who are not specifically this or that nation or tribe of Indians.     The whole affair is crowded, but strangely calm and clean.   It is rare that there is an incident such as a robbery or pickpocketing....and the restrooms stay clean and functional...in my experience.

Another popular event around Christmas, Las Posadas:

    The Posadas, returning to popularity after a couple of generations of neglect, have come to the fore again.   This involves known people of the area and/or neighourhood going around in a group to sing Advent and Christmas anthems and to deliver a doll/effigy of the Christ Child for safe-keeping until the same or slightly larger group comes around again to sing and pray and then take the Christ Child on his search for an appropriate place to be born (rest his head) or otherwise fulfill the prophesies.    El Gringo Viejo has a hundred or a thousand stories about this event.   It is very noble....but at times....shall we say, interesting.

This is a picture of prep-school types conducting a Posada in their
neighbourhood.   There are rules, but there is a lot of variation in the application
of the traditions.

    The Posadas can be participated in everyday attire or with folkloric garb, or coat and tie and party dresses, or in regalia identical or reminiscent of that worn by people of the era and the area concerned with Bethelehem.   It can be all adults or a gaggle of school classmates or a mix of the two.   It can be unsponsored or a very elaborate effort by a large parish.   Protestant churches have posadas.


This particular Posada consists of children from a
local Parish Church.   By their attire it could be assumed
that they are in southern Vera Cruz State.




      The posadas last for twelve nights, until finally on the 24th of December the baby finds that place where he can lay his head.   Of course the next day is the Feast of the Nativity in the Orthodox Church and Christmas to the world of Jew, Gentile, and all the rest who know and love Santa Claus.   When the twelve days are finally past, the devotions of the faithful will have included at least 50,000 Hail Marys and 30,000 other prayers of intercession and consideration.
     Something of importance to submit to the attention of the OROGs is the fact that although Mexico during the 1900s...and at other times during the 1800s....and until very recent days has been an officially and stridently anti-Catholic country.   It seems strange, perhaps, but it is true.    Much of the Revolution of 1910 was fought to re-invigorate the Laws of Reform included in the previous Constitution of 1857, which essentially called for the total expropriation of the Church and all its properties.   The Constitution of 1917 is vigourously anti-Catholic specifically and fairly anti-religious in general.
      To this day, all churches, new, old, or ancient have to be titled to the central government's Secretariat of Government (the most important of all the Secretariats).    Anymousity between the Church and the government lessened in large part when the National Action Party (PAN) took over the Presidency in the last two elections.   The old government party, the PRI seemed tired of defaming and demagoging the Catholic Church and going through the motions of enforcing the several hundred specific Constitutional prohibitions of certain acts, rights, and prerogatives allowed the common citizenry but denied to the Roman Catholic Church and its priests, nuns, and schools.
     Anti-clericism and anti-Catholic and anti-Christian and anti-religious sentiments still abound within the ranks of the intellectually ever-duller  Mexican Left.   Their hatred for the unseen is absolute, so much so, that one wonders if they believe in the oxygen they steal from the breathing believers.    Should the left sweep to power again it would be inevitable that the persecutions, closings of churches and other repressions would begin as they did in the 1920s.   In those years Mexico suffered another war, the Guerra de los Cristeros (Christers' War) in which the central (marxist driven) government lost some 40,000 soldiers in 4 years of war and disorders and the Cristeros lost about the same number, principally in Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi', Michoacan, and Jalisco States.   Disorders took place throughout the nation but the most involved area was the very centre....are area still to this day thought to be "more Catholic than the Pope".
     Still to this day, it is illegal and anti-Constitutional for Mexicans to march publicly (under the canopy of the sky) with a curate, priest, or other identifiable Catholic officiate during a public religious celebration.    But still in all, Mexico is a strange, contradictive, and compelling place.   Therefore, when one travels throughout Mexico, even in areas where the leftist PRD party is in charge, one will encounter publicly placed announcements proclaiming, "Feliz Navidad! or Feliz Navidad y Prospero An~o Nuevo"....and one will find, on public and private grounds, building, facilities, or where ever, humble to incredibly elegant and intricate Scenes of the Nativity....with manikins and/or living people and animals.
This is on one of the main downtown thoroughfares
in Mexico City.   Behind the Three Wise Men one can see
the Emblem Mountains of Mexico City, the always
 snow-capped Popocatapetl and Ixtoccihuatl. 

      Banners and pennants can be seen in Social Security Hospitals, government offices, public schools and universities with religious scenes and even prayers of homage.   A palacio municipal with a green, white, and red (incandescent) lighted "Protegenos, Virgincita, a tu familia" (Protect us, Little Virgin, your family)   or "Rogemos para la Paz, Sn. JesusCristo" (We pray for peace, Lord Jesus Christ), or the sounds of "White Christmas, and God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" and the like are heard from stem to stern everywhere in Mexico, public or private, without apology....everywhere scenes of the event in Bethelehem.

     Below, one can study the Scene of the Nativity on the ground floor, to one side of the main stairs leading up to the action area of the Palacio Nacional....the Center of the Mexican National Federal Government....on the Zocalo in the center of Mexico City.   Some of Diego Rivera's marxist inspired frescoes are seen in the background.   Quite a  nice arrangement, actually.

      Anyway, it was just our thinking that perhaps this might be one of the small reasons that El Gringo Viejo might feel a bit more in a zone of normalcy of the olden times.    Typical song of lament of a geezer, I am sure.
El Gringo Viejo.