Bill O'Reilly sang a bit of a different tune. He is a blowhard and a fool. Corp. Hammer was careful wth Mr. O'Reilly, and it was good to see that he was somewhat complementary about "the Mexican people"....but, unless we missed something...he did not express any gratitude to Mr. O'Reilly for having intervened. Corp. Hammer probably knows that O'Reilly came very close to muddling an affair that had already been resolved. The only Americans who were effective were the Senator Rubio, the Governor of Florida, and the Republcian lady, Ros, I believe.
We re-submit these observatons from 22 December 2012 . They were true then, and as is the truth, they are true now.
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AN IRRITATION:
It disappoints, as always, when FOX News decides to join into and reinforce the popular perception created by the leftist press about the situation in Mexico. The whole picture is not that much different than here in the United States. In many ways, quite frankly, things are better South of the Border.
So when O'Reilly, or the voices on The Five, and others on FOX News were admonishing that Mexican prisons are Hell Holes where the cartels run the show, and that especially Americans are targeted by the criminal and general population of Mexico, and that everything is corrupt.....it brings to mind motes and beams and eyes, kettles, pots, and black.
While O'Reilly, for instance, was warning that if "President Nieto" did not release Corporal Hammer, that Mr. O'Reilly would "take care of Mexico's tourism industry". Mr. O'Reilly is such an expert on matters Mexican, that he is unaware that it is President Pen~a....not Nieto. The paternal surname immediately follows the given name(s) in almost all Latin American and Spanish speaking countries.
The Hammer case was already essentially resolved. The Mexican Secretary of the Navy had declared the issue to have been warrantless and that no crime had been committed because the person involved had voluntarily revealed the shotgun in question and requested permitting for said instrument. The telephone calls received by the family were from prisoners and/or family members of prisoners who commonly attempt to extort money from family members of other prisoners, especially the newly arrived. American prison gangs do the same thing.
The fear held by this observer was that what ground had been covered might possibly have to be re-ploughed because Mexican arrogance is similar to American arrogance. If they are pushed, they tend to push back, sometimes to their own detriment. O'Reilly fell into this category in a way.
Many things about this case that were commonly known in Mexico were not reported by O'Reilly or anyone else in the United States. The most vigorous operator in this matter had been the the Tamaulipas State Chamber of Commerce. The final attorney in Mexico City had served well. The usually useless Human Rights Commission (totally pinko) served well. Various State and local elected officials had also been pointing out behind the scenes that the Secretary of the Navy's position was totally accurate. His formal position was: The federal customs and immigration official had overreacted to some personal affront, and "behaved stupidly" in the words of a great American leader. It was all but unreported that Corporal Hammer's friend was not detained during this same incident.
And, while even Laura Ingraham had to pile on, please be assured that of the 1,000 Americans behind bars presently in Mexico, somewhere between 950 to 1,000 are not the type of person with whom you would like your teenaged daughter to be spending time. As well, of the 140 Americans killed in Mexico during the last year, O'Reilly and Laura and the rest of the choir seem to leave out that 130 or so were very, very probably involved in the drug trafficking business. In that truth, there is something usually that can be stated about fleas, dogs, and lying down with, etc.
It is my judgement that the full weight of the blame....at least 99% of the fault in this issue....lies with the Mexican customs and immigration officer. All he would have had to have done, at worst, is to have ordered the individual back to the American side. There is some blame to be spread onto the American border agents who apparently told the boy that there would be no problems, just to declare the gun and get the permits. The permits have to be obtained before going in.
And while all this is going on, there is a 340,000 tonne elephant sitting there on the FOX News set, minding its own business. "Don't go to Mexico, it's dangerous and corrupt, and they are always doing things all the time to everybody...especially Americans", they say. While we have Benghazi unresolved....Fast and Furious left unresolved....20 dead children in Newtown, Connecticut....overwhelming corruption at all levels in the United States Government....Solyndra ignored....expropriation of General Motors and Chrysler....and some jackass from Chicago talking about reasonable new firearms legislation, like, you know, Chicago....where "One a Day" would be a substantial improvement. Thank the Lord that Chicago has stringent firearms control. That solved all the problems.
Please allow us to include that during El Gringo Viejo's professional and business life, he conducted, permitted, licensed, escorted, guided, scouted, and otherwise attended to the issues of hunting game birds in Mexico involving hundreds upon hundreds of hunters, and thousands of shotguns, scores of thousands of importations of rounds of ammunition. Never had one man detained.
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So that all OROGs will be aware, El Gringo Viejo has perhaps one or two friends in the world. He is pretty much detested and hated by all who know him due to his contrarianism, and it really hurts his feelings a lot.
But all Americans should be aware that when Mexicans begin to moan about how bad the discrimination and violence is in the United States, I point out that in 1950 Mexicans receiving public assistance in the United States amounted to less than 1% of the total number of welfare recipients in America. Now, due to anchor babies and lack of enforcement of rules concerning legal aliens becoming wards of the State, almost 12% are Mexicans. Another 3% are from other places in Latin America.
Save for Americans coming over to buy subsidised pharmaceuticals along the border...and a few to take advantage of the "Seguro Popular" (which Americans use as a back up health insurance policy 200 USD/yr)...who are living full or part time in Mexico...we don't barge in on the Mexican "safety net" all that much.
And while we have 1,039 (or so) prisoners in Mexican formal prison, I remind the Mexicans who are moaning, that there are almost 70,000 Mexican citizens in state and federal detention at this time in the United States, my best estimate would be that 99% of all those detained are more than justifiably detained. These numbers do not include simple alien detentions for deportation. I also point out that of Mexicans who are killed by act of murder or violence in the United States, over 80% are killed by other Mexicans...both usually being illegal aliens. Almost all are killed by people with whom they are in familial or close social contact or in illegal activity, usually organised theft rings or drug dealing/trafficking.
In any regard, I do not put up with any euphemisms or blisteringly false "everybody knows" jibberish about mistreatment Mexicans or Latin Americans in the United States. El Gringo Viejo also makes himself less than popular by pointing out that people leave Mexico and go to the United States because they are usually treated better...not worse...there, than in Mexico.
So, now everyone knows that El Gringo Viejo is a cranky old contrarian curmudgeon. Perhaps in drawing out all the poison of inaccurate judgementalism and making both sides hate my guts, we can draw the two great peoples together in a positive way.
El Gringo Viejo.