As I Walked Out On The Streets Of Laredo...

As I walked out in Laredo one day

I spied Los Zetas gunmen fro the Mexican cartels taking over two ranches on the Texas side of the Mexican-US border.

Or, I didn't.

I would bet on Bob Owens, who called local law enforcement and got this:

The deputy that answered the phone there was less bemused, having also dealt with this rumor multiple times in a short amount of time. She also told me that there was no invasion and no law enforcement siege, and that deputies were continuing normal operations.

Don’t believe the hype.

However, if I were to believe the hype, this sort of story would be the reason - just a couple of days ago Nuevo Laredo, on the Mexican side of the border, was out of control:

Several intersections in the City of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico were shut down as gun battles erupted between the Mexican military and heavily armed “hit men” from a Mexican drug cartel. The gunfire could be heard across the U.S. border in Laredo, Texas leading citizens there to call 911.

The Latin American Herald Tribune reports, ““Nine criminals, two civilians and a soldier were killed in the three clashes between elements of the National Defense Secretariat and members of organized crime, and 21 people were wounded.” That information is attributed to the Government Secretariat from Mexico.

The U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo had posted warnings on its website hours before the gunfire was reported by Texas citizens, “We have received credible reports of widespread violence occurring now between narcotics-trafficking organizations and the Mexican army in Nuevo Laredo.”

Here is a US travel advisory from July 16 warning visitors to Mexico that, however bad the situation was, it's gotten worse.

So - is it possible that a group of outnumbered and outgunned cartel members crossed the border figuring it would be better to be captured by the American government than shot by the Mexican federales?  That strikes me as not-impossible.

The story saying that the cartels are coming adds this detail:

There is a news blackout of this incident at this time and the sources inside Laredo PD spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A news blackout makes sense while the diplomats sort this out (and certainly Team Obama wouldn't want this publicized while they are suing Arizona) but then again, any conspiracy theorist would know to include that.

I would say, stay tuned and stay skeptical.

Comments

[Jack is Back!]

Marty Robbins had no comment.

[Captain Hate]

Maybe some of these troof-to-pauer journalists can get off their dead asses and visit the ranches to see what's going on. As in, you know, do their job that they're always patting themselves on the back about.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Cap'n-

No they won't, no iPhone coverage down there.

Or Pulitzers.

[Clarice]

I sent that in to AT last night and it was held for re-checking this a.m.--Thank goodness. But TM's right--conspiracist or not--the Administration would not want much publicity of such an inasion had it occurred.

I do hate people who just make up shit though.

[narciso the harpoon]

And they might get a crease in the pants, or one of those annoying spots of blood on them,
just remember there are no decapitated heads in Arizona, Milbank told us so

[Melinda Romanoff]

O/T-

Santelli's going to be on Meet the Press today, playing the token Alinsky target in a "race" round table with the head of the Urban League, and Anita Dunn ( of the "I love Mao" fame ) among other like minded souls.

He's going to take the economic approach, and try and avoid the trap being set for him.

I advised against it, but it should still be good comedy.

[MarkO]

This is the Smothers Brothers version, right?

[Old Lurker]

Hey Mel...are we related? Between your roots in SW Va and now your summers in Sconset, we must be.

I understand your point about the direct flights NY to ACK changing everything...so imagine our mixed emotions when direct DC to ACK summertime service opened.

Your guess was correct. I think this will be our 25th August in Sconset, and the house the church ladies are kibbiting about endlessly is (will be) there too.

And if you miss Chinn's, you are legit.

Now get off the damn computer and go build your counters.

[Pagar]

"news blackout makes sense while the diplomats sort this out"

a. I think it is very likely "(and certainly Team Obama wouldn't want this publicized while they are suing Arizona)"
is the highest priority.

b. Do we know if any diplomats are working on it? No, because we have a news blackout. Do we have news blackout often? Read Journalist stories for the answer.

c. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the news released by police/sheriffs depts are affected by the views of individuals within the dept.

[cb1999]

Well it might not be true but it sure feels true. What kind of country is this where I can suspect such bad things are happening? Our feelings will take this country back. Palin 2012.

[Captain Hate]

Between your roots in SW Va

I meant to comment on this when Clarice was talking about that area yesterday or before: The contrast between people living in school-buses and shacks versus the opulence of The Homestead was something I remembered as a youth and revisited 9 years ago when Mrs H and I drove along Skyline Drive in October. Also the hot springs places right off the road that look like weird little planetariums; if you walk inside they look like something from "Cocoon" with people floating in the water.

[SDN]

Michelle Malkin is all over this one, and while there may not have been an "invasion" I wouldn't call it "All Quiet on the Southern Front" either.

[Pagar]

Police department / Obama admin views/ news releases might be affected by beliefs of individuals like This Chief.

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 20 at Raz today.

[Jane]

Minus 20 at Raz today.

Yippee!!!

[Clarice]

Minus 20! Oh, joy!! Joy!! joy!!

***

Capt Hate in the movie something else struck me as both truth and worthy of note. As poor as those houses and furnishings were, the kids played with toys rather like any other kids' toys and wore clothes like any other kids in America. The cost of clothing and toys here is that cheap.

In the depression, they's have been in rags with old spools and tire rims to play with.

In Europe ,toys and children's' clothing is still mindbogglingly expensive.

[Clarice]

**they'D have been in rags****

[Sue]

I didn't believe it yesterday when I read it. No way ranchers in South Texas would honor a news blackout. Anyway, it was too implausible to be believable.

[hrtshpdbox]

"Minus 20 at Raz today."

It's been there before, even -21 once back in June. Maybe when it slips down to -25 or so we'll also see pollsters like Time and Bloomberg finally showing overall negative approval ratings (currently +4 and +8, respectively).

[Manuel Transmission]

O/T, more notes from Inner Mongolia.

Had dinner this evening in Baotou at a 'Theme Park' of sorts. It was to be a compressed representation of Mongol life on the prairie. Started out in another yurt for dinner, but my sidekick got claustrophobic inside. Had to duck under about a 3-1/2 ft. door to get in and the table would have been small for some 8 yr olds having tea, so we went back to a main building where the central area was like a Vegas dinner/performance room, but on the majorly cheap.

The acts were pretty good with a wide selection of performers doing nominally authentic songs and dances in very elaborate costumes.

Dinner was about four times what we could all eat (as usual), but had a few new things from the area: goat, venison, beef tendons on a skewer (yuk), and a sort of deep fried noodle cooked to a crisp after being fashioned into large, flattened loops sort of like onion rings. They use some kind of pepper rub on the meat (IANA(cook)) that I have tasted at home. Not terribly hot, but great flavor.

Re the Mongolian Princess, we had dinner with her family a couple nights ago including a daughter fresh from OZ and looking to go to the states for her undergrad studies. Also a grandson from another daughter (not there) who was 16 mo. old and had perfect aural recall! This kid could recite poems, count to ten, pretty much echo back anything you said to him. He obviously didn't necessarily grok it all, but he had no trouble conversing with everyone throughout the evening. He is going to need a private tutor to keep from getting bored.

Also, I now have a fine tapestry portrait of Genghis Kahn so I will be able to get a proper picture of him to my left. Not Attila, but close.

[Old Lurker]

Cap'n, there is a timelessness to that part of the world that escapes me. Between the wonder of the Homestead and Greenbriar, and the shacks on blocks up the hollows, and the cycle of labor unrest that precludes permanent change...it's different place beyond the experience of most.

[PaulL]

I read David Ignatius today so that none of you had to. He actually had one paragraph worth reading:

A memorable Obama moment came when he was a young senator listening to a consummate politician, Joe Biden, ramble on as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Shoot. Me. Now," wrote Obama to one of his aides.

[Sue]

Paul,

Okay. That's funny.

[squaredance]

If only that aide had obliged...

it is like watching a bad sitcom in slow motion--with your Mother-in-Law.

[Pagar]

"Anyway, it was too implausible to be believable."
Why would we believe Govt signs says areas in Arizona are controlled by illegals and Americans should not venture in to those areas, yet believe it could not happen in Texas. Texas as well as many other states has isolated homes, farms, ranches etc where the occupants might not be missed for days/weeks/month. Could such areas be taken over by illegals? I would believe they could. Do I find any examples right off hand in Google? No, but I do know there is a search on for someone in Panama who allegedly took over another person's property for months.

[Jane]

hrtshpdbox - have you been away?

I have a complaint. Can we stop calling it the GREAT depression? What the hell was "great" about it.

MAN Tran- I can't believe you hang around in Mongolia.

[Pagar]

Here is part of an ongoing Panama apparent crime wave where the real property owner has not been seen Lately.

This is going to be a huge case with several countries involved. Don Winner and his www.panama-guide.com publized this story and can keep you up to date. The number of dead in this case is unknown at the present time.

[JM Hanes]

Count me into the SW Virginia contingent! Back before children, that's where I was, when I wasn't in SW Georgia. Those GA days are long gone, but not so, Virginia. My daughter is getting married right next door to Melinda territory this August. It's a whole lot souther and wester than White Sulphur Springs, though.

[JM Hanes]

Not having read any of the articles in question (just in case anyone has been missing our resident DIY theorist), it seems like it would be pretty easy to confuse Nuevo Laredo and Laredo, especially if residents of the latter were calling in reports of gunfire.

[PDinDetroit]

Just one more reason to have We The People armed for self-protection...

Speaking of the need for self-protection, see the LUN for what I am dealing with locally for Firearm Rights. I linked my latest email to the people involved, but there are many "interesting" statements made by City Commissioners on page 6.

[Army of Davids]

When Phoenix up to number 2 in the world in human trafficking there is a problem.

[Clarice]

Thanks for that report,Man Tran. I always feel privileged to hear of the wide flung travels of posters like you and daddy.

[Old Lurker]

I remember the pics you guys posted when you and Mel were trading stories, JMH.

My grandaddies owned coal mines that hauled coal to Norfolk on the tracks right past you and Melinda, so you can blame us if the trains woke you up. My brothers attended reform school, sorry Military School, in your area of VA, Mom went to women's college there, and Dad and I did grad schools at UVa. Mom and Dad taught me to drink "properly" at the old club in the Greenbriar and Dad taught me to ski at the Homestead.

Some memories, those.

It occurs to me that Bobby Byrd was our senator during all of those years that involved me...

[Old Lurker]

...and no, there are no white sheets in our past.

But Mom did show me how to spike a watermelon with moonshine so I could show the college boys up north.

[Captain Hate]

My brothers attended reform school, sorry Military School, in your area of VA

Staunton? My college roomie went there.

[Chubby (formerly Parking Lot)]

lefty or anarchist pranksters like the ones who put out the fake birth certificate that reeled in Orly Taitz might have floated this story

like Clarice said thank God her editors held back because taking the bait could have damaged the credibility of a lot of good writers

[Sue]

Pagar,

It was too implausible that it happened and there was no news coverage in Texas. From the story being repeated, the ranchers weren't missing.

It appears that the ranch owners have escaped without incident but their ranches remain in the hands of the blood thirsty cartels.

[Old Lurker]

Yep, Cap'n.

[Gmax]

I am with Sue on this one. Does not ring true. Run off your own land in South Texas maybe although I would bet on an exchange of gunfire instead, but the likelyhood that the rancher would not be screaming to everyone would listen including reporters? Zero.

[Captain Hate]

Funny, OL; my roomie was sent there to get his ass shaped up and not be a complete screwup, for which it was pretty, but not completely, effective. He's a great guy and we still stay in touch.

[Old Lurker]

Family lore has it that my youngest brother was expelled so quickly that he beat Mom and Dad home. Dad claimed he was kicked out before the tuition check cleared the bank.

[Old Lurker]

...and they REALLY screwed up my other brother. Poor guy has been a lawyer for thirty years.

[Captain Hate]

Oh dear God, I understand your shame...

[Clarice]

I have to tell you the first time I stepped into the Greenbriar with all that hideous cabbage rose themed wallpaper, carpeting and draperies, I felt myself to be in some Jewish nightmare . Just saying.

Loved the old fashioned spas and the grounds though.

[Old Lurker]

I actually remember when that wallpaper was put up...

[Clarice]

And you failed to stop that, OL!! How sinful. I forget the name of the famous designer who did that.(Was it Dorothy Draper? ).but in a better world that would have been a hanging offense.

[Clarice]

YES--It was Dorothy Draper.. http://parishotelboutique.blogspot.com/2009/07/dorothy-drapers-greenbrier.html>Thank goodness for gay decorators

[Old Lurker]

And then her style became the rage in Southern mansions after the roses and green carpeting at the Greenbriar. I have girl friends whose mothers copied some of those rooms in detail, circa 1960 or so.

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

"I felt myself to be in some Jewish nightmare . Just saying."

We used to go to the Greenbrier for our annual check-ups. Just sayin.'

Old Lurker:

Consider yourself blamed then! :-) I could always tell when a strike was over. The noise was barely perceptible, but you could put your ear up against the window glass, and feel the vibration when the trains started running again.

The dynamics of all that were interesting. Miners would strike over almost anything -- mine related or not -- when they wanted to see a change. They had gone out over a school board's decisions when I finally realized that striking was the only power they felt they could really bring to bear in any sphere. The owners were on the other end of that "feel my pain" stick, by the time I got to know that part of the country. Of course, you could pretty much count on a strike when the first day of hunting season rolled around.

We were right on the edge of the coal fields, where local men basically had to choose between leaving home, mining for a decent wage and paying for it with their health, or farming in the open air and living poor. I think brothers often split the difference between them. People were very self-sufficient, but at the same time, there was a powerful sense of community, and of neighbors showing up almost instantly to help each other out of trouble, that is really rare, in my experience. And no matter how poor folks were, when you'd show up for a covered dish dinner at the church, the first table you'd go by would be groaning with cakes and pies, brownies, lemon tarts, frosted cookies, banana puddings.....

[Clarice]

ARGH!!!!
Actually, I remember my mother using home modified version of that crap in out small cape cod style home.When we moved in the prior owner had decorated what was to become the bedroom of my sister and I with cabbage rose wallpaper. The first thing after we moved in, I begged my mother to help me get it down and replace it with paint.

Aren't we lucky that decorating is no longer the sole province of wealthy ill-educated socialite matrons? Although Sister Parrish (apparently a relative of Draper's) wasn't as bad.

[Clarice]

**some modified**
*our cape cod*

*my sister and ME*

Yuck--time to get away from my desk.

[Old Lurker]

JMH...we could trade stories for sure. You describe the area quite accurately.

As does Clarice about the decorators.

[centralcal]

Way off topic of the Greenbrier (although, I agree w/Clarice on the cabbage rose wall paper - yuck).....

Google is scary (yet wonderful) Back in February I was craving ribs (cooked indoors in the oven) and the posters here gave me all sorts of wonderful tips. They turned out to be the best ribs I ever cooked (texture wise, as well as flavor). Alas, I didn't write anything down, thinking it was all so simple I would remember.

So, today I am gonna cook ribs again except I can't remember EXACTLY how or what I did. Voila - Google! Took me to the correct justoneminute thread - first search result - and there was all the info.

I am thrilled, but also frightened at what Google can find when you search for it!

[Chubby (formerly Parking Lot)]

what did you use for your search string?

I'd love to read that thread

[centralcal]

Chubby:

justoneminute.com centralcal spareribs

[centralcal]

Oh, and I got quite laugh too, because in my first search I only put "ribs." Lo and behold in some thread I was talking about a knife twisting in someone's ribs - or something! Good grief, that doesn't sound like me, but there it was in black and white.

I told ya, google can be scary.

[JM Hanes]

centralcal:

Just be grateful there wasn't any video, and that you didn't put it in an email!

[Chubby (formerly Parking Lot)]

thank you !!!! my mouth is watering and haven't even done the search yet

[JM Hanes]

I can put up with cabbage roses if you serve me fresh, sauteed foie gras with a sauce of pan drippings and thumbnail sized beets.

[centralcal]

JMH - heh, to the first comment. And, I am so with you on the foie gras, pan drippings and baby beets.

[Dave H.]

Anyway, it was too implausible to be believable.
Posted by: Sue

It's not all that implausible, Sue. In May 2009 the Houston Chronicle reported this --

"FBI: Texas drug cell trains on own ranch"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6432122.html

[Clarice]

"I can put up with cabbage roses if you serve me fresh, sauteed foie gras with a sauce of pan drippings and thumbnail sized beets."

That must have been on the secret menu for WASPs at the Greenbrier, jmh. (Perhaps they identified you cause your eyes weren't swirling in your head from all that pink and green and hideous roses.) When I was last there--admittedly some time ago, the fare was less exquisite.

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

You had to ask the Chef for it. Nicely.

[Captain Hate]

We were right on the edge of the coal fields, where local men basically had to choose between leaving home, mining for a decent wage and paying for it with their health, or farming in the open air and living poor.

There's just no way that farming in that area can be profitable: Poor soil, difficult terrain for plowing, rocks all over the place, diminished sunlight, problematic water supplies. Even in higher elevations where some conditions are much better, such as the Santa Cruz mountains, it's hard to make a go of it in volumes large enough to be profitable.

[Ann Squaredance]

Clarice:

Kudos again on your AT Clarice's Pieces.

Mark Levin sends some too: Levin Tweet: Spread The Word

[Clarice]

I see.

[Captain Hate]

Mark is the best; I love how he tosses in some jibes at the Nixonian Republicans.

[Clarice]

Wow! Thanks, ann.

[Sue]

Dave,

Are you trying to say these 2 ranchers that escaped without incident are part of the cartel?

[Dave H]

Dave,
Are you trying to say these 2 ranchers that escaped without incident are part of the cartel?

Huh, Sue? No, I was just relaying a news story describing how the occupation of US ranches by this same drug cartel does happen, according to the FBI. I wrote nothing about escaped ranchers.

[Christy]

What a delightful and funny turn this thread has taken. I'm of an age to have been firmly imprinted by cabbage roses. For years I've been vaguely looking to replicate the look that brings to mind childhood. when God was in his heaven and all was right with the world.

Oh, and the Greenbrier of my youth was a state park in the Smokies. Our favorite spot was a trio of big rocks in the middle of the icy river that formed a waterfall and the very best natural water slide.

[Pagar]

Thanks Dave, I knew that article was somewhere I just couldn't find it.

There are people in Texas who noone knows who they Are. No one would be selling false documents if people weren't buying them.

Ranchers along the border admit they don't control what happens on their Land. I just don't see how it is possible to say we know what is going on on our side of the border all the time.

[centralcal]

Cool, Clarice! (the Mark Levin linky)

[Sue]

Dave,

The story you linked to was one that claimed ranches were being bought. Not one where ranchers escaped their own ranch. I didn't know what the connection was.

[JM Hanes]

Captain Hate:

Grass we can grow, and short season feed corn.etc.. It worked for dairies, cattle, sheep. We'd have droughts from time to time, but I can't remember a spring ever actually drying up. I have the impression that transportation was the real killer. You couldn't buy land and make a go of it, of course, you had to inherit it. Sadly, most of the family farms really are dead or dying, as the young have increasingly chosen option #1 and left.

It's extraordinary to see how much land was originally cleared, by hand, even in the upper reaches of what seem like impossibly steep slopes. There are old house sites everywhere, with nothing left to see, save for a few survivors from once ubiquitous orchards. We used to borrow the telephone repair truck for cherry picking, along the margins of the newly advancing woods.

[Sue]

Pagar,

So you think the story is true?

[Sue]

Just to clarify, the part I find implausible is that it happened, not that it could happen. The person who first reported it got the information from a minuteman in California. And no one in Texas knows anything about it. The names of the ranchers, the exact location of the ranches, unknown. Two Texas ranchers were chased from their ranches and no one knows who they were? I find this particular story implausible.

[JM Hanes]

Christy:

I know a trout stream in North Carolina like that. Bless the guy who invented neoprene socks -- my water sliding is strictly by accident.

[Pagar]

Sue, I'm not saying the story is true, what I'm saying is we can't safely ignore reports of border violence because there is no way we have all the facts. No one wants us to have all the facts

Meanwhile, The Obama Administration is sending in their top troops to defend what is important to Them and it's not our national border or the water in the Gulf.

[Captain Hate]

JMH, Mrs H's family comes from Iowa and I've seen the ranges of farming from excellent to "it's only a matter of time before he loses it". Even the really, really good one, who has things set up so logically that when we visit it's fun to help with the chores because they're so effortless, still loses money if the market goes bad. And that's in just about ideal conditions. It's not for everybody, which some of her other relatives have proven in no uncertain terms.

[Sue]

Pagar,

The truth about what goes on down there is bad enough without someone putting out false stories. There was a gunfight across the border in Neuvo Laredo about the same time this incident was supposedly happening. Maybe someone confused which side of the border? All I'm saying is this particular story struck me as implausible.

[centralcal]

Just watched a fun video clip at Johnny Dollar's. I guess it is from last night. Doug Schoen, Kirsten Powers, Ann Coulter and a gal with the last name Nikpour, have a panel discussion on lefty blogs and righty blogs while they await Al Franken to give the closing speech at the Kos Kids Konvention in Las Vegas.

Ann, when she is good, is really, really good. Over and over she asks for someone, anyone to name even one news story broken by the left blogosphere, as compared to the right blogosphere that has broken many stories. She also points out that Kos only attracted a paltry 2,000 attendees and that CPAC attracted over 10,000 to their convention, and appoximately 7,000 of those were under the age of 35.

If you're bored, go watch. Even Kirsten knows better than to tangle to forcefully with Ann!

[Strawman Cometh]

Ann smacking nopRick Snatchez (channeling CH) is up on Newsbusters. She's looking good, too, put on a little needed weight.

LUN Putin - Chapman sing along.

[daddy]

Sorry, Just woke up and haven't read any comments an am OT, but look at this just coming across on Instapundit fromThe Australian:

">http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/white-house-backed-release-of-lockerbie-bomber-abdel-baset-al-megrahi/story-e6frg6so-1225896741041"> White House backed release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi

"THE US government secretly advised Scottish ministers it would be "far preferable" to free the Lockerbie bomber than jail him in Libya.
Correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the Obama administration considered compassionate release more palatable than locking up Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in a Libyan prison."

anybody remember this: ">http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/media_supplies_the_outrage_for.html"> Media supplies the outrage for Obama. Sorry to be self referential, but seems the pieces are starting to fit. Good Morning!

[RichatUF]

I was thinking about that to daddy over on the other thread.

[Zeigeist?]

"Good Morning!"

I feel sure your body is stateside, but your mind is....where, New Zealand?

[mockmook]

thank you !!!! my mouth is watering and haven't even done the search yet

Posted by: Chubby (formerly Parking Lot) | July 25, 2010 at 02:03 PM

CC sticks a knife in someone's ribs, and your mouth waters?

This site gets stranger all the time ;)

[MarkO]

You can see by my outfit, that I am a cowboy.

[daddy]

Up above,

If you guys are thinking of ">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_Union_Military_Academy"> Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, I've a bit of way OT family history on that.

My Grandma Lala (short for Lottie Moon) was a Snead. The Sneads were deeded a massive piece of property in I think 1752 by the King Of England (Off the top I think it was King George.) We have an Old Deed I've seen (Xeroxed) with Thomas Jefferson's Signature on it. Lala was 102 when she died in I think 1995. In 1897 the family decided to donate part of the property to a Docter Hatcher to create a Military School for boys, with the Proviso, that since there were no decent schools around, they also had to educate girls of the town for the first few years.

Lala graduated in the last girls class, 1911, and from then on it was boys only. Her comment when she had to later attend college in Harrisburg (which became I think James Madison University years later) was that she hated the place because it being a Girls College at the time "There wasn't a pair of pants on the Property!" Lala was great!

Anyhow, Fork Union allows 1 member of the male descendants to attend free each year. Since it's sort of a Reform kind of School, my wife always joked that when we had kids, she'd have a Fork Union Military Academy Bumper Sticker taped to her sun visor in the car, so that if our future boys acted up in the back seat, we'd just drop down the sun visor and that'd put the fear of God in the little bastards about getting shipped off to FUMA---hee, hee, hee. Unfortunately we screwed up and had girls, so darn-it all, that threat never worked.

Anyhow, I can babble about more Lala stories there in Fluvana if anyone cares, but apparently it's unusual in that the property was never ever sold, so thats supposedly unusual in the State's, as very few places haven't changed hands since initially being deeded from The Brit King in Colonial Days.

So don't know if that's the Military Academy you guys are talking about, but if so, blame King George and Grandma Lala.

[centralcal]

OMG!!! Clarice got an Instalaunch! I predict she will be on Rush tomorrow, too!

[matt]

it is a curious sort of day elsewhere around the world. Illegal aliens are fleeing Arizona, I'm told, ahead of the pogroms. That paragon of reason Howard Dean is calling all and sundry who disagree with his politics racists. Hugo Chavez is threatening the USA with no more oil if Colombia attacks. One geek stabbed another with an autograph pen at Comic-Con.

The fleet is drilling off the Korean coastline as the ante in Iran is raised.Vlad the karate man is singing karaoke with the Rooshian spies. Wikileaks has dumped thousands of secret American documents saying we don't trust our Afghan and Pakistani allies.

The president played basketball at Ft. McNair yesterday, and his whereabouts today are unreported.

[Clarice]

Well, daddy, we'll just have to start a girl's school on a bit of adjacent property. (What a great story!)

[matt]

oh, and Peru is reporting hundreds of deaths from extreme cold conditions ranging from high altitudes to the Amazonian jungle.

[larry]

My high school brother once held all the pigskin toting records at Staunton. He was there trying to better his college entrance scores and get into the USAF Academy. He was a good enough athlete that U's of Michigan & Illinois offered me free ride to be his roomie/tutor. I played (Played 1 1/2 yrs in college.), but not at athletic scholarship level.

[Dave H]

Dave,
The story you linked to was one that claimed ranches were being bought. Not one where ranchers escaped their own ranch. I didn't know what the connection was.

Again, Sue, I've not referred to "escaped ranchers" - I'm not hung up on that.

The point is that this particular drug cartel is obviously interested in getting a hold of properties within the US to act as bases of operation and from which to strike perceived enemies.

For my money it doesn't matter if they get the property via home invasion or through Century 21. And it's not as if they were above breaking the law to get what they want.

[matt]

My update on the massive document release at Wikileaks on Pakistani involvement in Afghanistan. The LSE report has pretty much been fully vindicated. LUN.

[larry]

Laredo: Rolled in midnight in August '62. It was 108. That's degrees. Fahrenheit. ONE. HUNDRED. EIGHT. AT. MIDNIGHT. Wasn't a dry heat either. In the middle of a 40+ day stretch where the fahrenheits stayed above a hundred continuously.

[larry]

Laredo: Reported for unarmed combat one morning after the exterminator had visited. We found 80+ dead or dying tarantulas.

[matt]

They have been busting a lot of the druggies who have set up shop on the California side to escape the gang wars on the Mexican side. It's just a matter of time until that explodes as well.

The government just indicted and began picking up hundreds of them. This was verified in a real newspaper or two. This may be what is happening in Texas as well. It's safer in the USA for now.

[larry]

Laredo: Next to the definition of wide open spaces is a picture of South Texas from 50,000 feet. In the 150 miles between Laredo and San Antonio is Cotulla, where I never saw a soul on the street, where Lyndon Johnson taught school, and Dilly, the watermelon capitol.