April 2006

The Chicaps are coming, the Chicaps are coming.....

The American people were given a lesson this week and most missed it.

Hu came to American and was courted by Business and welcomed but not fawned over by our Government.

I maintain that China is bifurcated into waning communists and ascending capitalists. For many in America and perhaps most on Free Republic, The fact there is a transition under way that can not be overcome by old prejudice. The HU message was the Chicps want and need American products and will buy them in preferences to Euro stuff because a close tie with America is mutually beneficial.

Bill Gates et al in Washington State played good cop by wining and dining and red carpet treatment. They want the business

The President in Washington DC played bad cop by criticizing the various shortcomings including basic human rights. The government will not go out in front to lead the love China charge.

Both leaders were playing to their base. The Chicaps needed the welcome news of close ties to corporate America and Bush needed to keep his base happy by keeping the democracy issue feet to the fire.

There was great relief and intense celebration at the sudden break that signaled the end of the Soviet Union. The celebration has turned out to be unwarranted because although an enemy was no more, the Russian people were suddenly cast into a dismal abyss from which there appears no recovery. The current future is at best very dismal.

China on the other hand has no sudden break. There is a transition under way that is slow and controlled and apparently satisfactory with the Chinese people. There are those who want everything now but apparently the masses are comfortable with more moderately paced rate of change. The rate is blinding in many areas and imperceptible in others, but the change is underway.

To effect such a change in half a century is not an unreasonable historic event. If gradients are drawn from Hong Kong where life is on par with the best of the west to the most remote and backward Chinese village the slope must be shallow.Common sense dictates the village cannot be lifted up to Hong Kong modernity immediately. The task of nation building from roads and power and new political structures and freedom is immense. The process of change on such a huge scale is slow and cumbersome.

The message Hu delivered to America is join us as we make the journey.

Perky Katie and Uncle Walter

The cartoon has layers of meaning, perhaps one can read more than was intended

At first glance there is the comparison with the superficial leftist with the most trusted man in America. Say what you will now about uncle Walter, but the fact is he was the voice America, trusted, and respected. His mane of near white hair provided the illusion of wisdom. His experience as a reporter and war correspondent was yet more reason for respect. One story he told was about the D Day landing. In the confusion he lost his helmet and picked up one he found on the beach. He scurried to safety to get his bearings only to find a host of soldiers hugging his rear. He had donned the helmet of a slain officer and the troopers followed his lead. The bar on the back of the replacement helmet led them to do so.

Now comes his antitheses , Perky Katie. She tries to look young and beautiful. She exudes charm. She grew up trodding the path already deeply furrowed by her predecessors. She may have done some reporting, but mostly she was talk TV. She read some news provided by others and she interviewed people dumb enough or desperate enough to submit to her sugared blather or her vile recriminations. She was an on camera cheer leader, cheering her left wing team on or vigorously defaming her opposition

There are lots of ways to compare the two but it is near certain that no one would follow the Perky one up a beach under fire. The concept is inconceivable. Her-audience will be old folk. They will reject her in total. Her days as a newsie are over before she begins. If she has any success at all it will be as an interviewer. For that to happen, the 6:30 news will be gone from CBS.

The cartoon says something about CBS as well. There is a big empty chair. The empty chair is metaphor for what once was a big news organization. It is now an empty chair. It has lost the best audience and struggles on handicapped like General Motors with an overabundance of old and burnt out employees.

There is also a big empty table. The table has no papers or scripts just a CBS with Katie will have lost the ability to have a real pro convey the news. A shrunken CBS can't handle the Chair or the desk.

CBS Evening News is Gone. CBS evening talk will soon begin.

Southern Arizona Border Observations

Earlier in March I visited the border between Arizona and Mexico and actually drove about 90 miles taking it all in.

I wanted to see the situation for myself so I spent some of my vacation time checking out the territory.Arizona FReepers advised me to not miss Bisbee and once there I realized I was on the border.

Bad weather prevented the up close trip on a dirt road between the Coranado monument and Nogales but I was able to travel a parallel road 5 or six miles to the north.

I observed the territory from about 16 miles east of Douglas to Nogales. For most of the way Mexoco was always in view but the precise location of the border could not be discerned. My conclusion was that in the highly visable landscape a wall would be a waste. Long vistas are possible and people can be easily seen illegally crossing the border. The minute men are right. Strategically placed observation posts should be able to spot most trying to come across.

East of Douglas the border is flat. The road is close to the border. There is lots of Border Patrol Activity. i wittnessed two BP SUV's at a burning Camero. I guess they were waiting on a fire unit or maybe just watching it burn. There were no illegals. I wittnessed two SUV's with presumedly captured illegals in the back. Near the cut off to the Slaughter Ranch I crossed a wash. On the south side of the bridge there were lots of foot prints. On the northside there were the tracks of a vehicle that had turned around. Actually there were several such tracks. The wash ran right down to Mexico about a mile away and was obviously a conduit. There was not a lot of trash I expected to see.

I checked out the border east of Naco just south of Bisbee. I think this is where the Minutemen were last year. I saw nothing resembling Minutemen but believe they may have resumed the activity this week. It too has long vistas and observation posts could easily pick up movement across the desert.

The trip from the Coranado National monument westward to Nogales was pretty exciting. The long awaited rain and wind arrived. It had not rained in Arizona for 136 days so there was excitement at the prospect. Although it did not actually rain much there as promised, we chose not to take the 45 miles of dirt road and the potential washed out water hazards opting for a parallel road to the north.

We were dogged by a BP van as we climed the mountain from the park. We stopped at the top to let it pass and to view the spectacular landscape to the west. It is wild and rugged but you can see forever. Once again, a wall or fence seemed impractical, the visibility is too good.

We finally caught up with the BP van. There were two others and a BP SUV or two alnon with maybe 20 illegals. Some were in the vans and some were sitting on the ground. There were a bunch of BP officers as well. They checked us out closely......might have been the transport for the illegals. We could not have taken many in our Nissen Xtera. We did pass a Hippy green VW bus on the mountain and presume it was aborted transport for the captured illegals. The presence of any vehicles on the remote road was noteworthy.

There are two common BP vehicles. White Suv's will accommodate 4 or 5 captured illegals. For more than that the BP uses 15 passenger vans. Both are seen pretty often is Southern Arizona.

We stopped for gas and ests in Sonoita Arizona. There was visably large BP activity there. As we left town we could see why. There was a big BP base there. The fence containing at least 50 of the various BP vehicles had a "Help Wanted" sign.

If you are looking for work, they're hiring at the Border Patrol in Sonita AZ.

We headed into the populated area around Nogales and ceased our observations. Suddenly as we climbed a hill there were 5 or six people running across the road right in front of us. Looking to the side there were many others. I would guess 15 or so, all running up a draw between the hills. All were carrying gallon jugs and some had plastic bags. The survey ended with a spectacular array of illegals. I said they were running but one heavy and tired woman was waddeling up the trail obviously distressed. They were in trouble because the bad weather did actually come and they were not prepared..