Amy Winehouse--The Train Wreck That Finally Happened

Amy Winehouse--Dead at 27

Every generation comes along--and I'm not excluding my own--thinking that they have discovered new truths that somehow escaped every generation that went before. And then they run into the brick wall of reality. Amy Winehouse was an exceptionally talented girl who decided that drugs were wonderful and until now they gave her a way to avoid reality.   Unfortunately, the history of drug use was something that was ignored in her education. Had it not been, she would have seen, and hopefully heeded, the warning signs left by Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain, to name just a few of the famous ones. One wag, I forget who, said, “Cocaine was just God’s way of telling you that you had too much money;” but that just makes a poor joke of a deadly situation.

Amy had been in and out of treatment for years but her enablers kept her supplied with the drugs her body craved and which eventually wore it out until it just stopped. And now she’s dead. I’m sure that she wasn’t ready to die--at least there has been no announcement of a suicide note--so she’s probably wondering WTF (and that’s not ‘Win the Future’ here, folks) happened? Keep her--and Jimi, Jim, Janis, Elvis and Kurt--in mind next time someone tells you drugs are cool and it’s just “the man” that keeps them from the people and that they should be legalized as a libertarian principle. Keep them in mind when you hear pundits and politicians talk about the “failure of the War on Drugs” and how we should just give up and legalize them. Keep them in mind when you hear that, ask yourself, “Should we just give up fighting something thats bad just because we’ve not done a perfect job of defeating it already? Or should we realize the reality that drugs aren’t bad because they are illegal but that they were made illegal because they were bad?”

That’s just my rant for the day as I hate to see young people die needlessly whether they are talented as Amy was, or just some kid who never had a chance because he was poor, from a broken family and lived in a city suffering from decades of liberal political policies.

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Fil-Am who committed suicide negative for drugs

Was it a case of desperation or death before dishonor?  

In what I initially viewed as a sad case there is now a new twist.  It seems that LCDR Scintar Mejia, USN, did not have drugs in his possession.  I can now imagine his complete and total despair at being accused of having drugs in his possession because he could clearly see that no matter the outcome of the investigation, his career in the United States Navy was clearly going to end.  When he arrived in Manila to visit his extended family he did so as one who is a hero.  He had not only done well in the United States but had become an officer in the military which was a most honorable accomplishment.  In his mind I'm certain that he could see that all that he had sacrificed for was being torn away from his grasp.  Instead of honor he was faced with guilt by suspicion at best or, at worst, dishonor and jail.

Was Mejia a drug user as confirmed by a post-mortem toxicology screen?  Was the sachet of powder in his bag, now known to be just powder and not a drug, a joke planted by a relative jealous of his accomplishments?  Was it placed there to take him down a notch or two from his perch of honor?  Or was it merely something slipped into the bag through slight of hand right there at the Manila airport with the idea of extracting a healthy bribe?  We will probably never know now that Mejia in a fit of total desperation threw himself into a stairwell thus ending what appears to have been a promising life.  Any of the above is a possibility but none of the above are certain.

Suicide is never easy to explain but in this case, it appears that the wrongful accusation of a poorly trained airport security inspector played a significant role.  I can only hope that the results of the investigation are fully aired.

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Lone Police Officer in Mexican Border Town Remains Missing

Chief of Police Erika Gandara.  Very brave but very outgunned.  

I was most critical of El Presidente Felipe "Too Short" Calderon earlier year when he had the extreme gall to come to the United States and criticize Arizona for its efforts to control its common border with Mexico.  At the time I strongly suggested that he clean-up his own litter box before trying to tell us how to run our nation.  He clearly hasn't done so either because he is inept or because he would rather maintain the status quo.  He of course is comfortable, safe, rich and far removed from the daily violence that sparked Arizona's legislative action.  Far removed from anything but the money that flows into Mexico via remittances from the illegal alien Mexicans working in the United States.

Now we have a situation in Mexico that hasn't turned out like all the movies Hollywood has made.  You know what I mean.  The movies where the hero/heroine takes a stand and faces down the bad guys bringing law and order to the poor citizens of some unnamed, dusty western town.  Hollywood's suspension of reality allows us to watch such a movie where the villains can't shoot straight and the good guys never miss and believe it could be real.  Reality, unfortunately, is that a lone police officer stands little chance of defeating determined evil especially if evil is backed by a dozen or so killers armed to the teeth.

Erika Gandara, Chief of Police of the small Mexican border town of Guadalupe, is a very brave young lady.  She was willing to take a job that men in her community ran from not because they were necessarily cowards but because they knew the reality of their situation and had families to worry about.  She was willing to put her life on the line for the ideal of bringing peace, law and order to her community in the face of a very determined and very evil Mexican criminal element bent on trafficking drugs on their own terms.  In Mexico that is the reality and "Too Short" is short not only in stature but in any ability to control crime in the country that elected him el presidente.  It's a shame that Mexico, a beautiful country populated with wonderful people, has suffered from successive failures in leadership in the central government.  The people there deserve much better than they are getting and they know it.  That is why so many undertake the perilous trek north into the United States where their future is uncertain but also where they know there is, at least, some safety and justice.  If their entry wasn't unlawful I would feel for them; but the reality of the situation is that it is their own government--you know, the one led by "Too Short" Calderon--that drives them from their homes through its abject failure to provide for their security.  And it seems that the government of Mexico is in no hurry to change things because those who come here as illegal aliens send dollars back to their families in Mexico that eventually winds up in the bank accounts of the Mexican elite.  It is, you might say, financially beneficial if things remain as they are.

Police Chief Gandara's whereabouts is unknown as is her fate.  The reality of the situation, again unlike Hollywood's movies, is most grim.  We should all pray for her.  I know I shall.  But if the worst becomes reality, the blood of this heroine is on the hands of El Presidente Calderon just as surely as it is on the hands of men who took her at gunpoint and burned her home.

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Hubert Webb's Press Conference - Genuine Justice at Last!

Free at last!  

It was an early Christmas for the Webb family and for all who believe in justice.

Some 15 years ago Hubert Webb, the son of former Philippine Senator Freddie Webb, was convicted in court for his involvement in the notorious Vizconde Massacre in the Philippines.  For those of us who were in the Philippines and familiar with the case, it was a conviction based not on fact or evidence but on the exploitive media who convicted Webb in the court of public opinion long before he ever sat down before the bar of justice...or what was supposed to be a bar of justice.

My long time and trusted friend, Retired FBI Special Agent Bob Heafner, will be most pleased with this Philippine Supreme Court decision.  Bob had handled all the US leads in the case as the LEGATT (Embassy-speak for "Legal Attaché") in Manila during the investigation by the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police.  The FBI's work on the case proved beyond any doubt that young Hubert Webb was in the United States at the time of the murder; but their evidence was not allowed to be presented in the court by the sitting judge, a woman whose name escapes me at the moment but who clearly deserves to be forgotten in the dustbins of history.  Why wasn't the FBI's evidence allowed, you ask?  Because the learned (???) judge ruled that the U.S. Secretary of State was not there in court to testify to its veracity.  The judge, clearly predetermined to find the defendant guilty, set the standard for the introduction of the FBI's evidence irrationally and impossibly high.  Higher than the international norm--the evidence was presented with the appropriate seal of the United States and attested to by the U.S. State Department which is normal--and clearly so high as to prevent its introduction as evidence.  Other than the tabloid--actually it was so bad that it is almost an insult to real tabloid papers to use that descriptive term--journalism which had already convicted Webb, we may never know exactly why the judge was so determined to prevent any exculpatory evidence from being introduced in this case.  We--and I use this as inclusive of all the U.S. law enforcement officers at the U.S. Embassy--had our suspicions and even had a couple of phone calls from informants telling us who was behind the frame-up but we had no proof nor did we have the authority to investigate it.  It was, after all, a matter on the internal affairs of the Republic of the Philippines and we could only assist as requested by Philippine authorities.  Suffice it to say that then Senator Freddie Webb, Hubert's father, had previously embarrassed numerous personalities in the Philippines, some with a significant amount of power and wealth, with his Senate hearings on a drug case, a 5,000 kilogram methaqualone seizure, which I handled as the DEA Country Attaché.  Could it have been revenge?  Quite likely but absent a death bed confession by the real killers or someone who was behind framing young Hubert, we'll never know.

Today, however, I am smiling.  The Philippine Supreme Court ruled, as lawyer friends in the Philippines had always assured me it would, wisely and correctly if but slowly.  I consider this ruling a wonderful personal Christmas present, as I'm sure does Bob Heafner, for the satisfaction that I feel in finally seeing justice done.  I am sure that the happy impact of this pre-Christmas ruling on the Webb family is greater than any of us can imagine.

What still troubles me is that the trail of the actual murderers is now ice cold.  The authorities at the time took (read "were directed to") the easy and popular route and any evidence that didn't point to Webb, et al., was discarded and is now lost.  This means that the father who lost his family, Lauro Vizconde, will most likely never see the real killers brought to justice.  It also means that those killers have been free to rape and kill again all this time.  Mr. Vizconde should be in our prayers this holiday season as his loss was even greater than the injustice suffered by Hubert.  (It should be noted that Mr. Vizconde remains absolutely convinced that it was Webb, et al., who murdered his wife and two daughters.  I attribute this to the horrendous publicity of the time and that which he was told by Philippine officials in support of their case theory which played heavily on his emotional state.)  For Lauro Vizconde I am truly sad.

As for Hubert, all I can say is Merry Christmas!  You deserve it.

As a matter of disclosure, as the Country Attaché for DEA at the U.S. Embassy in Manila I did work with then Senator Webb on drug issues and grew to like and respect him.  We've not been in contact for over a decade, but I've no doubt that a terrible weight has finally been lifted off his shoulders.  God Bless you and your family this Christmas, Freddie.  I'm sure that it will be a great celebration.

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Ex-DEA chiefs: Obama should sue over Calif. pot legalization just like Ariz. immigration law

This is the attitude that the Neo-Lib Democrats support and spread.  You know this guy will vote Democrat in November.

While the headline of this story talks of my former agency (of which I am very proud) the story is really about the hypocrisy of the Obama Regime and, in particular, Attorney General Eric Holder.  Holder, an abject failure who if he had the integrity that his office requires would resign, got all "wee-wee'd up" about the Arizona immigration law and sued to maintain "federal supremacy."  On California which is proposing to legalize possession of up to 1 oz. of marijuana  in direct conflict with federal law (21 USC), ehhhh, not so much.

As this article from the normally liberal LA Times points out, the failure of the federal government to react to California's assertion that state law should trump federal law shows clearly that the action against Arizona is not about federal supremacy at all but is based on political motives.  That the LA Times reported this is surprising but anyone with common sense could have told you that months ago.  Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, is doing nothing more than her Democrat predecessor (DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano) advocated when she was governor.  The only difference is the politics and the gut need of the Neo Libs in the Obama Regime to play racial politics in the same manner as Lyndon Johnson did in his efforts to pass the same Civil Rights Act, albeit a watered down version, that he successfully blocked when it was proposed by President Eisenhower.  Johnson, a southern Democrat, didn't force the Civil Rights Act through Congress because of a change of heart but, as is clearly shown by his own words to two southern governors flying with him aboard Air Force One, he knew by doing so the black community would "vote Democrat for the next 200 years."  (Actually, if you read the quote, he used the "N" word in describing the black community.)  So far LBJ has been shown to be correct but only because the Democrats have economically enslaved a large portion of that group through the enactment of welfare programs that make them dependent on Neo-Lib Democrat supported governmental largess.  (It also helps that they have dumbed-down education in large metropolitan–read black–areas with the help of the Democrat-created public sector employee unions, but that's another story.)

Thinking people have already seen that the Obama Regime's actions are political in nature and designed to benefit the Regime rather than the nation.  The suits against Arizona and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who interestingly enough retired from DEA, are based in Chicago thug politics and deserve not only to fail but should do so before the Supreme Court in straight 9-0 votes.  America deserves better than such thuggery.

Remember this in November.

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Brutal DEA agent murder reminder of agency priority

I remember Kiki Camarena well.  He was a very good man.  Intensely serious about the job and someone you knew you could count on to be there when needed.

I was in Thailand when he died and it doesn't seem like 25 years ago to me.  Unfortunately, little has changed since his death.  Mexico is still rife with corruption.  The government is still ineffective.  The people are still poor.  They still resent the United States for having been successful where they have basically failed.  Their only hope for success is the bogus reconquista movement but, even if that were a reality, their culture of corruption would lead to the same poverty in the reconquered areas that are now in the United States.

Kiki's death is remembered by those of us who carried the same badge but the politicians clearly have forgotten.  To them he is yesterday's news and won't help in their re-election campaigns this November.  Likewise with the war on drugs.  The politicians have abdicated their leadership and have consistently cut the heart out of what I believe is one of the best law enforcement organizations at the Federal level.  Drugs are available just about everywhere because they, the politicians, just don't care to really address the problem.  The "progressive" answer is, of course, to adopt a more relaxed attitude towards drugs because it's easier to control a people that are high than those who are attached to reality.

Kiki exemplified the courage and dedication of all DEA Special Agents.  He gave his life for his country.  He will not be forgotten.

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Inside the Beltway - Washington Times

Inside the Beltway - Washington Times

And in return, over the objections of DEA and the DEA Administrator, President Nixon gave Elvis Presley a DEA Special Agent's badge. Quite ironic considering Presley's death a few years later.

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Narco-Terrorism 2010

The DEA became quite familiar with narco-terrorism in the 1980's and was successful in destroying several major groups. Now the Islamic terrorists are getting involved with drugs in a big way because it's profitable--you can't run a terrorist operation without money--and because the drugs help tear down their enemy: The United States.

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Denver Reportedly Has More Pot Dispensaries Than Starbucks Shops - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Denver Reportedly Has More Pot Dispensaries Than Starbucks Shops - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

When you think about it, this is absolutely ridiculous. This story shows that the liberal-progressive-socialists have partially succeeded in their drive to sedate Americans through drugs. Imagine: more stores selling marijuana than coffee. Imagine: we have a society that vociferously condemns the use of tobacco but is on the verge of the virtual legalization of marijuana. Think about that for a little while.

Marijuana burns hotter than tobacco so is harder on the lungs. Yet tobacco is absolutely condemned because of it's harm to the lungs and, speciously, to the lungs of others. Marijuana is just as addictive as tobacco, albeit for different reasons. Marijuana's other effects on the human body are largely unexplored but we do know that babies of marijuana smoking mothers are smaller and weigh less. We do know that the body has no way to eliminate THC so stores it in body fat. There are several hundred cannabinoids in marijuana but most research has only been done on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which is the one that makes you high. The effect of the other cannabinoids is not generally known. Marijuana does affect short term memory and some males experience breast enlargement. Marijuana is an entry drug to the drug culture. These are all truths about marijuana. So why is it being promoted? Why is it being allowed? What is the difference between it and tobacco?

The primary difference is, of course, that marijuana sedates the populace making the users easier to manipulate. People on a marijuana high are usually only hungry for food, not freedom. Ergo, liberal-progressive-socialists support it's legalization and use under "medical conditions."

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