A post I saw on Facebook gave me an idea for this blog. A lot of people are worried at the moment because things don’t seem as good as usual in Ajijic, Lake Chapala.

The post said that although things are not so good here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala it is the same worldwide and this too shall pass.
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THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC REALITY

First: A reality check on Mexico

Mexico is in a unique position to reap many of the benefits of the decline of the US economy. In order to not violate NAFTA and other agreements the U.S.A. cannot use direct protectionism, so it is content to allow the media to play this protectionist role. The U.S. media – over the last year – has portrayed Mexico as being on the brink of economic collapse and civil war. The Mexican people are either beheaded, kidnapped, poor, corrupt, or narco-traffickers. The American news media was particularly aggressive in the weeks leading up to spring break. The main reason for this is money. During that two-week period, over 120,000 young American citizens poured into Mexico and left behind hundreds of millions of dollars.

Let’s look at the reality of the massive drug and corruption problem, kidnappings, murders and money. The U.S. Secretary of State Clinton was clear in her honest assessment of the problem. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent the weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” Clinton said. The other large illegal business that is smuggled into the U.S.A. that no one likes to talk about is Human Traffic for prostitution. This “business” is globally now competing with drugs in terms of profits.
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This letter is worth reading.

Go to www.newamericamedia.org and enter the above title in search. Very interesting and positive information about our country.

This is an article by Johnny Punish on www.veteranstoday.com web site published June 9th, 2011. It is not perhaps the language I would use but I wanted to share its content with you.

Here we go again…..it’s like a daily ritual with the USA mainstream media. Today’s fake reality show episode comes to us from MSNBC with the omnious title “Time to say adios to Mexico travel?”.

In this paranoid fearmongering post, they take a poll asking “Would you visit Mexico given the worsening violence in some areas?”. The results are ugly and telling.

Eighty-Four percent (84%) of their readers chimed in shaking and quivering pushing that keyboard with an empahtic NO! I am sure if the button read NO F&#$ING WAY, that would be even more popular cause we’re dealing hysteria here folks.

How do I know? LOL! Because I have been living and travling all over Mexico for the past 12 years and that’s how I know and my wife of 26 years is Mexican.

For those of you 84 percenters, it’s called first hand knowledge and experience. Is that more credible than idiot pawn reporters working and getting paid by mainstream media living in the USA? What do you think? Yes, think!

Even more funny is that there are over 1,000,000 Americans living in Mexico who are laughing with me at this bullshit. Because Mexico is such a wonderful place to live, work, and travel, most of us get pissed off when hear this complete and utter bullshit over and over from US main stream media. That’s the first reaction. But since this war on Mexico has been going on for years now, after a while, we just start to realize that the USA is just neurotic, period! No hope!

After we get passed this accpetance, then we start to think…..geez us, maybe they should build that wall so we can keep this 84% out of Mexico. They have no clue on how stupid they sound when they try to talk about something they know nothing about. Worse, they are convinced that they live in the best most free country in the world even though there is NO evidence in 2011 that supports this bullshit.

USA # 1 right? Yeah, keep yelling it until you believe it with all your heart and then get your ass handed to you by the facists in Washington DC who control every aspect of your life. This is not 1950s America folks, this is Gattaca 2011.

I mean, we are talking about Mexico here; great weather, beautiful beaches, gorgeous señoritas, awesome and rich culture, friendly people with 1950′s American family values, and a heart that beats happy all day and night. No wars except the fake Drug War that the USA just loves to keep alive.

On the ground here, there is NO WAR. Read that again so you know its’ not a typo! NO WAR! Okay!

For 111,000,000 Mexicans, the war is virtually a non-issue. It’s just not in their face. Now, if you happen to be in the “selling drugs to sick Americans biz”, then, yes, you’d see it….everyday! No doubt about it. But in reality for most everyday Mexicans, this place is safer than most places on the planet.

Do you remember when kids used to walk down main street without fear? Yeah, I bet you do…..well in Mexico, they don’t wish this….this is how it is. The only place that have a high level of paranoia are in Juarez, a small city bordering Texas, and Mexico City with its over 25 million people.

In Juarez, the gangs are fighting to see who can sell drugs to those who demand them in the USA. The profits are so big that’s it’s out of control there. No question about it.

And in Mexico City, hey, there over 25 million people living there. What do you think it’s going to be? Do you walk around New York City with your head in the clouds? Come on! You need to be vigilant in any major metropolitian area. That’s normal. So save the stupid comments okay! I am talking about all of Mexico and not just Juarez or Mexico City. Heck, do you idiots travel to downtown Detroit for your vacation? Get real! Geez us people! Come on!

Anyway, yeah Mexico’s has more poverty than the USA….Opps! Scratch that! I was looking at 1998 stats! Opps! Mexico “used” to have more poverty than the USA. I mean given the complete USA meltdown over the last 10 years, believe me Mexicans are way more wealthy then the indebted enslaved brow beaten servants that the USA tries to call it’s middle class.

Heck my neighbor who lives in a colorful blue 500 sq. ft shack making $ 50 a week at the local fish plant is more wealthy than most Americans. At least she owns her own house! That’s right! Free and clear and her property tax is just $ 150 a year. Yep! That’s it. She don’t need no nuerotic BS about retiring when she’s 65 and some financial planning from a bankster who’s just going to rip her off.

And don’t get me started on healthcare in Mexico…..lets’ just say my daughter who is stuck in Dallas waiting in line at a doctors office with 50 others is begging to come to Mexico and get health care where doctors are trained to treat patients not insurance companies. Yeah! No waiting…..just go in and you can get 1 hour of face time with a GP, easy. And for $ 25. Not $ 500 for 10 minutes!

Anyway, the point is…..that all this bullshit about Mexico is fake made up BS from a determined US media who is aiming straight at the resort industry in Mexico.

And the truth is that this strategy is working. Just like when they scared the crap out of Joe American with their WMD bullshit and their Osama Bin Laden terror alerts waving all those dangerous yellows, oranges, and reds at us. All non-sense, yes! But effective like no other! Powerful stuff!

I mean, yeah, check it, I have a cousin Jethro who lives in Alabama. He has the stupid gall and arrogance to tell me how dangerous it is here in Mexico. Yeah, go figure! What a jerk! I told him to take his stupid right wing sorry dumb ass and plant it back on his Fox Idiot News Channel and stay the heck over there with his face planted on the “news”. This Joe-the Plumber moron deserves his ignorance for never questioning the sources of his “news” and “information”.

Of course, guaranteed, there will be 84% of you Jethro’s reading this who’ll side with my cousin and will have the stupidity to write lame ass comments here telling me how wrong I am and how right you are! You betcha! Heck you can put money on it right now! But to these fools I say “We got Osama Bin Laden, Yippee!”

But really, it’s not their brainwashed fault but the fault of their leadership who plays this game on them. And that’s the truly sad and tragic part of this story. Americans are the real losers here, not Mexico. Very seriously, I can’t tell you how sad it makes us expats who know the truth because we actually live and see both sides. It’s heartbreaking really.

Mexico has virtually accepted the fact that their fellow North American neighbor is just so over the top gone that it’s useless to even try.

Mexico has a growing middle class and their education system is providing their huge and large young population with better access to the future. The government and corporate PR advertising is getting stronger and promoting good responsible stuff to the youth. Its’ really good here. Impressive!

Can you ID the drug dealers on this dangerous beach in Playa del Carmen?

Now Mexico is reaching out to the rest of the global world to attract business and relying less and less on the USA for it’s travel industry.

I think that’s a great strategy that will bring dividends because, sadly, the USA is hopeless market! We’re dealing with a country that has 84% of it’s population believing that Mexico is dangerous when it’s the exact opposite. The USA is far more dangerous than Mexico!

Strange huh! Hearing that truth has gotta go against the mainstream but it is exactly true! Sorry to hurt your feelings!

In the end, the determination to assassinate the character of Mexico is too strong and deliberate by US main stream media.

There are many suspects for this delibrate attack but like all things in the USA, war is convoluted, ugly, messy and profitbale; so you know someone is making money off this deal. But who? It certainly ain’t cousin Jethro! And you? Are you making money off this deal? No? And now you’re mentally not able to come to a Mexican resort and enjoy hot warm oceans on sandy white beaches….really! Sucks to be you!

Now for those Americans living in Mexico reading this, I know I have been very direct with my fellow Americans here but the time to be subtle is over.

We tried being polite. Being polite and accomodating the neuroris is not working.

It’s time to hit back hard now and tell them the truth. Yes, the truth! Even if it hurts or they push back with made up FOX “facts”, sadly, it’s time to hit them back harder and maybe, just maybe, we can save a few from the grips of the brainwashing facsists posing as freedom sellers in blue and brown suits!

God Bless America …….and Mexico too!

First: A reality check on Mexico

Mexico is in a unique position to reap many of the benefits of the decline of the US economy. In order to not violate NAFTA and other agreements the U.S.A. cannot use direct protectionism, so it is content to allow the media to play this protectionist role. The U.S. media – over the last year – has portrayed Mexico as being on the brink of economic collapse and civil war. The Mexican people are either beheaded, kidnapped, poor, corrupt, or narco-traffickers. The American news media was particularly aggressive in the weeks leading up to spring break. The main reason for this is money. During that two-week period, over 120,000 young American citizens poured into Mexico and left behind hundreds of millions of dollars.

Let’s look at the reality of the massive drug and corruption problem, kidnappings, murders and money. The U.S. Secretary of State Clinton was clear in her honest assessment of the problem. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent the weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” Clinton said. The other large illegal business that is smuggled into the U.S.A. that no one likes to talk about is Human Traffic for prostitution. This “business” is globally now competing with drugs in terms of profits.

It is critical to understand, however that the horrific violence in Mexico is over 95% confined to the three transshipping cities for these two businesses, Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales. The Mexican government is so serious about fighting this, that they have committed over 30,000 soldiers to these borders towns. There was a thoughtful article written by a professor at the University of Juarez. He was reminded of the Prohibition years in the U.S.A. and compared Juarez to Chicago when Al Capone was conducting his reign of terror capped off with The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. During these years, just like Juarez today, 99% of the citizens went about their daily lives and attended classes, went to the movies, restaurants, and parks.
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This has indeed been a very emotional week-end for a myriad of reasons.

On Friday was the beautiful and inspiring Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. This was a wonderful event watched around the world which brought hope to many for a better tomorrow.

Saturday a dear and treasured friend left to return to Canada after a splendid and eventful 5 month visit and she will be sorely missed.

Sunday there was an unheard of and rare occurrence when at 9:00 pm in the evening President Barack Obama called a news conference in the East Wing of the White House and the speculation ran rampant as the announcement was delayed over an hour.

When he finally did enter the briefing room it was to announce to the world that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in a covert Navy Seal operation in Abbottabad 80 miles north of the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad. No US troops were harmed and care was taken to protect civilians. The entire operation took about 40 minutes. President Obama also credited the Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, with assisting the US in locating Osama Bin Laden and, indeed, carrying out the mission which took Bin Laden out of a mansion and not in the tribal mountainous areas as previously suspected.

We now have DNA proof that it was Osama Bin Laden that had been killed and President Obama said that “Justice has been done”.
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THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC REALITY

First: A reality check on Mexico

Mexico is in a unique position to reap many of the benefits of the decline of the US economy. In order to not violate NAFTA and other agreements the U.S.A. cannot use direct protectionism, so it is content to allow the media to play this protectionist role. The U.S. media – over the last year – has portrayed Mexico as being on the brink of economic collapse and civil war. The Mexican people are either beheaded, kidnapped, poor, corrupt, or narco-traffickers. The American news media was particularly aggressive in the weeks leading up to spring break. The main reason for this is money. During that two-week period, over 120,000 young American citizens poured into Mexico and left behind hundreds of millions of dollars.

Let’s look at the reality of the massive drug and corruption problem, kidnappings, murders and money. The U.S. Secretary of State Clinton was clear in her honest assessment of the problem. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent the weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” Clinton said. The other large illegal business that is smuggled into the U.S.A. that no one likes to talk about is Human Traffic for prostitution. This “business” is globally now competing with drugs in terms of profits.

It is critical to understand, however that the horrific violence in Mexico is over 95% confined to the three transshipping cities for these two businesses, Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales. The Mexican government is so serious about fighting this, that they have committed over 30,000 soldiers to these borders towns. There was a thoughtful article written by a professor at the University of Juarez. He was reminded of the Prohibition years in the U.S.A. and compared Juarez to Chicago when Al Capone was conducting his reign of terror capped off with The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. During these years, just like Juarez today, 99% of the citizens went about their daily lives and attended classes, went to the movies, restaurants, and parks.

Is there corruption in Mexico? YES !!! Is there an equal amount of corruption related to this business in the U.S.A.? YES !!!. When you have a pair of illegal businesses that generate over $300,000,000,000 in sales you will find massive corruption. Make no mistake about the Mexican Drug Cartel; these “businessmen” are 100 times more sophisticated than the bumbling bootleggers during Prohibition. They form profitable alliances all over the U.S.A. They do cost benefit analysis of their business much better than the US automobile industry. They have found over the years that the cost of bribing U.S. and Mexican Border Guards and the transportation costs of moving marijuana from Sinaloa to California have cut significantly into profits. That is why over the past 5-7 years they have been growing marijuana in State and Federal Parks and BLM land all across America. From a business standpoint, this is a tremendous cost savings on several levels. Let’s look at California as an example as one of the largest consumers. When you have $14.2 billion of Marijuana grown and consumed in one state, there is savings on transportation, less loss of product due to confiscation and an overall reduction cost of bribery with law enforcement and parks service people. Another great savings is the benefit to their employees. The penalties in Mexico for growing range from 5-15 years. The penalties in California, on average are 18 months, and out in 8 months. The same economic principles are now being applied to the methamphetamine factories.
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We keep hearing the same things about people’s upcoming move to Mexico.

“Why are you moving to Mexico? It is very dangerous there!” We constantly hear uninformed rhetoric gleaned from cable news and talk radio about the murder rate, the kidnapping rate and the “disappearance” rate, etcetera, etcetera. We hear about the dangers of SCUBA diving, shark attacks and even heat exhaustion. American’s need to wake up to the realization that FEAR is an industry in the United States and we are rabid consumers of it. We are not saying you shouldn’t be cautious but some perspective needs to be applied.

In 2002 tens of thousands of people in the United States swore off airplanes and began driving cars on vacation because they were afraid of being killed by terrorists. This despite the fact that in a typical year there are more than 40,000 people killed in vehicular accidents in the US. In other words, assuming the trend continued (which it didn’t) the odds of being killed by a terrorist in 2002 would have been one in 9 million. In that same year the odds of dying in a traffic accident were about one in 7,000.
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Reprinted from The Catalist empowering the Mexican – American Relationship (August 11th, 2010)

In recent months the debate about violence in Mexico has heated up significantly. Most news channels have been giving a broad coverage on the facts of crime, which are usually focused on the issue of combating organized crime.

When it comes to human lifes, it is always difficult to speak coldly about figures. But when we need to know what really is going on, in terms of crime, we can do nothing but refer to them.

The indicator which measures the violence in a country is the number of violent deaths per 100,000 people. This indicator has the advantage of allowing us to compare figures between countries with different population sizes.
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Federal agents went in to the Crown Casino Ajijic in Plaza Ajijic on Friday, January 22nd to carry out a court-ordered raid which lasted more than six hours

A press release from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) said the investigators confiscated equipment and materials from the betting parlor and also took 16 employees and 9 clients to the PGR headquarters in Guadalajara for questioning in regards to probable violations of the General Law on Games and Raffles.

Allegedly the business was opened without proper permits from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Gobernacion).

The detainees were held in custody for about 17 hours before being released on bonds posted by the casino’s operators.

Evidently, agents allowed a number of foreign clients to freely leave the casino to avoid the possibility of violating their individual rights.

Included in the evidence collected by authorities were 65 electronic betting machines, 23 packages containing 3,298 magnetic cards used for playing the machines and 57,533 pesos in cash found in the till, as well as an (more…)