Swamp Musings

Sunday and Monday were magnificent, nights in the 50's days just breaking 80. Tuesday started colder than a (insert favorite) and didn't make it out of the 50's and looked like snow. Started raining last night, coming down in buckets today (weathercritter said possibly 5 inches) and the project I've spent the last couple of daze on crapped. Figured it probably would as I made it with 2 sub-standard parts and 2 adaptations. Should have gone into town and purchased the right parts, knew better, but I hate wrestling my way through all the traffic lights and drivers that got their licenses out of Cracker Jack boxes. Got 2 tales of horror from the last trip through the malfunction junctions but why bore you? You've undoubtably got better, especially if you live in Boston (mo below).


Isn't this just peachy-keen? I'm still amazed that the fearless camel humps haven't been dropping loads all over us in the past 4 years.

Gang Sweeps Result in 103 Arrests

March 15, 2005

As part of a nationwide crackdown, federal authorities Monday announced 103 arrests in six major cities of members of Mara Salvatrucha, an international gang born in Los Angeles and now involved in murder, narcotics trafficking and human smuggling.

The sweeps, conducted in recent weeks in an operation stretching from Hollywood to New York City and Miami by agents with the Department of Homeland Security, represent the first thrust of a campaign to rein in Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS 13, officials said.

With new cells in 33 states and up to 50,000 members in the U.S. and Latin America, the gang had become a law enforcement priority in Washington, as well as in El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico.

Underscoring the gang's national reach, more than half of the arrests announced Monday came in the New York, Washington and Baltimore areas. In Los Angeles, authorities arrested 17 reputed MS 13 members, including a former soldier in the Salvadoran military described as a founding member of the gang's Hollywood branch.

"If you have a large-scale criminal organization operating in the United States, one that is reported to be smuggling, smuggling contraband, smuggling people, exploiting border vulnerabilities, you have to accept that as a homeland security risk," Michael J. Garcia, assistant Homeland Security secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said at a news conference in Washington. (snip)

Illegal Alien Influx May Compromise Security

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

DOUGLAS, Ariz. — The U.S.-Mexican border is nearly 2,000 miles long. America's determination to keep illegal aliens out is matched only by their desperation to get in.

"The reality is that hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world are successfully sneaking into the United States," said Dave Stoddard, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran.

In spite of the massive resources invested in border security, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of undocumented aliens make it into the United States every year. (snip)

In the 1970s, fewer than 100,000 workers entered the United States illegally each year. By 1990, that figure had doubled.

Since then, illegal immigration has exploded, with more than 1 million instances of foreigners being detained at the U.S. border last year.

Some Americans are even taking the law into their own hands, patrolling the borders they feel Washington has abandoned.

Experts say that possibly 12 million people live in the United States illegally — more people than live in Oregon, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas and Rhode Island combined.

The latest U.S. government estimate was that 7 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in Jan. 2000, more than five years ago.

What's most unsettling to many Americans is not the huge numbers of illegal aliens caught at the border, but the possibly millions more who are not caught.

"Can anybody explain to me why we shouldn't be paranoid about the southern border being porous?" asked Rep. Tom Tancredo (search), R-Colo.

Tancredo has obtained records showing that since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, agents from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency have stopped 132 nationals from countries considered a national security threat, including Syria, North Korea and Iran.

If those numbers are accurate, they may indicate that hundreds more from suspect nations made it across the border.

"The element that concerns me today is the terrorist element. Mainly, radical Muslims from the Middle East," Stoddard said. (snip)

Gang Arrests Had al-Qaida Link

A violent street gang whose members were arrested as part a nationwide sweep by Immigration and Customs officials on Monday had ties to al Qaida, U.S. intelligence officials say.

Officials said the Central American gang MS-13 is one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the United States, and the majority of its members are in the country illegally.

The gang has carried out beheadings and grenade attacks in Central America and is known to hack their enemies with machetes in cities along the East Coast in the United States.

Intelligence officials warned in January that al-Qaida members have been seen in El Salvador with MS-13 members, raising concerns the gang may be smuggling terrorists into the United States.

Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy called MS-13 an emerging threat to the United States, referring to the gang and al-Qaida in the same breath in testimony to Congress. Besides al-Qaida, Loy said, "We are seeing the emergence of other threatening groups and gangs like MS-13 that will also be destabilizing influences." (snip)

Any ideas for a solution? I've got one, shared by a heck of a lot of others. Nope, won't post it. There has never been such a target-rich environment for terrorism than the US, and by the nature of our society, "Homeland Security" as published will not work. Methinks there is a bit more going on, all good.


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Last November I'd posted a comment and a link to an article from the AP (link now dead) about the $14.6 billion for 7.5 miles - $30,725 per inch hopelessly leaky Boston Big Dig. Haven't been back there since just before the "project" started, wonder if this potential deathtrap has improved driving in Boston? !! ;o) For those that have never driven there, it ranks as a tie with Saturday night in San Antonio, Texas as the #1 pucker factor city in the US!

Engineer 'unable' to vouch for Big Dig safety


Engineer: Big Dig a Big Danger


Massachusetts Official Investigating Big Dig Contractors Amid Safety Concerns


Romney Seeks to Fire 'Big Dig' Chief

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney asked the state's highest court Tuesday if he has the power to fire the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) chairman after an engineer who led an investigation into leaks at the $14.6 billion Big Dig project says he can no longer vouch for the safety of its tunnels.

"With the Big Dig there's been a pattern of cover-up and stonewalling that has left the public with little confidence that the project is being managed well or that the road and tunnel system are safe to travel," Romney said. (snip)

Seems a tad late doesn't it? 15 years of pork, corruption, and incompetence but what else is new in Teddytown.

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