Listen Up, Peons: Advice from Mexico's President:

[Bat Guano]

Mexican President Felipe Calderon had some helpful advice for us in his speech to Congress today:


"President Felipe Calderón of Mexico argued before a joint meeting of Congress today that his country was making extraordinary investments in confronting drug-fueled crime – a problem that also affects the United States — as he implored lawmakers in Washington to restore a ban on the assault weapons often used by traffickers.

He also assailed as a “terrible idea” the new Arizona law that allows law enforcement officials to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, repeating the criticism he made Wednesday, when he spent much of the day with President Obama. Mr. Obama himself called the law “misdirected.”

“I strongly disagree with the recently adopted law in Arizona,” Mr. Calderón said. “It is a law that not only ignores a reality that cannot be erased by decree, but also introduces a terrible idea: using racial profiling as a basis for law enforcement.”

In a 35-minute speech before the joint session of Congress, Mr. Calderón talked about the human toll of the violence associated with drug trafficking. “Restoring public security will not be easy and will not be quick,” he said, adding that it “will take time, it will take money and, unfortunately to our deep sorrow, it will take human life as well.”

But he added, “This is a battle that has to be fought because the future of our families is at stake.”

Mr. Calderón was for the most part warmly received, though some of the issues he raised – including illegal immigration – are among the most divisive in American politics. He said that Mexico was doing its best to create thousands of jobs and keep Mexicans at home. “My government does not favor the breaking of rules,” he said.


On the gun question, Mr. Calderón said: “We have seized 75,000 guns and assault weapons in Mexico in the past three years, and more than 80 percent of those we have been able to trace came from the United States.”

He said it did not seem coincidental that violence in Mexico had begun to grow in 2006, not long after the weapons ban expired in the United States. Drug-related killings are estimated to have approached 23,000 since Mr. Calderón began a war on trafficking that year.

While Mr. Calderón’s speech was interrupted with frequent applause and at least a half-dozen standing ovations, his call for a new assault weapons ban appeared to draw applause only from some Democrats, while most Republicans remained seated.

Indeed, in the current largely pro-gun Congress, there seemed to be little chance of passing a fresh ban. Ever since Democrats gained control with the election of moderate to conservative members, efforts to enact gun-control curbs have mostly failed.

After Mr. Calderón’s speech, Senator Richard J. Durbin, the majority whip from Illinois, lamented the violence — especially along the northern border of Mexico — that has spilled into both countries. But he, too, noted the lack of a receptive climate in Congress toward restoring the assault weapons ban.

On the floor of the Senate, Mr. Durbin said he was sure that Mr. Calderón’s call for prohibiting assault weapons wasn’t welcomed by a lot of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Beyond the protections afforded to law-abiding citizens of the United States under the Second Amendment, however, “the people who are buying and shipping guns into Mexico from the United States are not engaged in the type of protected constitutional activity which the Supreme Court noted,” Mr. Durbin said." (NYT 5/20/10)

[I]BEST DAMN ARGUMENT FOR THE SECOND AMENDMENT I HAVE SEEN IN YEARS![I]

[sgt.207]

I cannot believe that this was allowed and that our congressional members did not walk out on it.

[ladder13]

From what he said, it's a national disgrace he got any standing ovations.

[Joe Kent]

Remember Dick Durbin is the same lying S.O.B. who compared my son and thousands of other sons ,brothers ,sisters and daughters serving in our Military to nazi's and other low lifes. He should be tossed out of the Senate and sent packing with the rest of his fellow travelers.

[kraigwy]

Well that mexican president can kiss my Rosie Red...........

If he dont like are laws he should get the illegals to boycott us.

[ladder13]

Check this out, Canadians trying to enter the northern border


YouTube - Watch 2 Canadians Discover That The US Is Now A Police State

[Big Lou]

Wouldn't it nice if some reporter had the stones to ask him how many arrests & convictions have resulted from the 22,700 murders that occurred in his country since 2006!

FYI.....Those were just the "drug related murders" not the everyday normal ones.

Less than 20 miles from where I type this, there have been dozens of police officers (including the Chief of Police) murdered in the last several years. Most of these murders remain "unsolved".

[JWiley]

Too bad no one asked him what the Mexican penalty for an 'undocumented' US Citizen illegally in Mexico is.

[therevjay]

Originally Posted by ladder13

Check this out, Canadians trying to enter the northern border


YouTube - Watch 2 Canadians Discover That The US Is Now A Police State

Whaaaat? Anybody think that recording is real?

[HAWKEYE10]

Just vote them all out in Nov. and get people who will run this country like the people want. Don

[oldogy]

I agree, that speech should have seen congress making quick exodus from the building.
Let me see if I can get this straight:
We say we don't want the illegal Mexicans coming into the US.
Mexicans say they don't want guns coming into Mexico.
Solution: Build a big fence. Anyone think that would work?
oldogy

[P&R Fan]

I see you're point, Mr. President about the need for the reinstatement of the "Assault Weapons Ban". After all, it was in effect for a decade and I'm sure crime PLUMMETED in you're country in that time, didn't it?
Oh, OK, never mind.

[DeathGrip]

Let me see if I got this straight,They come here and birth a child that might get to see the POTUS's wife and the child admits to the 1st lady the Mommy don't have any papers.
If I went to their blinking hell hole and didn't have my papers straight and birthed a child what do you think would happen?Let alone getting arrested for anything.Try to get a ticket out of their jail without a bunch of cash.They want our money one way or another.
I'm sick of this .........We've run them back over the border before.......
D.G.

[tac803]

We're fighting a war that most politicians won't even admit exists, and we're losing. It's coming time to stand up and take back America (peacefully, at the voting booth, of course).

[DonD]

Calderon is a liberal *** who, if I'm not mistaken, was educated in this country.

His whining about guns coming to Mexico from the US is a classic red herring, factually baseless. Most of the illegal guns, RPGs etc. (and Mexico has draconian anti gun laws) reaching his nation come from the international trade, NOT the US. BATFE has forcefully rejected the allegations that say these guns were traced from the US.

Other posters are correct, Congress should have told the President that Calderon wasn't welcome to speak in their chamber and if not walked out.

What does Mexico do for us? I think the answer is NOTHING but bring us drugs, vicious gangs like MS-13 etc. I fully agree that w/o the disgusting US demand for drugs, no suppy would be forthcoming. That isn't a justification for their broken, corrupt government and the exodous of hoards of illegals violating the borders of this nation. Don

[jkc]

Another in a long succession of tinhorn Mexican oligarchs has the temerity to scold the USA for its constitutional civil rights provisions such as the 2nd Amendment, and chide Arizona for attempting to defend against his country's fleeing economic refugees, and is applauded by congresssional Democrats, while Obama's wife is squelching comments from an illegal alien's schoolkid, and still, the MSM has not seen the twisted irony. Yikes!

[ACP230]

I think one of our Reps should introduce a bill that is the same as Mexico's laws on illegal aliens in Congress.
Would be interesting since they are much stricter than current U.S. law.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by jkc

Another in a long succession of tinhorn Mexican oligarchs has the temerity to scold the USA for its constitutional civil rights provisions such as the 2nd Amendment, and chide Arizona for attempting to defend against his country's fleeing economic refugees, and is applauded by congresssional Democrats, while Obama's wife is squelching comments from an illegal alien's schoolkid, and still, the MSM has not seen the twisted irony. Yikes!

Well said!

[4864]

The President of Mexico is in no position to tell us how to run our county and its laws. I guess he forgot about the two Wars Mexico lost to the USA in the 19th Century.

[JSR III]

Over 75% of the criminals who are locked up in So. California are illegals from Mexico and other South and Central American countries. Calderon doesn't want to see border states like Arizona tighten up their laws in any way that would prevent the scum from his country from coming here. He is probably thrilled to have them leave.

The whole assault weapons issue is just smoke and mirrors to take the eyes off of the real issue. He knows that it is a sensitive issue with our liberal government and the tree hugger voters that put them there and it takes peoples attention away from that fact that having weak borders allows for all of the dirt bags from his country to come here.

VOTE THEM ALL OUT IN NOVEMBER!!! Only then will Washington believe that it is our country and that they work for us and not the other way around. Also, abolish lifetime pay and health care benefits for every congressman. Let them go get a real job after retirement like everyone else.

[ENGINE18]

Vote them all out and start over again. It couldn't be any worse!

God bless Arizona and the USA!

[venomballistics]

Given a speech like that. hes only a few philosophical evolutions away from trying to annex the United states as a Mexican territory

[oldRoger]

Remember Bill Clinton?? You have to parse the sentence.
“We have seized 75,000 guns and assault weapons in Mexico in the past three years, and more than 80 percent of those we have been able to trace came from the United States.”
The key is: “those we have been able to trace” of the very few of the seized weapons that are traceable 80% originated in the US.

The ones traced are a very small portion of the total and do not include the fully automatic weapons etc.
So this is smoke and mirrors for the journalists.
Question: is there a minimun IQ requirement for main stream journalist??

[DonD]

Originally Posted by oldRoger

Question: is there a minimun IQ requirement for main stream journalist??

Being liberal and totally ignorant of firearms and anything to do with the military or military weapons are good basic qualifiers. Don

[mike from st pete]

...Black Jack when Mexican butt needs a good swift kick across the Rio Grand?

[Pasifikawv]

Originally Posted by therevjay

Whaaaat? Anybody think that recording is real?

Absolutely believe it could be real.

Anyone -especially a foreign national- who cops am attitude with CBP will be delayed and detained... CBP asks you a question, you give the answer. CBP gives you an order, you follow it. When passing thru international inspection, keep the snide comments and snarky questions to yourself.

Did the first CBP act appropriately? Probably not: the whole series of efforts that followed should have been focused elsewhere instead of at a smart-mouthed couple from up north. Still, it's the officer's perogotive to select for exta inspection. Don't like it? Don't travel across the borders...

[bk43]

Originally Posted by therevjay

Whaaaat? Anybody think that recording is real?

SWMBO has done some work in Canada lately. They were very strict coming back into the States. One time she said it looked like they weren't going to let her back in. She finally asked the guy "Does this mean I won't be able to go home?". He handed her back her docs and said get out of here.

We do the same on our southern border...........not!

On topic, Congress has stood and cheered twice this year when our basic rights have been attacked. One was when the TPOTUS attacked our 1st Amendment rights and the SCOTUS. Now this on our 2nd rights. I'm not taking either well.

Bob

[The Last Standing Knight]

...are always trying to tell the US what we should do just as we tell them what they should do.

The fact that anyone pays any attention to him in the United States is sad in and of itself.

"Mr. Calderon, we will take your suggestions under advisement..thank you."

I class this whole issue as "the pot calling the kettle black" and nothing more.

Worse stuff is said about the US in the UN on an hourly basis.

[jframe]

Originally Posted by HAWKEYE10

Just vote them all out in Nov. and get people who will run this country like the people want. Don

The problem is NOBODY will run this country like the people want. It's not public service anymore; it's a power struggle. Instead of following the Constitution and doing what is right based on it and the laws of God, they just follow their own agenda instead. Waste of time to vote anymore in this damn country; from the local level all the way to the Federal level. They're ALL ALIKE!

[heeter3]

Maybe he should worry about whats going on in his country before commenting on ours,better yet maybe he can recruit barry,bill and hillary to move down there and give him a hand to clean it up.YES WE CAN !

[Pasifikawv]

President Calderon's statement that Congress should "consider reinstatement of the AWB" is totally misguided and his statistics on crime guns used in Mexico are totally misleading. I call BS on that along with everyone else on this board...

HOWEVER:

Calderon is a Conservative, law & order, and free-market type of guy trying to clean up a huge mess in his country while the uber-liberal PRD tries to stop him at every turn.

He has brought the fight to the smullgers who carry drugs and aliens into our nation.

He has taken steps to update a piss-poor criminal justcie system to mirror what we have here.

He is trying to address the deeply rooted corruption in the Mexican LEO community.

He is trying to modernize the Mexican economy with free-market principles and provide better opportunity so his people won't have to leave.

The far left PRD almost took the 2006 election from Calderon. He won by barely 0.6%. We coulda had Andre Manuel Lopez Obrador as president of our southern neighbor. AMLO is a good pal of Fidel and Chavez and shares their socialist ideas.

Instead, Mexico delivered a conservative, free-market President whose PAN party broke with the old oligarchy of the PRI party that ruled Mexico as an corrupt oligarchy for nearly 71 years.

Calderon pushing for free market reforms and economic growth, fighting for law & order, leading anti-corruption efforts, taking the fight to organized crime cartels, and trying to modernize the judicial system are all good things... Unfortunately, he will never get it all done - not in his 6 years anyway - but at least positive progress is being made - albiet very slowly,

I'll never agree with him on the AWB, but I do agree with him that we can and should use exisiting laws to lock up straw buyers, criminal sellers, and smugglers. While the number of US guns in the hands of Mexican cartels is minimal compared to black market weapons coming in from Guatemala and elsewhere, ANY illegal smuggling of arms and ammo from the US should be dealt with harshly under exisiting laws.

I do think we should help our neighbor in his fight against organized crime with training and equipment. The cartels are well funded with dollars from US drug consumers. The cartels are killing cops, soldiers, and reporters aided by US dollars from coke heads and heroin junkies. There are few upstanding local cops in Mexico and those that are still standing cannot afford ammo to shoot back at the bad guys - much less for practice and training.

While Calderon did say some very objectional stuff regarding US firearm laws, much of what he is doing in Mexico is good for Mexico and for us. Trade between Canada, US and Mex is huge and vitally important for each country. We all should want North America to be the most competitve and propersous region of the world. Calderon is the first Mexican president in the past century that is actually trying to make that happen on his end... He is facing an uphill struggle, strong political opposition from the left, and coming up short far too often, but at least he is trying...

He could just said "the heck with it all", kept his head down, went about business as usual, and become very rich and corrupt like every other Mexican President before him, but he didn't. I give him credit for that...

[Harrison]

Well, Mexico does bring us lots of consumers of government benefits, democrat politicians and lots of voters that vote a straight democrat ticket.

[ladder13]

Close the border NOW.

[handejector]

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