Posted on 12/26/2008 12:21:03 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
As part of its award-winning "Fatal Funnel" series, Victoria Advocate/VictoriaAdvocate.com present
DRUG WARS by Gary "Rusty" Fleming
Silver or Lead - "Plato o Plomo"
They are showing the entire film—the cost of the viewing is free—
Come and learn about this very present threat.
Tuesday, December 30, 7 P.M. at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts in Victoria, Texas.
Due to graphic violence, this film is not recommended for children.
Following the film, your questions will be answered by Mr. Fleming; Victoria County Sheriff T. Michael O'Connor; Webb County Sheriff Rick Flores; Fred Burton, a former counter-terrorism special agent; and William Slemaker whose daughter was kidnapped in Mexico. After the discussion, Mr. Fleming and Mr. Burton will sign their books.
To learn more about the documentary, go to drugwarsthemovie.com
Go to victoriaadvocate.com to read about the "Fatal Funnel." - The highways from Mexico to Victoria used by drug and human smugglers.
There were 26 murders in Amsterdam in 2007 according to: www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/Record-low-murder-rate-once-again.html
With a population of about 730,000, that works out to a murder rate of about 3.6/100,000.
San Jose has been ranked among the safest cities in the US over 500,000. According to city-data.com, the murder rate for 2007 was 3.5/100,000.
Good.
What should we do with the human trafficking scum.
Maybe legalize Cat houses like in Nevada?
Then if they are trafficking children a life sentence with a work detail of some sort?
Shoot them and hang their heads at the village gate.
Maybe legalize Cat houses like in Nevada?
As long as there's no force, fraud, or threat of force in the transaction, sure.
Then if they are trafficking children a life sentence with a work detail of some sort?
See my first response.
L
Because they are employees in a legal enterprise working for a salary. If they had a history of criminal behavior they wouldn't be hired for the job. Criminals with a 3rd grade education and a felony record who are used to large, easy profits are not going to work at McDonalds because they can't make money selling dope. They will engage in some other high dollar, criminal enterprise such as the prescription drug blackmarket, home invasions, kidnap for ransom and robbery, just as it has happened in Columbia and Mexico.
BTW there is quite a bit of criminality involved in the upper levels of alcohol distributorships, just ask jesse jackson, jr.
Bingo.
If they had a history of criminal behavior they wouldn't be hired for the job.
Double bingo.
So legalize drugs and deny those with criminal backgrounds any chance at employment in that sector.
Results? Honest people in the trade, crooks looking for something else to do.
Everybody's a winner.
Except the crooks, of course.
"Just wait till we get Prohibition back, then we'll be back." Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco in "Key Largo".
L
Perhaps I didn’t make my point clearly. You may take the profit out of recreational drugs but the criminals will commit other crimes which are just as harmful to society or more so. We, “society”, are not winners. We may well end up with more addicts as some who would not try illegal drugs may give cocaine or such a try because it’s now legal.
I was with my family in Amsterdam a few months ago and it all seemed quite safe, safer than any city I have been to in the U.S.
Almost no violent crime and the worst property crime are bicycle thefts and a burglary here and there. Not like America.
Of course I am kidding.
However, with the rant of the drug warrior/nanny state advocates here, I can see why you thought I might be serious.
Are you sure you're not a Democrat?
L
Mexican drug gang tentacles reach Europe, Africa
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2153971/posts
I thought that Europe was the model for the nanny state??
No, in a Nanny State they toss you in jail for a few grams of pot because the Do Gooders want the State to be our nanny.
Are you sure you're not a Democrat?
L
Were you born an a$$ or is it a skill that you've perfected with a life of practice? So far 2 of your posts have been insulting and one condescending. It worked for Don Rickles, it doesn't seem to work for you.
You said that if the profit were gone from illegal drugs that the gangs would disappear, I argue to the contrary. I made no comment one way or the other regarding the prosecution of the war on drugs.
Have a nice evening.
lol.... You are right I couldn’t tell.
There is a group of retired DEA/police/FBI officers that are trying to legalize drugs for one reason. Trying to fight it doesn’t work and we have wasted way too much money trying.
Hmmmm.... I can’t remember the name....
Actually you've got that backwards, but no matter.
You said that if the profit were gone from illegal drugs that the gangs would disappear,
I said no such thing. I said they'd get out of the drug business, which history shows to be true.
Prohibition was repealed, alchohol was legalized, and the Gangs got out of the alcohol business because the huge profit margins vanished.
Absolutely the same thing would happen with drugs.
The gangs would move on to other more traditional criminal activities. But they would have to do it without the billions of dollars they earn from the drug trade.
That would be a net benefit to society.
L
Let 'em sell it in 5 pound bags at Safe-Way.
Remove the huge black market profits and the gangs disappear.
L
Uhh...actually that's exactly what you said.
How big is the problem?
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drving.htm
In 2007, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.4
Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol.6
Documentary brings big crowds
Film about Mexico drug wars shown twice because of number of attendees
BY MADELINE LEWIS - MLEWIS@VICAD.COM
December 30, 2008 - 11:21 p.m.
Members of Mexican drug cartels who carry out kidnappings and assassinations “call themselves security,” Rusty Fleming said.
The Dallas-area filmmaker would know. Since 2005, Fleming has spent a lot of time in Mexico or near the U.S. border investigating Mexican drug cartels for a book and documentary. The film, “Drug Wars: Silver or Lead,” screened twice Tuesday night at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts in Victoria.
“Drug Wars” was originally slated to show only once, but an additional screening was held to accommodate the large number of people who came to see the film. Afterward, Fleming led a panel discussion with the audience.
A former cocaine addict and alcoholic, Fleming began working at the Rhema Ranch drug and alcohol rehab center in the Dallas-area nine years ago. In 2005, he observed a new trend among some of the young adults getting treatment at the center.
“I started noticing all these young kids, 18, 19, 20 years old, coming into rehab all torn up,” he said. “I had used for 20 years and I didn’t look as bad as they did.”
Many were addicted to ice, or crystal meth. Fleming decided to investigate the source of the methamphetamine. He initially planned to do a short film on the crystal meth supply in Texas, but his focus soon expanded to the Mexican drug cartels.
Since that time, Fleming has interviewed cartel members, law enforcement and victims of cartel violence, including William Slemaker from Laredo, who also attended the film screening Tuesday.
Four years ago, Slemaker’s 27-year-old stepdaughter, Yvette Martinez, and her friend, Brenda Cisneros, disappeared in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Slemaker found Martinez’s pearl white Mitsubishi Galant, but not his stepdaughter nor her friend. He hopes that they are still alive.
Cartel members kidnap some women to force them into prostitution or give them as gifts to their leaders, he said. These women are often just innocent bystanders.
“I hate it when people say that this only happens to people involved in drugs,” Slemaker said. “That is the biggest misconception that people have.”
Slemaker participated in the film because he believes it might help the effort to recover Martinez.
“To me, it means an avenue for someone out there with power and the means to help me find my daughter,” he said.
The Laredo man’s story inspired Fleming to continue the project after he was close to giving up.
“To know that so many people are missing and nobody’s looking, I had to get this story out,” Fleming said.
From his research, Fleming has concluded that law enforcement and American citizens are wrong to view Mexican cartel members as simply drug dealers.
“The number one thing the American people need to understand is what this problem is or they’ll never get to a solution,” he said. “This is a whole new generation of very smart, very powerful criminal minds and they are not drug cartels. They are narcoterrorists.”
To find out more about “Drug Wars” and future screenings of the film, go to the Web site, http://www. drugwarsthemovie. com/
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