Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Border Patrol Chief: We don't do borders.

Every now and then something happens to make the news that just staggers the mind.  It's almost as if some people are either so incredibly stupid or contrary that they make statements they can't possibly themselves believe.

Take for instance the Border Patrol head who is adamant that his job is not to protect our borders.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again," Carlos X. Carrillo, Border Patrol chief of Laredo, Texas, told guests at a town-hall meeting Thursday. "The Border Patrol's job is not to stop illegal immigrants. The Border Patrol's job is not to stop narcotics. ... The Border Patrol's mission is not to stop criminals."

Carillo is either totally incompetent, or first in line for a high-paying executive position within the North American Union. He's towing someone's company line, but it sure isn't the Border Patrol's.

Surely I jest, right?

T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing 12,000 front-line agents, said he was baffled by the Laredo chief's statements.

"It is shocking that such a high-ranking official would make a statement that is so completely at odds with the law and the Border Patrol's mission," Mr. Bonner said. "It is equally disturbing that no one at a higher level has taken any steps to reassure employees and the public that the Border Patrol will continue to intercept all illicit traffic that it encounters.

In fact, Carillo contends the sole job of the Border Patrol is to stop terrorists from getting into the country, not illegal immigrants.  Yep.

But wait: here comes the back-pedal. 

David Aguilar, head of the Border Patrol, defended Mr. Carrillo and said his comments were taken out of context.

"Our mission is to protect our country's borders from all threats," Mr. Aguilar said. "Our highest priority is keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering our country.

"We have never, nor will we ever, decrease or minimize our aggressive efforts in enforcing the rule of law."

One of these two men is either lying or ignorant. Either way that's a bad thing.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Where You At?

Once again life has kept me from updating, but not from having more of my patented bizarre, scandalous and shocking adventures.

Today's adventure was of the benign variety, so let the gory details commence. 

While changing a diaper today, I noticed something large and blue inside my daughter's nose.  Now, being a father I've seen many multicolored things come out of places you wouldn't expect, but this one struck me as unusual.  I called the wife over for backup, and she immediately recognized the blue, nostril-blocking obstruction as - an aquadot. My children have never been the type to taste things they shouldn't, or insert things into their head...until today. 

I can't explain why, but Aeryn apparently thought it would be fun to ram an actual frigging aquadot into her skull.

She gave us no clue it was in there; it was only my obsessive fatherly booger-check that detected it in the first place.

She held remarkably still while doctor mom removed it with a pair of tweezers, thus saving the day. Fittingly, she followed up with a diaper full of irish-green, pasty, sticky napalm-poop.  It was the kind of thing you'd see if she'd eaten and digested a leprechaun.  It was nauseating, though strangely fruity smelling, but I digress.

 Between this adventure and Jack's geyser-like pus-filled infected leg of doom last month, I've had my fill of kids in distress for a while.