Pendejos de la semana…

Boy, an embarrassment of riches this week.

There were the domestic contenders, like Governor Ulises Ruiz of Oaxaca, who tried to claim human rights abuses in his state had already been investigated, so the Supreme Court had no business looking into them (the Supremes ruled otherwise), and the usual U.S. suspects like Mississippi Senator (R-eactionary) Trentt Lott, who somehow compared Mexican immigrants to goats… or something. Lott himself doesn’t seem to know what he meant:

“Now people are at least as smart as goats,” Lott continued. “Maybe not as agile. Build a fence. We should have a virtual fence. Now one of the ways I keep those goats in the fence is I electrified them. Once they got popped a couple of times they quit trying to jump it.”

“I’m not proposing an electrified goat fence,” Lott added quickly, “I’m just trying, there’s an analogy there.”

Asked for clarification as to what exactly the analogy was, Lott spokesman Lee Youngblood said that the senator supported a variety of measures in the immigration bill, including unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles, radar and more border patrol agents, as well as a fence to reduce the flow of illegal immigration….

“I don’t worry about offending anybody anymore, ” said Lott, “because I’ve already offended everybody.”

Speaking of chingazo congress-critters, there is Illinois congressman Mark Kirk. He thinks the “answer” to the immigration problem is free condoms for the Mexicans. Uh… they already have them, and the birth rate is dropping. Immigration is only a minor factor in the drop in births, but economics is a HUGE factor in immigration.

Fun fact about Congressman Kirk: When it comes to legislation, we don’t need any protection from Congressman — he’s impotent (legislatively speaking, that is).

Mark Kirk has sponsored 62 bills since Jan 3, 2001, of which 55 haven’t made it out of committee (Average) and 0 were successfully enacted.

But the REAL PENDEJOS of the week aren’t Mexicans, and aren’t gringos for a change… it’s the Australians. Mark Stevenson’s AP story got the basics, but missed the good parts:

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An Australian production company has apologized to Mexico for a segment of a “Big Brother” reality program that showed people throwing water balloons at the Mexican flag.

Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department on Wednesday sent protest letters to the program and the Australian government, saying the country’s flag had been desecrated on the show that aired June 15.

“I apologize on behalf of the producers of `Big Brother’ for any offense suffered and assure you this will never happen again,” wrote Kris Noble, the managing director of entertainment company Endemol Southern Star, in a letter Thursday to the Mexican Embassy in Australia.

“The segment was intended as a lighthearted tribute to Mexico and its vibrant cultural heritage, which we all admire and enjoy,” the letter stated.

I’ve complained about Stevenson’s coverage before… he seems to get the superficial details right, but depends on the “official” story, and often misses what’s right in front of him, or has been widely reported in the Mexican media.

It wasn’t water balloons, but what the Australians claimed was “chile” — presumably an Australian version of the U.S. native dish (meat, beans and tomato sauce) if the same name.  I think the Australians were confusing the U.S. dish, sometimes seen on Tex-Mex menus with salsa.

The salsa-bombs being thrown by characters wearing sombreros and cheezy false mustaches that got the Mexican Ambassador upset. That, and the Australian’s non-apology for an insult to …what’s supposed to be the Mexican flag, but the idiots couldn’t even get that much right.

Mexicans are known for their good manners and tolerance for stupid foreigners… but, if you are so inclined, here’s the Australian flag for you to download and smear with whatever it is that Australians consider food…