Oops!

Several “oh never mind” stories floating around right now.

SBI, the ballyhooed “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexican border that seemed only slightly more boneheaded than a real fence when it comes to dealing with migration and smuggling issues, has been ignominiously canceled, effective immediately.  2.5 Billion U.S. dollars (that’s 2.5 thousand millions greenbacks) were allocated just for off the shelf hardware, and another 5.1  billion for start-up costs.  U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered the measly 50 million smackeroos allocated for SBI to be wasted on other Homeland Security projects.

In Juarez, “Confused hit men may have gone to the wrong party, the FBI said Tuesday as it cast doubt on fears that the slaying of three people with ties to the U.S. consulate shows that Mexican drug cartels have launched an offensive against U.S. government employees.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that… the same thing was said about the party of teenagers that was wiped out a couple weeks ago.  On 24 May 1993, His Eminence Cardinal Juan Jesùs Posadas Ocampo and several other people were gunned down at the Guadalajara airport when hitmen hired by the Tijuana Cartel mistook the clergyman’s navy blue Buick Rivera for their intended victim’s black Buick.  Mistakes happen, especially with subcontractors.

In Torreón the police are on strike… which may mean crime is going to go down.  Anecdotal evidence from Oaxaca — where during the 2006 uprising the local police withdrew from the streets — crime also dropped, but that may have been because the citizens were more vigilant… or, maybe more policing causes more crime.  Who knows.

Via Burro Hall, comes a nationwide outbreak of stupidity, reliance on “magic wands” to track drugs and explosives.  They supposedly look for molocules, but molocules of what is best not answered.  They’re supplied by a British company, but at least Mexicans can take some comfort in the fact that they didn’t pay for this voodoo tool… the gringos did.