War in the Americas: Venezuela, Ecuador Mass Troops on Columbian Border

In response to Columbia killing a senior member of Marxist Narco-terrorist group F.A.R.C. in a commando raid Huge Chavez has massed armor and thousands of troops on the Columbian border. Ecuador has followed suit, massing troops on the opposite border threatening the long time U.S. ally with war on two fronts.

F.A.R.C., who murdered three American Indian rights activists in 1999, have long been suspected of having strong ties with the Venezuelan communist leader who supports them and gives F.A.R.C. shelter in his country. F.A.R.C. itself is believed to have between 9000-and 12,000 armed combatants and to earn between 250-300 million dollars a year through drug sales, extortion and kidnapping. It is also believed they use slave labor to cultivate the Coca and Poppy on their plantations:

The FARC finances its operations through kidnapping and ransom, extortion, and narcotics trafficking. It also targets anyone suspected of conspiring with the military and paramilitaries.

According to military analysts, the FARC earns between $250 and $300 million through criminal acts, of which 65 percent comes from the drug trade.

The FARC’s conventional “guerrilla” weapons include explosives, landmines and bombs camouflaged as necklaces, soccer balls, and soup cans.

They have also orchestrated prison revolts, attacked against police and military personnel and regularly set up roadblocks to “protect” villages from military or paramilitary infiltration. According to reports, the FARC forcibly enlists any persons between the ages of 13 and 60 to work coca or poppy plantations, and serve in the military. The FARC have also targeted religious leaders and banned any spiritual expression.

Ecuador was thought to be acting in support of their fellow communist nation until it was reported that Columbian commandos captured documents implicating Ecuador’s Rafael Correa in deals with the terror group:

A spokesman for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said that during the raid, troops had found documents that provided information that “[Ecuadorean President Correa] has a relationship and commitments with Farc”,

Police commander Gen Oscar Naranjo said one document showed Reyes had met Ecuador’s minister of internal security and that they discussed Mr Correa’s “interest in making official relations with the Farc”.

The Reyes mentioned was F.A.R.C. spokesman and senior leader Raul Reyes, who was one of several terrorists killed in the attack.

Columbia now faces three armies, one on each side of them and one within their own land. Democrats have snubbed Columbia in recent years, making it clear that they favor the Marxist regimes over America’s freedom loving allies, and perhaps those actions have led Venezuela, Ecuador and F.A.R.C. to believe it Columbia is ripe for the picking.

Chavez has called Columbia the “Israel of South America” perhaps as a code to activate the Hezbollah cells he allows to operate in his country. Once active in the middle of a Marxist led war the Islamists will spread chaos and death well beyond the battle zone.

Columbia will likely get little if any assistance from America as the communists roll their tanks and troops across hard pressed nations borders. Once that war kicks off in earnest a destabilized Latin America and a porous souther U.S. border will likely spell disaster for the entire hemisphere.

Still Under the Weather Link Round Up

I’m just getting over the flu so I missed some good stories. Doesn’t matter as most of my traffic has been to my encounters with vicious murderer Yankee James. Here are some links that piqued my interest:

We’ve all read about Google censoring a site critical of the U.N. but the site itself is full of juicy stories. Be sure to take a look.

A.I.M. has some disturbing details of Barack Obama’s Communist Mentor, and his link to the CPUSA. You won’t see this on CNN!

I know this because CNN has been exposed as a Castro propaganda tool by the always awesome Babalu Blog. Also Val Prieto did a great interview on NPR.

Micheal Crichton has a great essay up on why Politicized Science is Dangerous.

Speaking of authors, Orson Scott Card put up this great piece on being a moderate in America and The Insanity of Parties.

Robert Spencer and Irshad Manji are part of a fascinating debate on the future of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and what that means to freedom of speech.

Dissident News brought this great NY Sun column by Anne Applebaum to my attention on The Archbishop’s Sharia War.

Craig DeLuz on how contribution limits increased the power of special interest groups, and at least in California, mainly benefit Democrats.

A Jordanian student threatens an ex-Muslim speaker with death at the Air Force Academy?

Finally, Drew Carey explains why the middle class should stop whining:

Help Find Brianna Denison

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19 year old Brianna Denison disappeared from the house of friends she was spending the night with in Reno, Nevada. After giving Brianna some blankets and pillows, the roommates went to bed for the night and awoke to find the young girl missing and a blood stain the size of a silver dollar on the couch she slept on.

Police say the apartment she was in was rented to collage students who rarely locked the door, so no sign of forced entry was found and they officially have no suspects. Police are searching for a person of interest however. From ABC News:

The search intensified today when authorities announced that they wanted to talk to an unnamed man in his 40s who may have information on Denison’s whereabouts.

A man in a sport utility vehicle picked up one of Denison’s friends around 1 a.m. Sunday at the Sands Regency Hotel Casino after she failed to find a taxi. The driver dropped her at the house where Denison was staying. While the ride was without incident and police are not calling the man a “suspect,” they say that he is a “person of interest” who may know something about the disappearance. “It’s a leaf that’s unturned,” Macdonald said.

Reno police released a surveillance image showing the man’s beige or light-brown Chevrolet Suburban leaving the casino’s parking lot Sunday morning. The unidentified driver is described as a white male, possibly of Latin descent, with a medium build. He was well-dressed, according to police.

Anyone who has information about Denison or the driver of the SUV, should call the Reno Police Department at 334-2121. If you wish to remain anonymous you can call the Secret Witness hot line at 322-4900.

Jay R. Grodner is a Terrible Lawyer

American hating car vandal Jay R. Grodner is not only a horrible person, but apparently a terrible lawyer. It seems Jay showed up to court for his first appearance late and got a stern warning from the judge about respect for the court. At this point any lawyer worth his salt would ensure that his client was on time to his next appearance.

But we’re talking about Jay R. Grodner here.

Grodner, who was representing himself, showed up to court late again, this time calling one of the prosecutors to say that he wanted to wait for the press to clear out. The judge was unamused, and issued a warrant for Grodner’s arrest.

There’s a transcript of the proceedings provided by Kabuki Village. It’s an amazing display of arrogance on Grodner’s part, and an amusing look at the high price of arrogance.

Grodner sounds, by all accounts, like people we’ve all met. A 55 year old adolescent who seems perpetually shocked that people would want to hold him responsible for his actions. I’ve met dozens of people like this on University campuses (one of the reasons I ended my academic career early, I couldn’t imagine staying on a campus forever surrounded by those people) and in New York. Imagine the thought process of a 55 year old man, an attorney, who keys cars of people.

Stunning immaturity at best, but more likely Grodner is pathologically hateful of those who make him feel less than a man through their own accomplishments. Veterans are often targeted by people like Grodner whose identity is tied deeply into political activism and see the attention veterans get, the praise for their noble service, as reflecting poorly on the small and unimportant lives they’ve led.

So here’s Jay R. Grodner. A small man finally getting the attention he craved all his life. Handcuffed, humiliated and penalized let’s hope this attention has changed him for the better.

But I doubt it.