Documentary Review - "Which Way Home" or How do we Secure the Borders After They've Seen Manhattan?

Do you remember the song "How you gonna keep em down on the farm, after they've seen Paris?" (click on the link to hear it) The song was referencing the boys coming back from WW1. I thought of this song as I watched a fascinating documentary on HBO yesterday entitled "Which Way Home."

The film follows several unaccompanied child migrants from Guatemala and El Salvador as they journey through Mexico en route to the U.S. on a freight train they call “ The Beast. ” When asked why they were making such a trecherous journey they said, "I want to see Manhattan!" or "I want to see Hollywood." Who can blame them. They are escaping ravaged, poverty stricken countries.

In the documentary, none of the children made it to the US. Most were caught by Mexican Immigration authorities. Contrary to what the ANTI CIR advocates say, Mexican Immigration doesn't demonize them. They catch them and send them home. The detention centers are little more than temporary safe passage back home. They are not like the disease infested, green bologna, rat infested sweltering tent cities like there are in Maricopa County and in Texas. They don't keep them for 6 months to feed the pockets of their PAC contributing crony private prison owners. They put them on a bus and send them home right away.

ICE tells us we have the lowest rate of new entries in 10 years. ICE utilizes technology to protect the border. They utilize surveillance systems and they go out and pick up the people who cross. Why incarcerate them? Just send them home. Look at their faces. The people tough enough to make the journey are kids. I've seen the surveillance videos from Border Watch groups. They are kids.

The world watches our TV, Videos and Movies. How ya gonna keep em down in their poverty stricken countries after they've seen Hollywood? We need a new song and we need a new approach for returning the newly arrived home.

This New Swine Flu Reminds Me of Reye's Syndrome of the Past! Please Take Early Prevention Measures!

When my oldest son was a baby, there was a terrible flu-virus like disease going around. It attacked little children and old people. They called it Reye's syndrome. This was primarily a good old American disease although it occurred in other places too. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, studies in Ohio, Michigan and Arizona pointed to the use of aspirin during an upper respiratory tract or chickenpox infection as a possible trigger of the syndrome. The CDC cautioned doctors and parents about the association between Reye’s syndrome and the use of aspirin in children and teenagers with chickenpox or viruslike illnesses. Like other parents, I was very cautious about this disease and stopped using baby aspirin completely. As careful as I was, my son still developed the flu in 1980 and it lingered. He became sicker. This was over a weekend so I took him to the emergency room twice. Both times they sent me away saying I was over protective. I was so insistent however that on my final trip they finally gave him an antibiotic shot and provided me suppositorities to keep his temperature down overnight and they also said I should take him to his pediatrician in the morning. We sat up all night giving him cold baths and the suppository to keep his temperature down. When we walked into the Pediatrician's office, he knew right away. My son had Meningitis, NOT Reye's Syndrome. My son stayed in the hospital for two weeks to recieve his full treatment. The doctors said it was lucky he received the shot and suppository the 1st night and the cold baths. This precaution prevented him from developing brain damage and death. Though it took two weeks for his complete recovery, my baby was saved!

I share this with you because there is a new flu-virus that may become a pandemic and we should all be on the alert for our family's sake. Please take every precaution. This flu is called the swine flu. It has hit Mexico and they currently have a death toll of 149. CDC / News reports indicate this is a particularly severe version of the flu. This version not only impacts children and the elderly, but many of the early victims were young adults and some adults from 25 - 37. Adults who were in good health and strong. This flu is following the same pattern that emerged during the 1918-1919 Spanish influenza epidemic, which killed at least 50 million people, and it remains unexplained in that case as well. One theory is that the virus triggers an excessively aggressive immune response that destroys the throat and lung tissue.

Researchers are saying that one reason people have died in Mexico as opposed to the U.S. (which has had several cases but no fatalities) is that similar to Reye's syndrome, it is NOT the flu that kills you, it is the After-Flu "super-infection" that kills you. This is a new virus that no one has seen before. It must be taken seriously and treated immediately. In Mexico, apparently the early victims did not address their illnesses quickly enough.

However, this has changed. The entire nation has made solving this crisis their main priority. President Calderón has given Mexico a national lesson on public health, instructing people to wash their hands regularly, wear surgical masks, cover their mouths when they cough and avoid sharing food. Officials in Mexico City have handed out 6 million masks.

In the U.S., Janet Napolitano, the head of the Dept of Homeland Security, and the CDC are holding press conferences every day at 3pm ET to provide U.S. updates on what is happening with this Flu virus. Today she advised that the CDC/DHS are in close communications with Mexico, their officials/health officials. Mexico and the U.S. are partnering in sharing information and developing solutions. Napolitano has asked that for the time being, travel to Mexico should be limited. Border/Airport/Port security is on the alert to watch for anyone who may be entering the country with the flu. They will be advised to seek medical treatment and asked to postpone their trips to the U.S. The key to this illness is receiving medical treatment very quickly. It is not the flu, it is the after-flu superinfection that is causing the deaths. The CDC is also monitoring all flu activity across the nation.

Napolitano also advised that we all be pro-active in mitigating the impact of the flu. Primarily, if you feel the flu coming on, seek treatment. Do not go to populated places. Cover your mouth when you sneeze. She advised we access the CDC website and take the listed precautions.

From the CDC website:

There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy.
. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.

. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze.

. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
. Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
. If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

References:

Mexico Raises Swine Flu Death Toll to 149

Map of Swine Flu Cases

Reverse Border Security: Napolitano Does It Right!

Janet Napolitano, President Obama's head of Homeland Security, has made a shift in Immigration policy. While Border Patrol Agents are still assigned to stopping drugs and illegal immigrants from entering the United States, hundreds of additional agents are being redeployed to stop the weapons and cash that flow into Mexico.

In a speech before the newest agents arriving in Laredo, TX, Napolitano said, “You know, early this week I met with President Obama, and this morning I met with President Calderón of Mexico, and you guys are at the cutting edge of something new we’re trying to do to make the border safer.”

Ms. Napolitano’s initiative to send an additional 360 agents to the 2,000-mile border with Mexico, announced two weeks ago, is intended not only to respond to growing concerns about national security, she said, but also to change the way Americans view the threat.
“We understand that this port needs to move, that time is money, especially when it comes to trade,” said Ms. Napolitano, standing in the shadow of a line of tractor-trailers that extended as far as the eye could see. “But from now on, when trucks come into this port, they are going to see something they haven’t seen before, and that’s southbound inspections.”

Ms. Napolitano rarely uses the word terrorism, and she has said she does not intend to practice the “politics of fear.” She has said her agency will devote as much attention to preparing for natural disasters as for “man-caused disasters,” her euphemistic term for terrorism. She made public her disapproval of an immigration raid of a mechanics shop in Washington State, freed the immigrants who had been detained, and gave them work permits. Her actions sent a signal that future enforcement would focus on employers who rely on illegal immigrants, rather than on the workers.
While on the border, Ms. Napolitano has essentially turned previous policies upside-down, warning Americans that what leaves the country is as much a risk to their security as what comes in.
Ms. Napolitano has begun making changes at Homeland Security and revealed how some of her own views have shifted since she took her new job. Ms. Napolitano was once a leading opponent of the Bush administration’s decision to build some 600 miles of fencing along the border. In an interview, she said she had come to see that the fence has “helped us get operational control of some areas.” As governor, she was among the first to call for the deployment of the National Guard to help stop smuggling. Now, she said, “minds were open” to a request for troops from Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, a Republican. But she said she wanted Mr. Perry to explain how the troops would be used.

During her visit in Laredo, Ms. Napolitano learned that the heightened border security southbound into Mexico might already be yielding results. A few hours before her arrival, the authorities conducting southbound inspections stopped an American couple and a 5-year-old child in a car carrying 10 grenades, nearly $122,000 in cash, a barrel for a sniper rifle and a cache of high-caliber ammunition, officials said.
The man told the authorities that he was a former Marine and that he had obtained the weapons from a military friend linked to drug smugglers in Michigan, officials said. Climbing aboard her airplane to return to Washington, Ms. Napolitano boasted, “We said we were going to do this, and we’re doing it.”
References:
A Shift to Make the Border Safe, From the Inside Out