Mexico

Mexico is a popular vacation spot with its beautiful beaches and warm weather. White sands and blue waters entice tourists from all over the U.S. A trip to Mexico can be an inexpensive vacation or honeymoon.

I have known many to go vacation in Mexico and done just fine. But I have known others who weren't as lucky. Many have heard horror stories of things that have happened to Americans traveling south of the border. This is not intended to be a deterrent from going to Mexico. As a smart traveler you need to aware of the danger.


Crime is a reality for American tourists in many places. But recently, things have become a lot worse in Mexico . Violent criminal activity, fueled by a war between criminal organizations struggling for control of the lucrative narcotics trade, continues along the U.S.-Mexico border. The conditions in Juarez, Mexico, have been serious for a long time as more than 410 persons have been slain in that city this year, most as part of a war between competing drug cartels. Many police have been killed. The warning to all residents, pleading actually, is just stay off the streets. They cannot stop the fighting and killing.


Americans have been raped, robbed and murdered while visiting Mexico. Many tourists who go to Cancun and other popular resorts are not often victimized. But veering off the beaten path even a little can be extremely dangerous. Widespread police corruption is a big part of the problem. Most all police are crooks. They do accept bribes. If fact, if you get stopped for something, offer them a $100 bill, and most times you can walk away.

An alarming number of Americans are being attacked in taxies, on buses, some even on the beach. Yet most visitors to Mexico know nothing about the crimes there or how to protect themselves. Mexico is in the midst of a massive crime wave brought on by a severe economic crisis. These are not the pictures you'll see in the travel brochures, but this is reality in Mexico these days.


Local news cameras last year watched armed bandits work in the open, using their guns to stop cars so they could rob the passengers. On another street, a team of muggers operates with apparent impunity, leaving a man unconscious in broad daylight. Just 15 minutes later, the same group attacks another victim, and during it all, a police officer stands just a few yards away. They have guns and it is illegal for you to have a gun.


Cab rides often result in muggings, robbing you of your cash and credit cards and severe harm if don’t give them your pin numbers to your cards. State Department now warns travelers to never hail a cab on the street.


Often tourists are forced into cars or vans, driven around and beaten and robbed, and kicked out in some unknown and often bad part of town, left with nothing but their clothes. No money, no ID, often injured and scared and no where to turn for help.

Carol Schlosberg was raped and murdered last month - just last month - on a beach just outside the resort of Puerto Escondido. Carol went for a walk on the beach shortly after noon. It was on of her favorite things to do. They believe Carol was attacked because she walked alone. Mexican women will never travel anywhere by themselves. They always go with a companion - another woman, a friend or whatever. You may notice they still do that when here in the US...a habit I guess. They know better than to do that because these things to happen. Lone women and even pairs of women should be very cautious about going to isolated beach spots.


Bandits occasionally hold up buses, cars and other vehicles on intercity routes, especially at night, taking luggage or valuables. Sometimes buses are robbed by people who board as passengers. The best ways to avoid highway robbery are to travel by day and to travel on toll highways as much as possible. Deluxe and 1st-class buses use toll highways, where they exist; 2nd-class buses do not.

Pocket-picking and purse snatching are risks on crowded buses, subway trains, at bus stops, bus stations, airports, markets, packed streets and plazas, and anywhere frequented by large number of tourists - especially in Mexico City and other large cities. Pickpockets often work in team, crowding in on their victims in already crowded places like markets or city buses; one or two of them may grab your bag or camera (or arm or leg), and while your are trying to get free another will pick your pocket. Or one may "drop" something as a crowd jostles onto a bus and, as he or she "looks for it," a pocket will be picked or a bag slashed. The objective is to distract you. If your valuables are underneath your clothing, the chances of losing them are greatly reduced.



Leave most of your money, credit cards, passport, jewelry and air tickets in a sealed, signed envelope in your hotel’s safe, unless you have immediate need of these items. Virtually all hotels, except the very cheapest, provide safekeeping for guests’ valuables.

If you have to leave money, cards or checks in your room, divide them into several stashes and hide them in different places.

Carry a small amount of ready money – just enough for the outing you’re on – in a pocket. If you have to carry valuables, avoid making your pockets bulge with them, and preferably keep them in a money belt, shoulder wallet or pouch underneath your clothing.

Walk with purpose and be alert to people around you.

Don’t keep cash, credit cards, purses, bags or cameras in open view any longer than you have to. At ticket counters in bus stations and airports, keep your bag between your feet.

Use ATMs only in secure locations, not those open to the street, and try to use them during daylight.

Do not drive if you can avoid it. Many bad things can happen when you are driving in Mexico.


Don’t accept lifts offered by strangers.

Be careful about accepting food or drinks from strangers, especially in resort cities and on buses; there have been cases of drugging followed by robbery and assault, including sexual assault.

Go easy on alcohol: it reduces your awareness and reactions and makes you an easier victim.

Be wary of attempts at credit-card fraud. One method is when the cashier swipes your card twice (once for the transaction and once for nefarious purposes). Keep your card in sight at all times.

The poverty is severe in Mexico. 20 million people in Mexico live on less than two dollars a day. Sixty million people, half the Mexican population, live in poverty, and 20 million of them live in extreme poverty. Most of the time, garbage is their food, and some days, they don't even eat anything. Folks, it is awful. And getting worse. And the worse it gets, the more tourists are at risk - at risk from those who are just mean and at risk from those just trying to survive.



The poverty in Mexico is literally “beyond belief.” That is why we have so many illegal’s working for so little here. It is way better than what they know back home.


For example, the lower middle class in Mexico cannot dream of buying a home because not only do they not have enough money to buy it up front ,no one will lend them money. The country doesn't enjoy the loan mechanisms we enjoy here. The minimum wage is so low that it is impossible to provide for a family on minimum wage alone. The unemployment is over 30%. Over 6 million unemployed workers and growing everyday. Services and sanitation are not very good. The adult literacy rate is only 87%. The mean years of schooling for a Mexican is only 4.7 years. Nearly half of Mexico's population lives below the poverty line. That is about 42 million people living in poverty. 4.5 million people in Mexico are homeless. This number does not include the millions who live in subhuman conditions with no services such as water ,electricity or sewage.

Conditions are very bad in most of Mexico. These conditions are not easily seen from the tourist location, but be sure they are there, and the criminals and those desperate to eat and survive will not think twice about taking what is yours. So be safe out there.



Hope this summer brings you a good vacation somewhere safe....Ric

The War

Evil tyrants, not war, are the real source of atrocities…. and war is the only way to stop them. When something is important enough, or you want something enough, you will fight for it.


War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The person that thinks nothing is worth war, that nothing is worth fighting for, is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the efforts of better men than himself.

When you think of the Iraqi conflict, you either believe that Bush is just "crazy", or that we went there for legitimate purposes to free Iraqi people, or that we went there to protect ourselves from being attacked.

The problem with any of these points of views is that none of them adequately coincide with any event.

What I mean by that is that if you believe we went there to free Iraqis, there is no logical reason why we went there when we did. Iraqis have been suffering for years. When are we going to invade Mexico? The corruption in Mexico is disgraceful and that government needs to be toppled.

If you believe we went into Iraq to protect ourselves, there is no logical reason why we would have targeted Iraq because there are no obvious ties between Iraq and terrorism.

If you believe we went there because Bush is a sadistic loon, well, that also would have been consistent before 9/11, so there is no reason why the war would have begun in 2003.

Although there may be other reasons why you support or oppose the war in Iraq, I have yet to encounter anyone in either view that provided me with a premise behind why it happened when it happened.

But Consider this:

In November, 2000, Iraq began selling its oil in Euros, becoming the first OPEC country to abandon its ties to the US dollar.

What significance does this hold?

In simple economics, we understand that a country's dollar value is determined by the level of demand that exists for that currency. For example... if a country prints too many dollar bills and opens them up to the public via grants, higher interest rates, or by feeding the economy by hiring local companies, it floods the market with more of its currency. As with anything in business, the more supply there is, the less demand there is, hence the value of the dollar goes down.

As the value of the dollar goes down, the governmental body that controls a majority of the money, the interest rates, and the currency loses power, because the value of that money becomes less and less.

Well, on January 1st, 1999, 11 European countries joined together to form a joint currency called the EURO. Britain and Norway were two that were absent from this union of currency, and still trade using their own currencies.

These 11 countries were: AUSTRIA BELGIUM FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY GREECE IRELAND ITALY LUXEMBOURG NETHERLANDS PORTUGAL SPAIN .

The EURO is valued at approximately $1.30 US as of today.

Back to oil.

Right now Saudi Arabia and Iraq are two of the largest oil producers on the planet. Prior to the 2000 change to Euros by Iraq, most of the oil on the planet was purchased in US dollars, as 2/3 rds of the commonly traded currency in the world is US dollars. This is called a "Reserve Currency".

It is widely known and accepted that the US has struck a deal with the Saudis which provides them with US support in the Middle East, in exchange for their continued support of the US dollar by selling their oil in only US dollars. Iraq also promoted the value of the US dollar by selling their oil in that currency, but decided to sell their oil in only Euros in 2000.

What did that mean for the US dollar?

Well, what that means if you've been following me this far is that the demand for the US dollar would drop internationally, as many countries that obtained oil from Iraq would no longer convert their currency to US currency to obtain it. Instead, they would boost the demand for Euros by purchasing Euros.

This would benefit all the European countries utilizing the EURO, and affect the US dollar in a negative way. This is why it was countries like France, Germany and Russia that pressured Saddam Hussein into changing Iraq's trade currency.

Back to November 2000. So Iraq becomes the first large oil supplier in the world to begin trading in the EURO versus the US dollar. This, in itself, did not dramatically affect the value of the EURO or the US dollar. However, almost immediately following it other oil producing countries began toying with the possibility of following suit. Oil producing countries such as Iran, Libya, Venezuela, Russia, Indonesia, and Malaysia all began trading oil in Euros, thereby pushing it to become the world's second "Reserve Currency".

The repercussions of such a domino effect would effectively reduce the value of the US dollar by 20 to 40 percent v. the EURO, likely making the EURO at least equal to the dollar as a "Reserve Currency".

Following 9/11 and the incomplete invasion of Afghanistan, the US quickly proceeded to invade Iraq, the only OPEC country in the world to defy the US dollar. Their coalition of forces included Britain and Norway, two of the main European countries that did not partake in joining with the EURO. Of the 11 countries that were trading using the EURO, only Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands took part.

On the other side, France, Germany, Russia and China opposed the war, amongst others. France and Germany mainly because their currency was being threatened, and China and Russia because they also converted a substantial portion of their dollar reserves to Euros.

The US gained a few things by invading and occupying Iraq. Firstly, they sent a message to any OPEC countries that attempted to switch to the EURO, thereby devaluating the US dollar. Secondly, they now controlled the world's second largest oil supply. Thirdly, they almost immediately began trading in, yes you guessed it, US dollars, thereby maintaining its demand. Fourthly, they now have a military presence in the center of the Middle East. Fifthly, they struck a blow against the EURO, the main competitor to the US dollar.

It is theorized that if the Iraq war did not take place, and more oil producing countries switched to the EURO, the US dollar would crash, thereby causing a literal catastrophe in the US economy. Our world as we know it would have come crashing down.

This entire underlying purpose to the war in Iraq is not televised, nor is it well known amongst pro-war or anti-war enthusiasts.

It is important to note that almost every country that had a strong interest in boosting the EURO opposed the war, and every country that had a strong interest in preserving the US dollar supported the war.

Also important is the fact that the US abandoned the invasion of Afghanistan prematurely to focus on Iraq, certifying that Afghanistan was the foot in the door, but not the true purpose.

Interestingly enough, it is agreed upon by all parties involved that a "War on Terrorism" will never truly be finished, and that it is a very indefinite and lengthy process, as stated by the president himself. This does adequately permit the US government to protect the US dollar wherever it may be threatened, under the guise of terrorism for legitimacy and public support.

But the value of our Dollar and the strength of our economy is something that has to be protected. It is worth fighting for and It is the foundation of all we have and enjoy each day.


Wishing you the best ...Ric

Iced Tea

Being born and raised in Texas, I am as familiar with drinking iced tea as my friend Joe is with ugly women. He says those ugly ones need love too.

While I suppose that most Americans have a glass of iced tea from time to time during the summer, we Texans couldn't survive without the brew on a daily basis 12 months of the year. We drink it whenever and wherever food is served, morning, noon, and night, and we drink it anytime just to be drinking it. We drink it at casual cookouts and formal dinners. And we drink as much of it in fancy restaurants as we do at barbecue joints. I sometimes drink it for breakfast. You will almost always be able to find iced tea in my house, morning, noon or night. Visit my house and don’t be surprised to hear me say, "Hey, how 'bout a glass of ice' tea?"

Iced tea is the sacred beverage of Texans and has been ever since ice became readily available some years ago.


The varieties are endless.

Plain old "ice' tea." But there's also sugar tea (highly sweetened), mint tea (with bruised fresh mint leaves), lemon tea, and sun tea (a gallon container of cold water and tea placed in the hot sun for three or four hours to develop ultimate flavor). I also like a squeeze of lemon or lime in my iced tea, but some wouldn't dream of destroying the flavor of their everyday brew with sugar or lemon or anything else.


So ingrained has iced tea become in our lives here in Texas, we too enjoy some satisfying and even legendary alcoholic libations based all around iced tea. Anyone for some Jack Daniel’s whiskey tea? How about a Long Island Iced Tea? Ever had tea punch?


We Texans love our iced tea. We are not fanatics about it, mainly because we pretty much take for granted being able to get a good glass of iced tea, properly served, 365 days at year at most any restaurant. And yes, we like it year round, not just when the summer days are searing. Iced tea – What a fabulous beverage! Your summer will go a lot better if you keep your place stocked with that delicious iced tea!


Wishing you the best. Ric