http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-04-01/a-border-killing-becomes-political/full/

I agree. There is more to this than everyone is seeing. Sounds like they were reporting who wasn’t paying.

I’m sorry you regarded my comment as an attack. That was not my intent: I’m as befuddled as everyone else as to the “true” nature of what’s going on here near the border.

But as for my having “no basis?” Well, I cannot deny my personal experience, nor the experiences of my neighbors.

My “basis” (as I wrote) is that I’ve met, conversed with, and sometimes helped more than 1,000 migrants here, most passing through in small “family” groups. And will, because of never once having had a bad encounter, hold firm that the great majority of migrants are people of good character.

My most recent encounter was with 2 migrants from Sinaloa, a father, 48, and his son, 22. They were eating breakfast under a dense mosquite bosque. It had taken them 2 days and a moonless night hiking over the dangerous Atascosas Mountains to reach a spot just 16 miles just north of the border. (Truly heroic, when you think about it.) They were friendly and confident – despite the fact that it was 40F and threatening rain. They asked how far to Tucson. When I told them at least 30 hours by foot, they just smiled. (They were well supplied with food, water, and warm clothing. Had they not been, I would have seen that they were.)

I’m not a “romantic,” but I will admit to empathy, having been born poor in a rural, Appalachian town. Like migrants I meet, I felt the same desperate “push” to get the hell out of there to seek a better life.

Just as is the case in my birth town, Mexico is losing some of its most ambitious and resourceful people.

Meanwhile, I’m curious to learn where you live. Are you writing from personal experience, also? I ask not to challenge or to denigrate your comments. (I admire the questing tone of most of what you write, actually.)

But some of what you posted seemed sort of “canned” to me. (“And illegal aliens have been stealing, burglarizing and robbing for many years and heading south afterwards, to hawk their ill-gotten booty. It happens every day, as I write this.”) I swear I’ve read phrasing like this before.

When I read that, I wanted to ask, “But have you ever met a migrant face to face?”

Should you, you’d learn how human the vast majority of them are. And, maybe, how much their basic motivation resembles that of your own ancestors.

(By the way, my young nieces from Pennsylvania drove to up to Pena Blanca last week. No problem.)

I don’t know if you know Jack personally, but I wouldn’t accuse anyone of “romantic notions,” simply because they’ve had a different experience than I’ve had. In fact, I’m not from around there and from what I can tell he seems very sensible to what goes on a daily basis. I’m sure that if he does come across anyone, which he stated he has on several occasions, he doesn’t seem like that type that is narrow-minded or the type that would freak out. He seems very aware of his surroundings and basically cool, calm and collected – a man’s man. It takes an extremely intelligent individual to understand people from all walks of life, because most people, simple-minded people don’t really get what life is all about, they only understand their circumstances and their environment. With that said, I may be new to the blog, but I’m extremely intuitive, I can easily sense strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the day, everyone is entitled to their opinion and it’s all the same – just a collaboration of personal opinions.

As to your comment relating to the clichéd and exhausted duck theory… Actually, no, that’s all I have to say about that. You, made the argument for me. So, thank you for that one.

And as to “billable hours,” the criminal defense attorney’s I know don’t bill by the hour. In fact, you know you have a damn good attorney when you’re paying a set amount for his/her representation alone, be it 50K or 100K. Roy Black charges $500,000.00 and upwards in the millions, just to sign a Notice of Appearance in any federal case. F. Lee Bailey (one of the defense attorney’s on O.J.’s dream team), mentioned that, contrary to popular belief, his statement is punishment enough to each of his clients. If you’re going to pay an attorney by the hour you should make sure you’re only getting a divorce. You can never truly reduce a masterful criminal defense attorney’s work simply as “billable hours.” It’s just not going to happen.