Tea Party

A trip to Mexico should leave one better informed about, yes, Mexico. Indubitably. Expand one's opinions and insights? Affirmative. But leave me better informed about the United States? Curious. First Geography. To see it from 35,000 feet is always a treat. Barges on the Mississippi, the north south snow line as far south as the Louisiana Arkansas state line (near where the shuttle disintegrated a week later) are both good memories of previous flights. This time it was to see that 90% of the flightpath indicated America was under heavy cloud, but Canada sunny both coming and going. So much for the Great White North. It was good too to confirm that Lake Erie is shallower then Lake Ontario which explains why it is frozen but L. Ontario not yet. And to pick out a small town and river (respectively Jamestown N.Y. and The Allegheny, Penn) not knowing the identity of either until reference to a map when home. Fun. As for politics, at the resort it was enlightening to watch American TV stations. I don't at home. Fox News is right wing and highly biased. Vitriol is a word which comes to mind. Whatever happened to journalistic objectivity? Then to read in the English language paper about the emergence of the Tea Party. Nationalistic, lashing out, circling the wagons, trying to recruit Sarah Palin as leader of the pack. A new third way in the US of A whether or not Ross Perrot or Ralph Nader (surely not him) would approve. Then in the Mexican press to read more about the mayhem on the US border. 20 murders a day there, mostly drug cartel intimidation. Many pueblos now ghost towns in Chihuahua because of the never ending violence. Cancun Airport is controlled by the cartel Beltran Levya but now a target of a revenge attack because of hits the smugglers have taken from US and Mexican authorities. US tourists are the largest contingent using the airport. Would not an attack on them be akin to biting the hand that feeds you?