a thought

One last note before we retreat to the beauty of the butterflies.


Morelia made worldwide news in 2008 with the type of incident most citizens fear -- and resent.


On the evening of September 15, all of Mexico was celebrating the 198th anniversary of its declaration of independence from Spain.


Crowds packed the plaza between the cathedral and the state government palace.  There were rumors that the drug lords were going to place a bomb in the crowd.  But the people of Morelia were not going to be deterred.


Governor Godoy had just finished shouting the traditional grito -- pulling the crowd into a political high.


Then there was an explosion.  Followed quickly by a second -- four blocks away.  Someone had rolled two hand grenades into the midst of the celebrants.


Eight people were dead.  Over 100 were injured.

This is where it happened.  About in the middle of the photograph.  The governor was standing on the balcony of the building in the background.  (You can see a more detailed view at the top of this post.)

I debated whether to mention this incident.  After all, but for some excellent field work by the FBI, my former hometown of Portland could have had a far more destructive disaster this last November.


I point out the comparison because terrorism can happen anywhere.  But a lot of people have a pretty good idea what is driving the narco-terrorism -- and how to resolve it.


There is violence in Mexico.  Most of it caused by drug prohibition policies that will continue to result in more drug-related murders.


I would love to go through life appreciating only nice things like the pottery displays in yesterday's post.  Fortunately, most of our lives are never touched by the drug trade.  But lots of lives in Mexico, Canada, and the States are.


Maybe the American and Canadian governments will eventually see that drug prohibition is as dangerous to lives and liberties as was the American experiment with alcohol prohibition.


Then we can stop talking about this issue.