However, among some groups it's apparently considered acceptable to kill law enforcement officers. The incident in question wasn't even a case of trying to evade apprehension by the authorities. The uniformed officers were providing security for a private party, and the murdering scum that shot them was simply unhappy because he'd not been invited.

The specifics of the case I mentioned about are pretty clear to me, as I, living where I do because (a) of its proximity to where my widowed mother lives, (b) because the place I live was chosen also because it was "adequate" for my needs as I didn't have any coresident children at the time, and (c) it was quick and easy for me to pay cash for the house shortly after my father died, happen to live a block away from where that illegal alien, who shot those two police officers, one fatally, was actively hidden by his friends. Clearly, they thought it was OK. Those people helped him escape to Mexico, where his relatives hid him from the authorities.

The news reports on several stations reported that the longest sentence he could have had to serve in Mexico for killing a police officer was 20 years, and therefore, if he ran the risk of having to serve longer, or suffer a more severe punishment, the Mexican government wouldn't extradite him.

Now, I'm sensitive to law and order issues, having been a strong law-and-order advocate for many years. However, I believe it the standards of the local community that enforce their laws. I personally believe that it would be acceptable to have only one, capital, penalty for any infraction, and administered immediately, be it spitting on the sidewalk or mass murderm with a written apology if it turned out to be incorrect. That would surely affect most human behavior, but, sadly, it wouldn't eliminate crime.

While I agree that it's likely that the individuals I routinely see urinating in the gutter along major thoroughfares here in Denver, are intoxicated, I don't see that as an excuse. I'd favor the termination of all trade and travel to/from Mexico if I thought it would stop the invasion from there. I'd favor dropping any apprehended individuals illegally in the U.S. from "south of the border" over Mexico City, from 30k feet, if I thought it would do any good at all. I personally wouldn't object to any resulting increase in prices, particularly of petroleum, that would result from such a move. After all, the reason I object so strongly to the urination into the gutter is that I routinely use my bicycle for transportation and therefore get "closer" to the problem than those who simply zoom by in their gas-guzzling SUV's, yacking on their cellphones and/or listening to their iPods, oblivious to most of what goes on around them.

Clearly, there are differences in the way in which illegal acts are perceived in different cultures. One doesn't have to look outside our borders to see this.

I can provide more specifics about why I feel this way, (Bear in mind that I'm a LEGAL immigrant, hence know the difference between an immigrant and an invader.) but I doubt many people favoring easing of trade with and of the illegal migration from Mexico to the U.S. would be interested in knowing what they are.

It's worth noting, though, that there's something basically wrong with people who think it's OK to break the law just to get into a country that might offer them greater opportunity. There's also something basically wrong with people who believe that it's OK to continue to break laws by stealing identities, falsifying documents, and other such acts, just to continue their illegal presence.

RE