Saturday, January 26, 2008

Border Patrol Agent's Death Ignored? It Is a Gosh Awful Disgrace...

...when the death of a United States Border Patrol Agent goes virtually ignored in light of the facts that:

1) He was doing his job at the time of his death, trying to protect the nation from alien or drug smugglers, and who knows maybe even terrorists.

2) One of his last actions was to motion innocent bystanders out of the way of oncoming harm.

3) His last action, was to lay road spikes in an attempt to stop the suspect(s).

4) His last encounter on the face of this earth was to be run down and killed by a suspected smuggler.

5) The news media coverage of this tragic death was scant to say the least about it. When looked at in the light of how much news coverage was given to an actor who recently died, whose biggest claim to fame was his kissing another male actor in a gay caballero movie, and how little coverage was given to this real life American hero who sacrificed his life for the security of our great nation - well something is truly sad about that, and maybe indicative that our nation is not as great as it would want to appear to be in the first place.

6) When the media coverage of this agent's death is compared to the mud slinging, yellow journalistic, coverage that was given when two Border Patrol Agents were accused of wrongfully shooting a drug smuggler, I think people should realize that something in our lives, and in the media coverage in this country is terribly askew. No let me rephrase that, something is really fucked up would be a better to describe it, if not a better way to say it.

7) When I have not heard one word about his out of the mouth of the President of the United States of America. I think it truly embarrassing - as I am a government employee tasked with Immigration and Customs duties among others, and I started my career as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent not many miles from where this agent was killed; and when I think of the President as my ultimate executive officer - which he is in fact!

8) When I realize I have not heard one Senator, one Representative from the House of Representatives, demand that the person(s) responsible be extradited from Mexico back into the USA. I am appalled, because many of them sure made a stink in wanting to basically those two agents who shot a smuggler.

9) When I do not hear from the President of Los Estados Unidos de Mexico demanding justice in this case, and condemning the killing and the killer(s), I realize that he is a hypocrite extraordinaire, much like many of our own politicians in this same regard.

Do any of you know about the story about which I am writing? Hav eyou heard about it in the news? Yes it made the news, but I have spoken to several people who have no clue about it. I guess that is because things like the suspected probable overdose death of an actor is more important to many than is the death of someone tasked with the duty of protecting our nation and her borders. Shame on you if you are one of them who finds such absolute trivia to be more important than national security, than securing our borders, than the well being of our public servants who lay down their lives for you and yours.

I did not write about this last week because I wanted to wait to see if my guess about how it would be handled would prove true. I figured it would be largely ignored and quickly pushed aside for what would be deemed more important news, yet news that was truly trivial in light of this killing. I wanted to wait to see how it would be covered in the media, and how it was addressed by our so called leaders. My guess then was correct, as can be seen if you look back over the past week to see how it was reported, and how our elected officials addressed it.

'We The People' had best wake up, and wake up quickly. The important news of the day is not whether or not Paris Hilton wore panties (how many weeks did that make the news), or whether or not Britany Spears took another overdose today, or if an actor who was not particularly good overdosed on pills. I have heard over and over again about those much less than important events, and about who I consider to be less than important people. I have also heard way to much of how the two supposedly big bad Border patrol Agents had no just cause to shoot a Mexican drug smuggler. Did they have just cause, maybe and maybe not; but I can tell you that the Border Patrol Agent who was run down and killed in the line of duty last Saturday had just cause to do what he did - there is no doubt about it. Why is he, and his death, not being given the attention it deserves. I guess it does not matter to the media - they can sensationalize the death of an actor who played queer cowboy, so why bother reporting on a real American hero. They can show blurred out pics of the inside of Paris Hilton's thighs, so why show pictures of the fallen agent! They can give daily Britany reports, so why bother with a few more about this tragic event. I guess too that it does not matter all that much to most of our elected officials in the federal government. Why should it? He was just another Border patrol Agent, why should they care. he was just trying to secure our borders and make life safer for our citizens - do politicians really care about any of that? Does it matter to them? Does it matter to you?

I wonder, have any of you asked yourselves - what is the name of this fallen hero? His name was: Luis Aguilar Jr., a U.S. Border Patrol Senior Agent. Does it matter to you? I wonder did any of you ask yourselves what about his family, did he have one? Yes he is, or was, a husband and a father of two children. Does it matter to you? I wonder, have any of you even thought of his family? Do it matter to you? I wonder, have any of you asked yourselves, what about the guy(s) who mowed him down, have they been captured, has anyone even seriously looked for them? No they have not yet been arrested, but there are prime suspects, and they reside in Mexico, where as reported by the Mexican media, the search is on; but where in the Mexican media they also reportedly have been praised as heroes for killing one of our own. Does it matter to you?

It matters to me; and apparently it mattered to at least some in the media, though seemingly not those in the main stream media. "It mattered a lot last Saturday to Dukeshier, 31, an air-conditioning installer from Peoria, and to John Jamison, 39, a Phoenix insurance adjuster." If you don't know why it mattered to these two men, then see this article: Take the time to remember a border hero, in The Arizona Republic at
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0126roberts0126.html where you will get the explanation. Damn it, it ought to mater an awful lot more, to a whole lot more of people than it seems to. Take 10 minutes or so, look to the government links on the right side of my blog's home page. Then click on the links to contact the president, the vice president, your senators and your representative in the House. Write to them all about this and ask why it apparently does not matter, or at least not matter more to them. Demand that they speak out as loudly about this as they did about the shooting of the drug smuggler. Demand that they seek justice in this case, justice over the death of an American Citizen, over the death of an American Hero, over the death of a united States Border Patrol Agent, as much as they did over the shooting in the buttocks of a suspected drug smuggler slimeball. If you do not do at least that, then the answer to all those "Does it matter to you?" questions is simply - No you do not! If that is the case, shame on you for ever thinking yourself a decent person.

With true heartfelt sadness at the state we are in, I implore you to help make things better. Contact your elected officials and express your outrage, and outraged you should be, over this whole lack of attention to the falling of this hero. At least let this man's family know we care about him, and about them, our fellow Americans - do your part to help bring his killer(s) to justice by contacting your elected officials and demanding swift action, and swifter justice.

All the best,
Glenn B

1 comment:

Humble wife said...

IT MATTERS TO ME. Great advice, and I feel this personally as once part of the LE family...always.
Jen