Wingnuts' version of violence on the Mexico border full of John WAYNE movie bravado

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Google shows some 500+ articles about this incident on the Mexico-S. Texas border, ranging from the Jerusalem Post and the (British) Examiner. The first news reports of the statements by the head of the Texas Department of Public Service claimed that the U.S. law enforcement personnel were attacked by gunfire and the version ricochetting around the world is that there was "an exchange" of 300 rounds. The truth dribbles out limping and with nowhere like the same attention, that there were rocks thrown by the druggers followed up with from FOUR to SIX shots, leading to the law dudes hammering out the THREE HUNDRED rounds.

Of course, the usual scoundrels (Texas Senator John CORNYN) jumped to stir up the hysteria.



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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/11/us-shootout-border-idUSTRE75A05E20110611

Investigation probes whether border shootout was deadly

By Corrie MacLaggan

AUSTIN, Texas | Fri Jun 10, 2011

The incident began when U.S. Border Patrol officials in South Texas' Hidalgo County pursued a Dodge Durango -- which they suspected was carrying drugs -- as it made its way toward the Rio Grande on the Mexican border, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lisa Block.

The suspected smugglers transferred their cargo onto rafts, crossed to the Mexican side, and were unloading drugs from the raft when they were approached by several U.S. law enforcement boats carrying officials from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Border Patrol and the Texas Rangers, she said.

As the boats approached, the suspects "started throwing rocks and then opened fire onto the officers and the officers returned fire," Block said.

She said preliminary information indicates the suspects discharged at least six gunshots, though that is still under investigation. American officials appear to have shot some 300 rounds, she said. ....


U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, seized upon the incident that he called a "brazen attack" to criticize President Barack Obama's administration.

"Cartel-related violence along our border is real and escalating, and the Administration cannot continue to deny it when American lives -- particularly those of our law enforcement -- are directly in harm's way," Cornyn said in a statement. ....





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne

As the majority of male leads left Hollywood to serve overseas, John Wayne saw his just-blossoming stardom at risk. Despite enormous pressure from his inner circle of friends, he put off enlisting. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status, classified as 3-A (family deferment). Wayne's secretary recalled making inquiries of military officials on behalf of his interest in enlisting, "but he never really followed up on them."<35> He repeatedly wrote to John Ford, asking to be placed in Ford's military unit, but consistently postponed it until "after he finished one more film."<36> Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing Wayne, especially after the loss of Gene Autry to the Army.<37> ....

The foregoing facts influenced the direction of Wayne's later life. By many accounts, Wayne's failure to serve in the military during World War II was the most painful experience of his life.<42> There were some other stars who, for various reasons, did not enlist. But Wayne, by virtue of becoming a celluloid war hero in several patriotic war films, as well as an outspoken supporter of conservative political causes and the Vietnam War, became the focus of particular disdain from both himself and certain portions of the public, particularly in later years. While some hold Wayne in contempt for the paradox between his early actions and his later attitudes, his widow suggests that Wayne's rampant patriotism in later decades sprang not from hypocrisy but from guilt. Pilar Wayne wrote, "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home."<[br />
(VIEWS NATIVE AMERICANS AND MEDICARE/WELFARE: ) "I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them if that's what you're asking. Our so called stealing of this country was just a question of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.... Look, I'm sure there have been inequalities. If those inequalities are presently affecting any of the Indians now alive, they have a right to a court hearing. But what happened 100 years ago in our country can't be blamed on us today. I'm quite sure that the concept of a Government-run reservation... seems to be what the socialists are working for now — to have everyone cared for from cradle to grave.... What happened between their forefathers and our forefathers is so far back -- right, wrong or indifferent -- that I don't see why we owe them anything. I don't know why the government should give them something that it wouldn't give me."<45><46>

Wayne responded to questions about whether social programs like Medicare and Social Security were good for the country:

"I know all about that. In the late Twenties, when I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist myself -- but not when I left. The average college kid idealistically wishes everybody could have ice cream and cake for every meal. But as he gets older and gives more thought to his and his fellow man's responsibilities, he finds that it can't work out that way -- that some people just won't carry their load.... I believe in welfare -- a welfare work program. I don't think a fella should be able to sit on his backside and receive welfare. I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living. I'd like to know why they make excuses for cowards who spit in the faces of the police and then run behind the judicial sob sisters. I can't understand these people who carry placards to save the life of some criminal, yet have no thought for the innocent victim."

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1. The local wingnut replied about John WAYNE, the chickenhawk

The wingnut holds himself apart from his Fringe-wingers, claims to be a True Conservative, long ago said he holds GINGRICH in contempt. I sent him these comments about the hysteria in wingnuts about the Southern Border and replied it was funny I mentioned John WAYNE, since he had seen a WW II documentary that mentioned who served and who didn't, and that he bites his tongue when he hears fellow wingnuts hold WAYNE up as a patriot hero.


I asked why he, as a type of journalist and True Conservative, bites his tongue at FALSE versions of whatever instead of his standing on solid truths. I added that I saw another account of WAYNE, that he was BOOed by wounded G.I.s/sailors when he toured a military hospital in Hawaii. Also, I don't buy his widow's claiming his version of super patriotism was fueled by guilt at not serving. His full throated wingnuttiness, as shown in the quote above, went beyond mainstream Conservatism into the familiar fringe anti-"welfare" (and racism, despite his Hispanic wife/?wives?) crap.