Another Monkey Brain Attack….

I have been thinking about a lot of things today and my poor brain has been swinging happily from headline to headline and from subject to subject without any apparent rhyme or reason (a condition I call “monkey brain”). The result is a daily blog entry that whips and bobs like a cork in a hurricane. So get out the Pepto-Bismol, grab hold of something solid and ride along as long as you can take it.

First I saw an article about something that should have alarm bells ringing all over, but for some reason no one seems to be aware of it. Hezbollah, the terrorist organization based in the Middle East has established another home base across the border in Mexico.

"They are recognized by many experts as the 'A' team of Muslim terrorist organizations," a former U.S. intelligence agent was quoted as saying, adding "They certainly have had successes in big-ticket bombings."

Some of the group's bombings include the U.S. embassy in Beirut and Israeli embassy in Argentina. The group is now active much closer to San Diego. "We are looking at 15 or 20 years that Hezbollah has been setting up shop in Mexico," the agent said.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. policy has focused on al-Qaida and its offshoots. "They are more shooters than thinkers … it's a lot of muscles, courage, desire but not a lot of training," the agent said, referring to al-Qaida. Hezbollah, he said, is far more advanced. "Their operators are far more skilled … they are the equals of Russians, Chinese or Cubans," he said. "I consider Hezbollah much more dangerous in that sense because of strategic thinking; they think more long-term."

Hezbolah has operated in South America for decades and then Central America, along with their sometime rival, sometime ally Hamas. Now, the group is blending into Shi'a Muslim communities in Mexico, including Tijuana. Other pockets along the U.S.-Mexico border region remain largely unidentified as U.S. intelligence agencies are focused on the drug trade. "They have had clandestine training in how to live in foreign hostile territories," the agent said.

The agent, who has spent years deep undercover in Mexico, said Hezbollah is partnering with drug organizations, but which ones is not clear at this time. The group receives cartel cash and protection in exchange for Hezbollah expertise.

"From money laundering to firearms training and explosives training," the agent said.

For example, he tracked, along with Mexican intelligence, two Hezbollah operatives in safe houses in Tijuana and Durango "I confirmed the participation of cartel members as well as other Hezbollah individuals living and operating out of there," he said.

Tunnels the cartels have built that cross from Mexico into the U.S. have grown increasingly sophisticated. It is a learned skill, the agent said points to Hezbollah's involvement.

"Where are the knowledgeable tunnel builders? Certainly in the Middle East," he said (just last week we saw a 1000 meter tunnel in Afghanistan the helped free 450 Taliban from Kandahar prison).

Why have Americans not heard more about Hezbollah's activities happening so close to the border? "If they really wanted to start blowing stuff up, they could do it," the agent said. According to the agent, the organization sees the U.S. as their "cash cow," with illegal drug and immigration operations. Many senior Hezbollah leaders are wealthy businessmen, the agent said.

"The money they are sending back to Lebanon is too important right now to jeopardize those operations," he said. The agent said the real concern is the group's long-term goal of radicalizing Muslim communities. "They're focusing on developing … infiltrating communities within North America," the agent told a reporter.

This was a DEA agent so apparently even Secretary Napolitano is aware of this scorpion making a nest just across our border. I wonder what it is going to take to get her and the Department of Homeland Security to do something about it. A successful terrorist attack in Southern California perhaps? Why does it always have to take something like that to wake people up?

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The next thing on the daily hit list is one I think will give you a good laugh –I know I’m still chuckling about it.

In a salient display of their modern civilized politics, close allies of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been arrested and accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Several people close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being “magicians” and invoking djinns (spirits). Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as “a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds”.

The only thing that kept me from hurting myself with laughter was remembering that these guys are close to getting their hands on nuclear weapons….

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Did you watch the first Republican Presidential Debate the other night? I did and I liked it. I think the questioning was handled well with good, pertinent questions that allowed us to actually get a better look at the participants. It was disappointing that so few of the people that are going to run showed up but I understand --it is still a little early in the race.

Frank Lund of FOX News had one of his test groups watching the debate and they overwhelmingly declared Herman Cain the winner. I think FOX must have been serving them cocktails before the debate. Herman Cain did fine, but he was far from being “the clear winner”. No one gets that title. Personally, I kind of liked former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. His answers came across as being intelligent and honest and I agreed with a lot of what he said. The problem is -I don’t want the next President to be someone “I kind of like”.

OK, thanks for coming along today. I hoped you enjoyed the ride and will come back soon.

Until next time -Live Long and Prosper…..