Mexican Cartel Chars the Mountains

[Bass Akwards]

Dirt-poor and desperate, the campesinos responsible for the wildfires are disposable, expendable, Cartel "assets", living like animals in the bush.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/16/california.wildfire/index.html

Many more fires could break out before the rainy season begins.

Some might call for direct action.

Desperate measures for desperate times.

Where are those "eco-terrorists" when there's a Real enemy to fight?

Whither the tree-sitting hippie, when dirt-bag foreigners trash his country?

No excuses, no where, and no how.

With their pants still on.

 

[The Walrus]

The Walrus

The Walrus

I live near the area that burned and I must say, the news reports on this story are quite suspect.
Nothing was mentioned about a "Cartel grow" until over a week after the fire started , and after thousands of acres had burned. Up until then the word was Law enforcement was looking for a 2008 or 2009 Chevy van that was seen in the area and suspected of starting the fire.
About a month before this fire/cartel grow incident, the local Sheriff busted a huge grow just a mile or two from the grow where the fire was supposed to have started.
Now, the terrian is rugged, but not that rugged that the cops wouldn't spot a 30,000 plant grow from their fleet of helocopters while busting the first operation.
Flash forward a month to when the fire starts. No mention of a grow or a cartel just a mysterious Van.

So, why didn't they bust the 2nd grow at the same time as the first?
Why did it take 8 days for the story to change from a mysterious van to a major cartel job manned by Mexican Nationals that supposedly were still at large? (If they were at large they would be swollen up to twice their size by the poison oak that is super thick in the Las Padres Nat'l forest area and would be begging to be taking into custody for medical treatment.)

Why after a month had passed did they decide to finally go in and raid grow #2? And if they had been watching grow #2 for so long, how is it that NO arrests were made?

Keep in mind this happened on the Central California coast, where the counties are bigger that Conneticutt and the Sheriff's are lord and masters of their domain. (hehe) Santa Barbara county is right next to San Luis Obispo county where Sheriff Hedges rules and sent up Charles C Lynch to the feds.

Many in the area think the Sheriffs were out torching the 2nd grow, or maybe just joy riding out in severe drought conditions and started the La Brea fire, as it's called.
It took them a few days to cover their tracks and get the story water tight, but the Cartel story is the story they are sticking with. I do think it just might be possible that LEO would lie to cover up a huge fuck up to keep the funding coming in. How would it look if the Sheriff had to admit his boys started a fire that burned thousands or acres, and cost millions and millions to contain?

I don't like the Cartels coming into the US one bit. They polute and make things harder for law abiding growers and they grow suspect medicines, but I'm more concerned with police misconduct which seems to be epidemic on the Central Coast. I'm guessing the suspects, which LEO claims are surrounded in the Nat'l Forest, but are still at large after two plus weeks, will never be found.

The Walrus

 

[FrankRizzo]

Well that information adds some interesting dimensions to this whole thing. Thanks