Among the trophy and sporting photos in the December/January issue of Outdoor Life is one showing a pair of US Border Patrol agents rappelling down a boulder-strewn slope. The photo is part of a recruiting ad for the Department of Homeland Security’s US Customs and Border Protection arm, and it was spotted by one of the writers at the asked-and-answered website, Wise Geeks.
The issue includes photos of various dead animals including an elephant, a water buffalo, a stag and what looks like a mountain lion being dragged by its hind legs down a dirt road by a man dressed in hunting garb similar to what’s worn by the Border Patrol agents in the ad photo. The agents do not appear to have bagged any trophies of their own.
Better than an ad in Soldier of Fortune, I suppose.
In other, not entirely unrelated news, a run on the Pasadena-headquartered mortgage lender IndyMac has resulted in what is either the second or third largest bank failure in US history, depending on whom you ask. Look for a wild ride on Wall Street when the markets open—the bank’s demise is related to the same mortgage problems that have sent the industry’s two giants, government-backed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, into a death spiral during what may prove to have been their last week of pre-bailout trading.
“Did you notice that a major bank failed?”
“Look! Illegal aliens! From Iran!”
Perhaps not coincidentally, the 1984 failure of Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Company, which is the undisputed champion, and the 1988 failure of First Republic Bank Corp., which may or may not top IndyMac’s, occurred on the last gonzo Republican administration’s watch. John McCain is looking ever more attractive; a third George W. Bush term might bring on a second Great Depression, which could in turn usher in a new golden age of progressivism, or at least catapult the Democratic Socialists past Ralph Nader as a force in US politics.
[...] « US Border Patrol goes headhunting, and other news 15 [...]