From: "Gary Britt" 

Thanks, bound to happen by accident once in a while.  I think this whole
corruption thing is a big reason why Russia has had such problems with
implementing a real democracy and why Putin has begun to exercise an iron
hand (substituting one corruption for another, I suppose).  I think it was
vastly underestimated the problems Russia would face in transitioning to a
free democracy due to the many decades of corruption in government
officials, police, and a tradition of not working and no productivity among
many workers.  Combine all that with the people voting for the communists
in greater numbers than any other party, and its no wonder Yeltsin had such
problems.  Speaking of Yeltsin, I've begun to wonder whether his supposed
alcohol problems were Putin's KGB buddies giving him drugs, and eventually
telling him retire or die.

Gary

"Tony Williams"  wrote in message
news:449dc673{at}w3.nls.net...
> Well put, Gary. I don't often agree with you but I think you nailed it
> this time.
>
> Not that our police/gov are perfect of course, but in my experience the
> notion of serving the community is the norm in our various layers of
> officialdom rather than the exception. It makes for a much healthier (in
> all senses of the word) society.
>
> --
> Tony
>
> Gary Britt wrote:
>> And the Mexican government is very corrupt.  I've come to believe that
>> one of the biggest problems with freedom and democracy succeeding in a
>> particular country or location is the degree to which corruption of
>> police and fire services and local government officials exists.  I think
>> it goes beyond the degree of this corruption however to the expectation
>> of the public in general that police, fire, and local politicians will be
>> or should be corrupt.  If the population expects these positions to be
>> occupied by corrupt individuals then its like they lose the will to root
>> out the corrupt.  Further, any person from the general population who
>> takes one of these positions is likely to expect to be corrupt and to
>> become a beneficiary of the corruption as opposed to a person determined
>> to protect the population and root out the corruption around him/her.
>>
>> One doesn't have a true appreciation for the level of non-corruption,
>> honesty, and selflessness of our police forces in the USA until traveling
>> through a country like Mexico where the police are totally corrupt by
>> comparison.
>>
>> Gary
>>
>> "Geo"  wrote in message
news:449cd85b{at}w3.nls.net...
>>> "Adam"
<""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the field.near the
bridge"> wrote
>>> in
>>> message news:449879d8$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>>>> Geo wrote:
>>>>> "Adam" 
wrote in message
>>>>> news:4497bf4d$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>>>>>
>>>>>> ?? Why is that? We (in the EU) rescue illegal
immigrants drifting in
>>>>>> boats all the time e.g. at the mo Italy &
Spain have a big problem
>>>>>> with
>>>>>> this.
>>>>> There is a difference between that and setting up a
floating rest
>>>>> stop.
>>>> Isn't the floating rest stop red & white & doesn't
it have "US
>>>> coastguard" painted on the side?
>>>
>>> No, the thing I was complaining about was some humanitarian group
>>> setting up
>>> water stations to help mexicans who were trying to cross the desert into
>>> the
>>> US illegally.
>>>
>>>
>>>> You could try making mexico such a nice place that they worry about
>>>> white immigration much like those to the north of them did.
>>> The problem with mexico is the government has too much control over the
>>> people.
>>>
>>> Geo.
>>>
>>>
>>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5