VHeadline commentarist Oscar Heck writes: Here they go again, those mightier-than-thou, lying white Christian right-wing criminals, namely, the leaders of the USA. There they stand on their high perch with their cold marble eyes and bloody curved yellow beaks, preparing for yet another kill. The murderers.

VOA (Voice of America) states, "It says only Venezuela and Burma have 'failed demonstrably' to fulfill international commitments to fight the drug trade."

'When we observe the trafficking from Venezuela both north into North America -- the United States and Canada -- as well as to Europe, we don't see significant measures, or any real measures, taken to counter that,' said Johnson. 'And that's obviously of great concern to us.'

The report's listing of Venezuela and Burma as failures in the drug fight would mandate a cut-off of U.S. aid to those countries. But in the case of Venezuela, President Bush has issued a waiver allowing continued U.S. funding for programs supporting civil society, and what are termed 'beleaguered democratic institutions' there."

This article, along with several others, which basically accuse Venezuela of being one of the major, if not the major thoroughfare for Colombian-produced drugs going into the USA, got me to thinking about something.

Suppose we say, as has been repeated so many times in different way by the US government and the US media, "Venezuela is the largest drug-trafficking country in our hemisphere," most people will tend believe it without verifying facts. Is that really true?

Let's see ... the distance between Caracas and Miami is roughly 2,205 kilometers ... the distance between Miami and New York is roughly 1,766 kilometers and the distance between Miami and Los Angeles is roughly 3,758 kilometers. The distance between New York and Los Angeles is roughly 3,758 kilometers. Do you see what I am getting at?

Suppose that Colombian drugs are reaching Miami from Caracas (that's about 2,000 kilometers), then the drug traffickers within the USA traffic the drugs north toward to New York (that's about 1,500-2,000 kilometers) and then the drug traffickers in the USA traffic the drugs out west to Los Angeles (about 3,500 kilometers) ... and if we add it all up, we get a terrific drug trafficking distance within the USA of about 5,500 kilometers in rather straight lines.

Now if we include the entire drug trafficking network within the USA, we are easily looking at at least ten times that distance ... at least 55,000 kilometers of drug trafficking routes within
the USA alone.

So, before the US government and the US media start condemning Venezuela as major drug traffickers, they better take a good look at themselves, smarten up and face the facts.

We aren't all as gullible or as stupid as those crows on the hill, dressed up as bald eagles, think we are.

Oscar Heck
oscarheck111@yahoo.com