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News & Politics Neighborhood News News Ticker Under the Radar

Food & Drink Beverage News Booze News Drinks All Around Feast! San Diego Beer Tin Fork

Movies Big Screen Movie Archives Movie Reviews Movies@Home

Happenings Fishing Report Outdoors Reader Travel Roam-O-Rama Surf Diego Theater Your Week

Music Blurt Classical Music The Gonzo Report Live Five Musician Interviews Of Note Upcoming Shows

Comics Famous Former Neighbors Obermeyer Overheard in San Diego

Archives Reader by issue date Today’s stories All of the latest stories

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news

News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

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Bob McPhail

Bob McPhail is a Reader contributor. See staff page for published articles.

The Last Trick

Refried -- Nope, didn't refry a Frontera story. The information in the story came from a press release issued by the Baja California Attorney General's office, and that attribution appears repeatedly in the story so the reader knows who is alleging the information. If the source had been Frontera (or El Mexicano, or El Sol, etc.) I would have noted it. So at least you can trust me on attribution. As far as the factual accuracy of what the attorney general said, I can't vouch for that -- which is the purpose of attribution. Read any newspaper in the US, especially crime reports, and you almost always see the same thing ("police said," "authorities said," "the DA said in a statement," etc.) I agree with you, though, that there must be something more to the story. My big question was why the fellow who allegedly failed to pay the alleged prostitute would, months later after she allegedly tried to collect on the debt, voluntarily go to her apartment. Does not make sense to me and suggests there was a more complicated relationship among those involved. I am reminded of a famous quote from Ben Bradlee, onetime editor at the Washington Post in an interview on 60 Minutes that went something like this: "Newspapers print what people tell them. People lie. So, yes, newspapers print lies." And, from bitter personal experience years ago involving a close friend -- a Mexican citizen -- I know, too, that the 'ministerial police' (formerly called state judicial police) extract false confessions using what amounts to torture and put a lot of innocents in prison. So I have no opinion on the guilt or innocence of these three youngsters and I pity them for the fate that awaits them, whether guilty or innocent of the alleged crime.
— October 8, 2009 10:20 a.m.

Life in Tijuana under drug cartel violence

RE this remark from Refried: "Do not drink tap water in Tijuana. It isn't the microbes, it's the chemicals used to kill them that could make you sick." WRONG! It is the microbes, not the chemicals. Another piece of fiction from a really uninformed ex-pat. I know priests who travel into remote areas of the city to visit families, and, to be polite, they accept offers of a glass of water. What follows is three or four days of gastroenteritis. Chemicals in the water? Give me a break. Anyone with any sense in Tijuana drinks bottled water delivered in 5-gallon plastic bottles. It's cheap and readily available.
— September 20, 2009 5:05 p.m.

Home Is Where Cheap Rent Is

One more thing, Refried: Your presumption is appalling. I HAVE NO EX-PAT friends in Mexico -- in fact, I avoid them, seems most are drunkards, drug addicts or child molesters. ALL OF MY FRIENDS ARE MEXICANS -- EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. You live in a solipsistic universe, apparently, where the only truth in the world resides in your own disordered head. I choose now to no longer respond to you.
— September 20, 2009 4:52 p.m.

Home Is Where Cheap Rent Is

In further reply to Mr. Know It All Refried Gringo: I am fluent in Spanish and have been for years. Dandy del Sur is a hell hole located in a very dangerous part of downtown. Surprised you haven't been mugged! As far as the Mexicans to whom I speak every day, they are police officers who patrol my neighborhood, my neighbors, my parish priest, my fellow parishioners, families that invite me to baptisms and birthday parties, the guy that delivers my gas tanks, my fellow coffee drinkers at Starbucks in Plaza Rio, my family doctor and his extended family, business associates with whom I'm involved in the tourism industry, the storekeeper at my neighborhood grocer, the pharmacist who fills my prescriptions at his small pharmacy two blocks away, the venders of tacos, burritos and hot dogs whose carts dot the corners of my neighborhood -- and I could go on and on. I'm guessing that the people you hang with say things like "que onda wey," and "no mames we" and "watchala," or "voy a parquear mi carro." There is a word for folks like that, but in the interest of being fair-minded, I won't call them on it -- all of God's children are deserving of respect, no matter how humble. But your arrogance takes my breath away since you assume your experience of Baja is somehow superior to people like me who have spent many years here and who has a wide spectrum of Mexican friends. One reason I likely don't run into your class of friends is because I do not drink alcohol and have no plans to begin doing so. That, of course, means my social intercourse is with a different class of Mexicans -- not the ones who while away their hours guzzling cervezas while mom and the kids are at home wondering whether there will be food on the table tonight or whether the rent will be paid. The people I know and with whom I associate in Baja have better things to do with their time -- and their hard-earned money -- other than drinking it away at a sleazy bar. And, just to prove my point about rents, here are a couple of current Craigslist postings for you edification: "Se renta depto. pequeno para una o dos personas. Consta de cuarto grande, bano, cocina y patio de servicio con conexiones para lavadora y secadora. Entrada independiente de la calle. Sin estacionamiento dentro. $1,500 PESOS MENSUALES Una renta y deposito para empezar...". and "Se renta departamento en Tijuana B.C A 1600 pesos. Ubicado en Iztaziwatl 12939 una recamara cerca de fabricas, escuela, iglecia, tiendas y transporte." I don't know what you were like before you decided to come to Baja to live, but my guess is that you were one of those insufferable blabber mouths who had an opinion about everything, no matter how ill-informed. Likewise, your view of life in Baja is skewed by the kind of life you choose to live. Broaden your horizons. It might help if you were to go to Mass on occasion or visit the Tijuana Cultural Center for a classical music concert.
— September 20, 2009 4:45 p.m.

Home Is Where Cheap Rent Is

Response to Refried: Well, Mr. Know-It-All in Baja, you are WRONG! I have nearly 20 years living in Baja and have many friends who contracts are in pesos. All you have to do is look at, for example, Craigslist, and you will see several rentals offered in pesos. Besides, your issue is not with me, it's with El Mexicano, which pointed out the ever-increasing trend for rental contracts to be in dollars, not pesos. My suspicion is that your views are shaped by the company you keep. After all, wasn't it you who wrote some time ago about a drinking binge at a downtown watering hole and your drunken sojourn back home? I do not keep such company, happy to say. ALL my friends in Mexico -- and there are scores of them -- wouldn't dream of gong to a downtown bar. You are not an expert on Baja living by any stretch of the imagination. You may, however, be quite well versed in one way that people live in Baja. Shame on you for your broad brush description of life in Baja -- it's much more complicated, sophisticated and layered than your omniscient rantings would have readers believe.
— September 20, 2009 3:44 p.m.

News & Politics Neighborhood News News Ticker Under the Radar

Food & Drink Beverage News Booze News Drinks All Around Feast! San Diego Beer Tin Fork

Movies Big Screen Movie Archives Movie Reviews Movies@Home

Happenings Fishing Report Outdoors Reader Travel Roam-O-Rama Surf Diego Theater Your Week

Music Blurt Classical Music The Gonzo Report Live Five Musician Interviews Of Note Upcoming Shows

Comics Famous Former Neighbors Obermeyer Overheard in San Diego

Archives Reader by issue date Today’s stories All of the latest stories

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

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