MEXICO U.N. ENVOY FIRED IN U.S. "BACKYARD" ROW

[AussieMark]

Mexico U.N. Envoy Fired in U.S. 'Backyard' Row

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico said on Monday it would remove its U.N. ambassador at the end of the year for saying the United States treated Mexico like its own backyard and likening the countries' relationship to a weekend fling.
Foreign Minister Ernesto Derbez said the envoy, Adolfo Aguilar, would leave when Mexico finishes its stint as a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

"It was decided that as of January 1, once the period on the Security Council is concluded, Ambassador Aguilar will be removed," Derbez told reporters, saying the decision came after discussing Aguilar's remarks with the ambassador and with President Vicente Fox.

Aguilar prompted criticism north and south of the border by saying last week the United States had never been interested in developing an equal relationship with Mexico.

"The United States has never seen Mexico as its partner, as it sees its European partners," he told Mexican university students. "They see us as a backyard."

Aguilar said the United States saw its relationship with Mexico as important at some times and unimportant at other times, depending on the circumstances, and compared the two countries to "weekend lovers."

Fox rejected Aguilar's comments and Secretary of State Colin Powell called them "outrageous."

Some Mexican newspaper columnists have supported Aguilar's remarks.

Mexico sends about 90 percent of its exports to the United States and is economically reliant on its northern neighbor.

But it did not support U.S. efforts earlier this year to win Security Council backing for the war in Iraq.

Important issues for Mexicans, like improving the status of migrant workers in the United States, remain on the back burner as Washington wages its war on terrorism.

[stormchazer]

Boy...they Love us here in America!! Woo-Hooo!

[GalvestonDuck]

Ugh, please...migrant workers.

I really wish we could get things in gear so that our borders were more secure. If our homeless people would buck up and take what we give them to get back on their feet instead of spending it on drugs, beer, and cigarettes, then they could work jobs that the migrant workers currently do, since they claim they can't find jobs. Then they'll have income and won't need welfare assistance. In addition, our former homeless society would no longer be out selling their bodies for money and crack. Crime would decrease. The spread of diseases would decrease. The cost of healthcare would decrease. Abortions would decrease and the birth rate would decrease because fewer people would be having random, casual, unprotected sex. The need for welfare would decrease. The deficit would decrease because we could put the money towards other things instead of losing so much of it to the freeloaders who are stuck in the welfare cycle.

Then those across the border can get the proper papers and come over and visit for a while...a short while. Or get everything in order and come over here and live and be a productive, tax-paying, supportive citizen of our country. But quit sneaking over here with counterfeit birth certificates so they can fraudulently fill out requests for Medicaid and food stamps and live off our tax dollars and steal minimum wage jobs from Americans who need jobs.

Okay, I know it's not perfect and someone will find a flaw in what I've posted. But I wish it was possible.