NAPOLITANO TUGGED ON SUPERMAN'S CAPE IN EL PASO

Janet, Janet, Janet ...

Please don't come to El Paso and issue what is essentially a dare to
Mexican drug cartels.

"Don't even think about bringing your violence and tactics across this
border," Janet Napolitano said Monday.

"You will be met by an overwhelming response. And we're going to
continue to work with our partners in Mexico to dismantle and defeat
you."

As I read her challenge, a Jim Croce tune started drifting through my
mind, along with the words:

"You don't tug on Superman's cape

"You don't spit into the wind

"You don't pull the mask off the 'ole Lone Ranger

"And you don't mess around with Jim."

Today, Croce might have included, "You don't double-dog-dare the
Mexican drug cartels."

So Napolitano issues the challenge and then hightails it back to
Washington.

Leaving us to face the music.

Yeah, we've got police and sheriff's deputies and Border Patrol and
state police and constables and such.

But I've always figured the main reason we aren't Juarez is because
the cartel types figure lots of us civilian types have guns and might
just put up a fight. Unlike the unarmed populace they face in Mexico.

While that might sound like the makings of a good spaghetti Western,
it's still not a good idea for Napolitano to, in so many words, dare
the cartels to do something on this side of the border.

Janet, we have enough problems without you standing up and yelling
across the border, "Hey. You drug cartels over there. You want a piece
of us? C'mon!"

Napolitano also said that the U.S.-Mexico border is more secure today
than ever before.

I guess that depends on your definition of "secure."

The family and friends of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz, killed on his
ranch by presumed drug smugglers in May 2010, might have a different
opinion.

So might friends, family and co-workers of Border Patrol Agent Brian
Terry, shot and killed near Rio Rico, Ariz. in December while
attempting to apprehend armed subjects.

A Hudspeth County road crew shot at from Mexico in January might have
a different definition of "secure."

Border Patrol agents who get shot at or rocked from the Mexican side
might dispute the "secure" designation.

But, according to Napolitano, I'm wrong, because the border is more
secure than it ever has been.

Uh-huh.

Hey, do you suppose there's a way to make Susana Martinez governor of
Texas as well as guv of New Mexico?

I met her last week and she was impressive, and a sharp contrast with
Rick Perry.

For one thing, she's making a frontal assault on the state's financial
problems instead of downplaying them and pretending they don't exist.

And she's taking actions that are unpopular in some quarters, such as
a microscopic examination of Spaceport America, one of the state's
most progressive, high-tech and important projects.

Because it's supported in part by taxpayer money, she wants to make
sure everything is on the up-and-up with contracts and such.

If not Texas, maybe at least she could be governor of El
Paso.

Bet she'd have that MHMR mess cleaned up pretty quickly.