Jesse Ventura, formally known as “Jesse the Body” and “Governor Ventura of Minnesota” used to be an interesting, entertaining guy. But his descent into 9/11 trutherism and now his latest vow to move to Mexico has just made him tiresome.
I have a word of advice for you, Mr. Ventura. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Ventura’s main claim to fame, before he became the Reform Party governor of Minnesota in a campaign that was as colorful as his administration was awful was in a movie. He was one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s men in “Predator” when he blew up a lot of jungle with a chain gun and uttered the immortal words, “I aint got time to bleed.”
Ventura’s latest row is with the TSA and in this his deserved a bit of sympathy. He has a metal hip and thus sets off metal detectors every time he flies. This means that he is subjected to the kind of onerous searches that the TSA is infamous for far more often than are most people. He tried to sue to TSA, but alas the judge has thrown in out.
Now Ventura vows to stomp off to Mexico in a snit, much like Alec Baldwin once vowed to run off to France if Bush were reelected in 2004. One suspects that unlike Baldwin, Ventura means it.
However if officious bureaucracy was a sufficient reason to leave the country, Mexico would be the last place one would want to go to instead. Its bureaucracy and law enforcement are not only officious to a fault, but also corrupt. The country also has drug gangs, but that is another matter.
Ventura should get over himself and realize that the TSA is not out to personally persecute him. They are out to persecute everybody, especially little kids and old folks getting the full bodily assault search protocol. If Ventura is mad about that, as he should be, he should start up a group to try to change it, using his celebrity to attract members and funding. But, like the Occupy Wall Street people, he just wants to vent. It may make him feel better, but it changes nothing.
Source: Ventura, miffed by court, says he’s off to Mexico, Brian Bakst, Associated Press, Nov. 4, 2011