PYRAMID SCHEME: As the curtain dropped on Hispanic Heritage Month here in the United States Oct. 15, Hernán Cortes' gold-greedy progeny completed their conquest of Mexico.

The Associated Press informs us from Mexico City that indigenous groups and their supporters trying to defend the ancient pyramids of Teotihuacán have lost their final battle to - who else? - the God of Greed, Wal-Mart.

Claiming the construction of a massive Wal-Mart discount store less than a mile from the ancient pyramids would damage the archeological site, its defenders were out-hustled in the Mexican courts by Wal-Mart's mercenary warriors.

A major expressed concern was that the integrity and cultural aura of the site would be diminished, if not destroyed, when visitors atop the pyramids would look down upon the retail giant's cheap, shiny roof.
The mercenary warriors responded, according to AP, with a promise to use "non-reflective roofing materials" and otherwise hide the eye-sore store from public view.

Does that make you feel better, Montezuma?

Los Angeles' Chávez Ravine offers a modern parable.

The city bodily hauled away the Mexican families who lived in that peaceful, rustic ravine to turn the property over to Walter O'Malley and the Brooklyn Dodgers so they could reap millions peddling Dodger blue to white Angelenos.

To pacify the brown natives around Dodger Stadium, O'Malley promised to devote substantial land to create a beautiful park where the barrio children could play.

That was half a century ago. The kids are still waiting.

Don't hold your breath, Monte.

BORDER INTRIGUE: Meanwhile, wrote the Washington Times, there was a report that a group of Middle Eastern men tried to cross the Arizona border from Mexico recently. They turned out to be from Oaxaca, Mexico, explained the paper. "The tribesmen spoke an Indian language native to southern Mexico that may have been mistaken for Arabic, officials said..." -