Las Politicas

As February 5 approaches all that have an interest with the election process are waiting to see what will unfold. Two time presidential hopeful, John Edwards has dropped out of the race, Giuliani did not fair well at all and now has dropped out of the race as well. If Giuliani endorses McCain then McCain will then receive Giuliani’s donors…which is a paramount to another victory for McCain. It’s well known that several conservatives do not approve of McCain…which includes Tom DeLay. DeLay was tremendously vocal about his disdain for McCain’s moderate Republican principles and said that he would destroy the Republican Party. I have, but one question for DeLay…Why aren’t you in prison already? Moderate Republican principles are working to the detriment of the Republican Party? You keep telling yourself and Abramoff that. That being said, McCain could lose some serious points with ultra conservatives to Romney, thus dealing a serious blow to his campaign. McCain should just continue with painting Romney as desperate and that should work. 

How bad was Giuliani’s campaign? Almost laughable really considering how much money he had behind him. He was in Florida for a ridiculous amount of time….something like 50 days.   

How significant was Hillary’s win?  Impressive enough considering that Florida is sans delegates for Democrats. So was it a good win for Democrats? I would say so. According to exit polls a whopping two thirds of voters rejected Bush’s “handling” of the economy which was evident in the turn out. 

Next Tuesday will be wild in terms of American politics.  

Caroline

By winning the coveted endorsement of Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama has scored a hat trick of endorsements from Irish-American Senators. First came John Kerry, followed by one of my favorite Washinton politicians, Senator Pat Leahy from Vermont.  He’s the tough old Irishman who, as Caroline put it, got really worked up during his questioning of Alberto Gonzalez last March.  Now comes the Ted Kennedy endorsement, accompanied by two endorsements from the next Kennedy generation.  Apart from the ethnic component that i find personally interesting, the endorsements indicate a desire within the Democratic party establishment to break with the Clintons and present Obama (O’Bama?) as the face of the party going into the future. 

 - Dr Studly

Women in Mexico City no longer need to put up with men groping, verbal harassing and leering at them on city busses because the city now provides women only busses. Finally, a progressive step that completely stops the problem. Women have complained for years about the treatment that they received on busses which often progressed into the women being followed off the bus into city streets. I think it’s a brilliant idea to have all women busses. A similar attempt was made on the subway system during peak hours. The police segregated platforms and had women only cars. This idea helped women on the subway, but no on city busses…until now.

Mexico City’s lady-only buses run along three busy routes throughout the day for now, but the city plans to add them to 15 other routes by April, said Ariadna Montiel, director of the public bus system “Women were asking for this service because of the sexual harassment, especially groping and leering,” Montiel said.  While some men have complained that they have to wait longer for a bus, she said the women are thrilled: “The women are really happy and we have been getting a lot of e-mail and letters from them.”

Caroline

As I am sure it has become increasingly evident to most…. competition between Obama and Clinton is acrimonious to say the least. Heated exchanges between Hillary and Obama have now spiraled into what many are saying is Bill Clinton’s campaign against Obama. Many political commentators believe that, Clinton… the first president that the black community of the US strongly identified with is vying to destroy the first would be black president.

His visibility on the campaign trail, which includes angry lectures to journalists and reporters…to his many campaign speeches prompted the Onion to post the headline “Screw it, I’m Running for President Again” All joking aside…could Bill’s visibility work to Hillary’s detriment? Maybe so…because as we know now, Obama won South Carolina. Was it Obama’s rallying the Democratic racial core or was it Bill’s attack on Obama? I would say a mixture of both.

Caroline

So, MSN just broke news that talks are going to begin on “redefining the fundamental role of U.S. troops, whose mission would shift from combat operations to logistics and support” in Iraq.  Now, as we all know, and in keeping with the nature of negotiations regarding this topic, things could fall flat on their face or simply never progress.  (Kind of like Fred Thompson.)  Hopefully, we may actually see some of those poor military kids coming back to go to school and enjoy lives as citizens, not soldiers.  (Full article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22825800)

This follows shortly after the announcement of those fun little refund checks we are getting to boost the economy.  (Full article here:   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22782454/)  Thank Jeebus, because I sure went crazy and got a new living room.  (See new tv above.  A girl’s gotta see her History Channel in HD and in life-size.  And ignore the mess.  I am still living out of boxes.) Recession, my butt.  I could keep the economy running on my own frivolous spending- know this. 

Sending happy karma to Petraeus and Pelosi,

Teri

This will not come as a horrible shock to the general public, but studies conducted by two nonprofit journalist organizations corroborated that the Bush administration issued hundreds of false reports about the national security threat in Iraq in the years following September 11. The study concluded that the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”

The results of the study were made public on Tuesday evening on the web site of the Center for Public Integrity. The Center for Public Integrity funded the study.

White House spokesperson, Scott Stanzel did not comment on the validity of the study, but instead issued an esoteric statement concerning the “perceived” threat that Hussein made to National Security. The study found 935 false statements concerning Hussein’s possible link to Al-Qaida and unequivocal evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

“It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida,” according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members. “In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003.”

Though not a shock, these results are just a repeated slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of lives lost.

Caroline

 Former Republican Senator from Tenessee, Fred Thompson, has dropped out of the 2008 presidential race.  There was tremendous excitement last year when he hinted at running, but failing to strike while the iron was hot, he vacillated on making a formal announcement, and when he finally did, the excitement was already on the wane.  Though he could plausibly claim to be an heir to Reagan - a former screen actor with government experience and solidly conservative positions -he failed to channel the energy and vitality that the Gipper had projected in his time. In fact he kind of projected the opposite of those things. It was noted many times by many commentators that he seemed sleepy, disinterested, and at times even a touch perplexed.  He fared poorly in the early contests, with a dismal last place finish in New Hampshire, where he got less than 2% of the vote.  The deathblow to his campaign was a third place finish in South Carolina, which was ostensibly Fred Country. But here too he was upstaged by the maverick John McCain and the upstart mike Huckabee. Now the field of viable candidates narrows, and we have a compelling race between McCain, Huckabee, Romney, and Giuliani. It could effectively become a three way race if Giuliani’s strategy of ignoring the early states and putting all his chips on Florida does not work out as planned.

Dr Studly

President Calderon has announced plans to build a much needed new international airport in Mexico City. A few years ago, Fox attempted the same endeavor and almost ended up with a revolution on his hands. The current airport has been marred with serious overcrowding problems on the runways and in this calendar year is expected to serve near 30 million passengers. It only makes sense to build a bigger airport that can accommodate such a large passenger base. The incident that occurred close to five years ago was with the then president, Vicente Fox. Fox planned to build the airport on land that was ( under his direction) appropriated by the government from indigenous peasants. A cardinal rule that should always be followed in Mexico is that the government should never take land away from the indigenous population…..ever. Agrarian reform is what the Mexican Revolution stood for and what over a million people lost their lives for. Upon hearing the plans that Fox had for their land…the indigenous people took up arms and vowed to fight for the land.These sorts of blunders were par for the course under Fox’s administration and the plan was finally aborted…thus leaving the growing problem ignored. Until now…Calderon is going use Federal land that is close to the current airport.  

I’ll be glad as I will be one of the 30 million people flying in and out of there. FYI…Mexico City has the BEST duty free anywhere. 

Caroline

I found this great list on MSN today, and thought I would share with the masses. 

1. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. — “Stride Toward Freedom,” 1958.

2. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. — “Strength to Love,” 1963.

5. Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. — “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963.

6. The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. — “Strength to Love,” 1963.

9. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. — “Why We Can’t Wait,” 1964.

10. The security we profess to seek in foreign adventures we will lose in our decaying cities. — [Referring to U.S. Vietnam policy.] Address at Riverside Church, New York. (Source: History Today, April 199

Enjoy and take the time to remember the struggles of the man for whom you are off of work for today.

Teri

In a step that will hopefully advance Mexico economically or otherwise, Felipe Calderon appointed a new Secretary of the Interior and removed the former Secretary. Calderon’s former Secretary was removed amid an upsurge in drug-fueled killings and criticism that he has cracked down on opposition protests.

The new Secretary, Juan Camilo Mourino, is a Spanish national who was educated in the United States. Mourino hopes to bring a refreshing approach as the Secretary who acts as the president’s chief negotiator. An economist well versed in free market principles, Mourino will begin the steps of the much needed privatization of PEMEX. PEMEX is still flagged by endemic corruption and remains one of the only state owned oil companies that loses money for its native country. The new Secretary is the third cabinet switch in Calderon’s administration, switches that will hopefully begin the advancement of a better Mexico.

Caroline