Clueless Of Middle East Realities

This great article by Mark Perry and Alastair Crooke tells you why “western” governments “don’t have a clue about what’s really going on in the” Middle East.
It’s because “Once again, we’re being ‘Chalabied’”. That is “western” governments don’t talk to important Middle East players “Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood.” [...]

Scalia DeVito

This photo, from the Raw Story web site, shows Scalia’s response to a Boston Herald reporter who, as the Herald put it, “asked the justice how he responds to critics who might question his impartiality as a judge given his public worship. “
Some say Scalia’s gesture is of an obscene nature. According to the [...]

The Fun Folks at Chevrolet

The folks at Chevrolet have put up a web site where you can build your own Tahoe SUV ad. I suggest you hurry before Chevy pulls the sight down. Thanks to Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly blog for posting the link of the Chevy site.
Here’s mine.

Jose’s Cantina Report

This evening at my favorite local cantina, Ricardo, whom I have not before met, was playing the guitar. After he played a number of songs in Spanish he came over and sat next to me and let loose with a beautiful rendition of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven”, in English. It was great.
I noticed [...]

Rove Reportedly Flipped on Cheney

Rove reportedly clued Fitzgerald into fact that White House staff had deleted email records in Plame outint matter.

My Personal Banker

I recently opened a banking account here, which one is able to do after receiving an FM 3 visa. The folks at the local HSBC branch where I opened the account have been very pleasant to work with and very patient with my often inadequate Spanish. Since opening the account I have made [...]

An Evening To Remember

Last evening I spent a thoroughly entertaining and informative evening with three really bright people, the Working Gringos and Kat of KATravels.
The evening began with a rendezvous at the Working Gringo’s colonial home, just a few blocks from my apartment, and introductions to URL (pronounced earl), their wonderfully friendly dog, which as a [...]

500,000 Protest Proposed Federal Immigration Legislation

The AP reports on what was probably the largest political demonstration since the Vietnam days.By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 2 minutes ago LOS ANGELES – Immigration rights advocates more than 500,000 strong marched in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, demanding that Congress abandon attempts to make illegal immigration a felony and to [...]

Has Bush Started WW III?

According to Raw Story “A founding member of the elite counter-terrorist unit, Delta Force, suggested that President Bush’s invasion of Iraq may have started World War III, according to the Los Angeles Daily News,” in an article to appear in Sunday’s edition.

More On The Israel Lobby

This opinion piece by Daniel Levy in the Israel newspaper Haaretz largely supports the conclusion of the John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt study to which I posted a link this morning. The basic conclusion is the that pursuance of the foreign policies advanced by the Israel Lobby have made the world, specifically the Middle East, [...]

I Think This Is Pretty Amazing

A couple weeks ago I noticed that some corn had been spilled onto the sidewalk in front of this house on Calle 62 I frequently walk past.
Yesterday afternoon I noticed this corn plant growing out of an area where the curb has broken away. During the time between when the corn was spilled until the [...]

The Israel Lobby

This long article discusses the power the Israel Lobby has gained over USA foreign policy. And how the implementation of its foreign policy objectives as engendered resentment of the USA in much of the world.
It is a bit ponderous, but authoritative and informative for those interested.

Jose’s Cantina

Last evening I went to my favorite neighborhood cantina, which I do once or twice each week to drink beer and practice my Spanish with the owner, the employees, and the clientele. During the afternoon hours the place is also a cocina economica, and I do mean economica. Armando took me to lunch there recently [...]

Mangos From Heaven

OK, not really. They’re only beginning to drop from the very large tree in the back yard.

The Washington Post Has Been Rendered to Toilet Paper Status

This is very funny. The Washington Post, in its efforts to present “balance”, hired a serial plagiarist as a blogger.
UPDATE 3/24/06: The serial plagiarist resigns, after just a couple of days, and the washingtonpost.com editor thanks the bloggers who revealed the plagiarism for doing what he should have done before hiring the [...]

Barbara Bush Earmarks Katrina Relief Donation to Son Neil

This is unbelievable. It seems that even Barbara Bush has an ethical tin ear.

My Bus Trip to Telchac Puerto

Monday I took a bus trip to Telchac Puerto, on the Gulf coast Northeast of here. It is a nice little beach town, nicer than Progreso or Chelem I think; but, like all of the beach towns I’ve visited, there is the almost constant wind and blowing sand.
The bus ride was really the highlight of [...]

Garden Report

It has been some time since I reported my gardening successes and failures.
As for success, as I write I am eating breakfast which includes watermelon and cantaloupe from the garden. The watermelon is a bit over ripe and quite sweet. The medium sized cantaloupe is firm and, though acceptable, is not as [...]

See What a Campaign Contribution Gets You

The IRS is promulagating rules that would allow tax preparers to sell information from your tax return, perhaps the entire return.
Those campaign contributions return hefty dividends. Sorry, it’s too late to comment electronically on the proposed rule.

John McCain – Phony Reformer

Anyone who still thinks that John McCain is a “reformer”, as he has politically cast himself, should read this.
It’s pretty strange that McCain hires this Nelson character, who helped DeLay launder campaign funds through the RNC and who supervised the folks who were convicted of jamming democratic get out the votes lines [...]