Hooray For Florida Governor Crist

The Raw Story has linked to a Sun Sentinel story reporting that Florida’s newly elected republican Governor, Charlie Crist, will be recommending the legislature ashcan the touch screen voting machines used in some Florida Counties and replace them with optical scanners that will count paper ballot.
That should make it a bit more difficult for the [...]

Dealing With Mexican Immigration Authorities – Vol. III

It is time that I renew my FM 3 visa for another year, so I have again had occassion to visit the immigration office here in Xalapa.  An FM 3 visa, as you may remember,  permits me to reside in Mexico  for one year periods and is renewable for four additional years.  So last Friday [...]

“DIEBOLD VOTING MACHINE KEY COPIED FROM PHOTO AT COMPANY’S OWN ONLINE STORE!”

I find it truly amazing that Diebold, one of the leading producers of touch screen voting machines, has such lax security standards.
The Brad Blog, which has broken a number of stories of Dielbold’s deficiencies over the last few years, has the story.
I think everyone should vote on a paper ballot. The system [...]

The Best SOTU Response I’ve Come Across

Certainly more to the point than anything the talking hairdos have had to say.

Cafe – Plant to Pot

Some time back Dan left the following comment to my Teoceolo post:
” How about some photos of those coffee plants? It would be interesting to follow a bean from plant to pot.”
OK. Though I’m a bit tardy, here you go Dan.
To the right you can see the coffee berries on a coffee bush [...]

The Bush Family’s Favorite Terrorists

Remember when Incourious George, in an address to a joint session of Congress shortly after the 9-11 attacks, announced:
“And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. [...]

Where Does Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Have His Brown Shirts Pressed?

This, to me, is truly stunning. That the USA Attorney General expresses a strained Constitional interpretation at odds with Constitutions explicitness makes me wonder if the guy is truly evil or just simply stupid.
“Responding to questions from Sen. Arlen Specter at a [...]

Colbert Meets O’Reilly

If you missed Bill O’Reilly’s interview of Stephen Colbert you may find it here.
And if you missed Colbert’s interview with O’Reilly you may find it here.

Havava

This is one of the grand old buildings one may find in Habana Viejo.
This is the first traffic signal I have seen that includes a timer to notify drivers for how many seconds the light will remain it current color. There are a number of them on the road from Habana to Playa Baracoa. [...]

Jon Stewart – Patriot

“For the good of our nation”, to end the war in Iraq, Jon Stewart volunteers to impregnate Secretary of State Rice. He should receive a medal.

Oshin

One of the measures instituted by the Cuban government in the face of the economic collapse of the “special period”, following the desintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of its Cuban economic subsidies, was to permit folks to open private restaurants, called “paladars”. The food at paladars is generally superior to that [...]

One Of The Most Evil Men Of Our Times

E. Howard Hunt, most famous for his conviction for his role in the Watergate break in as one of Nixon’s “plumbers”, will reportedly be releasing a book in April wherein he suggests that LBJ had a hand in the assassination of President Kennedy.
As reported by the New York Post, Hunt writes in his book:
“LBJ [...]

Meet Virginia and Roberto

During my recent visit to Playa Baracoa I visited Virginia and Roberto in whose casa I had previously stayed. I had hoped to stay with them again but their two apartments were occupied long term by a couple of Canadians. Virginia may be seen at right in the photo to the left.
The [...]

An Example of Cuban Ingenuity

Juan Daniel, my host during my recent trip to Cuba, told me of a 1959 Hillman (a British car) that his wife, Olivia, inherited from her mother and which now belongs to one of their children.
A local mechanic had replaced the entire running gear, engine, transmission, rear end, and etc, with that of a Russian [...]

Saddam Hanging

I returned only yesterday after almost two weeks out of touch with news so have been catching up on the news related blogs I regularly visit.
I found this post at Steve Clemons’ blog, “The Washington Note”,  reporting on the translation of the conversation on the bootleg video of Saddam’s hanging very interesting.

Meet Juan Daniel and Olivia

Without checking, do you know how many electoral college votes Florida has? My guess is that probably fewer than 5 percent of the USA population does.

Juan Daniel does. And he lives in Playa Baraco, Cuba, a somewhat somnolent beach town a bit West of Havana.
Juan Daniel and his wife, Olivia, operate the [...]