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.” Rather, “Western governments are dependent for information about the region on a set of clients who, as often as not, are mere reflections of what Westerners want the Middle East to be, rather than what it actually is:…. This clientism is not new; rather, it is a continuation of the misreading that led US and British officials to believe their soldiers would ride to Baghdad along flower-paved highways.”

What does it say about the USA foreign policy apparatus that the clients usually skillfully play USA policy makers?

The article is well worth a read.

Via Laura Rozen's War and Piece

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 photographer who snapped the photo Scalia answered, while making the gesture, ‘To my critics, I say, ‘Vaffanculo.’ According to the Herald report "The Italian phrase means '(expletive) you.'"

Does anyone else think that Scalia looks like Danny DeVito in the photo?

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 that Ricardo had the hands of a mechanic and asked him if he worked as such. He explained that music is his love but that he repairs Pemex trucks during the day.

After Ricardo left Jose gave me a nod and put on the Beatles greatest hits CD that was playing the first time I visited his cantina.

I always get lots of practice speaking Spanish at Jose's, as I'm usually the only English speaker there. However there's always at least one drunk who dominates the conversation, as drunks are wont to do, and I have a very difficult time understanding inebriated Spanish.

None-the-less, I really enjoy my visits with the friendly folks at Jose's.

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 a number of visits to the bank to ask questions about procedures.

Last Thursday I visited the bank and asked Luis, one of the customer services folks, a question that apparently indicated to him that I needed help understanding how banking is done here. So last evening I received a call from Eduardo, an HSBC personal banker, who asked if he could come to my apartment and discuss banking procedures and options. I eagerly accepted his offer. After an hour or so of conversation about banking, and my particular needs, he suggested that I come to his office in the morning and meet with him and one of his English speaking colleagues. Another offer I gladly accepted.

So this morning I walked to Eduardo’s office and met for an hour or so with him and Sebastian who further explained banking procedures, security, and investment options. They then called a currency exchange house, in which they have confidence, to let them know that I had a cashier’s check I needed exchanged. Eduardo drove me to the office where Adriana took care of the paperwork and explained that the funds from the check will be deposited directly into my account. I also found out it is lots less expensive to have funds wire transferred in pesos from my USA bank to my bank here. Eduardo then drove me home.

I learned that HSBC offers a fund, into which I may invest, that buys and sells Mexican government securities, pays about 6% interest, and the invested funds are completely liquid.

So now I have a personal banker looking after me. One less thing to worry about.

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 stray puppy the WGs serendipitously happened upon, rescued, and adopted. The WG’s home has been artfully restored, with lots of unpainted woodwork and furnishings, high ceilings typical of colonial homes, a babbling fountain, lovely floors, a beautiful modern kitchen, and a small court yard at the rear complete with a “plunge pool” and garden.

After a bit of interesting conversation and wine, we loaded ourselves into the WGs car and headed for a restaurant, neither the name nor location of which I remember, though I think it’s in Centro.

I do remember, though, that the restaurant was in a beautifully done colonial building, with columns, airy ceilings, and the kind of tiled floor in which the large angular patterns are formed by multiple tiles. The excellent, amiable service was provided by waiters in crisp white uniform shirts. The Bisstec Capricho, which I had and which I think in English would be Beefsteak Caprice, was good; the caballeros room was tidy; the company excellent; and the conversation was at turns jocular and serious, often political, and always thoughtful.

My only complaint with the restaurant was (and I’m sorry but I must rant on the subject) that the bartender minced the mojito mint. Mincing mojito mint is wrong, wrong, wrong. Muddled mint makes a mojito. The malignant malpractice of mincing, maladministers mojito mint making a maladroitly mixed mojito. The practice must be stopped.

Here’s the mojito recipe from the Bacardi web site. Is there a more authoritative source? By the way I checked Wikipedia, of which I learned a lot last evening, and found it has the recipe right. Muddle the mint, Wikipedia says; but it also says muddling lime along with the mint is “not authentic.” I’m going with Barcardi on the subject of the authenticity of muddling lime with the mint.

Muddle fresh mint leaves, lime and cover with sugar
(The accompanying illustration indicates muddling consists of bruising the mint leaves and lime against the glass with a slender, wooden muddler which looks like a tiny baseball bat.)
Top with ice
(The illustration indicates ice cubes)
Add Bacardi (1.5 ozs) and a splash of club soda.
Stir well and garnish with lemon wedge and sprig of mint

Mandy, a very colorful fellow in Trinidad, Cuba in whose home I stayed for a few days, would pick mint from his little patch in the inner courtyard and whip up mojitos for a buck each, though as I recall he used a spoon to muddle. After picking the mint he’d kinda of prance over to the muddling counter in a manner reminiscent of Dr. Joyboy dancing the roast pig into feed his immovably obese mother in the mid-60s movie, “The Loved Ones.” Mandy would also drive his early 50s Chevy through the cobblestone streets of Trinidad honking, whistling, and waving at his friends, which seemed to be all women. The guy was a complete card, which of course has nothing to do with last evening.

Someone in the midst of last evening suggested that we should each enter a report of the evening in our various blogs. Instantly, Working Gringa and KAT whipped their cameras out of their bags. The cameras came out so fast that I’m pretty sure I saw them smoking from the friction. I knew immediately that, to the extent the blogging suggestion constituted a challenge (and remember, I am male), I was a goner, for I had no camera. So for pictures of the restaurant and the salon you’ll just have to mosey on over to the Working Gringos and KATravels to view photos. They’ll also probably tell you the name and location of the restaurant.

All-in-all, it was an evening to remember. More Merida Magic.

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 build more walls along the border.

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, more dangerous for both the USA and Israel. The piece is well worth a read.

Levy argues in this excerpt the Israel Lobby should divorce the neoconservatives and Christian right and to stop stifling debate through intimidation:

First, efforts to collapse the Israeli and neoconservative agendas into one have been a terrible mistake - and it is far from obvious which is the tail and which is the dog in this act of wagging. Iraqi turmoil and an Al-Qaida foothold there, growing Iranian regional leverage and the strengthening of Hamas in the PA are just a partial scorecard of the recent policy successes of AIPAC/neocon collaboration.

Second, Israel would do well to distance itself from our so-called "friends" on the Christian evangelical right. When one considers their support for Israel's own extremists, the celebration of our Prime Minister's physical demise as a "punishment from God" and their belief in our eventual conversion - or slaughter - then this is exposed as an alliance of sickening irresponsibility.

Third, Israel must not be party to the bullying tactics used to silence policy debate in the U.S. and the McCarthyite policing of academia by set-ups like Daniel Pipes' Campus Watch. If nothing else, it is deeply un-Jewish. It would in fact serve Israel if the open and critical debate that takes place over here were exported over there.

Fourth, the Lobby even denies Israel a luxury that so many other countries benefit from: of having the excuse of external encouragement to do things that are domestically tricky but nationally necessary (remember Central Eastern European economic and democratic reform to gain EU entry in contrast with Israel's self-destructive settlement policy for continued U.S. aid).

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 plant sprouted there had been no rain here.

This plant illustrates how well things grow here, despite sometimes serious challenges, like no water and vehicle exhaust from heavy traffic, as is this case. I often see plants growing from small mortar crevices, out of the roofs of buildings, or like the beautiful flowering plant growing out of the patio.

This case, however, is truly amazing. More Merida magic.

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 and between us had five beers, lunch, and about 5 small plates of botanas, which are snacks that are provided at no charge when one orders beer, and the bill was around $70 pesos, less than $7. US.

Jose, the owner; his employees Karen and Sylvia; and the regulars greet me warmly, with handshakes all around. Karen or Sylvia place a Superior beer in front of me without asking what I’d like and ask if I want a plate of salted peanuts. Someone always strikes up a conversation and more often than not one of the other patrons will buy me a beer or a shot of Tequila and I reciprocate. Often there is live music provided by folks who stop by with their instruments, usual guitars and sometimes an accordian. Last night it was a fellow playing the guitar while the patrons took turns singing along with him.

Last evening I took along a plate of pan dulce (sweet bread) I had earlier made with some overripe bananas. Everyone present tried it, indicated their approval, and began guessing the ingredients.

Jose apparently has never heard the adage that when one owns a bar one should not drink. So unless I visit early in the day I can’t understand what he is telling me. Karen and Sylvia take care of the customers while Jose is slurring his way through conversation with the customers, often seeming to speak quite indignantly. On Sunday’s Karen’s 6 year old son Jordan and her 12 or 13 year old nephew Alfonso accompany her to work. Jordan amuses himself with the attentions of the customers while Alfonso helps behind the bar. When I comment to Karen that I can’t understand Jose she assures me with a gesture that it’s because Jose has been drinking.

Last evening the conversation turned to politics, both of the US and Mexico. Bush was unanimously derided. Though there was disagreement as to who should be elected Mexican president in July, all seemed to agree the outcome wouldn’t make much of a difference in their lives. Curious, I asked who among the assemblage voted and only one of the five folks present indicated they do.

I asked Jose if during my next visit I could take photographs to post on my diario internet. I’m pretty sure he told me there would be no problem, so after my next visit I’ll post some pictures.

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 hack. In doing so the plagiarist calls the Washington Post editors fools. He's right about that, even though he stole that line too.

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 the trip. I was the only non-local on the bus, both going and returning; and the bus stopped frequently to take on and discharge passengers along the way, in each pueblo and wherever flagged down. At the station in Telchac Puerto the driver had trouble getting the bus engine to fire up, to the point it seemed as though the batteries would be drained so we would all have to pile out and give it a push to jump start it; but finally the beast roared to life and we were off. Somewhere between Boco and Merida one of the side windows fell into the bus, so the driver slowed down while the relief driver retrieved the window. Then a bit further along the driver had to bring the bus to a stop in order to put the beast in gear. It is these kinds of things that cause to enjoy bus trips here.

I should point out that I ride the servicio intermedio buses, rather than the first class buses, as I’d rather ride with the locals. If I were to go further afield, such as to Campeche , which I plan to visit next week, or Cancun, which I intend to never visit except to pass through the airport, I will take a 1st class bus.

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 sweet as those I buy from Luis at El Mercado Santa Ana. I am eating and giving away tomatoes from the garden and also eating carrots which, because of the poor soil I think, are small and not very sweet. There is one habanera just about ready to pick, and others coming on even though the plants are no more than 6 inches tall.

Also on the good news front is the large amount of killer compost I’ve produced and which I have been incorporating into the soil for new plantings.

The bad news is that both the tomato and cantaloupe plants succumbed to Tomato Mosaic Virus and Downy Mildew, respectively, so I have pulled them and began anew. I am hopeful that incorporating generous amounts of compost into the soil and mulching heavily with compost will produce more resistant plants, and as a backup I have ordered seeds of resistant varieties from a company in England which ships to Mexico at very economical rates. I have also planted more watermelons in a heavily composted bed, though something, perhaps a gecko, ate the leaves off a couple as soon as they emerged.

I have constructed two rectangular raised beds, where the tomatoes had resided, incorporated lots of compost into the soil and mulched them heavily with more compost. I have started more tomato plants which I will plant into one of the beds when large enough. In the other bed I have planted more cucumbers and will plant more onions and lettuce, though the weather has become very hot and dry so the lettuce may not do well.

I have also begun transplanting papaya trees in an area behind the garden. Though the hot weather is not conducive to transplanting, I am refining my method, using lots of compost, mulching heavily, and hoping for the best. Sr. Lopez, my landlords, tells me to use all of the water I need and to not worry about the cost. Water is apparently quite inexpensive here.

My container trees are all doing well and I have an addition of a mystery tree from a seed I found and planted in the avocado container.

Additionally, I found in the last batch of vegetative waste, the next door neighbor practically begged me to take, a large, juicy bulb of some sort that had been hacked up by a machete. You Know Me, I said to myself “what the hell” and planted it. Within days flat, broad, light green leaves emerged and earlier this week a stem emerged from which blossomed four trumpet shaped white and pink flowers. I haven’t the slightest idea what it is but it is indeed a beauty. Or I should say, was a beauty, as I accidentally cut the flower stalk with my soil sifting screen while preparing spots for the papayas.

Off to prepare another papaya hole before it gets too hot. Later I’ll tell you about my amoebic banking experiences.

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 in New Hampshire, and then claims he has not heard of Nelson’s misdeeds.

You'd Think the Bush Courtiers Would Devise a New Script

So now Iran is harboring Al Qaeda, according to an anonymous administration official, as reported by the LA Times.

"Iran is becoming more and more radicalized and more willing to turn a blind eye to the Al Qaeda presence there," a U.S. counter-terrorism official said.

Maybe Bush administration ideologues are trying to economize by just changing the 'q' in their Iraqi propaganda campaign to an 'n' now that they are intent on launching an Iran military adventure.

They can get away with using the same script because about half of the USA population will buy it.

If Iran is truly harboring Al Qaeda why is the "counter-terrorism official" speaking anonymously? Because when the Iran propaganda campaign is exposed as nothing more than just that, more B.S., he or she cannot be held accountable. And because that's how propagandists works.

Dick Cheney - Lunatic

Anyone who still doesn’t believe that Dick Cheney is a lunatic should read this Reuters report. Remember Cheney was in charge of the search for Bush’s vice-presidential candidate and selected himself. “Steady hand on the tiller…” without an oar in the water.

So we have a president who thinks God is telling him what to do and a vice-president who thinks he’s God. Who would have guessed that Bush was right. God really is telling him what to do.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney, a lightning rod for criticism about administration policies, on Sunday rejected the notion of resigning and said he would serve out his term.

"I made sure both in 2000 and 2004 that the president had other options. I mean, I didn't ask for this job. I didn't campaign for it. I got drafted," Cheney said on CBS television's "Face The Nation."

Grover Norquist Laundered Money for Abramoff and Reed

Grover Norquist, for those who don't know, every week hosts a conclave of about 100 top Washington D.C. republican congressional and administration staff and lobbyists. He used his organization, Americans for Tax Reform, to launder money for both to Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed, who as Pat Robertson's former Christian Coalition director lectured us about moral rectitude. Whatever moral impulses Reed may have possessed were long ago trumped by his greed. It is looking increasingly like both Norquist and Reed may both join Abramoff in prison.

Abramoff's "lobbying" operation was retained by a number of Indian tribes with casino operations to lobby various state governments to deny other tribes authorization to begin gambling operations. Abramoff hired Reed to mount astroturf operations that would use his Christian soldiers to pressure the state governments to deny authorization for the non Abramoff client tribes to operate gambling operations. Reed, of course, couldn't allow his good soldiers to learn that he was assisting tribes with gambling operations so Abramoff's payments to Reed were laundered through Norquist organization.

Why isn't the RICO stature being used against these amoral, greedy scum bags? They were organized and engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise.

Americans Are Wising Up To Bush

The Pew Research Center's latest poll finds that when asked to describe President Bush in one word 48% of the USA population uses a negative word, most often "incompetent", followed closely by "idiot" and "liar".

From the PEW Research report.

In a Word...Incompetent

President Bush's declining image also is reflected in the single-word descriptions people use to describe their impression of the president. Three years ago, positive one-word descriptions of Bush far outnumbered negative ones. Over the past two years, the positive-negative balance has been roughly equal. But the one-word characterizations have turned decidedly negative since last July.

Currently, 48% use a negative word to describe Bush compared with just 28% who use a positive term, and 10% who use neutral language.

The changing impressions of the president can best be viewed by tracking over time how often words come up in these top-of-the-mind associations. Until now, the most frequently offered word to describe the president was "honest," but this comes up far less often today than in the past. Other positive traits such as "integrity" are also cited less, and virtually no respondent used superlatives such as "excellent" or "great" ­ terms that came up fairly often in previous surveys.

The single word most frequently associated with George W. Bush today is "incompetent,"and close behind are two other increasingly mentioned descriptors: "idiot" and "liar." All three are mentioned far more often today than a year ago.

Celestun Visit Story Published

The story of my visit to Celestun has been published on the "Day Trips" page of the Yucatan Today web site.

You Know Me Appears in the Local Newspaper

Luis, the fellow from whom I buy fruit, informed me today, as I was buying bananas for my neighbor Armando, that my picture had appeared in the Diario Yucatan yesterday. He rustled around on the floor of his vendor booth and came up with a copy of the paper and gave it to me.

As it happened, last Saturday I was walking along Calle 53 (the caption incorrectly says 63) on my way home from the Merida English Library's 10th anniversary recognition press conference. As I was about mid block I noticed a fellow taking pictures in my direction. I thought perhaps he worked for the City's traffic department and was shooting the damaged corner and traffic light standard. I didn't know if I was in his picture or not, or whether he wanted me in his picture or not.

As it turns out it was a Diario photographer shooting a situation dangerous to pedestrians for publication in the paper.

The caption reads, something akin to: "Rudimentary counterbalance. After an automobile knocked over the traffic light standard in an accident last month, the city police raised the standard and placed rocks as counterbalances, making it difficult for pedestrians to pass. Despite the time that has passed, still no new base has been installed."

So now I'm thinking that police and city officials read it and thought "another damned estadounidense (USA citizen) tourist trying to cause problems."

Actually, and I've mentioned it before, one of things I like about Merida is that when one encounters such pedestrian hazards one is responsible to take care. Having worked for a number of years for municipal governments in the USA I processed, and was deposed relative to, a number of claims filed by folks who fell on sidewalks. Many folks in the USA have come to believe their tax paying neighbors (through those amorphous entities "the city", "the county", "the state") should indemnify them for their own carelessness, and juries often reinforce their belief.

It's All About Poll Numbers

Senator Russ Feingold, of Wisconsin, introduced a Senate resolution to censure Bush for "unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans within the United States without obtaining the court orders required" by FISA. Apparently his resolution received the cold shoulder from his fellow Senate democrats, so he went into a snit and lambasted his collegues. He has been widely quoted in the media as saying "I'm amazed at Democrats ... cowering with this president's numbers so low," Feingold said.

I certainly believe that congressional democrats and those populating the national democratic party are gutless and I believe that Bush should be more than censured; but I find Feingold’s statement to be an indication that he is little different from those he criticizes. Implicit in Feingold’s condemnation of his fellow senate democrats is the belief that cowering would be alright if Bush’s “numbers” were not “so low.”

Right and wrong, and such things as defending the citizenry from the development of a police state are not considerations for congressional democrats, or republicans for that matter. It’s all about poll numbers, even to Feingold.

None-the-less, at this point Feingold his is preferable to me over the others angling for the 2008 democratic nomination, unless Gore jumps in, that is.

The "Gonzocons" Are Eating Each Other

Martin Kelly, whoever he is, I think has it right. The rats are jumping the neoconservative ship.

He explains why he thinks the folks that call them neoconservatives are really gonzoconservatives. They're as paranoid as Hunter Thompson, but not nearly as much fun.

Tango Gaucho

I had dinner the other night at the Tango Gaucho restaurant on Calle 16, X 29 y 31, in Colonia Mexico.

Five years ago the proprietors renovated a dilapidated colonial style home into a quality restaurant featuring Argentinean specialties, which means lots of char broiled beef. They also offer chicken and pasta dishes, as well as a full complement of appetizers, salads, a full service bar, and fine wines.

The proprietors building renovation efforts have created a true work of art, which includes a patio, waterfall, swimming pool and small band stand at the rear. Upstairs is living quarters with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and an office. As the wife half of the ownership team is also an art professor the restaurant walls are covered with her works and those of other artists, including an amazing collection of pen and ink drawings with Argentinean themes.

I recommend a visit for dinner and drinks. I doubt you will be disappointed. To get there go North on the Paseo Montejo and turn right at the median fountain, Calle 31 I think, and go about five blocks East and turn left on C 16. The restaurant is across C 16 from the park.

Oh yeah. The whole works is for sale for $270,000. U.S.

Helen Thomas - One of Few Media Heroes

Helen Thomas, the dean of the White House press corps rhetorically flays the "lapdog" media.

Adele Ferguson - Coulter Wannabe

Anyone who doesn’t believe Adele Ferguson, syndicated columnist particularly familiar to those in Washington state, is a whack job from top to bottom should read her trope lecturing African Americans to be thankful that their forbears were brought to America as slaves, to quit whining about it, and to become Republicans.

You can read the column here, to which I was led, through a series of sites, from the Jesus General’s site.

Jesus General writes to congratulate Ms. Ferguson. If you don’t follow Jesus General, you're missing some top notch humorous political commentary.

CICY - Jardin Botanico Regional

Despite the hours of internet searching I did before moving here, I did not learn of the botanical garden on the campus of the Centro de Investigacion Cientifica de Yucatan (CICY) in Merida until it was mentioned on the Merida Insider gardening forum.

Earlier this week I bussed to CICY and spent an about an hour touring the garden. Other than a group of school children, who left shortly after my arrival, and two maintenance fellows, I was the only one there. I recommend a visit.

CICY is in Colonia Pinzon, at the intersection of Avenue 1 and Calle 32. To get there catch a bus on Calle 60 with CICY or Francisco de Montejo noted on its windshield. The CICY bus takes a circuitous route through a number of neighborhoods and passes by the CICY main entrance. The Fran. De Montejo buses will drop you off a half block away on Avenue 1. If you'’re driving go North on Calle 60 and follow the signs to Fran. De Montejo.

However you get there, be sure to enter CICY through the gated entrance and tell the attendant you are there to visit the Jardin Botanico Regional. The attendant will direct you to an office in the main administration building where you can pay the $20 pesos fee.

CICY is composed of a well kept campus of low rise buildings housing research programs in molecular biology,meteorology, plants, water, and other natural resource interests. The garden is at the West end of the main access roadway about two block from the campus entrance.

The Jardin Botanico Regional can be toured in an hour or so and contains a pond with pink, white, and blue flowering lilies, a hot house constructed in the classic oval Mayan style, a children'’s educational garden, extensive green and hot houses, a cacti garden, a large agave collection, a collection of native medicinal plants, and a palm collection. The garden also offers a wide variety of plants for sale.

Throughout the garden are beautiful ceramic signs attached to large rocks which discuss such things as the Biomass del Mundo, La Taxonomia, Las Angiospermas, and composting. There are also smaller ceramic signs that provide information of individual plants, including the scientific name, the common name, and the various uses of the plant.


At the left are Agave Henequen plants which were grown widely here on the great haciendas and which fueld a Yucatan economic boom until the market for sisal rope declined. For you tequila aficionados, the Agave Tequilana looks very much the same.

If you're intersted in local plants or are landscaping your yard you'll probably enjoy a visit.

Interior Secretary Norton to Resign

Apparently Abramoff's corruption slime is flowing a bit too closely to Secretary Norton.

FM 3 Visa

Today I received my FM 3 visa which permits me to live here for a year and which is renewable each year for four years. After 5 years of residency here an alien may apply for an FM 2 visa which permit permanent residency.

Now that I have an FM 3 I can open a local bank account and form a Mexican corporation if necessary.

Faces of the Santa Ana Market

Please excuse the layout. I still haven't quite figured it out. It looks good during drafting but changes when posted.

One of the things that I really like about Merida is its neighborhood markets.

The city's central market,Mercado Lucas de Galvez, covers a number of square blocks on the edge of the historic centro area and is riotous collage that confronts all five of one's senses.

One can find almost anything in the central market. More than once I have found something at the central market I had failed to locate elsewhere. When I determined I needed a mattock with which to excavate the back yard, unable to locate one in a number of the local hardware stores I checked the sprawling hardware store at the central market. I explained to one of the attendants what I was looking for, he consulted el jefe who disappeared into a narrow passageway that weaves through his floor to ceiling collection of wares. El jefe soon emerged with a smile, holding just what I had been searching for.

The Mercado Santa Ana is my neighborhood market which I visit at least twice each week. Here are a few of the vendors of the Santa Ana Market with whom I do business.

At the left is Luis Escalante and at right is Julia Bwas. Each Friday I buy a week's supply of fruit from Luis and vegetables from Julia. They both have come to expect me and greet me warmly.

At the left is Juan Cetina who speaks English quite well and cuts pork to order. At the right is Eloida Peraza, on the left, and Patricia Lizama from whom each week I buy piping hot corn tortillas fresh from their fifty year old machine that rolls, heats, and cuts tortillas from the masa harina they feed into the hopper.

When I want chicken I see the guys on the left, who also cut to order. There is no extra charge for their incessant jesting. At right is Raphael Montejo, whose little stall is full to the brim with all manner of grocery items and his omnipresent smile.


Alberto Lizama, at the left, and Manuel Munoz tend produce stalls just down from Luis'. The market houses quite a number of produce vendors and a few small groceries. There is a jeweler, a religious articles vendor and other odds and ends.


Jose Sanchez, at left, occupies a shoe repair booth. My two month old, street worn sandals in need of new soles can be seen on his bench at his left elbow.

At the front of the market, facing the Parque Santa Ana, are a number of cocinas economicas. The cocinas share an outdoor seating area and music provided by folks who stop by to play and drum in hopes of donations for their efforts.

Parque Santa Ana, the center of the Santa Ana neighborhood, is a block square plaza, centered by a monument, the base of which is surrounded by a circular, elevated platform which serves as a stage for weekend musical performances and other events. The entire edifice is in turn surrounded by a shallow amphitheater. At the North edge of the park is a cathedral, the pealing bells of which I can hear from my apartment 4 blocks away, and on its West the park borders Calle 60, a primary North/South arterial.

Inveterate Liars

Though it was all over the blogosphere before the commencement of our Liar in Chief’s Iraqi adventure that the federal Depts. Of Energy and State had informed Bush et al that the aluminum tube nonsense there were passing around was BS, here’s the proof.

Meanwhile our Liar in Chief declared four days after Katrina caused catastrophic damage to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in general that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees", despite the fact he was told of the possibility only a few days before.

The Bush administration has hung former FEMA director Michael Brown out to dry for its Katrina response failure, but a recently released video shows Brown specifically expressing to Bush and about to be fired Fatherland Security Dept. director Chertoff of his concerns that the levees would be breached and that there were not enough federal response personnel to deal with the needs of those in the Superdome.

UPDATE 3/5/06: The AP has issued a clarification indicating that Brown expressed his concern that the levees would be "overrun" not breached.

It seems also that inveterate lying is an important qualification to serve in the Bush administration, as Secretary of State Condoleeza “Mushroom Cloud” Rice repeatedly illustrates. Rice’s latest blatant lie came in comments on the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections when se said "I don't know anyone who wasn't caught off guard by its very strong showing,"

Did the clueless Rice really think the world wouldn’t learn that her own State Dept. Bureau of Intelligence and Research, only ten days before her latest whopper, had presented her with poll results that indicated Hamas was running even with Fatah and that 52% of Palestians judged Hamas more qualified to end the corruption rampant in the Palestinian Authority, a leading concern of voters.

Why haven’t the Disaster in Chief and the Vice-disaster in Chief been impeached? And why in the world did about half of USA voters choose to reelect the lying crooks?

Oh, and did you see where Spike Lee has told Secretary Rice, "Condi, stop smoking that crack!"

John McCain - Amoral Fraud

Kevin Drum is spot on in his appraisal of McCain. The guy is a fraudulent bag of wind. He beat his chest about the importance of his "anti-torture" bill and garnered lots of favorable publicity. The problem is that bill denies individuals who are tortured recourse to the courts.

The "Detainee Treatment Act of 2005" should have been more accurately named the "McCain Presidential Ambitions Promotion Act."

Belusconi Address Congress with No Interpreter

This is really unbelievable. Members of Congress and their interns cast as extras in a Berlusconi made for Italian TV publicity stunt.

I think comparing Congressperons to trained seals is, in general, very unfair to seals.

Santa Ana Apartment

Before moving here I had promised myself that I would live here for a year before making a decision as to stay or not. My resolve has weaken.

I have an appointment Monday with the owner of this 7 unit apartment building to examine the property. The building is within a few blocks of where I now live in the Santa Ana neighborhood, which I like very much.

Behind the building is a fairly good sized courtyard/parking area accessed by a drive through, the gate of which you can see behind the SUV at the right of the picture.

UPDATE 3/6/06: The agent of the building owner called this morning to inform me that the building is no longer for sale.

Walter Cronkite on the Drug War

It would be nice if USA politicians dealt in reality and truth as does Walter Cronkite. Unfortunately such will never occur, as at least half the USA population prefers pandering from their politicians rather than truth; and as long as pandering sells that's what we shall get.

Carnaval Parade Video

The Working Gringos have posted a pretty cool video of a portion of the final Carnaval 2006 parade at their Yucatan Living blog.

Check it out.

Libby Hires "Memory Loss Expert"

Libby’s defense team “has hired a renowned memory-loss expert to assist him with his legal defense.” Presumably the “expert” will support Libby’s contention that he didn’t really lie to the grand jury; but, rather that he was so busy conducting affairs of state that he forgot the truth.

Cheney And Staff Witheld or Deleted 250 Pages of Emails

About the time that court documents became public wherein Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald informed Libby’s lawyers that he had information that the White House withheld email communications that his subpoena relating to his Plame outing investigation had requested, the White house finds 250 messages that Cheney and staff either deleted or withheld.

Anyone old enough to have observed the Watergate scandal, and Cheney worked for Nixon, should know that the cover up is always worse than the crime. A fact which leads me to conclude that Cheny is really stupid, in addition to being a inveterate liar and war profiteer.

Rather than being a steady hand on the tiller of the ship of state, as pundits pronounced in relief when Bush selected Cheney as his running mate, it seems clear that the guy doesn't even have both oars in the water.