Monday, November 20, 2006

Lopez Obrador goes and claims Mexican presidency

AP, via Yahoo News

Well that's just great. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has gone and proclaimed himself President of Mexico after losing the presidential election, demanding and getting multiple recounts, a ruling against him from Mexico's election court, and a massive political temper tantrum wherein his supporters jammed the streets of Mexico City with protests on his behalf. He has set up a parallel government to compete with the legitimate and duly elected government of Mexico in a bid to take de facto control of the country.

I don't know whether this illegitimate parallel government will gain any traction or not, but if it does, it could tear Mexico apart; they may even be facing another civil war. And it'll be happening on the doorstep of the United States. More on the situation as developments warrant.

Update: I missed this on my first reading of the news story. Obrador has vowed to stop the December 1st inauguration of the winner of the election, Felipe Calderon. I don't know what he means by that, but it can't be a good thing no matter how he plans on making sure it doesn't go forward.

Update 2, 11/22/2006: International Herald-Tribune

I can only say that it's a damned good thing Obrador lost, if this is his idea of policy. Instituting government price controls and basing those controls on matching prices in other markets with different market conditions is a recipe for economic disaster. The Mexican government might be able to mandate that businesses not charge more than they do in the U.S. for delivering the same service with greater difficulty, but they can't mandate that those businesses stay in operation when the costs start to sink them. No one runs a business when it's no longer worth it to him.

Charlie Rangel introduces draft bill, AGAIN

International Herald-Tribune

Well, dear ol' Congressman Rangel's at it again, putting a bill to reinstate the military draft before Congress. How this man keeps getting reelected in Manhattan, of all places, would be just beyond me, were it not for one factor: Tom DeLay, as Speaker of the House, actually scheduled Rangel's 2004 draft bill for a vote right before the election, the only way one of them would ever make it out of committee. Faced with the prospect of a vote on his own bill, Rangel did the only thing he could do: Show his true colors and vote against it.

Yep, Rangel doesn't want a draft, unlike Jack Murtha and Pete Straw, the only Congresscritters to actually vote in favor. It's a cheap political trick that he uses to try and get people to think that the Republicans are going to institute a draft. (Incidentally, Murtha and Straw, along with Rangel, are Democrats.) And it's worked like a charm; constant draft bills in the House keep frantic anti-draft groups operating and, in most cases, throwing money at Democratic candidates. (Mothers Against the Draft is one such group that I have something of a history with.)

In the end analysis, I can only say one thing to Mr. Rangel: Go to hell.

On a personal note, sorry for the lack of posts recently. I lost my job in October and am still looking for a new one.

And I should add that spambots are not welcome on this blog. So far there only seems to be one, but if the problem persists I'll just have to turn on registration.