Professor of Political Science & Sen. Wm. McMaster Chair in Gender & Methodology, McMaster University
Police profiling in Mexico City
Apparently, Brian and I fit the profile of car theives. We were pulled over today by local police who were carrying out a “routine” verification of our car to make sure it had not been reported stolen, since it has Texas plates.
Brian and I really look like the types to have driven a stolen car all the way from Texas, and then cruise it through the middle of the business district at lunchtime. Sure.
Calderon is confident that he will win the PAN nomination
Or so it is reported in this article.
What happens to your stolen car?
We hear all these stories about stolen cars (really mainly SUVs) in the U.S. ending up in Mexico. And what happens to them? Well, in one case at least, a stolen Durango with no plates was used in a kidnapping carried out by a Mexican law officer (FBI equivalent) in the border state of Tamaulipas.
According to the same article:
Por otra parte, ayer sólo se documentaron dos muertes violentas en el país: una en Veracruz y otra en el penal Neza Bordo, ubicado en el estado de México. Más activos estuvieron diversos actores políticos, al menos en cuanto a emitir declaraciones sobre la violencia en el país.
“On the other hand, yesterday only two violent deaths were reported in the country: one in Veracruz and another in the Neza Bordo prison, located in the state of Mexico. More active were the diverse political actors, at least in terms of issuing declarations regarding violence in the country.”
Someone at La Jornada has a sense of humor.
Another article mentions that 41 local police were arraigned yesterday on charges that they participated in a gunfight with officers of Mexico’s FBI-equivalent agency. That’s nice.
Clinton to visit Mexico
June 21st, Clinton is scheduled to speak in Mexico City. Tickets to the convention where he will speak will cost around US$400, with a 50% discount for students. Since the minimum monthly wage is roughly the cost of the student ticket, you can imagine who his audience will be.
Grade grubbing
Maybe this has already made the rounds of academic bloggers, but I just happened upon this article about grades in the Washington Post (via Phantom Prof). Georgia Tech students can be bad, but they are not that bad. In part, the problem is Georgia’s Hope Scholarships based on GPAs. It also doesn’t help that Tech students regularly make Fs, Ds, and Cs in their “hard” classes, like CS or Physics, and feel that they should get an “easy A” in something like International Affairs.
My strategy for avoiding grade changes? I recommend the following:
1. Have an incredibly detailed syllabus with percentage values for every assignment.
2. Grade all exams and assignments by student ID number (not name), so students can’t claim ideological prejudice. (We in Liberal Arts had a nasty scare with Horowitz inspired mayhem last year.)
3. When using participation grades, document attendance, make obvious notes when students talk in class (so they know you’re paying attention), and include participation via WebCT discussion board posts (for shy kids). (Students turn in printed copies of their WebCT posts at the end of term to facilitate my grading.)
4. Show students that attendance matters. After the midterm or first paper, I show students a scatterplot and regression estimate for the effects of attendance, class year, and major/non-major on the first assignment grade. Since the assignment is graded anonymously, they can’t claim grading bias. And, then I show them that independent of the participation grade, attendance has a positive and significant effect (both statistically and substantively) on their grades. Usually, the difference between attendance and non-attendance is more than a letter grade.
5. When all else fails, hide at the end of the semester. I must admit: I post grades at the last minute or in the middle of the night at the same time that I release complete WebCT grades for the final exam. Then, I hide. And don’t answer emails for at least a week. Most of those knee-jerk email complaints go away. [Edited to add:] I tell students via email to come see me during office hours the following semester to discuss. I don’t waste my time rehashing grades via email, when most students just send a quick email in a panic. Most students don’t come the following semester because once they calm down, they realize they earned the grade they received. [End addition] Students that do follow-up seldom have any excuse since grades are calculated anonymously.
And you’d be surprised by your students’ performance if you begin to grade anonymously. Sometimes, when I go put names on papers, I’m surprised by how well or how poorly some students perform. Of course, this is easier if you have a TA to help with the paperwork.
Legal guide for bloggers
Here.
Academic book publishing
Or, why graduate students should not be encouraged to write book-like dissertations. Check out this article on the academic book market in the Chronicle.
Why have monograph sales declined so sharply? Is it because readers are turning to other sources of information like the Internet, as many observers have speculated? The main explanation almost certainly lies elsewhere. Research libraries constitute a principal market for scholarly monographs, and in the course of the 1980s and 1990s they were subjected to intense pressures of their own: the steep rise in the prices of scientific journals and the increasing costs of information technology. Library budgets were limited, and something had to give. In the period from 1986 to 1998-99, the number of monographs purchased annually by research libraries in the United States declined by more than 25 percent. Since academic publishers were also producing more monographs each year, that meant that an ever-increasing range of available titles was competing for a dwindling pool of resources.
At the same time, many American university presses were coming under pressure from another source: their host institutions. In the 1970s and 1980s, some began to find themselves faced with growing pressure to reduce their dependence on direct or indirect subsidies and become more autonomous financially — “self-supporting” was the term often used. Universities faced their own fiscal constraints, and university presses, with their somewhat ambiguous status (were they academic units or business units?), were obvious targets for financial scrutiny.
Public security
Over the last few weeks, I have posted (here, here, here, here, and here) about increasing insecurity in Mexico. Mexico City has always been a little wild-west-ish, but gunfights and executions along the border and the unsolved femicidios have increased demands for better policing in the last few weeks.
In response, the military was dispatched to keep the peace in Nuevo Laredo early this week. Meanwhile, there have been more assasinations and a police suicide. The Mexican government is going to ask the U.S. government to do more to stop the flow of guns into Mexico. (Mexico has tight gun control laws, despite the fact that security agencies carry shot guns and machine guns.)
Despite the new military presence, there have been two more assasinations reported in Nuevo Laredo. And two more drug war related deaths in Baja.
In response, the government announced a program targeting organized crime called Mexico Seguro, which will be implemented along the border and in the Federal District (a.k.a., Mexico City). The plan calls for increased coordination among the multiple police organizations.
Personal security is likely to become a key issue in the 2006 presidential elections here.
In the meantime, take a look at this photo of art on display at MUNAL. It’s a list of the names of missing or murdered women in Cuidad Juarez through spring 2003. Add a couple hundred additional names, and it would be up to date.
Click on image to see larger version
So out of character
…for both K Grease and Munger. Who would have thought that Munger would cave to criticism? This is the man that called getting tenure at a top research university a non-event. This is the man that teases (ok…bullies) underpaid clerks everywhere.
Ok, so it is difficult to have a non-anonymous blog and resist the urge to rant about the injustices at your job, in your profession, or personal life. (There have been times I have been tempted to rant about colleagues or staff….) So, you either don’t blog about those things, or you get an anonymous blog. The problem with anonymous blogs is that they can quickly degrade into something uninteresting (and most seem kinda whiney).
I thought the great thing about Munger’s blog was that he was one of the few to combine both informed commentary and random rants. We got his professional opinions on the economy, tenure, and free speech, but we also got to see what a jerk he can be in real life. (And aren’t we all jerks sometimes? Most of us would rather not advertise it, though, so we keep our rants private or share them only with those that know us well enough to forgive us for our jerkiness.) But, it’s also clear from the blog that he’s not always a jerk and can be fair-minded.
To me, Munger is one of the few who doesn’t care if everyone knows he draws skull & crossbones on paper reviews for journals or harasses underpaid clerks. That type of honesty (especially in academia) is refreshing.
So now, we find out he’s going to go create some lame pseudonymous blog so that we don’t know the real identity behind the performance art? Lame, lame, lame. I would have expected it from some pansy, untenured prof, but not Munger. What does he have to lose anyway? (It’s not like those of us that know him don’t know what he’s capable of…) I thought he was immune to criticism, or at least unaffected by it.
I’m very disappointed in you, Munger. You should know better.
Raul Salinas walks
Raul Salinas was released from prison after his family put up 950,000 pesos (about US$86,000) plus leans on 5 properties.
From La Jornada
La Virgen de Avenida Amsterdam
This Virgin is less than a block from our house. Sometimes, our neighbors add fresh flowers to the vases in front of the tree.
Via Brian.
The cost of sending Mexicans back to Mexico
Aeromexico currently holds the contract with the U.S. government to fly illegal Mexicans back to Mexico. The contract is for 150 flights from Tuscon to Mexico City. The U.S. government pays 14.3 million U.S.$ for this service. That’s an estimated $1,100 U.S. for each migrant sent back to Mexico. That’s about 4 times the cheapest rate.
Mexican families are askng Aeromexico to bring back the bodies for free of those that die trying to cross the border. So far Aeromexico, like Mexicana before it, has refused. The request seems like a reasonable one. Aeromexico is going to be running these flights anyway, and most of the migrants won’t have luggage. Why not use that space to bring back the remains of the 300-500 migrants who die trying to cross the border?
Raul Salinas
I’ve been avoiding it for as long as possible. The news for the last week has been saturated with Raul Salinas and his imminent departure from prison after serving 10 years of a 27 year sentence for murder.
Raul Salinas is the older brother of former president Carlos Salinas. He was convicted on ordering the murder of an in-law who happened to be the #2 in command of the PRI in 1994. There were problems with the case, including a $500,000 payment by the government to witnesses against Raul. In any event, Raul is only waiting now for his friends and family to put together the 32 million pesos (about 2.9 million US$) for his bail. (Don’t ask me why he has to pay bail if his case was dismissed…I have no idea.)
His brother and other allies are said to be putting together the money. Raul has at least that much frozen in Swiss accounts, which he claims he was organizing to begin an investment firm. Swiss authorities have ended their investigation of the money, which began after Raul’s wife tried to remove millions of dollars with fake identification. The accounts, however, are still frozen, at the request of the Mexican government. Raul is still under investigation in France for related money laundering suspicion.
Of course, the reaction to the change in Raul’s case has been received with some dismay and skepticism. Last week, PRD leaders suggested that the change in Raul’s case reflected Carlos Salinas’s increasing maneuvering behind the scenes in Mexico and his ability to pressure the Fox government. (Some claim Salinas was behind the desafuero efforts, too.) Many Mexicans find it hard to swallow that Raul will be released after only 10 of a 27 year sentence and still doubt his innocence. Powerful families, including that of the deceased, are now asking, if it wasn’t Raul, then who is responsible?
El Metrobus
The last few months, there has been a flurry of construction activity along Mexico City’s main North-South thoroughfare, Insurgentes. The construction is for a new system called “Metrobus.” The idea is to replace hundreds of small and medium busses that travel along Insurgentes with one unified bus system. At intervals along Insurgentes, platforms are being built in the center median where patrons will wait for the busses. It’s actually a lot like an above-ground bus-based metro system. And it’s based on a similar system that Brian and I were able to use in Curitiba, Brazil in the Summer of 2003.
Picture of Curitiba system
In Curitiba, the system works so well, that it inspired Bogota, Colombia to install their version, which is credited with improving city life. I’ve suspected all along that the new Mexico City system is inspired by Curitiba, but this article confirms it.
Despite the success of the Metrobus set-up in other Latin American cities, most Mexicans that I know are fairly skeptical of how successful the system will be in the D.F. Most Mexicans doubt that they will be able to have enough Metrobuses to replace the small and medium-sized busses that now run the route. The new system means that officially there will be no left turns anywhere along Insurgentes, and instead Mexicans will have to take three rights to make a left at certain points along the route to go left. I’m skeptical that they’ll be able to enforce the dedicated Metrobus lane in this way because I see people making prohibited left hand turns along Insurgentes all the time now. Why would this change with the new bus system? There were also protests initially because several large trees that lined the center median of Insurgentes had to be removed.
The DF government has announced that the Metrobus system will be inaugurated June 19 with two free weeks of service. Given the disarray of the platforms in my neighborhood (we live about four blocks from Insurgentes), I’m curious to see how they finish in time.
Picture of Metrobus
Take a look at this Metrobus slideshow.
PRD on the move again
As I mentioned, PRD leaders met with leaders of the Partido de Trabajo. Earlier, I also posted a list of potential strategies of small parties like the PT.
But this article in El Universal suggests that the PRD is courting other unions directly, in addition to its talks with the UNT. According to the article, PRD leaders have also recently met with representatives of the SME, which is one of the oldest unions in Mexico, representing electricity workers. The SME also happens to belong to the UNT, which means that the PRD seems to be negotiating alliances on many levels. We’ll have to wait to see what comes of it.
Don’t believe the hype….just yet.
So yesterday, I mentioned that La Jornada had announced an electoral alliance between the PRD and the UNT (independent union federation).
This morning, I had the privilege of attending a meeting of the leaders of the UNT, in which there was some backtracking. The three presidents of the UNT who apparently met with PRD representatives earlier this week were conveniently absent from today’s meeting. They sent their seconds-in-command to fend off claims by the leaders of other member unions that political alliances needed to first be discussed within the UNT and that they should not be learning of them through the press. There was a lot of discussion of the pros and cons to forming alliances with parties in general and whether it should be done at the UNT or individual union level. For full details, you will have to wait for my academic paper on the subject….
(None of this is really secret, though, since the press was there. There will probably be a story about it in La Jornada tomorrow.)
In general, the meeting was interesting just to watch the labor leader interaction and hear all the cell phones going off. There were only about 5 women of the 50+ leaders there, and I had the pleasure of sitting next to one of them. In her union, there are only 2 women union leaders, and women have only belonged to the union for the last 2-3 years. We had a very nice chat that I won’t share with you.
Anyway, watch tomorrow for more news about UNT and PRD alliances.
De todo un poco
Today’s news offers a little bit of everything, including updates on many of the stories that I have commented on before.
First, after announcing an alliance with the UNT, the PRD met last night with representatives of the Partido de Trabajo (PT) to negotiate an additional electoral alliance in 2006.
Legislators finally approved an extraordinary session, mainly to deal with budget issues.
In immigration news, a voluntary program will fly Mexican illegal immigrants back to their states of origin, rather than just the border. Two minutemen-type groups are beginning to organize in Texas. A group of professionals from Yucatan tried to enroll in a temporary work program with Canada, but were rejected because they are not peasants.
In border violence news, the new head of security in Nuevo Laredo was assassinated, as was another official in a hospital. Two more bodies were found elsewhere related to drug war violence.
In other union news, divisions are resurfacing within the powerful electricians’ union and a new leadership vote will occur soon. The pilots’ union and Aeromar avoided a strike by signing a new contract with a 5% pay raise.
The first lady plans to head an organization against the femicidios in Ciudad Juarez.
There you go. All the blog’s themes on one day. Maybe later I will have time to link to earlier blog posts about each one. Now, I have to run off to a union meeting.
We’re waiting….
Supposedly, the PGR was going to announce a final decision on the Lopez Obrador (desafuero) case (to try or not to try…) on June 2. I hadn’t come across the announcement in the press, so I searched today. Apparently, on June 3rd, the Attorney General’s office released an announcement regarding the case.
The interpretation of La Jornada is that the PGR has indefinitely postponed a firm decision and that this is contrary to the AG’s announcement last month that a formal decision would be announced on June 2.
According to the AG’s press release, the owners of the property in dispute had until June 2nd to present their complaint that the case had been dropped against AMLO. They presented a claim and formal request to pursue the case by the June 2 deadline. Now, the AG office says, the AG will evaluate the property owner’s request and determine whether to pursue charges against AMLO.
Seem convoluded? Well, it is, sort of. Part of the problem is due to the Mexican legal system. If the police catch someone in the act of robbing your house, they can arrest and prosecute them. If, however, you have evidence that someone in particular robbed your house after the fact, you have to file the complaint against the robbers (the police need your cooperation to press charges). In the AMLO case, the government decided not to press charges against AMLO for its case, but the owners of the property still have the opportunity to have AMLO charged. And unlike in the U.S., it wouldn’t be just a civil case, where AMLO could pay damanges to the owners directly, the owners can request that criminal charges be filed, which they have. (Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but this is my understanding of what is going on and how the Mexican system works…but given the mixed interpretations in the press by various legal scholars, there isn’t even a lot of agreement among lawyers about the case.)
La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) postergó por tiempo indefinido el cierre del caso El Encino y con ello la decisión de si actuará en contra del jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Mediante un comunicado de prensa la dependencia dio a conocer los avances de la averiguación previa 1339/FESPLE/2001, en la cual se acusa a López Obrador de haber cometido el delito de abuso de autoridad al haber violado una suspensión de amparo, y aunque según fuentes oficiales se mantendrá la postura de no ejercer acción penal, la posibilidad de solicitar una orden de captura sigue pendiente luego de que los representantes legales de Promotora Internacional Santa Fe interpusieran un recurso de inconformidad contra la decisión de la PGR.
Parts of the AG’s office release, as quoted in La Jornada:
“Dicha inconformidad fue presentada en tiempo y forma legales; el agente del Ministerio Público de la Federación procederá a su análisis, para que en su oportunidad se emita la resolución que en estricto derecho corresponda.
“Cabe recordar que el 4 de mayo del año en curso, el Ministerio Público de la Federación integrador de la averiguación previa 1339/FESPLE/2001, instruida en contra de López Obrador, determinó consultar el no ejercicio de la acción penal, al considerar que el delito que se le atribuye al jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal no está sancionado con pena alguna.
“La resolución fue debidamente notificada al dueño de El Encino, en términos de ley, para que estuviera en aptitud de ejercer sus derechos, como lo hace ahora.
“La PGR reitera que la resolución que se emita a la inconformidad presentada estará regida por los principios de certeza, legalidad, objetividad, imparcialidad y profesionalismo que regulan las funciones y acciones del Ministerio Público”, indica el comunicado.
