Category: Uncategorized

Someone in Oregon believes we should occupy integrate Mexico into the U.S.

Brian just gave my homepage and new “do.” Go take a looksey.

Thanks, Brian!!

Of course, La Jornada doesn’t cover Calderon’s stump speeches (which I’m assuming he does make–it can’t all be slick tv ads, which BTW, continue to be pulled for being too negative), but it does cover those by the PRI’s Madrazo and the PRD’s Lopez Obrador. Recently, Madrazo has said that he has no role in the decision of some party leaders to suggest that supporters of the PRI vote for AMLO rather than Madrazo (this was something a recent commenter asked about). Almost as if in response, AMLO has said the door to his campaign is open to all but former president Salinas and a few other folks.

Here, on the other side, WaPo (thanks, Boz) Rueters is doing its share to damage AMLO’s North American image.

This short article has results from the last three Reforma polls.

It’s still a two-way race between AMLO and Calderon. ALMO is gaining some–probably due to a variety of factors:

1. The electoral commission told Calderon’s campaign to stop running certain negative ads against AMLO.

2. AMLO’s campaign has started running tougher ads in addition to AMLO’s traditional radio spots and interviews.

3. Some time has passed since the first debates, in which AMLO did not participate and Calderon was able to use that to his advantage. It was just after the debate that Calderon pulled into the lead for the first time.

Another debate is scheduled for June 6, and all candidates will be participating.

Apparently, several high-end department stores are eliminating their petite sections on the grounds that they don’t make money. At the sametime, overall sales of petites have increased by 11%, according to the Times article. I can tell the department stores the problem: their petite sections are outdated and unfashionable. The reporter for the Times is correct when he says:

What did change is that petite departments gained a reputation for traditional — some would say frumpy — career-oriented clothing. Chic looks, clothing executives said, never made the leap from regular sizes to petite. So the very word petite became synonymous with many women who shopped there — working women over the age 50.

As a vertically challenged individual (I almost measure 5’1″ if I stretch my neck), I buy all my suits in the petite section but never my casual clothes. The casual clothes are all ugly sweaters with sewn-on appliques and rhinestones–the over 60 stuff. The only jeans are mom jeans, and the khakis are what Brian likes to call “peg-legged.”

The Gap, Banana Republic, Talbots, and Ann Taylor have all expanded their petite sections recently, which probably has hurt department store petite sales. Why would anyone buy high-waisted, peg-leg khakis when you can get hip-hugging, flare khakis in your size? Of course, the drawback is that most stores don’t care all the petite options in the store, which means short vertically challenged women have to do their shopping online.

Oh, and I’d just like to point out that adding additional size 0 and 1 items in stores, as suggested by one of the people interviewed, will not meet the needs of most petite women….we may be short, but we’re not all skinny!

Even though Calderon leads the statistically tied race.

Or, is Georgia Tech special in this regard?

Dad had his first race this weekend in lucky #07 and finished 12 out of 19. I’m just glad he finished.

And second his request to his party to finish the candidate lists for the July election already.

I’ve got a research assistant waiting in the wings to compile the data.

But the race is still too close to call.

Turn it off.

Two weeks ago, I whittled it down to less than 10 messages, and today it is back up to 59, of which 30 require either an answer or some action on my part. Of the 30, 3 are personal emails from long-lost colleagues or friends who have written in the last 2 weeks. Those should be happy emails to answer, but somehow, since I don’t have time, they lay there, marked “unread” and give me fits.

The Georgia Tech car show.

My visit in January to Monterrey Tec was covered in the paper there. We met with the student reporter for about 20 minutes, and this was the result. Luckily, I was sitting just to the right of the Dean and didn’t make it into the photo.

Goooooooooooooooool!.

Last week, I was in San Juan for LASA. Despite the photo of the beach, I only suited up for two hours total. The rest of the time I went to panels or worked (defined loosely, to include meetings with friends and colleagues).

This week, I’m back in ATL working.

Maybe international pressure will encourage the Mexican government to step up efforts to police discriminatory policies by the private sector. Maybe then Wal-Mart owned Superama wouldn’t make folks wait in line to spend money in their stores.

And anti-immigrant legislation.

Trying to enforce border security to stop immigration while not enforcing domestic labor laws makes little sense.

Trying to “seal” the border will only make coyotes and smugglers take more risk with immigrant lives. It also reduces the likelihood that undocumented workers will return to their home countries because it raises the stakes to get back in.

In contrast, employers have fixed places of business, taxpayer id numbers, and should be easier to police. However, doing so would require the Bush administration to crack down on key constituents, including many small-business owners.

So, instead, the administration has taken a contradictory stance in order to placate anti-immigrant voters under the guise of homeland security while quietly ignoring illegal behavior by employers.

And not just a reform of ISSSTE. At a recent public event, he spoke of the need to reform the entire Mexican social security system (IMSS, ISSSTE, and by extension FFAA, etc.). This is not a new idea–the Deputy who sits at the head of the Social Security Commission in the Chamber of Deputies mentioned the same thing to me in an interview and in formal press announcements.

Unfortunately, systematic reform is unlikely. Those with better benefits and access to services are unlikely to give them up to be joined with other workers and it would be too expensive to give the top benefits to all workers. Piecemeal and fragmented reforms are more likely.

I’ll be at this pension conference.