Pink Thunder

Meeting Vincente and Marta Fox

OK, I didn't actually meet them personally. There was definitely a group of folks with name tags who probably did. I went with a couple of colleagues from the recent ASAE conference. Basically I got hooked up with some comp tix as had they. Long story. I felt  popular when someone waved at me from one of the balconies. That's very DC.

As was the smooth jazz and slick animated slideshow thanking levels of sponsors before the program piped in. Intelsat and the Fort Worth tourism people got a lot of applause when they were thanked. Before the program, occasionally there would be a salsa tune. You know, for the Mexicans. Vincente Fox gave a shout-out to his "paisanos" before the conversation with the moderator began. The audience was about 5% black, 50% white and 45% latino. I am just guessing there though.

It was interesting to see a couple of historical figures while they are still alive. They both spoke clearly about modeling their reforms and agenda after some American figures especially economically and politically including introduction of a  Freedom of Information Act.

Here are some highlights from rapping with the Foxes (facts are quoted and unverified):

• Mexico does 500 billion dollars worth of business with the US annually.
• They do more trade with us than the rest of Latin America combined.
• They do more trade with us than Italy, Germany, France and Britain combined.
• Um, Vincente and Marta are "deeply in love" according to V and from their vibe are clearly still knocking it hotly and regularly.
• If you invested $1 in the Mexican stock exchange in 2000, you'd have $3.50 now.
• When Fox started in office, only $250K worth of housing was being built in Mexico. By the end, that was up to $750K.
• Fox compares Mexico to Ireland. Currently, immigrants send back $24 bil each year back to Mexico. Once that was directed on consumption. Now that is going to small businesses and infrastructure. Fox would like to see what happened to Ireland with Irish immigrants helping to build a stronger Ireland from afar. Currently Ireland enjoys a better per capita income than the U.S. btw, he says. Ouch.
• On immigration -- he says the key is becoming better friends and strengthening trade, not building walls.
• On the 2008 race, the perception in Mexico is a race between Clinton and McCain. He pointedly said that McCain has been a great friend of Mexico and and has some good "immigration solutions".
• He wants to see greater gender equity among indigenous people, the descendents of the Aztecs and Mayans.
• Marta is perky, cute as a button and crazy smart. Her English is better than her husband's.
• They are building the first presidential library in Latin America. They see the Carter Center and the Clinton Foundation along with the work of Gerald Ford as their post-presidency model. They are proud to be breaking a prior tradition of disengaged Mexican former presidentes. They are committed to building a better Mexico.
• A million people cross the border either way each day. Now there are still long lines and Fox sees the current border security as hampering trade. Still he would like to see drug traffic reduced via greater security.
• There was quite a bit of press in the audience.
• We were thanked for coming out on a snowy evening. Even though it hadn't snowed yet and snow was not expected inside the city until midnight. Turnout was strong, especially for a Monday night but everyone knew the empty seats were due to the mere threat of the dreaded white flakes. Very DC.

YearlyKos Conference

How awesome was this!? Dude, if you're weren't there, I'm afraid you might have to consider yourself square. (Picture me drawing an air square with my index fingers like in Happy Days.)

It was so cool. Number one, how great is it to be around 1000 people that you mostly agree with? Love that. Very great. Number two, it's so Revenge of the Nerds. You can be kind of a super-dork and because of -- not despite -- that mastery of political dorkitude, you too can achieve power (lots of presidential-type politicians wanting to get all cuddly with you), fame (thousands and millions of perfect strangers reading your hot and fresh prose daily) and fortune (someday getting paid to do nothing except share your hot and fresh insights with your fans all day long).

What's missing? Well, it might be chicks. The YearlyKos was split demographically almost 50/50, men/women. But I just don't know. Most of the top bloggers, particularly on the left, are men. It's true. This will change over time, I'm sure, just as the internet as a whole has become more diverse over time. The internet has been as transformational in dispersing power in human society as the printing press. I think Harry Reid is right on there. The way we communicate is changing -- fast. Are you keeping up? Ladies?

This Is Not Good

On the same day that "the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq" issues a video-taped statement on the occupation of Iraq, the same day we hear about a possibly Al Qaeda-linked series of bombings in Eqypt, not a day after a threatening statement from Osama bin Laden himself, we have what I consider some of the worst news we've seen since Katrina.

Iran's top mullah has agreed to share nuclear technology with Sudan's government and who knows whom else they have in mind (Hamas?). Sudan's government, you might recall, recently tried to engineer a coup of neighboring Chad (an oil-producing country - why are oil prices so high all of a sudden, you ask?) is engaged in a genocidal program in Darfur targeting the darker, usually more Christian citizens of the country, has consistently withheld and manipulated humanitarian aid to the desperate refugees of its own creation, encourages usage of child soldiers, promotes organized rape, murder, slavery and human trafficking and to top it all off, has been linked in the past with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda.

Clinton's decision to drop a few bombs on Sudan towards the end of his presidency was widely decried at the time, but looking back it was a smart move that managed to keep them at bay only temporarily. Bush's appeasement program has backfired in a way that threatens us all. The current Sudanese criminal regime, armed with nuclear weapons, is a disaster of such far-reaching proportions that responsible citizens of the world should be willing to go to war to prevent. That Iraq, whose leaders have indulged earlier this year in some official Holocaust revisionism, might help Sudan and perhaps other rogue nations become a nuclear threat is troubling to say the least. It is even more disturbing whether it is coincidence or not that they chose today, Holocaust Remembrance Day -- Yom HaShoah, to make this particularly threatening announcement.

I am a pacifist. I believe strongly in non-violence. But battles must be chosen wisely and as the last of all defensive options. Right now, Iran is some years away (it is said) from any real ability to act on this offer to Sudan. Yet, how many years will we continue to allow our current U.S. leaders to take us in the wrong direction in the fight against terrorism when our world is spiraling into increasing danger?

The Trouble with Dick

Hello Pink Friend. Check out my other professional group blog at BloggerRelations.com for my perspective on the Cheney shooting, salacious rumors floating around DC and the blogs. It's fun yet informative!

P.S. Tara -- thanks for the tip!

P.P.S. One of my new favorite tv shows, set in a time and place far away from the current Bush administration, is Bonanza on TVLand. Yes, the popular Western of the 60s and 70s. I like that it is a show with a lot of reflection on morals and values, such as loyalty and prejudice for example. It's very yin-yang with the ultimate of manly action heroes talking openly about their feelings. Using guns. Bonanza's got something for the whole family.

Yet, there is something about this whole incident starring the Bush villain everyone loves to hate. What would it be like if this were an episode of Bonanza? It's not hard to imagine really...

Bush on Muhammad Ali

"Great President or The Greatest President?"

-- Stephen Colbert

I'll leave that to you to decide, Pink Person. However, new evidence shows that Dubya is drinking again, I mean, ahem, showing us once more the compassionate conservative side within. A side that loves black people almost as much as Bill Clinton. Check out these Bush words, delivered to the great boxer, freedom fighter and patriot, the man once known as Cassius Clay on presenting him with the nation's highest honor -- the Medal of Freedom...

"As Muhammad Ali once said, 'It's not bragging if you can back it up.' And this man backed it up. Across the world, billions of people know Muhammad Ali as a brave, compassionate and charming man. The real mystery, I guess, is how he stayed so pretty. It probably had to do with his beautiful soul."

Karl Rove has a problem

Folks in DC are all a-twitter about Karl Rove. Apparently a White House press conference got a bit nasty yesterday as reporters finally called someone in the administration on his own personal pattern of lies, denial and deception. Poor Scott McClellan. Looks like things got a little hot under the collar. When is Enough Enough? When will Americans finally scratch their heads and say, Gee -- seems like nothing these guys say is on the up-and-up? Gee, seems like nothing they say or do is quite what it seems. Golly, seems like the Bush administration is mired in a web of deception, coercion and revenge -- a pattern we can see over and over and over again.

If this was a Democratic president, how would Congress react? Clinton was wrong to deceive the public about Monica. But surely the lies the Bushies have perpetrated have had far more serious consequences for many more people...when will the American people ask for some accountability?

Should we place bets -- have a pool?

Treason

Folks inside the Beltway -- including John Conyers, Ted Kennedy and leading bloggers -- are all abuzz over the Downing Street Memo. If you haven't read it, I recommend you do so. The failure to find WMD (the ostensible rationale for invading Iraq) or significant links to the 9/11 attacks can only be explained to the public in 2 ways -- either the Bush Administration knew there was nothing there and lied to the American people or there was a colossal failure of appropriate intelligence gathering on the part of the Bush administration.

Bush and Blair claim that it is the latter. The Downing Street Memo points to the former. Which is more believable? Isn't it actually more likely that the Bush administration provided a flimsy excuse they hoped would be proven at least partly correct rather than the complete and utter lack of information?

Isn't it more likely that, as Tony Blair hinted on the Today show Wed am, that this is part of a geopolitical domino play? Tony Blair said essentially that if things go wrong in Iraq, it could go wrong for the entire Middle East and that if things went well, it could change the course of democracy there.

Vicente Fox puts his foot in it

I'm sorry but in North America, it's just not polite to talk about the types of jobs one ethnicity will take vs another. The President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, has probably been saying that Mexicans will take jobs that black people won't in private company in the States and in public in Mexico for some time now. And -- it was ok. Nobody said anything. They just nodded their heads.

Jesse Jackson Sr. actually took some leadership for once -- this is in fact an appropriate use of his time to explain to El Presidente why his remarks were in fact inappropriate. Fox isn't necessarily wrong about how socioeconomics have changed in North America. I know some fortunate African-Americans who have their nails done by Vietnamese immigrants, their lawns clipped by Mexican immigrants and their children looked after by Caribbean immigrants. This type of lifestyle was not accessible for say, my grandparents. In the 1950s and 60s, over half of African-Americans lived below the poverty line. Now, thanks to the end of Jim Crow and new opportunities, only a quarter do so today.

That means there are openings at the bottom economic rung of society. And immigrants from many nations are filling them. Mr. Fox -- there are less uncouth ways to describe the socio-economic changes impacting your country and mine. Let's talk about the numbers and the trends rather than over-generalizing in a way that is counter-productive to your goal of opening this dialogue. People of Mexican ancestry are contributing to our society up north. Let's talk constructively about what that means now -- and what that means in the future in a way that doesn't generate ill will among the very people who may be able to empathize and assist in creating better lives and new opportunities for those now toiling long hours at low wages.

The Truth Will Out

That's an old saying. The allegations against Kweisi Mfume comcerning sexual discrimination are disappointing. Even if all his interactions with female employees were above board, it potentially speaks at least to a managerial blind spot in failing to maintain a better perception among both male and female employees.

It also explains why the NAACP acted in what appeared to be a rapid manner in requesting Mfume's resignation and why his departure press conference was so emotional. It's too bad.

Please oh Please let Dean become DNC Chair. Please.

Howard Dean was a problematic candidate for President, but I think it's hard to deny his visionary power. While I don't think he should run again for President, I think personally that he'd make a great choice for DNC Chair. The Democratic party desperately needs a new strong leader who is not afraid to take strong positions and is willing to experiment a little to gain back the hearts and minds of Americans -- who in large part actually agree more consistently with the Democratic platform than the Republican agenda they've been bamboozled into. Isn't that incredible -- that we're not losing on the positions, on the issues themselves. We're losing on an entirely different front.

Folks just don't seem to trust or like the wishy-wishy, mealy-mouthed, stiff-as-a-board, no-vision, so-safe-they're-boring candidates Terry McAuliffe and the rest of the outgoing DNC officials have been trying to sell us for 8 long years now. It's time for a change and a shot in the arm of adrenaline. Dean certainly offers that. You might not agree with him, but at least he can stand for something and be frank about that. He knows how to build a groundswell of momentum on a common denominator issue. He's got a clear, spirited vision of what America used to be and can be again. Americans -- even Red state folks -- ought to be able to respect that and get behind that. If only he can keep his ego under control and his eye on the money...