Item 1:

I was holding off on cheering for this until it was official, and now it is: Court Names Calderon Mexico’s President-Elect. Unfortunately, the losing candidate, Obrador, plans on defying the courts ruling. That’s the hard left, for ya. We take our peaceful transfers of power for granted here in America. It wasn’t always the normal state of affairs. In fact, when it first happened (when Jefferson replaced Adams), it was quite radical. Now, I’m not saying that Obrador will resort to violence, but we’ve already heard the *wink wink nudge nudge* earlier. That’s the far left, for ya. Pretending to be the champion of the people, but really only the champion of chaos.

Item 2:

The New York Times just figured out what I figured out a long time ago, and what many right-wing folks have figured out a long time ago. Immigration is going to be a big issue in this election. Article: “In Bellwether District, G.O.P. Runs on Immigration.”

This line was great: “In fact, many Republicans, on the defensive here and around the country over the war in Iraq, say they are finding that a hard-line immigration stance resonates not just with conservatives, who have been disheartened on other fronts this year, but also with a wide swath of voters in districts where control of the House could be decided.” Because I thought this was obvious a while ago. With the “in fact” it seems like this is a shocking revelation.

Whatevs. Slow news day, I guess. Then again, I think there was something in the article about political hacks a few weeks ago thinking this wasn’t an issue anymore? They should try listening to talk radio sometime. Not that they represent mainstream mainstream America, but these are the people who are probably going to vote for Republicans during midterm elections.

Item 3:

Bush finally names a replacement for Mineta, the old secretary of transportation: Mary Peters. Mineta created the disastrously incompetent Transportation Security Administration (TSA — an acronym I’m very familiar with, but some people don’t pay as much attention to flying as I do). I was glad to read a while back that he was gone. I’m hoping his replacement will be better. So far, it sounds like she’s a good manager. But her specialty is in highways. I think the outlook is dim on transportation security being drastically reformed for the better.