Blog posts: One Year Ago Today!

March 14, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Foro Sol: oddity in Mexico City

I mentioned on Feb. 7 that I have already made diagrams for all of the stadiums that will host WBC games this year, except for the one in Mexico City. Well, guess what? As of today, there is a new diagram (and page) for Foro Sol, which has been home of the Mexican Diablos Rojos (Red Devils) since 2000.

Foro Sol is certainly a weird place to play baseball, because of the odd configuration of the grandstand. There is a big gap in it near third base, and I used to think that the left field grandstand moved to fill that gap when baseball was not played there, but that is apparently not the case. Ironically, the Red Devils used to play in a very nice baseball stadium: Parque Deportivo Seguro Social. (That means "Social Security Sports Park.") The older ballpark opened in 1955, with a seating capacity of 30,000. It was located straight south of downtown Mexico City, and unbeknownst to me, it was demolished in 2003. (D'oh!!! ) As I was researching the history of Foro Sol and its predecessor, I came across some wonderful photos of Mexico City's older baseball stadium at flickr.com.

WBC Round Two

The four teams that made it to Pool 2 play later today at Dolphin Stadium in Miami: Netherlands vs. Venezuela, and United States vs. Puerto Rico. Tomorrow the Pool 1 games begin at PETCO Park in San Diego: Japan vs. Cuba, and Mexico vs. Korea.

March 14, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Mexican Army counterattacks

In a desperate attempt to regain control of its northern border region from the drug lords, the Mexican government sent about 2,000 more Army troops into the border city of Juarez this past week. (It is located right across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.) 3,000 additional troops will arrive there by Sunday, bringing the total number of security forces in that city to 8,500 soldiers and 2,300 federal agents. (See AP / washingtonpost.com.) It's a virtual war, against a well-funded and well-armed militia force, but so far it's not getting nearly enough attention in the United States.

Fortunately, President Obama is starting to pay more attention to the escalating drug war than he was last month, offering to transfer five U.S. helicopters to Mexico right away. Having to deal with the economic situation has left him without enough time to focus on the crisis along the Rio Grande. As a further gesture of support for Mexico's war on narcotrafficking, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Mexico later this month.

Meanwhile, the drug lords are matching the government's numerical escalation of the war with an escalation of barbarity. A few days ago, five severed human heads were found in separate styrofoam coolers in the state of Jalisco, north of Guadalajara. The inscribed messages left no doubt that it was a gesture of intimidation toward anyone who is thinking about informing the police of the mafia whereabouts. See CNN.com. Part of the difficulty faced by the Mexican government is the rising rate of desertions; soldiers aren't paid very much, and their morale is low. According to CNN.com,

But during the past six years, some 150,000 soldiers have deserted, with their departures disproportionately affecting forces stationed in Guerrero, Sinaloa, Michoacan and Chihuahua.

This further escalation of the armed struggle along the U.S.-Mexican border is posing a security threat to the United States. One consequences is that the issue of gun control has been raised in a new context; some people claim that a large portion of the semiautomatic rifles used by the narcotics gangs come from the United States, while others dispute that. In Washington, meanwhile, the National Guard as a last resort to counter the threat of drug violence in Mexico spilling over the border. The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, asked President Obama to send 1,000 National Guard troops to patrol the Mexico border, and at a House of Representatives hearing, Roger Rufe of the Department of Homeland Security sketched preliminary plans for such a deployment. See BBC.

The last time Mexico presented such a threat to U.S. security was during the Mexican Revolution, from 1910 to 1920. Will a present-day General Pershing have to lead an expedition into the desert mountains of Mexico to hunt down the bad guys? Probably not, but we have to remember that the present government of Mexico is on very friendly terms with us, and we can't afford to let the opportunity slip away. In 2012, a leftist president might very well be elected president in Mexico, and cooperation on narcotics and security matters would almost certainly be sharply curtailed.

As recently as five years ago, the primary threat to Mexico's internal security was in the southern states of Oaxaca (see Oct. 2006) and Chiapas (in 2003), where leftist guerrilla forces were operating. That threat seems to have subsided for the time being, but Mexico remains very vulnerable to internal subversion. A big part of the problem is the political stalemate that has lingered ever since the disputed presidential election of July 2006. When Felipe Calderon was sworn in as president in December 2006, the left-wing party led by losing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tried to prevent the inaugural ceremonies from taking place. Disunity in the government has crippled the ability of the security forces to carry out their duties.

What Americans need to understand is that increased material support for Mexico's war against drugs from the United States can only go so far. The political factions in Mexico will either set aside their differences and pull together against the common enemy of subversion, or they will let their country sink further into chaos. We can encourage Mexicans to develop stiffer spines, but whether they actually do so is ultimately out of our hands.

But there is something we can do that would deeply impress Mexicans: Get serious about our own national drug addiction problem. As long as we pin the blame on foreign suppliers while making excuses for our country's high consumption of illegal drugs, it will be hard to get Mexicans or those in other countries to take us seriously. Indeed, a Mexican cabinet official made that very point in a speech this week. Contrary to what many people think, the answer lies not so much in "cracking down" on drug users with police and Federal agents, but rather in mustering the moral strength to ostracize actors and musical entertainers who glamorize drug use. As long as smoking joints and popping pills is considered to be cool, the market for drugs will inevitably perpetuate a virtual civil war in Mexico and other countries in Latin America that produce narcotics.

March 14, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Frum - Rush: with love?

In the current Newsweek magazine, conservative writer David Frum mounts a broad critique of radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, that self-described "lovable fuzz-ball" who delights in tweaking liberal Democrats. Frum points out that the problem Limbaugh exemplifies is not just that the Republican Party and the conservative movement are bereft of compelling ideas these days, it is that they are stylistically obnoxious, going out of their way to alienate more and more Americans. President Obama may be utterly wrong on every major issue, leading the country on the road to perdition, but at least he comes across as sincere, calm, and reasonable. In contrast, the newly-crowned de facto leader of the Republican Party

is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, [and] dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as "losers." With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence -- exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. [Italics added.]

Ouch! Frum then offers an insight that has troubling implications: When the GOP falters, Rush prospers -- and vice versa. This means that Limbaugh actually has a financial incentive in Republican setbacks. Moreover, Frum writes, "Rush is to the Republicanism of the 2000s what Jesse Jackson was to the Democratic party in the 1980s." When he said he wants President Obama to fail, without clarifying that he wanted Obama's program to fail, Rush "drew maximum attention to himself, offered maximum benefit to the administration and did maximum harm to the party he claims to support."

But no Republican of importance can challenge Rush without being taken to task. Mild criticism from RNC Chairman Michael Steele was followed by humble apology, and likewise from South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who implied that anyone who (like Rush) wants President Obama to fail is an "idiot" * As the new voice of the GOP, Rush even challenged President Barack Obama to a debate -- in his studio and on his terms, of course. His tongue-in-cheek style just isn't as cute as it used to be, though.

When a political party and movement is on the ropes such as is the case with the Republicans and conservatives right now, nothing is more important than having wise, courageous leadership. I still have a nostalgic soft spot in my heart for Rush, but these days he makes me cringe at least as often as he makes me smile. Unless he can manage enough introspection to recognize his own personal faults, and the faults embodied by so many zealous and intemperate conservative Republicans these days, I'm afraid that the GOP coalition will become even narrower, at a time when it desperately needs to be enlarged. If so, this country will keep sliding by default toward a socialist Gomorrah, without an effective force to mitigate or reverse this trend.

* See, for example, Huffington Post.

Conservative "zombies"?

A similar line of critique, though from the Left, was made by Thomas Frank in the Wall Street Journal. He attended the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, and observed an unseemly attitude of "capitalist self-pity" even from such sensible conservatives as Mitt Romney. Frank drew a parallel between the "zombie" financial institutions burdened by toxic assets and the transformation of conservatism into a "movement of the living dead." It's a funny metaphor, imagining right-wing partisans who stagger forward spouting discredited slogans with no other purpose than to obstruct efforts to save the economy. (Frank was the author of What's the Matter With Kansas, which I reviewed in October 2004.) Hat tip to Matthew Poteat.

Many self-described conservatives no doubt fit Frank's description, and I would argue that it is a manifestation of the widespread "cognitive dissonance" in the Republican Party today: The very same people who castigate others for alleged deviation from "conservative principles" are by and large the most loyal supporters of former President George W. Bush, whose credentials as a conservative are exceedingly weak. The "zombie" description certainly does not apply, however, to the genuine intellectual conservatives who comment on politics: George Will, David Brooks, Kathleen Parker, David Frum, and many others. In time, more and more rank-and-file members of the Republican Party will wake up to the phoniness that pervades the Party of Lincoln today, and start paying heed to the thoughtful critiques.

On a similar note, two weeks ago, the Washington Post detailed the "cleansing" that the conservative movement is undergoing right now, as various leaders in Congress shape the terms of the internal debate. Former Sen. Newt Gingrich, former Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, and Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia are among the leading voices in this difficult and agonizing process. There are others, such as Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes, and while I think they may have important insights to offer, I hope they don't take a leading role in articulating a new, post-Bush conservative agenda.

Bolling visits Staunton

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling visited Staunton this morning, at the "Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro" (SAW, formerly "SWAC") Republican breakfast, and Steve Kijak was there to get some photos. Lt. Gov. Bolling is a fine, worthy public servant, and he deserves reelection. My students were very impressed by his mastery of parliamentary procedure in presiding over the Virginia Senate during our field trip last month, expeditiously reading the bill titles, allowing brief statements from senators, and conducting the final votes in a highly efficient manner.