July 2006 and a post about the Rangers

A post from July 2006:

The Rangers had a pretty good road trip. They split with the Orioles, and then won 2 of 3 from Toronto and Chicago. Not bad.

Vicente Padilla continues to pitch very well. On Sunday, he lost to Chicago but gave one earned in 7 innings. Padilla has exceeded expectations. He is on his way to winning 15-17 games.

The Rangers are half a game back. I'm still worried about the Angels, who have the best team in the AL West. The division will be settled in September when the four teams go at each other.

Between now and Labor Day, the Rangers need to stay with the A's and Angels. Hopefully, they will add a veteran starter and get Adam Eaton back in the rotation.

Heard a rumor:   Vernon Wells to Texas for Kevin Mench and Joaquin Arias, the great AAA prospect. I like Mench but Wells would be a great addition. Besides, Wells is a local kid who attended Arlington high school.

Question: Why would Toronto trade Wells? Makes no sense to me. The Blue Jays are in the thick of the AL East race. Why would they trade All Star Wells for a couple of young players? Makes no sense to me!

Can the Rangers make a pitch for the Braves' John Smoltz? It may take a young player like Hank Blalock but that may be too much.

What about bringing back Soriano? Not a bad idea. Again, at what cost? Soriano is having a career year just in time to negotiate a free agent contract this winter.

ARod and the Yankees are here for 3 games.

Last week, ARod became the youngest player to reach 450 homers. Yet, the talk in New York is that ARod is making too many errors and leaving runners on base. that ARod's best chance to play in the Series was Seattle.

In Texas, ARod was a misfit from day one. He had 3 super years but the team finished in last place. After 2003, he forced the Rangers to trade him to Boston or New York.

The Rangers did and now ARod is a miserable Yankee or so they say in the New York media.

We remember Donna Reed (1921-86)

We remember Donna Reed who was born in Denison, Iowa, in 1921.   She died in 1986.

She acted in some of the biggest movies in history:   "From here to eternity", "It's a wonderful life" and later on television with "The Donna Reed Show.

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, click send, and drop a dime here.

July 2006: What a Calderon victory means outside of Mexico!

This is a post from July 2006 about the election in Mexico.

As Tip O'Neill once said: All politics is local.

Mexico's election is primarily based on local issues. Like every other country, Mexicans will try to vote on issues that impact them.

However, one cannot deny the impact of what happens in Mexico.

At this point, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is in a losing streak.

In Peru, Chavez lost.   Alan García beat populist Ollanta Humala.  Chavez was issue # 1. The Peruvian people did not appreciate the comments and intervention from Caracas.  García won by 10 points.

Last month, Colombia returned President Alvaro Uribe to a second term with 62 percent of the vote. Uribe, a U.S. ally, ran on a pro-market, tough-on-narco-terrorism platform.

These two elections rejected Chavez and leftist populism.

This is why the Mexico election matters. Chavez is losing and Mexico could make it 3 in a row!

July 2006: We endorsed Calderon for president of Mexico

This is from July 2006, or our endorsement of Felipe Calderon of the PAN for president of Mexico

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The good news is that PRI won't win.  PRI's domination is over. The bad news is that they will decide who wins.

Calderon and Lopez-Obrador are within the margin of error in most polls. Nevertheless, Calderon can win but two things have to happen:

1) Calderon needs a huge middle class turnout; and,

2) Calderon needs to persuade PRI-istas that they are wasting their vote.

Can he do both? I hope so.

Calderon can not do miracles. However, I think that he understands that Mexico needs more foreign investment, property rights and higher productivity.

On the other hand, the PRD's populism is the wrong prescription for a Mexican economy that can't compete in the new world of China, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Chile.

Good luck to Mexico. This is a very important election. I hope that Calderon can win it.

July 2006: What a great All Star Game in Pittsburgh

July 2006 and MLB did a great job in Pittsburgh.

First, the Robert Clemente ceremony was very emotional.

Second, wasn't Michael Young great?  We have been watching Young do this night after night. This is one of the best hitters in baseball. And he is a great guy too!

Congratulations to Michael Young and baseball in general.

Does Lopez-Obrador really want to be president of Mexico?

According to some of my Mexican friends, Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador, the man from the left, will be the next president of Mexico.

They tell me that he has great public support.

Frankly, I don’t know. I think that it is very hard to analyze Mexican public opinion.

Yet, my question is this:  Does Lopez-Obrador want to be President of Mexico? Does he want to become the most unpopular person in Mexico?

Let me give you a preview of the early days of a Lopez-Obrador’s presidency.

If elected in July, Mexico will have a summer of huge capital flight.   It will remind every one of August ’82 or November ’94.

By the fall and winter of 2018, the peso’s value will drop as Mexicans panic and take their money out of the country.

President LO will respond by saying that he is not as bad as his populism indicates. He will assure investors that his “populist words” were just campaign rhetoric intended to get votes rather than a reflection of how he will govern.

Foreign investors won’t buy it. Dollars will flow out of rather than into Mexico!

Mexicans won’t buy it either. There will be more and more people trying to cross the US-Mexico border.

With a de-facto peso devaluation and zero confidence from foreign investors, LO won’t have a lot of options to deal with Mexico’s problems.

So my advice to LO is this: Don’t win.

Let one of the other candidates govern Mexico.

I’m not suggesting that the other guys have all of the answers but they inspire more confidence.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

January 1969: "Everyday people" by Sly & The Family Stone was on the radio

Sly & The Family Stone were one of the first integrated bands in pop history.   They had several big hits, such as "Thank you" and "Family affair".   

"Everyday people" was a very bouncy tune about peace and getting along.    It was a smash:

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column.

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We remember Thomas P. Tip O’Neill (1912-1994)

We remember Tip O'Neill, who died on this day in 1994. 

O'Neill served for 50 years, including 16 years in the Massachusetts legislature and 34 years in the US House.   

We remember him for the great line "all politics is local".   He was excellent at personal relationships, very loyal and got along with the other party, the Republicans.

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, click send, and drop a dime here.