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.

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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.

July 2005: A bad day and an apology later from Kenny Rogers of the Rangers

Back in July 2005, Kenny Rogers had a very bad day over the confrontation with the camera man of a local TV channel.
It was very sad because Rogers pitched great here and elsewhere.   It's a shame that this incident stained his career.

P.S. To his credit, Kenny Rogers apologized later and that was great to see!    

2005: Bush went to Europe

President Nixon's '72 trip to China was historic and exceptional. It was remarkable watching the President and First Lady on The Great Wall or sitting down with Mao.

President Reagan's visit to the Berlin Wall in '87 was dramatic. He said "tear down this wall".   Two years later, the wall came down and so did the evil empire!

Overall, presidential trips are courtesy calls. They have very little impact here and there. 

So I didn't expect a lot to change from Bush's 2005 visit to Europe. 

The most important part of the trip was the meeting with Putin but it did not get much attention from the Euro-press. Putin and Bush had a lot to talk about. Yet, everyone was obsessed with the dinner that Bush and Chirac having dinner!

Nevertheless, Europe and the US did some fence mending. There are several reasons.

The first one is pragmatic. Bush won with a majority (51.4%) of the US popular vote. In fact, most of Bush's European critics would love to have his mid-50's approval ratings in the latest Gallup. They wouldn't mind having his 5.2% unemployment rate either!


Bush arrived in Europe in a stronger political position than any of his hosts. Take a poll in France or Germany or Spain. Do you think that the majority of their citizens think that their leader is doing a good job? I don't think so!

The second reason is economic.  As the US moved from recession to 4% annual growth, much of Europe is still stuck in their malaise and 2% growth.  Europe can't create jobs and this is turning into a serious domestic concern for the continent's leaders.


The third reason is the Iraq election:  8.5 million Iraqis put the exclamation point on the removal of Saddam Hussein.

In the end, not much happened but nothing much was supposed to happen. 

Old Europe is in decline as it falls behind China and India in economic terms. Things will never be the same between the US and Europe. 

We are not going in the same direction, as Mark Steyn wrote in his book.

 P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Let's meet Nilda Cepero, Cuban American author

Let's meet Nilda Cepero, Cuban American author ........ https://t.co/mrnmgDjcWv

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) October 8, 2016