You won't see a word about abortion on the Wendy Davis for governor website

(My new American Thinker post)

Our friend Thomas Lifson posted about Wendy Davis, the Texas state senator running for governor.  He commented on a front page story on The Dallas Morning News that found a few "holes" in her biography.

Here is another "hole" in the Davis story: You will not find a word about abortion on her website!

You will read her position on issues like education, strong economy, government accountability, and veterans. 

Not a word about the abortion filibuster that made her a feminist superwoman, liberal icon and future MSNBC show host.

By the way, Senator Davis had every right to do a filibuster.  She is not the first nor the last Texas senator who will use that technique.

My problem was not the filibuster but her exploitation of the issue. After all, the bill was about conditions in clinics NOT denying any Texas woman her right to an abortion. In other words, abortion is legal in Texas.

Last, but not least, abortion after 20 weeks does not play well, as we saw in polls.

Maybe this is the reason that the new Senator Davis bears no resemblance to the one we saw wearing tennis shoes last June. 

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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Obama says he wouldn't let his son play pro football

(My new American Thinker post)

Is President Obama politically tone deaf or what?  Why in the world would the President of the US even make a statement like this in the first place?  And on a weekend when the whole country is watching playoff football?

According to The Hill,  President Obama said this:

"President Obama said that he believed NFL players "know what they're doing" and understood the impact that concussions could have on their long-term health in an interview with The New Yorker published on Sunday, adding that he would not let his son play pro football.
At this point, there's a little bit of caveat emptor," Obama said. "These guys, they know what they're doing. They know what they're buying into. It is no longer a secret. It's sort of the feeling I have about smokers, you know?"

President & Mrs Obama do not have a son so the statement is cost free.  As the father of 3 sons, and living in football crazy Texas, I can assure you that boys around here are born to play the game.

Maybe the Obama son won't play football out of respect for his dad's wishes to avoid injury.

We do know one thing about the Obama son:  He won't attend a public school in Chicago or Washington DC.

Like most liberals, the Obamas avoid public education and prefer to send their kids to private schools. Just ask VP Gore, the Clintons and most of the members of the Black Congressional Caucus. 

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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How many Americans know how popular 'futbol americano' is south of the border?

(My new American Thinker post)

In the early 1980s, I had the opportunity to work in Mexico City out of college.  It was a great experience.

Upon arriving, I was amazed at the popularity of "Los Vaqueros" (Dallas Cowboys) and especially "Las Vaqueritas" as their cheerleaders are known. 

I learned from a businessman that "futbol americano" draws huge TV audiences.  Alan Wall recently reported that there are 20 million NFL fans in Mexico.

I recall visiting Mexican friends on Sunday afternoon and enjoying a great meal with the Cowboys on TV.

My favorite was the Spanish word for quarterback or "mariscal de campo," It literally means "field marshall".

My guess is that millions of Mexicans will tune in on Sunday to watch the two conference title games.  They will cheer for "Los Broncos de Denver", "Los Patriotas de Nueva Inglaterra", "los 49 de San Francisco" and "los seahawks de Seattle:. (I do not think that they translate seahawks.)

My point is that there is great passion for the game, especially among young people.  You can see NFL jerseys all over town.  Roger Staubach's "12" was the one that I saw all over when I was there.  This is just another confirmation of how popular the Cowboys were and are.  Today, you see a lot of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning jerseys. 

The NFL was very smart in the late 1970s and put the game on local Mexico TV.  The Cowboys had a Spanish magazine and hundreds of fans still fly in every weekend that the Cowboys play in Dallas.  

This is why I believe that Mexico City will get serious consideration for a future NFL franchise, as I saw at ESPN recently:

"Because if the NFL wants to expand into a large market, protect their players bodies and consider their fans, Mexico City is a better locale than London.   

If the NFL wants to use expanding into a new market as their rationale for relocating a team to a foreign country, than Mexico should be their choice.

With the population of Mexico City being nearly 200,000 more than London, both cities should not struggle to support an NFL team.

However, Mexico has nearly 59 million more people than England and would offer a larger market.

Mexico City, has also shown in the past that they are ready to accept an NFL team.

Over the last 35 years, the NFL has played seven games in Mexico City, with 2005′s match up between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers the only regular season match up.

Despite hosting only one regular season game, the fans of Mexico City have shown tremendous support of NFL games.

The 2005 regular season game between the Cardinals and 49ers, saw an attendance of 103,467, which was the NFL record for the largest crowd until 2009. Mexico's larger market would offer the NFL the possibility of more dollars than London.   

Moving a team to Mexico City would make more sense from a travel stand point for both the players and the fans as well.

The Northern most NFL team from Mexico City would be the Seattle Seahawks. While a flight from Seattle to London would take nearly 11 hours, a flight from Seattle to Mexico City would only take 5 hours or nearly the same time it takes to get from Seattle to Miami (the furthest Seattle would travel East).

In fact, no NFL team would have to travel more than 5 hours to get to Mexico City. Furthermore, with Mexico City being located in the central time zone, the NFL would not have to worry about jet lag effecting players or games if the league moved a team to Mexico City.  

And while any move to a non-American city will provide travel obstacles, Mexico City would create less problems than London for American NFL fans.

Not only is the closest NFL city of Houston only 1,052 miles away, but a team in Mexico City would also give American fans the option to drive to their team's away games in Mexico.

If the NFL chose to realign the teams and include a Mexico City based team in a division that featured Dallas, Houston and New Orleans, the furthest city from Mexico City, or New Orleans, would only be  1,359 miles away by car.

While this would still be a longer trip by car, unlike a team in London, at least a team in Mexico City offers that option to American fans.  

The NFL needs to stop looking East and start looking South when it comes to adding an NFL team in a foreign country."

And let's not forget that Mexico has a $1 trillion GDP, or about the size of Texas.  Also, the team would have huge TV audiences in a nation of 100 million people and a growing middle class.

So get ready for a NFL team in Mexico.  It will happen a lot sooner than you think. 

 P. S. You can hear my NFL chat with Dave Michaels, DFW sports journalist & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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New England and San Francisco will move on to the Super Bowl

The NFL has two great games later today.  The NFL marketing head must be cheering at the Brady vs Manning showdown and those young 49ers playing the Seahawks.

Let me go to the NFC first.  My money is on the hot 49ers who've won 2 road games so far.  They will win their 3rd in Seattle.

The AFC is just a classic.  I'm picking Brady but could switch to Manning in a heartbeat.  They are both great players.

Click here for Saturday's show:

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How much longer can President Obama claim that he 'didn't know'?

(My new American Thinker post)

According to The NY Times, President Obama didn't know again:

"At the same time, aides said Mr. Obama was surprised to learn after leaks by Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, just how far the surveillance had gone.

"Things seem to have grown at the N.S.A.," Mr. Plouffe said, citing specifically the tapping of foreign leaders' telephones. "I think it was disturbing to most people, and I think he found it disturbing.""

Sorry but this is incredible! 

I have to assume that President Obama was briefed about the full extent of these programs when he walked into the Oval Office. 

Furthermore, I have to assume that President Obama inquired about the programs and what exactly was the surveillance underway.

Something does not add up.  Either President Obama is not interested in the details of governing, such as the extent that surveillance was being done in his name, or, he is not telling the truth about rules that he approved.

Things just don't add up. 

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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The media obsessed with Christie but not so obsessed with other scandals like the IRS

(My new American Thinker post)

To this date, President Obama has not had a long press conference, answered every question and "fired" anyone close to him regarding "Fast & Furious," "Solyndra," "IRS," the AP story, and the daily problems with Obama Care.

To his credit, Governor Christie took questions and fired somebody.

My friend Ruben Navarrette makes a good point today:

"What do you suppose is more annoying? Being stuck in traffic for hours on a bridge -- or watching the media get stuck for days on a story about a juvenile stunt that might, or might not, bloom into a full-blown scandal?   

I'd have to go with the latter, especially when you consider that the media seem addicted to the story in hopes that it could somehow derail the plans of a Republican presidential hopeful."

Right on Ruben!   We are watching a news media "wake up" when the scandal is about a potential GOP candidate and yawn for most of the aforementioned Obama scandals.

The Chrisite scandal was stupid.  I'm not defending it.  It reminds me of Watergate, a stupid burglary.   Unlike Watergate, there is no evidence that Governor Christie engaged in a cover up and tried to protect his subordinates.

The IRS scandal was about the government using unlimited powers to go after its opponents.    Or what about the incompetence of Obama Care?

At the very least, the media should call on President Obama to hold a press conference and answer a bunch of questions. And they should tell President Obama to limit his answers to 5 minutes!  

And let's not forget to ask President Obama about the Benghazi video story after it's clear that everybody knew it was a terrorist attack not some spontaneous demonstration.  

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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Young people talk about Obama Care

We discussed Obama Care with a panel of young people.....

First, is Obama Care sustainable?

Second, should the government tell young people that they need to buy insurance?

Third, is President Obama out of line by using executive decrees to change Obama Care?

Click here for the show:

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January 2014: Obama approval around 40%

(My new American Thinker post)

It looks President Obama will spend more time around 40%:

Reuters 40%

Gallup   39%

The average is 42.3%

This is very bad news for Democrats, as Brent Budowski reported today: 

"Old habits die hard, which is why the president's ratings have been frozen for some time in the 41 percent favorable, 52 percent unfavorable range. Unless this changes, it is Armageddon for congressional Democrats in 2014."

We just saw Senator Landrieu in Louisiana and Senator Hagan skip appearances with President Obama.    I think that we will see more of these Democrats finding excuses to avoid standing next to President Obama.

It will only get worse! 

First, aren't those small business cancellations scheduled for the fall?  

Second, the US economy is doing well in the stock market but not at the Main Street, a very odd situation for President Obama to be in.  I agree that there is income inequality and it has gotten worse on President Obama's watch.  Again, that's bad for the Democrats.

Of course, everything could change and we could be talking about a totally different political landscape in the fall.  My guess is that President Obama will be in the low 40's for much of the year and hear a very nasty message on election night.

Can the GOP take over the US Senate?  I think that those chances get better everyday, as we saw with the aforementioned Mrs Landrieu and Mrs Hagan avoiding President Obama.

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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State of Michoacan is ground zero for violence in Mexico today

(My new American Thinker post)

Michoacan is on the Pacific coast and ground zero for violence in Mexico today.

The latest episode is that Mexicans (known as the militias) are taking up arms against the cartels, as reported recently by Dudley Althaus:  

"Mocking the state governor's demands that they stop, the militias on Sunday advanced on the town of Nueva Italia, a Templar stronghold near Apatzingan.   Federal security forces on Saturday had occupied Apatzingan to prevent the militiamen from trying to take control of that city of 125,000 people. "

Furthermore:  

"Hundreds more militiamen - ranchers, shopkeepers, laborers and lawyers - operate unimpeded across Michoacan."    

The problem is that many people in Michoacan saw what happened in the north where cartels overran the police and took over towns on the US-Mexico border.  In other words, there weren't enough federal soldiers to protect people in rural areas or small towns because they were all deployed to protect major cities like Juarez and Monterrey. 

Again, the cartels filled the vacuum and border towns were lawless and citizens terrorized.

It looks like the people of Michoacan do not want to see that happen in their state.  Therefore, they've decided to take up arms and fight the cartels directly.

President Pena-Nieto is caught in the middle here.  On one hand, he wants to intervene and put troops at the port and cities.  On the other hand, he has an exhausted army and too many small towns in Michoacan unwilling to be overrun by ruthelss cartels.

Mexico does not have a 2nd amendment like we do.  Nevertheless, the people of Michoacan have decided to organized their "militia" and defend their homes and family.

Cheers for the militias of Michoacan!

P. S. You can hear my chat with Fausta Wertz about Latin America & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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The US should not be #13 in any economic freedom index

(My new American Thinker post)

Sorry but this is a lousy report by Terry Miller:

"World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. But after seven straight years of decline, the U.S. has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries."

Every American should be angry and embarrassed by this report.

Canada and Chile are ahead of us.  They live in our neighborhood. Chile, in particular, is the model for the 3rd world. Canada has done a great job attracting investment and has developed energy resources.

This is more than a just a scorecard or spreadsheet.  As  Mr Miller indicates, the countries rising on this list get more prosperous whereas the countries dropping get stagnant:

"It's not hard to see why the U.S. is losing ground. Even marginal tax rates exceeding 43% cannot finance runaway government spending, which has caused the national debt to skyrocket. The Obama administration continues to shackle entire sectors of the economy with regulation, including health care, finance and energy. The intervention impedes both personal freedom and national prosperity.

But as the U.S. economy languishes, many countries are leaping ahead, thanks to policies that enhance economic freedom-the same ones that made the U.S. economy the most powerful in the world. Governments in 114 countries have taken steps in the past year to increase the economic freedom of their citizens. Forty-three countries, from every part of the world, have now reached their highest economic freedom ranking in the index's history.

It's not fair to blame it all on President Obama.  However, his policies have made things worse, from Obama Care to an anti-business attitude that crushes innovation and creativity.

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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