Thursday

Lightening struck city hall in Mexico City, Missouri yesterday, frying the computer systems.* Okay, just keeping you on your toes. In the country of México: tension strikes city hall as the outgoing president, still without a formally-announced successor, prepares to go ahead with his final state of the nation address before congress tomorrow--in a city still besieged with opposition protest over the former mayor's unofficial loss of this year's presidential election. Vicente Fox swears he will not be deterred,* and the AMLO camp swears he will be,* listing numerous plans to disrupt tomorrow's thing. Commentators are concerned that this will be the catalyst sparking the real violence. If not this, then everyone is worried about the official announcement of Calderón's victory next Wednesday, the annual national Independence Day celebration in the Federal District's Zócalo on the fifteenth, or maybe any of the other days AMLO will not be crowned king of México. The power struggle may come to a boil here tomorrow night, or may continue to simmer--it's all in the hands of zealots and shock troops, now. I see that there is a large tropical storm* menacing the southern border of my home state: when I first predicted Ernesto was going to be the year's first Atlantic Hurricane, I thought he was heading for the Gulf; but now he is hanging out with my friends and making me homesick. In the mid-Pacific area of México, Hurricane John weakened* to category two, still charging directly at Cabo San Lucas at the tip of Baja California. People are being evacuated.* As of this writing he is hovering offshore near San Blas, the fishing village where the rescued shark fishermen of last week's news recently returned. Water, water everywhere.... Except here in Monterrey, where it's sunny and dry. [Cavin]