Tuesday

Fresh from acting as ringleader at the Non-Aligned Movement in Cuba this last week (NAM, a summit of ostensibly anti-American nations who this year condemned Israeli attacks and supported Iran's right to nuclear technology),* Venezuela's nutty president Hugo Chavez announced that the Mexican election had been a fraud. He, too, will not be recognizing Felipe Calderón as the country's legitimate leader.* Unrelated, maybe: México opted to support Guatemala, instead of Venezuela, into a seat in the UN.* Plus, today Vicente Fox, a veteran of past tussling with Chavez, issued a statement that the Venezuelan was "meddling" and should keep is nose out of Mexican politics.* I wonder how long it will be before the respective Embassies are shut down, again (last year, Chavez referred to Fox as George Bush's "puppy,"* and México demanded an apology it never got. A diplomatic breakdown ensued). Sunshine and I had drinks to honor a drug rehabilitation bigwig in town from the US tonight. This soiree was at her employer's house, located on the other side of a particularly difficult new traffic circle we've been avoiding. You may remember that this roundabout was big trouble because it was only half finished: a traffic half-circle is exponentially worse than one whole. Nervously driving through it tonight, we noticed it was mostly completed. All incoming lanes have their own alto signs now, limiting the number of cars on the middle island or in oncoming traffic. Presently, the worse thing about driving around this thing is the lack of nearby street lights; and, oh, there are several black telephone poles jutting from the middle of the inner lane along the north side of the circle. These poles are left over from when this curve of the circle used to be innocent roadside shoulder. Muy Sheesh. [Cavin]