Saturday

What with all the movie-watching and vacation-taking, I almost forgot to update the story of Scotty's ashes. As you know, when James Doohan died he'd stipulated in his will that his powdery cremains should be propelled into space. The company to do the propelling, Space Services, Inc. of New Mexico, suffered a demoralizing wobble that resulted in their first high school science experiment-laden rocket flight auguring into the desert some six miles from the nearest lonely southwestern byway. Doohan was not onboard. His flight, scheduled for October 21st, has been indefinitely postponed as the company tries to rectify whatever went wrong the first time.* In Old México: Federal legislators have approved a law that recognizes same-sex civil unions.* While the language very carefully attempts to placate certain opponents (like the Roman Catholic Church, responsible for the spiritual welfare of some ninety percent of the citizenry; or the future president of the country, Felipe Calderón), the bill most definitely extends spousal rights to gay couples. I know this was a strange election for similar laws in the US**: many propositions were not as thoroughly crushed in '06 as they were in '04. Still, it seems very much like México is making a show of social progression in an area where even liberal US states are still struggling.* Before Mr. Schwarzenegger came here yesterday (before Sr. Calderón hopped his flight to the US*), they spent some time in México City together, marveling over Arnold's victory over Latino voters.* Finally, the irony: Ross Perot, who once accurately described NAFTA as a "giant sucking sound," is relocating the services desk of Perot Systems Corp. from Plano, Texas to a new office building in Guadalajara, Jalisco.* That's another two hundred some US jobs lost to whatever Mexicans still remain in their own country. [Cavin]