The foolish attempt by Governor Juan Manuel Oliva of Guanajuato to reintroduce, absent since the Revolution, catholic indoctrination in nominally secular state schools, met with a barrage of criticism: Legislators from not only the left as well as the PRI, but notably also the PAN, condemned Oliva's open disregard for the Mexican constitution, which does not allow for religious indoctrination in the schools.
Most stridently, PRD Senator Graco Ramírez and PRI national deputy Alfonso Navarrete Prida warned that should Oliva follow through on his plan, one response might be an impeachment trial in Congress for conspiring against the Mexican constitution. Let's see how far Oliva is willing to go with his neo-cristero crusade simulacrum.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Interview with Ángel Aguirre Rivero, ahead in polls for governor of Guerrero
Against the predictions of most political observers, Ángel Aguirre Rivero is seemingly ahead in the polls by a few percentage points, but ahead nonetheless, to be the next governor of Guerrero.
Here's a useful El Universal interview where he discusses his very recent past in the PRI, as well as how he regards himself ideologically: Of the moderate left.
Of note: He has subscribed to a long-time demand from the left to push for a new state constitution that would, significantly, include the mechanism of a recall referendum. Given the excessive length of Mexican governors' terms - most sit six years - I think this is a mechanism certainly worth considering.
Here's a useful El Universal interview where he discusses his very recent past in the PRI, as well as how he regards himself ideologically: Of the moderate left.
Of note: He has subscribed to a long-time demand from the left to push for a new state constitution that would, significantly, include the mechanism of a recall referendum. Given the excessive length of Mexican governors' terms - most sit six years - I think this is a mechanism certainly worth considering.
(here's an interview with his main opponent, Manuel Añorve Baños)
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Why PAN's party characteristics speak against Josefina Vázquez Mota 2012
Josefina Vázquez Mota would be a terrific candidate for PAN in 2012. Yet as Jorge Zepeda Patterson in an excellent column today argues, the PAN's own history and characteristics speak against her candidacy, and primarily because her name is Josefina and not José. A couple of cases in point
* PAN, despite its 72-year long history, has never had a woman governor
* PAN, despite its 72-year long history, has never had a woman party leader
And not to forget: In Calderón's government, of the 21 most important ministries and secretariats, only two are held by women.
PAN has still a very long way to grow off its born-with disease: Misogyny.
* PAN, despite its 72-year long history, has never had a woman governor
* PAN, despite its 72-year long history, has never had a woman party leader
And not to forget: In Calderón's government, of the 21 most important ministries and secretariats, only two are held by women.
PAN has still a very long way to grow off its born-with disease: Misogyny.
PRD-PT warn against arrival of "shock troops" in Baja California Sur gubernatorial election
Members of the alliance Sudcalifornia para Todos - the parties PRD and PT - warned against the arrival of "shock groups" in Baja California Sur ahead of the state's Feb. 6 gubernatorial election.
While we only have the assertions of mayoral candidates Ricardo Gerardo Higuera and Antonio Agúndez Montaño that outside groups are coming to BCS to create havoc in the state, place, the recent violent events in Guerrero ahead of that state's election should certainly put one on alert that something similar might happen elsewhere.
While we only have the assertions of mayoral candidates Ricardo Gerardo Higuera and Antonio Agúndez Montaño that outside groups are coming to BCS to create havoc in the state, place, the recent violent events in Guerrero ahead of that state's election should certainly put one on alert that something similar might happen elsewhere.
Surreal development in Guerrero campaign: PRI admits attack, then backtracks
A most extraordinary development in the Guerrero gubernatorial campaign:
Ernesto Vélez Memije is a member of Manuel Añorve Baños' campaign to be governor of Guerrero. Following the brutal attack that left a key PRD member of the opposing campaign of Ángel Aguirre Rivero in a coma, Vélez appeared on television and admitted that the attackers were priístas, but alleged that the PRD member, Guillermo Sánchez Nava, had actually "provoked" the attackers.
(PRD's campaign manager, Jesús Zambrano, has presented what he argues is a leaked PRI plan to use violence to destabilize Guerrero and suppress vote participation ahead of the elections)
Sánchez Nava, to recall, caught a group of apparent PRI sympathizers tearing down election material for Aguirre; when he photographed them, they beat him unconscious.
The interview as such was extremely important, even though Vélez' main point was in essence "Yes, but he made us do it, and it is really his fault."
Then happened the strangest thing. Vélez later the same day obviously regretted what he said, and now argued that Mario Moreno Arcos, a PRD federal deputy, had enticed him to admit the PRI attack, offering him a position in a future Aguirre cabinet. Beatriz Paredes Rangel, the national PRI leader, to her discredit also went on the offensive to deny that the attackers were from the PRI.
This case stinks to heaven. It seems so utterly clear that Vélez is lying - the gist of the interview was an attack on the PRD - with his claim that he was pressured/bribed to say what he did. At the very least, it would mean that he accepted the bribe, then regretted - hardly something that speaks well of him.
But again: The interview was above all an attack on the PRD, and it seems clear that higher ups pushed him to come up with this pretty crazy and absolutely unbelievable cover story.
The worst part:
How can Beatriz Paredes Rangel, of whom one might expect more dignified behavior, subscribe to what is obviously an outright lie, and a poor one at that? Note that new PRI president Humberto Moreira has kept his mouth pretty much tightly shut; his handling of this, his first crisis as PRD national leader, speaks very poorly of his judgment, while his failure to clearly and immediately condemn the political violence speaks ill of his moral backbone.
Ernesto Vélez Memije is a member of Manuel Añorve Baños' campaign to be governor of Guerrero. Following the brutal attack that left a key PRD member of the opposing campaign of Ángel Aguirre Rivero in a coma, Vélez appeared on television and admitted that the attackers were priístas, but alleged that the PRD member, Guillermo Sánchez Nava, had actually "provoked" the attackers.
(PRD's campaign manager, Jesús Zambrano, has presented what he argues is a leaked PRI plan to use violence to destabilize Guerrero and suppress vote participation ahead of the elections)
Sánchez Nava, to recall, caught a group of apparent PRI sympathizers tearing down election material for Aguirre; when he photographed them, they beat him unconscious.
The interview as such was extremely important, even though Vélez' main point was in essence "Yes, but he made us do it, and it is really his fault."
Then happened the strangest thing. Vélez later the same day obviously regretted what he said, and now argued that Mario Moreno Arcos, a PRD federal deputy, had enticed him to admit the PRI attack, offering him a position in a future Aguirre cabinet. Beatriz Paredes Rangel, the national PRI leader, to her discredit also went on the offensive to deny that the attackers were from the PRI.
This case stinks to heaven. It seems so utterly clear that Vélez is lying - the gist of the interview was an attack on the PRD - with his claim that he was pressured/bribed to say what he did. At the very least, it would mean that he accepted the bribe, then regretted - hardly something that speaks well of him.
But again: The interview was above all an attack on the PRD, and it seems clear that higher ups pushed him to come up with this pretty crazy and absolutely unbelievable cover story.
The worst part:
How can Beatriz Paredes Rangel, of whom one might expect more dignified behavior, subscribe to what is obviously an outright lie, and a poor one at that? Note that new PRI president Humberto Moreira has kept his mouth pretty much tightly shut; his handling of this, his first crisis as PRD national leader, speaks very poorly of his judgment, while his failure to clearly and immediately condemn the political violence speaks ill of his moral backbone.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Spoken like a true yunquista: Guanajuato governor wants "religious education" in the schools
Guanajuato governor Juan Manuel Oliva, following up on a "proposal" from the archbishop of León, declared he was in favor of "analyzing" whether to reintroduce "religious education" in the schools in Guanajuato.
According to Oliva, who is a member of the extremist catholic secret El Yunque society:
"I am a believer that parents should choose the education for their children, and because of this right that they have, we will need to consider a request of this nature." Oliva also added that even though the secular state remains "protected," this does not imply living in a society that is "absent of principles and values."
Where does one start... for one, to even call it "religious education" is disingenuous. What Oliva wants is to indoctrinate the children with the catholic gospel, period - no need pretending. And exactly whose parents are demanding it? Yet even more fundamentally still: It is utterly pathetic to hear the old canard of these believers in invisible friends chime in on "principles and values." Does not teaching catholicism truly mean not teaching "principles and values"? Does this religion really have a monopoly on teaching children good "principles and values"? Unfortunately, this is what ignoramuses like Oliva believe in - that absent the (highly selective, mind you) teaching of bronze-age scriptures, students will simply not learn the good values and principles Olivia is obliquely referring to.
Is it truly so that the more one teach catholic values, the better human beings the students will come out? Is it truly so that in societies that do not teach religion in this manner in school - Scandinavia, most Western European countries - its students turn out to have less "principles and values" than those who are indoctrinated in catholic values, say e.g. in conservative regions in southern Italy? Let's put it this way: Quite a few scientific studies do show a clear correlation with church attendance/religiosity, and "social trust" and crime rates. Unfortunately for Oliva, the relationship runs in the other direction: The less religious a society is - and the less religious its education system is - the better off a society is.
And lest we forget: Guanajuato is one of the states in Mexico with the absolute (and relative) higher number of teen pregnancy, as well as rapes and abuses of women. Guess what state does not teach any sex education in the schools, thanks to pressure from the Catholic Church?
If Oliva is truly interested in inculcating good "principles and values" in Guanajuato, religious education in general, and the pernicious teachings of of the Catholic Church in particular, much be lessened, not strengthened.
According to Oliva, who is a member of the extremist catholic secret El Yunque society:
"I am a believer that parents should choose the education for their children, and because of this right that they have, we will need to consider a request of this nature." Oliva also added that even though the secular state remains "protected," this does not imply living in a society that is "absent of principles and values."
Where does one start... for one, to even call it "religious education" is disingenuous. What Oliva wants is to indoctrinate the children with the catholic gospel, period - no need pretending. And exactly whose parents are demanding it? Yet even more fundamentally still: It is utterly pathetic to hear the old canard of these believers in invisible friends chime in on "principles and values." Does not teaching catholicism truly mean not teaching "principles and values"? Does this religion really have a monopoly on teaching children good "principles and values"? Unfortunately, this is what ignoramuses like Oliva believe in - that absent the (highly selective, mind you) teaching of bronze-age scriptures, students will simply not learn the good values and principles Olivia is obliquely referring to.
Is it truly so that the more one teach catholic values, the better human beings the students will come out? Is it truly so that in societies that do not teach religion in this manner in school - Scandinavia, most Western European countries - its students turn out to have less "principles and values" than those who are indoctrinated in catholic values, say e.g. in conservative regions in southern Italy? Let's put it this way: Quite a few scientific studies do show a clear correlation with church attendance/religiosity, and "social trust" and crime rates. Unfortunately for Oliva, the relationship runs in the other direction: The less religious a society is - and the less religious its education system is - the better off a society is.
And lest we forget: Guanajuato is one of the states in Mexico with the absolute (and relative) higher number of teen pregnancy, as well as rapes and abuses of women. Guess what state does not teach any sex education in the schools, thanks to pressure from the Catholic Church?
If Oliva is truly interested in inculcating good "principles and values" in Guanajuato, religious education in general, and the pernicious teachings of of the Catholic Church in particular, much be lessened, not strengthened.
Step forward toward PAN-PRD alliance in Coahuila
PAN and the PRD are having direct conversations these days regarding a possible electoral alliance in Coahuila, the state where now-PRI president Humberto Moreira is seeking to install his brother Rubén Moreira as new governor.
The likely candidate is PAN's Guillermo Anaya Llamas, a national senator for the party. He's earlier had quite a fews spat with the ex-governor, such as when Humberto accused him in 2007 of having ties to the narcos, a charge often repeated but never substantiated with any actual evidence.
The likely candidate is PAN's Guillermo Anaya Llamas, a national senator for the party. He's earlier had quite a fews spat with the ex-governor, such as when Humberto accused him in 2007 of having ties to the narcos, a charge often repeated but never substantiated with any actual evidence.
The chances of beating Rubén are slim, but they do exist.
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