Author: NewMexiKen

Pad Thai, motherhood and Chevrolet

The United States produces the most trucks. Which nation is second?

Canada. Nope.

Mexico. Nope.

Japan. Nope.

If you guessed Thailand, you’re right.

A free trade agreement being negotiated between the United States and Thailand could place the Asian nation alongside Japan, Korea and China as a major threat to U.S. automakers and American manufacturing jobs, officials say.

Thailand is the second-largest producer of pickup trucks in the world. The United States currently has a 25 percent tariff on all imported light trucks.

If the tariff were removed on vehicles exported to the United States from Thailand, Japanese and other automakers with assembly plants there could compete much more effectively for American truck buyers.

Source: The Detroit News

General Motors and Ford both build trucks in Thailand, though most produced there are by Japanese companies.

“I don’t have a problem drinking, but when I do drink, I get caught.”

Santa Fe resident Moises Gonzales — who in 1985 pleaded guilty to driving drunk in a crash that killed three teenage girls — again has been charged with driving while intoxicated, police said.

The latest charge was the eighth time Moises Gonzales of Santa Fe has been accused of driving while intoxicated. He was arrested on July 1 after he swerved on a road and almost hit a police car.

“I don’t have a problem drinking, but when I do drink, I get caught,” Gonzales told the Albuquerque Journal.

Santa Fe New Mexican

It’s not necessarily the drinking Moises; it’s the driving and drinking!

Tuskaloosa

Chinese elephants are evolving into an increasingly tuskless breed because poaching is changing the gene pool, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Five to 10 percent of Asian elephants in China now had a gene that prevented the development of tusks, up from the usual 2 to 5 percent, the China Daily said, quoting research from Beijing Normal University.

“The larger tusks the male elephant has, the more likely it will be shot by poachers,” said researcher Zhang Li, an associate professor of zoology. “Therefore, the ones without tusks survive, preserving the tuskless gene in the species.”

Reuters via AOL News

Best line of the day, so far

“[L]ike Matt Cooper, [Tim] Russert had testified to the grand jury on the Plame affair, yet at no point during the interview did the salient fact sally forth to the viewer. The pretense was uninvolved journalist interviewing involved participant: the reality was one pea in the pod interviewing a fellow pea.”

Harry Shearer at The Huffington Post.

Best line of the day, so far

Before the 134th British Open began, one of Tiger Woods’s advisers mentioned to him that if he were to win here on the Old Course, his 10 victories in pro majors and his three U.S. Amateur titles would match Bobby Jones’s total of 13 majors won from 1923 to 1930.

With that boyish smile, Woods said, “Apples to apples.”
JonesStamp.jpg

International Herald Tribune

Jones, playing before there was a Masters and never in the PGA (he was an amateur), won five U.S. and one British amateur championships, as well as four U.S. and three British opens. Jack Nicklaus won two U.S. Amateur championships. If included as majors, that would bring Nicklaus’ total to 20.
 

So hot, it seemed like two suns

Arkansas_River.jpg

That’s the Arkansas River at Tulsa early Saturday — through a window.

Which brings two questions to mind:

1. Why would they build a hotel on a beautiful riverfront and not have balconies?

2. Why was I so slothful I couldn’t go outside to take photos on such a morning?

Idle thoughts between Albuquerque and Tulsa (and back)

Great Plains — You know you’re in the land of severe weather when you see that the interstate rest area restrooms have signs that say “Men,” “Women” and “Tornado Shelter.”

Small Town America — There are still places in America such as Jenks, Oklahoma, where the fireworks show commemorating the town’s 100th birthday is delayed 15 minutes because the firemen there to oversee the pyrotechnics were called away on an actual call.

Great idea — A kindergarten co-located with a nursing home. (Aside: NewMexiKen was amused while visiting to see a number of very elderly women in the lobby watching the Spike channel.)

Nostalgia — The Love’s truck stops along Interstate 40 reconstructed their price signs some years ago with space only for $1. (Seems rather short-sighted.) Unable to post $2, they simply post the cents. To the unsuspecting it would appear that gas was 269 cents.

Religious symbolism — The purported largest cross in the Western Hemisphere at Groom, Texas, makes one wonder what the universal symbol for Christianity would be if Jesus had been executed by a firing squad or a lethal injection.

Unfortunate advertising — Showing burgers and steaks with steer horns protruding from them is not appetizing. I prefer to strongly compartmentalize my food thoughts from my animal thoughts.

Slap — Mosquitoes suck.

Founding Father

NewMexiKen sees from USATODAY that the Descendants of Jefferson, Hemings hold Ohio reunion. Seems like a good time to sum up that whole business.

1. Jefferson’s wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, died in 1782.

2. Sally Hemings was possibly Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson’s half-sister (that is, Martha and Sally may have had the same father).

3. The 1998 DNA test proved that a Jefferson male fathered at least one of Sally Hemings’ children. There were nine Jefferson males with proximity to Sally Hemings during the years her children were born.

4. In January 2000, a committee formed by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation reported that:

the weight of all known evidence – from the DNA study, original documents, written and oral historical accounts, and statistical data – indicated a high probability that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Eston Hemings, and that he was perhaps the father of all six of Sally Hemings’ children listed in Monticello records – Harriet (born 1795; died in infancy); Beverly (born 1798); an unnamed daughter (born 1799; died in infancy); Harriet (born 1801); Madison (born 1805); and Eston (born 1808). (Monticello.org)

5. According to Monticello.org, “Thomas Jefferson freed all of Sally Hemings’ children: Beverly and Harriet were allowed to leave Monticello in 1822; Madison and Eston were released in Jefferson’s 1826 will. Jefferson gave freedom to no other nuclear slave family.”

6. The Hemings family claims Jefferson but is unwilling to permit DNA matching with the remains of a grandson of Sally Hemings.

7. Monticello.org concludes:

Although the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemings has been for many years, and will surely continue to be, a subject of intense interest to historians and the public, the evidence is not definitive, and the complete story may never be known. The Foundation encourages its visitors and patrons, based on what evidence does exist, to make up their own minds as to the true nature of the relationship.

Longer lines at DMV

DES MOINES (AP) — In the name of homeland security, motorists are going to see costs skyrocket for driver’s licenses and motor vehicle offices forced to operate like local branches of the FBI, the nation’s governors warn.

The new federal law squeezed this spring into an $82 billion spending bill had Republican and Democrat governors fuming at their summer meeting here, and vowing to bring their complaints to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at a Monday meeting.

“It’s outrageous to pass this off on the states,” said Republican Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, incoming chairman of the National Governors Association. “You’re essentially asking the front-line clerks at the DMV to become an INS agent and a law enforcement agent.”

…

Democrat Bill Richardson of New Mexico said the law, known as the REAL ID Act, unconstitutionally infringed upon state laws such as his, where illegal immigrants have been able to get licenses.

New Mexico’s approach made roads safer since licensed immigrants could get insured, helped the state keep track of immigrants, and also helped integrate immigrants into the community, he said.

“It’s a shortsighted, ill-conceived initiative,” Richardson said. “We’ll challenge it constitutionally.”

USATODAY

Saved by the cell

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A group of stranded illegal immigrants facing death in the parched Arizona desert saved themselves by using a cell phone they found to call rescue services, the U.S. Border Patrol said Thursday.

The group got lost in the desert near Arivaca, south of Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday after their guide abandoned them during a four-day trek across the border from Mexico.

Lost and low on water, they used a cell phone they found in their guide’s bag to dial 911. Rescuers dispatched helicopters and located the group in the desert shortly after sunset.

Reuters

Loved to death

Thirty years ago, as a result of pesticides, water pollution, hunting and other factors, bald eagles had vanished from all but the most remote corners of the country that had made them a national symbol. Today, they can be found in every state except Hawaii, and are even making their home in a New York City park.

But the eagles’ comeback, still fragile at best, is threatened by an unusual confluence of factors. And, paradoxical as it may seem, Johnson’s package is linked to the policies and institutions that made the resurgence possible as well as to the new dangers that threaten it.

…

That’s where Johnson and his unusual package come in.

For more than three decades, the National Eagle Repository, an obscure federal agency near Denver, has quietly collected deceased eagles from zoos, highway departments and game wardens, and distributed them to people so they could carry on religious and cultural practices without having to hunt or trap live birds. The repository sends about 1,700 deceased eagles each year to Native Americans across the country.

However, the system of legal protections and government-controlled distribution of eagle parts to Native Americans is showing signs of breaking down.

And the demand for eagle feathers has begun to soar. Black-market prices for eagle feathers and parts are climbing too. And that, wildlife experts fear, could set off a wave of illegal poaching — with disastrous results.

— Los Angeles Times

The MacGuffin

This case is not about Joseph Wilson. He is, in Alfred Hitchcock’s parlance, a MacGuffin, which, to quote the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a particular event, object, factor, etc., initially presented as being of great significance to the story, but often having little actual importance for the plot as it develops.” Mr. Wilson, his mission to Niger to check out Saddam’s supposed attempts to secure uranium that might be used in nuclear weapons and even his wife’s outing have as much to do with the real story here as Janet Leigh’s theft of office cash has to do with the mayhem that ensues at the Bates Motel in “Psycho.”

This case is about Iraq, not Niger. The real victims are the American people, not the Wilsons. The real culprit – the big enchilada, to borrow a 1973 John Ehrlichman phrase from the Nixon tapes – is not Mr. Rove but the gang that sent American sons and daughters to war on trumped-up grounds and in so doing diverted finite resources, human and otherwise, from fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. That’s why the stakes are so high: this scandal is about the unmasking of an ill-conceived war, not the unmasking of a C.I.A. operative who posed for Vanity Fair.

Frank Rich, The New York Times

50 years ago today

Dave MacPherson won’t be at Disneyland’s 50th anniversary. He wasn’t invited, even though he holds lifetime privileges to Disney parks and a special honor: “First Paying Guest.”

MacPherson, 72, will mark Sunday’s celebration in Anaheim, Calif., from 750 miles away at his southern Utah home, but he holds no grudge and proclaims himself Disneyland’s biggest fan.

“The first of 515 million visitors,” the retired journalist said with pride by phone from Monticello, Utah.

…

He drove his Simplex motorbike to Anaheim, arriving shortly before 1 a.m. to take his place in line an hour before anyone else showed up. Workers still were putting finishing touches on the park and testing jungle noises on speakers.

The crowd steadily grew overnight to about 6,000 people, and MacPherson made sure no one got in front of him. When the admission booth opened, a photographer for the Long Beach Press-Telegram captured him buying the first ticket.

…

Turning around to campus for a class, MacPherson didn’t have time for even one ride. Instead, he visited the restroom and left without as much as a souvenir. A few weeks later his mail produced a lifetime pass for four to Disneyland and other Disney parks as they opened.

San Diego Union Tribune

Today, July 15

Tucson’s favorite daughter, Linda Ronstadt, is 59 today.

Alex Karras, All-American, NFL star, TV sitcom actor and — most notably — Mongo in Blazing Saddles, is 69 today.

Rembrandt Van Rijn was born in Leiden, Netherlands on this date in 1606.

Outsourcing your own job

“About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 out of the $67,000 I get. He’s happy to have the work. I’m happy that I have to work only 90 minutes a day just supervising the code. My employer thinks I’m telecommuting. Now I’m considering getting a second job and doing the same thing.”

The Times of India

Bastille Day

The original Bastille Day was on this date in 1789 when “the people of Paris rose up and decided to march on the Bastille, a state prison that symbolized the absolutism and arbitrariness of the Ancien Regime.”

“For all citizens of France, the storming of the Bastille symbolizes, liberty, democracy and the struggle against all forms of oppression.”

Embassy of France

The Eagle has landed

Former President Gerald R. Ford is 92 today. He was born as Leslie L. King, Jr., on this date in 1913. He took the name Gerald Rudolf Ford, Jr., when adopted by his stepfather.

Ford is the second oldest former president ever, after Ronald Reagan, who died at age 93. John Adams and Herbert Hoover both lived to be 90.

NewMexiKen had several meetings with President Ford in the years after he left office in 1977. In fact it can be said that on one two-day occasion I helped him clean his garage. The most astonishing incident however, was in 1981.

The Gerald R. Ford Museum was about to be dedicated in Grand Rapids. As the representative of the National Archives nearest Ford’s retirement office in Rancho Mirage, California, I was called with an urgent request. It seemed flags had not been ordered for the replica Oval Office in the Museum. President Ford would lend them his. I was asked to go to his office, pick them up and ship them to Michigan.

The next morning I was ushered into the former President’s office. He was standing at his desk browsing through some papers. After the routine “Hello, Ken” and “Hello, Mr. President” exchange, I went about my business with the flags. He continued his business with the papers.

The U.S. flag was on a brass stand with two wooden staff pieces screwed together at the middle and a brass eagle, wings outstretched, at the top, about seven feet from the floor. I unscrewed the two pieces of the staff, a task made difficult by the weight of the flag and the eagle above.

As I began to lower the top half at an angle, the eagle took flight. It was just set on the top of the staff, not screwed on as it should have been.

Stop and picture this. The former President of the United States is a few feet away. His gorgeous White House presidential desk is even closer. And we have a brass eagle weighing several pounds in free fall. I’m holding the flag and can’t do anything but watch.

Poor President Ford I thought, he is about to be in the news for being clunked (or worse!) by a flagpole eagle in his own office — and this after years of being portrayed by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live as a clumsy, stumble-prone klutz. (In reality Gerald Ford was an All-American football player at Michigan in the 1930s and still looked exceptionally fit at 68.)

It wasn’t my fault the eagle hadn’t been attached but I was about to be a footnote to history.

Amazingly, the eagle missed Mr. Ford. Even more miraculously, it missed the historic desk and fell harmlessly to the carpet with a thud.

The former President had to have noticed. He never said a word. For that alone he has my enduring admiration.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President.

[Reposted from 2004]

The Mick

Baseball fans in general and fans NewMexiKen’s age in particular should appreciate the HBO documentary on Mickey Mantle, which premiered tonight. I wasn’t a Yankee fan — indeed I was a Yankee-hater then — but he was a hero in the 1950s of a type that no one today seems to approach (ill-deserved as much of it may have been). It’s a well done program.

I saw Mantle play twice, 53 and 49 years ago. I can remember both games and especially his out-of-the-park homerun at Tiger (then Briggs) Stadium in 1956 — over the third deck’s 94-foot-high roof in right field — June 18, 1956.

The following describes a homer Mantle hit in the same park in 1960.

Mantle unloaded a tremendous homer over the right-field roof through a light tower (which it may have grazed) and out of the park. The pitcher was Paul Foytack. Years later researcher Paul Susman, Ph.D. found eyewitnesses who confirmed exactly where the ball landed on the fly. Dr. Susman then measured the distance, which turned out to be an astonishing 643 feet! This was almost certainly the longest home run Mickey hit in a regular season game that could actually be measured to the spot it landed, and probably the longest homer anyone ever hit in a regular season game that could be measured to the actual landing point. This homer is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest homer ever “measured trigonometrically.”

Mickey Mantle: Frequently Asked Questions

Same Tiger pitcher served up both of these (1956, 1960) — Paul Foytack.

Works for me

According to our license plates, New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment — but locals know it’s also the Land of Mañana, where things get done just a little bit slower than might be anticipated.

George Adelo Jr. of Pecos came up with the perfect slogan to describe the New Mexico way…: “Carpe Mañana,” Seize Tomorrow.

Santa Fe New Mexican