The Nader campaign has released this Internet-only ad highlighting the differences between Nader’s single payer health care proposals and those of his opponents.

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Some are pretty funny.

Poor John Edwards, to what has he been reduced.

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In this trailer for the upcoming Disney movie, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, our canine hero recounts his past as a descendent of Aztec warriors while the imaginery cuts to Peru’s Incan ruins of Machu Picchu. No wonder by the time these Disney-trained youngsters show up in my classroom half of them cannot place Mexico, much less Peru, on a map.

Honestly, is it too much to ask of a global Fortune 500 media conglomerate to get world geography and history correct? It is time to bring back geography lessons and civics classes in American secondary school education. I’d start them at Disney.

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Here’s a round of news and articles on Latin America.

Abortion in Argentina
Abortion is illegal in Argentina. Without access to safe procedures, poor women resort to back alley abortions. Wealthy ones can just fly to Miami or Europe. In Argentina, some 400 women die due to botched back street abortions every year.

Booming Brazil
The New York Times looks at Brazil’s booming economy:

Long famous for its unequal distribution of wealth, Brazil has shrunk its income gap by 6 percentage points since 2001, more than any other country in South America this decade, said Francisco Ferreira, a lead economist at the World Bank.

While the top 10 percent of Brazil’s earners saw their cumulative income rise by 7 percent from 2001 to 2006, the bottom 10 percent shot up by 58 percent, according to Marcelo Côrtes Neri, the director of the Center for Social Policies at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.

But Brazil is also outspending most of its neighbors on social programs, and overall public spending continues to be nearly four times as high as what Mexico spends as a percentage of its gross national product, Mr. Ferreira said.

The momentum of its economic expansion is expected to last. As the United States and parts of Europe struggle with recession and the fallout from housing crises, Brazil’s economy shows few of the vulnerabilities of other emerging powers.

Indeed, the government of Lula da Silva while clearly leftist has also shown a pragmatic bent. Brazil has the advantage of a large domestic market so Brazilian industrial production does not necessarily require an export orientation. But President da Silva has sought to lift all boats in Brazil effectively arguing to Brazil’s wealthy that it is in their interest that endemic poverty be tackled seriously. Sound macro-economic management has kept inflation under control and by helping to curb prices in an environment of rising wages, poverty is alleviated.

In other news from Brazil, Gilberto Gil, the well-known recording artist, resigned as Brazil’s Minister of Culture to concentrate more on his career. More from the Miami Herald.

Retired Venezuelan General Calls Chávez “Bipolar”
Retired Venezuelan General and former Defense Minister Raúl Isaías Baduel in an interview with Bogotá’s El Tiempo suggested that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is “bipolar.” General Baduel was forced to retire in July 2007. In the interview, he suggests that Venezuela’s armed forces have a pro-FARC tilt and that he cannot discard that Venezuela is still aiding the FARC.

Peruvian Mining Exports Continue to Surge
Peruvian mining exports will total 19.2 billion dollars this year, which represents a 30 percent increase when compared with sales in 2006, which amounted to 14.7 billion dollars, estimated Peru’s president Alan García earlier this week. More from Living in Peru.

More on Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala and Chile below the fold. (more…)

Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida has a problem. He lives in Maryland full-time but neither owns nor rents a home in his south Florida district that covers parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties. Congressmen are required by law to maintain a residence in the state they represent. Congressman Wexler’s official residence in his district was his mother-in-law’s home in a 55 and over senior retirement community in Delray Beach. Congressman Wexler was born in January 1961. He is 47 years old. He has three children. Yesterday, Congressman Wexler took steps to correct his residency embroiglio.

“My wife, Laurie, and I have decided to lease a residence of our own in Palm Beach County. Although I am confident that I have represented my district as well anybody possibly could, I have heard the concerns of some of my constituents and do not want this issue to distract from my advocacy of the important issues facing our community and country.”

Fox News broke the story. Here is that report:

If he stopped maintaining a home in Florida in 1999 and has continued to represent Florida’s 19th Congressional District then Robert Wexler has broken the law. Congressman Wexler, by the way, is a staunch support of Barack Obama.

Local coverage of this new hiccup below the fold. (more…)

In New Jersey, Neil Cohen has resigned his seat in the New Jersey State Assembly over allegations that he kept child pornography on his computer in his Trenton office. Additionally, Neil Cohen was an early supporter of Obama’s presidential campaign and a pledged delegate for Senator Obama from New Jersey. Cohen resigned his delegate status yesterday. Here’s an update on this story from the South Jersey Courier Post:

When New Jersey Democrats select a national convention delegate to replace former Assemblyman Neil Cohen, they might not choose one of the three alternates party rules say should get the post.

Party rules say if delegates resign or die, they are to be replaced by previously designated alternates, provided they support the same presidential candidate, are the same sex and from the same geographic region.

Cohen, who resigned this week as assemblyman and Democratic National Convention delegate amid suspicions he had child pornography on a computer in his legislative office, was a Barack Obama at-large delegate.

(more…)

The progressive American magazine, The Nation, has written Senator Obama a letter asking him to be the progressive they believe him to be. Here’s their letter:

Dear Senator Obama,

We write to congratulate you on the tremendous achievements of your campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Your candidacy has inspired a wave of political enthusiasm like nothing seen in this country for decades. In your speeches, you have sketched out a vision of a better future–in which the United States sheds its warlike stance around the globe and focuses on diplomacy abroad and greater equality and freedom for its citizens at home–that has thrilled voters across the political spectrum. Hundreds of thousands of young people have entered the political process for the first time, African-American voters have rallied behind you, and many of those alienated from politics-as-usual have been re-engaged.

You stand today at the head of a movement that believes deeply in the change you have claimed as the mantle of your campaign. The millions who attend your rallies, donate to your campaign and visit your website are a powerful testament to this new movement’s energy and passion.

This movement is vital for two reasons: First, it will help assure your victory against John McCain in November. The long night of greed and military adventurism under the Bush Administration, which a McCain administration would continue, cannot be brought to an end a day too soon. An enthusiastic corps of volunteers and organizers will ensure that voters turn out to close the book on the Bush era on election day. Second, having helped bring you the White House, the support of this movement will make possible the changes that have been the platform of your campaign. Only a grassroots base as broad and as energized as the one that is behind you can counteract the forces of money and established power that are a dead weight on those seeking real change in American politics.

We urge you, then, to listen to the voices of the people who can lift you to the presidency and beyond.

(more…)

The McCain campaign is launching a new ad to run in battleground states attacking Obama’s “celebrity status.”

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Entrance to the Manta Air Base

The left-wing government of Rafael Correa told officially sent a letter to the American Ambassador in Quito informing the government of the United States that Ecuador will not renew the American lease on the Ecuadorian base of Eloy Alfaro outside the city of Manta.

The base currently houses approximately 300 US personnel engaged in anti-narcotics operations tracking shipping movements up and down the west coast of South and Central America. The US and Ecuador had signed a ten year agreement in November 1999. According to Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry, surveillance flights will end in August 2009 and troops will leave three months after that.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the US government would respect Ecuador’s decision but warned that the lack of a base would hinder counternarcotics efforts.

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In the Nebraska Senate race to replace the retiring Chuck Hagel, former Secretary of Agriculture and former Nebraska Governor Republican Mike Johanns leads his Democratic rival Scott Kleeb by a near two to one margin.

From Rasmussen Reports:

Former Governor Mike Johanns has maintained a big lead over Democrat Scott Kleeb in the United States Senate race in Nebraska this month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds the Republican ahead 56% to 31%. When “leaners” are included, Johanns leads 60% to 34%.

A month ago, Johanns had a 60% to 33% lead over the college professor. Johanns and Kleeb are seeking to replace Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who decided not to run for re-election this year. In addition to serving as Nebraska’s governor, Johanns served as Secretary of Agriculture under George W. Bush. Kleeb, who is just 32 years old, ran for Congress from Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District in 2006. He lost that race by ten percentage points but easily won the Democratic Primary last month to represent his party in this year’s Senate race.

One out of four Nebraska Democrats (25%) say they plan on voting for Johanns. That’s up slightly from 21% last month. Among unaffiliated voters, Johanns has a 47% to 30% advantage.

Rasmussen Markets data suggests that Johanns has a 71.0% chance of winning Nebraska’s United States Senate election in November. These results are updated on a 24/7 basis by market participants. It costs nothing to join and add your voice to the collective wisdom.

Johanns is viewed favorably by 70% of voters in Nebraska, down from 73% last month. Kleeb earns positive ratings from 48% of voters, down from 50% in June.

Nebraska is one of the few seats the Republican Party can count on to maintain in this year’s senate elections. Republican seats in Virginia, Alaska, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Minnesota, Kentucky and Maine are all potentially vulnerable.

Just for the record, I try to provide campaign commercials from both sides so that people living elsewhere might see how local races are being shaped and covered. The top ad is being run on behalf of Scott Kleeb by Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, the middle ad is being run by the Scott Kleeb for Senate Campaign. I couldn’t find a recent ad by Mike Johanns so I am showing this profile run by a local Nebraska television station.

Disclaimer: I have contributed to Scott Kleeb’s Campaign.

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