a chilly 33 degrees the other morning. the worst part is probably the shower because the tiles are so cold. and then getting out of the shower and putting on clothes, that is not much fun. having your hair dry in the icy temps is not recommendable either. hot to cold. oaxaca to mex city. i must say i like the cold better but it is damn cold here right now.

so i saw an interesting film the other week called ¨jesus camp.¨ about evangelicals and such, it gave a somewhat objective view of a group of evangelicals based in kansas. i recommend it highly because it is both entertaining and real. this is not a phenomenon consisting of a small group of people. this is millions of us people with more converting each day. at the very least, we need to be aware of it.

then yesterday i saw this piece in the new york times

i recommend reading it (although at 9 pages in a word document it will take a bit of time- not a usa today piece) because it also gives a lot of background information and brings the issue up to date. the republicans are losing support from the evangelicals and this article explains, to an extent, why.

at the very least this article will give you something to chat about.

i have also been reading a fair amount about the upcoming elections in the usa. it is probably all over the news in the us, but imagine if hillary wins. that would mean either a bush or clinton in the white house for 32 consecutive years, starting with the 80´s and bush the father. seems like a monopoly in many ways. does that not seem like a problem? i am not against hillary at all. she would probably be an excellent president, but do we really want to keep the same regime in power? i dare say the last 32 have certainly not been ideal, so why continue the trend? 32 years. that is a long time for a supposedly democratic country to have 2 families in control (though you could argue the limits of that control in the 1980´s) of the nation. if i were obama or edwards, i would make this a point of my campaign. similarly, if i were giuliani or mitt romney, i would definitely be using this against hrc. now, the question remains: is she strong enough to overcome this anyway? it seems more and more likely as the weeks go by.

and speaking of monopolies of power, did you hear about the argentine presidential elections? the current president decided not to run for re-election (they have a max of 2 4-year terms just like us), but remains in power nonetheless. it is interesting because though the president chose not to run, he backed his wife to run, and therefore his entire party, the majority, was behind her. she won. she became the first female president of argentina. and, in 2011 when her term is up, both she and her husband will be eligible for re-election. will they trade years again and eventually retain power for 16 straight years?