NAFTA SHMAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement is a heavy-duty piece of multi-national trade legislation enacted during the Clinton administration. The title indicates, I guess, something called free trade happening in someplace called North America. North America is, as far as I understand it, a continent. The countries which enjoyed some heavily-regulated and thoroughly bureaucraticized free trade after the agreement’s ratification include Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico. I would therefore conclude that continent that is North America contains three countries: Mexico, Canada, and U.S.A.

Am I crazy for thinking this? The high-level multi-national legislative wizards who crafted NAFTA would not possibly have misnamed such a crucial trade agreement. Central American and Caribbean nations must be part of South America. Otherwise our agreement would have been called the North American (Except: Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Granada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and, maybe, Greenland) Free Trade Agreement.

Earthquake in Honduras

We don't know a great deal about earthquakes, but we do know that we just had an earthquake here in La Ceiba, Honduras. Tom was on his way to the bathroom and I was fast asleep when our concrete house started to wiggle. It was moving enough that it woke me up from a deep sleep. We judge that it was a 9.5 on the Richter scale, but this is coming from a couple Midwestern North Americans. We could hear a low rumble out in the streets and the framed photos on our walls were swinging back and forth. We'll try to find out where the epicenter was later this morning. We'll do this by comparing stories with our neighbors. I'm pretty sure the epicenter was in our house. We had well over 30 seconds of sustained shaking. Wow.

It was super freaky. Now, we're both wide awake because we can hardly believe it! Ezekiel slept right through it all. Must have been his cuddly pjs.

***UPDATE***We just learned that the initial USGS measurement was 7.3 for the earthquake off the coast of Honduras. AND we're in a Tsunami watch! But NOAA doesn't believe that the earthquake was the type that typically would produce a tsunami. Just in case, they've issued a watch and would predict that the tsunami would make landfall around 8:45am. Wow.

USGS Info -- HERE

Do you have any idea what you are talking about?

This is the question which may be percolating at desktop and laptop computers and near Blackberry-type handheld devices throughout North America. I understand. And I understand why.

Someone out there is saying: How could you not know whether your understanding of a word’s proper usage was developed on two different continents or three? What kind of person doesn't know what continent they are on when they make a major lexical breakthrough?

An apology by way of confession: Sometimes I am unsure whether or not I am currently situated on the North American continent. So to answer your question. I would like to think that I generally know what I am talking about. I sometimes do not know where I am talking about.

Central American Mustaches in the News

Two of Central America's most powerful mustaches met in San Pedro Sula, Honduras last weekend for a meeting of the Central American Integration System (SICA). The mustaches pictured below belong to Mel Zelaya of Honduras and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua. Other mustaches in attendance include those belonging to the presidents of the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama.

Central American countries are in the process of forging a formal regional alliance. I didn't know anything about this until I read about it at The Latin Americanist. The framework they worked out last weekend has provisions for regional security, passports, and a common currency. Daniel Ortega took over from Mel Zelaya as president of the organization.


Of course the whole thing might just have been an excuse for a bunch of corrupt politicians to kick back and talk about their mustaches at an exclusive country club. The conference was held at Central Social Honduraño Arabe. The club is home to the only functional fountain I have ever seen in Honduras.