[Ayatollahgondola]

Today I rode the bike to the state capitol to attend the meeting on the select committee on Bi-national relations with Mexico. This was in a small, older room on the bottom floor, and when I got there, most of the seats were already full of people chattering away in spanish. Thankfully the entire meeting was conducted in english. This meeting was basically for the benefit of business. People from both sides of the border who are seeking ways to increase business between California and Mexico. Border security came up as a topic, but mostly relevant to the time it takes to travel between the two bieng a burden on trade. I believe I heard someone make a comparison to traveling between two states only taking moments, and traveling to the US from mexico could take hours. Heaven forbid that we should have border security.
There was also talk about the safety in mexico right now, and there were reassurances that people who lived there feel safe. Most of the dialogue was related to how grand a trade partner mexico is for California, and how can the state help to make things even better. These meetings, although 2 hours long and not very high profile, give a glimpse of how our southern neighbor makes inroads into our state. They passed out two handouts, a 1 page, and a several page one that listed facts and figures. I'll upload these later or tomorrow. In the interim, we need to use the information we have gleaned from this meeting and others after it to build strategies that work towards making our voices heard by the business community, since politicians are tone deaf to native-speak. There were politicians there of course, mostly of the mexican heritage persuasion. I gave my usual commentary at the end; unprepared and less than enthusiastic, I came off a little like a babbling bufoon. But I would have felt worse had I abandoned the opportunity.
I leave you with this tonight though. These people want to open new trade routes at airports, border crossings, and shipyards to bring more foreign goods to sell in this state. They never mentioned the problems of drug trafficking, illegal entry, or crime that is the main reason we have a border that slows them down. Their interest is in money

Update: Added the first handout from the meeting. Check out the statisics they are touting