All things Mexican

Even though I'm in trouble with money -- the lack of it -- maybe today is my lucky day, when I look around and think what could be wrong.

1. This morning I talked my bank into seeing it had made a mistake and I have 22 dollars more than I woke up having.

2. I don't have a penny tied up in any Cinco de Mayo promotions this weekend. There's one set to happen on Brown's Island on Saturday.

The folks who stuck their necks out on that party must be wondering what they did to deserve such a strange twist of fate. With the nearly hysterical news about the "Mexican" swine flu in the air, just imagine the effect that's going to have on all things Mexican for a while.

Hopefully, the pandemic threat will soon pass and we can all get back to worrying about money again.

Before anybody plunges over the xenophobic cliff -- yes, among others, I'm talking to you, Virgil Goode -- they should read this AP story:

Townspeople blame their ills on pig waste from farms that lie upwind, five miles (8.5 kilometers) to the north. The toxins blow through other towns, only to get trapped by mountains in La Gloria, they say. They suspect their water and air has been contaminated by waste.

Granjas Carroll de Mexico, half-owned by Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, Inc., has 72 farms in the surrounding area. Smithfield spokeswoman Keira Ullrich said the company has found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine influenza in its herd or its employees working at its joint ventures anywhere in Mexico.

Click here to read the entire article.