Posted on 03/30/2006 9:50:31 AM PST by NormsRevenge
CANCUN, Mexico - On a neighborly sightseeing jaunt Thursday with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, President Bush said the three were working to improve vital relationships that can better the lives of all their people.
Mexican President Vicente Fox treated Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to an hour-long tour of the ancient Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza before they began two days of talks amid spring breakers in this Caribbean resort city.
"This is a good start to a very important series of discussions," Bush said, standing alongside the other two with the massive pyramid called "El Castillo" in the background. "We've got a vital relations that matter to the future of our people."
The three leaders gazed up at the famed archaeological site while Fox, wearing a white shirt and brimmed hat, and a guide motioned at different points. They listened to a traditional band play music for colorfully dressed dancers, strolled around a large plaza and climbed about half a dozen steps of the pyramid at the center of the site. They paused briefly so photographers could get their picture before coming back down.
After their tour, each leader spoke in his own language. Harper said the ruins were "a symbol here of our determination to build a new future for all inhabitants of North America."
Bush doesn't typically get in much sightseeing on his foreign visits, but the tour began two days of talks, designed to showcase North American unity, in this beer and bikini mecca .
Bush, who wore his cream-colored Hawaiian shirt untucked, and Harper, in an open-neck shirt and a safari vest, were all smiles for their first meeting since Harper took office two months ago as Canada's new Conservative leader.
Topping Harper's agenda is a long stalemate over U.S. tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber imports. "I'm always optimistic" about resolving the problem, Bush said.
In a pre-trip interview, Bush said he thought the two sides were "pretty close to a deal a couple of years ago." He said it would not be resolved through public negotiations: "It's going to require some very quiet consultations."
Illegal immigration and terrorism fears also are on the agenda.
After touring the Mayan ruins, Bush was sitting down one after the other with Fox and Harper, and then was attending a lavish leaders dinner put on by his Mexican hosts. The president's wife, Laura, did not join him for this trip.
The official focus of the trilateral summit is a three-way pact designed to make borders more secure without hampering business and traffic. Signed a year ago near Bush's Texas ranch by Bush, Fox and Harper's predecessor, Paul Martin, the Security and Prosperity Partnership aims to better protect North America from outside attack and ensure its global competitiveness with China and other trade powerhouses.
But Fox and Harper come to Cancun with much more on their minds. Both have powerful constituencies at home pressing for progress on problems related to the enormous flow of goods and people between their countries and the United States.
Mexico's top priority with its northern neighbor is a migration accord that would address the status of the estimated 6 million illegal immigrants from Mexico now living in the United States. For Canada, issue No. 1 as it looks south is a messy trade dispute over softwood lumber.
Bush extended an olive branch in both directions before the trip. He told foreign reporters "don't underestimate" his ability to wring from Congress a guest-worker program that would address some of Mexico's concerns, and said he would "like to get the issue solved" on Canadian lumber tariffs.
Sharing Cancun with the media, official entourages from three nations and hundreds of anticipated demonstrators was a much-smaller-than-usual contingent of spring-breakers since the resort hasn't completely recovered from the beating delivered five months ago by Hurricane Wilma. Police readied the town by erecting fences to keep protesters and others far from the leaders.
Bush departed Washington for his meetings with Fox as an emotional election-year dustup over immigration what he called the "topic du jour" continued to rage in the U.S. capital.
The issue has sent hundreds of thousands to protest in streets across America and split the president's Republican Party as midterm congressional elections approach.
The Senate was debating a measure that would strengthen border security, but also would legalize some undocumented workers, establish temporary guest-worker programs and permit illegal immigrants currently in the country to apply for citizenship without first returning home.
The business community and a minority of Republicans in Congress have supported such moves, and the approach tracks more closely with what Bush has advocated than competing House legislation that focuses on an illegal immigration crackdown.
Fox wants some form of legal status for all illegal Mexicans but sees a guest worker program as a good step. If one is approved before July elections to succeed him Fox is term-limited from running again analysts believe it could boost the chances of the candidate from his party.
As for Harper, the newly elected Conservative leader has made it a priority to restore Ottawa's relationship with Washington strained over Iraq, missile defense and a series of trade issues.
Another issue is Canada's displeasure at a U.S. plan to require passports or other secure identification at every point of entry to the United States.
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I'm so glad President Bush is getting Fox's approval for our immigration plan. It's important that we don't offend our neighboring countries.
GMTA!
Increase their foreign aid package in exchange for taking the unlawful aliens back.
It would be cheaper in the long run!
Who were the ones protest marching last weekend? Mayans? Aztecs? Toltecs? Olmecs?
He apparently wants to see what the US will look like in 20 years after his amnesty policies have been enacted.
"........Mexican President Vicente Fox treated Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to an hour-long tour of the ancient Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza before they began two days of talks (where they plan to rip the still-beating heart out of America) amid spring breakers in this Caribbean resort city.........."
Very apropos Presidente Boosh!
Picture of Presidente Boosh ripping the beating heart out of a still-alive America.
When Liberty Valence came to town, the women folk would hide....
(you probably know the rest)
WHA KENT HE GO TA SUM 'MERICAN PLACE STEADA MEX-EE-CO?
STAYS IN MEXICO
His name was Steve,
Her name was Gina,
(spoken) You've never been here before have you?
They met at a bar called Cowboy Outcove Cantena,
He was a salesman from South Dakota,
She was a first grade school teacher Pheonix Arizona,
(Spoken) No, My first time here
They started dancing and it got real hot,
Then it spilled over to the parking lot,
One more tequila then we're falling in love,
One night together in Love
(Chorus)
Don't bite off more than you can chew,
There's things down here the devil himself wouldn't do,
Just remember when you let it all go,
What happens in Mexico,
Stays in Mexico
He woke up in the morning and he made a little tellephone call,
To check on his wife and his kids back at home in Souix Falls,
She hopped right in the shower with a heavy heavy mind,
(spoken) What am I doing?
He knew it was the first time Geena had ever crossed that line,
They walked down to the beach and started drinking again,
Jumped into the ocean for a dirty swim,
One more margarita then we're falling in love,
One night together in love
(Chorus)
Don't bite off more than you can chew,
There's things down here the devil himself wouldn't do,
Just remember when you let it all go,
What happens in Mexico,
Stays in Mexico
Oh Mexico
Waiting at the bar at the terminal gate,
She says 'Steve I gotta go, I'm going to miss my plane'
He said one more tequila before you climb on up,
She said more night together in love
(Chorus)
Don't bite off more than you can chew,
There's things down here the devil himself wouldn't do,
Just remember when you let it all go,
What happens in Mexico,
Stays in Mexico
Stays in Mexico,
Stays in Mexico,
Stays in Mexico,
Oh Mexico
There's a difference?
Did he visit the ruins in Tijuana and Mexico City too?
Geek Alert!! lol
My other idea is just to set up offices at the border where illegals pay $100 (or whatever) for a Temporary Citizen Card so they can work and start paying taxes immediately. Anyone without it is sent back...no questions asked because there would be no excuse for NOT having a US ID. New Temp Citizens would then be responsible for becoming Full Citizens within 3 years.....none of this inbetween stuff. It would also greatly cut down on the human trafficking. As for the illegals already here.....they would still need to sign up for the Temp Citizen Card and start from the beginning since nothing was done until that point.
Both ideas sound far-fetched however, I think we are reduced to extremes at this point.....
I was first there in 1974 then after 1989 and nothing much had been added as the Mexican Gov't. prefers to do everything themselves (i.e. "Mexican time") but still more vast than any other ruins I have seen.
I'm certainly not disagreeing the fact that there were human sacrifices to the Mayan gods, just as there were in Hawaii, and by Native Americans, however, they are well worth a side trip to Chichen Itza.
The extremes would be better than the compromises.
"Did he visit the ruins in Tijuana and Mexico City too?"
Excellent question. And, of course, those ruins are beginning to spill across the border.
And then it's a quick flight to the West side of San Antonio.
He'll love all the grafitti on those ruined buildings, and he won't even need security it's so safe there.
/sarc
Sad, my FRiend, muy muy triste...
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