One Man's Opinion

Hillary Clinton is attending Dilma Rousseff's inauguration as President of Brazil tomorrow.  Now, we all know that Obama is on vacation in Hawaii, so he sends his Secretary of State.  But, isn't it also a way to rub in the fact that Rousseff has achieved what Hillary couldn't?  It's impossible for Hillary not to think about it.  She couldn't beat a black man in one of the most racists societies in the world.  Yet, Dilma, a former guerrilla fighter and political prisoner will be sworn in tomorrow, while Hillary looks on. I suppose that, when the caipirinhas kick in, Hillary will ask Dilma: "How did you do it?"

If, as she vociferously claimed, Christine O'Donnell is no "witch", then the investigation of her campaign finances is no "witch hunt", as she now claims.  In the era of non-entities like Sarah Palin, O'Donnell had her "15 minutes of fame" and she came up short.  Apparently, she has taken herself seriously as a political candidate, and seems to think that there is a conspiracy by both Democrats and Republicans to "crush" her as a political figure.  Of course, this is an old tactic: play the victim and discredit the investigators or the accusers.  If, as there is some indication, she did use campaign money for her personal expenses, she has reason to be worried.  That is, if she understands the law, which, in her case, is a big "if." Either that or she really believes that persecution stuff straight from the Salem Witch Trials, in which case, she is really off her rocker.

Isn't it ironic that people who have been discriminated against or persecuted are, at the same time, intolerant of others?  This comes to mind now, when some members of the religious right in Israel are calling on Jewish girls not to date Arabs and landlords and owners not to rent or sell their properties to them.  What is striking is the number of well-known and influential people in the religious community that have signed letters that urge others to engage in these practices.  Although there has been widespread condemnation of these efforts, it is certainly a very disturbing development that bodes ill for the kind of understanding that would eventually bring peace between Arabs and Jews. I suppose that these "men and women of God" have as their God the vengeful and wrathful one that would kill, send plagues and cause all sorts of disasters to show his displeasure with mankind.

Ecuador has joined Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay as Latin American countries that have recognized a Palestinian state, a move that, although symbolic, is significant, both as support for the Palestinians and evidence of an independent world view from the one in Washington, D.C.  Time was when almost all of Latin America marched in lock-step with the U.S. in the international arena.  Then Cuba broke from that stranglehold by the Americans, and now, half a century later, there are other countries in this part of the world that no longer are beholden to the U.S. in foreign policy. The U.S. will continue to support Israel; the Jewish establishment owns the country.  But, our part of the world, which is much more sensitive to the abuses committed by a strong military such as the U.S. and Israel's, will increasingly side with the Palestinians, recognizing their plight as a people dominated by Israel with full support from the U.S., which has intervened and invaded our countries wantonl

The new U.S. Congress has made it abundantly clear that Obama's intention of closing the Guantánamo prison is just a pipe dream of his. It's not going to happen.  The Republicans are hardliners, and they want to keep the torture centers open for business and judge the prisoners in military tribunals where there is no chance in hell that any of them can be acquitted by legal niceties such as due process of law and other bothersome principles.  By making all of this part of a bill that funds the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, they force Obama to sign it into law, no matter what he may wish to do regarding Guantánamo.

At 84, Hugh Hefner has become engaged to marry a 24-year old.  Needless to say, she is a beautiful woman.  The man is to be admired for having led a life that others can only dream of.  It would be easy to dismiss Hefner as some sort of porno publisher and superficial "playboy", but the fact of the matter is that he has been a man of substance, engaged with the issues of the day, supportive of just causes and an articulate and effective advocate of many progressive ideas. So, if, at his age, he has the wherewithal to marry a woman 60 years his junior, more power to him.

Recently, the wanted ads section of a major newspaper in Puerto Rico has featured one by something called the National Clandestine Service , a part of the CIA.  Now, I'd always thought that "clandestine" operations were supposed to be...clandestine.  Well, apparently not anymore.  Mind you, this began before all the Wikilieaks revelations.  Which, of course, begs the question of how much is secrecy valued these days on the "cloak and dagger " front. Time was when this secret-agent stuff was "hush-hush", partly because spying was seen as a "necessary evil" and an embarrassment, when exposed, as it happens from time to time.  But, now, in this "brave new world" in which people share all their dirty little secrets on Facebook and other so-called social networks, the CIA can stop pretending, and advertise its illegal activities for all the world to see.

The more we find out about how the U.S. does business, the more we see its double standard and hypocrisy.  Although the government is forever announcing economic sanctions against  this or that country, the fact of the matter is that, at least, for the past ten years, it has allowed some American businessmen to sell its products and services in those blacklisted countries.  From the start, there have been exceptions to the ban on commerce with "the enemy"; mostly, medicines and other humanitarian aid.  But, the truth is that big agriculture and big business has "convinced" the government to expand those exceptions or interpret them in such a way as to allow a whole bunch of stuff that wasn't contemplated originally. Add political influence to that, and you have a very different policy from the one that is "officially" insisted on as part of the moral high ground from which the U.S. preaches to the rest of the world.

Time was when people had the highest regard for accountants; they were thought of as honest to a fault, incorruptible and someone who could be relied on to give an objective, unbiased and professional assessment or opinion. Not anymore. Recent history has revealed that they are as corrupt as the next guy.  Probably more so, given the fact that some of the biggest financial scandals of the last ten years have been made possible by those great accounting firms whose reports were once quoted like some sacred texts. A case in point is Ernst & Young's involvement in the Lehman Bros. debacle. It now seems that those extremely competent accountants were either duped by their clients or they didn't do their job properly...or they just looked the other way while collecting $150 million in fees in a ten-year period.  Either way, they have a lot of explaining to do to the New York State Attorney General, who has filed a lawsuit trying to recover those fees. Another myth bites the

Once upon a time, the White Man - who we know "speaks with a forked tongue" - told the Native Americans in the U.S. that he would hold their land in trust and manage it for their benefit. Not so.  A century later, after 15 years of litigation, a court has ordered that $3.4 billion be paid as reparation for the mismanagement and outright stealing of the money due the "Indians" for the use and lease of their land.  Now, you have to remember that this was their land to begin with; holding it in trust was just a nice way of justifying the White man's illegal taking of it. This is why no one should pay any attention to the Americans when they lecture the rest of the world on their so-called values of democracy, freedom and human rights.  They have absolutely no moral "leg" to stand on, given the way that they have abused their indigenous population throughout their history.  The White Man is still sticking it to the Red Man.

As the U.S. economy has gone sour, slowly but surely, many immigrants are beginning to have second thoughts about the "American dream." Latin Americans, in particular, are starting to return to their home countries, where things are improving. It's being reported that several Latin American governments are actively encouraging and even helping their citizens to go back. Ecuador under President Correa has been particularly effective in fostering the relocation of his countrymen and women. I think that this is a development that should be celebrated. People should stay in their country and live life to the fullest. Only in the most desperate of circumstances should they consider leaving. The trade-offs between an assumed prosperity and staying in one's country with family and friends is too great. Being a permanent exile in a country that discriminates blatantly against people of darker skin who do not speak English well and all the time is a burden that's to

Being his usual disingenuous self, the Pope has called on the Church hierarchy to "reflect" on what has brought it here on the pedophilia issue, as if this was one of those "mysteries" that Catholics are so fond of.  Not only that but he has had the audacity to sort of blame the culture of the 1970s for making pedophilia kind of acceptable.  This, of course, is utter nonsense.  There has always been a lunatic fringe that advocates this relationship, going so far as calling it "love", but this in no way represents a major cultural trend nor has it ever been minimally accepted anywhere. So, the Pope is grabbing at straws, trying desperately to shift the blame for the Church's inexcusable behavior for the longest time. Here's a reflection, if he really needs one.  Sexual abuse of minors is a crime, pure and simple, and, as such, must be reported to the police.  It's morally wrong and a sin, according to religious beliefs, for Christ's sake.

Bank of America is being sued all over the U.S. for fraud and other illegal or improper practices regarding foreclosures and mortgages.  Some of these lawsuits have been settled with millionaire payments by the bank. Now, am I wrong or is this the same Bank of America that recently announced, with a holier-than-thou attitude, that it would not process any transaction related to Wikileaks? Could it be that, being in such hot water with the U.S. government, it's trying to earn itself some goodwill, by siding with the government against Assange?  In any case, Bank of America's reputation right now is no asset.  Not to itself nor to anyone or anything connected to it.

Ordinarily, "justice delayed is justice denied", but it's also true that "better late than never."  The French courts have convicted 13 of Pinochet's henchmen in absentia for the "disappearance" of four French citizens during the early days of that regime. Although it took some 35 years to accomplish - due in no small part to the unwillingness of  people and institutions in Chile and elsewhere to see that justice be done - the conviction sends a strong and much-needed message that such crimes will not be forgotten or go unpunished, no matter how long it takes.  It is also a rebuke of those who hold that, in the name of a so-called "reconciliation", we should let bygones be bygones.  This is a totally unacceptable position because it devalues human life and suffering tremendously.  No person of good conscience should subscribe to that notion.  Too many people died, disappeared or were tortured by Pinochet and his goons, for we to just swe

And the killing from drones goes on.  The use of these unmanned aircraft has become quite popular with the U.S. military, since there is no exposure of human life, that is, American human life, which is the only one that counts.  The fact is that the remote-controlled aircraft frequently misses its intended target and winds up killing innocent civilians in places such as Pakistan.  But, then again, to the Americans, there is no such thing as innocent civilians outside of U.S. borders.  So, it doesn't much matter who gets killed on the ground, as long as it's not some all-American boy.  Most of the time, they claim that "militants" have been killed, so that makes it all right.  Every once in a while they have to admit to civilian casualties, but not much of an apology is given.  After all, you don't apologize to inferior or sub-human people. So, this faceless and cowardly way of killing goes on.  "Might makes right." Right?

Updating the entry of Wednesday 8, it now seems that Halliburton has agreed to pay Nigeria $250 million to drop the bribery charges against it and former Vice President Cheney, then its CEO. No one pays such a huge sum, if not guilty as hell.  Remember that Halliburton has already paid $177 million in a civil suit and more than $400 million in the U.S. for its shenanigans.  One can only imagine how much it made during the 1990s, to be able to afford paying these fines and settle these lawsuits.

Not that it matters that much, but Time Magazine's choosing of Mark Zuckerberg as "Person of the Year" over Julian Assange is, questionable, to say the least.  I can understand the "importance" of Facebook,  but, when you compare the impact that Wikileaks has had and will continue to have with the so-called social network, in my opinion, there is no contest.  This isn't a question of numbers, but of substantive value of what one thing represents compared to the other.  Most people post things on Facebook that have very little, if any, "redeeming value": personal stuff, gossip, anecdotes, etc.   Wikileaks has exposed diplomacy and international politics like never before, revealing how governments have lied to and cheated their own people and other countries. Either Time has fallen under the spell of the Facebook world-wide idiocy or it balked at choosing a controversial figure that has come under a vicious attack of the U.S. government.

The U.S. Navy has fired the two top commanders - a man and a woman, both married to somebody else -  aboard a minesweeper, for "fraternizing" or being "unduly familiar."  Although the man has maintained that there was no sex involved, he admits to having made a "mistake."  Opinions are divided on whether it was the right thing to do or the punishment was too harsh.  There are some who say that this is what happens when you put men and women together in such close proximity. Human nature being what it is, I'm inclined to believe that there was sex involved, but the man wants to protect her reputation.  Even if there was no sex, he must have been "unduly attentive" to her, for this to have become an issue.  Or else, why would he admit that he made an "error"?  If all that happened was that they had a good working relationship, there wouldn't have been a problem. During WWII, there was a saying: "Loose lips sink ships"

I suppose that the U.S. and its cronies are already trying to find some dirt - or create it - on the people behind Openleaks , a sort of spinoff from Wikileaks.   The cat's out of the bag, and it seems that it's going to be impossible to stop the leaks of classified information from now on.  I think that most of the world welcomes the opportunity to find out what has really been going on while they have been lied to by their own governments.  People are fed up, and they are rallying to support Assange and any other group that will tell them the truth. No matter how hard they try, the U.S. and its accomplices won't be able to stop these "leaks."

As if the Catholic Church wasn't in deep enough trouble with its mishandling of the pedophile issue, now the money-laundering by the Vatican bank, once again comes to the fore. This is something that is not new; the Vatican has been involved in, to say the least, questionable financial dealings for a long time, even to the point of having a relationship with people tied to the Mafia. You would have supposed that the Church had learned its lesson the first time this was uncovered, but, instead, it chose to deny any wrongdoing, and went back to doing "business as usual." This time, though, the Church has lost a lot of its mystique and prestige, and civil authorities are not that willing to let it be. The Vatican seems to have gone too far in its arrogance, claiming privileges and a secrecy that no longer apply in a world that demands accountability for everybody's actions. Criminal activity should be punished, and the Cross should not shield the guilty from their jus

I find it encouraging that there is growing support for Assange and Wikileaks around the world.  The man and his website have done a tremendous service to the international community, by posting all those documents and exposing the lies we have been told by the powers that be.  It would have been sad and tragic if, in his hour of need, no one would stand by him.  All persons of conscience must support him, as he fights for his freedom and his life.  Because, make no mistake about it,  Assange is in mortal danger.  One way or another, he will be eliminated.  He will get "sick", committ "suicide" or have a tragic "accident", sooner or later.  Only a massive international pressure will give him a fighting chance in this campaign against him.

Nothing will come of it, of course, but the mere fact that Nigeria has formally accused Dick Cheney of bribery, in connection with his position as CEO of Halliburton is significant.  More so, considering that the company has already paid a tidy sum -  $177 million -  to settle some lawsuits that sprang from these allegations.  Even his lawyer has issued a statement whose wording is not a flat-out denial of wrongdoing.  So, there is definitely something there.  Halliburton has been involved as a contractor in Afghanistan and Iraq, where charges of profiteering have been leveled against it.  That the former Vice President of the United States is directly related to such an unseemly organization speaks volumes about the man, none of it very good. I suppose that some of this is part of what Wikileaks has made or will make public.  Which is why the U.S.is so anxious to shut it down.

A recent international assessment of academic achievement has put China way ahead of the class. As a whole, the East has made tremendous progress, while parts of the West lag far behind.  Anyone remotely linked to the educational process in this neck of the woods will agree that, as time goes by, students are increasingly ignorant and do not have the basic skills that schools are supposed to provide. Learning is a very personal thing, fueled by self-motivation.  Young people in this part of the world seem to be very distracted by all the latest gadgets and communication technologies.  Virtual reality has become their reality. It's a fantasy world in which it's all play and no work.  They live for the weekend, when they go out to party and just hang out.  School is a chore and an interruption of the life of leisure that they want to lead.  People who are serious about learning are "nerds", to be mocked and ridiculed. Hence, the state of our education.

For all his golfing greatness, Tiger Woods seems to be headed for the "has been" bin.  In the last 14 years, this is the first time that he has not won a single tournament all year.  Those five months off and the personal turmoil in his life have taken a toll on him and his game. Athletic ability is sometimes very fickle; it diminishes or disappears altogether quite unexpectedly. Two examples come to mind.  I remember when John McEnroe took some time off to be with his family when his wife gave birth.  A few months went by, and when he came back, he wasn't the same tennis player.  So much so that he retired soon after, frustrated that he no longer had it.  The other case was Dale Murphy, the great Atlanta Braves outfielder.  From one season to the next, that is to say, in a six-month span, he completely lost his ability to hit, as if he had never hit at all on a consistent basis. So, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Woods never wins another tournament.

On the so-called home front, Obama is doing just as badly as in the rest of the world.  Although he keeps repeating that things are getting better, the 9.8% unemployment is three times what it should be, and nothing he has done has improved the situation significantly.  As long as 10% of the population is unemployed and countless others have temporary, part-time and low-paying jobs, no amount of public relations efforts can change that reality. The fact that he has lost Congressional support so quickly in his term is a sign that people are unwilling to keep waiting for things to get better. The only way that he is going to get reelected is if the Republicans choose Palin or some other moron for 2012...

In his own watered-down version of "mission accomplished", Obama has claimed significant progress in the war in Afghanistan.  Unfortunately for him, the U.S. military has admitted recently that violence there is on the upswing, something that is evident from daily news reports.  So, as other presidents before him, Obama has put himself in the untenable position of cheerleader for a lost cause.  Time will prove him wrong, and he should have the common sense to know that.  Although he has tried to do the right thing in this and other issues, in the end, he doesn't want to admit failure.  So, against his better judgment and the reality of the situation, he refuses to see the writing on the wall and continues to be optimistic, when there is nothing to be upbeat about.

In the never-ending saga of the Catholic Church's troubles over priest abuse of children, a German Cardinal has acknowledged their collective guilt and begs for forgiveness.  In this case, there is evidence that documents were destroyed or tampered with, in an obvious attempt to cover up these crimes.  Once again, this proves that this was a concerted and world-wide effort to conceal these crimes and protect their perpetrators.  Those involved in the actual criminal behavior, as well as those who protected them, must be brought to justice.  Forgiveness sounds great in the moral sphere, but the culprits must be held fully accountable according to the law of man. Or there is no God in Heaven.

Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone but the most naive, but the revelations about how the U.S. government wanted to size up Argentinean President Cristina Fernández border on the absurd.  The State Department seems to have assumed that there was something wrong with her emotional or mental makeup, that she was unstable and on medications; in short, a crazy, hysterical Latina, out of one of those Hollywood films of the 30's and 40's in which women south of the border were stereotyped to American screenwriters' content. The problem with the U.S. view of the rest of the world is that Americans have seen too many of their own movies, which, by and large, are full of bigotry and prejudice against everybody else.  So, they naturally assume that others are inferior, bad and stupid, because that's what they have seen on the big screen all their lives.  They are genuinely surprised to find foreigners who are capable, good and intelligent human beings, especially

There is a "lynch mob" out to get Julian Assange. The Swedes have agreed to do the dirty work for the Americans, who, as usual and now undeniably revealed, are behind this persecution.  INTERPOL has just gotten into the act, proclaiming Assange as a sort of international public enemy number one and sending an all points bulletin for his capture.  The official story is that the man is a rapist and all-around sex criminal  that must be stopped at all costs.  You have to wonder how he finds the time to disclose all that embarrassing information about the U.S. between his sex crimes.  The Americans want him prosecuted for some kind of "high treason", for revealing all those sordid little secrets of their diplomacy.  Once again, the official excuse is that he has put their people in the diplomatic service in mortal danger. Personally, I think that Hillary Clinton, the woman that suffered the worst public humiliation in recent memory, is taking all that anger on Assange

Big money breeds corruption, and big sport is no exception, as the current FIFA controversy amply shows. Sport, which is universally touted as an antidote to most social evils, is just as susceptible to crime or improper behavior as any other human endeavor. The bigger it gets, with all sorts of contracts and sponsors, the more attractive it becomes for people who are looking for a quick and easy profit. Members of committees in charge of choosing cities that will host international sports events are logical targets for bribes.  There is simply too much money at stake, and, in the sports arena, as everywhere else, money will win at the end of the day.

Analysts and experts often conclude the obvious.  In reporting on sales at the start of the holiday season, it has been pointed out that discounts over the weekend were responsible for a surge in consumer spending.  But, of course. You don't need a college degree to realize that all that overpriced merchandise will not sell until prices come down considerably.  So, consumers will postpone buying it, until stores become convinced that no one is going to pay the current price, and they have to apply a discount. The fact of the matter is that most goods on the market are not immediate necessities, so, if the consumer finds them too expensive, all he has to do is wait for the price to come down, which will surely happen, sometimes very quickly, as a mounting inventory is untenable.  Common experience bears this out yearly.

I'm going to go out on a limb and make a prediction: sometime soon, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, is going to die of "natural causes" or have a fatal "accident."  The U.S. will not continue to be embarrassed, to say the least, internationally, by the things that he publishes on his website.  Right now, the whole intelligence community in the U.S. must be planning how to get rid of Assange permanently. You can bet your bottom dollar on it.

The case of an Australian homosexual painter who was illegally in Mexico for five years and then detained illegally brings to the fore Mexico's own dismal record with illegal immigration.  Ironically, Mexicans, who, as illegal aliens, are subject to discrimination and harsh treatment in the U.S. are doing no better themselves with those that enter their country illegally. One would expect them to be much more sensitive to the plight of the thousands of Central Americans who  cross their borders in order to get to the United States.  Instead, they are locked up without any due process.  In the Australian's case, he spent four months without being formally charged or given the opportunity to present his defense. Once again, the victims of discrimination turn out to be discriminators themselves with others that they deem inferior.  What a shame!

Now that Canadian authorities have announced that they are not going to subject passengers to the American-style pat downs, I suppose that everybody and his brother in the terrorist world is going to fly to Canada to bomb the hell out of them. Instead, this is just another way in which Canadians distance themselves from their neighbors to the south, in pursuing their own interests as a truly "kinder, gentler nation." Americans have reacted aggressively, hysterically and with acute paranoia since September 11, 2001 to any and all threats or perceived threats. Canada, as well as other countries, are dealing with the security concerns in a more reasonable way. In the end, the best protection is to respect other cultures and religions. If you do not bomb and invade them, they won't feel compelled to bomb you.

In any other case, I would attribute it to a slip of the tongue, but given Sarah Palin's track record, I doubt it.  While being interviewed on a radio talk show, she called for the U.S. to support  its ally, North Korea, in the current situation. It wasn't until the host pointed out her mistake that she corrected herself.  This is the same woman who claimed to be qualified to speak on matters pertaining to Russia, just because, on a clear day, she could see it from Alaska, and other nonsense. Palin for 2012? The American Empire is really in trouble.

Student unrest in England mirrors our own in Puerto Rico, both caused by significant tuition hikes in an economy that provides few jobs and dwindling incomes.  Students, as well as workers, are expected to bear most of the burden of a situation created by greedy businessmen and unwise government economic policies.  So, students, understandably, have taken to the streets, both in London and San Juan, to air their grievances against unresponsive governments that justify these measures as "unfortunate but necessary" ones to deal with the economic "crisis."  Of course, one never hears of cutting back on the privileges of the ruling class.  It is only the poor and the needy who must sacrifice still more for the good of the country. Such cynicism will not be taken lying down neither in the U.K nor here.

The Pope has "discovered the Mediterranean" in 2010.  It has finally dawned on him that there are homosexual priests, although he claims that they are few and far between.  Really?  If he truly believes that, then he is more out of touch with reality than I thought.  No one in his right mind can seriously doubt that the priesthood has been a safe haven for homosexuals for the longest time.  Then, he has gone on to say that homosexuals cannot be priests.  If that directive is to be carried out strictly, there are going to be a lot of empty churches around the world. The Church will continue to do what it does best: look the other way and pretend that all those homosexual priests don't exist.  It's the only way that it can survive.

The legitimate concern over air-travel safety seems to have gotten out of hand with the scanning equipment and the pat downs that passengers are being subjected to.  News of a scanner operator masturbating and a woman whose vagina was touched in a pat down are alarming.  Human nature being what it is, this was to be expected, once you give people that kind of authority and opportunity.  Hysteria and paranoia drive people to abuse power.  There are no sure-fire methods to prevent terrorist attacks.  Taken to its logical conclusion, we should all strip and have all of our body cavities searched, to ensure that we carry nothing that might be used as a weapon. We need to get a grip on ourselves and go back to reasonable security measures.  Extreme practices are not only embarrassing, but also end up being a "terrorism" of sorts, by making us feel like citizens of a police state that knows no bounds of decency.

I believe in equality across the board, especially in the basic things in life, such as employment and housing, but I also believe that there should be room for men and women to be by themselves with members of their own gender in private settings of their own choosing.  This is why I think that men-only clubs in England should not be forced to accept women as members, although, if they do so, then women should have the same rights and privileges as men.  We all need to get away from the opposite sex for a while, to be able to do and say things that one does not do in their company. Ultimately, this may turn out to be a non-issue, since very few women will want to join a club that is predominantly male.  Men, certainly, would not join a woman's club.  Discrimination is only illegal when it is unreasonable, but, as I have pointed out, there are valid reasons for having separate institutions of this sort, that is to say, for leisure and recreation purposes, that in no way affect fu

Finally, Yale University has agreed to do the right thing.  Of course, it took a lawsuit and the threat of a criminal complaint to shame it into it, but the important thing is that the 46,000 artifacts taken from Machu Picchu 100 years ago will be returned to Peru.  This shouldn't have taken this long; the law and a sense of common decency were on the Peruvian side.  In this and other similar cases, Third-World countries were plundered, sometimes in the name of conservation or preservation of priceless relics from the past.  Maybe at the time those countries were in no position to take proper care of that part of their heritage.  But, situations change and there is no excuse for holding on to something that doesn't belong to you. No matter how prestigious, rich or well-intentioned you may be.  

I'm not sure if this is what Buddha had in mind, but the discovery of more than 2,000 aborted fetuses in a Buddhist temple in Bangkok is certainly striking, to say the least. Although there doesn't seem to be any evidence of the abortions being performed there, there is, clearly, a connection to an illegal activity, by providing a way to dispose of those fetuses.  The very number of fetuses shows that this was no spur-of-the-moment thing to help out an individual, but something carried out in an organized way and on a long-term basis, hardly the kind of activity that one would expect from Buddhists or any other similar group. Even if one were to favor the freedom to choose to bring a pregnancy to term or end it, the latter is to be done in a controlled and responsible way, not as part of a clandestine operation that smacks of other illegal activities.  That would be the "enlightened" thing to do.

The city of Córdoba, Argentina, has joined a growing list of others who have banned the use of cell phones in banks, both by customers and employees, to prevent their use in setting up robberies from within.  The rationale is that accomplices relay information, both orally and visually, through cameras, to others outside the bank. To me, there's a more important reason for the ban: too many people talk incessantly on the phone, while waiting in line at the bank.  Due to their proximity, you hear every little detail of their never-ending chatter, driving you crazy and making you fantasize with strangling them. So, before we decent folks get violent, let's turn the cell phones off in banks, regardless of its effect on bank robberies.

The verdict that has acquitted the Guantánamo detainee of over 200 counts and found him guilty of just one is definitely proof positive that the whole process by which people have been detained for years on charges of terrorism is, to say the least, grossly invalid.  If after all these years, having had plenty of opportunity to build a case against someone, a civilian jury has found him not guilty in such a vast number of charges, then one has to conclude that there was never any basis for this person to have been locked up. This is why the military insisted on trying these people in their courts; ones that they could manipulate to render the judgments that they want.  Those jurors are to be commended for resisting the peer pressure and all that "super patriotism" that, based on hate and prejudice, calls for vengeance, not justice.

The Celtic's Dream,  Mario Vargas Llosa's latest novel, has turned into the author's nightmare.  Pirate copies are being sold on Lima's streets in broad daylight, and there doesn't seem to be too much that anyone can do about it.  Luckily, legitimate sales have been good, numbering 20,000 copies, with an additional 10,000 being printed. I suppose that most of his countrymen want to read the book by the Nobel-Prize winner, but can't afford it at bookstore prices.  Then, as in other third-world countries, they resort to piracy, an unfortunate but "necessary evil" in today's economy.

Although not entirely unknown, the full extent of how the U.S. took advantage of Nazi scientific expertise after WWII has now been revealed in an official report that was kept secret for a long time. While publicly condemning the Hitler regime, the U.S. did everything in its power to recruit top German scientists, in spite of their ties to the Nazis.  This wasn't the case of not doing proper background checks of these people, and then finding out about them, but of knowingly giving them refuge, in order to take advantage of their superior talent in areas such as missiles and rockets for military purposes. Once again, the truth is very different from the official story - propaganda is the better word - that passes for American history.

Catholic bishops in the U.S. gathered together this weekend for a training on exorcism.  This could be a first step on the way to a general claim that pedophilia in its ranks is the work of the Devil.  In other words, "the Devil made me do it."  So, all those priests and the bishops that covered them up were really "possessed" by the Evil One, not being responsible for their actions. Sounds like a bad made-for-TV movie...

Those who hold that "porn is bad for you" should reconsider their position, in light of the fact that some folks in Detroit won $129 million with a lotto ticket bought at a porn shop.  It seems that "the way of the flesh" is the way to go, and that God isn't all that keen in punishing all those sinners who indulge in carnal pleasures.  Ironically, some of the winners have announced their intention of giving a part of their winnings to a local church. We'll see if the church takes the donation, given its doubly "sinful" origin, since gambling is frowned upon by most religions, and porn is, obviously, a "biggie" in the immoral context.

Should we be surprised by the Tennessee Congressman's remarks about illegal immigrants - that is to say Latinos - breeding like rats to take advantage of  welfare benefits in the U.S?  Of course not.  The man is an American from Tennessee, for God's sakes!  What is one to expect from that background and pedigree? Calling for the extermination of those rats, I suppose...

Things must be really bad in the Anglican Church, for five bishops to jump ship to the Catholic Church.  Not only that, but there is, supposedly, a movement within the Church of England to go back to the good old days before Henry VIII in 1534.  Now, ordinarily, that wouldn't surprise anyone, but anyone who even considers becoming Catholic these days should have his head examined...or chopped off, in the tradition of which those Anglicans  seem so fond of.  Apparently, those people that are considering the move to Catholicism are disgusted with liberal or progressive stances embraced by the Church of England, which, as everybody knows, grew out of an act of adultery. So, if medieval thought and practice is what they're after, they will find it to their heart's content in the Catholic Church.

The U.S. government inability to explain what that "thing" in the California sky was is noteworthy.  History shows that the government has played fast and loose with the truth frequently, giving all kinds of explanations to make sense of things that they wish to ignore or downplay, at least.  I suspect that this may have been an error on the U.S. part -  a misfired missile, for example -  because, had it been something that could be pinned to  another country, we would've heard about it by now.  Had it been a natural phenomenon, they would've pointed it out, as someone from the Defense Department has done, albeit as a lone voice in the matter. We''ll see if the truth pans out or this goes down in history as another one of those unsolved mysteries...

Better late than never. Like many other countries, for most of its history, Australia's treatment of its aboriginal people has been appalling, going so far as taking children away from their families and putting them in institutions to, I suppose, "save" them.  In recent years, the government has formally apologized for these policies and the mistreatment and neglect of the Aborigines.  Now, it is moving to recognize them in the Constitution as part of the people of Australia. It makes you wonder how is it possible for the people of a country to have been so blind and cruel to their fellow man, just because they have a darker skin and a different way of life.

As expected, the Pope in Spain has warned against "secularism" and issued a call to arms to defend the "traditional family."  Spain, which is mostly Catholic - at least in name - has thrown off the shackles of religious dogma in public affairs and recognized the values of a pluralistic society.  The Church, of course, resents not continuing to have a sort of veto power over fundamental questions, as it did for much of the country's history.  Th so-called "traditional family" is in no danger of becoming extinct there or elsewhere.  Heterosexuals will continue to marry and have children; so will homosexual couples.  It's just a matter of choice; no one is forced to marry nor people of a certain sexual preference are going to change it to marry someone who doesn't share that preference. Even Catholics all around the world have realized that the Church's views on a host of things are a remnant of a past full of ignorance and intolerance, and

They've caught an American Navy SEAL smuggling 80 high-powered weapons from Iraq and Afghanistan into the U.S.  Evidently, the guy thought that, if all those private contractors were making tons of money over there, he certainly could go into business for himself, after completing his second tour of duty fighting for the American way of...getting rich quick. Two things stand out in this case.  First, the SEALs are part of the elite forces, the cream of the crop of military personnel.  These are people who are carefully selected and trained to the highest standards of everything.  Or so the legend goes.  Second, in this day and age of so much homeland security, with multiple checkpoints and all kinds of scanning devices, how could he have smuggled 80 big weapons . Obviously, either he had a lot of help or all that security is just another American myth.

Will the suffering in Haiti never stop?  How is it possible that one country has to endure so much tragedy and hardship?  Nature and human nature have both singled out that God-forsaken country to deny its people a normal life.  It's as if all of the world's ills were directed at Haiti over and over again.  As human beings, we know that life is often unfair, but in this particular case, it has been and continues to be  grossly unfair to people who are, in the final analysis, no better or worse that anybody else.

The Germans have acted swiftly and decisively against the Neo-Nazi radio station.  They have learned the lesson that these things have to be taken seriously from the very beginning, lest they get out of hand.  Hate speech and extreme xenophobia, if left unchecked, can grow until it starts to hurt people and challenge the State as a genuine threat to law and order. Freedom of speech can be abused, leading to a situation in which there is no freedom of anything.  The world certainly doesn't need the "Fourth Reich ."

Greed is back!  This, the year of the sequel to Wall Street , the Oliver Stone film, has also brought us the Republican victory in the U.S. midterm Congressional elections.  "Money never sleeps", indeed.  It has been at work during these past two years, waiting for its opportunity to put the people that best represent it in power.  They can't wait to get into office to, in the name of "limiting government", start eliminating or cutting back all those reforms that may help the poor, the sick and other undesirables. "Gordon Gecko for President!"

The American media has already begun to subtly badmouth Dilia Rousseff, Brazil's President-elect.  Sensing that she will continue Lula's refusal to be a puppet of the U.S. government, it has started to list her "defects" or "shortcomings."  First and foremost, she was a Marxist and a guerrilla fighter.  No matter that it was against a right-wing dictatorship that jailed and tortured her, the latter being somewhat disputed.  On top of that, she has no manners or comes across too strongly, even with her subordinates.  She has no international experience.  The only reason why she was elected is because Lula stood by her during the campaign.  In short, she's a disaster waiting to happen. So, from the American perspective, one is to suppose that the Brazilians have made a huge mistake in electing her by a comfortable margin.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating : on the whole, religion has been bad for mankind.  Not because it is bad in itself, but because of the way that it is usually taught and practiced.  Most people are taught that theirs is the one true faith and that they have an obligation to preach to others to convert them, so that they too can be saved.  Since this is the most important thing in life, then anything and everything is permitted, in order to achieve such a lofty goal.  The history of the world is full of examples of how religious beliefs have caused wars, persecutions, tortures and countless horrors. In 2010, we are still suffering from the religious plague on agnostics, atheists, infidels and unbelievers of all kinds.

Leaving aside the merits of doing so, legalizing marijuana in California would put the U.S. in an untenable position with Latin America.  Even its friends in the region have begun to point out the glaring inconsistency of the Americans' insistent demand that their countries fight "the war on drugs" wholeheartedly, while legalizing it on its home front.  It's being said time and time again that, without the American consumer, the Latin American producer would not have such a big market for its product. The strategy against drug addiction should have been revised a long time ago.  This is essentially a mental health problem turned into a law enforcement one by refusing to recognize it as the former.  Decades of saying that marijuana is the "gateway" to other drugs now prevent that public policy be changed because either they were wrong all along or they're giving up and giving in to potheads, and no one wants to go down in history with that on his record

If the Democrats lose big on Tuesday, Obama is going to have a very tough two final years of his term; not that the first two have been easy.  But, without a majority in Congress, he will accomplish very little of his agenda.  Local politics aside, which may explain some of the Congressional turnaround, this could also signal that, at bottom, the country feels that it gave a black man the chance to be President and he came up short.  So, they can take off the gloves and start tearing him down politically by taking away his vital support in Congress. In truth, this has been going on for quite some time now.  All those people who feel uncomfortable, to say the least, having a black man as President welcome the chance to neutralize him.  They have tried everything, from questioning his birth to his religion, to show how ill-suited he is to hold office because he is not a "real American."  Real Americans are white, so a black man can't be a "real President" of the

For a while, it sort of seemed like this time the world was really going to pay attention to Haiti.  But, as time has gone by, promises have been mostly unkept, and things have gone back to normal, that is, to the same disaster that was before.  Now that the outbreak of cholera there claims our attention somewhat, we glance over, but not with enough interest to keep us focused on the country's dire situation.  People have become used to the permanent horrible conditions of the Haitians, as if there was no other way that the country can live.  The problems seem insurmountable, so we tend to give up hope and leave them to their lot in life.  It's a very human reaction.  It is also wrong. The human reaction has to be balanced by the humane response to all the suffering of those fellow human beings.  Averting our eyes is not an option.

Harrison Ford, in his role as Vice Chairman of Conservation International, speaking at the Nagoya Conference on Biological Diversity, has denounced the U.S. as the only major country who refuses to support the international agreement to protect biodiversity.  Americans, who are so fond of proclaiming themselves as leaders of the free world and all the good causes of mankind, have been markedly reluctant to sign up on fundamental things such as the fight to combat climate change and protect the environment globally. I suppose that Ford must have felt, at the very least, embarrassed at having to admit that his own country, while lecturing the rest of the world on countless matters, chooses to ignore this vital issue.  In spite of old "Indiana Jones" himself warning them of the impending "doom".

The U.S. keeps going down the tubes.  In its latest report, Transparency International has dropped it to number 22 in its ranking, from least to most, of corrupt nations.  I think TI is far too generous.  From what we learn every day, corruption is rampant in all walks of life and at every level in the U.S.  Both the government and the private sector are rife with dishonesty in every way, shape and form.  Read any newspaper, listen to the radio, watch TV, and all you see is cheating of some kind, often by people who have no real need to do so, but are motivated by pure greed. Contrary to popular belief and propaganda, the "American Dream" is really a corrupt ideal.  By setting a goal of getting as rich as possible, as fast as possible, and retire to a life of leisure, the conditions are given for all sorts of moral shortcuts.  People will do anything for a fast buck.  The desire to get ahead no matter what, the obsession with success at all costs, of being a winner; all the

For the 19th straight year, what amounts to the whole world has condemned the U.S. for its embargo on Cuba, to no avail.  The U.S., who, supposedly, champions democracy all across the globe, extolling the virtues of voting, chooses to ignore a consistent and overwhelming result against it.  This year the tally was 187 to 2, with three abstentions.   In any other context, the Americans would demand that such a result be respected, representing, as it does, the expression of the international community.  But, in typical imperialistic fashion, they tell the rest of the world that it's only their will that matters, one to be imposed by the force of their arms and their money, and the United Nations be damned! This is quintessential American hypocrisy and cynicism.  Everybody else do as I say, but I won't accept any curtailing of my power.

What is the world coming to!  A town in Italy has decided to ban miniskirts and certain public displays of affection, to, supposedly, improve the general decency and morality.  The Church - needless to say, the Catholic one - is in full support of this medieval nonsense. I always thought that the whole idea of Italy was to show the rest of the world how to live and love with great abandon, caring very little about what others might think.  All those Fellini and Mastroianni films depicted what la dolce vita was really about. If we're not careful, pretty soon, we'll all be wearing sackcloth and whipping ourselves during a religious procession through the streets.

Much is being made of the firing by National Public Radio of Juan Williams, the newsman who made some comments about his fear of people dressed as Muslims after the September 11 attacks.  The discussion revolves around the issue of whether, given his position at NPR, he had the right to express his views so candidly or his remarks were openly-bigoted statements. What I find interesting is that Williams, being black, should have been much more sensitive to the fact that this is precisely what people of his color have complained about legitimately for a long time: their being targeted just because of the color of their skin or the way they present themselves to the world. Instead, he assumed the white people mentality of distrusting people of color altogether, especially foreigners, after a crime has been committed. In this, he behaved like most Americans first, not like a member of a minority that has suffered major discrimination its entire life, showing very little empathy for &qu

The U.S. government is crying "foul" again at the latest Wikileaks revelation about the American involvement in Iraq.  What it boils down to is that the U.S., once again, has lied to its own people and the rest of the world regarding the number of civilian casualties and the circumstances of those deaths, especially the ones that were the result of murder and torture either carried out by American soldiers or by Iraqis under their supervision.  But, instead of addressing these issues head on, the U.S. goes off on a tangent, claiming that this disclosure endangers its people there.  In other words, it's "an inconvenient truth." What's a few thousand dead Iraqis more or less, and their murder or torture, compared to the safety and well-being of American personnel? It's certainly true that "the first casualty of war is the truth."

This story has, at best, "sexual harassment" or, at worst, "gang rape" written all over it.  The U.S. Navy is going to assign women to submarines.  Given the track record of the naval and other armed forces academies with regard to improper sexual behavior against women, this will definitely put those women "in harm's way." I suppose this is part of the equality of the sexes that women have been demanding for decades.  It's one more space or territory that, legitimately, is being claimed by them.  But, human nature being what it is, this specific situation is conducive to trouble.  Sooner or later, the problem will "surface."

Recently, Venezuela has announced that it will buy a significant number of missiles from Russia, a deal worth millions of dollars.  At the same time, the U.S. is selling millions of dollars' worth of arms to Saudi Arabia. Now, do you think that the U.S. would be so hostile or even critical of Chávez, if he was the one buying all that stuff from the Americans? I think not.

I knew it!  There are indications that 90% of medical research is wrong, mainly because it's bad science; in other words, sloppy.  A study of dozens of major studies relied upon by the medical profession in recent times reveals that they were plain wrong and, in some cases, their recommendations did more harm than good.  I suppose that the fierce competition for research funding and, in academic circles, get published has led to manipulating data and claims that, ultimately, are not supported by the evidence.  That and the money spent by the pharmaceutical companies and other special-interest groups that want to promote their products or services in health care. Then again, this study could be part of the 90% that's wrong...

If we are to believe Obama, in that the "new" mission in Afghanistan is to turn the country over to its people, then it's going to take a long time and the outcome is quite uncertain.  Case in point is the readiness of the Afghan army, which is plagued by desertions, drug addiction and illiteracy.  If these are the people who are going to fight the Taliban primarily, then we might as well forget about "peace in our lifetime."  Training by the U.S. forces doesn't seem to have gone very well, and the prospects of an improved situation in that regard are slim, at best. So, the "new" mission is as much a failure as the "old" one.

Oh, boy! Will wonders never cease! With all of its troubles, the Vatican has found time to reflect on "Homer Simpson" 's Catholicism in an article on its official newspaper. While the Pope goes around apologizing for having done nothing but cover up the pedophiles in its rank and file, condemning the ordination of women as priests, evading talking about the banking scandal and insisting on celibacy, his people have deemed it important to watch The Simpsons , in order to point out the main character as a role model for Catholics and people of other faiths. No wonder the Church has gone to the dogs.

It used to be that our mothers would insist that we eat vegetables, as part of a well-balanced diet.  Not anymore.  Those peas and carrots can actually kill you, judging from some of the frozen ones sold at Wal-Mart, which contain "glass fragments" and are being recalled by the company. Once again, whatever happened to American quality control in the food industry?

I suppose that, now, Amnesty International is "wrong",  in criticizing - albeit, not too harshly -  the U.S. for its handling of the Cuban Five.  The U.S. applauds AI every time it "condemns" any other country for human rights violations, but now the shoe is on the other foot, and, surely, the Americans won't admit any wrongdoing in this case.  The fact is that those Cuban agents went to the U.S. to infiltrate the anti-Castro exiles who plan and carry out terrorist attacks on Cuban soil or against the Cuban government in any way, shape or form.  Their mission was perfectly legitimate, but the Americans, seeking to score some points in its struggle against Cuba, chose to cast them as "spies" against the U.S.  Furthermore, the legal proceedings have been highly irregular, but the U.S. Supreme Court, in its usually cowardly fashion when it comes to protecting the rights of foreigners in the "national security" context, refused to hear the case.

Have you ever noticed how, once out of government, high-ranking officials admit that "mistakes" were made during their incumbency?  Condoleezza Rice is the latest high-powered official that has been "illuminated" by being out of office.  I don't remember her admitting that the U.S. had done anything wrong while she was part of the Bush team.  It's only now, when it doesn't really matter; when it has no consequences for her and her boss at the time, that all that understanding and realization come to her.  Maybe, as Robert McNamara - who really took a long time to admit "mistakes" in the Vietnam war - Rice was enveloped in the "fog of war." I think that this is cynicism at its worst.  All these people, whom David Halberstam once called "the best and the brightest", who claim to be experts in everything under the sun, justify themselves by saying that they didn't know  or that they miscalculated this or that.  When in po

My skepticism grows exponentially with each passing day.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has admitted that it approved the use of a device to be implanted into injured knees, even though its own scientists specifically disapproved.  The reason: the Commissioner met repeatedly with a Congressional delegation whose members received campaign contributions from the device's manufacturer. As I've said time and time again, the American claim that its oversight of the production of goods and services and quality control are superior to those of the rest of the world is just propaganda, not to be believed or relied on blindly.  The private sector "lobbie$" very effectively, to get approval of things that are frequently not in the public's best interest.

Now, here's a piece of news that I relish.  A British farmer and former vegetarian has seen the error of his ways and now advocates the modest consumption of meat. Specifically, he has challenged the idea that eating meat contributes to global warming by the way that cattle and other livestock are raised and fed.  The man, who was editor of Ecology magazine, argues that U.N. data on that regard has been improperly interpreted. As for me, I agree with him wholeheartedly.  Eating meat twice a week will do you a world of good.  I don't know about the effect on global warming.  I do know that, every time I put a piece of a juicy steak in my mouth, I feel warm all over.

Although it wasn't altogether new, the 1992 celebration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America made it fashionable to malign Columbus big time.  From Indians from all over the Americas, who still hold a  grudge against the Spanish conquistadores , to latter-day revisionist historians, everybody got into the act of pissing on the erstwhile "Grand Admiral."  Year after year we keep hearing the same old story: he wasn't the first to come to America (everybody and his brother had been here before); if he was, it was only because he had some maps given to him by somebody else (or stolen) from somebody else; it was just a fluke, etc. It has become politically correct to badmouth Columbus. I suppose all those purists would have preferred that he stay home, leaving us all in a  perpetual Garden of Eden, untouched by the European culture.  This is nonsense.  No matter if, objectively, he wasn't the first to set foot on this part of the world or whatever adv

The Nobel Prize for economics has been awarded to three people who have studied the effect of government policy on unemployment.  Having majored in economics myself, before getting my law degree, I suppose that their work is full of  complex mathematical equations and theories about this or that.  I could've saved them a lot of work by inviting them to come to Puerto Rico, where the relationship between government policy and unemployment is quite simple: the government has decided to balance the budget and cut its spending, by laying off thousands of government workers, sometimes, both man and wife in a household. Brilliant idea, don't you think!  Worthy of the Nobel Prize for stupidity.

A recent accident on an Oklahoma highway shows the hidden costs of the economic crisis. A 76-year-old man driving a big and heavy truck, with barely four hours of sleep, fell asleep at the wheel, causing a major crash and killing and hurting multiple victims.  This is the result of a population that is increasingly forced to continue working well into old age under stressful conditions.  With poverty on the rise, many have no choice but to keep working way past retirement age, often holding two jobs, working overtime or doing double duty, just to make ends meet.  People are exhausted from too much work and not enough sleep. It isn't just the economic numbers that have gone down the drain.  It's the quality of life and, indeed, life itself.

Vargas Llosa's Nobel prize for literature is well deserved, no doubt.  As a writer, there is much to be admired.  Unfortunately, he became part of a group of intellectuals who have made a career of badmouthing Latin America, thus becoming media darlings of the U.S. and the rest of the world who love to find fault with this part of the world. It isn't a question of criticizing one's country, culture or region, but doing it in such a way that you end up playing into the hands of those who despise Latin Americans and confirming their worst fears and prejudices against us as inferior human beings who need to be dominated by people from the North, who always know better.  Unable to take care of ourselves and always making a mess of everything, let them come in to put things in order.  I think that the fact that Perú didn't accept him as its "savior" by electing him President was too much for his ego, and he has been sulking these past 20 years.  I suppose his views

It seems that, in the rush to foreclose properties with unpaid mortgages, banks and other lending institutions in the U.S. have been using faulty documents that invalidate the legal procedure.  In some instances, officials from these institutions have admitted that the number of cases has been so large that they haven't even read the documents being signed.  Now, they have stopped the procedures altogether, afraid that they wouldn't stand up in court, if challenged by the homeowners. This is part and parcel of the economic debacle in the U.S.  The construction and housing situation continues to be critical, and this latest development doesn't do it any good.  Uncertainty in legal transactions such as these leads to a major crisis in confidence in a financial system that is still reeling from bankruptcy and scandal.

You really have to hand it to the U.S.  There is no other country in the world that is more fair and generous to its people.  Case in point: the economic stimulus program.  The U.S. government is so worried about the welfare of its citizens that, in this recent round of handouts, 72,000 dead people and 17,000 prison inmates were sent the $250.00 check to stimulate consumer spending in the still sluggish economy. Now, I had heard of the "Welfare State", but this gives the concept of "from cradle to grave" a whole new meaning.  I don't think that $250.00 goes too far in the purchase of drugs, weapons or whatever else can be obtained behind bars, but I guess this is a small way in which "society pays its debt to criminals." Better luck next time, Obama!

The major raid by the U.S. Department of Justice against police and other law-enforcement corruption in Puerto Rico is a shame on two counts.  First and foremost, because it shows how widespread the corruption really is within the law-and-order community.  Second, because it continues to present our public institutions as incapable of "policing" themselves, dependent on the U.S. government to put things in order in our country. Police corruption, especially pertaining to drug trafficking, is nothing new.  There is just too much money to be made and the opportunity is too great to pass up.  Selling protection, be it to legitimate businessmen or illegal ones, goes back at least 80 years to the "golden age" of gangsters and racketeering in Chicago and elsewhere in the U.S.  Forty years later, New York was rocked by the scandal uncovered by Frank Serpico.  So, our cops are just part of a long line of "dirty" policemen who want a cut of all that drug money th

Were we to believe the American propaganda that passes for news, Hugo Chávez must be the most powerful and evil man on the planet.  Not a week goes by without some information on how he is subverting governments all around the globe.  Now, it's supposed to be that Venezuela is a training ground for ETA , the Basque separatist movement.  The fact of the matter is that ETA has been around since Chávez was a boy, so they hardly need his help in conducting their operations. This is classic American «disinformation», as they call it nowadays.  It's the same old story used against Fidel for much of his regime.  The truth is that the U.S. is the all-time world-record holder of invasions, interventions and bombings in other countries.  No one else comes close.

The Nobel Prize has often been controversial; usually about who it is awarded to.  Last year the controversy was about Obama receiving it for peace, given the fact that the man has continued to wage war on two fronts, and that it was considered premature, pending further developments.  This time around, the Academy has gone to the other extreme, awarding the prize for medicine 32 years too late.  The British doctor who made Louise Brown possible should have won at the time. Now, 4 million babies later, he gets the recognition that he rightfully deserved all along for developing in vitro fertilization. Shame on the Nobel Prize!

It's been said quite often that things would go better if women were in charge (Aren't they?). Well, it seems that there's a movement afoot to do just that in the Catholic Church.  Although it's still a very small movement, women are being ordained as priests in Europe, Canada and the U.S.  Of course, the Vatican has excommunicated these women and their male conspirators; in fact, it has gone so far as to put this rebellion in the same sinful category as pedophilia. I say: Let's give it a try; men have made an awful mess of the priesthood.  At least, this could bring the pedophilia numbers way down...

Now, I'm all for women's rights, breastfeeding and equal protection under the law, but, unless I'm missing something, I don't understand the ruling that, under Spanish law, the father has the right to time off from work for breastfeeding purposes.  See, I can understand paternity leave because the father is just as much of a parent as the mother is.  But, breastfeeding is the woman's role, not by some human law, but by the dictates of Nature. What is the father's function in the process?  Moral support?  Is this a new element in the "togetherness-in-parenting" agenda? Also, is it even practical to go home twice a day for a total of 30 minutes or leave a half hour early from work to watch your wife breastfeed your kid?  Is this some kind of kinky thing? Have we lost our minds completely?

In the late 1940s, American medical researchers wanted to test penicillin - then a new wonder drug - so they went south to Guatemala, full of disposable people, and infected 1,600 of them with venereal diseases. Those same researchers had done that and would continue to do so in Tuskegee, Alabama, full of disposable black people. Now, over 60 years later, this dastardly deed has been "discovered", and the U.S. government, headed by Obama and Clinton, have apologized to the Guatemalans. Ironically, the Americans had just finished fighting against Nazi Germany and its medical horror stories by Dr. Josef Mengele and others. That and the death camps were very much in everybody's mind in the post-WWII era. It was in that context that the Americans experimented on the Guatemalans.

All that gloating over Toyota 's and other foreign companies' troubles have come back to haunt American manufacturers big time.  Now it's Fisher-Price 's turn to recall 10 or 11 million toys for defects that have already harmed very small children.  American workmanship, once touted as the best in the world, has clearly gone down the drain.  Whether it's automobiles, drugs, food or toys, Made in USA  is  a seal of disapproval for shoddy manufacturing.  The assembly-line mentality of producing countless items cheaply and rapidly, without too much regard for quality, has finally failed all over the place. It's not cheap labor elsewhere or less regulations that have allowed other countries to out-produce the U.S.  It's the better technology and care put into the products, which even Americans recognize and prefer over their own products.  Whole industries or product lines have virtually disappeared from the American manufacturing landscape because their produ

Interrogation tapes that show how casually some American soldiers have killed unarmed and non-threatening  civilians in Afghanistan have surfaced.  The soldiers themselves have admitted that those killed were in no position to harm them.  They were picked at random, grenades thrown at them and then shot.  Just like that.  The "excuse" being that the soldiers were under a lot of stress and under the influence of illegal drugs and so forth. But, this is what Joseph Conrad masterfully describes in Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola shows in Apocalypse Now:  the dehumanizing effect of war, especially against people of color and ethnicity that is perceived to be intrinsically inferior to the white man.  So, much more of this savagery is to be expected from the perennial "good guys" from the USA.

In the "best" fascist and totalitarian traditions, the U.S. government has burned close to 10,000 copies of a book published by a former Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army about the war in Afghanistan, claiming that it contained sensitive information that would endanger "national security."  The author claims that he has consulted with the Army and had even deleted certain parts of his book, to make sure that there was nothing objectionable.  Apparently, that wasn't enough to satisfy the increasingly-secretive American government. I would bet that the book does contain embarrassing information to the U.S. government, and the "national security" issue is just a convenient excuse to censor it.  The more information that comes out of that war, the more it shows that there is very little heroism and a lot of criminal activity on the part of U.S. troops over there.  That and the corruption of private contractors paints a not very pretty picture.  So, book-burning

The rich keep getting richer, economic crisis or no economic crisis.  In fact, the crisis brought about the "bailout" to Wall Street, and we all know how that has turned out.  Case in point: Citigroup, who received $45 billion in government money went on playing fast and loose with its books, and now will pay $75 million to settle the case over charges brought against them by the Securities and Exchange Commission.  At the same time, it has been announced that the company will pay huge bonuses to its top 25 executives. Do the math, and then tell me if this isn't a sweet deal all around.

Cuba's move to increase self-employment while reducing the government payroll is not necessarily a bad thing from the socialist perspective.  What this and other measures adopted by the Revolution will do is test the resolve of the Cubans to stay true to the principles of the "new man" as espoused by Che Guevara.  The question to be answered is: Can you look out for yourself without being selfish, to the point of caring very little for your neighbor's well-being? If the Revolution has been truly successful, then it won't matter too much that a private sector exists within the socialist system, because people will do the right thing and greed won't rule in Cuba.

Now, I can understand the concept of "damage control" when something goes wrong.  But, what the makers of the Similac powder formula have done is simply outrageous and untenable; almost as bad as having beetle parts in their product.  To tell parents that there's really no cause for concern about this egregious health violation is to, literally, add insult to injury. This is another example of how the corporate world thinks nothing of its social responsibility; their only concern is the "bottom line."  They are worried about their image, so they would have us believe that this is a minor thing. Next thing will be the claim that it's actually good for babies.

ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is on the rise worldwide, or so they say.  Children are being medicated everywhere with Ritalin, at the drop of a hat.  There are skeptics who point out that, as a whole, people have become less tolerant of certain behavior associated with childhood, and doctors are much more inclined to oblige them by prescribing medication freely. Anyone who has had children knows that there's usually one who drives you crazy, but dealing with it comes with the territory, and more often than not, it's just a phase that the kid outgrows.  Being a good parent takes a lot of patience and stamina; it's not for the fainthearted.  Nor for people who are self-centered and see their children as a burden or something that prevents them from enjoying their individual "pursuit of happiness."

I try not to dwell on the Catholic Church's troubles, buy they're just too many and too serious to ignore.  Now, it's the Vatican Bank that's being investigated for money laundering.  Somehow, I find the phrase "Vatican Bank" incongruous with the man who lashed out at the moneylenders at the temple, but, then again, I left the Church a long time ago. This is not the first time that the Vatican has gotten in trouble over its banking deals.  Witness the Banco Ambrosiano affair, in which there was even a suicide or murder - depending on how you look at it - involving top Vatican officials.  So, it seems that, just as in the sexual-abuse cases, the Church is a recidivist. Maybe they're banking on the "70 times 7" times for the pardon of sins against your brother.

If truth be told, except in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, cricket is a minor sport on the world's playing field.  So, it's a shame that its moment in the sun has been clouded by the scandal surrounding the Pakistan team, involving betting and fixed games.  A second allegation has been made in this regard, and a preliminary investigation seems to support the finding of some sort of irregularity, to say the least. Were this to be confirmed, it would show that mens sana in corpore sano is just wishful thinking.  Athletes are no better than the rest of us, subject to the same temptations to make money the easy way.  They just have a better physique and great opportunities to cash-in on their athletic talent.

When I started this blog, it was a sort of "message in a bottle" thrown into cyberspace kind of thing; a way of connecting with non-Spanish-speaking people from around the world.  I also wanted to give it more of an international flavor, as opposed to my other two blogs; one on law and language ( Derecho y escritura) and the other on a potpourri  of subjects ( Medinadas ).  Little did I suspect that people from different parts of the globe would read it. So, it was a big and pleasant surprise to find out that I have readers in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, China and Vietnam, among other countries.  I suppose that they are somewhat curious about this blog from a place that is just a dot on the map to most of the world.  It could very well be that they find it amusing and - I hope - an interesting departure from other points of view on the Internet. In any case, I'm grateful to have all of you as my readers, even if you choose to remain silent.  Should yo

The obviously mentally-disturbed young woman who falsely claimed that someone had splashed acid on her face needs to receive psychiatric treatment...in jail.  This is a person who concocts a story in which a black woman is the culprit of a despicable act.  The story would've been bad in any case, but by casting a black individual as the guilty party, she deliberately appealed to the ever-present bigotry and prejudice against black people in the U.S. and could've caused tremendous harm to some innocent person. So, this is no prank gone wrong; this shows a meanness of spirit and a reckless disregard for the truth and the well-being of others.  She is 28 years old and, although there's something wrong with her, evidently, she had enough presence of mind to fabricate this story, for which she shouldn't go unpunished.

The whole world is painfully aware of Mexico's current situation; the lawlessness and savagery on its streets.  But, going so far as to question the bicentennial celebration of its independence on that account is, in my estimation, uncalled for.  Freedom, independence and liberty are values, in and of themselves, to be celebrated regardless of unfavorable conditions at any point in time.  Would those who question the celebration prefer that Mexico still be a colony of Spain? It's just downright silly to criticize this or any other celebration of a country's independence based on how well the nation may be doing.  Mexico has enormous problems, especially in the public safety area, but this is no cause for reneging on its independence.  As a Puerto Rican who longs for our own independence from the United States, I salute Mexico's freedom from colonialism.

Here's one of those studies that conclude the obvious.  In Norway, they studied the link between very bad acne and depression, and found that those who suffer from the skin condition are significantly more depressed than those who have clear complexions. Who wouldn't be? What is troubling is the fact that the researcher behind this study then goes on to recommend that acne sufferers keep taking Accutane, a medication which, among other things, may cause depression, has been ordered off the market by the FDA and is the subject of lawsuits there.  So, this may very well turn out to be the proverbial cure that kills the patient.

The Catholic Church must have a death wish. A German Cardinal who worked in the "outreach" effort to other religions has compared England to a "Third-World country" and made other disparaging remarks about the country that will host the Pope for a rare visit by the Catholic pontiff these past 500 years. These outrageous statements come amidst a general feeling in the British population that the Pope is unwelcome, given the Church's role in the sex and other abuse scandals all over the world. Needless to say, the Cardinal's comments are nothing short of incendiary. I would hazard a guess that the man, besides being supremely insensitive, must be senile, a not uncommon condition among Church prelates. I would also look into his background, especially what he or his father did during WWII...

Suicide in the American military is on the rise, and the main cause is - no surprise here - that the troops have been stretched too thinly for too long a time.  Fighting in both Afghanistan and Iraq has forced  the Army to deploy the same troops more than once, and the men and women who serve have been taken to the breaking point, with an increasing number of them snapping. I suppose that most of those who commit suicide have realized that they were duped into believing that they were fighting for a worthy cause.  Maybe the shock of seeing the war for what it is and what they as human beings have become has been too much to bear. If only they had had the moral fortitude to stay away from all that horror, they would still be alive.

Felipe Calderón is to be commended for rightfully placing a big part of the blame for Mexico's security woes at the American doorstep.  Both drugs and arms, the two major factors in the savagery on Mexican streets, are mainly an American byproduct. Americans are, at the same time, the biggest drug consumers and arms dealers in the world, so having them as next-door neighbors presents a formidable challenge to any country.  This is not to say that Mexico is completely blameless.  Canada is also a next-door neighbor to the U.S. and is light years from Mexico in this regard. Although the U.S. has begun to accept its share of responsibility for the Mexican situation, a lot more than lip service is needed to put things to right with Mexico.

The fact that the trapped Chilean miners are being supplied with cigarettes can be taken to mean either of two things.  First, that things are going so well in their rescue effort that we can all pause for a smoke.  Or, that this is the proverbial last wish granted to the condemned.  Obviously, at least some of them are heavy smokers, given the fact that they had been requesting cigarettes insistently.  Which goes to show everybody how strong the smoking urge can be.  I suppose that this also proves that they have more than adequate ventilation down there, or else that they have an enormous death wish and want to add secondhand smoke to their already dire situation. In any event, I would bet that the tobacco company would love to be able to use this as part of their publicity.  Imagine, "smoking is so good that you enjoy it even in the worst circumstances..."

The Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal won't go away; instead, it keeps growing every day.  Take the story out of Belgium, where a report has been issued that details what went on, including more than a dozen suicides linked to the abuse perpetrated by priests and  a cover up that continues to this day, when a Belgian bishop suggested that a complaint be withheld until 2011, when the bishop who covered up for the offending priest will retire.  With each passing day, it becomes more and more difficult to hold that this behavior was just the work of a few rogue priests.  There are just too many cases all around the world, for anyone to believe such a thing. This is clearly a major problem which the church tried to hide from the authorities and recklessly let it continue, without any regard for children elsewhere, by transferring priests.  There is no excuse for this unpardonable sin.

The U.S. Army acts "surprised" at the murderous and otherwise outrageous conduct of a group of soldiers in Afghanistan, who not only killed civilians, but did so in a particularly savage way and even went so far as to dismember corpses and keep body parts as "souvenirs."  The Army is being disingenuous, given the fact that the father of a soldier who knew what was going on repeatedly warned it about this practice. On the other hand, this is what happens when a racist country invades a land populated by people who are seen as inferior beings, almost non-human.  Then, anything goes because those people have no feelings; they are less than animals, fit only to be tortured and disposed of as waste.  This is why those "all-American boys" who are so decent at home, and whose death is mourned so much, find it so easy to go abroad to kill, maim, rape and torture Afghans and Iraqis or any other "sub-humans", for that matter.

We in the West, where there is a tendency to condemn anything and everything done in the East, especially in Islamic countries, should take a step back in the Iran case of the proposed stoning of a woman. Granted that the punishment smacks of a barbaric practice associated with biblical times. But, unlike the adulteress whose stoning was stopped by Jesus, there seems to be more to this one than meets the eye. Murder, for example. It seems that she had, at least, some prior knowledge that her lover was planning to do away with her husband. In fact, she has admitted that he told her so, although she claims that she thought he was joking and didn't take him seriously. Could be, but, given the fact that she would benefit directly from her husband's death, one has to wonder about her explanation. At best, the woman may not be guilty, but she certainly is not "innocent", a distinction worth a stone or two.

Now that John McEnroe is opening a tennis academy in New York, I think we should all remember that, despite all of his talent, he was, for most of his career, a bad example on the court, due to his rude and disrespectful behavior all over the world.  McEnroe's performance was too often punctuated with tirades against umpires with whom he disagreed.  He was loud and outrageous in his insults, constantly complaining about everything when things didn't go his way.  He was never graceful in defeat.  I remember one time, towards the end of his career, when frustrated by the fact that Ivan Lendl was the dominant player in the world, he remarked that he had more talent in his little finger than the whole of Lendl. If this is what he's going to teach his pupils at the academy, we can expect nothing good to come out of it.  I'm afraid that age hasn't give him any wisdom.  He has said that he sees himself as a Vince Lombardi figure.  You know, the guy who said that "wi

In the proposed Quran burning by a "church" in the U.S., to somehow mark September 11, the proper question to ask  is not whether this act will further endanger troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, but whether this is the right thing to do.  By posing the question on the former terms, the moral issue does not get the proper consideration; instead, it is subordinate to the safety of American troops abroad.  This would mean that, if there were no soldiers that could be put in a worse position by the book burning, then it wouldn't be so bad. If this is the real cause for concern, then, those who hold this view really care very little for other people's religion and human rights.

The so-called "run" on Kabul Bank, Afghanistan's major financial institution, seems to be a direct consequence of the "run" made on it by the Karzai family and its cronies.  The crisis of confidence by its depositors is just part of the general one about the country.  In this regard, the U.S., with its own experience of a failed banking system, should be of help to Afghanistan.  Rumor has it that Karzai's brother, who is the major shareholder in the bank, has requested that the U.S government bail out his bank. This is what happens when a country such as the U.S. meddles in another country's affairs so deeply and for such a long time.  People expect that they will continue to take care of things, and that solutions applied in the U.S. will be also applied over there.  If you go around "nation-building", then you have to deal with all of its consequences.  Bank failures included.