One Man's Opinion

I've often said that the U.S. government is a compulsive liar; it cannot be trusted. For those who might think that I exaggerate, here's  further proof. It's now been reported that the Americans are not informing all of the attacks on U.S. forces by Afghan soldiers in Afghanistan, just the ones that result in deaths. So, a lot of attacks that either miss or wound soldiers go unreported. Now, why would the U.S., the world champion of truth and transparency, fail to include this data? The answer is obvious: it contradicts its propaganda about how it has managed to build a better Afghanistan, with the support of its people.The truth is that Afghans have a lot of gripes against the U.S. and the rest of its invaders --euphemistically called the Coalition -- and, increasingly, turn their weapons on them. One can only imagine what those people have gone through these last ten years with the American, British and French military ordering them around, while, largely, despising the

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has turned into the people we love to hate, for the way that they operate at airports. There have been countless episodes of misbehavior and rudeness to passengers, since taking over that function from private security. Now, if the situation at the Los Angeles International Airport is any indication, they may be using their position to allow drug traffickers to go on their way undisturbed. Four TSA employees have been arrested for taking bribes to let drugs pass through. It would be extremely naive to think that this is the first time or that these are the only employees involved. So, while they busy themselves checking babies for bombs or little old ladies in wheelchairs for guns, and pester everybody else for every conceivable minutiae, kilos of cocaine go through their "capable" and dirty hands.

The more they try to fix it, the worse it looks. As my son has just told me, was it really necessary to spell out to the U.S. Secret Service agents that it's unacceptable to drink excessively or go to brothels while on duty or even off-duty? One would think that these things would, in the immortal words of Jefferson, be "self-evident." Anyone with that kind of responsibility in public life cannot seriously contend that, unless these things are expressly forbidden, then they are permitted. In which case, the question becomes: Why were these things not clearly forbidden from the start? So, now, the Secret Service has come up with what the very perceptive comedian Bill Maher calls "new rules." Frankly, it's too late. The damage has been done. The Secret Service has "exposed" itself as a bunch of frat-house guys who go around the world binge-drinking and chasing women, especially taking advantage of those places in which prostitution is legal. Not a

It's official! According to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 70% of the weapons found at violent crime scenes in Mexico in the last five years come from the United States. When you put that together with the fact that most of the Mexican drug traffic serves the American population, you have a clearer picture of the Mexican crime problem and the part that the U.S. has in it. This, certainly, is not one of those Hollywood films in which the Mexicans are the only bad guys and the Americans are just innocent bystanders. Of course, jingoistic Americans will always refuse to accept their part of the responsibility for this situation. But, it's no longer tenable to blame just the Mexicans for the drugs and killings in their country.

Add El Salvador to the list. As was to be expected, the Colombia affair is not the only one in the "secret" file of the Secret Service. Just last year, something very similar happened in San Salvador, in what is beginning to look like "standard operating procedure" by those men in black. Those who have tried to downplay this thing by assuring the public that this was an isolated incident should shut up and let it all come out, before embarrassing themselves further. You would have to be extremely naive to believe that this was the first time that something like this has happened. The Secret Service had to know; they just let it slide because "boys will be boys." By the time this is over -- and it's going to take a while -- we're going to see that, contrary to Obama's assessment, there are more than "a couple of knuckleheads" involved in all this.

Not to badmouth the Dominican Republic, but these days its international reputation has been tarnished by some very high-profile cheating. Baseball fans are aware that some Dominican players in the U.S. Major Leagues have signed contracts under assumed names or have lied about their age. Now, the winner of the Miss Universe pageant in the Dominican Republic has been stripped of her crown, when it was found out that she was really a Mrs., being married since 2009. None of these things are innocent mistakes or misunderstandings. They are clear attempts at circumventing rules and regulations, from people who think that they are very slick and can get away with anything. It may very well be that this is part of Trujillo's legacy. In order to survive his brutal dictatorship and that of Balaguer's  for such a long time, Dominicans had to do whatever was necessary, even though it may not have been on the up and up. Thus emerged a culture of bending, if not breaking, the law and the

First, it was Colombia; now, it's Brazil. Or, to be exact, the other way around.  The American Secretary of Defense, who is in Brazil, has had to admit that, last year, three Marines and an embassy official had to be punished and removed from their posts and Brazil, for having been involved in dealings with a prostitute that turned violent. I suspect that, before long, we're going to hear a lot more stories like this one, from all around the world. It's great that we get to know what all those supposedly clean-cut guys are really doing overseas, under the pretense of promoting democracy and freedom, as well as saving those countries from themselves. Now, we know that they are partying, drinking and whoring, and haggling over the price of sex. No wonder the American Empire is going down the tubes.

I've always thought that those "passion plays" in which actors are whipped and nailed to a cross are a sick way to celebrate Christ. Now, in Brazil, they have really gone too far, by allowing the actor who played Judas to swing from a tree in his reenactment of his hanging. Something went wrong, and he was left hanging for four minutes, enough to kill himself. Apparently, cast and crew lost track of time, admiring the unusually realistic performance. One would hope that something like this convinces people to show their faith in saner and more constructive ways.

The myth of the noble American soldier, fighting for God and country, is falling apart by the day. As if all the other military scandals were not enough, it's been reported that, increasingly, U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan are using heroin and also trafficking in it. Right away, there are those who point to the"horrors of war" as justification for this, but I suspect that these guys would get high no matter what, especially in a country such as Afghanistan, which produces 90% of the world's opium. Anyway, this is another black mark on the American armed forces overseas, something that could explain, in part, the very odd and outrageous behavior that they have engaged in with prisoners and corpses, as well as the killing sprees against innocent civilians.

The vast majority of domestic workers in the U.S. are immigrant women. The vast majority of them are exploited in more ways than one. So, for them, the American Dream is a nightmare of abuse, low wages and general disrespect. So much so, that there is a growing movement to organize them, to fight for decent wages and working conditions. There have been a number of cases of public figures and rich people who have gotten in trouble for employing undocumented workers, not paying their Social Security and incurring in other violations. This gives us a sense of how widespread these illegal practices are across the U.S, and how people in high places, including the government, take unfair advantage of these poor women who just want a decent job, while providing critical services for, among others, the growing elderly population.

The U.S. Secret Service scandal has temporarily taken the spotlight from the General Services Administration one, but this one is also a biggie. As new information comes to light, what initially looked like an isolated incident by some employees, now is a full-blown scheme of corrupt practices from the top down. The latest revelations involve the Administrator himself and his wife, both of whom abused his position for private benefit and gain. All this from the man who oversees the Federal government agency that sets the standard for the responsible use of public funds in purchases and other expenditures. Once again, this is just another example of how the U.S. government, ever so boastful of its superiority over other countries', is as messed-up as any other around the world, should not be regarded as a model for anything, and is in no position to lecture anybody on public administration.

Credit where credit is due. U.S. Catholic bishops are calling on the government to end the embargo on Cuba. Although this is not the first time they have done so, the renewed effort is worthy of praise. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration doesn't have the moral courage to do "the right thing", as the bishops have so aptly put it. The U.S. has never been very good at recognizing its failures or mistakes. A fifty-year-old policy is difficult to change. There's too much pride behind it, and the fear is that ending the embargo after all this time could be seen as sign of weakness, something that is anathema to the U.S. So, the bishops should pray for a miracle, because otherwise...

Just when you think that it couldn't get any worse...it gets worse. The U.S. scandal sheet grows longer by the day. What they like to call "misbehavior", in order to minimize it, keeps surfacing, and, like in the Catholic Church's case, it's no longer possible to say that these are "isolated incidents." As time goes by, we learn that this has been going on for a long time. U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq behaving much like the "savages" that they, supposedly, are there to defeat. What is scarier is the fact that there are Americans back home who justify this or anything else that their soldiers do. They find it impossible to condemn actions such as the latest revelations of U.S. soldiers "having a good time" with the remains of those people. As I've said before, once you dehumanize others, it's easy to kill, maim, pillage and rape them. It's not that the "horror" of war changes them into monsters, as the

So what if some people in Cartagena, Colombia think that the Secret Service agents did nothing wrong. There are people who just don't get what certain legal or moral standards are all about. The fact that this is getting the press' attention is a way to start spreading the idea that this isn't so bad after all. The thing is that, the more we find out about the whole affair, the worse it looks for everybody, not just the Secret Service but the military personnel involved. It has gone from just one guy and a prostitute to 20 guys and 21 prostitutes. From an indiscretion one night, to a week-long partying at the hotel and a brothel. So, I'm afraid that all the PR in the world is not going to save those agents and military guys from being fired and demoted.

All is not lost with the Catholic Church. The Filipino Church has taught the whole world a lesson in standing up for Nature, God's gift to mankind, by refusing to hold mass in a shopping mall in which there were plans to cut down some trees. Surprising as it may seem, it is customary there to celebrate mass in malls, but, this time, the developers wanted to eliminate some trees, the Church opposed it, and had the moral fortitude to do the right thing by God's creation. If only more individual churches around the world were willing to act on principle in this and many other things, the world would truly be a better place.

No sooner do I think of writing about something else, that a piece of news on the Vatican gets my attention. This time it's its involvement in the 1983 disappearance of a teenage girl who was a daughter of a lay employee there. The case remains a mystery to this day, but there have been disturbing signs along the way, that point to the fact that people in the Vatican know more about it than they have been willing to admit. The latest and perhaps most telling sign happened this past Good Friday at a ceremony attended by the Pope, in which a priest publicly called upon unnamed individuals to not go to their graves with information about crimes. I suppose that the Church is too far gone in its moral turpitude, to let a call like this change anything. It's always preferable to preach about sin in an abstract way or condemn abortion, premarital sex...or just sex in general, than to face its own sins, of which we know more about with each passing day.

The U.S. Secret Service, whose track record isn't exactly spotless, has really disgraced itself this time. As the whole world knows by now, while in Colombia, setting up Obama's security for the Summit of the Americas,  a dozen or so of its agents took time for some heavy drinking and whoring. They were flown out of Cartagena, and a new team had to be flown in to complete its mission. As if the things that have happened in Afghanistan and Iraq were not embarrassing enough, now those law-enforcement agents closest to the President of the United States of America have behaved like students at a frat party or on spring break. Maybe the analogy is not all that far-fetched; it seems that, when these supposedly-clean-cut types go overseas, they feel that they can get away with anything. They're Americans, goddammit! And they can do as they please with the "natives" of those other lands. It makes you wonder about how all those Presidents have been killed or shot at.

The Trayvon Martin case has, once again, brought to the fore the issue of racial profiling in the U.S. But, there's another side to this practice: the one that goes on at U.S. airports against, for example, people from India. The prejudice or preconceived notions toward Indians is so strong that even well-known public figures such as actors and politicians -- frequent travelers --  are detained repeatedly for a long time and body-searched, as has been the case of a woman diplomat. In the latest case, a famous Indian actor who was traveling to Yale to deliver a speech, although recognized, was held for two hours, and got there very late. In 2009, he had been subjected to the same treatment. The Indian government is rightfully disturbed by this systematic targeting of its citizens by the U.S. authorities, and has threatened to apply the same measures to U.S. citizens. Maybe, if they strip-search Hillary Clinton, the Americans will stop harassing the Indians.

A Spanish nun, allegedly involved in a baby-trafficking ring that operated for decades in hospitals, has taken a "vow of silence" on the whole affair. As if the Catholic Church's troubles all around the world weren't enough, now comes this nun and, instead of invoking God, chooses to invoke her right not to incriminate herself, which, of course, ends up doing just that. Nuns and priests, of all people, should be forthcoming in all their actions and on all they know. So, when a member of the clergy or a religious order does what your typical hood does, it signals that that person is guilty as hell. The nun, who is 80, will probably meet her maker soon enough. If that doesn't prompt her to come clean about what she knows of these horrendous crimes, then, may she burn in hell!

According to the World Health Organization, dementia is on the rise and fast all around the world. The longer we live, the better chance that we will lose our mind to Alzheimer's and other related diseases. The mistake we've been making is accepting this as inevitable. The fact is that, if diagnosed early, it can be treated successfully. There is nothing normal about this erosion of our faculties, and we should not accept it as part of growing old. Unfortunately, only a handful of countries have adopted a clear public policy on this matter, while the rest are allowing its older citizens to fall prey to this "madness." At the present rate, the number of dementia patients worldwide will triple by 2050. It would be a miracle if I make it to 100 by then, and an even greater miracle if I realize it.

The Libyan young woman who claimed that she had been gang-raped by soldiers and fled the country has been living in the U.S, but, by most accounts, including hers, she's not a happy camper. It seems that she thought that her hard-earned celebrity was a one-way ticket to easy street in the land of the rich and famous. Maybe she dreamed of a book and a movie deal, or a reality show all her own, and now, she's disappointed. She doesn't even like American food. People who have tried to help her have had a hard time doing it because she seems to be very impatient and doesn't want to follow procedures and comply with requirements to receive certain benefits. In short, she's resentful, spoiled and wants preferential treatment. This why many have even doubted her account of what happened in Libya. Even taking her at her word, others feel that she has used the incident to manipulate public opinion, get herself out of the country and start a new life elsewhere. Well, she go

Well, it seems that Leon Panetta, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, has been getting a sort of "free ride" in commuting from his home in California to Washington, D.C. The man goes home every weekend on a military plane, pays a nominal fee -- $17,000 up to now -- and the rest -- about $860,000 --  is paid by the taxpayers. Of course, Panetta was very upfront about this perk, and it's nothing new: he had the same privilege as CIA Director. But, still, it's quite a tab that is surely resented by all those people who are having a hard time making ends meet, as well as a government whose economic situation is fragile, at best. When the President talks about the need for everyone to tighten their belts, this kind of expenditure is in very poor taste, to say the least.

It's interesting to note that, although Israel and the U.S. are usually in sync, they are at odds over the life sentence of a man who spied for Israel in the U.S. and is still serving it 25 years later. The Israelis may be Uncle Sam's favorite nephews, but they misbehaved badly by spying on him. So, not taking it kindly, the Americans decided to make an example of it. They were generous enough not to execute the man, but chose instead to incarcerate him for the rest of his life. From time to time, Israel has asked that he be released, but to no avail. Now, the man is allegedly sick, and, once again, they are calling for his release. We in Puerto Rico should follow this case closely because one of ours, Oscar López, has been in jail for more than 30 years for trumped-up charges dealing with his political convictions about our country's independence from the U.S. We too have begged that he be released, due to time served, his age and health conditions, but the American Em

That prostitution is legal in Spain is an enlightened approach to an age-old situation. The problem now is that human traffickers have set up camp firmly on Spanish soil and the "world's oldest profession" is no longer a more or less free choice to make a living, but a brutal slave trade made up mostly of foreigners. This is no victimless crime or just a moral issue anymore. Nor Spaniards are entirely blameless. Data shows that there is a significant domestic demand for sexual services in the country, in addition to the "tourists for tricks" that come in, mainly from France, where prostitution is both illegal and more expensive. Hard economic times -- around 50% of Spanish youth are unemployed -- have also forced women into prostitution. All in all, it's a dire situation and an embarrassment for a country that a generation ago was among the most conservative and sexually repressed in the world.

The Church -- and I mean the institution as a whole -- is in deep trouble everywhere, for a very basic reason: it doesn't practice what it preaches. It is particularly ironic that this Holy Week, when Christendom celebrates the life of a man who epitomized all the right values and virtues that human beings should aspire to, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church was photographed wearing a $30,000 wristwatch . Worst of all, when the photo that appeared online began causing a stir, Church officials doctored it, so that the watch was no longer visible. Unfortunately for them, they forgot to erase the watch's reflection on a very well-polished table. So, the Church has had to not only admit that the watch exists, but also that it tried to cover it up. Jesus Christ!

Part of the Yale University community is up in arms over its involvement in establishing an academic institution in Singapore, whose regime is at odds with the American university's ideals. Apparently, they weren't paying close attention to what was going on in recent years in this regard or, as some claim, they were waiting to be consulted and expected that a vote would be taken on it. Some of the low profile surrounding this could be due to the fact that a number of trustees and other important Yalies have vested interests in this, so to speak, joint venture. Although some have resigned or recused themselves from the decision-making process having to do with this, one would have to be extremely naive to not see through it as a technicality to appear averting a clear conflict of interest. Meanwhile, in Singapore, they have fired back at the holier-than-thou attitude by this Yale faction, by pointing out, quite correctly, that the Guantánamo detention facility and the Patri

By the looks of it, the nation-building aspect of the U.S. mission in Iraq is a failure. If getting rid of Saddam Hussein was done to pave the way for democracy, freedom and human rights, the Iraqi government doesn't seem to be headed in that direction. The latest moves signal the opposite, curtailing civil rights and passing laws that reflect a society in which religious dogma and practices are paramount and result in oppressive measures. Still, if these laws are passed following the legislative process, then, by definition, they are the will of the people and the law of the land. After all, this is part of what a democracy is; the American way, so to speak. So, the U.S. shouldn't complain about what their intervention has wrought. One can find these things abhorrent, but if that's what people choose for themselves, so be it. Or is another invasion and occupation in order, to force a particular notion of freedom on them?

It seems to be a classic case of being a victim of its own success. For a long time, Holland has been a very tolerant society on the use of marijuana, thus, inadvertently, creating a tourism niche for itself. Apparently, it has gotten to a point in which this has become a problem. So, the Dutch government has moved to limit the selling of small amounts in coffee shops to its own citizens, with some other restrictions. What seemed like a good idea at first, an enlightened approach to the universal tendency to use drugs, has turned into a questionable image for the country. It is certainly not a positive thing for a nation to be visited by a large number of people aiming to smoke pot. The Dutch were extremely naive in thinking that something like selling it in coffee houses would not get out of hand. There are just too many potheads in the world, and many of them would surely take advantage of something like this. Now, the whole thing has gone to pot, with owners of  these establishm

Another political leader disgraces himself for dishonesty. The Hungarian President has resigned over allegations of plagiarism of his doctoral thesis. Ironically, his work was on Olympic history and competition, which is based on lofty ideals of fair play and mens sana in corpore sano. The university that awarded his degree stripped him of it, so that pretty much sealed his fate, protestations of innocence notwithstanding. Although his post is largely ceremonial, there's no doubt that the man has embarrassed himself and his country, for something that wasn't worth it. Academic honors or titles are nice to have, but they are no longer that significant in a world full of them. The only reason people are paying attention to this now is because of the scandal; otherwise no one would really care one way or the other.

Technology is a wonderful thing most of the time, but it also has its dark side. In the wrong hands, it enhances and multiplies the capability to do harm, either by individuals or by the State. In a "1984"ish sort of way, governments, big and small, in the U.S. have begun to eavesdrop on cell-phone conversations and text messages, as well as trace the whereabouts of its users. Even small-town police departments are purchasing the technology to do all this. Of course, they claim that this allows them to fight crime more effectively, and there's no doubt that it can, but the chilling effect on everyone's right to communicate privately is tremendous, and there seems to be no stopping the State from intruding in the privacy of its citizens. Isn't it ironic that the "world's leading democracy" acts increasingly like the totalitarian regimes that it constantly chastises for practices such as this one?