One Man's Opinion

There are people who regard the U.S. citizenship as their most-valued possession. Foreigners go to the U.S., legally or illegally, to try to get that "Holy Grail." Ironically, there are increasing numbers of American citizens who live and work abroad, and are renouncing their citizenship, to become citizens of the countries they live in. The reason is that U.S. tax laws are extremely severe, forcing them to pay taxes even for income that is generated outside the U.S. by people who no longer or have never lived there, as the case of offspring of American citizens abroad. Not only that, but U.S. law requires foreign banks to inform on these people's finances, including those of joint accounts and ownership with spouses who are not American citizens, which leads to bureaucratic hassles that make their lives difficult. So, the only way they can avoid all of this undue hardship is by giving up their U.S. passport. There is life without it.  

I suppose that if I were the grandchild of a dictator, I would also "clutch at straws", trying to say something positive about him. This must surely be the case of Mussolini's granddaughter, who is running for Parliament in Italy. According to her, dear old Benito did some good things, like clean the swamps infested with malaria near Rome. (We always hear about his getting the trains to run on time.) To her credit, she does recognize his "monstrous errors", such as the anti-Jewish laws, the dictatorship and the violence that went with it. In view of which, cleaning the swamps looks pretty lame...

Here's why Hillary Clinton is "not inclined" to run for President in 2016. By that time she would be 69, and in her first year in office she would be 70. By the end of her first term she would be 74, and should she win a second term, she would be 78 at the end of it. Have you seen how she looks now at 65?

Not that it means a whole lot, but, still, the gesture has some significance. After 33 years on the throne, the Dutch queen, at 76, will abdicate in favor of her son. Not subject to election by the vote of her people, she has done the right thing by resigning, so to speak, and letting her son carry on with the royal duties. At 86, and 60 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth would do well to follow this example. Hanging on to the throne at her age and after so many years seems excessive and ungenerous. The same goes for King Juan Carlos, who has just turned 75, and has been on the throne for 37 years. His son will be 45 two days from now, so is already older than his father was when he became King. In Juan Carlos' case, he has, of late, given signs of poor judgment, that could very well be a result of his age. Queen Elizabeth and King Juan Carlos should follow Queen Beatrix 's example.

The U.S. Secret Service keeps messing up. As if the recent scandals involving its agents were not enough, now we know that it was also incapable of protecting a dog that worked for it. The dog was part of the security team assigned to Vice President Biden in New Orleans, and, while on the roof of the hotel where he was making a speech, fell to its death. One has to suppose that the dog wasn't by itself, so the agents or agents that were there were unable to prevent the "tragic accident." How about another investigation by Congress?

Of all the outrageous ideas that someone could come up with, this one takes the cake. In the Irish county of Kerry, some councilmen have proposed that farmers who live in isolated parts be allowed to drink alcohol over the legal limit and drive home, to combat an "epidemic of boredom and depression" that has set in since the tougher law has been passed. Luckily, the government has refused such a petition. The Irish have always been famous for their drinking habits, but nothing can justify such a proposal. To think that a part of the population deserves to have the privilege to drive drunk is to be really drunk.

It had to happen, sooner or later. The push for absolute equality of women with men would have to include their going to war in a combat role. It took a long time, but it's finally here. The U.S. military will no longer shield women from combat duty. So, from now on they will die, alongside their male comrades-in-arms. Who knows, maybe they'll perform better than their male counterparts. Women are tougher than men, in many ways. Now, they'll also be right. Dead right.

By now, most of the world regards Prince Harry of Britain as a sort of enfant terrible , although without the redeeming qualities of others who have earned that label. His statement about having killed members of the Taliban is both improperly boastful and ill-advised. Comparing it to playing video games is incredibly immature and insensitive. He is 28 years old, a member of the Royal Family and should know better than to make such stupid assertions. Clearly, he is not ready -- perhaps, will never be -- to be King, should unforeseen circumstances place him in that position. God Save William!

It's so outrageous, that one can hardly believe it. The Texas Attorney General is advertising his state as a haven for gun owners from New York who want to run away from their state's recent tougher gun laws. This is the same guy who has said that his job is to sue the U.S. government every time he disagrees with a national policy. Obviously, being an elected official, he represents the majority of Texans -- at least, of those who care enough to vote -- on this and other issues, so there's no chance of him being impeached or recalled from office. Texas was once a republic for a brief period in the 19th century. It's a big part of a South that resents the Union that won the Civil War, and having to live within its parameters. Add to that the fact that Obama lost in Texas in last year's election, and you can understand why this man who was also a Texas Supreme Court Justice is so emboldened to take such a stance.

While U.S. politicians discuss gun control, Americans keep using them to massacre each other on a regular basis. The latest is a teenager who has killed two adults and three children in New Mexico. Although there are very few details at this point, the killer had access to various weapons, including a semi-automatic, military-style rifle, commonly referred to as an assault weapon. The kind of weapon that Americans seem to be so fond of that they are unwilling to ban its use by regular people. Which begs the question as to what  purpose or use do these weapons serve? None, unless you're a crazy person in search of doing the most damage to innocent people in your family or community. So, once again, we'll hear the same platitudes about "thoughts and prayers" for the victims and their families, but then it's business as usual. The killing business, that is.

A damning report on the sexual abuse of children by German priests not only details its extent but also shows how the German Catholic Church went about concealing these crimes for decades, thus allowing the perpetrators to continue to victimize the same individuals repeatedly. Some of the victims have testified that they were persuaded to allow the sexual abuse by the priests' claim that it was a way of "being closer to God", a sick and twisted ploy if there ever was one. Still, there are those who point out that there 's more to know about this scandal, and that the Church hasn't been entirely honest about it. We'll see.

Yeah, sure. A former treasurer of the Popular Party, now in power in Spain, has $29 million in Swiss accounts, only belatedly acknowledged and paid taxes on, but insists that there is no connection to the party nor were payments made under the table to other officials with it. Two things. First, the amount of money, by itself, raises a red flag about its origin. He'd better have a very good explanation for where that kind of money came from. Second, although there is nothing illegal about having a Swiss bank account -- in fact, he had five -- everybody knows that scoundrels of all ilk have used them to hide their ill-gotten gains. So, that, right there, is a suspicious element that casts doubts over the legality of that money. As if it hasn't enough troubles of its own, the Popular Party, once again, shows its true colors as the party of the rich and infamous.

The suicide rate in the U.S. Armed Forces keeps climbing. The Americans blame it on the natural stress caused by combat situations and the repeated deployment of the same troops. There may be another reason that they choose not to consider, at least, not publicly. Maybe, just maybe, some of those who take their own lives are tortured by their conscience, once they realize that they are part of a war machine that kills innocent men, women, children and old people indiscriminately or wantonly. That is a heavy burden to carry around with you, and it becomes too heavy to bear. Thus, suicide is the option. An army psychologist took his own life recently. He just couldn't take it anymore. Even with all his professional training. Imagine what the regular Joe goes through in those tragic circumstances. Still, the U.S. war machine keeps rolling along.

It's never a good time to condone rape or joke about it. Right now, it's extremely insensitive and stupid, given the situation in India that has attracted international attention.  This is why the comment by a candidate to the Supreme Court of Indonesia suggesting that women may actually enjoy rape is so outrageous. While being questioned by a legislative commission on his qualifications for the appointment, he said that the death penalty for rapists might not be appropriate because both rapist and raped "enjoy" the act. Later on, he said that he was only joking. Worse.

It's one of those things that we suspected for a long time; like Jodie Foster being a lesbian. Lance Armstrong cheated to win all those cycling races. It was too good to be true, and it wasn't. People wanted to believe that he was superhuman, but he was all too human. The worst part is not that he cheated or denied it for years, but that he tried to destroy the people that blew the whistle on him. He went after them, forcing them to defend themselves, when they were telling the truth. Although better late than never, it may be too late to repair the damage to some of those lives.

Afghanistan should follow Iraq's example in refusing to grant immunity to U.S. troops, as a condition for their continued presence in the country. It is shameful that the Americans have the gall to propose such a thing; it would be shameful also, were Afghanistan to cave in to this outrageous proposal. Immunity from prosecution by the Afghan government is tantamount to declaring that Afghanistan is not a credible nation. Why should any other country, besides the U.S., have anything to do with it? If it's not deemed fit to prosecute American military personnel for crimes committed on its soil, then why would other countries have any confidence in it? What is it then that the Americans have accomplished there these past 12 years? Utter failure.

No, this is not a mistake on my part, nor is it a repetition of a previous posting on this blog. It's just that, crazy as it may sound, another U.S. sailor stationed at Okinawa has gotten himself drunk, violated the curfew and ended up trespassing at another Okinawa home. Evidently, there is a severe drinking problem, as well as a serious discipline one, among the troops, that compel these sailors to get themselves so drunk that, either they are unable to know where they are and what they are doing, or they just don't care and they thumb their noses at their superiors. In either case, the U.S. Navy in Okinawa is an embarrassment, a public nuisance and a threat to security and law and order.

In spite of the incessant self-aggrandizing rhetoric, the U.S. is woefully inadequate in fundamental aspects of life, like health care and quality of life. A just-released U.S. report shows that the health of the American people across the board is the worst of 16 peer countries. In all major criteria by which one can judge the health of a society, the U.S. comes in last. In a nutshell: Americans eat badly, don't exercise enough, are sicker and kill one another on a regular basis at a rate significantly greater than other comparable countries. Most troubling is the fact that children and young people in the U.S. are the prime victims of  a value system that allows or encourages personal choices that are inimical to their well-being.  Consequently, they live poorly and die sooner than their counterparts in other nations of the developed world. So, living in "the richest country in the world" doesn't translate into wellness for the majority of its people.

An international study reveals a shocking statistic: close to 50% of the world's food is wasted. Somewhere along the line or "food chain" -- pun intended -- from the agricultural fields to our mouths, it is damaged, lost or thrown away, for a variety of reasons. The thing I find most troubling is the waste that we as consumers indulge in on two accounts. First, people buy more food than they reasonably need. So, they end up throwing some of it away every month, either because it goes bad or because they get "fed-up" with it and don't want to continue eating it in a short period of time. Second, people order too much food or the portions are too big when eating out, and they are unable to finish it, so it gets thrown away also. Though we may have no control over what goes on in other parts of this food chain, we do have the ability to stop the waste on our end as consumers. All it takes is moderation and thoughtfulness. If we don't stuff ourselves day i

German reputation for efficiency is suffering a serious setback with the continuous postponement of Berlin's new international airport. Having been due for the summer of 2012, it's now scheduled for sometime in 2014...hopefully. I suppose that some Germans must feel somewhat nostalgic for the "bad old days" of the Third Reich when something like this would have been unthinkable. Even Hitler's junior partner, Mussolini, was credited for making the trains run on time. So, there's something to be said for fascism, after all. Democracy must be all fine and dandy, but, for sheer efficiency, nothing compares with totalitarianism, German or some other brand.

Adding insult to injury, the U.S. military went the cheap route when it wrongfully discharged homosexual servicemen and women, and then paid them only half of what they were entitled to. Now, going back to 2004, all those people affected by that decision will receive the full amount, just as any other soldier honorably discharged. One can only conclude that the original decision was an act of discrimination based solely on the prejudice against homosexuals; a sort of "punishment" for their sexual orientation or preference. A shameful example of bigotry and intolerance from those who go all around the globe bringing democracy, freedom and human rights to the oppressed.

Although one can sympathize somewhat with the French upper class over the 75% wealth tax being extreme,  running away from the country, as Gerard Depardieu has done, is also extreme. Actively seeking another citizenship just to avoid paying taxes is unseemly and pathetic. By the same token, publicly offering a citizenship of another country as a tax haven, as Russia has done, is also outrageous, and does very little to promote a good relationship within the international community. Although this is not the first time that wealthy people have chosen to leave their countries or take up another citizenship for tax purposes, it is certainly the most blatant or crude way of going about it. It's a shame that such a distinguished and admired artist such as Depardieu has behaved this way.

In what must be considered a new act of American "aggression" on Vietnam, Starbucks has decided to open its coffee shops there. The Vietnamese have been brought up in the French coffee tradition, so they know what real coffee tastes like. Anyone who has drunk whatever it is that  Starbucks serves knows the difference. It's bad and expensive; so, this might signal another American defeat in Vietnam. Deservedly so.

The testimony of a 22-year-old Afghan "soldier" who went over to the Taliban after shooting American soldiers confirms what I've been saying all along: Afghans are fed up with the American presence there. The young man specifically referred to the U.S. soldiers' attitude towards his people as the trigger that set him off.  He just couldn't take any more "rude and abusive behavior" by the American military there. He also mentioned the fact that the Americans are seeing as propping up a regime that is not to their liking. So, all this has turned to hatred of the U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. And that hate has made young men like this one commit murder, in order to get rid of the invaders and occupiers of their land for 12 years now.

For now, it's "cash only" at the Vatican. The reason: Italian banks are not allowed to do business there -- including providing credit-card services -- because the Vatican has not fully complied with legal requirements to combat money laundering. It's certainly embarrassing, to say the least, that an institution such as the Catholic Church "headquarters" has dragged its feet in this matter, thus creating this situation and bringing the world's attention to it. Millions of people all around the world visit the Vatican, and are now seriously inconvenienced, due to the Church's failure to do what should be not only a legal but also a moral duty on its part. Who's "minding the store" there?

Funny how the things people criticize in others are the very same they end up doing, as my grandmother used to say. Chavez's political enemies in Venezuela, the U. S. and elsewhere have made a lot out of the fact that his government has not been all that forthcoming -- at least not to their liking -- about his illness. Also, they have made much of the fact that he remains secluded for weeks at a time. Then, Hillary becomes ill, and for a month now, no one has seen her in public.  First, they said that she had a stomach flu, became dehydrated, "fainted" and had a "concussion" after falling down and hitting her head. Weeks went by and she was "all right." But, now, all of a sudden, they take her to a hospital because she had a "thrombosis." Then, they said that she had a "blood clot" in an undisclosed part of her body. Now, we know that it's in her head, which was the logical place for it to be. Still, we have not seen her. Bu

Spain came very late to the general non-smoking cause, but, as is so often the case, the newly-converted take a hard-line position on the issue that they had previously ignored or opposed. This came to mind today when, on a brief layover at Barajas Airport in Madrid from a week in Paris, I saw several signs in a store which sells quite a few cigarettes, that unequivocally stated: Fumar mata   or Smoking Kills . There were other signs as well warning of the dangers to one's health for smokers and second-hand smokers alike. Which begs the question: Why sell them?