One Man's Opinion

Once again, the threat of a Federal Government shutdown in the U.S. comes up. This is becoming a regular feature in American politics. Both ruling parties cannot agree on the budget, and so, they shut down the government or come very close to doing so. It's an embarrassing spectacle, to say the least; one that, if it happened in some other country, would be met by derision by the Americans. Once again, those who lecture the rest of the world on democracy and good government engage in extremely-partisan politics, making  fools of themselves before their people and a bemused rest of the world.

The U.S. National Security Agency spying scandal is not going away anytime soon. With each passing day, it gets bigger and much more embarrassing for the Americans. First, it was the domestic spying. Then, it was the spying on foreign leaders. More recently, we have learned about NSA personnel using official resources to snoop on their lovers or spouses. Now, it seems that we'll soon find out about an assassination program run by the agency. It's a given that investigative reporters Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill have moved up on that hit list.  

A former Minnesota policeman has an idea that might help to prevent or reduce the deadly effects of incidents like the one at the Kenya shopping mall: lock-down drills. Based on his experience with one of the biggest malls in the U.S., he proposes that malls adopt a practice of allowing customers into a back room, lowering the gate and turning down the lights whenever a shooting or similar incident starts to take place. This way, the criminal has no access to any additional victims, and is unable to barricade himself inside a store. The idea is to contain the danger until the police arrives. The reason this isn't standard operating procedure is that store owners are more concerned about their merchandise being stolen by customers than saving lives. You know, anything to stop shoplifting.

Scientific evidence is great, but, in this case, anecdotal evidence was more than enough. Global warming is a fact of life. Here in Puerto Rico, we are going through a heat wave in "fall." As late in the year as today, we are enduring -- suffering is a better word -- 90-degrees-plus temperatures. This has gone on for a couple of weeks now. UN experts have said that they are 95% sure that climate change is, at least, 50% man-made. I'm 100% sure that it must be. It's going to be a long, hot year. In fact, according to scientists, even if the whole world did the right things from now on, the changes that are taking place will continue for centuries. Let's hope they're wrong.

I love Spain. It's one of my favorite places in the whole world. I love everything about it. And that includes its laid-back lifestyle, at least, as I can perceive it as a foreigner and somewhat frequent visitor. So, from my admittedly-egotistical point of view, I dislike the idea of Spain changing its time to coincide with England and Portugal. Though it may make sense from a geographical standpoint, the change would take away much of the charm of the Spanish culture as the world has come to know it for more than 70 years. As someone who appreciates the siesta and enjoys the nightlife, Spanish style, I think that mimicking the supposedly superior British work and other habits would be a mistake. To each its own. We don't want another London, as great as it is. Madrid would not be the same moving at another pace.

Cristina Fernández has told the UN the truth to its face. The Argentinean President has, rightfully, denounced the "double standard" that has been applied by the organization throughout its history, depending on the countries at issue. Big, powerful and rich nations get VIP diplomatic treatment, while small, weak and poor ones carry much less weight in that world forum. The veto power in the Security Council by the major powers is the single most undemocratic feature of an organization that, purportedly, aspires to set an example of democracy and freedom for the whole world, but, in some aspects, functions as a private club of a privileged few. Latin American leaders such as Correa, Fernández and Morales continue to speak boldly against the inequality that much of the world endures under international institutions that, supposedly, stand for peace and social justice.

Anytime the U.S. reduces its military forces, it's good news, not only for the American taxpayers, but, more importantly, for the rest of the world. The announcement that there could be 60,000 less soldiers and 50,000 less civilian employees in the Defense Department is cause for celebration. Anything that limits the U.S. war machine is a welcome development for other countries which are always under the threat of bombings, invasions and occupations from the Americans.

Sometimes justice is done in a roundabout and unusual way. This could be the case of the Argentinean justice system extending its grasp all the way to Spain to indict police officers of the Franco regime for crimes committed against its citizens. This is the other side of the coin that Spanish judge Garzón used when he boldly indicted Pinochet for crimes against Spaniards in Chile. Spain has been remiss in its duty to do justice to the countless victims of Franco and his henchmen over 40 years. His spiritual sons have barricaded themselves behind an amnesty law that has guaranteed their impunity. It is high time that someone, even from very far away, starts doing justice to those victims.

To the rest of the world, it's utterly incomprehensible that, in the face of repeated mass killings, the U.S. will not change its policy about gun control in a fundamental way. It is a nation held hostage by its weapon industry. A President that is powerless to stop the irrational and insane way in which his country behaves on this matter. A people condemned to, time and time again, bury its dead from senseless and preventable violence. A land born and bred in violence, that glorifies it and does not have the collective will to stop its citizens from having the means to so easily kill each other.

The fact that it's only now that sororities at the University of Alabama are being racially integrated shows how entrenched racism really is in the Deep South of the U.S. It has taken almost 60 years since the U.S. Supreme Court desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education for this to happen. Obviously, all these years there has been a resistance to accept black -- women, in this case -- people as part of these student organizations.   Not only that, but the University did nothing about it, not even when the granddaughter of one of its trustees was rejected by the sororities. Racial progress is really s-l-o-w in the American South.

Putting aside the conflicting versions about the denial of U.S. permission to the Venezuelan presidential plane to fly over Puerto Rico on its way to China, the issue is a clear example of our colonial situation. The undisputed fact of the matter is that the Puerto Rican government has absolutely nothing to say about the whole thing. We have no jurisdiction over our airspace; in fact, Puerto Ricans have very little jurisdiction over any aspect of Puerto Rican life. The U.S. Government, ultimately, controls everything in our country, either directly or indirectly, through laws, rules and regulations. So, this is just one more episode in a very long chain of events that embarrasses and humiliates us before the international community and ourselves.

The Pope has his heart in the right place in some key issues. It's certainly refreshing to read his statements, both off-the-cuff and in his first lengthy interview. I can't think of  another pontiff that expressed such liberal views as the present one. Contrary to others, he has unequivocally accepted the Church's failings, and seems to be acting diligently to correct them. He has also expressed the true values of Christ's message, not putting too fine a point on dogma and particular beliefs that should be secondary to compassion, love and mercy for one's fellow human beings. Let's hope that nothing happens to him, so that he will have enough time to reform the Church and lead others by his example of good will.

The French Senate has taken a step in the right direction, by banning beauty contests for girls younger than 16 years old. Let's hope that the National Assembly does the same. One would hope that other countries will follow suit. There is absolutely no good reason for parading very young girls in these pageants, full of the wrong values. There is something obscene and twisted in using children this way. As the woman who has led the campaign for the ban stated: "We are fighting to say: What counts is what they have in their brains." And in their hearts, I would add.

The latest U.S. official statistics reveal that, although the economic situation has not gotten worse, it has not improved either. About 46.5 million  people live in poverty, 15% have no health insurance, those with less income earn less and those with more income earn more. Not a pretty picture for a country that brags continuously about its success, indulging in all kinds of self-aggrandizing rhetoric. In the "land of plenty", there are plenty of people who have nothing.

You've got to hand it to the Americans. They are the businessmen par excellence . Nothing -- not ideals, ideology or principles -- comes between them and a good deal. Here's proof positive of it. We all know that the U.S. Postal Service is on its last legs, losing business and money faster than it delivers its express mail. But, now, all of a sudden, the U.S. Government is interested in reestablishing direct postal service with Cuba, 50 years after it suspended it. Coincidence? I think not. I would bet my bottom dollar that they have realized that this is a good business opportunity, and given the desperate situation the Postal Service is in, they are willing to pact with the Devil himself, otherwise known as Fidel Castro. As U.S. President Calvin Coolidge said: "The chief business of the American people is business."

As I've said before, I'm a life-long supporter of Puerto Rican independence. So, naturally, I'm sympathetic to independence movements all across the world, be it in Scotland or in Catalonia. I'm also a fervent believer in the democratic process. Free and fair elections are always the preferred means of achieving political goals. Though a country invariably tries to hold itself together, there are times when a part of it -- especially if it had been annexed by force -- wants to gain or regain its independence. Rather than fighting for or against it,  the question should be put to a vote. It's the civilized and democratic way. This is why it's unacceptable that Spain's national government won't grant Catalonia the opportunity to vote on its independence, especially, given the fact that more or less half of its people have expressed their desire to be independent. One cannot call oneself a democrat, if one is unwilling to play by the rules of the democrat

The level of stupidity regarding guns in the U.S. is...well, stupefying. If someone had said that  blind or legally-blind people  would be permitted to own and carry guns, it would have been a joke; a sick joke, at that. Well, Iowa is certainly serious about it. Taking the Second Amendment to the U.S.Constitution and the American with Disabilities Act to their extremely illogical conclusions, Iowa lawmakers have given the blind "the right to bear arms" because they have a constitutional right to do so, and also because disabled people cannot be discriminated against in any way, shape or form. Which, in effect, makes Iowa legislators " legally blind."

Sometimes you have to get to justice in a roundabout way. If criminals can't or won't be prosecuted, then they can be sued, and a finding of responsibility is achieved; also, the defendant is made to, literally, "pay" for his crime. This is what folk singer Victor Jara's family is doing in a Florida court against the man who ordered and carried out his torture and murder 40 years ago in Chile. The former military officer has been living in the U.S. since 1989, but a couple of American laws have made it possible for Jara's relatives to sue him for the crime he committed in Chile all those years ago. One previous case against a Chilean army officer living in the U.S. is a precedent. Let's hope that it is followed in this case. Note: I''ll be back on September 17, God willing.

Call me paranoid, but that tremendous power outage in Venezuela has all the markings of sabotage with some sort of intervention by the U.S. History teaches us that the Americans are relentless in their efforts to destabilize "unfriendly" governments by any and all means possible. The U.S. game plan, which includes all sorts of "dirty tricks" and covert operations, is to discredit the foreign government, by creating, fostering or making worse any difficulty or trouble the country may be experiencing. This way, the government gets blamed, and either it is toppled by an American-backed coup or it loses the next election. We'll see...

Although "it's better late than never", sometimes, it's so late that it almost amounts to never. There seems to be a new sense of urgency in prosecuting Nazi war criminals in Germany and elsewhere. Fine. But, one has to wonder if it really was all that difficult to locate them and gather the evidence of their crimes, so much so, that it has taken 68 years  from the end of the war. It would seem to me that the passage of time would only make it more difficult to do that. These people should have been brought to justice decades ago, when it meant something for the victims and their families. Very few of those who survived are still alive; even their relatives must be dead by now or suffering from dementia, so it doesn't matter to them. Condemning people in their nineties to life in prison or any prison term is a joke, and reeks of insincerity. It's one more cruel act against the victims.

Can you imagine the next meeting between Obama and Peña Nieto or Rousseff? If there is one. This is a man that has been spying on both the Mexican and the Brazilian presidents. Reading their e-mails and chats. How can he look them in the eye and carry on a normal conversation? This is the man who promised "change" in the way things are done. Who appealed to people to have "hope" in a different and better future. What a fraud! He may be smarter and more articulate than Bush -- who isn't?-- but he has continued the very same policies of the former President, and has come up short on delivering on his promises on major issues. Who can trust him and have any kind of faith in him, when he disrespects other world leaders in such a way?

As I've said before, I sympathize with labor and the downtrodden, but, sometimes, people with legitimate grievances go too far in their demands or the way in which they air their grievances. Take the Paraguayan bus drivers who, in the midst of a labor dispute with their employers, have chosen to "crucify" themselves, as well as go on a hunger strike. This is clearly extreme, and tends to portray them as people who are fanatical or even somewhat mentally sick and emotionally unstable, thus putting their claims in doubt. It reminds me of those Buddhist monks who set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule in Tibet, for example. I hope that no bus driver dies from this form of protest. It would be a waste of a life that could have carried on in a more rational way for itself and its loved ones.