One Man's Opinion

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.