One Man's Opinion

In case some of you think that the Saudi deal I wrote about yesterday is not par for the course for the U.S., here's another sweet deal, although not as lucrative. The Americans are selling a $3.48 billion  missile-defense system to the United Arab Emirates, a group of seven absolute monarchies that no one would claim is a model of democracy and freedom. Still, they have the money to make Washington and its political donors from the private sector happy, so who cares about any of those legal niceties? As long as they have the cash, dictators all around the world can rest assured that the U.S. will sell them all the weapons they want. And throw in its soul, for good measure.

What a nice Christmas present! The U.S. Government has closed a deal to sell $30 billion worth of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. Now, the last time I checked, Saudi Arabia was an absolute monarchy , with no constitution, civil or human rights to speak of. Doesn't it strike you as odd that, at a time in which the Arab world is in turmoil, struggling, precisely, to achieve democracy and freedom, the Americans would choose to help arm a country that   is just the opposite of what people are fighting for? Of course, there are 30 billion reasons for Uncle Sam to rationalize this egregious contradiction. So, while the U.S. chastises and lectures many other countries about its values, it laughs all the way to the bank,  after dealing arms to, in many instances, its future enemies in a war.

It may be easy to dismiss Chávez's comment on the possibility of the U.S. being behind the cancer epidemic among left-of-center Latin American presidents as the ranting and ravings of a lunatic, but I wouldn't put it past the Americans to do anything in their power to get rid of their "enemies." The fact is that the U.S. track record in this regard is quite disturbing and revealing. Consider the case of blacks in the South in the 1940s that were injected with syphilis and left untreated, to see what would happen. In Puerto Rico, several decades ago, we had an American doctor who experimented on our people as part of a government project and a political leader who was also the subject of radiation while in custody by the U.S. government. Now, we know about the experiments with the Guatemalans, and who knows how many more of these episodes we are bound to find out. Weren't all these things "horrific and reprehensible", as the lady from U.S. State Departmen

I've got news for all those noble souls who really think that the U.S. military is led by "officers and gentlemen" trained in the military academies: there has been a  60% increase in sexual assaults in those hallowed halls.  Sexual shenanigans are nothing new in military academia; from time to time, a scandal breaks out, and then the issue is forgotten for a while. But, such a sharp increase from one year to the next is certainly significant, especially at a time when both in Afghanistan and Iraq those "boys next door" and "clean-cut types" have been caught with their pants down way too many times. If this were a joking matter, we could say that these guys are just practicing for the "rape and pillage" part of their military mission overseas. But, of course, this is no laughing matter. Once again, this is part of the "reality check" that reveals the truth behind all that American propaganda that casts their military personnel as

It's ironic, to say the least, that Jews, who have been so persecuted throughout history, be as blatantly intolerant of their own people. This is what's happening in certain parts of Israel, where ultra-Orthodox Jews have become abusive and violent to other Jews, demanding that they adhere to an extremely strict code of conduct based on ancient religious beliefs and practices. Interestingly enough, some of the things they engage on are reminiscent of Nazi laws and procedures. All this time, people around the world have been led to believe that religious fanaticism was something that only Arabs and Muslims took part in. Now, the holier-than-thou Jews are seen acting as stupidly and viciously toward their fellow men as any other human group on earth.

Cooking is serious stuff, and dangerous too. In Chile, the Supreme Court has ordered a newspaper to pay $125,000 to 13 --unlucky number -- people who tried out a churros recipe that turned out to be faulty. When those readers followed the recipe exactly, the churros exploded and burned them, some more severely than others. So, 7 --lucky number for the unlucky readers -- years after those incidents, they will be compensated for their injuries. The Court held that the newspaper should have tried out the recipe -- which calls for boiling cooking oil --  before publishing it, to make sure that it was safe. I suppose that chefs and cookbook authors everywhere will now practice "defensive cooking"...

Unless I'm missing something, Chevron's claim that plaintiffs' lawyers and the Ecuadorean judge that handed down  a decision to grant $18 billion in damages for an oil spill did something wrong because the lawyers helped to draft the court's decision is frivolous. I don't know about Ecuador judicial procedure, but it's common practice for a judge to ask for a draft of a decision by the winning side. As long as the judge does not rubber-stamp it, that is to say, accept it without a careful review of the facts and the law, there is nothing objectionable about this way of helping a judge do his duty expeditiously. So, I suppose that this is a tactic to smear reputations and have a higher court overturn the $18 billion verdict, which, I'm sure, is the real issue here.

Another Christmas story to warm your heart and rekindle your faith in your fellow human beings. All across the U.S., police have had to be summoned to keep the peace at shopping malls that have the new Air Jordan athletic shoes on sale for $150. Hundreds of people have turned violent at the stores, ripping off doors, injuring themselves, others and even policemen who have intervened to restore order. Merry Christmas and Peace on Earth to all men of goodwill !

Wow, what a Christmas story! A survey done in the U.S. reveals that a significant number of Protestant churches won't have services on Christmas Day because it falls on a Sunday . But, wait a minute. Isn't Christmas the birthday of the man that gave rise -- no pun intended -- to all this? Wouldn't it be the perfect occasion to celebrate it? Well, it seems that those churches are expecting a low turnout, so, they are not going to bother opening up shop, if not enough customers are going to show up. Or maybe this is the equivalent of giving the day off to employees on their birthday. Except this is the "Boss" we're talking about, and He hasn't shown up in a long time. Which goes to show you that there isn't much faith out there in the Second Coming...

To those of us that are convinced that very little happens in this hemisphere without the U.S. being involved, one way or another, it comes as no surprise that the Americans knew all along about the theft of babies from the so-called "subversives" by the Argentinean military during the "dirty war" thirty-some years ago. After all this time, it is only now that the American government acknowledges, through declassified documents, that, at the highest level at the State Department, it was well aware of what was going on. But, as in so many other instances, it chose to look the other way, simply because the victims were worse than expendable; they were "communists", "leftists", "socialists", "subversives" or "terrorists", unworthy of any protection. So, the U.S. Government did what it usually does: it supported the right-wing military junta  and kept quiet about the theft of babies, to be sold or given to pro-government

At "best", it's a suicide; in the worst case scenario, it could be homicide or murder. A 19-year-old Chinese-American U.S. soldier in Afghanistan "apparently" killed himself after being physically and verbally abused by his fellow soldiers, on account of his ethnic makeup, something he had written home about. Though the investigation is just starting, there are eight soldiers, including an officer, who have been charged with different counts of illegal conduct related to this death. American racism is so strong that, even in a war zone, being perceived as "different" carries a lot more weight than wearing the same uniform. It's also easy to see why killing others who are really different is no problem, be they man, woman or child, unarmed and at the mercy of those with guns.

Mercosur's moves to accept Venezuela as a member and sign a free-trade deal with Palestine are welcome developments in a continent that has being subordinate to the U.S. for far too long. Welcoming Chávez into the fold of this important economic regional bloc is a way to strengthen it, and, at the same time, send a message to the Americans that Latin America will no longer follow Washington's dictates. The same can be said of the deal with Palestine, which flies in the face of American foreign policy and its Israeli counterpart. Latin America is big enough and has enough people and resources to go its own way without the U.S.' permission. Acting together, our countries can stand up to American economic imperialism, doing what is in our own best interests, not just to accommodate the U.S. The proof is that, while other economies are floundering, Latin America, as a whole, is doing better than ever. This is the wave of the future.

Here's a chilling statistic that speaks volumes about American society, the one that holds itself as a model for the rest of the world: by the time they're 23, from 25% to 40% of young people in the U.S. is arrested for crimes other than traffic violations. In other words, American youth is significantly in trouble with the law early on, which would explain a whole lot about the crime rate and why those young soldiers find it so easy to go on killing sprees overseas in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Anyway you look at it, this spells failure and "the American Nightmare." A country that has so many of its young people arrested is in deep trouble, and civility, decency and the rule of law are just words without any concrete meaning in daily life. Nothing to be admired or copied.

The European Union is to be commended for taking a collective approach in refusing to sell a key ingredient of lethal injections to the U.S. No other country or regional bloc should cooperate with the U.S. in carrying out its barbaric practice of putting people to death. Let the Americans kill their own people with their own resources and in their own way. They could always go back to lynching blacks or using Latinos as target practice. Lethal injections have been portrayed as the "humane" way of executing people, although that has been contested. Maybe it is best to apply the death penalty without any mitigating element, so that people can appreciate it in all its brutality.

I always thought that college fraternities and sororities were kind of stupid and vapid. Any organization that would mistreat someone in order to prove him worthy of being a member couldn't be any good. But, stupidity dies hard, and, once in a while, we all have proof  of it. The chapter of a fraternity at the University of Vermont has been suspended for a survey taken by the fraternity, in which it inquires about who the members would rape, if they had a chance to . It should come as no surprise that the fraternity had been disciplined before for violations related to drinking, another one of those traditional fraternity activities. It all makes you wonder about the kind of riff raff that continues to make up these dumb clubs.

The child-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church keeps growing, making it impossible to hold, with a straight face, that this is just the work of a few "bad apples." The problem is so big, and the cover up so massive, that decent Catholics are dumbfounded. There is simply no credible or rational explanation for something this serious and widespread having gone on for so long without nothing being done about it. A case in point is what has been revealed by an independent commission appointed by the Dutch Catholic Church to look into the child-abuse problem.The commission found that the problem dates back at least 60 years, involves some 800 priests or Church personnel and that there are thousands of victims. It also concluded that the Church was aware of what went on, and, basically, did nothing. In other words, par for the course for the Catholic Church.

Common experience -- if not history -- tells us that one should never gloat over other people's misfortunes, because, quicker than you can imagine, you have troubles of your own. This comes to mind when one learns about the disturbing episodes of terrorism or vandalism that have sprung up in Israel these past few days. Call it what you will, far-right and other Jewish extremists have gone on a rampage against Arabs and the State of Israel itself. It seems that previous incidents had gone largely unpunished. So, feeling encouraged by the State's lax stance, these people have escalated the level of violence. Israel must feel embarrassed, to say the least. Touting itself as the only true democracy, respectful of human rights and all-around good guy in the region, this very dark side of people who, purportedly, are eternal victims of the neighboring Arabs and the rest of the world tells a different tale.

This has been a bad week for American drones. First, it was the one that was either shot down by Iran or it just fell down on its own. Now, another one of those unmanned planes -- this one used for spying on the Indian Ocean pirates -- crashed at the Seychelles Islands, giving credence to the theory that the drones aren't all that great to begin with. By the way, you've got to hand it to the Americans. Obama has had the gall to ask the Iranians to give back a plane used to spy on them . Just a few days ago, the U.S. denied that the plane Iran put on TV was theirs, hinting that it was a fake. So, I suppose that, now, either they want a non-existent plane or a fake one.

Americans are well-known for not passing up the chance to make a quick buck. So, when "9/11" happened, many saw it as a golden opportunity to cash-in. These were either the "heroes" or the "victims." In some instances, they were both. Take the case of  a former naval commander who was at the Pentagon on that fateful day. He got out of the building, but then went back to help others get out to safety. In the process, debris fell on him, and he was awarded more than $300,000 in compensation for his injuries. Reality check: he wasn't injured at all. He used an old wound to claim compensation. Now, he has been sentenced to three-and-a half years in prison for fraud. Maybe, if there hadn't been all that rush to find "heroes" for the occasion, and the hero-worship of the military, he would've been caught from the start.

The Americans have a hard time accepting failure, especially, at the hands of those they consider inferior, which is to say everybody else on the planet. This is why they have chosen to deny that the unmanned plane the Iranians have presented is one of the drones they use to bomb in a cowardly fashion or, as in this case, spy on other countries. So, they have assumed the position that the plane is a fake, in spite of having to admit that there is a drone unaccounted for. Of course, how could it be that the lowly Iranians, with their Stone-Age technology could bring down the latest aircraft of the almighty Americans! Better to speculate that there was some malfunction of the plane, and it went down on its own. Not exactly something to write home about, but, still, better than to give Iranians any credit...

An important part of the American myth and propaganda revolves around the way that the U.S. "honors" and reveres its military, especially those who die defending the nation or furthering its principles of democracy and freedom everywhere on the planet. There is no end to the lip service given to servicemen, and the media does its patriotic duty by presenting them in the most favorable light possible, dubbing them "heroes" unquestionably. So, it's nothing short of shocking to know that for a long time -- some say as far back as the last 15 years -- the remains of many of those "heroes" have wound up at a Virginia landfill, that is to say, a garbage dump. What has happened is that, frequently, the only things recovered from the battlefield are body parts that are supposed to be cremated and disposed of in a dignified manner. This is what relatives are led to believe happens when they sign a release to that effect. But, the Armed Forces has taken the sh

The headline got my attention. "Nuns and the Birth-Control Pill." Wow, I thought, another Catholic Church scandal! Unfortunately, it was nothing of the kind. It's just that there are medical studies that suggest that it might do nuns some good to take the pill, for its potential benefits in protecting them from cancer. Given the fact that women who never get pregnant and don't have children have a higher risk of developing various forms of cancer, some researchers believe that being on the pill might improve nuns' chances of avoiding the disease. Of course, it could also lead some of them astray...

For the past 50-odd years, the world has regarded Tibetan monks as a sort of "species on the verge of extinction" by Communist China, martyrs of the cause of freedom. The Dalai Lama, being the high priest of peace and harmony around the world. Richard Gere made Tibet's cause fashionable among celebrities, becoming its unofficial spokesman. Given all that spirituality, it's embarrassing, to say the least, that, in India, the third in rank in the Tibetan monk hierarchy had $1.35 million in cash at his monastery . When queried about it, the answers haven't been that forthcoming. Allegedly, these were "donations", he knew nothing about them, and his staff was unaware that there was anything illegal in the matter. Take your pick of disingenuous statements, surprising in those who do so much breast beating over morality. I suppose that, being of another culture, they have never heard of "render unto Caesar"...

The American reaction to the British Petroleum oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico was, among other things, an exercise in xenophobia: much was made of the fact that the company was British , as if to drive home the point that nothing good can be expected of foreigners. Now, it seems that an American company is partly to blame for the disaster. Halliburton, no less, Dick Cheney's day job and scavenger in Afghanistan and Iraq. BP not only claims that Halliburton was at fault, but, significantly, that it destroyed evidence of its wrongdoing. So, there is enough blame to go around, and that includes the Americans, who so self-righteously demonized British Petroleum.

In a very tragic way, the Vietnam War hasn't ended. It's been almost 40 years since the U.S. ran home defeated and humiliated, but its legacy of death and destruction endures. Since 1975, more than 100,000 people have been killed or wounded by live bombs all around Vietnam, part of the 16 million tons  of bombs and explosives left by the Americans. So, they left, but they are still killing "gooks" -- as they so fondly referred to  the Vietnamese --  on a daily basis. Now, the Americans, who are generous to a fault, have contributed $62 million to Vietnam's effort to clean up its "killer fields." Of course, it's been estimated that it will take about $600 million  to complete the cleanup. Meanwhile, thousands more will die because decades ago the U.S. decided to destroy a country, in order to "save" it.

Maybe all those who, taking their cue from the Americans, love to demonize Hugo Chávez should ask Haiti's President for references. The man has come out recognizing that, right now, Venezuela is doing much more than most to help his country. As was to be expected, all the international concern about Haiti's plight after the earthquake has lessened considerably. Only those who are truly compassionate have the staying power to continue helping. So, Chávez has put his money where his mouth is in a big way. I'm sure that Haitians couldn't care less about his politics in or outside Venezuela. The only thing that matters is that he is lending a hand where and when it's most needed.

Starting with Pinochet, Spain has tried, either successfully or unsuccessfully, to bring foreign officials to justice for crimes against Spanish nationals in other countries. Currently, it is seeking the extradition of two Americans and 13 Salvadorans in the military for the deaths of five Spanish priests in 1989. Let me make a prediction here and now. As soon as Mariano Rajoy takes office as Spain's President, the matter will be dropped. Easy: the man is a  Franquista at heart, and this kind of digging in the past reminds everybody too much of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime. Also, Rajoy won't do anything to upset the U.S. directly or indirectly, given the fact that the Americans supported the Salvadoran military in the war that ravaged that country. So, the Americans and the Salvadorans don't have to lose any sleep over the extradition requests.

See, this is why I try to stay away from doctors as much as possible. Studies made in England, Germany and the U.S. show that most doctors-in-training don't know when to wash their hands as they tend to patients. No wonder there are so many deaths due to mysterious "bacteria" in hospitals! Anyone who has been to a hospital with some regularity knows that they are far from being spotless. So, if you add to that the fact that doctors don't wash their hands as they should, frankly, you're better off staying at home and taking your chances with whatever disease you have. By all accounts, you'll be handled more cleanly.

You have to wonder at the kind of stupidity that goes on at many colleges and universities, where supposedly smart people go to learn. Take hazing, a "noble tradition" that refuses to die, in spite of students dying from it. The latest case is the one of a member of Florida A&M University marching band who died after being beaten by fellow members. There is evidence that some officials from the university have done their part in trying to discourage this practice, but it hasn't been enough. Obviously, unless people go to jail for these crimes, this thing will go on. What is most disturbing is that, according to some observers, these actions take place off campus and are consented to by the new members, as something of a rite of passage, by which they have to prove their manhood or some sort of sophomoric bullshit. What a warped sense of values in these young people!