I posted this below in the Comments section.
I mean, I'm a liberal and all. I really supported gay rights, and women's rights back in the day, back in the Seventies and Eighties when it wasn't cool in some places, like certain junior highs I attended, to object to disgusting hateful comments. And I don't mean fag jokes or silly race jokes like the one about sticking velcro on the ceiling to keep black kids from jumping on the bed, I mean really nasty niggers ought to be lynched stuff, which is what a few of these Texas rednecks were hearing at home. Try standing up for gays under those circumstances. I'm not pinning a medal on myself, among other things because I bought into the nuclear peacenik stuff when I was in college the first time around and then was proved, fortunately, wrong.
I was of little help in getting rid of Communism, but people like me, and there were millions around that time, were the vanguard of the shift in social climate, in which we're now debating not whether gays shouldn't get beaten up but whether they should adopt kids.
And there's only so far people like me can go with the free sex do what you will stuff. You know, having sex with another man, that's not too gross if you don't get anal. That's revolting, whether you're gay or straight. I'm sorry. Nature was not designed for that. But if you want to do it, I can deal with it. Don't ask me to celebrate it, but I won't complain at all if you do it.
As for lesbians, of course, they're totally cool, especially if you're the meat in the sandwich, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.
I understand this is a double standard, but come on, there are contradictions in all philosophies.
This sex with children stuff, now, that's totally out of the question. Unless, of course, you're in ninth grade and the French teacher with the big knockers nails you. Then it's cool, even though they'll put her in jail if they catch her.
OK, that's a contradiction, too, but bear with me.
This sex with animals thing, though. I'd find it hard to stand up for people into bestiality. In fact, I'd probably be part of ostracising them. No violence, but that doesn't mean we have to be friends.
And I am completely weirded out by what appears to be this large pervo bestiality ring that extends all over the world on the Internet. Jesus Christ. I thought there might be fifteen or twenty freakjobs around the world into this.
Next thing I know we're going to find a necrophilia message board.
Not that this turns me against the Internet. I still think it's the greatest invention since antibiotics.
But you can't distribute kiddie porn on the Internet, and you shouldn't be allowed to distribute bestiality porn, either, since a crime has to be committed in most jurisdictions in order to produce the porn.
I don't know whether bestiality is legal or not in Kansas, but if it's illegal, and I were the attorney general, I'd use that to close these guys down.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
I posted this question over at the Straight Dope.
Black and white flag at Tour de France
I've done some searching for this and can't find anything. At the Tour de France, which I watch every afternoon in July, I see fans waving flags in the pattern of the American flag, but with black and white stripes and what appear to be about twelve small pine trees on a white field. I've been seeing this for the past several years. As far as I know it's not a Basque or Catalan separatist flag, and as far as I know it doesn't represent any of the teams. I can't figure out what it means, and I see it several times every day. This is starting to get on my nerves. Please help.
Black and white flag at Tour de France
I've done some searching for this and can't find anything. At the Tour de France, which I watch every afternoon in July, I see fans waving flags in the pattern of the American flag, but with black and white stripes and what appear to be about twelve small pine trees on a white field. I've been seeing this for the past several years. As far as I know it's not a Basque or Catalan separatist flag, and as far as I know it doesn't represent any of the teams. I can't figure out what it means, and I see it several times every day. This is starting to get on my nerves. Please help.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Here is these freaks' chatroom. You will not believe this.
http://www.beastforum.com/index.php?s=0cb036fcb68f7fe5c5a908b1293af7df&act=idx
http://www.beastforum.com/index.php?s=0cb036fcb68f7fe5c5a908b1293af7df&act=idx
This is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard of. It is apparently true, since Reuters and MSNBC have it up. Good God. Why, for the love of Christ, would you want to do this?
SEATTLE - A Seattle man died after engaging in anal sex with a horse at a farm suspected of being a gathering place for people seeking to have sex with livestock, police said Friday.
The horse involved in the incident was not harmed, and an autopsy of the unnamed man concluded that “the manner of death was accidental ... due to perforation of the colon,” a police spokesman said.
“The information that we have is that people would find this place via chat rooms on the Web,” said Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Department.
Although sex with animals is not illegal in Washington state, Urquhart said that investigators were looking into whether the farm, located in Enumclaw, 40 miles southeast of Seattle, allowed sex with smaller animals that resulted in animal cruelty, which is a crime.
“If you’re talking about sheep or goats, there could be some issues,” Urquhart said.
SEATTLE - A Seattle man died after engaging in anal sex with a horse at a farm suspected of being a gathering place for people seeking to have sex with livestock, police said Friday.
The horse involved in the incident was not harmed, and an autopsy of the unnamed man concluded that “the manner of death was accidental ... due to perforation of the colon,” a police spokesman said.
“The information that we have is that people would find this place via chat rooms on the Web,” said Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Department.
Although sex with animals is not illegal in Washington state, Urquhart said that investigators were looking into whether the farm, located in Enumclaw, 40 miles southeast of Seattle, allowed sex with smaller animals that resulted in animal cruelty, which is a crime.
“If you’re talking about sheep or goats, there could be some issues,” Urquhart said.
Friday, July 15, 2005
The squatters did it again. They planted a homemade bomb made from a pressure cooker, three tanks of camping gas, and high-powered fireworks at a Fiat dealership in a Barcelona suburb. Probably the guilty parties are Italian anarchists and local squatter allies. Nobody was hurt. But we don't need this. Arrest these guys and squeeze it out of them. They're amateurs and will fold up. And they're not hard to find.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed, and squatter terrorism needs to be stopped right now before this turns into Renteria or Durango or Irun.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed, and squatter terrorism needs to be stopped right now before this turns into Renteria or Durango or Irun.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Get this. I just translated it for the Spain Herald. Unbelievable. Never heard of this guy before, but he's a violence-worshiping psychopath if I've ever heard of one.
Frabetti says London dead are not “innocent victims” if they voted for Blair
Self-proclaimed "writer and mathematician" Carlos Frabetti published an article on Thursday analyzing the June 7 bombings in London, Frabetti wondered, "Is London itself an innocent victim?" and answered, "Of course, if any of those affected had supported the invasion of Iraq or voted for Blair, then he would not be an innocent victim." Frabetti also said that a Muslim who kills supporters of Bush, Blair, Aznar, Berlusconi, or Zapatero would be the same as a Jew who killed a supporter of the Third Reich.
Frabetti's column, titled "Accomplices and victims," was published on Thursday in the newspaper Gara, the paper that Basque terrorists use to express their ideas and warn about their attacks. In that column, Frabetti, who is also an author of children's books, continued his support of Muslim terrorism, as he already had after September 11 and March 11. According to Frabetti, the only terrorism is committed by the State, and everything else is the way of struggle of the poor.
Frabetti cited French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre and his thesis that all men are "half-accomplices, half-victims." However, he then declared that said thesis is not completely true since some are only accomplices and not victims at all, and then applied this thought to the victims of the June 7 bombings.
He asked, "In what measure are the Londoners who suffered the June 7 bombings victims and in what measure are they accomplices? Are they innocent victims as the politicians and the media keep repeating, 100% victims on Sartre's scale? Is London itself an innocent victim? Regarding individual persons, they should be analyzed case by case, and, of course, any of them who supported the invasion of Iraq or voted for Blair in the last election would not be an innocent victim." Regarding London itself, Frabetti asked, "Was destroyed Berlin at the end of the Second World War an innocent victim? If the answer is negative, the same is true for London."
As if this were not enough, Frabetti continued with his "comparisons, which are the only way to understand things." He asked, "How would we judge a Jew who during the Third Reich had attacked a supporter of Hitler? Do we have the right to judge any more harshly a Muslim who attacks a supporter of Bush or Blair? Or of Aznar. Or of Berlusconi. Or of Zapatero, who is expanding the naval base at Rota so that American bombers will be able to continue massacring Afghans and Iraqis."
This is not the first time Frabetti has expressed this sort of ideas. After the March 11, 2004 bombings in Madrid that killed 192 people, he said, "Without the criminal embargo that killed two million Iraqis, and without the massacre of the Palestinian people, there would have been no March 11. Without the criminal conspiracy of the 'trio of the Azores,' there would have been no March 11." In the same article, Frabetti said, "Compared to the invasion of Iraq, 'Islamic terrorism's' greatest atrocities are mere incidents." Regarding ETA terrorism, which has attacked Spain for more than four decades, he said, "We cannot talk about ETA terrorism without also talking about, and above all, State terrorism."
In September 2001, Frabetti wrote, "Hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims will become human bombs against the United States, to use Kim Il Choi's words. And dozens of millions of us Westerners, including many Americans, will support them. And Ben Ladin was right: there will be no peace in the United States while there is no peace in Palestine and in the other countries stained with blood and looted by the most evil of empires."
Frabetti says London dead are not “innocent victims” if they voted for Blair
Self-proclaimed "writer and mathematician" Carlos Frabetti published an article on Thursday analyzing the June 7 bombings in London, Frabetti wondered, "Is London itself an innocent victim?" and answered, "Of course, if any of those affected had supported the invasion of Iraq or voted for Blair, then he would not be an innocent victim." Frabetti also said that a Muslim who kills supporters of Bush, Blair, Aznar, Berlusconi, or Zapatero would be the same as a Jew who killed a supporter of the Third Reich.
Frabetti's column, titled "Accomplices and victims," was published on Thursday in the newspaper Gara, the paper that Basque terrorists use to express their ideas and warn about their attacks. In that column, Frabetti, who is also an author of children's books, continued his support of Muslim terrorism, as he already had after September 11 and March 11. According to Frabetti, the only terrorism is committed by the State, and everything else is the way of struggle of the poor.
Frabetti cited French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre and his thesis that all men are "half-accomplices, half-victims." However, he then declared that said thesis is not completely true since some are only accomplices and not victims at all, and then applied this thought to the victims of the June 7 bombings.
He asked, "In what measure are the Londoners who suffered the June 7 bombings victims and in what measure are they accomplices? Are they innocent victims as the politicians and the media keep repeating, 100% victims on Sartre's scale? Is London itself an innocent victim? Regarding individual persons, they should be analyzed case by case, and, of course, any of them who supported the invasion of Iraq or voted for Blair in the last election would not be an innocent victim." Regarding London itself, Frabetti asked, "Was destroyed Berlin at the end of the Second World War an innocent victim? If the answer is negative, the same is true for London."
As if this were not enough, Frabetti continued with his "comparisons, which are the only way to understand things." He asked, "How would we judge a Jew who during the Third Reich had attacked a supporter of Hitler? Do we have the right to judge any more harshly a Muslim who attacks a supporter of Bush or Blair? Or of Aznar. Or of Berlusconi. Or of Zapatero, who is expanding the naval base at Rota so that American bombers will be able to continue massacring Afghans and Iraqis."
This is not the first time Frabetti has expressed this sort of ideas. After the March 11, 2004 bombings in Madrid that killed 192 people, he said, "Without the criminal embargo that killed two million Iraqis, and without the massacre of the Palestinian people, there would have been no March 11. Without the criminal conspiracy of the 'trio of the Azores,' there would have been no March 11." In the same article, Frabetti said, "Compared to the invasion of Iraq, 'Islamic terrorism's' greatest atrocities are mere incidents." Regarding ETA terrorism, which has attacked Spain for more than four decades, he said, "We cannot talk about ETA terrorism without also talking about, and above all, State terrorism."
In September 2001, Frabetti wrote, "Hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims will become human bombs against the United States, to use Kim Il Choi's words. And dozens of millions of us Westerners, including many Americans, will support them. And Ben Ladin was right: there will be no peace in the United States while there is no peace in Palestine and in the other countries stained with blood and looted by the most evil of empires."
I sent this one to Libertad Digital a few weeks ago and they didn't use it, so here goes. My comments are in English. The original text is in Spanish.
The image of an imperialist, uncultured, rapacious, hypocritical, capitalist, and generally offensive United States is very common in Europe and especially in Spain. Just for example, here are some quotations from an article published in a Spanish magazine which deals with ideas and culture. I've left them in the original Spanish. I put the quotes in bold and italic so they'll be easier to read.
"He aquí un imperio fallido: Norteamérica. Este pueblo anglosajón ha sido dueño en los últimos años de los resortes triunfales. Cuando en la historia universal un pueblo lanzaba sobre el resto del mundo la cantidad de apetencias que el mundo actual debe al pueblo yanqui, ese pueblo convertía todos sus afanes en afanes imperiales. El imperialismo yanqui existe ciertamente, pero en forma ramplona, cobarde y, a la postre, según ha de verse, ineficaz...
"Yanquilandia es, en efecto, una república despreciable. Pueblo sin grandeza que se entrega a un centenar de banqueros y les encomienda la indicación de las rutas. Los banqueros prefieren un imperialismo hipócrita, la captura de las aduanas y el falso respeto a la libertad de los pueblos, a esa otra tarea fundamental que exigiría hondas sinceridades y peleas gravísimas: el ejército imperial agarrotando pueblos más débiles y truncando destinos pequeñitos...
"No ha faltado voluntad de imperio a los magnates que dirigen la república yanqui. Pero, repetimos, afanes mediocres, sin dar la cara, temiendo las complicaciones leguleyas, huyendo el escándalo internacional, sin firmeza, cobardemente, como quien hace un delito y teme que lo vean...
"Los yanquis han controlado los últimos veinte años. Su influjo está ya en decadencia, y un día cualquiera veremos que se rompe en mil pedazos su pretendido poderío. No se peca en balde contra los valores eminentes ni deja de castigarse de algún modo la mediocridad. Hispanoamérica tiene ahora la palabra...
"¡Nada con Yanquilandia, pueblo desleal, mezquino e hipócrita!"
This article isn't from one of those pro-Castro magazines run by a few ex-hippies. Nor is it from one of those anarchist tracts published by the squatters. It isn't from one of those pseudointellectual websites belonging to a bunch of postmodern desconstructionists.
It comes from a magazine called La Conquista del Estado. The editor-in-chief was a fellow called Ramiro Ledesma Ramos. Among other contributors were Ernesto Giménez Caballero and Juan Aparicio López.
The issue is dated April 4, 1931. The magazine disappeared a few months later when it was integrated into the organization of the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista.
The image of an imperialist, uncultured, rapacious, hypocritical, capitalist, and generally offensive United States is very common in Europe and especially in Spain. Just for example, here are some quotations from an article published in a Spanish magazine which deals with ideas and culture. I've left them in the original Spanish. I put the quotes in bold and italic so they'll be easier to read.
"He aquí un imperio fallido: Norteamérica. Este pueblo anglosajón ha sido dueño en los últimos años de los resortes triunfales. Cuando en la historia universal un pueblo lanzaba sobre el resto del mundo la cantidad de apetencias que el mundo actual debe al pueblo yanqui, ese pueblo convertía todos sus afanes en afanes imperiales. El imperialismo yanqui existe ciertamente, pero en forma ramplona, cobarde y, a la postre, según ha de verse, ineficaz...
"Yanquilandia es, en efecto, una república despreciable. Pueblo sin grandeza que se entrega a un centenar de banqueros y les encomienda la indicación de las rutas. Los banqueros prefieren un imperialismo hipócrita, la captura de las aduanas y el falso respeto a la libertad de los pueblos, a esa otra tarea fundamental que exigiría hondas sinceridades y peleas gravísimas: el ejército imperial agarrotando pueblos más débiles y truncando destinos pequeñitos...
"No ha faltado voluntad de imperio a los magnates que dirigen la república yanqui. Pero, repetimos, afanes mediocres, sin dar la cara, temiendo las complicaciones leguleyas, huyendo el escándalo internacional, sin firmeza, cobardemente, como quien hace un delito y teme que lo vean...
"Los yanquis han controlado los últimos veinte años. Su influjo está ya en decadencia, y un día cualquiera veremos que se rompe en mil pedazos su pretendido poderío. No se peca en balde contra los valores eminentes ni deja de castigarse de algún modo la mediocridad. Hispanoamérica tiene ahora la palabra...
"¡Nada con Yanquilandia, pueblo desleal, mezquino e hipócrita!"
This article isn't from one of those pro-Castro magazines run by a few ex-hippies. Nor is it from one of those anarchist tracts published by the squatters. It isn't from one of those pseudointellectual websites belonging to a bunch of postmodern desconstructionists.
It comes from a magazine called La Conquista del Estado. The editor-in-chief was a fellow called Ramiro Ledesma Ramos. Among other contributors were Ernesto Giménez Caballero and Juan Aparicio López.
The issue is dated April 4, 1931. The magazine disappeared a few months later when it was integrated into the organization of the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
You know, we owe the British a lot of thanks. Yeah, there were a couple of unpleasantnesses back around 200 years ago. but I think 1940-41 is plenty of payback. They stood by us and we stood by them and the other English-speaking countries kicked in their share and more.
In Kansas City, in the middle of the most prestigious commercial area, where thousands of people pass by each day, there is a statue of Winston Churchill. And his wife. Churchill is presented as a man like the rest of us. He is sitting down, next to his wife. He's not standing over us or a man on horseback. He is a human being. And the British flag, lighted up, flies 24 hours a day over the statue. It's quiet recognition, the best kind.
How about if we all do that about 20 years or so from now with another British prime minister?
In Kansas City, in the middle of the most prestigious commercial area, where thousands of people pass by each day, there is a statue of Winston Churchill. And his wife. Churchill is presented as a man like the rest of us. He is sitting down, next to his wife. He's not standing over us or a man on horseback. He is a human being. And the British flag, lighted up, flies 24 hours a day over the statue. It's quiet recognition, the best kind.
How about if we all do that about 20 years or so from now with another British prime minister?
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Well, it's an exciting morning here in Spain. In addition to the dirtbag squatter bomb this morning, ETA let off four bombs at a power plant in the town of Amorebieta in the Basque Country at about 2:10 PM, around two hours ago. The bombs were low-powered and caused no damage. No one was injured. An advance warning was called in and the plant was evacuated. I imagine what they're trying to do is remind everyone they're still here and warn us all that they could have planted much bigger bombs that would have done much more damage if they had wanted. Except they may really be so weak now that this is all they can do. I don't know. The power plant is the largest investment--€520 million--by a foreign company, the Irish public company ESB, in the Basque Country. It began testing at the beginning of the year and is expected to come fully on-line in August. Extreme nationalist and environmental groups have long opposed the power plant, though it is a "combined-cycle" plant which is apparently the highest tech there is and therefore the most efficient and environment-friendly infrastructure investment possible. Local citizens voted in a non-binding referendum against the plant.
Well, the damn squatters have committed their first overt terrorist act here in Barcelona. They planted a homemade bomb in front of the Italian Institute of Culture, a language school and cultural center, as a protest against a bunch of anarchists being arrested in Italy. Yeah, great, that's brilliant, we're pissed off so we'll attack high culture. Total anti-intellectualism. Bombing a school, for Christ's sake.
Here is what TV Catalunya is reporting:
The bomb went off at about 8:05 AM. A bomb-squad police officer was injured and a trained police dog was killed. The Italian Institute is on Paseo Mendez Vega, between c/Aragon and c/Consejo Ciento in downtown Barcelona. The police had cordoned off the area after they received a warning of a suspicious artifact deposited at the front door of the Italian Institute. The Casa Italia in Barcelona said they had received various threats. The bomb was homemade, consisting of explosives packed into a steel coffee brewer, you know, one of those Spanish things that's basically a pressure cooker. The explosion damaged the Institute building and the building across the street. Fortunately, there was nobody in the building, since summer intensive courses begin at 9:30 AM.
The Institute's accountant and the cleaning woman, arriving for work at about 7:45 AM, saw the coffee-brewer with cables sticking out of it sitting in front of the door and called the police, who sent several vehicles and the bomb squad and cordoned off the area. The dog, trained to detect explosives, approached the coffee-brewer with his trainer at the other end of his long leash. When the dog touched the coffee-brewer with its nose, the bomb blew up. The dog was killed by the blast and the police officer was wounded in the arm and the side. The area is still cordoned off. The cops are still analyzing the debris, which seems to indicate a "more potent bomb" than others of the same sort, which have often been planted by squatters and their ilk in places like phone booths and bank cash machines.
The Italian consulate has not commented yet. The Institute and the consulate had received various threats, which is why the coffee-brewer was taken seriously and reported. On the Institute's wall graffiti, consisting of the word "llibertat" and the anarchist symbol, can still be seen. The building contains the Italian Institute, the Casa Italia, and the Amaldi high school, where Italian students living in Barcelona go. The police believe the act is the work of an Italian "anti-system" group that several weeks ago called a protest demonstration, which was really a riot, several weeks ago here in Gracia. I've personally seen their posters and their graffiti all over the walls.
My guesses:
1) It probably was who the cops think it was.
2) These guys were definitely sheltered by local squatters.
3) The cops will now bust up the squats since they've got an excuse to do so.
4) I will cheer loudly. Go Cops! Whack 'em, club 'em, let's go, Cops!
5) These dopes will get caught because they're not professionals.
6) But they're getting too good at this.
7) I will bet they've been getting basic training from Jarrai.
8) To me, the police dog's life is worth more than those losers' lives all put together.
9) Because they came damn near killing several people. What if the cop had been closer to the dog when the bomb went off? What if the area hadn't been cordoned off when it exploded? What if the accountant had given the coffee-brewer a nudge with his foot, wondering what it was? What if the cleaning woman had thought it was just garbage and picked it up in order to throw it away? What if nobody had paid any attention and the thing had blown up when the students arrived at 9:30? Murderers aren't worth shit and these guys are murderers, since trying to do the deed is just as evil as actually doing it, and this was obviously premeditated.
10) These guys will get done for attempted murder, killing the police dog, wounding the cop, and terrorist activity. Then they'll get sentenced to a total of 300 years in jail each but get out in 12 on good behavior.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed.
And if the squatters ever do this again they'll be added to that above little wish of mine.
I've always been live-and-let-live with squatters as long as they didn't trash the squat and turn it into a rat's nest, graffiti up the neighborhood, run illegal bars with punk-rock concerts until four in the morning, vandalize the local bank branches, phone booths, and garbage containers, provoke the local skinheads and start gang fights, and every couple of months square off against the cops in an alleged demo that's really a full-blast riot. Oh, yeah, and clear out peacefully when the cops come with a warrant to kick them out rather than using that as another excuse for a riot.
Actually, I've never encountered any bunch of squatters who didn't do all those things. So I've never really been live-and-let-live with squatters, but I would be willing to if they acted like civilized people. This, however, is about as bad as anything they've ever done.
Don't go around blowing up shit in my town.
Here is what TV Catalunya is reporting:
The bomb went off at about 8:05 AM. A bomb-squad police officer was injured and a trained police dog was killed. The Italian Institute is on Paseo Mendez Vega, between c/Aragon and c/Consejo Ciento in downtown Barcelona. The police had cordoned off the area after they received a warning of a suspicious artifact deposited at the front door of the Italian Institute. The Casa Italia in Barcelona said they had received various threats. The bomb was homemade, consisting of explosives packed into a steel coffee brewer, you know, one of those Spanish things that's basically a pressure cooker. The explosion damaged the Institute building and the building across the street. Fortunately, there was nobody in the building, since summer intensive courses begin at 9:30 AM.
The Institute's accountant and the cleaning woman, arriving for work at about 7:45 AM, saw the coffee-brewer with cables sticking out of it sitting in front of the door and called the police, who sent several vehicles and the bomb squad and cordoned off the area. The dog, trained to detect explosives, approached the coffee-brewer with his trainer at the other end of his long leash. When the dog touched the coffee-brewer with its nose, the bomb blew up. The dog was killed by the blast and the police officer was wounded in the arm and the side. The area is still cordoned off. The cops are still analyzing the debris, which seems to indicate a "more potent bomb" than others of the same sort, which have often been planted by squatters and their ilk in places like phone booths and bank cash machines.
The Italian consulate has not commented yet. The Institute and the consulate had received various threats, which is why the coffee-brewer was taken seriously and reported. On the Institute's wall graffiti, consisting of the word "llibertat" and the anarchist symbol, can still be seen. The building contains the Italian Institute, the Casa Italia, and the Amaldi high school, where Italian students living in Barcelona go. The police believe the act is the work of an Italian "anti-system" group that several weeks ago called a protest demonstration, which was really a riot, several weeks ago here in Gracia. I've personally seen their posters and their graffiti all over the walls.
My guesses:
1) It probably was who the cops think it was.
2) These guys were definitely sheltered by local squatters.
3) The cops will now bust up the squats since they've got an excuse to do so.
4) I will cheer loudly. Go Cops! Whack 'em, club 'em, let's go, Cops!
5) These dopes will get caught because they're not professionals.
6) But they're getting too good at this.
7) I will bet they've been getting basic training from Jarrai.
8) To me, the police dog's life is worth more than those losers' lives all put together.
9) Because they came damn near killing several people. What if the cop had been closer to the dog when the bomb went off? What if the area hadn't been cordoned off when it exploded? What if the accountant had given the coffee-brewer a nudge with his foot, wondering what it was? What if the cleaning woman had thought it was just garbage and picked it up in order to throw it away? What if nobody had paid any attention and the thing had blown up when the students arrived at 9:30? Murderers aren't worth shit and these guys are murderers, since trying to do the deed is just as evil as actually doing it, and this was obviously premeditated.
10) These guys will get done for attempted murder, killing the police dog, wounding the cop, and terrorist activity. Then they'll get sentenced to a total of 300 years in jail each but get out in 12 on good behavior.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed.
And if the squatters ever do this again they'll be added to that above little wish of mine.
I've always been live-and-let-live with squatters as long as they didn't trash the squat and turn it into a rat's nest, graffiti up the neighborhood, run illegal bars with punk-rock concerts until four in the morning, vandalize the local bank branches, phone booths, and garbage containers, provoke the local skinheads and start gang fights, and every couple of months square off against the cops in an alleged demo that's really a full-blast riot. Oh, yeah, and clear out peacefully when the cops come with a warrant to kick them out rather than using that as another excuse for a riot.
Actually, I've never encountered any bunch of squatters who didn't do all those things. So I've never really been live-and-let-live with squatters, but I would be willing to if they acted like civilized people. This, however, is about as bad as anything they've ever done.
Don't go around blowing up shit in my town.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Well, there's been no more conspiracy speculation over here about London getting the Olympics. The (very biased and rather paranoid) Spanish sports press had been saying that 1) Tony Blair's intervention on behalf of London's candidacy was critical, and that he thought the Olympics was important enough to call in his political chips, something I doubt in the extreme; 2) David Beckham's intervention on behalf of said candidacy was critical, too, and Beckham is a traitorous dirtbag who should have supported Madrid's bid; 3) The Americans decided to screw over Zapatero by torpedoing Madrid's bid. Evidence: New York's votes all went to London or Paris. Even Ana Botella has put this one forward; 4) Prince Albert of Monaco did his part to screw Madrid over in favor of Paris by bringing up Madrid's alleged security problems at the official presentation; 5) There is an alleged "Anglo-Saxon" bloc that really runs the IOC and it conspired to screw over Paris in London's favor, as usual; 6) That bloc does everything possible to frustrate the goals of the Samaranch family out of meanness and spite 7) The Americans and British made sure the Games went to London in order to screw over Chirac.
Fortunately, that petty sniping has stopped now. There is a Robert Fisk column in today's Vanguardia which is just hellacious, justifying the London bombings, however. The rest of the Vanguardia today seems to be taking things quite seriously, as if it understood that the problem is Islamist-nationalist anti-Western terrorism and that we will not have peace until it is defeated. One thing nobody is doing in Britain is blaming the Blair government for the bombings. Many people who should have known better blamed the Aznar government for the Madrid bombings and gave the Socialists a shock victory that they'd never have won otherwise.
It seems to me that there are several possibilities which are not mutually exclusive about the bombings. First, we recognize that successful mass murder like this takes at least months to prepare, so of course they had this planned. Probably they timed it to coincide with either the Group of Eight meeting in Scotland or with the Olympic Games announcement, or both. There's no way they could have known London would win, but they must have known it had a good chance. Maybe even they had a plan prepared to be executed anytime and thought this was a good opportunity. I suppose the question now is exactly who did it and how we catch them.
As for trying the prisoners at Guantanamo, let's not be disingenuous. They fall into the category of partisans, neither civilians nor captured lawful bearers of arms. Civilian trials are conducted under civilian law when crimes are allegedly committed by civilians. The Guantanamo guys are not civilians. They were captured under arms and conducted at least one deadly revolt after they were rounded up. Military trials are conducted under military law when crimes are allegedly committed by soldiers. One thing international military law makes clear is that uniformed enemy soldiers under state military discipline carrying out orders, who are not suspected of serious war crimes, are not to be tried. They are prisoners of war and are to be treated decently. The Guantanamo guys are not prisoners of war, though. They're not lawful bearers of arms.
So if somebody's not a civilian and not a soldier bearing arms lawfully, what is he?
He's a partisan. The Germans and Russians and French and British and Union and Confederates had a way of dealing with this. Partisans were summarily shot or hanged if captured. We don't do that nowadays, out of possibly misplaced humanitarianism. So what do we do with them? If we turn them loose they'll just pick up guns and join up with their buddies somewhere in Chechenia or Pakistan. If we shoot them we'll look terrible in the eyes of the world, even though they deserve it. Also, if we shoot them, we can't interrogate them, and we really want to interrogate them because we have good reason to suspect they all have lots of information about their friends who do things like blow up buses in London.
So we should do exactly what we're doing. Lock them up and keep them locked up so they can't go back to their old ways. Interrogate them, and let us not be finicky about the methods. I would say the limit is inflicting pain rather than discomfort. I hope these guys' lives are as unpleasant as possible; that's more likely to convince them to talk. But we must set limits for ourselves, because if we do not we will certainly be corrupted. Power exercised without limits is tyranny. Well, here's the limit. No physical pain and no unsupervised interrogation. If some psycho hillbilly thinks it would be fun to take some naked photos with them, well, that's wrong because it's out of control behavior. But if the interrogators want to humiliate a prisoner as part of making his life so uncomfortable he'll talk, I say bring on the dog collars.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed.
Here's a piece I sent to the Spain Herald a while back. I'm translating my writing to English, but not the quotations, which I will leave in the original Spanish.
American interests
The most common sentence you here in discussions about politics and economics is, "There are a lot of interests behind it." I am assuming that "interests" mean hidden shadowy figures with lots of money in Swiss banks who manipulate all of our actions for their own personal benefit. I think many of these shadowy figures have surnames that end in -berg, -stein, or -witz. Gas prices going up? "Lots of interests." Farmers on strike because food prices are dropping? "Well, it's all the interests." Clothing prices stay the same? "The interests are behind it." Somehow.
If the shadowy figures aren't Jewish, then they're probably American. Remember the oil pipeline we were going to build across Afghanistan which was the real reason we went in there? Or Rafael Poch's verdict that the damn Yankees sent aircraft carriers to Indonesia after the tsunami in order to take control of the strategic Strait of Malacca. Or Baltasar Porcel's argument that the gringos and the Jews are getting together in order to grab the Middle East's--get this--water resources.
Here's another example of that kind of thinking. It's some quotations from an article by a German columnist, A.E. Johann, about the real interests behind American international policy. The quotes are in the original Spanish; the article was published in a popular European publication with editions in several languages. Here's the URL. Since the quotes are long, I've put them in italics and boldface, alternating.
"Pues «pax americana» no representa otra cosa que la dominación del mundo desde Wáshington, del mismo modo que que la «pax británica» no significaba otra cosa que la denominación del sistema que puso al servicio de los intereses de Londres vastas partes de la Tierra pero, bien entendido, sin desarrollar los suyos...
"América intenta establecerse en todos los ángulos de la tierra susceptibles de transformarse en punto de partida para ataques contra Europa y Asia Oriental. Todos los medios son adecuados para lograrlo: Presión económica, violencia militar, intrigas, propaganda cultural. Una vuelta alrededor de la Tierra lo probará...
"En el Golfo Pérsico se encuentra el cerco de toda Europa que irradia desde América hasta el Este con el lazo corredizo que los Estados Unidos han arrojado hacia el Oeste, a través de los Océanos Pacífico e Índico, con el designio de estrangular el Asia Oriental. Pues el capital americano vela en los campos petrolíferos de las islas Bahrein por el abastecimiento de petróleo para las tropas y buques...del Océano Índico y del Mar Rojo. El cerco de Europa salta desde el Golfo Pérsico hacia la India. Aquí faltan todavía los eslabones intermedios de Turquía y el Irán. A pesar de que estos Estados nada desean con más vehemencia que conservar su neutralidad, aumentan a diario los indicios de que los anglo-americanos se proponen respetar la soberanía del Irán tan poco como las de Siria y el Irak...
"Los ingleses y americanos intentan también, con los más variados pretextos, obligar al Afganistán a formar en el frente antieuropeo...
"...Las partes de África situadas al Sur del Sahara necesitan con urgencia, en el aspecto económico, de los Estados Unidos, único país que puede actuar de comprador en ellas, se reconoce claramente el proyecto norteamericano de hacer depender a todo el África de su benevolencia para controlarla por último, no sólo económicamente sino también en los aspectos político y militar...
"América quiere someter a su dominio...a toda Europa, con inclusión de la Gran Bretaña. Espera poder demostrar que Europa está entregada en su alimentación a la buena voluntad de América y que, además, puede también ser sancionada militarmente por ella. Europa, con inclusión de Inglaterra, debe transformarse en una colonia económica obediente a América; esto representa que, desde el punto de vista de Washington, no existe ya diferencia entre los distintos Estados europeos...
"Con la misma consecuente falta de respetos que en el Atlántico, intervienen los Estados Unidos en Asia, a través del Pacífico...Los esfuerzos americanos de predominio se han extendido sin cesar al Pacífico...También en Asia Oriental, del mismo modo que en Europa, quieren los Estados Unidos impedir por todos los medios que los países de aquella zona lleguen entre sí a una sensata conciliación de sus justificadas reivindicaciones. Este proceso remitiría a sí mismos a los Estados Unidos...
"Si los países del Imperio británico se avienen voluntariamente a ser vasallos de Wáshington, Europa y Asia Oriental, antiguas cunas de la civilización, no pueden doblegarse al dominio de la clase americana que es capaz de expresar en dólares todos los valores y considera su Hollywood una obra cultural de primera categoría."
No, the article isn't from Le Monde Diplomatique. Or Der Spiegel. Or El País. Not even Libération. Sure, it looks like it might have come from any of them, but it was actually published by the German magazine Signal, in twenty different languages, with a circulation of two and a half million copies.
In the September 1941 number. Three months before Hitler declared war on America.
Fortunately, that petty sniping has stopped now. There is a Robert Fisk column in today's Vanguardia which is just hellacious, justifying the London bombings, however. The rest of the Vanguardia today seems to be taking things quite seriously, as if it understood that the problem is Islamist-nationalist anti-Western terrorism and that we will not have peace until it is defeated. One thing nobody is doing in Britain is blaming the Blair government for the bombings. Many people who should have known better blamed the Aznar government for the Madrid bombings and gave the Socialists a shock victory that they'd never have won otherwise.
It seems to me that there are several possibilities which are not mutually exclusive about the bombings. First, we recognize that successful mass murder like this takes at least months to prepare, so of course they had this planned. Probably they timed it to coincide with either the Group of Eight meeting in Scotland or with the Olympic Games announcement, or both. There's no way they could have known London would win, but they must have known it had a good chance. Maybe even they had a plan prepared to be executed anytime and thought this was a good opportunity. I suppose the question now is exactly who did it and how we catch them.
As for trying the prisoners at Guantanamo, let's not be disingenuous. They fall into the category of partisans, neither civilians nor captured lawful bearers of arms. Civilian trials are conducted under civilian law when crimes are allegedly committed by civilians. The Guantanamo guys are not civilians. They were captured under arms and conducted at least one deadly revolt after they were rounded up. Military trials are conducted under military law when crimes are allegedly committed by soldiers. One thing international military law makes clear is that uniformed enemy soldiers under state military discipline carrying out orders, who are not suspected of serious war crimes, are not to be tried. They are prisoners of war and are to be treated decently. The Guantanamo guys are not prisoners of war, though. They're not lawful bearers of arms.
So if somebody's not a civilian and not a soldier bearing arms lawfully, what is he?
He's a partisan. The Germans and Russians and French and British and Union and Confederates had a way of dealing with this. Partisans were summarily shot or hanged if captured. We don't do that nowadays, out of possibly misplaced humanitarianism. So what do we do with them? If we turn them loose they'll just pick up guns and join up with their buddies somewhere in Chechenia or Pakistan. If we shoot them we'll look terrible in the eyes of the world, even though they deserve it. Also, if we shoot them, we can't interrogate them, and we really want to interrogate them because we have good reason to suspect they all have lots of information about their friends who do things like blow up buses in London.
So we should do exactly what we're doing. Lock them up and keep them locked up so they can't go back to their old ways. Interrogate them, and let us not be finicky about the methods. I would say the limit is inflicting pain rather than discomfort. I hope these guys' lives are as unpleasant as possible; that's more likely to convince them to talk. But we must set limits for ourselves, because if we do not we will certainly be corrupted. Power exercised without limits is tyranny. Well, here's the limit. No physical pain and no unsupervised interrogation. If some psycho hillbilly thinks it would be fun to take some naked photos with them, well, that's wrong because it's out of control behavior. But if the interrogators want to humiliate a prisoner as part of making his life so uncomfortable he'll talk, I say bring on the dog collars.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed.
Here's a piece I sent to the Spain Herald a while back. I'm translating my writing to English, but not the quotations, which I will leave in the original Spanish.
American interests
The most common sentence you here in discussions about politics and economics is, "There are a lot of interests behind it." I am assuming that "interests" mean hidden shadowy figures with lots of money in Swiss banks who manipulate all of our actions for their own personal benefit. I think many of these shadowy figures have surnames that end in -berg, -stein, or -witz. Gas prices going up? "Lots of interests." Farmers on strike because food prices are dropping? "Well, it's all the interests." Clothing prices stay the same? "The interests are behind it." Somehow.
If the shadowy figures aren't Jewish, then they're probably American. Remember the oil pipeline we were going to build across Afghanistan which was the real reason we went in there? Or Rafael Poch's verdict that the damn Yankees sent aircraft carriers to Indonesia after the tsunami in order to take control of the strategic Strait of Malacca. Or Baltasar Porcel's argument that the gringos and the Jews are getting together in order to grab the Middle East's--get this--water resources.
Here's another example of that kind of thinking. It's some quotations from an article by a German columnist, A.E. Johann, about the real interests behind American international policy. The quotes are in the original Spanish; the article was published in a popular European publication with editions in several languages. Here's the URL. Since the quotes are long, I've put them in italics and boldface, alternating.
"Pues «pax americana» no representa otra cosa que la dominación del mundo desde Wáshington, del mismo modo que que la «pax británica» no significaba otra cosa que la denominación del sistema que puso al servicio de los intereses de Londres vastas partes de la Tierra pero, bien entendido, sin desarrollar los suyos...
"América intenta establecerse en todos los ángulos de la tierra susceptibles de transformarse en punto de partida para ataques contra Europa y Asia Oriental. Todos los medios son adecuados para lograrlo: Presión económica, violencia militar, intrigas, propaganda cultural. Una vuelta alrededor de la Tierra lo probará...
"En el Golfo Pérsico se encuentra el cerco de toda Europa que irradia desde América hasta el Este con el lazo corredizo que los Estados Unidos han arrojado hacia el Oeste, a través de los Océanos Pacífico e Índico, con el designio de estrangular el Asia Oriental. Pues el capital americano vela en los campos petrolíferos de las islas Bahrein por el abastecimiento de petróleo para las tropas y buques...del Océano Índico y del Mar Rojo. El cerco de Europa salta desde el Golfo Pérsico hacia la India. Aquí faltan todavía los eslabones intermedios de Turquía y el Irán. A pesar de que estos Estados nada desean con más vehemencia que conservar su neutralidad, aumentan a diario los indicios de que los anglo-americanos se proponen respetar la soberanía del Irán tan poco como las de Siria y el Irak...
"Los ingleses y americanos intentan también, con los más variados pretextos, obligar al Afganistán a formar en el frente antieuropeo...
"...Las partes de África situadas al Sur del Sahara necesitan con urgencia, en el aspecto económico, de los Estados Unidos, único país que puede actuar de comprador en ellas, se reconoce claramente el proyecto norteamericano de hacer depender a todo el África de su benevolencia para controlarla por último, no sólo económicamente sino también en los aspectos político y militar...
"América quiere someter a su dominio...a toda Europa, con inclusión de la Gran Bretaña. Espera poder demostrar que Europa está entregada en su alimentación a la buena voluntad de América y que, además, puede también ser sancionada militarmente por ella. Europa, con inclusión de Inglaterra, debe transformarse en una colonia económica obediente a América; esto representa que, desde el punto de vista de Washington, no existe ya diferencia entre los distintos Estados europeos...
"Con la misma consecuente falta de respetos que en el Atlántico, intervienen los Estados Unidos en Asia, a través del Pacífico...Los esfuerzos americanos de predominio se han extendido sin cesar al Pacífico...También en Asia Oriental, del mismo modo que en Europa, quieren los Estados Unidos impedir por todos los medios que los países de aquella zona lleguen entre sí a una sensata conciliación de sus justificadas reivindicaciones. Este proceso remitiría a sí mismos a los Estados Unidos...
"Si los países del Imperio británico se avienen voluntariamente a ser vasallos de Wáshington, Europa y Asia Oriental, antiguas cunas de la civilización, no pueden doblegarse al dominio de la clase americana que es capaz de expresar en dólares todos los valores y considera su Hollywood una obra cultural de primera categoría."
No, the article isn't from Le Monde Diplomatique. Or Der Spiegel. Or El País. Not even Libération. Sure, it looks like it might have come from any of them, but it was actually published by the German magazine Signal, in twenty different languages, with a circulation of two and a half million copies.
In the September 1941 number. Three months before Hitler declared war on America.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
This is Stanley Kurtz from The Corner over at National Review comparing June 7 with March 11.
THE PAIN OF SPAIN [Stanley Kurtz]Appeasement and shame, thy name is Spain. It's good that the Spain precedent is being used as a touchstone. The whole shameful incident had fallen off the radar screen. It deserves more attention. For one thing, I'd like some information. How have people in Spain thought about the episode in recent months? Have they ignored it? Are they proud of it? Is anyone in Spain having second thoughts now? Rather than simply speculate about how the British will react and what it will mean, we need a close examination of what Spain has already done and what it has meant.
Let's see if I can answer Mr. Kurtz's questions.
1. They've pretty much forgotten all about it.
2. They've completely ignored it.
3. They are proud because they refused to participate in the illegal and unjust Iraq War.
4. No.
The PP got something like 40% of the vote in the March 14 election. Those people are not included in the above generalizations. The Socialist administration, however, would do exactly the same thing now as they did in 2004. And 60% of the people would support them.
For opinions from some Spaniards who do not agree with the Socialist administration, go to the Spain Herald.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed.
THE PAIN OF SPAIN [Stanley Kurtz]Appeasement and shame, thy name is Spain. It's good that the Spain precedent is being used as a touchstone. The whole shameful incident had fallen off the radar screen. It deserves more attention. For one thing, I'd like some information. How have people in Spain thought about the episode in recent months? Have they ignored it? Are they proud of it? Is anyone in Spain having second thoughts now? Rather than simply speculate about how the British will react and what it will mean, we need a close examination of what Spain has already done and what it has meant.
Let's see if I can answer Mr. Kurtz's questions.
1. They've pretty much forgotten all about it.
2. They've completely ignored it.
3. They are proud because they refused to participate in the illegal and unjust Iraq War.
4. No.
The PP got something like 40% of the vote in the March 14 election. Those people are not included in the above generalizations. The Socialist administration, however, would do exactly the same thing now as they did in 2004. And 60% of the people would support them.
For opinions from some Spaniards who do not agree with the Socialist administration, go to the Spain Herald.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed.
I suppose you know about the bombings in London. Of course this isn't the place to look for coverage. My heart goes out to the people of London. I hope not too many people were killed, but it looks bad. This is just like New York and Bali and Casablanca and Madrid. Al Qaeda are vicious killers and I hope this convinces some people that they are the enemy and have to be defeated. On all fronts. In Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria and the West Bank and Pakistan and the Philippines and Saudi Arabia and the US and UK and Spain. Guantanamo a gulag? My ass. They haven't killed any of the prisoners there, and as far as I'm concerned that's about the kindest treatment those murderers deserve. Koran abuse? Don't make me sick.
Remember when Bush said, "If you aren't with us, you're against us"? He was right.
Tony Blair is showing leadership. He's the guy right now. Stand behind him. He and the British people deserve nothing less.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed.
Remember when Bush said, "If you aren't with us, you're against us"? He was right.
Tony Blair is showing leadership. He's the guy right now. Stand behind him. He and the British people deserve nothing less.
Al Qaeda must be destroyed.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
New Blog Mission Statement
It's about time to shake off the blog lethargy I've been going through for about the past three months. The problem is that when I started back in February 2002 on the old Homestead sight--I changed to Blogger in October 2002 with the help of Patrick Crozier--I was the only blog from Spain that I knew about. I don't think there were more than a few operating in Spanish at that time, and there certainly weren't any in English out of Spain. I gained some notoriety in the blogosphere because I was about the only person transmitting live from Spain the day of the bombings, March 11, 2004.
Now that's changed. The Spanish blogosphere has become vibrant, and Trevor Morgan with Kaleboel and Spain Media and Franco Aleman with Barcepundit are doing a better job with news from Spain than I ever could. Also, of course, we now have the Spain Herald for a solid right-wing take on the news translated by yours truly. Iberian Notes is no longer needed as it was before.
So what I need to do is refocus it, I think. There are several ways I could do it and I might try one or all of them.
a) Make it more of a personal diary, include local color, learn to use my digital camera and post photos.
b) Post all the stuff I send in Spanish to Libertad Digital that they don't print. Which is nearly all of it. Trust in readers to do the damn translating, since I don't do that anymore unless I get paid for it. Sorry. When you translate more than 3 hours a day for money you stop doing it one hour a day for free.
c) Get real nasty on the Comments section. That always brings in readers.
d) Be more of a linker and less of a thinker. That saves a lot of time.
e) Be the first pooblog on the Net. Every day I will write about my digestive system, just like Ignatius in A Confederacy of dunces.
So let's get started.
July 6--Morning burps and slight heartburn due to gazpacho consumption last night. Cucurbita play hell with my stomach, but I love cucumbers and especially gazpacho. Laid cable circa noon. One-pounder or so, brownish-green, dense, easy wipe, kind of stinky. Flushed easily. Remember, these are all high-fiber vegetarian poos.
Here are a couple of gazpacho recipes.
Ingredients:
3/4 pound Red ripe tomatoes
2/3 cup Chopped onions
1 clove Garlic
1 Cucumber - peeled seeded
1 Red bell pepper --chopped
3 cups coarsely chopped Crustless French bread
2 tablespoons Spanish or very fruity olive oil
1/4 cup Sherry vinegar
Salt --to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper --to taste
***GARNISH***
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped green bell pepper
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped red bell pepper
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped onion
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped cucumber
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped hard-boiled egg
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped olives
3/4 cup Small croutons
Directions:
In a food processor or blender puree tomatoes, onions, garlic, cucumber, red pepper, bread, olive oil and vinegar until very smooth, 2 minutes or more. Refrigerate several hours. Before serving, season with salt and pepper and strain through a sieve if desired. Thin with ice water if needed. Divide among individual soup bowls and offer choice of garnishes.
I'd use a lot more tomato and less bread. Good recipe, though. Gazpacho should NOT be Mexican-style spicy. It should taste of, well, tomato, onion, bell pepper, cucumber, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar.
INGREDIENTS:
1½ kg red tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 - 3 cloves garlic
1 small cucumber (or half a long cucumber), chopped
1 small bread roll, soaked in water
olive oil
white wine vinegar
salt
water
RECIPE:
There are two ways of preparing gazpacho: you can either use an electric food processor/blender and then pass it through a sieve, or you can use a food mill (a mouli). The important thing is to get rid of all the pips, skins, etc.
First, blend and sieve, or mill, all the vegetables into a large bowl. Then squeeze the water out of the bread roll and add to the tomato/vegetable mixture. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of vinegar. Season with salt and blend well. Check the taste and add as much water as necessary depending on whether you will be drinking or eating it with a spoon. Chill thoroughly before serving. If you are using bowls, finely chop some cucumber, green pepper, tomato, and hard-boiled egg to use for the garnish.
I'd use red bell pepper if possible instead of green, but that's just me.
Here's one I wrote for Libertad Digital they didn't use.
Hollywood y las estadísticas
Hagamos una prueba rápida. Contesta estas preguntas básicas sobre EEUU.
1. ¿Qué porcentaje de los useños son inmigrantes?
A. 1,5% B. 4,7% C. 10,4% B. 22,3%
2. ¿Qué porcentaje de los useños son judíos?
A. 2,1% B. 5,6% C. 11,3% D. 21,7%
3. ¿Cuántas horas trabaja el useño medio por semana?
A. 39,5 B. 42,5 C. 45,5 D. 48,5
4. ¿Qué fracción de useños visitaron un país extranjero el pasado año?
A. 1/5 B. 1/7 C. 1/11 D. 1/13
5. ¿Qué porcentaje de los useños tienen título universitario?
A. 6,8% B. 13,2% C. 19,7% D. 25,6%
6. ¿Cúal es la importación más importante de EEUU?
A. alimentos B. informática C. petróleo D. vehículos motorizados
7. ¿Cúal es la exportación más importante de EEUU?
A. máquinaria eléctrica B. alimentos C. petroquímica D. textiles
8. ¿Cúales son los ingresos medios por hogar en EEUU? (España, $19.000)
A. $19.000 B. $26.000 C. $34.000 D. $42.000
9. ¿Qué porcentage de su producto doméstico bruto gasta EEUU en defensa?
A. 3% B. 6% C. 12% D. 24%
10. ¿Qué porcentaje de los hogares en EEUU tienen electricidad, agua potable, y acantarillado?
A. 53% B. 68% C. 82% D. 99%
11. ¿Cúal es la tasa de asesinatos por 100.000 habitantes en EEUU?
A. 5,7 B. 38,8 C. 58,3 D. 127,8
12. ¿Cúal es la tasa de suicidios por 100.000 habitantes en EEUU?
A. 10,4 B. 56,9 C. 118.0 D. 269.8
Las respuestas correctas son 1. C 2. A 3. A 4. A 5. D 6. D 7. A 8. D 9. A 10. D 11. A 12. A.
No es lo que uno pensaría después de ver seis películas y once series televisivas hollywoodienses cada semana, ¿verdad?
Un problema que tienen casi todos que solo conocen a Estados Unidos por los medios de comunicación es que toman lo que han visto en el cine por una aproximación a la verdad. Las películas de Hollywood, como las de todos los países, son de ficción y apenas tienen que ver con la realidad. Su objectivo es entretener al espectador y satisfacerle para que vuelva al cine o la tienda de DVDs o el canal de televisión otra vez la semana que viene. Repito. Son de ficción.
No puedo contar las veces--ocurre varias veces cada día en la prensa española--que he leído que tal y cual película es un reflejo de la realidad. He visto a muchos articulistas utilizar a películas tan dispares como American Pie y American Beauty para ilustrar sus argumentos. Hoy mismo hay una carta apasionada en La Vanguardia en contra del boxeo, y la autora pone como base de su argumentación la película Million Dollar Baby. Esto nunca es legítimo porque una película en sí es una falsedad.
Doy unos ejemplos muy basícos de unas películas que todos han visto. En Acosados (The Accused), como en Algunos hombres buenos (A Few Good Men), todas las series de televisión, y todas las pelis basadas en libros de John Grisham, el sistema legal que los actores desarrollan no tiene nada que ver con el de verdad. En cien por cien de las películas de acción, los "polícias" vulneran la ley cada vez que tomen una acción. Pero el Donnie Brasco de verdad, por ejemplo, nunca cometió ningún delito mientras trabajaba de infiltrado en la Mafia. Y, por supuesto, nunca llegó a ser amigo de ningún mafioso. Otra cosa es que todas las pelis de guerra son claramente falsas. Nadie de verdad haría las cosas que se ve en Apocalypse Now o Platoon, y si lo hiciera no sobreviviría mucho tiempo.
Y las series de la tele. Es muy fácil caer en el error de que lo que se ve en las películas refleja fielmente la realidad de una sociedad, pero por supuesto las famílias useñas no se comportan como las de la tele. Menos mal. Si la vida fuese como en The O.C. o 90210, yo también sería antiamericano. Afortunadamente, son sólo culebrones.
Pensemos un momento. Imaginemos, por un momento, que los extranjeros se tomasen productos como Aquí no hay quien viva, Los Serrano, Los ladrones van a la oficina, o Crónicas marcianas por un retrato fiel de la sociedad española. Me iría yo en dos segundos si esto fuera cierto. Afortunadamente, no lo es.
Now that's changed. The Spanish blogosphere has become vibrant, and Trevor Morgan with Kaleboel and Spain Media and Franco Aleman with Barcepundit are doing a better job with news from Spain than I ever could. Also, of course, we now have the Spain Herald for a solid right-wing take on the news translated by yours truly. Iberian Notes is no longer needed as it was before.
So what I need to do is refocus it, I think. There are several ways I could do it and I might try one or all of them.
a) Make it more of a personal diary, include local color, learn to use my digital camera and post photos.
b) Post all the stuff I send in Spanish to Libertad Digital that they don't print. Which is nearly all of it. Trust in readers to do the damn translating, since I don't do that anymore unless I get paid for it. Sorry. When you translate more than 3 hours a day for money you stop doing it one hour a day for free.
c) Get real nasty on the Comments section. That always brings in readers.
d) Be more of a linker and less of a thinker. That saves a lot of time.
e) Be the first pooblog on the Net. Every day I will write about my digestive system, just like Ignatius in A Confederacy of dunces.
So let's get started.
July 6--Morning burps and slight heartburn due to gazpacho consumption last night. Cucurbita play hell with my stomach, but I love cucumbers and especially gazpacho. Laid cable circa noon. One-pounder or so, brownish-green, dense, easy wipe, kind of stinky. Flushed easily. Remember, these are all high-fiber vegetarian poos.
Here are a couple of gazpacho recipes.
Ingredients:
3/4 pound Red ripe tomatoes
2/3 cup Chopped onions
1 clove Garlic
1 Cucumber - peeled seeded
1 Red bell pepper --chopped
3 cups coarsely chopped Crustless French bread
2 tablespoons Spanish or very fruity olive oil
1/4 cup Sherry vinegar
Salt --to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper --to taste
***GARNISH***
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped green bell pepper
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped red bell pepper
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped onion
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped cucumber
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped hard-boiled egg
6 tablespoons Finely-chopped olives
3/4 cup Small croutons
Directions:
In a food processor or blender puree tomatoes, onions, garlic, cucumber, red pepper, bread, olive oil and vinegar until very smooth, 2 minutes or more. Refrigerate several hours. Before serving, season with salt and pepper and strain through a sieve if desired. Thin with ice water if needed. Divide among individual soup bowls and offer choice of garnishes.
I'd use a lot more tomato and less bread. Good recipe, though. Gazpacho should NOT be Mexican-style spicy. It should taste of, well, tomato, onion, bell pepper, cucumber, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar.
INGREDIENTS:
1½ kg red tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 - 3 cloves garlic
1 small cucumber (or half a long cucumber), chopped
1 small bread roll, soaked in water
olive oil
white wine vinegar
salt
water
RECIPE:
There are two ways of preparing gazpacho: you can either use an electric food processor/blender and then pass it through a sieve, or you can use a food mill (a mouli). The important thing is to get rid of all the pips, skins, etc.
First, blend and sieve, or mill, all the vegetables into a large bowl. Then squeeze the water out of the bread roll and add to the tomato/vegetable mixture. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of vinegar. Season with salt and blend well. Check the taste and add as much water as necessary depending on whether you will be drinking or eating it with a spoon. Chill thoroughly before serving. If you are using bowls, finely chop some cucumber, green pepper, tomato, and hard-boiled egg to use for the garnish.
I'd use red bell pepper if possible instead of green, but that's just me.
Here's one I wrote for Libertad Digital they didn't use.
Hollywood y las estadísticas
Hagamos una prueba rápida. Contesta estas preguntas básicas sobre EEUU.
1. ¿Qué porcentaje de los useños son inmigrantes?
A. 1,5% B. 4,7% C. 10,4% B. 22,3%
2. ¿Qué porcentaje de los useños son judíos?
A. 2,1% B. 5,6% C. 11,3% D. 21,7%
3. ¿Cuántas horas trabaja el useño medio por semana?
A. 39,5 B. 42,5 C. 45,5 D. 48,5
4. ¿Qué fracción de useños visitaron un país extranjero el pasado año?
A. 1/5 B. 1/7 C. 1/11 D. 1/13
5. ¿Qué porcentaje de los useños tienen título universitario?
A. 6,8% B. 13,2% C. 19,7% D. 25,6%
6. ¿Cúal es la importación más importante de EEUU?
A. alimentos B. informática C. petróleo D. vehículos motorizados
7. ¿Cúal es la exportación más importante de EEUU?
A. máquinaria eléctrica B. alimentos C. petroquímica D. textiles
8. ¿Cúales son los ingresos medios por hogar en EEUU? (España, $19.000)
A. $19.000 B. $26.000 C. $34.000 D. $42.000
9. ¿Qué porcentage de su producto doméstico bruto gasta EEUU en defensa?
A. 3% B. 6% C. 12% D. 24%
10. ¿Qué porcentaje de los hogares en EEUU tienen electricidad, agua potable, y acantarillado?
A. 53% B. 68% C. 82% D. 99%
11. ¿Cúal es la tasa de asesinatos por 100.000 habitantes en EEUU?
A. 5,7 B. 38,8 C. 58,3 D. 127,8
12. ¿Cúal es la tasa de suicidios por 100.000 habitantes en EEUU?
A. 10,4 B. 56,9 C. 118.0 D. 269.8
Las respuestas correctas son 1. C 2. A 3. A 4. A 5. D 6. D 7. A 8. D 9. A 10. D 11. A 12. A.
No es lo que uno pensaría después de ver seis películas y once series televisivas hollywoodienses cada semana, ¿verdad?
Un problema que tienen casi todos que solo conocen a Estados Unidos por los medios de comunicación es que toman lo que han visto en el cine por una aproximación a la verdad. Las películas de Hollywood, como las de todos los países, son de ficción y apenas tienen que ver con la realidad. Su objectivo es entretener al espectador y satisfacerle para que vuelva al cine o la tienda de DVDs o el canal de televisión otra vez la semana que viene. Repito. Son de ficción.
No puedo contar las veces--ocurre varias veces cada día en la prensa española--que he leído que tal y cual película es un reflejo de la realidad. He visto a muchos articulistas utilizar a películas tan dispares como American Pie y American Beauty para ilustrar sus argumentos. Hoy mismo hay una carta apasionada en La Vanguardia en contra del boxeo, y la autora pone como base de su argumentación la película Million Dollar Baby. Esto nunca es legítimo porque una película en sí es una falsedad.
Doy unos ejemplos muy basícos de unas películas que todos han visto. En Acosados (The Accused), como en Algunos hombres buenos (A Few Good Men), todas las series de televisión, y todas las pelis basadas en libros de John Grisham, el sistema legal que los actores desarrollan no tiene nada que ver con el de verdad. En cien por cien de las películas de acción, los "polícias" vulneran la ley cada vez que tomen una acción. Pero el Donnie Brasco de verdad, por ejemplo, nunca cometió ningún delito mientras trabajaba de infiltrado en la Mafia. Y, por supuesto, nunca llegó a ser amigo de ningún mafioso. Otra cosa es que todas las pelis de guerra son claramente falsas. Nadie de verdad haría las cosas que se ve en Apocalypse Now o Platoon, y si lo hiciera no sobreviviría mucho tiempo.
Y las series de la tele. Es muy fácil caer en el error de que lo que se ve en las películas refleja fielmente la realidad de una sociedad, pero por supuesto las famílias useñas no se comportan como las de la tele. Menos mal. Si la vida fuese como en The O.C. o 90210, yo también sería antiamericano. Afortunadamente, son sólo culebrones.
Pensemos un momento. Imaginemos, por un momento, que los extranjeros se tomasen productos como Aquí no hay quien viva, Los Serrano, Los ladrones van a la oficina, o Crónicas marcianas por un retrato fiel de la sociedad española. Me iría yo en dos segundos si esto fuera cierto. Afortunadamente, no lo es.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Yeah, as you've seen, we've been on hiatus. Keep up with news from Spain with the Spain Herald, Barcepundit in English, and Spain Media. I spend so much time in front of the computer that I have little desire to blog. The desire will come back.
Until then, people interested in Spanish history will definitely want to read this collection of documents regarding Hitler's negotiations with Franco in English from the US government.
Until then, people interested in Spanish history will definitely want to read this collection of documents regarding Hitler's negotiations with Franco in English from the US government.
Friday, June 10, 2005
I've been very busy with Libertad Digital. They asked me to write a book review of this ridiculous anti-American tract, which they ran today, if you want to check it out, and I did a series of articles on anti-Americanism for them that they're going to run. As for news from Spain, you should of course be reading the Spain Herald religiously. We're running more stories now, and they're more interesting than they were a while ago. More foreign policy, economics, and sports and the same amount of domestic politics.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Libertad Digital posted this thing I wrote for them just for fun. It's an excellent list of great Internet radio stations, if I say so myself. Also try "Cool Blue" and "Bluegrass Country".
El invento más grande de nuestras vidas
por John Chappell
Cualquier cosa que puedas imaginar se puede hacer por Internet, te lo juro. Si lo que te gusta es ver fotos de travestidos bajo tratamiento hormonal, te aseguro que están, y gratis. (Una pista: googlea Carmen de Mairena.) Ya que a mí no me va eso, paso bastante tiempo escuchando música a través de la radio por Internet.
No, no es exactamente la radio, lo estás recibiendo por cable o wifi, pero puedes escuchar a través de tu ordenador la programación de literalmente docenas de miles de emisoras de todo el mundo, anuncios incluidos. Para los que quieren mejorar su inglés (o cualquier otra lengua), no hay nada mejor que escuchar las radios que emiten en ese idioma.
Asegúrate de que tienes los altavoces del ordenador encendidos y el volumen a un nivel moderado. Entonces, ya sólo te queda hacer clic sobre el botón en el que ponga "Listen Here" o "Listen Live" o algo por el estilo. Y ya está, empezará a sonar una señal de radio que está siendo emitida en ese mismo momento en el otro lado del mundo.
A mí, siendo useño (una palabra nueva y útil de Pío Moa), lo que más me interesa es por supuesto la música de mi país, y las únicas emisoras que he escogido en este artículo son useñas. Hay, también, emisoras de muchas otros países que son muy interesantes, como las dominicanas que ponen salsa y merengue, las mexicanas que ponen rancheros y norteños, las argelinas con su musica raï, las jamaicanas, las brasileñas, y las del Cabo Verde. Hay que escuchar la música que hacen allí si te gusta lo afrolatino. Y, además, si quieres, hay música popular de Irán, India, Vietnam, y casi todos los demás países del mundo. Búscala por Google y la encontrarás.
Dicho esto, hay muchos que creen que la mejor emisora de radio del mundo es WWOZ en Nueva Orleans, que pone jazz y blues 24 horas el día. Es una radio sin ánimo de lucro, que recibe apoyos voluntarios de sus oyentes, y por eso puede poner lo que quiera sin que sea necesariamente un éxito comercial. Otra muy buena emisora de jazz es KCSM en California. Y si te gusta lo de Luisiana, escucha a KBON de Lafayette, "Louisiana Proud," que a veces emite en francés, y pone una mezcla entrañable de Cajun, country, blues, y lo que llaman "swamp pop."
Los amantes de la música soul y funk tienen WILV (wilv.fm) en Chicago, una emisora profesional que se llama "Love FM." Los que prefieren la rhythm and blues no se deben perder WJLD en Birmingham, Alabama. Estas dos emisoras tienen una audiencia básicamente afroamericana
En Estados Unidos la "radio pública" (National Public Radio, NPR) recibe algunos apoyos del gobierno y otros de sus oyentes. Su programación es interesantísima, aunque izquierdista bienpensante cuando trata de las noticias y los temas sociales. Las emisoras de la cadena frecuentemente tienen alguna conexión con la universidad local, y cuando no emiten la programación nacional suelen poner música. Dos de las radios públicas mas interesantes son KCMP, que programa rock alternativo, y KUT en Austin, Texas, que pone country-rock.
Yo, personalmente, soy un fan del country, y mi emisora preferida es KHYI en Dallas, Texas. Lo bueno de esta emisora es que los pinchadiscos no ponen a Kenny Rogers ni a John Denver, sino a Johnny Cash y Merle Haggard, a Dale Watson y Junior Brown, y tienen un sentido del humor muy, pero que muy, useña. (Cuando España y Portugal firmaron el acuerdo de los Azores con Bush y Blair, los pinchadiscos se emocionaron tanto que sugirieron a sus oyentes que fuesen al supermercado y comprasen aceitunas y vino de la península ibérica, puesto que no podían pensar en ningún otro producto español allí en medio de Texas.) KHYI es una emisora comercial y muy profesional, y los anuncios a veces son tan buenos como las canciones. KNBT en New Braunfels, Texas, es semejante, el estilo de su música es lo que llamamos "western swing," para distinguirlo de la "bluegrass," más propia de los Apalaches. La legendaria WDVX en Knoxville, Tennessee, es el máximo exponente de la corriente apalache del bluegrass y el folk. Y, para una experiencia absolutamente no profesional, escucha WDVR en Nueva Jersey, otra emisora sin ánimo de lucro. Nunca sabes lo que vas a oír, o folk o Celtic o country o incluso rap, pero sabes que el pinchadiscos (todos son voluntarios) será un enamorado de la música que escoge.
El invento más grande de nuestras vidas
por John Chappell
Cualquier cosa que puedas imaginar se puede hacer por Internet, te lo juro. Si lo que te gusta es ver fotos de travestidos bajo tratamiento hormonal, te aseguro que están, y gratis. (Una pista: googlea Carmen de Mairena.) Ya que a mí no me va eso, paso bastante tiempo escuchando música a través de la radio por Internet.
No, no es exactamente la radio, lo estás recibiendo por cable o wifi, pero puedes escuchar a través de tu ordenador la programación de literalmente docenas de miles de emisoras de todo el mundo, anuncios incluidos. Para los que quieren mejorar su inglés (o cualquier otra lengua), no hay nada mejor que escuchar las radios que emiten en ese idioma.
Asegúrate de que tienes los altavoces del ordenador encendidos y el volumen a un nivel moderado. Entonces, ya sólo te queda hacer clic sobre el botón en el que ponga "Listen Here" o "Listen Live" o algo por el estilo. Y ya está, empezará a sonar una señal de radio que está siendo emitida en ese mismo momento en el otro lado del mundo.
A mí, siendo useño (una palabra nueva y útil de Pío Moa), lo que más me interesa es por supuesto la música de mi país, y las únicas emisoras que he escogido en este artículo son useñas. Hay, también, emisoras de muchas otros países que son muy interesantes, como las dominicanas que ponen salsa y merengue, las mexicanas que ponen rancheros y norteños, las argelinas con su musica raï, las jamaicanas, las brasileñas, y las del Cabo Verde. Hay que escuchar la música que hacen allí si te gusta lo afrolatino. Y, además, si quieres, hay música popular de Irán, India, Vietnam, y casi todos los demás países del mundo. Búscala por Google y la encontrarás.
Dicho esto, hay muchos que creen que la mejor emisora de radio del mundo es WWOZ en Nueva Orleans, que pone jazz y blues 24 horas el día. Es una radio sin ánimo de lucro, que recibe apoyos voluntarios de sus oyentes, y por eso puede poner lo que quiera sin que sea necesariamente un éxito comercial. Otra muy buena emisora de jazz es KCSM en California. Y si te gusta lo de Luisiana, escucha a KBON de Lafayette, "Louisiana Proud," que a veces emite en francés, y pone una mezcla entrañable de Cajun, country, blues, y lo que llaman "swamp pop."
Los amantes de la música soul y funk tienen WILV (wilv.fm) en Chicago, una emisora profesional que se llama "Love FM." Los que prefieren la rhythm and blues no se deben perder WJLD en Birmingham, Alabama. Estas dos emisoras tienen una audiencia básicamente afroamericana
En Estados Unidos la "radio pública" (National Public Radio, NPR) recibe algunos apoyos del gobierno y otros de sus oyentes. Su programación es interesantísima, aunque izquierdista bienpensante cuando trata de las noticias y los temas sociales. Las emisoras de la cadena frecuentemente tienen alguna conexión con la universidad local, y cuando no emiten la programación nacional suelen poner música. Dos de las radios públicas mas interesantes son KCMP, que programa rock alternativo, y KUT en Austin, Texas, que pone country-rock.
Yo, personalmente, soy un fan del country, y mi emisora preferida es KHYI en Dallas, Texas. Lo bueno de esta emisora es que los pinchadiscos no ponen a Kenny Rogers ni a John Denver, sino a Johnny Cash y Merle Haggard, a Dale Watson y Junior Brown, y tienen un sentido del humor muy, pero que muy, useña. (Cuando España y Portugal firmaron el acuerdo de los Azores con Bush y Blair, los pinchadiscos se emocionaron tanto que sugirieron a sus oyentes que fuesen al supermercado y comprasen aceitunas y vino de la península ibérica, puesto que no podían pensar en ningún otro producto español allí en medio de Texas.) KHYI es una emisora comercial y muy profesional, y los anuncios a veces son tan buenos como las canciones. KNBT en New Braunfels, Texas, es semejante, el estilo de su música es lo que llamamos "western swing," para distinguirlo de la "bluegrass," más propia de los Apalaches. La legendaria WDVX en Knoxville, Tennessee, es el máximo exponente de la corriente apalache del bluegrass y el folk. Y, para una experiencia absolutamente no profesional, escucha WDVR en Nueva Jersey, otra emisora sin ánimo de lucro. Nunca sabes lo que vas a oír, o folk o Celtic o country o incluso rap, pero sabes que el pinchadiscos (todos son voluntarios) será un enamorado de la música que escoge.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
There have been a couple of comments in favor of boycotting Spain and Old Europe. I must respectfully disagree. Remember, a boycott hurts the good people as well as the ones you don't like. If I may express my personal prejudices a minute about different bunches of Spaniards:
Political:
PP voters: You'll like 90% of them. Salt of the earth. 10% are way-out right-wing nuts, often super-Catholic.
CiU voters: At least 50% are wonderful folks. Half of the rest are almost as wonderful, but they're hung up on the Catalan thing. The other half of the rest are nuts, either far-out Catalanistas or wackjob Catholics.
PSOE voters: Half of them are pretty reasonable most of the time. The other half are either poorly-educated bigots or nuts.
Abstainers: Mostly working-class and not particularly interesting.
Others: Mostly nuts. Some PNV voters aren't too bad, but they're all Basque-wacky.
Social:
Urban white-collar: Generally reasonable and interesting folks, well-educated and cultured. 20% are political idiots.
Urban civil servants: Generally nuts. 20% of them are not political idiots.
Urban small business: Varies. Some are the most incredible people you've ever met. Some are the biggest assholes you can imagine. Most, of course, are somewhere in between.
Urban intelligentsia: As a rule idiots. And boring. To be avoided. Teachers are the worst.
Rural people: I love them.
Urban blue-collar: Friendly and open, and often good-hearted, but many are pretty much dopes. 20% aren't.
Underclass: Like underclass anywhere. Avoid them.
Immigrants: Wonderful people except for the Moroccan street kids and the Rumanian gypsies.
See? At least 40% of Spaniards are people you'd like to meet. And, of course, if you choose to deprive yourself of the riches of the Prado, the Alhambra, the Escorial, the Sagrada Familia, and Spain's other historical and cultural heights, you're only hurting yourself.
Political:
PP voters: You'll like 90% of them. Salt of the earth. 10% are way-out right-wing nuts, often super-Catholic.
CiU voters: At least 50% are wonderful folks. Half of the rest are almost as wonderful, but they're hung up on the Catalan thing. The other half of the rest are nuts, either far-out Catalanistas or wackjob Catholics.
PSOE voters: Half of them are pretty reasonable most of the time. The other half are either poorly-educated bigots or nuts.
Abstainers: Mostly working-class and not particularly interesting.
Others: Mostly nuts. Some PNV voters aren't too bad, but they're all Basque-wacky.
Social:
Urban white-collar: Generally reasonable and interesting folks, well-educated and cultured. 20% are political idiots.
Urban civil servants: Generally nuts. 20% of them are not political idiots.
Urban small business: Varies. Some are the most incredible people you've ever met. Some are the biggest assholes you can imagine. Most, of course, are somewhere in between.
Urban intelligentsia: As a rule idiots. And boring. To be avoided. Teachers are the worst.
Rural people: I love them.
Urban blue-collar: Friendly and open, and often good-hearted, but many are pretty much dopes. 20% aren't.
Underclass: Like underclass anywhere. Avoid them.
Immigrants: Wonderful people except for the Moroccan street kids and the Rumanian gypsies.
See? At least 40% of Spaniards are people you'd like to meet. And, of course, if you choose to deprive yourself of the riches of the Prado, the Alhambra, the Escorial, the Sagrada Familia, and Spain's other historical and cultural heights, you're only hurting yourself.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Here's something I wrote that Libertad Digital posted Monday. Thanks again to Fernando for the editing.
La política del barril de cerdo
Una de las expresiones más antiguas de la jerga política estadounidense alude a la costumbre de los políticos a tratar de satisfacer los deseos de sus votantes. El deseo más cercano a la cuenta corriente del votante suele ser también el deseo más cercano a su corazón, y por eso los varios candidatos al Senado y a la Cámara de Representantes prometen mucha inversión gubernamental en su estado o su distrito. Los que cumplen sus promesas frecuentemente son reelegidos.
Esto, despectivamente, se llama "la política del barril de cerdo." Supuestamente, en el siglo XIX, la típica promesa de un candidato de poca monta sería un barril de carne de cerdo ahumada gratis para cada votante si salía elegido. Entre los practicantes actuales más famosos y asiduos de este peculiar modo de hacer política es el líder demócrata en el Senado, el ex-jefe del Ku Klux Klan Robert Byrd, quizás más conocido por los visitantes de Virginia Occidental por el hecho de que cada autopista, oficina de correos, juzgado, y puente lleva su nombre. Incluso John Kerry, todavía senador de Massachusetts y pacifista notorio, salió hace unos días en los periódicos por exigir que una base militar en su estado, que el Pentágono quiere cerrar por inútil, se quede operativa. Los republicanos, por supuesto, le acusaron de practicar lo del barril de cerdo.
Esto del plan Maragall sobre la financiación catalana me huele a beicon. Si entiendo bien, Maragall quiere reservar un cierto porcentaje de los impuestos recaudados por el gobierno central dentro de la región autónoma de Cataluña. O sea, Maragall quiere un mínimo garantizado del reparto del barril de cerdo para Cataluña. Está muy bien, forma parte de la gran tradición democrática, pero conviene llamarlo por su nombre.
La respuesta cínica de un político experimentado norteamericano a los disparates maragallianos sería algo así: "Mira, hombre, si tus parlamentarios no pueden sacar suficiente cerdo para que tus votantes estén contentos, quizás dichos votantes estarían más felices con otro partido y te lo dirán en las próximas elecciones. O sea, a por el cerdo. Esto se entiende perfectamente. Pero queda muy feo disfrazar esto bajo la capa y la máscara del nacionalismo patriótico que defiende los propios derechos históricos de tu pueblo."
El sistema norteamericano del reparto de los impuestos funciona de ese modo. Hacienda recauda los impuestos federales, o sea, centrales. El Congreso reparte el cerdo. Cuando hay suficiente cerdo para todos, entonces se gasta lo que sobra en la defensa y cosas necesarias de este tipo.
Si tu estado quiere más cerdo, entonces lo que haces es recaudar impuestos en tu estado. Los más típicos son sobre la propiedad inmobiliaria, un IRPF estatal (mucho mas bajo que el federal, normalmente, porque cuando el IRPF estatal sube demasiado mucha gente se traslada a otro estado), sobre la venta (un tanto por ciento; por eso pagas un dólar con diez por un periódico que en su portada pone que cuesta un dólar cuando te dispones a comprarlo en el aeropuerto de Nueva York), y sobre el alcohol, el tabaco, el juego, y la gasolina (los llamados "impuestos sobre el pecado").
O sea, que todos los representantes catalanes, madrileños, vascos, murcianos, y cántabros compiten por el cerdo. Esto está muy bien, y que los que no traigan el cerdo a casa no vuelvan al Parlamento. Pero si el hambre de tus votantes no está saciado con lo que puedes traer a casa desde el gobierno central, lo que tendréis que hacer es sacar más cerdo de tu propio estado. Canalizar este hambre en el deseo de venganza por unos agravios históricos mayoritariamente o falsos o exagerados para desviar la atención de los votantes famélicos no está nada bien. Lleva a una desvertebración entre regiones innecesaria y contraproductiva.
Lo que no está mal es ser honesto sobre lo que realmente quieres hacer, y si esto es traer dinero a Cataluña para construir aeropuertos y escuelas y hospitales y carreteras, perfecto. Hay que mantener contentos a los votantes, pero sin pasarse. Hay que ser responsables con el cerdo, porque si comes demasiado te pones enfermo y el país acaba como Argentina. Este quizás es el genio del sistema anglosajón: consigue controlar la cantidad de cerdo que se reparte, para que todos coman pero para que nadie engorde.
Hay un viejo chiste político muy famoso en Estados Unidos. Un político está estrechando manos en un pueblo pequeño. Se encuentra a un anciano del lugar y éste le pregunta por qué debería votarle, y el político le dice, "Bueno, señor, hace cinco años voté a favor de subir su pensión, y hace diez años conseguí los fondos para el hospital nuevo, y hace quince años abrimos la universidad pública para que sus hijos estudien, y hace veinte años presenté la resolución que permitió abrir el casino donde trabaja su nieto." Y el viejo le responde, "Vale, pero ¿qué has hecho para mí recientemente?"
La política del barril de cerdo
Una de las expresiones más antiguas de la jerga política estadounidense alude a la costumbre de los políticos a tratar de satisfacer los deseos de sus votantes. El deseo más cercano a la cuenta corriente del votante suele ser también el deseo más cercano a su corazón, y por eso los varios candidatos al Senado y a la Cámara de Representantes prometen mucha inversión gubernamental en su estado o su distrito. Los que cumplen sus promesas frecuentemente son reelegidos.
Esto, despectivamente, se llama "la política del barril de cerdo." Supuestamente, en el siglo XIX, la típica promesa de un candidato de poca monta sería un barril de carne de cerdo ahumada gratis para cada votante si salía elegido. Entre los practicantes actuales más famosos y asiduos de este peculiar modo de hacer política es el líder demócrata en el Senado, el ex-jefe del Ku Klux Klan Robert Byrd, quizás más conocido por los visitantes de Virginia Occidental por el hecho de que cada autopista, oficina de correos, juzgado, y puente lleva su nombre. Incluso John Kerry, todavía senador de Massachusetts y pacifista notorio, salió hace unos días en los periódicos por exigir que una base militar en su estado, que el Pentágono quiere cerrar por inútil, se quede operativa. Los republicanos, por supuesto, le acusaron de practicar lo del barril de cerdo.
Esto del plan Maragall sobre la financiación catalana me huele a beicon. Si entiendo bien, Maragall quiere reservar un cierto porcentaje de los impuestos recaudados por el gobierno central dentro de la región autónoma de Cataluña. O sea, Maragall quiere un mínimo garantizado del reparto del barril de cerdo para Cataluña. Está muy bien, forma parte de la gran tradición democrática, pero conviene llamarlo por su nombre.
La respuesta cínica de un político experimentado norteamericano a los disparates maragallianos sería algo así: "Mira, hombre, si tus parlamentarios no pueden sacar suficiente cerdo para que tus votantes estén contentos, quizás dichos votantes estarían más felices con otro partido y te lo dirán en las próximas elecciones. O sea, a por el cerdo. Esto se entiende perfectamente. Pero queda muy feo disfrazar esto bajo la capa y la máscara del nacionalismo patriótico que defiende los propios derechos históricos de tu pueblo."
El sistema norteamericano del reparto de los impuestos funciona de ese modo. Hacienda recauda los impuestos federales, o sea, centrales. El Congreso reparte el cerdo. Cuando hay suficiente cerdo para todos, entonces se gasta lo que sobra en la defensa y cosas necesarias de este tipo.
Si tu estado quiere más cerdo, entonces lo que haces es recaudar impuestos en tu estado. Los más típicos son sobre la propiedad inmobiliaria, un IRPF estatal (mucho mas bajo que el federal, normalmente, porque cuando el IRPF estatal sube demasiado mucha gente se traslada a otro estado), sobre la venta (un tanto por ciento; por eso pagas un dólar con diez por un periódico que en su portada pone que cuesta un dólar cuando te dispones a comprarlo en el aeropuerto de Nueva York), y sobre el alcohol, el tabaco, el juego, y la gasolina (los llamados "impuestos sobre el pecado").
O sea, que todos los representantes catalanes, madrileños, vascos, murcianos, y cántabros compiten por el cerdo. Esto está muy bien, y que los que no traigan el cerdo a casa no vuelvan al Parlamento. Pero si el hambre de tus votantes no está saciado con lo que puedes traer a casa desde el gobierno central, lo que tendréis que hacer es sacar más cerdo de tu propio estado. Canalizar este hambre en el deseo de venganza por unos agravios históricos mayoritariamente o falsos o exagerados para desviar la atención de los votantes famélicos no está nada bien. Lleva a una desvertebración entre regiones innecesaria y contraproductiva.
Lo que no está mal es ser honesto sobre lo que realmente quieres hacer, y si esto es traer dinero a Cataluña para construir aeropuertos y escuelas y hospitales y carreteras, perfecto. Hay que mantener contentos a los votantes, pero sin pasarse. Hay que ser responsables con el cerdo, porque si comes demasiado te pones enfermo y el país acaba como Argentina. Este quizás es el genio del sistema anglosajón: consigue controlar la cantidad de cerdo que se reparte, para que todos coman pero para que nadie engorde.
Hay un viejo chiste político muy famoso en Estados Unidos. Un político está estrechando manos en un pueblo pequeño. Se encuentra a un anciano del lugar y éste le pregunta por qué debería votarle, y el político le dice, "Bueno, señor, hace cinco años voté a favor de subir su pensión, y hace diez años conseguí los fondos para el hospital nuevo, y hace quince años abrimos la universidad pública para que sus hijos estudien, y hace veinte años presenté la resolución que permitió abrir el casino donde trabaja su nieto." Y el viejo le responde, "Vale, pero ¿qué has hecho para mí recientemente?"
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