A Short Discourse on Spanish Politics

We're now slightly more than a year into the Zapatero administration, and I think I know enough about what's going on to make a brief summary.

1) The Socialists are incompetent, but then we knew that. No matter how incompetent they are, however, there's a limit to how badly they can screw things up. First, Spain is still in the middle of a huge economic boom. Spain is Europe's Sunbelt. Good weather, comparatively cheap labor and land costs, educated workforce, tourist attractions, high-value agricultural exports, pretty good light industry and construction sectors. There's no way they can stop Spain from growing unless they do something dumb like renationalizing the phone company, which even the PSOE isn't going to do. Second, Spain is part of the EU for better or for worse, and I think generally for the better. What this means is there's a limit to what the government can do before Brussels calls it on the carpet and says the budget's out of whack or whatever.

2) The PSOE is weak on several fronts. The most important values held by the majority of Spaniards, and I don't mean hip Barcelona urbanites, are, more or less in this order: family, security, equality, solidarity, Spain as a nation, the Church. The PP has very intelligently been hammering on most of these issues. In about May they organized three large demonstrations. They were 1) against government negotiations with ETA, 2) against sending part of the Civil War archives to Salamanca, and 3) against gay marriage.

These demos were good for appealing to the PP's base voters. The problems that most people see with negotiating with ETA are a) why negotiate, they're losing and b) what they want is for their prisoners to be let out of jail. They'll compromise on everything else. Well, most Spaniards are against turning their prisoners loose, and the PP needs to keep hitting this issue hard. It appeals to the security and Spain values and also to family, as the PP has been successful in framing the ETA issue in the context of the victims of ETA terrorism and justice to them.

The Civil War archives issue is a red herring, completely meaningless. A big deal has been made over whether Catalan regional government papers from the Civil War archive should stay with the rest of the archive in Salamanca or be transferred to Catalonia. The Cataloonies made a big deal out of this, and the rest of Spain decided they were a bunch of jerks and this was a symbolic issue that was worth making a stand on. The Cataloonies have made themselves so unpopular everywhere else in the country that anything they're for, everyone else is automatically against. The PP does well in appealing to the Spain value.

As for gay marriage, a lot of people are against it. The PP again does well in appealing to the family and Church values.

Other issues I would hammer on are: Abortion. That's a major Church and family value, and the fact is the abortion law is regularly broken here. Abortion is only legal in Spain in case of rape, incest, an abnormal fetus, or danger to the woman's health. The problem is the abortion clinics will certify any abortion as necessary for the woman's health, so the law is regularly flouted. I would bring this issue up.

Immigration. It's unpopular, but we need at least some, and opposing it not only looks bad but is counterproductive in the long run. What we do is support immigration, but make a big deal about how we love the majority of immigrants who come here to work and to integrate themselves more or less into Spanish society. And we slam the hell out of the minority of immigrants who come here to do crimes, and we slam the Socialist administration for not deporting them. This way we look liberal for supporting the decent immigrants and tough for wanting to lock up the criminals. In fact, the crime issue is also always a root value. Everybody's for law and order, and there's way too much street crime now. Pound on both of these issues. Hard. Support mandatory prison for everyone who commits a violent crime. Appeal to the family values people by declaring we want to make this especially true for domestic abusers, which we of course would like to do.

Housing. That's seen as a major problem. It's not an emotional issue. What I would do is come up with some kind of housing plan that would make it easier and cheaper for municipalities to license housing starts and thus increase the supply. This is the issue you can use to show you're respectable and have a responsible program. Gotta appeal to the voters who imagine they don't vote on emotional issues.

Schools. They're going straight to hell and have been ever since the Socialist "reforma" of the mid-'90s. What pretty much everybody, especially the teachers, wants is to go back to the basics. This is a family and solidarity issue, and everybody's always in favor of the children. Run on a conservative education platform, promising to actually teach the kids to read and do math. That'll also look responsible. Support Church schools. That'll get them on your side, and besides they're generally better than the public schools. As far as religion classes in the public schools, make it look like it's a big deal that you'll compromise and allow it to be an optional subject rather than obligatory; in exchange demand that it count for the students' grade average. That ought to make everyone happy.

Islamist terrorism. Get a plan together right now for how we're going to deal with it when Al Qaeda bombs something else in Spain, which I'm afraid they will sometime before 2008. Islamist terrorism is one thing everybody's against. We should be able to blame it on the Socialists just like the Socialists blamed us for the last one. If for some reason it doesn't happen, which we all of course hope, then we just stow the plan and avoid the issue. If there is some kind of success by the government against terrorism, we credit the police, who are the ones who actually did the work in the first place.

AVOID a) foreign policy. Spain's anti-American. When the PP is challenged, profess no deep love for the Americans but stress it is necessary for Spain to be friendly with America as a practical matter. Call the Socialists incompetent but don't look like you're in bed with the gringos. b) the March 11 bombings. Stop refighting the past. That is actually the only thing the voters like about Zap. They supported the pullout from Iraq and they're not going to change their minds. Let the whole thing be swept under the rug. We lost that battle. Think about winning the next one. c) Bringing back memories of Aznar. He was an excellent prime minister, and also highly unpopular personally. Nobody liked him except us. Stop making a big deal about him. Don't disassociate ourselves from him, that would be wrong, but let's not intentionally bring him up. d) Getting bitter and angry at the Socialists. Yeah, we hate them, and we think they stole the last election from us unfairly, but the public does not like constant negativism. Let that slide.

EXCEPT: When the Socialists screw up massively in administration questions. The example is the furor over the oil tanker Prestige that sank off the Galician coast a couple of years ago. The Aznar administration had to make a quick decision and chose to tow the sinking tanker away from the coast, which might well have been the wrong choice, but it's rather unsporting to second-guess a crisis decision, which the PSOE did very successfully, as if it were the PP's fault the ship sank.

Well, we blast them on this. They've already had two major screwups, the subway tunnel in Barcelona that collapsed, leaving dozens of families homeless, and now the Guadalajara fire that killed eleven volunteer firemen. Second-guess the hell out of them on both these issues and don't let up. In fact, bring up the subway tunnel at every opportunity. This one is especially fun because the Socialists, in alliance with the Communists and ERC, have been running Barcelona since 1978 and anything that goes wrong can easily be blamed on them. As a matter of fact, I would bring up a third disaster, the Barcelona Forum, and hammer them with that, too.

Now. The next municipal and regional elections are in 2007 and the next national election is in 2008. That means we have plenty of time. We have the advantage that there is no responsible party on our right. In fact, I would intentionally make a big deal about totally disowning far-right movements like the Plataforma per Catalunya. We avoid being outflanked on the right by making it clear that anyone to our right is untrustworthy and undemocratic.

So strategy is to continue along with nailing down the right-wing base for at least the next year. Don't let up and hit them hard with the basic issues. Make sure all your core voters are going to come out. Then move toward the center and pick up the disgusted swing voters, of whom there will be plenty.

Part of our problem is image. Our least popular leaders are Acebes and Zaplana. They're attack dogs. Only the base likes them. Keep using them while we're still riding the right wing hard, since they keep the core voters fired up. But when we swing center sometime in 2007, get rid of them. Well, no, don't just kick them out, they've been loyal, but they have to drop out of sight for the campaign. Center voters hate these guys.

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.

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.

It just gets worse.

http://www.bestialitysearch.com/

Here is these freaks' chatroom. You will not believe this.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?"

Lluís Foix, of all people, in La Vanguardia, of all places, blew the whistle on some absolute bullshit prepared by, get this, the Barcelona city government's Institute of Education for the purpose of, get this, using it in the schools. Impostor Enric Marcó was a major source for the book. It's called "Republicans and Republicanas in the Nazi concentration camps." From the chapter "The Nazi genocide today and other genocides," Foix quotes,

"Of all the problems that exist today, probably there are two that, at the moment of writing this educational unit, have many similarities with Nazi genocide and the ghettos which the German Nazis created to isolate the Jews from everyone else...they are the construction of the wall of shame in Palestine and the jailing of Taliban prisoners at the military base the United States has on the island of Cuba, in Guantanamo."

The Barcelona city government is going to pass this crap out in the schools, this explicit moral comparison between the Nazi genocide and current American and Israeli actions. Do I need to point out that my great-uncles Homer and W.B. and Zeb actually got dragged out of Texas and sent to Europe where they actually shot some Nazis, or that the Spanish Republican prisoners at Mauthausen were liberated by none less than the Americans, or that the Israelis are the children of those who suffered real genocide, not those Spaniards who were locked up because some of them were Stalinist murderers?

Find me a gas chamber at Guantanamo or a death camp in Israel, you shits.

Meanwhile a Catalan delegation went to Israel and behaved like a bunch of assholes. First they had an homage to Yitzhak Rabin, and the Catalan flag wasn't there, so separatist leader Carod-Rovira refused to attend it. Refused to attend a ceremony honoring a prime minister murdered precisely because he tried to make peace because his region's flag wasn't there! Then there was a ceremony in homage to the victims of the Holocaust, which the Spanish ambassador was at, and they only had a Catalan flag, which bothered the ambassador since his country's flag wasn't at an official government occasion. They played regional symbolic politics at an homage to the victims of the Holocaust! Then, get this, on Friday premier Pasqual Maragall and ERC leader Carod-Rovira paid a visit in the morning to the Holocaust Museum, the Wailing Wall, and the Holy Sepulchre. They were so deeply impressed with the solemn occasion that they bought a souvenir plastic crown of thorns and Maragall got a photo of Carod wearing it in front of everybody with a huge smile on his ignorant, arrogant face. And some people dare to complain about foreigners' inappropriate behavior in Spain! Gee, let's make fun of Jesus after visiting the most sacred sites of the Jewish and Christian religions and the museum dedicated to the real victims of genocide.

The Israeli ambassador to Spain's reaction was, "It is lamentable and inappropriate that a ceremony in which respect was to be shown to one of our heroes, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was marked by an incident internal to Spain." Duran Lleida, of Convergence and Union, the Catalan moderates, said, "It was an embarrassing show. Real clownishness, like Charlie Chaplin." Duran called for "respect toward Christians and for what Jerusalem signifies." The PP's Jorge Fernandez Diaz said he felt "embarrassed. More than an official visit of leaders of a country who have to show an appropriate image, this looks like a bunch of buddies on a trip behaving ridiculously." Pasqual Maragall said, "The visit was an exceptional success." I think they let Maragall start drinking again, because he sure has been acting like it recently. The guy is a notorious alcoholic.

Meanwhile, poor Victor Harel, the Israeli ambassador here in Madrid, also had to deal with the offensive history textbook the city government came out with. He said, "We feel very badly. It is shameful to include the issue of the Palestinian wall in a text about the Holocaust. The text shows a complete lack of sensitivity and the banalization of the Holocaust, and we cannot permit that, Comparing the Nazi era with Israel's current policies crosses the red line and becomes anti-Semitism. " Harel demanded "the text be retired immediately and its content be rectified, omitting all references to current Israeli policy." Meanwhile, the Israeli embassy has contacted the Spanish foreign ministry and Israel's president, Moshe Katsav, is going to call Maragall on the carpet and, I hope, chew him up one side and down the other.

Official reaction from the Barcelona city government? Socialist clown Marina Subirats, in charge of the municipal Institute of Education (why we need one I have no idea), said, "The sentence in which the Palestinian wall is mentioned is the opinion of the authors that the city government will not censor." Later, after being talked to loudly and clearly by somebody with a brain, probably from the foreign ministry, she said, "We don't want a diplomatic incident. Although this controversy is totally disproportionate, we will, together with the authors, revise the entire text before its distribution. This material has not yet been handed out and is in the process of correction because of its references to Enric Marcó."

Good job, guys. You managed to offend the Israelis, the Americans, the Catholics, the non-Catalan Spaniards, the Jews, and the memory of the dead. Not bad for three days. Not to mention looking like fools for swallowing all of Enric Marco's lies.

How long are Spain's voters going to let this go on?

Check out these bits of news from the Spain Herald from last week.

El País blaims White House for Newsweek error

Despite Newsweek's retraction of its notorious story on supposed profanations of the Koran, El Pais, Spain's best-selling newspaper, blamed George W. Bush for Newsweek's error both in an editorial and on the news pages. El Pais belongs to Spain's largest media corporation, Prisa, property of Jesús de Polanco. A reporter from El Pais, José Manuel Calvo, calls into question the falsity of the story, and claims that the wounds of the Iraq war have not healed as the protests in the Muslim world showed. Calvo wondered, "Is the published story, despite the retraction, true, or are these only accusations that are part of a tried-and-true strategy? Or both? Since last year, the Guantanamo prisoners have made 'credible charges of religious humiliation,' according to the Constitutional Law Center in New York, one of the organizations that advises the inmates." Calvo's piece turns the story in its head, saying, "Though Newsweek retracted its story Monday, under pressure from the White House, and the Pentagon says that Al Qaeda militants have orders to charge religious profanation, the interest of the tens of thousands who were offended is not knowing whether the story was true or not, but that it was published." On its editorial page, El Pais tries to make the retraction look less important, saying the story was just a news brief that wouldn't have been so important but for the Iraq war. Says El Pais, "Trying to blame the messenger for the blood spilled and America's loss of prestige is a supreme act of cynicism on the part of the Pentagon, the State Department, and the White House. The administration is responsible because of its rigorously opaque information policy on terrorist issues, and because it permits the existence of a prison like Guantanamo, a legal limbo outside all civilized convention, where US soldiers do whatever they want, with no control but their own, with the hundreds of Islamist suspects interned there...It is no accident that the most demagogic use of the now disproven story was made in Afghanistan, a country on the brink despite American military presence, where Al Qaeda and its supporters have great power, and whose president, a firm ally of Washington, has serious problems exercising power outside his capital." Newsweek's false report may have led to rioting in Afghanistan that killed at least 16 people.

What bogosity, which by the way was followed up by a similar piece in La Vanguardia. Gee, if Newsweek prints a lie, and a bunch of people get killed in rioting, it's America's fault and Bush's in particular. Also note the "fake but accurate" justification being thrown out here; it doesn't matter whether Newsweek's story is actually the truth, the important thing is it may be a lie but a reflection of the greater truth, which is that America is evil. Similar "fake but accurate" information, you'll recall, was provided by CBS News about Bush's military record and, most recently, here by our unmasked impostor, Enric Marcó, about his alleged imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps.

SGAE supports Internet "drivers' license"

The SGAE is Spain's private union of creative workers, and manages the intellectual property of more than 66,000 members, such as authors, songwriters, film directors, scriptwriters, and musicians. During its fourth workshop on digital journalism yesterday, SGAE lawyer Pedro Farré proposed, "Just as you need a license to drive a car, you should need a license to use the Internet. The objective is to eliminate the anonymity provided by the Internet. The Internet is not a regulated world, and liberty cannot exist without responsibility." Journalist and blogger Arcadi Espada responded, stating that Ferre's idea "means saying that anonymity should be prohibited in 'civilian life'." Espada believes that "some things are much more dangerous than anonymity," in reference to Newsweek magazine's publication of a false story that may have resulted in violence. Arcadi Espada called Internet "the most important philanthropic enterprise ever conceived." Meanwhile, industry, tourism, and commerce minister José Montilla warned yesterday that in the digital press sector "new products of doubtful utility and legality, such as some kinds of newsletters or blogs, are being created." Montilla added he did not mean "that this kind of product is pernicious in itself, nor anything of the sort, but some of them do not meet the fundamental norms that define the profession of journalism. Every medium of communication must be solvent and credible, which some of these newsletters and blogs are far from being, colliding with the freedom of expression and information." Montilla said, "There are legions of those damaged by digital newspapers, among them myself. Damaged because of some actions that, sometimes, were caused by concrete interests of those very sources of information."

And they say the Socialists don't want to censor anybody. Sounds to me like they want to censor this here blog. If you're not "solvent and credible," and you go ahead and express your ideas, does this mean that you're "colliding with the freedom of expression and information"? Who is going to give out licenses of solvency and credibility? The state, I suppose, since it's in charge of drivers' licenses too. Welcome to the new Socialist Internet. This would be in clear violation of the First Amendment back home in the US, and I imagine it's pretty damn unconstitutional around here, too.

80% of Spaniards say they're Catholic

79.3% of Spaniards identify themselves as Catholic, while 11.7% are nonbelievers and 4.9% say they are atheists, according to a survey of 2500 respondents taken in March by the government-owned polling bureau CIS. Of the Catholics, 41.7% rarely or never attend mass or other religious ceremonies, except baptisms, weddings, first communions, and funerals. 19.7% of Catholics attend several times a year, 13.1% every month, and 17.2% every Sunday and Christian holiday. 2.3% go more than once a week. In other results, those surveyed considered Spain's most important problem to be unemployment; their concern over terrorism, the second most important problem, is decreasing. Citizens' concern over housing and immigration is rising.

I just thought that was interesting. This means about 20% of the 80% who identify as Catholics actually go to church regularly. That sounds about right to me. One point is a lot of those churchgoers are old ladies, whose numbers are of course dropping. I think Spain is a basically secular country of distinct Catholic tradition. That is, they aren't observant Catholics anymore, but they sure aren't anything like Protestants, of whom Spain has never had more than about seventeen.

Here's a piece I wrote for Libertad Digital they didn't use. In case you didn't already know, Barça won the League for the first time since 1999. At the celebration of the title in Barça's stadium, Samuel Etoo, who played several years for Madrid's youth team, shouted into the microphone the traditional culé slogan, "Madrid, cabron, saluda el campión," which translates more or less as "Madrid, you bastards, hats off to the champions." He then apologized the next day, since it really was kind of offensive, and especially with the kids watching and all.

Congratulations to the fourteen, later sixteen, players who won the title. Many of Barça's players, including backup goalie Jonquera, defender Edmilson, midfielders Gabri, Motta, and Gerard, and forward Larsson, were injured early in the season and missed most of it. The starting eleven was Valdés; Belletti, Puyol, Oleguer, Van Bronckhorst; Xavi, Márquez, Deco; Giuly, Etoo, Ronaldinho. These eleven guys, plus Iniesta, who was the twelfth man, frequently substituted for Giuly but can play almost any position, and the only player to appear in all 36 League games, Sylvinho, who was a backup but stayed healthy and ate up a lot of minutes with solid defense on the left side, and Damià, from the youth squad, who filled in a few games at right defense when Belletti got hurt and did very well, kept Barça in first place in the League start to finish and in good position in the Champions' League, in which they reached the quarterfinals before getting knocked out by Chelsea, not exactly disgraceful. These fourteen played alone, with a little help from midseason signings Albertini, who soon got hurt himself, and Maxi López, who showed some real promise, three times every ten days for five months. Real Madrid, who have a good team, put on a massive final assault, winning seven games in a row before tying Sevilla away, and couldn't catch Barça, or even come close.

This was one of the best seasons I've ever seen a team put together, and I've been watching Spanish soccer since 1987. I think the team I liked best was Robson's 1997 Barça, which won the Cup and the UEFA but didn't quite win the League, with the 1991 team that won the League and the Champions' League second. This Barça team is third on my favorites list, and we're expecting big things from them next year. All the stars are still young and hungry, and Barcelona has them tied up for the next couple of years at least. The only player on the starting eleven over 29 years old is Van Bronckhorst, who's 30, and hardly the team's best player. Closer to the worst, not taking anything away from Gio, but when the competition for best player includes Ronaldinho, Deco, Etoo, Xavi, and Puyol, it's understandable that a solid left defender with a good left leg wouldn't be the top star. Another attractive thing about the team, by the way, is that most of them are family guys, not wild partiers. Only Etoo is known for hitting the town big-time, and if he's going to score 25 goals a year he can keep doing it. He starts scoring seven goals a year, then it's time to review the standards of behavior.

Supposedly Van Bommel, the midfielder from PSV Eindhoven, is a signing for sure next year. Santi Esquerro, Athletic Bilbao's right wing, and Luque, Deportivo's center forward, are the Spanish players supposedly on Barça's list. I still don't think they should have ever let Luis García, the one on Liverpool now--there are at least three Spanish players named that--get away.

Anyway, here's that thing.

Enemigas

Los estadounidenses como yo, aficionados al deporte, siempre encontramos chocante el hecho de que los equipos professionales de fútbol en España tienen conotaciones políticas. In EEUU no es así; no hay equipos derechistas o izquierdistas o nacionalistas o separatistas. Soy hincha de los Kansas City Chiefs en el fútbol americano, lo que quiere decir que siempre me quedo decepcionado al final de la temporada porque nos han eliminado en la primera ronda de los playoffs; apoyo a los Jayhawks de Kansas, mi alma mater, en el baloncesto universitario, lo que quiere decir que siempre estoy decepcionado al final de la temporada porque nos han eliminado en el final four; y soy de los Kansas City Royals en el béisbol, y entonces nunca me decepciono, porque somos tan rematadamente malos que si los Royals solo pierden cien partidos,`podemos estar contentos.

Pero apoyo a estos equipos porque son los de mi ciudad o mi universidad, sin otras razones. Ningún de estos equipos representa nada más. En contraste, en España los varios equipos tienen simbolismo político y/o nacionalista, cosa que sencillamente no entendemos los de allende el Atlántico; la única excepción es el equipo de fútbol americano de la Universidad de Notre Dame, el cual recibe apoyo de muchos católicos por razones obvias.

Está claro que la rivaldad entre el Real Madrid y el Fútbol Club Barcelona es mucho más sentida que cualquier otra rivaldad, quizás en el mundo, y ciertamente en comparación con EEUU. Esto tiene que ver con el gran odio que hay entre las dos ciudades, Barcelona resiente el hecho de que Madrid es la capital, Se cree lo suficiente grande y gloriosa para ser una capital ella misma. No le falta razón; es una ciudad más importante económicamente y culturalmente que muchas capitales de estado europeas, como Bruselas, Dublín, Lisboa, Bern, Estocolmo, y una larga lista más. Pero Madrid es la capital, y seguirá siendo la capital, y los barcelonistas, tanto deportivos como políticos y culturales, no pueden tragar esto. Antes muertos todos que arrodillarnos ante Madrid.

Mientras tanto, en Madrid existe mucho resentimiento hacia Barcelona, y no le falta razón tampoco; si fuera madrileño, estaría enfadado por los intentos constantes de Barcelona de desbancar a Madrid de su puesto como capital y, si esto no es posible, denigrar a Madrid para que parezca mal simbólicamente. Esta rivalidad es la fuente del catalanismo político; si Barcelona no puede ser la capital de España, entonces quiere ser la capital de su propio estado independiente. Los del resto de España, por supuesto, se sienten ofendidos porque piensan que los catalanistas se consideren superiores, tan superiores que no deben vivir bajo el yugo de Madrid. Y de aquí viene el madridismo deportivo, político, y cultural.

Este gran resentimiento que las dos ciudades se tienen es conducido hacia el deporte, e incluso las autoridades locales lo toman tan en serio que se enfadan unas con otras sobre los resultados de la liga profesional de fútbol y las declaraciones de unos futbolistas profesionales. Señores Aguirre, Simancas, Maragall, Zapatero, creced de una vez. Nuestra sociedad es amenazada por el terrorismo tanto nacional como internacional. No vale la pena enfadarse por algo tan obviamente simbólico como el fútbol cuando lo que necesita España es la unión entre sus dos ciudades más grandes para hacer frente a los enemigos de todos.

Here are the two columns I wrote in Spanish for Libertad Digital that they posted last week. Thanks very much to Fernando for the editing.

Jerga socióloga

A partir de la década de 1840 millones de irlandeses se vieron forzados a emigrar a Estados Unidos a causa de la pobreza y el hambre. Los habitantes de Irlanda vivían bajo el férreo mando inglés, que les tenía sojuzgados y sin oportunidades. No podían tener tierras, no podían estudiar, no podían practicar su religión, no disfrutaban, en suma, de ninguno de los derechos humanos básicos. Esto contribuyó a lo que llaman los sociólogos "la cultura de las expectativas disminuidas." La idea de que no había futuro llegó a ser una de las bases de la cultura de Irlanda.

Es decir, que en Irlanda la gente no tenía expectativas para el futuro. ¿Para qué trabajar duro, para qué hacer planes, para qué tener esperanza? No les iba a servir para nada. No había posibilidades de mejorar su situación. Por esa razón los irlandeses no solían trabajar mucho, ni esforzarse en nada, simplemente porque no se beneficiarían de ello. Esto es fácil de entender; de haber sido irlandés en aquella época, tampoco me habría esforzado yo.

El problema empezó cuando emigraron a Estados Unidos. Aunque, naturalmente, América no era el paraíso, había oportunidades de verdad allí, había trabajo, había escuelas, existían los derechos básicos. Pero los irlandeses no se aprovecharon de estas posibilidades porque en su país natal habían aprendido que el esfuerzo era inútil. Al contrario, ganaron fama en Norteamérica por perezosos, borrachos, incompetentes, sucios, y gente de poco fiar. Y merecidamente.

Les costó dos generaciones a los irlandeses en EEUU superar su cultura de las expectativas disminuidas. Con el tiempo, aprendieron que había oportunidades que podían explotar. Pero les llevó más de cincuenta años.

En España existe un síndrome semejante. No es una cultura de bajas expectativas económicas, es una cultura de bajas expectativas políticas. Durante doscientos años antes de 1975, los españoles aprendieron que el sistema político era corrupto, dictatorial, incompetente, injusto, arbitrario, y a veces asesino.

Después de 1975, en cambio, hemos tenido un sistema gubernamental básicamente decente. Se han cometido errores, claro que sí, pero ahora tenemos una democracia con las garantías propias de un estado de derecho. De uno de los países peor gobernados del mundo, España se ha convertido en uno de los países mejor regidos por sus políticos.

Lo que pasa es que los españoles no lo reconocen. Siguen pensando que la política tiene que ser corrupta y que los políticos son a lo mejor incompetentes y a lo peor asesinos en masa. Esto es la causa del pasotismo español; parte de la cultura de España es el desdén hacia la política.
A los irlandeses les llevó cincuenta años aprender que su cultura de las expectativas disminuidas no funcionaba en su nuevo hogar ultramarino. Los españoles han pasado ya treinta años en democracia. Espero que no se tomen muchos años más en aprender que su cultura política no funciona en esta nueva era.


Emociones no justificadas

Robert D. Kaplan, el ilustre periodista norteamericano, autor de varios libros y ganador de otros tantos premios, escribió en su libro "Los fantasmas de los Balcanes" allá por 1993: "Ahora que el comunismo ha caído y los soviéticos han sido expulsados, hay muchas emociones a rienda suelta en los Balcanes que han perdido su uso legítimo." Kaplan hablaba de los nacionalismos balcánicos, tanto viejos como nuevos, que aparecieron casi inmediatamente después del fin del imperio ruso y que causaron tanta muerte y destrucción.

La situación en España es semejante. España sufría muchos años de mal gobierno, especialmente entre el fin del siglo XVIII y 1975, y muchos españoles lo pasaron bastante mal durante aquella época. Así las cosas, no debe sorprender a nadie que se produjesen movimientos contra el poder establecido, ya que no dirigía bien el país. Los carlistas, los nacionales, los anarquistas, los falangistas, y todos los demás tenían como meta arreglar España; por supuesto, las soluciones milagrosas de cada grupo fueron equivocadas, pero había una justificación para buscarlas.

Lo que ocurrió en Cataluña durante los primeros tres cuartos del siglo XX, al igual de lo que ocurrió en el resto de España causó resentimiento. La diferencia entre Cataluña y el resto de España es que muchos catalanes canalizaron su disgusto con el status quo en el nacionalismo. Llegó a existir un importante movimiento popular allí cuyo apoyo al nacionalismo catalanista se convirtió en una cosa mucho más emocional que racional.

Pero a partir de 1975 España comenzó por primera vez a ser un país gobernado por los representantes de los electores bajo el estado de derecho. Los españoles ganaron los derechos de expresión, de confesión, de asamblea, de un juicio justo, y de hablar en el idioma que les daba la gana.

El nacionalismo catalanista se encontró en seguida sin argumentos racionales. Los catalanes ahora tienen su propio gobierno, su propia salud pública, su propia enseñanza, sus propios impuestos, su propia policía, sus propios juzgados, y ad infinitum. ¿Qué más pueden querer? Nada, pero el nacionalismo siempre buscará un agravio. Aunque hoy en día en España vivimos mejor que nunca antes en la historia, su irracionalidad les llevará a quejarse de todo como siempre han hecho. El problema es que sus quejas ya no son justificadas, y espero que sepamos combatirlas antes de que nos lleven a los Balcanes de Kaplan.

Sorry I haven't been here for so long. I spent the last week in Madrid visiting the folks at the Spain Herald, which of course you ought to be reading religiously every day for the skinny on Spain, talking to Robert Duncan, who is starting a new project called Spero News that I am doing some editing for, and hanging out with my friend Richard. We saw the Durer exhibit at the Prado and went to the Thyssen museum, as well as taking trips to El Escorial and Segovia. We hung out one night with my contact Carlos, who is a real nice guy, and we found a bar run by some Bulgarians called La Bruja on Calle Lope de Vega, near Calle Huertas and Plaza Santa Ana, that we highly recommend. Inexpensive and very friendly with tasty Bulgarian food, which is basically standard Mediterranean fare, good stuff. Try the quichelike substance, which is called baritza or something like that. Richard had a good time here in Spain; he thoroughly enjoyed everything. I really do recommend that you guys come and visit in case you haven't already. Don't boycott us just because Zapatero's an idiot. You'll like the sights, the cities, the landscape, the weather (most of the time), most of the food, and most of the people. You won't like tourist hell places like Lloret or Salou, so just stay away from them. That way you can avoid all the--if I may put it euphemistically--working-class Europeans of low socioeconomic status whose alcohol consumption so much of the Spanish economy is dependent on. Also, of course, avoid unattractive suburbs such as Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Vallecas, where the local working class of lower socioeconomic status whose alcohol consumption the rest of the Spanish economy is dependent on hangs out.

The hilarious yet pathetic news is this guy named Enric Marcó, who had gone around ever since 1978 claiming he was a Spanish Republican survivor of the Nazi concentration camp in Flossenburg, was unmasked this week as an impostor. He had actually volunteered in 1941 to work in Germany with one of the transports of volunteers Franco sent. Nobody really knows how many Spanish Republicans were killed by the Nazis. Several thousand, probably. What happened is tens, maybe hundreds of thousands, of these guys, some of whom were basically innocent and some of whom had been guilty of participating in the revolutionary violence in Republican Spain, fled to France after the collapse of the Republic at the beginning of 1939 so that Franco wouldn't get his hands on them. Many of those who Franco did catch he had shot. Some of them probably had it coming and some didn't. Those who fled to France were interned in unpleasant detention camps. Some signed up for the French Army or for French labor batallions and some didn't and some died. After a couple of years the Francoist terror had pretty much burned out and some went back to Spain. The Nazis grabbed some of them and put them in concentration camps for political reasons, since they were mostly leftists. A few, such as former Catalan prime minister Lluís Companys, were deported by the Gestapo and turned over to Franco's tender mercies. Most of those who were imprisoned by the Nazis were in Mauthausen, and many died there. The survivors formed an association which is known for its left-wing activism.

Here one must point out that there is a difference between these guys and the Jewish and Gypsy victims of the Holocaust. The Spanish Republicans were persecuted by the Nazis because of what they had done and what their political ideas were. The Jews and Gypsies were persecuted because of who they were ethnically, not politically. The Jewish and Gypsy victims of the Holocaust were of all political stripes, and most had no political ideas at all. All Spanish Republican victims were, of course, radical leftists. The Spanish Republicans had in their time persecuted other people of different political or religious ideas. The Jews and Gypsies had persecuted nobody. This is not an excuse for the Nazi treatment of the Spanish Republicans, but their suffering, tragic as it was, and what happened to the Jews and Gypsies were two very different things.

Enric Marcó, anyway, was a liar and a fraud. He had been going around for almost three decades as a professional victim. There have been several articles in the Spanish press wondering why Marcó did what he did. The answer is simple. He wanted to feel good about himself. He wanted to have others sympathize with him. He enjoyed being the center of attention. He liked being a hero, lionized by those leftists who naively believe that the Left is Good and the Right is Bad; he got Socialist cabinet minister Carme Chacón to cry on the floor of Parliament with his heart-wringing story, which was of course all made up. The guy volunteered to work for the Nazis, for God's sake. He's not only a fraud, he was a collaborator.

Enric Marcó's imposture brings back memories of such famous exposed phonies, all heroes of the Left, as Anita Hill, who lied about alleged sexual harassment by right-wing judge Clarence Thomas; Rigoberta Menchú, who lied about her family's history in Guatemala; Lillian Hellman, who lied about her own history and her ties with the Stalinists; Jesse Jackson, who lied about his relationship with Martin Luther King; Edward Said, who lied about his family's alleged persecution by the Israelis; Ward Churchill, who lied about his American Indian ancestry; François Mitterand, who lied about his Vichy collaborationist past; and Bill Clinton, of course, who lied about everything to everyone, including the United States Congress.

What do they all have in common? They all basked in the attention of the correct-thinking folks of the Left. It's fun when everybody feels sorry for you and thinks you're a big hero. When their credentials were checked, though, they turned out to be fakes. One wonders how many other stories of victimization are made up. One also despairs at the undeserved discredit that will be cast upon the histories of true innocent victims of persecution by these frauds.

The Jedman is really putting out the bloggage for all his fans and friends, so click on the link over there in the blogroll. Learn about Jed's experiences playing disc golf, going to Hooters, attending rock shows, fighting against superficiality, and being impeded by security guards from finding true love, while fulfilling his responsibility to the impressionable youth of this nation. If you are wondering where the sensitive yet masculine, desirable yet available, gentlemen are, look no further.

Well, again, I haven't had all that much to write about. My friend Richard, whom I've known since I was 16, was here in town earlier this week, and so we spent some time running around town. It was a good excuse for me to revisit some places I hadn't been for a while; it had been months since I'd walked up to the Parque Guell, and it's only half a mile up the hill from our house. Not much in the Spain Herald, either, which of course you should be reading every day. The biggest alleged news around here is that there might be a deal coming between the Socialists and the Basque Nationalists to form a government in the Basque Country. Part of the problem is that hopes of a truce and then negotiations with ETA have been raised, and I think they're unrealistic. Optimists point out that ETA hasn't killed anybody for two years now. Leftists don't mention that ETA actually is very close to collapse and the hard-line policies the Aznar government followed deserve most of the credit for bringing them there. There has been a lot less general bogosity on international affairs in the press, indicating that the anti-gringo faction around here has had to admit that improvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, even Saudi Arabia is real. There are occasional rather snobby sniffs at your basic American foibles, like those dopes in the Texas legislature who passed a bill against sexy cheerleaders. As if other countries didn't have their own dumb foibles. Eusebio Val in the Vangua has decided that's just one more step in the power of the Puritan theocracy that rules the United States.