Fausta has a link to our podcast and her comments on it, so check it out if you haven't already. I thought it went very well; the only thing I didn't get a chance to mention was the humanitarian tragedy of the boat people, probably several thousand in 2006, who die at sea while trying to reach the Canary Islands from Africa. I'm not blaming Spain for this; Spain's coast guard and navy do what they can to pick up these folks, but they can't save them all. It's the whole world's problem, not just ours.
I don't get it. El Periódico devoted its first eight pages to the Academy Awards today, and La Vanguardia published a special sixteen-page insert. I thought we all agreed that Hollywood was shallow Yankee capitalist opiate for the people.
My personal comment on both the Academy Awards and the Grammys: It's quite obvious that prizes are being awarded--for instance, to Al Gore, Melissa Etheridge, Jimmy Carter, and the Dixie Chicks--as a reward for the politics of the recipient. This, of course, devalues the things even more, since they are just PR ceremonies held to garner media attention anyway.
The Basque Nationalists (PNV) and Communists (IU) are demanding that mass-murdering terrorist Iñaki de Juana Chaos be released from prison. Shows you something about where they stand on the issue of antiterrorism, I think.
Day 6 of the March 11 trial: The brains behind the plot, Rabei Osman "the Egyptian", along with four small fry, Bouharat, Slimane, and the Moussaten brothers testified, and denied all responsibility. Mohamed Moussaten claimed that he had confessed previously because he had been tortured. Note to those who believe everything they hear out of Guantanamo Bay: Torture claims are just as bogus there as they are here.
Esquerra Republicana has a proposal that I actually agree with. They want to prohibit killing the bull in bullfighting, along with the pìcadores and the banderilleros; that is, do it Portuguese style. Come on, people, that ought to be good enough, watching the torero do his passes and show his courage as he faces the bull. In fact, it takes a lot more guts to stand in front of a bull who hasn't already been stuck full of holes, I think. I don't want to completely ban bullfighting, I understand that it is an integral part of Spanish culture, but we don't have to kill the bull to have bullfights.
Twelve domestic murders so far this year in Spain. Two yesterday. A strangulation in Pontevedra and a burning alive in Badalona, a suburb of Barcelona.
La Vanguardia reports that when the commuter trains snarl up, as they have been doing repeatedly so far in 2007, more people drive to work and Barcelona city traffic goes straight to hell. There is some sort of grassroots mass movement going on, with people boarding trains without paying for tickets in protest against lousy train service.
Remei and I went to the Barcelona-Athletic Bilbao game on Sunday night, and a good time was had by all since Barça won 3-o. Everyone played well, Ronaldinho was back in form, and Eto'o started the game and scored an excellent goal on a pass from R. Barcelona opened up a two-point lead on Sevilla, and extended its lead on Real Madrid and Valencia as well. The next test is Zaragoza in the Copa del Rey; Barça will have to beat Zaragoza by two in order to make the quarterfinals. Remei had never been to a game at the Camp Nou before, and she was very impressed by the show.
Check out this article by Lang Whitaker in Sports Illustrated comparing FC Barcelona to the New York Yankees.
Quote: This morning, Barcelona remains in first place, after a 3-0 win Sunday night, capped by typically sparkling play from Ronaldinho and a goal from Eto'o in his return to the starting lineup. The Yankees will soon return to the diamond to battle the Red Sox. Gallons of ink will be used on both teams, trying to explain why we should care about either of them. The words within the stories will not matter that much, as it will be a combination of bold letters and color photos on the back page that will move product.
And whether it's in Spanish or English, it's the commerce that matters, after all.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
In just a few minutes Fausta is going to interview Jose Guardia of Barcepundit and yours truly; we're going to do a podcast on what's going on in Spain, especially the March 11 trial, and you'll get a chance to call in! We start at 6 PM Barcelona time, which would be 5 London time and 12 noon New York time, so don't miss it. Of course, it will be archived, so you'll be able to listen to it any time you want even if you can't tune in live.
The Wall Street Journal has two must-read pieces up. One is by Bret Stephens; he explains several important differences between Anglo-American common law and Continental European civil law, focusing on the role of the investigating magistrate, a position that does not exist in the Anglo-American system. Juan del Olmo was the Spanish investigating magistrate in the March 11 bombing, and Baltasar Garzón is Spain's most famous investigating magistrate. Spanish law is almost exactly the same as French; Stephens's article focuses on a French magistrate named Jean-Louis Bruguiere.
Quote: Consider the powers granted to Mr. Bruguiere and his colleagues. Warrantless wiretaps? Not a problem under French law, as long as the Interior Ministry approves. Court-issued search warrants based on probable cause? Not needed to conduct a search. Hearsay evidence? Admissible in court. Habeas corpus? Suspects can be held and questioned by authorities for up to 96 hours without judicial supervision or the notification of third parties. Profiling? French officials commonly boast of having a "spy in every mosque." A wall of separation between intelligence and law enforcement agencies? France's domestic and foreign intelligence bureaus work hand-in-glove. Bail? Authorities can detain suspects in "investigative" detentions for up to a year. Mr. Bruguiere once held 138 suspects on terrorism-related charges. The courts eventually cleared 51 of the suspects--some of whom had spent four years in preventive detention--at their 1998 trial.
In the U.S., Mr. Bruguiere's activities would amount to one long and tangled violation of the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution.
Nick Cohen, meanwhile, accuses the British left of allying with reactionary Islamism; since the enemy of the enemy is my friend, the left and the Islamists have formed a strange partnership against the Western civilization both despise so much.
Over at Front Page, Aaron Hanscom reports on the March 11 trial. Definitely check this one out.
The Wall Street Journal has two must-read pieces up. One is by Bret Stephens; he explains several important differences between Anglo-American common law and Continental European civil law, focusing on the role of the investigating magistrate, a position that does not exist in the Anglo-American system. Juan del Olmo was the Spanish investigating magistrate in the March 11 bombing, and Baltasar Garzón is Spain's most famous investigating magistrate. Spanish law is almost exactly the same as French; Stephens's article focuses on a French magistrate named Jean-Louis Bruguiere.
Quote: Consider the powers granted to Mr. Bruguiere and his colleagues. Warrantless wiretaps? Not a problem under French law, as long as the Interior Ministry approves. Court-issued search warrants based on probable cause? Not needed to conduct a search. Hearsay evidence? Admissible in court. Habeas corpus? Suspects can be held and questioned by authorities for up to 96 hours without judicial supervision or the notification of third parties. Profiling? French officials commonly boast of having a "spy in every mosque." A wall of separation between intelligence and law enforcement agencies? France's domestic and foreign intelligence bureaus work hand-in-glove. Bail? Authorities can detain suspects in "investigative" detentions for up to a year. Mr. Bruguiere once held 138 suspects on terrorism-related charges. The courts eventually cleared 51 of the suspects--some of whom had spent four years in preventive detention--at their 1998 trial.
In the U.S., Mr. Bruguiere's activities would amount to one long and tangled violation of the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution.
Nick Cohen, meanwhile, accuses the British left of allying with reactionary Islamism; since the enemy of the enemy is my friend, the left and the Islamists have formed a strange partnership against the Western civilization both despise so much.
Over at Front Page, Aaron Hanscom reports on the March 11 trial. Definitely check this one out.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Everybody in Barcelona is talking about a completely senseless murder that happened yesterday. Some guy, who is apparently a mental patient / homeless bum / drug addict, pushed another man onto the subway tracks at Navas station on the red line, and the train ran over him. They have no idea why; the two did not know one another. Other passengers chased the murderer down and held him on the ground until the cops showed up.
The other thing everyone's talking about is the awful Barcelona commuter train system; there was another massive delay yesterday on two of the suburban train lines. That makes about twelve major screwups on the Renfe commuter trains this year so far. This time a bunch of passengers got pissed off and blocked the train tracks at Martorell, thereby holding things up even more, of course. That's what happens when the government runs the trains or any other industry that should be in private hands.
In Italy, Romano Prodi and his lefties have cut a deal with the Christian Democrats to form a new government. The price: Italian troops stay in Afghanistan. The lefty bill granting rights and privileges to unmarried couples (homo and hetero) gets shot down. The high-speed train from Turin to Lyon will be built. There will be more unspecified economic liberalization. According to La Vanguardia, the Church is the big winner. I will never understand Italian politics.
Headline in La Vanguardia: "US soldier, rapist and murderer in Iraq, may go free in ten years." The story, of course, is that five American soldiers raped and murdered an Iraqi girl in March 2006. Now, of course, whenever you get 135,000 men in one place, a few are going to be bad eggs; the US army hanged some 25 US soldiers in England during World War II for murder or rape, for example.
I think the real story is that justice is being done publicly and swiftly. The soldier who was court-martialed and convicted was sentenced to 100 years in prison; he will be eligible for parole in ten years. This particular rapist talked; he testified against the other four soldiers involved, and got more lenient treatment. A second rapist has been court-martialed and sentenced to ninety years. Rapists three and four are awaiting their court martials, and rapist number five, who was also the shooter, will be tried before a US civilian court in Kentucky and may well get the death penalty.
The ironic part here is, of course, the fact that in Spain nobody serves more than thirty years in prison, by law, no matter how many people he kills. And La Vangua is scandalized that this US rapist may get out in ten, which I doubt will happen. They call this rape-murder "one of the most atrocious episodes of the Iraq war." Atrocious it most certainly is, but it rather pales in comparison with the terrorist bombings that kill dozens of people in Baghdad markets every week.
The right--the PP and AVT--is holding yet another demo in Madrid today, supposedly to protest against the reduction of the prison sentence of ETA terrorist Iñaki De Juana Chaos. More symbolic politics that won't do a damn bit of good. Street demos are supposed to be the province of infantile populists on the left, not of serious political organizations that have a real plan to govern the country.
Get this. Families of convicted ETA prisoners get government subsidies in order to go visit the prisoners in jail. Socialist deputy Jesús Loza said, "We are not the only ones who suffer. The (imprisoned) murderers and their mothers suffer, too." Tears are dripping down my cheeks as I type.
TV newsreader Ramon Pellicer will be the new host of the TV3 evening news. Quote: "I would love to report the story of (socialist) Segolene Royal's victory in the French election." Yep, TV3 news is sure neutral and objective. There's a letter to the editor today pointing out that of the 60 minutes devoted to each TV3 newscast, more than 20 go to sports, and most of that to the Barça.
Censorship on Spanish TV, and this after years of bashing Americans for our nonexistent censorship! State-owned TV1 did an interview with loudmouth sports journalist José María García, who criticized a bunch of famous people, from ex-Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez to PP leader Mariano Rajoy to Socialist Interior minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. They then refused to air the whole interview, since García allegedly "insulted people"; they cut out all the interesting parts and reduced it from two hours to 45 minutes. It's not like Spanish TV doesn't insult people all the time anyway, especially on those cheesy celebrity trash shows where they call each other prostitutes and drug addicts all the time.
The other thing everyone's talking about is the awful Barcelona commuter train system; there was another massive delay yesterday on two of the suburban train lines. That makes about twelve major screwups on the Renfe commuter trains this year so far. This time a bunch of passengers got pissed off and blocked the train tracks at Martorell, thereby holding things up even more, of course. That's what happens when the government runs the trains or any other industry that should be in private hands.
In Italy, Romano Prodi and his lefties have cut a deal with the Christian Democrats to form a new government. The price: Italian troops stay in Afghanistan. The lefty bill granting rights and privileges to unmarried couples (homo and hetero) gets shot down. The high-speed train from Turin to Lyon will be built. There will be more unspecified economic liberalization. According to La Vanguardia, the Church is the big winner. I will never understand Italian politics.
Headline in La Vanguardia: "US soldier, rapist and murderer in Iraq, may go free in ten years." The story, of course, is that five American soldiers raped and murdered an Iraqi girl in March 2006. Now, of course, whenever you get 135,000 men in one place, a few are going to be bad eggs; the US army hanged some 25 US soldiers in England during World War II for murder or rape, for example.
I think the real story is that justice is being done publicly and swiftly. The soldier who was court-martialed and convicted was sentenced to 100 years in prison; he will be eligible for parole in ten years. This particular rapist talked; he testified against the other four soldiers involved, and got more lenient treatment. A second rapist has been court-martialed and sentenced to ninety years. Rapists three and four are awaiting their court martials, and rapist number five, who was also the shooter, will be tried before a US civilian court in Kentucky and may well get the death penalty.
The ironic part here is, of course, the fact that in Spain nobody serves more than thirty years in prison, by law, no matter how many people he kills. And La Vangua is scandalized that this US rapist may get out in ten, which I doubt will happen. They call this rape-murder "one of the most atrocious episodes of the Iraq war." Atrocious it most certainly is, but it rather pales in comparison with the terrorist bombings that kill dozens of people in Baghdad markets every week.
The right--the PP and AVT--is holding yet another demo in Madrid today, supposedly to protest against the reduction of the prison sentence of ETA terrorist Iñaki De Juana Chaos. More symbolic politics that won't do a damn bit of good. Street demos are supposed to be the province of infantile populists on the left, not of serious political organizations that have a real plan to govern the country.
Get this. Families of convicted ETA prisoners get government subsidies in order to go visit the prisoners in jail. Socialist deputy Jesús Loza said, "We are not the only ones who suffer. The (imprisoned) murderers and their mothers suffer, too." Tears are dripping down my cheeks as I type.
TV newsreader Ramon Pellicer will be the new host of the TV3 evening news. Quote: "I would love to report the story of (socialist) Segolene Royal's victory in the French election." Yep, TV3 news is sure neutral and objective. There's a letter to the editor today pointing out that of the 60 minutes devoted to each TV3 newscast, more than 20 go to sports, and most of that to the Barça.
Censorship on Spanish TV, and this after years of bashing Americans for our nonexistent censorship! State-owned TV1 did an interview with loudmouth sports journalist José María García, who criticized a bunch of famous people, from ex-Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez to PP leader Mariano Rajoy to Socialist Interior minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. They then refused to air the whole interview, since García allegedly "insulted people"; they cut out all the interesting parts and reduced it from two hours to 45 minutes. It's not like Spanish TV doesn't insult people all the time anyway, especially on those cheesy celebrity trash shows where they call each other prostitutes and drug addicts all the time.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Go watch this video called "A World Without America" by 18 Doughty Street. Brilliant. It's currently Number One on YouTube.
Denis Boyles at National Review compares European anti-Americans with the US Democratic party, a comparison we have made here several times. He links to our friends at Eursoc and their take on the fall of the Prodi government in Italy. Eursoc, by the way, has a very nice-looking redesign.
Also at National Review, Clifford May attacks the anti-American spin of nearly all European reporting on Iraq.
Theodore Dalrymple at City Journal takes apart the British nanny state.
Don't miss this wonderful cat video.
Old Marxist Eric Hobsbawm spews misinformation on the Spanish Civil War in the Guardian. Quote: "The wrong side won." No, no, Mr. Hobsbawm, both sides were undemocratic ideology-crazed brutal killers. Your side was even worse than Franco's here in Catalonia, where the Republicans in three years outmurdered the Francoists in forty, and that's not counting the number of anarchists shot by the Communists and vice versa in Catalonia's own little inter-Left civil war. The only thing Hobsbawm says that is true is that the Left won the propaganda war--hell, the Left is still fighting the propaganda war, as the mere existence of Hobsbawm's article demonstrates.
Daniel Johnson in the Weekly Standard blames Europe's weak-willed wobbling on Iran's nuclear program on European scorn for Israel.
Mark Steyn has no respect for America's allies in name only.
Denis Boyles at National Review compares European anti-Americans with the US Democratic party, a comparison we have made here several times. He links to our friends at Eursoc and their take on the fall of the Prodi government in Italy. Eursoc, by the way, has a very nice-looking redesign.
Also at National Review, Clifford May attacks the anti-American spin of nearly all European reporting on Iraq.
Theodore Dalrymple at City Journal takes apart the British nanny state.
Don't miss this wonderful cat video.
Old Marxist Eric Hobsbawm spews misinformation on the Spanish Civil War in the Guardian. Quote: "The wrong side won." No, no, Mr. Hobsbawm, both sides were undemocratic ideology-crazed brutal killers. Your side was even worse than Franco's here in Catalonia, where the Republicans in three years outmurdered the Francoists in forty, and that's not counting the number of anarchists shot by the Communists and vice versa in Catalonia's own little inter-Left civil war. The only thing Hobsbawm says that is true is that the Left won the propaganda war--hell, the Left is still fighting the propaganda war, as the mere existence of Hobsbawm's article demonstrates.
Daniel Johnson in the Weekly Standard blames Europe's weak-willed wobbling on Iran's nuclear program on European scorn for Israel.
Mark Steyn has no respect for America's allies in name only.
You will want to read this article by Edward Jay Epstein in the Wall Street Journal on Spanish investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzón and the Spanish connection to the September 11, 2001 bombings.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
The big news today is that a female Spanish soldier, Idoia Rodríguez, was killed yesterday by a mine in Afghanistan. Two other soldiers were injured, not seriously. Private Rodríguez is the first Spanish woman soldier to be killed in action. We appreciate and are grateful for the sacrifice that the Spanish troops in Afghanistan are making and that the Spanish troops in Iraq made before Zap pulled them out. 82 Spanish troops have died in Afghanistan, most of them (62) in the May 2003 crash of a plane taking a group of them back home.
Here in Spain there isn't much talk about supporting the troops; I think a great many Spaniards, especially on the left, are rather scornful and disdainful of the military. It's not hard to understand why: the army was one of the foundations of the Franco regime. However, like the police, the Spanish army has changed a great deal in 30 years. These guys aren't oppressors or imperialists; they're used almost exclusively on peacekeeping missions. Scorning the military today shows a lack of ability to adjust to the present.
Romano Prodi's leftist government in Italy fell yesterday when the Communists (part of his coalition) abstained during a vote on the Italian mission in Afghanistan. I have no idea what's going to happen next. Italian politics make no sense whatsoever to me. The guess around here is that Prodi will try to form a new government, probably with a broader coalition and therefore weaker.
France's very own semi-Fascist, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who finished second in the last French presidential election, called the 9/11 bombings in New York "an incident," and added that the 3000 people who died that day "is what happens in a month in Iraq, and much less than in the bombings of Marseilles and Dresden during the Second World War." Of course, Le Pen would have preferred a Nazi victory. Certain elements in France are still complaining about the civilians who got killed in the fighting in Normandy in 1944. They can all kiss my ass.
The 3/11 trial continues. One of the infrastructure guys, Rachid Aglif, testified yesterday that he had cut the deal to trade several kilos of hashish for the dynamite used in the bombings at the McDonald's in Madrid suburb Carabanchel. He was very persnickety in his insistence that he didn't actually eat there. Four more of the infrastructure guys also testified, and confessed their involvement while trying to downplay it. They are all Moroccan small fry, more small-time criminals than Islamist ideologues.
We're number one! Gràcia leads all Barcelona neighborhoods in the number of squats we have, 53 out of the city's total of 293. In the first month and a half of 2007, the cops closed down 30 of them. Great work, guys.
Corporativism at work: The Barcelona bakers' guild is complaining that some places that sell bread are not part of the guild. There are serious restrictions in Spain on who can sell what; you can't just open up a store and sell pharmaceuticals, newspapers, lottery tickets, or cigarettes, because the number of points of sale is limited. If I want to open a newsstand--well, I can't. I have to buy a license from somebody who's already got one. Or if I've just graduated from pharmacy school and want to run my own pharmacy--same thing. And then Europeans wonder why their economic growth rates are slow compared to the US.
La Vanguardia interviews a local economist who says that Spaniards are the third slowest country in Europe in paying off their debts. He says many small businesses in Spain go under because their clients never pay them, and claims that only 23% of such debts go to court, where fewer than half of those are resolved, and only 35% of the money owed in the cases resolved is ever paid back. In the construction industry, clients take an average of 225 days to pay their bills. An industry that exists in Spain, and nowhere else I have ever seen, is costumed debt collectors. That is, if some guy owes you money and doesn't pay, you hire one of these companies and they send someone dressed up as a bullfighter or a bagpipe player to follow the debtor around wherever he goes and embarrass him in public. Quotation: "You can't expect judicial security in a country where those who govern are anti-system."
Get this. Since November 2005, one José María Vera Arjona has been arrested 55 times in Barcelona city alone for robbery, mugging, pickpocketing, etc. Vera Arjona just passes through the turnstile: he robs someone, they arrest him, throw him in jail, and then turn him loose. He leads the list of the top ten arrestees in the city. Seven of them are Bosnian women who have been arrested between 26 and 45 times each during that period. They operate exclusively on the tourist bus, the Bus Túristic, and rob only tourists.
The city of Barcelona has a major problem with crimes against tourists, as we have said many times, and it is extremely irresponsible in not warning all visitors explicitly upon arrival of the dangers they face. You are more likely to be pickpocketed or snatch-and-grabbed as a tourist in Barcelona than not.
The only significant police operations against those criminals who prey on tourists have been one in which the cops managed to jail five Romanian gypsy parents who trained their kids to steal, and another in which they arrested 15 members of a gang who slit car tires in order to rob the car occupants when they pulled over due to the flat. Half of this bunch is still in jail, but the other half is walking the streets.
Here in Spain there isn't much talk about supporting the troops; I think a great many Spaniards, especially on the left, are rather scornful and disdainful of the military. It's not hard to understand why: the army was one of the foundations of the Franco regime. However, like the police, the Spanish army has changed a great deal in 30 years. These guys aren't oppressors or imperialists; they're used almost exclusively on peacekeeping missions. Scorning the military today shows a lack of ability to adjust to the present.
Romano Prodi's leftist government in Italy fell yesterday when the Communists (part of his coalition) abstained during a vote on the Italian mission in Afghanistan. I have no idea what's going to happen next. Italian politics make no sense whatsoever to me. The guess around here is that Prodi will try to form a new government, probably with a broader coalition and therefore weaker.
France's very own semi-Fascist, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who finished second in the last French presidential election, called the 9/11 bombings in New York "an incident," and added that the 3000 people who died that day "is what happens in a month in Iraq, and much less than in the bombings of Marseilles and Dresden during the Second World War." Of course, Le Pen would have preferred a Nazi victory. Certain elements in France are still complaining about the civilians who got killed in the fighting in Normandy in 1944. They can all kiss my ass.
The 3/11 trial continues. One of the infrastructure guys, Rachid Aglif, testified yesterday that he had cut the deal to trade several kilos of hashish for the dynamite used in the bombings at the McDonald's in Madrid suburb Carabanchel. He was very persnickety in his insistence that he didn't actually eat there. Four more of the infrastructure guys also testified, and confessed their involvement while trying to downplay it. They are all Moroccan small fry, more small-time criminals than Islamist ideologues.
We're number one! Gràcia leads all Barcelona neighborhoods in the number of squats we have, 53 out of the city's total of 293. In the first month and a half of 2007, the cops closed down 30 of them. Great work, guys.
Corporativism at work: The Barcelona bakers' guild is complaining that some places that sell bread are not part of the guild. There are serious restrictions in Spain on who can sell what; you can't just open up a store and sell pharmaceuticals, newspapers, lottery tickets, or cigarettes, because the number of points of sale is limited. If I want to open a newsstand--well, I can't. I have to buy a license from somebody who's already got one. Or if I've just graduated from pharmacy school and want to run my own pharmacy--same thing. And then Europeans wonder why their economic growth rates are slow compared to the US.
La Vanguardia interviews a local economist who says that Spaniards are the third slowest country in Europe in paying off their debts. He says many small businesses in Spain go under because their clients never pay them, and claims that only 23% of such debts go to court, where fewer than half of those are resolved, and only 35% of the money owed in the cases resolved is ever paid back. In the construction industry, clients take an average of 225 days to pay their bills. An industry that exists in Spain, and nowhere else I have ever seen, is costumed debt collectors. That is, if some guy owes you money and doesn't pay, you hire one of these companies and they send someone dressed up as a bullfighter or a bagpipe player to follow the debtor around wherever he goes and embarrass him in public. Quotation: "You can't expect judicial security in a country where those who govern are anti-system."
Get this. Since November 2005, one José María Vera Arjona has been arrested 55 times in Barcelona city alone for robbery, mugging, pickpocketing, etc. Vera Arjona just passes through the turnstile: he robs someone, they arrest him, throw him in jail, and then turn him loose. He leads the list of the top ten arrestees in the city. Seven of them are Bosnian women who have been arrested between 26 and 45 times each during that period. They operate exclusively on the tourist bus, the Bus Túristic, and rob only tourists.
The city of Barcelona has a major problem with crimes against tourists, as we have said many times, and it is extremely irresponsible in not warning all visitors explicitly upon arrival of the dangers they face. You are more likely to be pickpocketed or snatch-and-grabbed as a tourist in Barcelona than not.
The only significant police operations against those criminals who prey on tourists have been one in which the cops managed to jail five Romanian gypsy parents who trained their kids to steal, and another in which they arrested 15 members of a gang who slit car tires in order to rob the car occupants when they pulled over due to the flat. Half of this bunch is still in jail, but the other half is walking the streets.
Podcast update: Fausta will be doing a podcast, an interview with me and Jose from Barcepundit, next Monday at noon Barcelona time / 6 PM New York time. So tune in.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Quick blog roundup:
Kaleboel denounces pirated software in Spain.
Ibex Salad has everything you ever wanted to know about the olive oil market.
Fausta has your Go to Hell Hugo update. By the way, Jose of Barcepundit and I will be appearing live on Fausta's podcast next Monday at noon. We're going to be talking about the 9/11 trial, immigration, and probably the Zap government too. I'll give y'all more information when I get it.
Speaking of Barcepundit, he's got three excellent links up to a writer named Robert Latona, including comments on Zap and 3/11.
A Fistful of Euros gets us all ready for Eurovision again.
Davids Medienkritik catches Der Spìegel being snarky about US democratic practices.
Expat Yank blasts New Labour "pay-as-you-use" dogma.
Eursoc fills us in on those fringe French candidates who just might torpedo a major candidacy again this year.
Playing Chess with the Dead blasts the PP and especially its conspiracy-theory wing. He's right. The PSOE deserves a good blasting, too, though, for the way it has also used the dead of 3/11 politically.
Pejman doesn't buy the theory that the US is swinging leftward.
Pave France denounces anti-Semitism in, you guessed it, France.
Notes from Spain celebrates ham.
Meryl Yourish exposes more typical Reuters bias.
¡No Pasarán! points out the lack of logic behind the Red-Green alliance.
Beautiful Horizons reminds everyone, especially Continental Europeans screaming that the sky is falling, that the Cold War was a lot worse.
Colin Davies has more on 3/11 and all other things Spanish or Galician.
Kaleboel denounces pirated software in Spain.
Ibex Salad has everything you ever wanted to know about the olive oil market.
Fausta has your Go to Hell Hugo update. By the way, Jose of Barcepundit and I will be appearing live on Fausta's podcast next Monday at noon. We're going to be talking about the 9/11 trial, immigration, and probably the Zap government too. I'll give y'all more information when I get it.
Speaking of Barcepundit, he's got three excellent links up to a writer named Robert Latona, including comments on Zap and 3/11.
A Fistful of Euros gets us all ready for Eurovision again.
Davids Medienkritik catches Der Spìegel being snarky about US democratic practices.
Expat Yank blasts New Labour "pay-as-you-use" dogma.
Eursoc fills us in on those fringe French candidates who just might torpedo a major candidacy again this year.
Playing Chess with the Dead blasts the PP and especially its conspiracy-theory wing. He's right. The PSOE deserves a good blasting, too, though, for the way it has also used the dead of 3/11 politically.
Pejman doesn't buy the theory that the US is swinging leftward.
Pave France denounces anti-Semitism in, you guessed it, France.
Notes from Spain celebrates ham.
Meryl Yourish exposes more typical Reuters bias.
¡No Pasarán! points out the lack of logic behind the Red-Green alliance.
Beautiful Horizons reminds everyone, especially Continental Europeans screaming that the sky is falling, that the Cold War was a lot worse.
Colin Davies has more on 3/11 and all other things Spanish or Galician.
The 3/11 trial continues. The defendants are still taking the stand and denying everything. Nobody believes them.
Bad news for the Catalan statute of autonomy: Judge Perez Tremps, recused from the Constitutional Court, will not resign and allow Zap to appoint a new judge to replace him. Therefore, the Court will stay divided 6-5 between conservatives and leftists, and everyone is predicting that the six conservatives will throw out the statute.
I assume everyone has seen the photos of the baby born after only 22 weeks of gestation. The legal limit for abortion on demand in the UK and the Netherlands is 24 weeks, and I don't think there is any kind of limit in the US. Iberian Notes is pragmatic about abortion. We don't like it, but banning it would cause too much social turmoil. Our position is that aborting viable babies is murder, though, and we would ban abortion after 12 weeks except in the most extreme circumstances.
I certainly do think the Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the US, is a judicial excursion into legislative territory and should be overturned. Overturning Roe v. Wade would not ban abortion in the US; it would throw the decision on abortion back to the individual states, rather like the death penalty. You'd have places like Oregon, Minnesota, and Massachussetts where it was legal, places like Utah and South Carolina where it was banned, and probably most of the states somewhere in the middle, with restrictions.
Oh, by the way, the referendum legalizing abortion in Portugal passed by something like 55-45, but fewer than 50% of the voters turned out, so the referendum is not binding. However, Portugal is expected to legalize abortion with restrictions fairly soon.
Big stink in the wine industry: The Zap government has been trying to pass a law raising the drinking age for beer and wine to 18; right now it's 16, but nobody pays any attention, and teenagers routinely purchase hard alcohol anyway. The wine producers are up in arms, and they seem to have won, since the bill has been withdrawn. Wine is a major industry in Spain, employing thousands of people and earning billions of euros, and they put intense pressure on the PSOE and minister Elena Salgado to stop the bill.
You might be asking, "Who cares? Teenagers don't drink wine anyway." Well, they do in Spain. They buy cheap red wine, mix it with Coke, call it a "calimocho," and drink the stuff by the gallon. Yecch. Seems to me like a waste of perfectly good Coke, since cheap red Spanish wine is fit only to be turned into ethanol or mixed with lots of orange juice and lemon soda to make sangria. Which the kids also drink. 64% of Spanish teenagers between 14 and 18 say they drink alcohol regularly on weekends, and nearly a million admit to having been drunk at least once in the last month.
If they want to cut back on juvenile drinking, what I'd do is ban drinking in the streets and enforce it. What lots of teenagers do, buying lots of cheap booze and chugging it down in the local plaza while making noise and committing vandalism and pissing in doorways, is called "the botellón," and a lot of people don't like it. Well? Bust the little bastards. Don't jail them, of course, but hand out hefty fines, say €200, that the kids' parents would have to cough up. That ought to put an end to the botellón, or at least add to local government's coffers to pay for cleaning up the mess these kids make.
La Vanguardia claims that the West is using the carrot and stick approach to negotiating with Iran, with the US providing the stick and Europe the carrots. I don't buy it for a second; I don't think the West is nearly that well-organized, and I'm not so sure Europe is all that frightened of a nuclear Iran. In fact, a common argument around here is, "Well, the US has atomic bombs, so why shouldn't Iran and North Korea have them?" Moronic moral equivalence, of course.
By the way, I've been working on a long piece on this subject and on the Korean War. I should be done in a couple of days.
Remember De Juana Chaos? He's apparently still on his hunger strike despite the reduction of his sentence for making terroristic threats to three years, of which he will serve one. I hope he dies, of course, mass-murdering terrorist scum.
The EU has decided to reduce greenhouse gases by 20% in 2020. Yeah, right, I'll believe that when I see it. The problem, of course, is that they have no idea of how they're going to do it. No details whatsoever have been decided on. Also, there's division within the EU, as Finland, Poland, and Hungary are all complaining already.
The average price of a night in a hotel room in Barcelona is €110, €6 more than last year. That seems highly excessive. Stay in a pension when you come here.
The National Museum of Art of Catalonia, which is well worth a visit, will be exhibiting eight well-known Picassos on loan for the next year. I can't stand Picasso. What a pretentious git. And the guy I really don't understand is Joan Miró. None of his paintings make the slightest sense, and they all have titles like "Bird Shitting on Masturbating Woman." For Spanish 20th century artists, give me Sorolla, Nonell, Casas, and Rusiñol.
Worst Barcelona artists ever: Tàpies and Subirachs. These guys are not only pretentious, their stuff is flat-out ugly, and it defaces the streets of the city. Some artistic terrorist commando needs to blow up the concrete atrocity in the Plaza Catalunya, the pile of old furniture in a glass box on the Paseo Picasso, and the World War I trench barbed wire on top of that Domenech and Montaner building on Calle Aragon, not to mention the new portico of the Sagrada Familia.
Champions' League action tonight: Barcelona vs. Liverpool. The Brits are all over town, drinking overpriced beer at the sidewalk cafes on the Rambla or just getting tanked in the middle of the Plaza Real. Messi will start for Barcelona. Should be a good game. Barça needs a win to get back on track after last weekend's convincing 2-1 loss at Valencia, which could well have been 4-0. Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich last night at the Bernabeu, 3-2, in a poorly played but action-packed game. Former Barça player Van Bommel scored for Bayern in the 88th minute and flipped off the crowd.
Soccer purists, which Spain is full of, have loudly decried the sale of Liverpool to a pair of North American sports-team owners. Gee, it's not like Spain doesn't have its very own del Nidos and Ruiz de Loperas and Jesus Gils and other out-and-out criminals running its soccer teams. What happened was that Liverpool was heavily in debt and couldn't afford to build a new stadium or bid for top players, and the new Yank and Canuck owners have bailed them out big-time.
People. Sports is a business. It has been ever since it was professionalized. Get over this silly weepìng about its being corrupted now.
Bad news for the Catalan statute of autonomy: Judge Perez Tremps, recused from the Constitutional Court, will not resign and allow Zap to appoint a new judge to replace him. Therefore, the Court will stay divided 6-5 between conservatives and leftists, and everyone is predicting that the six conservatives will throw out the statute.
I assume everyone has seen the photos of the baby born after only 22 weeks of gestation. The legal limit for abortion on demand in the UK and the Netherlands is 24 weeks, and I don't think there is any kind of limit in the US. Iberian Notes is pragmatic about abortion. We don't like it, but banning it would cause too much social turmoil. Our position is that aborting viable babies is murder, though, and we would ban abortion after 12 weeks except in the most extreme circumstances.
I certainly do think the Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the US, is a judicial excursion into legislative territory and should be overturned. Overturning Roe v. Wade would not ban abortion in the US; it would throw the decision on abortion back to the individual states, rather like the death penalty. You'd have places like Oregon, Minnesota, and Massachussetts where it was legal, places like Utah and South Carolina where it was banned, and probably most of the states somewhere in the middle, with restrictions.
Oh, by the way, the referendum legalizing abortion in Portugal passed by something like 55-45, but fewer than 50% of the voters turned out, so the referendum is not binding. However, Portugal is expected to legalize abortion with restrictions fairly soon.
Big stink in the wine industry: The Zap government has been trying to pass a law raising the drinking age for beer and wine to 18; right now it's 16, but nobody pays any attention, and teenagers routinely purchase hard alcohol anyway. The wine producers are up in arms, and they seem to have won, since the bill has been withdrawn. Wine is a major industry in Spain, employing thousands of people and earning billions of euros, and they put intense pressure on the PSOE and minister Elena Salgado to stop the bill.
You might be asking, "Who cares? Teenagers don't drink wine anyway." Well, they do in Spain. They buy cheap red wine, mix it with Coke, call it a "calimocho," and drink the stuff by the gallon. Yecch. Seems to me like a waste of perfectly good Coke, since cheap red Spanish wine is fit only to be turned into ethanol or mixed with lots of orange juice and lemon soda to make sangria. Which the kids also drink. 64% of Spanish teenagers between 14 and 18 say they drink alcohol regularly on weekends, and nearly a million admit to having been drunk at least once in the last month.
If they want to cut back on juvenile drinking, what I'd do is ban drinking in the streets and enforce it. What lots of teenagers do, buying lots of cheap booze and chugging it down in the local plaza while making noise and committing vandalism and pissing in doorways, is called "the botellón," and a lot of people don't like it. Well? Bust the little bastards. Don't jail them, of course, but hand out hefty fines, say €200, that the kids' parents would have to cough up. That ought to put an end to the botellón, or at least add to local government's coffers to pay for cleaning up the mess these kids make.
La Vanguardia claims that the West is using the carrot and stick approach to negotiating with Iran, with the US providing the stick and Europe the carrots. I don't buy it for a second; I don't think the West is nearly that well-organized, and I'm not so sure Europe is all that frightened of a nuclear Iran. In fact, a common argument around here is, "Well, the US has atomic bombs, so why shouldn't Iran and North Korea have them?" Moronic moral equivalence, of course.
By the way, I've been working on a long piece on this subject and on the Korean War. I should be done in a couple of days.
Remember De Juana Chaos? He's apparently still on his hunger strike despite the reduction of his sentence for making terroristic threats to three years, of which he will serve one. I hope he dies, of course, mass-murdering terrorist scum.
The EU has decided to reduce greenhouse gases by 20% in 2020. Yeah, right, I'll believe that when I see it. The problem, of course, is that they have no idea of how they're going to do it. No details whatsoever have been decided on. Also, there's division within the EU, as Finland, Poland, and Hungary are all complaining already.
The average price of a night in a hotel room in Barcelona is €110, €6 more than last year. That seems highly excessive. Stay in a pension when you come here.
The National Museum of Art of Catalonia, which is well worth a visit, will be exhibiting eight well-known Picassos on loan for the next year. I can't stand Picasso. What a pretentious git. And the guy I really don't understand is Joan Miró. None of his paintings make the slightest sense, and they all have titles like "Bird Shitting on Masturbating Woman." For Spanish 20th century artists, give me Sorolla, Nonell, Casas, and Rusiñol.
Worst Barcelona artists ever: Tàpies and Subirachs. These guys are not only pretentious, their stuff is flat-out ugly, and it defaces the streets of the city. Some artistic terrorist commando needs to blow up the concrete atrocity in the Plaza Catalunya, the pile of old furniture in a glass box on the Paseo Picasso, and the World War I trench barbed wire on top of that Domenech and Montaner building on Calle Aragon, not to mention the new portico of the Sagrada Familia.
Champions' League action tonight: Barcelona vs. Liverpool. The Brits are all over town, drinking overpriced beer at the sidewalk cafes on the Rambla or just getting tanked in the middle of the Plaza Real. Messi will start for Barcelona. Should be a good game. Barça needs a win to get back on track after last weekend's convincing 2-1 loss at Valencia, which could well have been 4-0. Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich last night at the Bernabeu, 3-2, in a poorly played but action-packed game. Former Barça player Van Bommel scored for Bayern in the 88th minute and flipped off the crowd.
Soccer purists, which Spain is full of, have loudly decried the sale of Liverpool to a pair of North American sports-team owners. Gee, it's not like Spain doesn't have its very own del Nidos and Ruiz de Loperas and Jesus Gils and other out-and-out criminals running its soccer teams. What happened was that Liverpool was heavily in debt and couldn't afford to build a new stadium or bid for top players, and the new Yank and Canuck owners have bailed them out big-time.
People. Sports is a business. It has been ever since it was professionalized. Get over this silly weepìng about its being corrupted now.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Latest news from B-ville: Some guy tried to hijack a plane from Mauritania to the Canary Islands a couple of days ago; this was apparently not related to terrorism, just some not real smart illegal immigrant. The passengers and crew overpowered the guy; after 9/11, nobody's going to sit still while some criminals might be going to crash your plane into a football stadium.
Barça defender Lilian Thuram has stuck his nose into the upcoming French election. He says Nicolas Sarkozy has a "racial" vision of France, and has been devoting most of his free time denouncing Sarko. Yeah, he's got the right of freedom of speech, and he hasn't used an official team press conference to spout off, unlike Oleguer. Still, I would rather sports stars, like movie and rock stars, keep their mouths shut about politics rather than using their position to support ideas many of them, from Thuram and Oleguer to Barbra Streisand and Sean Penn, don't know a damn thing about.
Andalusia votes today on the referendum for its own statute of autonomy, but the process hasn't caught the attention of the public or the media since both major parties generally agree on the text. The statute will pass easily, and turnout will be low. See how easy it is to do things when there aren't a bunch of nationalists involved?
On the 3/11 trial: Even La Vanguardia has pointed out, "Threads link the radical Islamist groups in Spain to almost all the terrorist actions carried out in the name of Al Qaeda in the last ten years: from the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania (August 1988, more than 200 dead) to 9/11, the murder of the film director Theo Van Gogh, Casablanca, or the deployment of men to fight against the Americans in Iraq."
Even La Vangua says: THESE ARE ALL THE SAME PEOPLE. If we are going to fight terror, we have to do it on every front, and the main front right now is Iraq. Those who want the US to pull out are irresponsible.
Those interested in following the 3/11 trial should check out a blog called Playing Chess with the Dead, written by a gentleman with whom I suspect I agree about only one thing: the conspiracy theory blaming the PSOE / ETA / rogue cops / CESID / the Masons for the bombings is ridiculous.
Notes from Spain, in a rare current-events comment, has more.
From the "If This Had Happened in Cleveland" department: Some psycho in a small town in Toledo beat his mom, wife, and son to death and seriously injured his two daughters before committing suicide by jumping out the window. No hypotheses about the hidden violence bubbling up behind the peaceful façade of Spanish society, though. Meanwhile, get this, the managing director of the Lleida soccer team got his throat cut with a broken wineglass in a brawl at a bar at four in the morning a couple of nights ago.
The number of reported crimes in Catalonia has increased by 17% in three years. La Vangua says, "The fear of being the victim of a crime has been more present lately." It also says that 70% of Spaniards associate crime with immigrants.
There's a ship loaded with 6000 tons of fertilizer in trouble off the Galician coast; the government says it's no big deal. If it turns out to be a big deal, watch the PP go after the PSOE in exactly the way the PSOE went after the PP after the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige. How can you blame the sinking of a ship on a political party? Well, they do it in Spain.
Rijkaard announced that he's staying at least through next season, thereby quashing a lot of the rumors and instability around the Barça. People are still mad at Eto'o; I guess they'll forget about this tempest after he scores a few goals. He's really not ready to play yet, and will sit out tonight's game in Valencia. This should be a good one. If Barcelona can pull out a win, they'll open up a several-point lead on everyone else--especially since second-place Sevilla plays fifth-place Atlético Madrid, and a weak Real Madrid drew at home last night against Betis.
Colin Davies is on a roll.
Puerta del Sol announces the birth of Madripedia. There is already a Cordobapedia.
Kaleboel comments on language immersion, as practiced in Catalan schools.
Barça defender Lilian Thuram has stuck his nose into the upcoming French election. He says Nicolas Sarkozy has a "racial" vision of France, and has been devoting most of his free time denouncing Sarko. Yeah, he's got the right of freedom of speech, and he hasn't used an official team press conference to spout off, unlike Oleguer. Still, I would rather sports stars, like movie and rock stars, keep their mouths shut about politics rather than using their position to support ideas many of them, from Thuram and Oleguer to Barbra Streisand and Sean Penn, don't know a damn thing about.
Andalusia votes today on the referendum for its own statute of autonomy, but the process hasn't caught the attention of the public or the media since both major parties generally agree on the text. The statute will pass easily, and turnout will be low. See how easy it is to do things when there aren't a bunch of nationalists involved?
On the 3/11 trial: Even La Vanguardia has pointed out, "Threads link the radical Islamist groups in Spain to almost all the terrorist actions carried out in the name of Al Qaeda in the last ten years: from the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania (August 1988, more than 200 dead) to 9/11, the murder of the film director Theo Van Gogh, Casablanca, or the deployment of men to fight against the Americans in Iraq."
Even La Vangua says: THESE ARE ALL THE SAME PEOPLE. If we are going to fight terror, we have to do it on every front, and the main front right now is Iraq. Those who want the US to pull out are irresponsible.
Those interested in following the 3/11 trial should check out a blog called Playing Chess with the Dead, written by a gentleman with whom I suspect I agree about only one thing: the conspiracy theory blaming the PSOE / ETA / rogue cops / CESID / the Masons for the bombings is ridiculous.
Notes from Spain, in a rare current-events comment, has more.
From the "If This Had Happened in Cleveland" department: Some psycho in a small town in Toledo beat his mom, wife, and son to death and seriously injured his two daughters before committing suicide by jumping out the window. No hypotheses about the hidden violence bubbling up behind the peaceful façade of Spanish society, though. Meanwhile, get this, the managing director of the Lleida soccer team got his throat cut with a broken wineglass in a brawl at a bar at four in the morning a couple of nights ago.
The number of reported crimes in Catalonia has increased by 17% in three years. La Vangua says, "The fear of being the victim of a crime has been more present lately." It also says that 70% of Spaniards associate crime with immigrants.
There's a ship loaded with 6000 tons of fertilizer in trouble off the Galician coast; the government says it's no big deal. If it turns out to be a big deal, watch the PP go after the PSOE in exactly the way the PSOE went after the PP after the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige. How can you blame the sinking of a ship on a political party? Well, they do it in Spain.
Rijkaard announced that he's staying at least through next season, thereby quashing a lot of the rumors and instability around the Barça. People are still mad at Eto'o; I guess they'll forget about this tempest after he scores a few goals. He's really not ready to play yet, and will sit out tonight's game in Valencia. This should be a good one. If Barcelona can pull out a win, they'll open up a several-point lead on everyone else--especially since second-place Sevilla plays fifth-place Atlético Madrid, and a weak Real Madrid drew at home last night against Betis.
Colin Davies is on a roll.
Puerta del Sol announces the birth of Madripedia. There is already a Cordobapedia.
Kaleboel comments on language immersion, as practiced in Catalan schools.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Not that much news from these parts. The 3/11 trial is off for the weekend; on Friday Youssef Belhadj, Hassan el Haski, and Jamal Zougam all denied having anything to do with the bombings. Nobody believed them. El Haski is also accused of being one of the planners of the Casablanca bombings in May 2003.
News from the French Basque country: Chef Alain Ducasse announced that he is closing down his hotel and restaurant in the town of Bidarray because of the harassment he has received from pro-ETA sectors, including death threats and a bomb last June. Gee, that's great, some world-famous guy comes to our town and brings jobs--Ducasse's empire employs 1200 people--and gets us publicity. So let's run him out of town!
Two women died last week during plastic surgery at the Hospital Evangelico right here around the corner in Gracia. Different surgeons operated on them, and inspectors are trying to figure out what's going on. They've shut down the hospital operating rooms just to be safe.
The Generalitat says it's going to train 15,000 English teachers. Yeah, right. I'm not sure there are 15,000 English speakers in Catalonia, not counting us immigrants.
Starting April 14 they're going to keep the subway open all Saturday night here in Barcelona. Good. That ought to reduce drunk driving a good bit, and make it easier to get a taxi, which is virtually impossible after about 1 AM. This is very convenient for me because I live right between the green line, which runs Fontana-Catalunya-Liceu, and the yellow line, which runs Joanic-Urquinaona-Jaume I. Direct connections from Gracia to downtown, which are the two most interesting parts of the city.
In case you were wondering, Britney Spears shaved her head. That should make her 100% hairless, rather like a Chihuahua.
News from the French Basque country: Chef Alain Ducasse announced that he is closing down his hotel and restaurant in the town of Bidarray because of the harassment he has received from pro-ETA sectors, including death threats and a bomb last June. Gee, that's great, some world-famous guy comes to our town and brings jobs--Ducasse's empire employs 1200 people--and gets us publicity. So let's run him out of town!
Two women died last week during plastic surgery at the Hospital Evangelico right here around the corner in Gracia. Different surgeons operated on them, and inspectors are trying to figure out what's going on. They've shut down the hospital operating rooms just to be safe.
The Generalitat says it's going to train 15,000 English teachers. Yeah, right. I'm not sure there are 15,000 English speakers in Catalonia, not counting us immigrants.
Starting April 14 they're going to keep the subway open all Saturday night here in Barcelona. Good. That ought to reduce drunk driving a good bit, and make it easier to get a taxi, which is virtually impossible after about 1 AM. This is very convenient for me because I live right between the green line, which runs Fontana-Catalunya-Liceu, and the yellow line, which runs Joanic-Urquinaona-Jaume I. Direct connections from Gracia to downtown, which are the two most interesting parts of the city.
In case you were wondering, Britney Spears shaved her head. That should make her 100% hairless, rather like a Chihuahua.
The New Yorker has a good piece on quotations, and the first paragraph focuses on spurious quotes--that is, Patrick Henry really didn't say "Give me liberty or give me death."
I can think of a couple of semi-spurious quotes: one is that nobody coined "He's a son-of-a-bitch but he's our son-of-a-bitch," until the 1960s; somebody, maybe Lyndon Johnson, used it to refer to Ngo Dinh Diem, but he probably didn't use it first. Latin American folklore says that quote was used in the early 20th century in reference to the first Somoza, but I've never seen any proof.
Another is "America for the Americans," which does not appear in the Monroe Doctrine, and was actually used as a Nativist anti-immigrant slogan in the 1840s or so. It has nothing to do with Latin America, either; the immigrants in question were Irish and Germans.
One from Spain is Unamuno's "You will win, but you will not convince" speech in Salamanca in 1936; he was extemporizing without notes and nobody was ready for him to say anything of note, so reports of the speech were all written down later. There is no recording. So we really don't know exactly what he said, though whatever Unamuno did say caused quite a tumult in the auditorium. Unamuno died just weeks later, so he wasn't there to ask later. By the way, everybody seems to think that in the Civil War Unamuno was pro-Republic; he was actually pro-National, though with reservations.
Another one from the Civil War is that no one knows exactly what was said during the famous phone call made by Colonel Moscardó's son, under duress as he was a Republican prisoner, to the colonel, who was leading the National resistance at the Alcazar in Toledo. It's generally agreed that the phone call was made, that the son told Moscardó that he was going to be shot, and Moscardó told the son to die bravely. But the exact words spoken are unknown.
I can think of a couple of semi-spurious quotes: one is that nobody coined "He's a son-of-a-bitch but he's our son-of-a-bitch," until the 1960s; somebody, maybe Lyndon Johnson, used it to refer to Ngo Dinh Diem, but he probably didn't use it first. Latin American folklore says that quote was used in the early 20th century in reference to the first Somoza, but I've never seen any proof.
Another is "America for the Americans," which does not appear in the Monroe Doctrine, and was actually used as a Nativist anti-immigrant slogan in the 1840s or so. It has nothing to do with Latin America, either; the immigrants in question were Irish and Germans.
One from Spain is Unamuno's "You will win, but you will not convince" speech in Salamanca in 1936; he was extemporizing without notes and nobody was ready for him to say anything of note, so reports of the speech were all written down later. There is no recording. So we really don't know exactly what he said, though whatever Unamuno did say caused quite a tumult in the auditorium. Unamuno died just weeks later, so he wasn't there to ask later. By the way, everybody seems to think that in the Civil War Unamuno was pro-Republic; he was actually pro-National, though with reservations.
Another one from the Civil War is that no one knows exactly what was said during the famous phone call made by Colonel Moscardó's son, under duress as he was a Republican prisoner, to the colonel, who was leading the National resistance at the Alcazar in Toledo. It's generally agreed that the phone call was made, that the son told Moscardó that he was going to be shot, and Moscardó told the son to die bravely. But the exact words spoken are unknown.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Franco Aleman at Barcepundit links to this excellent piece from the Australian on anti-Americanism. Quote:
While Russian President Vladimir Putin was railing against US power at an international security conference in Munich on Saturday, a respectable case can be made that, as hegemonies go, the US is the most benevolent history has ever seen. Not perfect by any means, but certainly deserving of better treatment than the acid reflux and bile of Western elites. America is big, rich and makes mistakes. But for the past 50 years at least, it has been the ultimate guarantor of the Western way of life. Surely it deserves a more balanced press from its critics.
Denis Boyles from National Review has more on the subject. Check it out.
Colin Davies has excellent commentary on Spain and especially Galicia every day; he's one of the most regular and consistent bloggers out there. He's on my daily reading list.
Guirilandia has a think-piece on that endangered species, the macho ibérico. He's the opposite of regular and consistent, since he'll sometimes go a couple of weeks without posting, but he's always original.
Talk about regular and consistent: La Liga Loca brings us all the Spanish football news. Since it's Friday, it's time for the weekend preview. I posted this in his comments section:
I don't think they necessarily have to get rid of either Ronaldinho or Eto'o. Every sports team is full of big egos and I think these guys will figure out how to get along--especially if they win another League, as looks likely, and/or the Champions, which is at least a possiblity.If you get rid of one, though, it's Eto'o. You already have Saviola to replace him, not to mention Gudjohnsen, who is OK, and goal-scorers are available on the market for a lot less than magicians like Ronaldinho. There's only one Ronaldinho, and Barça has him tied up for years.
There are a few other arguments: a) Ronaldinho knows how to behave himself in public and wash the dirty laundry at home b) Ronaldinho seems to be much more popular among the players, and with the coaches, than Eto'o c) Ronaldinho sells a lot more jerseys, fills more seats in the US and Japan, and gets the Barça a lot more publicity than Eto'o d) Ronaldinho doesn't break nearly as easily as Eto'o; he's both bigger and stronger, and has no history of injuries.
Also, if I were Rikjaard, I'd stay at Barcelona. He'll have to put up with the same amount of crap if he goes to Milan, and he has the chance to be the greatest Barça coach of all time. If Frank stays four more years and wins a couple more leagues and maybe a Champions, he'll be legendary.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin was railing against US power at an international security conference in Munich on Saturday, a respectable case can be made that, as hegemonies go, the US is the most benevolent history has ever seen. Not perfect by any means, but certainly deserving of better treatment than the acid reflux and bile of Western elites. America is big, rich and makes mistakes. But for the past 50 years at least, it has been the ultimate guarantor of the Western way of life. Surely it deserves a more balanced press from its critics.
Denis Boyles from National Review has more on the subject. Check it out.
Colin Davies has excellent commentary on Spain and especially Galicia every day; he's one of the most regular and consistent bloggers out there. He's on my daily reading list.
Guirilandia has a think-piece on that endangered species, the macho ibérico. He's the opposite of regular and consistent, since he'll sometimes go a couple of weeks without posting, but he's always original.
Talk about regular and consistent: La Liga Loca brings us all the Spanish football news. Since it's Friday, it's time for the weekend preview. I posted this in his comments section:
I don't think they necessarily have to get rid of either Ronaldinho or Eto'o. Every sports team is full of big egos and I think these guys will figure out how to get along--especially if they win another League, as looks likely, and/or the Champions, which is at least a possiblity.If you get rid of one, though, it's Eto'o. You already have Saviola to replace him, not to mention Gudjohnsen, who is OK, and goal-scorers are available on the market for a lot less than magicians like Ronaldinho. There's only one Ronaldinho, and Barça has him tied up for years.
There are a few other arguments: a) Ronaldinho knows how to behave himself in public and wash the dirty laundry at home b) Ronaldinho seems to be much more popular among the players, and with the coaches, than Eto'o c) Ronaldinho sells a lot more jerseys, fills more seats in the US and Japan, and gets the Barça a lot more publicity than Eto'o d) Ronaldinho doesn't break nearly as easily as Eto'o; he's both bigger and stronger, and has no history of injuries.
Also, if I were Rikjaard, I'd stay at Barcelona. He'll have to put up with the same amount of crap if he goes to Milan, and he has the chance to be the greatest Barça coach of all time. If Frank stays four more years and wins a couple more leagues and maybe a Champions, he'll be legendary.
With everybody and his dog running for President, including Akaky, Iberian Notes is going to get into it early. We're for Rudy Giuliani. We like almost everything about him, especially his record. He was tremendous as New York district attorney and then mayor. This guy sent Mafia bosses to jail, cleaned up the city, and was right there when the bombs hit. He's liberal on social issues and tough on crime and terrorism. And he can beat Hillary.
That, of course, is the Number One question we Republicans need to ask ourselves when we vote in the primaries and caucuses a year from now. Can this candidate beat Hillary? Barring disaster, she's the Democratic candidate, and Republicans need to be planning to beat her now. So we need to grab the center and leave her out on the left, and liberal tough guy Rudy is just the person to do that. We would be complete idiots to choose some right-wing Sam Brownback primitive social conservative as our candidate, since we on the moderate right have already got the right-wingers anyway--who else are they going to vote for?
And I would love to see Lieberman as the VP candidate, but this time for the Republicans. If somehow Rudy doesn't come out as our man for Prez, let's draft Joe.
Tom from the Bad Rash doesn't agree with us. He says,
Much as it annoys Americans who loathe foreigners commentng on their politics, thebadrash.com is 'backing' Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States.
Actually, Iberian Notes loves it when foreigners take an interest in American politics, since it helps all of us be better-informed. We only object to biased or ignorant commentary. Tom's position is more than fair enough. He's for Obama, we're for Giuliani, may the best candidate win, and we'll see what happens at the polls.
That, of course, is the Number One question we Republicans need to ask ourselves when we vote in the primaries and caucuses a year from now. Can this candidate beat Hillary? Barring disaster, she's the Democratic candidate, and Republicans need to be planning to beat her now. So we need to grab the center and leave her out on the left, and liberal tough guy Rudy is just the person to do that. We would be complete idiots to choose some right-wing Sam Brownback primitive social conservative as our candidate, since we on the moderate right have already got the right-wingers anyway--who else are they going to vote for?
And I would love to see Lieberman as the VP candidate, but this time for the Republicans. If somehow Rudy doesn't come out as our man for Prez, let's draft Joe.
Tom from the Bad Rash doesn't agree with us. He says,
Much as it annoys Americans who loathe foreigners commentng on their politics, thebadrash.com is 'backing' Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States.
Actually, Iberian Notes loves it when foreigners take an interest in American politics, since it helps all of us be better-informed. We only object to biased or ignorant commentary. Tom's position is more than fair enough. He's for Obama, we're for Giuliani, may the best candidate win, and we'll see what happens at the polls.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Continued blog roundup:
Europhobia comments on the lack of diversity in the Europarliament.
Guirilandia makes fun of the Barcelona ajuntament.
La Liga Loca has the quotes of the week.
Pave France blasts Chiraq over Iran.
Eamonn Fitzgerald has a whack at the New York Review of Books over North Korea.
Publius Pundit takes Vladimir Putin apart.
Sal deTraglia runs a great Spain lifestyle blog, including some food porn.
Roncesvalles questions the enforcement of Germany's anti-swastika law.
The Euroserf blasts EU economic bullying. Short, sweet, and correct.
Europhobia comments on the lack of diversity in the Europarliament.
Guirilandia makes fun of the Barcelona ajuntament.
La Liga Loca has the quotes of the week.
Pave France blasts Chiraq over Iran.
Eamonn Fitzgerald has a whack at the New York Review of Books over North Korea.
Publius Pundit takes Vladimir Putin apart.
Sal deTraglia runs a great Spain lifestyle blog, including some food porn.
Roncesvalles questions the enforcement of Germany's anti-swastika law.
The Euroserf blasts EU economic bullying. Short, sweet, and correct.
News from the 3/11 trial: Rabei Osman El Sayed, alias "Mohammed the Egyptian," the first of the defendants on the stand, denied any involvement in the bombings and refused to speak any further, but after a recess has apparently agreed to testify. He is currently serving a ten-year sentence in Italy for belonging to a terrorist organization; he was part of the infrastructure sending jihadis to Iraq from there. The Italian police bugged his apartment and caught him on tape bragging that the 3/11 bombings were his idea.
Gustavo de Aristegui, a reasonable man and one of the PP moderates, this morning limited himself to saying that he hoped that "the truth would come out" at the trial. He claimed that too much is still unknown about what happened, which I suppose he is sort of right about, but any operation this big is impossible to completely unravel. To continue with the metaphor, there are still a lot of loose ends, but we know the basics about the bombings: who did it, why, and how.
The Samuel Eto'o conflagration has been put out. Everybody had a nice talk, Eto'o claimed to have been misinterpreted, Puyol convinced him to behave himself, Ronaldinho hugged him for the cameras, and Rijkaard didn't punish him for first refusing to play and then shooting off his mouth. Let's hope that a big blowup like this is what the team needed in order to get its shit together for the rest of the year. Barcelona has about an 80% chance of winning the league championship, I think, and as good a chance as anyone to win the Champions' League, which would make it the first club to repeat as champions in this format.
To show how important the Barça is, TV3 has devoted the past two days to the Eto'o story, much more time than the 3/11 trial. The afternoon talk show has wrung at least three hours out of it. And La Vanguardia has given front-page color photos to the story, both yesterday and today. In La Vangua, Barcelona's most serious newspaper, the 3/11 trial got one page yesterday and two pages today, along with a banner front-page headline. The Eto'o story got three pages yesterday (including an anguished opinion piece titled "It'll never be the same again"), and three more pages today.
Gustavo de Aristegui, a reasonable man and one of the PP moderates, this morning limited himself to saying that he hoped that "the truth would come out" at the trial. He claimed that too much is still unknown about what happened, which I suppose he is sort of right about, but any operation this big is impossible to completely unravel. To continue with the metaphor, there are still a lot of loose ends, but we know the basics about the bombings: who did it, why, and how.
The Samuel Eto'o conflagration has been put out. Everybody had a nice talk, Eto'o claimed to have been misinterpreted, Puyol convinced him to behave himself, Ronaldinho hugged him for the cameras, and Rijkaard didn't punish him for first refusing to play and then shooting off his mouth. Let's hope that a big blowup like this is what the team needed in order to get its shit together for the rest of the year. Barcelona has about an 80% chance of winning the league championship, I think, and as good a chance as anyone to win the Champions' League, which would make it the first club to repeat as champions in this format.
To show how important the Barça is, TV3 has devoted the past two days to the Eto'o story, much more time than the 3/11 trial. The afternoon talk show has wrung at least three hours out of it. And La Vanguardia has given front-page color photos to the story, both yesterday and today. In La Vangua, Barcelona's most serious newspaper, the 3/11 trial got one page yesterday and two pages today, along with a banner front-page headline. The Eto'o story got three pages yesterday (including an anguished opinion piece titled "It'll never be the same again"), and three more pages today.
I have an article up at Pajamas Media on the beginning of the trial of the 3/11 bombers. Check it out.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
We haven't had a blog roundup for a week or so. Here goes.
Mark in Mexico is doing some great local reporting from Oaxaca. Fascinating stuff.
Citizen Smash debunks the false "no spitting on Vietnam vets" urban legend.
La Liga Loca has the dope on Samuel Eto'o's verbal incontinence.
Fausta is your one-stop shop for Go to Hell Hugo news.
Expat Yank blasts a moronic UN report.
Brussels Journal profiles the Flemishaloony Vlamms Belang.
Colin Davies has thoughts on Spanish prison sentences.
Davids Medienkritik slaps the Austrians around for selling arms to Iran.
¡No Pasarán! links to another excellent Josef Joffe article.
Pejman agrees that Giuliani looks like the best Republican candidate right now.
Akaky is running, too.
Notes from Spain runs down the top ten Spanish celebrities. Don't miss this one.
Mark in Mexico is doing some great local reporting from Oaxaca. Fascinating stuff.
Citizen Smash debunks the false "no spitting on Vietnam vets" urban legend.
La Liga Loca has the dope on Samuel Eto'o's verbal incontinence.
Fausta is your one-stop shop for Go to Hell Hugo news.
Expat Yank blasts a moronic UN report.
Brussels Journal profiles the Flemishaloony Vlamms Belang.
Colin Davies has thoughts on Spanish prison sentences.
Davids Medienkritik slaps the Austrians around for selling arms to Iran.
¡No Pasarán! links to another excellent Josef Joffe article.
Pejman agrees that Giuliani looks like the best Republican candidate right now.
Akaky is running, too.
Notes from Spain runs down the top ten Spanish celebrities. Don't miss this one.
Monday, February 12, 2007
The Spanish Supreme Court reduced De Juana Chaos's sentence for writing threatening letters to judges to three years, which means he gets out in one. You may remember that Spanish regulations allow De Juana Chaos to leave prison after serving 18 years of a 3000-year sentence for 25 murders; no matter how long a prison sentence in Spain is, the maximum time served is 30 years, from which De Juana Chaos got twelve off for good behavior or whatever. No news on whether he will continue his hunger strike. What a travesty. This guy killed five times as many people as Jack the Ripper.
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