Benny Bellizzi

Today, October 28, a very good friend of mine, Biagio “Benny” Bellizzi, went home to be with the Lord. He had been suffering from a variety of cancer for quite some time. It is always hard for those of us who stay behind, but we have to be thankful for having had the privilege of having met him, that he considered us a friend. For somebody who still has both his parents alive I cannot say that I understand what his daughters and wife are going through, I can only feel empathy.
I worked with Benny in the late 80s when Thomas Cook Travel was based at Two Penn Plaza in New York City. For some reason that I still cannot remember he came to consult me about purchasing his first computer. I did help him purchase his first computer.
At the time the Bellizzis were living in Wayne, NJ in the Packanack Lake area.
In the early 90s when Thomas Cook Travel USA was purchased by American Express Benny did not like the direction that the company was taking, and at the same time of a former co-worker offered him a job in the Tampa area, so the family moved down south. By moving to Florida he would also resolve at the same time the move his wife and him would eventually make when they would retire.
We kept in contact, but it was the winter 94-95 when the Northeast was hit with 17 snow storms, so Benny offered me to come to Tampa as there was a job opening in his company, so I accepted the offer of to stay with them, it gave me a great opportunity to know the family closer, and how they were adjusting to their new lives there. I stayed over a weekend, and their hospitality is something I will never forget.
In 1996 my parents were visiting the US and as they were on their way back to Argentina we decided to go to Disney World, and having the Bellizzi family about a hour away from Orlando we spent the last day with them. My parents still talk about that visit to this day, with very happy memories.
The next time we saw the Bellizzi family was when they came to NJ to celebrate their 40th marriage anniversary.
In 2008 our family went to Orlando, so being so close to their house we could not let the chance of coming to see them go by
It was the last time that I saw Benny.
The last few times I spoke to him he would tell me that he had trouble breathing, that he got tired, and I knew that the illness was starting to take its toll, I knew that life had become more of a hardship.
I am so grateful for his friendship, for the love that he always expressed, and for being blessed by his existence. I am also grateful for God being merciful, and not allowing him to suffer any longer.
I do not believe in longing for the past, so, as Benny goes back home to our creator I will keep those memories close to my heart, keeping in mind how precious life is, and how blessed we are to have friends like him.
Benny, you will be greatly missed. God bless you my friend.
The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

The Romney choice, Paul Ryan, and what it means to the USA

We now have a VP candidate for the republican party, Paul Ryan.
With this choice Romney has told us several things, he is not popular with any group of the country, with the exception of the republican establishment, he is distrusted by the right wing of the party, so for these two reasons he was pressured to choose Paul Ryan, the brain behind the budget that Romney endorsed and called marvelous.  Romney is also telling us that he is betting on the white males that form the base of the party, writing off seniors, minorities in their entirety, young college students dependent of government financed loans, the poor, and middle class that need some kind of assistance.
This is a gamble, as the white males of the party are a group in extinction. The Tea baggers will love the choice, although Ryan is an insider as he has not held an address in his district since before his college days. He has been in DC since his early twenties working for Jack Kemp, and then as a representative for Wisconsin. Neo-cons will also be thrilled as they believe in the dismantling of the safety net, the transferring of wealth from the middle class, or should I say from the 99% to the top 1%, through taxation, and increase in spending in the military industrial complex.
Now let us look at Ryan’s record: The House has only passed two laws proposed by him, although he has been there since 1999. He was collaborator in the George W Bush tax cuts of the 2000s, that gave trillions of dollars away to the wealthy, he was a supporter of the privatization of Social Security in 2005, thus giving Wall St control over the future of seniors. The pressure of seniors forced the Bush White House to roll back its plans. He is the brains behind the dismantling of Medicare and the defunding of Medicaid. His idea of saving of Medicaid is put seniors into a voucher system, and force them to get covered by the insurance company who decides to accept them. This would put seniors through a tremendous stress both financial and emotional, creating unnecessary anxiety with a group of the population that does not have the energy to go through that. It will force seniors to pay another $6,000 more out of pocket a year than what they are paying now. This is throwing seniors under the bus.
With the poor the defunding of Medicaid and the roll back of food stamps, will put them into worse shape than what they are.
The middle class will see the elimination of deductions such as mortgage interests deductions, property taxes deductions, and charity deductions being eliminated costing the average middle class $2,000 a year in higher taxes.
Both Romney and Ryan believe in reinstating banks as the providers of student loans, with no benefit to students, and the middle class, as these loans are guaranteed by the Federal Government, and the banks, until 2009 were only the handlers charging people extra for that. President Obama took the banks out of the business and the republican team wants to pay back their banking friends by re-instating that process.
All this pain is not for a good cause, it is only to allow the top 1% to pay lower taxes, from 35 to 25%, and those paying taxes on dividends, zero. They would also increase the budget of the Department of Defense, with Romney saying that he would double it, to 2 trillion a year.
The Congressional Budget Office and independent economists said that all these measures would cost the Treasury 5 trillion in 10 years, thus pushing the national debt to 20 trillion. By then the cost of servicing the national debt would be the highest number in the budget, only surpassed by the Pentagon.
I have spoken to friends of mine who believe that they will be hardly any differences between the next four years with Obama and Romney in the White House. I completely disagree. To prove this we just have to look at what the republicans in the House have been like. They have done nothing in 19 months that would have created jobs, with 23 million unemployed in the US, they have voted to cut women’s benefits, they have voted to pass new anti-abortion laws, they have voted 33 times to repeal the Affordable Health care Act, nicknamed Obamacare by republicans, that will be just the beginning of a reforming of the health care system in the country, with a lot more to go, until everybody is covered, regardless of age, race, and income level. They were also the cause of the downgrading of the country’s credit rating. All the votes the republicans had in the House went nowhere because the Senate didn’t even consider them. The Senate on the other hand has been nothing but obstructionist, setting record after record for filibusters.
If the people who have lost their jobs because of outsourcers like Romney during his days in Baine, and even as governor of Massachusetts,  and because of job shippers to countries such as China and India such as Baine again, people who have been paying more and getting less, people who are having greater difficulties to vote because of laws passed by states where governorships, and both Assemblies and Senates are in republican hands with the excuse, or should I call the lie, of voter fraud, the seniors whose benefits will be cut, vote for the Romney/Ryan team, and for republicans for the House and Senate, I have a message, you ain’t seen nothing yet. My recommendation to them, starting digging the grave that the republican party will throw you in.

The election of November 2012

This year’s election is already starting to present itself as a very interesting one .
Regardless of the fact that this will be, just like most recent ones, a close election, we will probably witness some unusual and some previously seen methods of making the final tally more complex.
The previously methods we’ve seen are the purging of honest voters, such as in Florida, with Governor Scott trying to purge almost 190 thousand voters from the list, targeting primarily Hispanics, African-Americans, and seniors, the group of people who would probably vote for democrats. This, as I said earlier, is not the first time that it happens. In the infamous year 2000 Katherine Harris, former Secretary of State, and her accomplice and boss, Governor Jeb Bush, the brother of the candidate for president for the Republican purged hundreds of legitimate voters in Florida. The confusion that this created, together with the machine problems and with the US Supreme Court stopping the recount gave us president Bush. We know that Florida is a "banana" state. 
In this election we have all the newly elected republican governors in 2010 making it almost impossible for legitimate voters to come out to vote. Many of these voters are minorities, poor and seniors, possible voters that may come out to vote for democrats. Such states include Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Nevada. Maine was trying to do the same but Maine’s electorate in a referendum through this out.
As if this wouldn’t be enough we have the decision made by this intrusive Supreme Court: “Citizens United”.
President Obama is having his work cut out for himself, and this is true not only for him but for every future governor and president who runs under the Democratic umbrella, because millionaires and billionaires will throw the kitchen sink at the re-election of the president, just like we are seeing out of state wealthy donors defend Governor Walker in Wisconsin outspending his opponent 25 to 1.
If the president is defeated, and there is a very good chance that it will happen next November, the next president may be selecting one, possibly two, justices to the supreme court, pushing it further to the right, and allowing more unregulated money to corrupt the system, elimination of the safety net that people have enjoyed for almost a century, and also elimination of regulations that stop wealthy corporations from polluting the water and air, just like Texas is suffering now.
If people like a plutocracy what the forefathers rebeled against, the crown, over 200 years ago, may be going to waste, as we seem to be heading down that path ourselves, and we know how Louis XVI ended up.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Part 4)

Conclusions

In this series of blogs I have found that there could be a some common denominators that fit into the three issues, and those are education, health, background, and I could include race into the equation as well.

Education is a major factor that allows the possibility of upper mobility. Having my daughter and wife in college I can see the high cost of education. With higher education cost increasing at a much higher rate than inflation or the cost of living, and republicans trying to cut education and thus making it harder for people to borrow to go to school this only concentrates the power in the very few at the top, and therefore making sure that upper mobility becomes almost impossible, except for rare cases such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, or other extremely successful individuals. When looking at education I know that there other models out there in the world, with many countries having free or very affordable universities.

Health. We think of it, and treat it as a commodity. It isn’t. Most people go about their business and don’t follow the stock market or the cost of other commodities on the stock exchange. But they do know how precious their health is, and that, if need be, they will lose their house and other material goods when their health and life is on the line.

Background. We talk about liberty, but if someone is born from parents who live in the “wrong” neighborhood their education is going to be limited compared to the child born in the “right” neighborhood. Now that child did not chose to be born in that family and that neighborhood, it just happened. Same thing could be said about race. Many people say let us dismantle the public education and fund private or charter schools. There is no proof that charter schools are better. They just simply make somebody wealthy, usually at the cost of public education. A woman that I used to work with used to say I don’t want my taxes going to the poor neighborhoods, I want them only for my town. The way the system is setup through property automatically creates a different tier of education, and thus discriminates “legally” against the people that are not able to afford a better area.

In conclusion, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are all greatly tide up with the education possibilities and what doors can be opened in their lifetime to achieve the pursuit of happiness that people would like. Same can be said with the health that people can receive and at what cost.

I, for one, as a believer, think of my happiness coming from knowing that, although I did nothing to deserve it, somebody died for me, and through that forgave my sins, no matter how big those are, through that demonstration of love I have liberty of my sin, as it is not through the constitution but through my creator and my savior I receive these rights, here in the US and anywhere else I may live.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Part 3)

The Pursuit of Happiness.

As I was writing this blog I wondered what the forefathers thought what “pursuit of happiness” meant to them, and I came about an article that said:  “In composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson understood that it's up to the individual to decide what pursuits will cause him or her happiness. However, the Founding Fathers also understood that government has a responsibility to create a society where one's right to pursue happiness is guaranteed by social and legal protections.”

I find this very interesting. I, for one, find the whole issue totally subjective, because many of us think of happiness as something  temporary at times, and others view it as I state of mind, a choice. A friend of mine used to say: “if a problem has solution why worry about it, it has a solution; and if it doesn’t why worry there is nothing you can do”.  As I said earlier that seems to be a choice, that some of us have a hard time living with it. We used to say that he lived in utopia, or as we used to call it in Spanish “la onda lira”.

I guess that Jefferson’s view, together with the others who signed the declaration of independence, had a very different view from the people whom they owned, and whom they did not consider themselves their equal.

I will not elaborate more on this one because in my conclusion in the next blog

to be continued

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Part 2)

Liberty.

We love talking in this country about liberty.

Let us read what the dictionary says about the meaning of the word liberty:

1. freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.

2.  freedom from external or foreign rule; independence.

3. freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.

4. freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint: The prisoner soon regained his liberty.

5. permission granted to a sailor, especially in the navy, to go ashore

Having lived here for a while and also having lived half of my life in my country of birth I can see some differences and some similarities.

People seem to focus US on the Bill of Rights and primarily a few of them such as the 1^st one (Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression) that says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”, and the the 2^nd (Right to Bear Arms): A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

They probably know a few more but these are their primary focus.

We know that the forefathers had in mind during the declaration of independence that only white, land owners, males were included in these “liberties”. They did not include slaves, of course, and they did not include women, as they had no right to vote. Nowadays people love to fill themselves with the idea of liberties, and that we need to defend them at any cost, even if that means with huge Department of Defense budgets, with no regard that that may push part of their population into poverty, having a military cost equivalent at the rest of the world combined, being brainwashed with fear at the expense of erosion of their liberties such as the patriot act, and other measures taken by federal and state governments, conducting ethnic erosion of privacy for the “safety” of the population, or being frisked for no reason, or invading other countries because they disagree with us, all in the name of safety.  People who demonstrate in most instances are arrested because they “disturb” the peace and quiet of the rest of the citizens. The press cannot take pictures of their fellow citizens who are brought back in caskets from Afghanistan, not that the press seems to care nowadays in informing the public about the news, as I had pointed out in another blog, they are more interested in pushing their own interests and their own agenda.
I am a believer, like some countries around the world, in euthenesia. I don't believe that the government should consider it illegal. It does not mean that I believe in commiting suicide, it just means that I believe that we should have that right, if we decide to end our own life.
We also love to talk about freedom of choices. What choices? Swiss or American (cheese)? Pepperoni o sausage (pizza)? Big Mac or Chicken stripps (Mcdonald's)? Macdonalds or Wendy's?
Even when we vote many times the distinction between both candidates and both parties is somewhat fuzzy, depending who the candidate is, what state you live in, etc, as both major parties receive in many cases money from the same lobbysts just to make sure that they can mold the laws to their own convenience.

So where are the liberties?

to be continued

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Part 1)

Before I start this blog I will say that I am happy living in the USA, and there is probably no other place I would live in.  I also know that many people will disagree with what I am about to say in the four blogs that I am writing here.

This series of blogs is about my view of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, the three pillars of the declaration of independence.  Here is the quote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Life. 

Many people in the US love to talk about life. They seem to think of life, as something we should defend before birth. Block and penalize any possibility of an abortion, even in the case of rape or incest, defund Planned Parenthood, eliminate it at whatever cost, even if they are one of the largest healthcare providers for women. They also seem to be against doctors who perform abortions to the extent of killing them, and that it seems is the right thing to do. What makes it ironic is that the moment that that unborn comes out of womb we turn around and say screw it.

Everything that we went bizerk about when it was in the womb flips over to the other extreme. Cut healthcare, cut public housing, cut education.

Wait a minute. Let’s stop and think what the hell happened with all this idea that we need to take care of the unborn? Now that it came out, dump it. That poor baby just transitioned from receiving his oxygen and food through an umbilical cord to breathing on his own, and the views and options have changed dramatically. That baby now seems to be at fault if he was born with the “wrong color of skin”, lives in the wrong neighborhood, has not the means to make it on his own, or the same possibilities as the one in the next town or even on the other side of town. The same people who defended the right of that fetus to live, now are willing to put him to death as an adult. We are willing to send him to harm’s way, but not to pay for his education, unless he enlists in the army and is willing to put his life on the line. Something doesn’t add up. What happened with the whole concept of life? Or was it just a bunch of b.s.?

At the end of the day what is the whole concept of Life? Is it just  the biological function, and that’s where it stops? What about the spreading of wings and being able to take off like a bird with the sky being the limit? That may have been the original idea why the independence was written but it looks like the powers at be have put some hurdles in this concept.

To be continued

Senator Lugar and the Tea Party

Yesterday U.S. Senator Lugar for the state of Indiana was defeated by a tea party backed candidate. The senator had a 77% conservative record. He had served for 36 years or 6 terms.

Conservatives across country including pundits said that the citizens of Indiana wanted a new face representing them. The real reason is because 23% of the times he compromised with the opposition.  It is extremely unfortunate that somebody who has a sense of governing, which includes finding middle ground with the people who disagree with you, was defeated. We can say that the Republican Party has been hijacked but we wouldn’t be saying anything new.

The approval of Congress is 8%, the lowest in its history. Here is one of the reasons. The Tea Party is not interested in governing, in having their citizens well represented. It is only in the business of creating disruption and chaos. That is not governing. The US is on a rapid decline slope because of reasons like this one, where a fringe of society, with the backing of people who want to create instability, is not responding to the needs of its people.

The Tea Party has confused the concept of governing, chaos and bullying. For them everything is the same. Their methods are the ones of a totalitarian system in which the will of some is imposed on the rest, like the Al-Assad family is doing in Syria, and the Sunni minority is doing in Bahrain, and we know how they these end.     

War on women

I have recently written about how Republicans cross country are in a war against women. They are on the defensive now because women realize that they are being attacked in every way by legislation that hurt them.

Since the elections of November of 2010 over 600 laws have been passed in states in which republicans control both chambers and the governor’s office.

The latest two are the Governors of Arizona and of Texas.

These are two of the most radical in the nation. Brewer was caught in a picture disrespecting President Obama as he descends from Air Force One.

And what can be said that has not been said about the former hopeful to president Mr. Perry, including the many gaffs during his run.

Both of them are obsessed with the dismantling of Planned Parenthood, an organization that helps women cross country, they are the number one institution that provide means to mammograms for women.

Their obsession is because Planned Parenthood helps in many states means for women to get abortions.

In Texas the law says that no public funds can be used to provide abortions. Governor Perry is not contempt with just this. As I said earlier, he is determined in closing them down.

Governor Brewer is obsessed with doing exactly the same.

The Federal Government should tie the funds that it provides to both states in the existence of organizations such as Planned Parenthood, as it provides a service that helps primarily the less fortunate in society.  It is the law of the land since 1972.

Bye Bye Sarkozy

Over the weekend France and Greece elected two socialist governments.

Gone are the days of Mr. Sarkozy and his conservatives views. He came to run the France with many objectives, one of them, to try to downgrade the power of the unions.

The French people are used to a certain standard of living, where the middle class enjoys big benefits, they have the number one rated healthcare system in the world.

Mr. Sarkozy’s achievements included a downgrade in France’s credit, trying to force austerity measures.

Austerity does not work. The proof is in Spain and the UK. The UK with its austere measures in back in a recession. Spain has a 25% unemployment.

Having grown up in Argentina the I.M.F. (International Monetary Fund), a club of rich nations who were always interested in recovering their loans, or at least strangling poor nations with mob type interests, would always ask for austerity measures. The only thing that austerity measures provoke is just a shrinking in the economy, increasing unemployment. because the pie get smaller instead of increasing.

For years we heard this recording that the belt needed to be tightened. The reality is that it tightens with the needy, the haves get richer during those periods, never end up paying their fair share, and the bill is always picked up by the less fortunate. Even though it may sound familiar this is how Argentina and many other nations found themselves trapped by the idiotic and unrealistic measures of the IMF.

The French made a decision that they feel may work better for them than the austere measures that the elite club and their representatives tried to impose on them.

Time will tell if France will grow its economy faster than the UK and other European nations.

These elections may also put the future of the euro in serious jeopardy, not that it was on safe grown before, as the European elections within the community further down the year may end up challenging the authority to Germany.

I have predicted the end of the euro for a while because it is unsustainable to most of the European nations to abide with the strict guidelines that it central bank imposes.

Time will tell if I am mistaken.

How Romney chickened out

Today Mitt Romney was asked by a crazy person at an event if President Obama should be tried for treason, and he stayed quiet.

Romney is proving today that he is not qualified to be president. If he doesn’t have the “cojones” to stand up to a loony in the audience, how do we expect him to stand up to any leader or non leader around the world.

Romney is so used to dealing in the board of directors, hiding from the workers, like most board members in corporations across the country, gutless members who hide behind dark windows in the penthouse of American large companies. 

He only knows how to fire people, send jobs overseas, but he has not guts, no balls to tell anybody that they are going overboard. 

He should be ashamed of himself.

During the Clinton Administration years republicans were fulling themselves with the fact that character is what makes a leader.

Where are those same republicans when we have a flip flopper  with the back bone of an ameba running for candidate of their party.

Let us look at the meaning of the treason:

Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as "...[a]...citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation]." In many nations, it is also often considered treason to attempt or conspire to overthrow the government, even if no foreign country is aided or involved by such an endeavour.

 Outside legal spheres, the word "traitor" may also be used to describe a person who betrays (or is accused of betraying) their own political party, nation, family, friends, ethnic group, team, religion, social class, or other group to which they may belong. Often, such accusations are controversial and disputed, as the person may not identify with the group of which they are a member, or may otherwise disagree with the group leaders making the charge.

When I read this several things come to mind: One would be what the republicans in the house of representatives did with Clinton in the 90s; another would be what the republicans have done to bring down the Obama Administration and hurt the American people in the process; and third I cannot forget how the Bush Administration lied to the American people about the “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, that would include Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and others who orchestrated all kinds of lies about the threat of Iraq to the U.S.

Which leads me to believe that the people who say that President Obama should be tried for treason either don’t know the meaning of the word, and/or have lived in another planet during the previous administration.

That still doesn't take away the fact that Romney doesn't have the temper to put these people in their place.

Governor Christie and his priorities

I recently wrote about how bad Governor Christie was for the State of New Jersey. He has done nothing to lower property taxes, he has gone after teachers, he is a union buster, he has gone after teacher’s pensions, with the help of a few d.i.n.o.s (Democrats in name only) in the Assembly and Senate of the state, has bullied the opposition, even abused verbally people who disagreed with him, on TV, and to a Iraq vet. He campaigned in California for the republican candidate during the last governor race. But the thing that has done it for me is the fact that now he said he will help Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin in his campaign this coming June. Governor Walker is facing a recall for his horrendous job in Wisconsin, he is a union busting, has given millions of dollars in tax cuts to his friends at the expense of cutting education and other services. The campaign against him to recall him got over a million signatures to call for another election. Governor Walker promised that he was going to create jobs, but he has only been responsible for losing 160,000 jobs in his state. He has the worst record in the union for job creation. Governor Christie seems to share some the same mentality as the Governor of Wisconsin as the State of New Jersey lost 16,000 in the month of March. 

Governor Christie is also very enthusiastic about Governor Romney, and probably will help the republican candidate for president during his campaign.

Maybe Governor Christie may want to consider moving to Wisconsin permanently, as he is so fond of Scott Walker, or accept a possible candidacy for Vice-president, or take a leave of absence with no salary for the rest of his term, and thus allowing the citizens of this state to move on with their lives, try to move forward, and start prioritizing the things that this state needs, instead of having a governor who is more concerned with the lives and candidacies of other republicans. He would not be missed. I wonder if during the next few months that he will be campaigning in other states if he will do it at no cost to state including no salary.

Obama, Osama, the Navy Seals, who deserves credit and who is ultimately responsible

Republicans are crying foul that President Obama is taking credit for the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, and that he should not run adds pointing out how Mitt Romney criticized in 2007 when then Senator Obama and candidate for the Democratic Party said that if the intelligence showed that Osama was in Pakistan he would go and catch him.

President Obama took a chance, as he had his vice-president, the secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State and the head of the joint chiefs of staff advising him not to go ahead with the mission, and the president went on his own on that. I said he took a chance because if the mission would have failed his head would have rolled. We know that the ultimately the ones who landed in Pakistan were the United States Navy Seal, an elite group of the brave armed forces of this country, but the president was the one who gave the order, and thus he is responsible for the outcome. So although we have to give credit where credit is due, we cannot take away the weight that the commander of chief has.

As far as the republicans I find all this hilarious. I say that because in 2004 then President Bush campaigned on the “failure” of the administration with the attack of 09/11, and why we should trust him on the war on terror on his “success” of 09/11. In 2008 more than one of the hopefuls during the republican primary also campaigned about 09/11 as if they should be proud of it, primarily Rudy Giuliani. I was under the impression that you can brag about your successes and not your failures, and 09/11 was a screw up of the Bush Administration, not a success.

I guess republicans, at the end of the day, are jealous that it was President Obama who put the Navy Seals in harms away for a sensible mission, and not like President Bush said in 2002, only a few months  after the attacks: “Who knows if he’s hiding in some cave or not. We haven’t heard from him in a long time. The idea of focusing on one person really indicates to me people don’t understand the scope of the mission. Terror is bigger than one person. He’s just a person who’s been marginalized. … I don’t know where he is. I really just don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you.” President Bush had opportunities of catching Bin Laden but it was President Obama who gave the order.

Republicans will have to live with this.

YPF, and another mistake /// YPF y otro error

This week we saw the government of Argentina expropriate a private Spanish company called Repsol from its right to own YPF. What made matters worse is that they sent a branch of the army to escort the Repsol employees to avoid any resistance of being removed from their workforce.

In the last 12 months the government of Cristina Fernandez of Kirchner has closed all imports, and to foreign companies such as HP and Dell the administration said that for every dollar that they imported they had to export another dollar, which meant that they had to mount factories in Argentina. Dell said thank you very much and closed their local office.

The Obama Administration told the Kirchner administration that they would review and reconsider the favorable duties provided to Argentina.

In the past days Mrs. Kirchner administration was told by the Obama administration that this idea of taking over YPF and remove and rescind Repsol rights to YPF was not acceptable.

Let us analyze what the recent history about YPF. In the 90s President Menem was obsessed with privatizing government run companies.

He shoved down the Argentine Congress the privatization of the phone company, the merchant company, the oil company, the utilities, the water company, the railroads, the national airline, even the interstate road system. Menem become extremely wealthy at the expense of denationalizing all the government owned and run companies, receiving kickbacks in the process.

A little over a decade later let us look at the privatizations, there is no competition on the phone system because of the way he setup the bidding, the national airline was totally defunded and was eventually  taken over by the government, the railroad is in a total state of disrepair, an they’ve had two major accidents in the last twelve months in the Buenos Aires area with many deaths, the oil company Repsol, owner of YPF pushed Argentina from an exporting nation to one who needs to import just to satisfy its local consumption because of lack of investment, and the list goes on.

During the privatizations they gave the key of the henhouse to the fox.

Mrs. Kirchner and her followers think this idea of re-nationalizing a private company is the right thing to do. Even former president Menem, who is a senator, said that he is in favor of the law.Argentina has not had, and does not have a separate judicial power. It is just an appendix of the Executive branch.

The European Community is extremely upset with this one sided decision. The Argentine government doesn’t seem to understand that they will be global ramifications to a unilateral decision such as this one. They are even asking the other nations of the G-20 to expel Argentina from this group.

The Kirchner administration is under the illusion that Argentina is Venezuela, and that they can be as provocative as Chavez is. The Venezuelan president is not a beloved figure in the US and in many other places, but Venezuela has something that the world wants, oil. Argentina has oil but not enough to supply the market, or make a dent in it.

Mrs. Kirchner, in every single opportunity she has quotes her husband. She should remember that her husband was in favor with the privatization of YPF. Back then she was a state senator in the province of Santa Cruz, and she said that it would be the right thing to do.

Argentina is sinking in debt, after years of surpluses, and as the coffers are starting to run empty, they are trying to find different places where the government to lay its hands. They wasted money left and right, lived beyond their means, and bought elections, by financing and maintaining huge sections of the population with big subsidies to maintain a class of non-workers, paying people for having multiple kids, demonstrating in the government acts in support of this administration, and blocking any opposition. It seems that the chickens are starting to come to roost.

Hopefully the people who supported years and years of corrupt governments will wake up and make the right decision. I have recently written that Argentina has always blamed the rest of the world for its shortcomings, they need to grow up and accept responsibility for their own wrong decisions and mismanagement.

Esta semana fuimos testigos de como el gobierno argentino expropio a la compañia española Repsol del 57 % de sus acciones de YPF. Lo peor de todo es que el gobierno mandó a la gendarmerie a sacar a los empleados de Repsol para evitar medidas de represalias.

En los últimos 12 meses el gobierno de Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner cerró las importaciones, y les dijo a empresas extranjeras como HP y Dell que por cada dolar que importaran deberian exportar otro dolar, lo que equivalia a montar fabricas en la Argentina. Dell le dijo al goberno muchas gracias y cerró sus oficinas locales.

La administración del presidente Obama le dijo a la al goberno argentino que por las medidas de cerrar la importación iba a reveer y reconsiderar las tarifas favorables que tiene la Argentina con EEUU.

Con respect al caso YPF en los pasados dias la administracion Obama le ha comunicado al gobierno argentine que no es aceptable lo que hicieron.

Tenes que analizar minuciosamente la reciente historia de YPF. En los noventas el Presidente Menem estaba obsesionado con privatizar las compañias estatales.

Forzo al congreso a pasar las privatizaciones de ENTEL, ELMA, YPF, Obras Sanitarias, Ferrocarriles Argentinos, Aerolineas Argentinas; llegó al extremo de privatizar las rutas nacionales. Al privatizar y en definitiva desnazionalizar todas las empresas estatales, Menem se volvio muy rico, recibiendo coimas en el proceso.

Dado que ha pasado una decada desde las privatizaciones no hay competencia en el sistema telefonico porque no hubo licitaciones abiertas en donde podia existir la libre competencia, Aerolineas Argentinas fue vaciada de sus capitales, no hubo modernizacion de la flota y ha sido tomada nuevamente por el gobierno argentino, los ferrocarriles estan en un estado absoluto de descuido, al punto de haber existido 2 grandes accidentes en Buenos Aires con muchos muertos y centenares de heridos, la compañia Repsol, mayorista de las acciones de YPF transformó a la Argentina de un país exportador a uno importador de hidrocarburos para su consumo local, y podemos seguir con la lista.

Durante las privatizaciones se le dio la llave del gallinero al zorro.

La Sra. Kirchner y sus seguidores piensan que la renacionalización de una empresa privada es lo correcto. Hasta el ex-presidente Menem, hoy senador, dijo estar en favor de la ley. Argentina no ha tenido, ni tiene, un poder judicial independiente, siempre ha sido un apendice, una marioneta del Poder Ejecutivo.

La Comunidad Europea esta extremadamente descontenta con esta decision. El gobierno parece no entender que va a haber medidas mundiales a una decision unilateral como esta. Estan considerando pedirle a los otros paises que forman el G-20 que Argentina sea expulsada del grupo.

La administracion Kirchner esta convencida que Argentina es Venezuela, esto es una illusion. Se piensan también que pueden ser tan agresivos como Chavez. El president venezolano no es una figura muy querida en EEUU y en otros lugares, pero Venezuela tiene algo que el mundo quiere, petroleo. Argentina tiene petroleo pero no lo sufuciente para abastecer al Mercado mundial, o para hacer una diferencia en el.

A la Sra. Kirchner le encanta citar en oportunidad que puede a su marido. Deberia recordar que su marido estaba en favor de la privatizacion de YPF, sin ir mas lejos ella, que era una senadora provincial en Santa Cruz, dijo que la privatizacion era lo correcto.

Argentina se esta hundiendo en deudas, despues de muchos años de superavits, y dado que los cofres se estan vaciando, el gobierno esta tratando de poner sus manos en todos los lugares que puede. Han malgastado a diestra y siniestra, han gastado mas de lo debido, han comprador elecciones, manteniendo grandes sectores de la poblacion con subisidios por no trabajar, subisidiando familias numerosas, asisitendo a manifestaciones en favor del gobierno, ahogando la oposicion. Da la impresion de que a cada chancho le llega su San Martin.

Uno siempre mantiene la esperanza que la gente que alimentó años y años de corrupcion comiencen a tomar decisiones acertadas. En un blog que escribí recientemente que Argentina siempre culpó al resto del mundo por sus errores, es hora de que crezcan y asuman responsabilidad de sus decisiones incorrectas y por su mal manejo.

Women, their reproductive decisions and the coming election

This coming election will certainly be decided by several groups including Hispanics and women.
These groups decided the election in 2008, and women switched their vote in 2010 during the mid-term elections.
This November there will be two clear options in terms of how they view women.
President Obama’s first legislation was the equal pay for equal work, or, as the law is called, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The Republican Party voted against this legislation because they say that this will only help trial lawyers. When Mitt Romney was recently asked in a phone conference if he supported his camp did not have an answer.
During the whole Republican primary the candidates out gunned each other on how much they would control women's sexual and reproductive decisions. Republican Governors across country together with their state assemblies and senates passed all kinds of restrictions and outrageous legislations deciding on women reproductive systems.
Republicans are saying that what women really care about is just the economy, and that President Obama is guilty for having women displaced in the workforce. They seemed to have amnesia because the financial collapse happened under the Bush Administration.
Women, in most cases, are involved with the family's health care decisions.
Republicans are trying to bring down a legislation that would cover more people, with pre-conditions, and college students who receive coverage under their parent’s health coverage.
I was talking to a relative that I have in the UK, and has lived there since 1958, about all these issues, and she could not believe that we are still arguing about reproductive and contraception issues in 2012. She is 88 years and looks at these trivial things as part of the past. These things have been settled in the 60’s and 70’s. How long more are we going to talk about sex? We have a real unemployment close to 20% and we think that what is important is that people be straight. We have people sleeping under bridges or in cardboards, and we still want to argue if the pill should be included in the health care bill. The rest of the world is laughing at us.

Governor Christie and the tunnel under the Hudson River

The Government Accountability Office, also known as GAO, has come out with a report that shows that Governor Chris Christie from NJ had overstated the cost to the citizens of his state of the building of another tunnel that would join New York and New Jersey.
Governor Christie is one of the prima donnas of the Republican Party. Conservatives love him because they say he is a straight shooter, that he “tells it as it is”. Is that right?
The study that the GAO is providing now disproves that theory. Governor Christie, in fact behaves in most cases as a bully, putting anybody down who may disagree with him, even name calling including when it came down to an Iraq vet.
Governor Christie is another example of what is wrong with the Republican Party. Everything that can move this great country into the future, such as education, infrastructure, modernization, including investment in mass transportation, the republicans say that it is something that the country cannot afford. The thing we can afford, as far as they are concerned , is tax cuts for the wealthy, and a bloated Department of Defense. For that there seems to be limitless amounts of money.
We can say that we are bleeding money. Nobody can dispute this. But are we bleeding money because we are spending too much, and/or because we have are not getting enough taxes from people, and we are paying too much in unemployment benefits? I’m a believer in unemployment benefits, but it would be smarter to get something back for the money, and infrastructure would be a good place to start. Pay people to work in the improvement of the nation.
Now we can also wonder if it's because there is a Democrat president in the White House that we are not investing, or like Republicans would call it, spending money. If that is the case then it is all political, and we can say that they are not looking out for the future of the country.
Either way everything would indicate that this party is stuck in the past. They think that if the country has built a bridge you don't have to maintain it or modernize it. That is how we are falling in the world competitiveness. The rest of the world invests in bullet trains, modern infrastructure. All these projects are either being funded or built by governments across the world, but here we believe that unless the private sector does not it is not worth doing it. When was the last time that the private sector flew to the moon, built the Hoover Dam, built the highway system.
If the Republicans from the past, such as President Eisenhower, and others, would have waited for the private sector to get involved in these mega projects, we would have never have a railroad that joint both coasts, and we would still be fighting native Americans.
As far as Christie he has been a disaster for New Jersey in every single aspect, starting by being dishonest and untruthful, settings us back in everything thing we can think of.

Islas Malvinas // Falkland Islands

With this blog I know I will make enemies on both sides of this issue, everybody is entitled to their own opinion.
Thirty years, during the last days of march 1982, as we were planning the final details of our wedding we could not foresee what would take place on the 2nd day of April. As I woke up the news was that Argentina had invaded the Falkland Islands, and had setup a base in Port Stanley, it’s capital.
People came out to celebrate the “recovery” of the islands, as it felt that they were Argentinians.
Argentina was under military rule, and it had been a long and bloody period called the dirty war, where supposedly thirty thousand people disappeared.
President Galtieri, the latest of a long list of presidents since 1976, came out to the balcony of the Casa Rosada, the Government House, just like a few of his predecessors such as Juan Peron, Evita, and Isabel Peron, had done in the past. Everybody was wearing white and blue flags. The military government and its repression we wearing thin, people had had enough of them, the economy was in the tank, inflation was starting to get out of control. Later people figured that the reason President Galtieri chose that time to take the islands was because he needed the public to get distracted from the local issues.
What he figured was that the Lion, a tired Lion, would not travel thousands of miles to recover the islands. He also calculated that the U.S. would defend the hemisphere. Both of these calculations were completely wrong. Margaret Thatcher was the prime minister in the UK, and Ronald Reagan was the president of the US, partners in pretty much every decision and ideology that we can think of, from union busting to cutting taxes for the wealthy. Margaret Thatcher was not having a good administration at the time, as she had many problems including problems with miners and strikes, and a weak economy because of a worldwide recession.
Galtieri ended up doing a favor to the “iron lady” as she was nicknamed, as she got herself re-elected after the war.
What made matters worse in Argentina was that the government run news was advertising that the armed forces were kicking the British’s ass, but when we would listen to the BBC at my parents house on Short Wave radio the news appeared to be completely different. They were saying that the british were shooting planes down like there was no tomorrow. On June 12th Pope John Paul II comes to visit Argentina. On June 14th the Argentine government comes on tv and radio to say that they had lost. People were in disbelief. They took to the streets, they went to the Plaza de Mayo, across from the government house. To a certain extent, putting aside the loss of life of the soldiers in the war, many of them conscripts, the defeat was the beginning of the end of the military regime, it was the last nail in the coffin, after that the pressure of the public forced them to call for election, and the rest is history. Argentina has had a “fairly” stable democracy since then, with no more military coup d'état, or simply coup as they are called in the US.
We can argue that the islands are Argentinians. That the only landing strip in the islands before the conflict was built by Argentina, that the kelpers would come to Argentina for medical treatment, that the British Government treated them as second class citizens, that all the food and mail used to come through Argentina, that the settlers were totally abandoned by the British Government, that the people in the UK had no idea where the hell these islands were before the conflict, they hardly knew where Argentina was, if it wouldn’t have been because of the show Evita in the West End. But all this at the end of the day, for me, is totally irrelevant.
The British say that we should allow the settlers decide under who’s umbrella would they like to be. That is also totally ridiculous as well as they didn’t apply that concept when China demanded them to return Hong Kong, knowing that China is a communist country, with no civil liberties. The people who were well off were given asylum, and the poor fell under Chinese government. So we can say that they apply the law that suits them best.
The present government in Argentina has come back to the attack to get the islands. We know the kind of government that Mrs. Kirchner has, with lack of freedom of press, lack of imports, even in the event of medications, and denial of inflation, and growth of the national debt under her presidency. So, I look at the timing as another distraction, just like Galtieri tried 30 years ago.
I view the conflict from a distance as something totally different, probably because living far away and having been far away for almost 27 years gives me a different perspective, or so I think.
It reminds of a big boy who has a toy, and has it in the bottom of the closet, with no purpose for it, but who feels good just denying that toy to somebody who wants. The whole idea is that this boosts their ego by denying Argentina of having the islands.
On the other hand Argentina reminds me of a brat who wants the toy, and who will go on forever with this issue. And I say this because Argentina has a tremendous poverty all across the nation, with people starving, with no jobs, and with the government totally abandoning them to their own mercy. Why have the islands as a priority if there other things that need immediate concern, before a few islands, that have horrendous climate, and nobody would move to, even if they had the opportunity.
People can then say that there is oil or petroleum around the islands. Who cares. Argentina has oil in the continent and does nothing to invest in extracting it, or better still it sells its interests to foreign companies with kickbacks for the people in power at the time of the bidding. It is time to stop blaming the rest of the world for the problem the country has, and start taking responsibility for the mistakes the country has made since its conception in the beginning of the 1800’s.


Se que con este blog voy a hacerme un monton de enemigos de ambas partes, todo el mundo tiene derecho a su opinion.
Treinta años atras, durante los ultimos dias de Marzo de 1982, cuando estabamos celebrando los detalles finales de nuestro casamiento nadie hubiera podido imaginar lo que estaria por ocurrir el 2 de Abril. Cuando me levante ese dia la noticia principal era era que Argentina habia invadido las Islas Malvinas, y habia instalado una base en la capital Port Stanley luego llamada Puerto Argentino.
La gente salio a las calles a celebrar la recuperacion, o reconquista de las islas, dado que siempre se consideraron argentinas.
Argentina estaba bajo un gobierno military, habia transcurrido un period largo y sangruiento llamado la guerra sucia, en donde supuestamente teinta mil personas habian desaparecido.
Galtieri, el presidente de turno en uan larga lista de presidentes desde el año ’76, salio al balcon de la Casa Rosada, la casa de gobierno, tal como lo habian hecho mucho de sus predecesores como Peron, Evita e Isabel Peron lo habian hecho en el pasado. Todo el mundo estaba usando excarapelas con los colores azul y blanco. El gobierno militar y su represion estaban en sus ultimas, la gente ya estaba cansada de ellos, la economia estaba en la lona, la inflacion estaba empezando a acelerarse. Con el paso del tiempo la gente llego a la conclusion de que Galtieri eligio el momento para invader las islas porque necesitaba una distraccion de los problemas locales.
El penso que el leon, un leon cansado, no viajaria mas de miles de kilometros para recuperar las islas. Tambien calculo que EEUU defenderia al hemisferio. Sendos calculos estaban equivocados. La Thatcher era la primer ministra del Reino Unido, y Regan, que era el presidente de EEUU, compartian muchas de las mismas idelogias y decisiones, desde destruccion de sindicatos, reduccion de impuestos de los ricos. La primera ministra no estaba pasando un buen momento politico dado que tenia muchos problemas, incluyendo huelgas y manifestaciones en las minas, y una economia muy debil por una recesion mundial.
El presidente argentino le termino haciendo un favor a la “dama de hierro” como era conocida, dado que gracias al conflicto fue re-electa.
En Argentina lo peor de todo fue que el gobierno tenia intervenido todos los canales de radio y television y difundia noticias de que las fuerzas armadas estaban ganando la guerra, pero en la casa de mis padres donde se escuchaba la BBC en la radio de onda corta las noticias eran totalmente distintas. Ellos decian que los ingleses estaban bajando aviones argentinos. El 12 de Junio el Papa Juan Pablo II llego a la Argentina. El 14 de junio, dos dias despues, el gobierno por medio de un comunicado en los medios de difusion informa al pueblo que las fuerzas armadas habian sido derrotadas en las islas. La gente no lo podia creer. Salieron a las calles, muchos fueron a la Plaza de Mayo. Si uno deja de lado la perdida de vida de los soldados en la guerra, muchos de ellos conscriptos, la derrota fue el principio del final del regimen military, fue el ultimo clavo en el cajon, luego de eso la presion del publico los forzo a llamar a elecciones, y el resto es historia. Argentina ha tenido una democracia “bastante” estable, sin mas golpes de estado.
Podemos discutir que las islas son Argentinas. Que la unica pista de aviones antes del conflict fue construida por la Argentina, que los kelpers venian a Argentina para asistencia medica, que el gobierno britanico los consideraba ciudadanos de segunda categoria, que toda la comida y el correo pasaba por la Argentina, que los pobladores fueron abandonados por el gobierno britanico, que la gente en el Reino Unido no tenia ni idea donde quedaban las islas antes del conflict, a duras penas sabian donde quedaba la Argentina, si no hubiese sido por el show Evita en Londres. Por en definitiva todo esto es irrelevante.
Los britanicos dicen que se le deberia permitir a los pobladores decidir bajo el gobierno de quien quisieran estar. Eso es totalmente ridiculo tambien dado que cuando China les demand el devolucion de Hong Kong no utilizaron el mismo sistema, sabiendo que China tiene un gobierno comunista que no cree in libertades individuales. La gente de clase alta y clase media alta en China fueron dadas ascilo politico, y los demas cayeron en las manos del gobierno chino. Ahi podemos ver que aplican la teoria segun como les viene bien a ellos.
El gobierno argentino actual ha vuelto al ataque con respecto a las islas. Sabemos muy bien el tipo de gobierno que tiene la Sra. Kirchner, con libertad restringida de prensa, cierre de importacion, hasta en el caso de medicamentos, niegue de la inflacion real, y crecimiento de la deuda externa en su presidencia. Yo miro al momento elegido como otro caso de oportunismo para distraer al pueblo, como lo hizo Galtieri 30 años atras.
Desde la distancia miro al conflicto totalmente distinto, tal vez porque he vivido lejos por casi 27 años, y esto me permite mirarlo con otra perspectiva, al menos eso es lo que pienso.
Esto me recuerda a un chico grandote que tiene un juguete, lo tiene en el fondo del placard, sin ninguna utilidad, que lo unico que le interesa es negarle el juguete a alguien que lo quiere. Lo unico que hace esto es inflarle el ego por negarle las islas a la Argentina.
Por otro lado Argentina me hace acordar a un chico mal criado que quiere un juguete, y que va a seguir toda la vida con esto. Digo esto porque Argentina tiene una tremenda pobreza en todo el pais, con gente muerta de hambre, sin trabajos, y con un gobierno que los ha abandonado a su suerte. Porque poner las islas en la lista de prioridades si hay cosas que necesitan cuidado inmediato. Las islas tienen un clima horroroso, nadie se mudiaria ahi, por mas que tuviesen la oportunidad.
La gente puede decir que las islas, y alrededor, tienen petroleo. Que importa. Argentina tiene petroleo y no inverte para extraerlo, o vende sus intereses a compañias extranjeras recibiendo sobornos la gente que esta en el poder en el momento de las licitaciones. Es tiempo de dejar de culpar al resto del mundo por los problemas que tiene el pais, y empezar a tomar responsabilidades de los errors cometidos por el pais desde su concepcion al comienzo del siglo 19.

The US Supreme Court and the Health Care Bill

The Health care reform, Obama’s major legislation, is in front of the Supreme Court. The people who are fundamentally against it say that the legislation is unconstitutional.
Now let us look at the history of this piece of legislation.
In 1993 former President Clinton asked First Lady Hilary Clinton to head the Health Care Reform Act.
Conservatives including conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation said that a single payer was a bad idea, and that a individual mandate was the right way to do it.
Mitt Romney passed the legislation in Massachusetts that included a personal mandate. Newt Gingrich in 1993 said that a individual mandate was the right way to go, Bob Dole said the same thing.
Now let's shift to 2009 and Obama in the White House. The President proposes the Health Care Reform. All these institutions and individuals who had said in the past that the individual mandate was unconstitutional. They had forgotten completely what they had proposed and supported 16 years earlier. When I was growing up we used to have a saying that said “I don’t know what you guys are discussing but I’m against it”. That is the behavior of the Republican Party.
We know perfectly well that Health Care companies, Corporate America, and Wall Street were against the Reform. Their concern, that down the road we could have a single payer system such as in most other industrialized nations where the cost is much lower per person than in the US and that output or result is higher. Conservatives tell us that the health care in the US is the best in the world. What they don't mention is that it’s the best if you can afford it, that it is run by insurance companies deciding what kind of coverage each individual receives, and when these insurance companies will pull the plug in terms of coverage. Studies done by reputable institutions show that the US health care is rated in number 36 in the world, with France being number 1. Our premiums are high, with copays for everything from visit to the doctor, to hospital, to medication. The cost of my family between doctors and medications for 2011 was over $4000. Not exactly pocket change, and that is with health coverage, and that does not include the insurance itself. In countries such as Canada, a place that conservatives bad mouth, braces for teeth for the young are free, and for adults more than 50% of the treatment is covered, while in the US braces are not covered at all. Most kids tend to have crooked teeth and need treatment. In states like NJ the cost of that is over $5000. Not a number that every family can afford.
Now let us look at the main group who organized through the power of big funders, and then ran against the Health Care in 2010, the Tea Party, their proposal is that the individual mandate should be eliminated, and if they could have their way repeal the whole legislation. But, what are they proposing if they repeal Obamacare, like they call it? Nothing, just go back to what we had before. That would mean that college students whose age is between 21 and 26 would have to purchase their own health care instead of being included in their parents insurance, people with pre-conditions would lose their coverage, and that insurances could use all the money they would like for lobbing and advertising instead of the what the bill states which is 80% of premiums goes to health care coverage and 20% administration and other expenses.
What the Tea Party people believe is that nobody should force them to pay for coverage, so that if they have an accident or get sick in another state that is not their place of residence the rest of us who pay for health coverage pay for it, with higher premiums, or have hospitals and doctors eat the expense.
I think the choice is very simple. For the people who think that the health system is so great they should volunteer to work for a couple of months in a hospital, in a doctor's office or become sick, and not listen to Fox News or Rush Limbaugh and base their own opinion on that. Their opinion will change overnight.

BBC vs the Private Sector

Many people in the U.S. believe that nothing can be run as good as when it is in the hands of the private sector, and that when the government runs anything it does it inefficiently, and it never works.
Having grown up in a household that had its ties to the UK the BBC has always been a reliable source of information.
The British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC as it is commonly known, has always had a reputation of being unbiased. It is said that during World War II the German Army and therefore the troops would follow the BBC because of the reliability of its news.
They arguably have the best documentaries for TV, the quality of their programming is very high, they have qualified reports across the globe. CNN’s concept was based on the BBC.
My father-in-law was for a period of time press secretary for the Armed Forces in Argentina, and he once told me how surprised he was that the reporter of the BBC spoke Spanish fluently. He also said that this reporter had told him that he had come from another assignment in China, and that he spoke several languages. If we look at the history behind many of the reporters that CNN employs many of them had their origins in the BBC.
The BBC in the USA has a couple of channels on TV, one being BBC NEWS, a 24 hour news channel.
I mentioned earlier the documentaries, if we look closely many of the programming of the Discovery Channel in the United States is of the BBC. If we try to find DVDs or Blu Rays about nature such as Planet Earth, or Human Planet they were done by the BBC.
As far as programming, most of the PBSs across this country play British Comedy, the majority, if not all of them, are done by the BBC.
The number 1 program in the world, Top Gear, is done by the BBC, and its viewed across the world, including Africa.
Now one can say what is the point of this blog, and that is very simple, the BBC is a public service broadcaster, this means that it is funded by the public through license fees. Its autonomous, with no advertising, similar to what PBS, or for those who don’t know Public Broadcasting Service, would be in the US. It is the largest broadcaster in the world with around 23000 employees.
This goes to show that PBSs or public funded broadcasters are not a dirty word, and instead of being defunded they should be promoted.
When we watch TV or listen to private run radio stations not only do we listen to corporate advertisement, but in many instances there are many issues that are never addressed. Most of the TV and radio stations are owned by large corporations, who have their own agenda, and who push, in many instances, their own philosophy to their audience. We can look at both sides of the aisle, Fox News is with no doubt the spokesperson of the Republican Party, with conservatives conducting their shows, inviting only people who agreed with their views. The last liberal that Fox News had on its staff was Alan Colmes, and he’s been gone for quite some time. Mitt Romney has not given any interviews to MSNBC, he talks primarily to Fox, and in a special occasions he’ll appear on CNN. Conservatives consider CNN liberal, although the network gave a free pass to the Bush Administration during the Iraq invasion and occupation. CNN is owned by Time Warner, a large corporation that no only owns magazines, but also a TV cable company. Now let us look at NBC, and their affiliates including MSNBC, they are owned by G.E. (General Electric), one of the largest corporations in the world, and for many years was also one of the biggest polluters. This is an issue that is rarely addressed on the network or its affiliates. ABC is owned by Disney. We know the size and penetration of the Disney conglomerate. CBS is owned by Viacom, another large conglomerate.
Private, as we can see, can have its other side as well, with fewer opinions and choices. Nobody says that the CCTV, or China Television, is the perfect model, but neither is a television, radio and newspaper market owned by a handful of conglomerates, because they will publish, discuss and report about the things that they have on their agenda.
A balanced alternative is many times a healthier alternative, even if it goes against our own views.

A tribute to my cousin Wendy

As we come to the end of the month of February we remember my cousin Wendy, and we just need to stop and reflect how precious life is. We can think of this time as a somber, sad time or we can celebrate her life and be thankful that she gave us her love and she enriched our lives, and in the process made them better.
So we give thanks to God for having chosen us to be blessed by Wendy's life. God is our creator, our father and our comforter; he brings us peace even in the middle of the storm.
To know what kind of a person Wendy was we can look at her two “kids” and what kind of a parent she was, that's where we can say the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
We say at times her life was cut too short. I believe that in God's eyes her life was neither short nor long, but just the exact length, and I believe that we all serve a greater purpose than ourselves, and therefore Wendy fulfilled that purpose, she blessed her parents, she touched the lives of many people, through her work and friendship, and she was the older sister to my cousin Ian.
In our short paths in this world we cross and share other people's paths, sometime for a longer period than in others, but that doesn’t mean than by being shorter the sharing is less fulfilling.
When I met Wendy for the first time in 1978 she came across as a shy and fragile person, she was a teenager then. It was in 1979 that we truly developed a close relationship, including a visit just the two of us to London on the boat that goes from Embankment to Greenwich. The last time Emma, our kids and I visited Leavesden was in 1998, she was a mature woman then, but still fragile, vulnerable and somewhat shy. I guess that was what made Wendy somebody you could love. She had a little bit of a hard time at the beginning but she would open her heart to people, and end giving the best of herself in every relationship. Most people don’t have that asset.
So now, again, I like to thank God for allowing us to share Wendy’s path, and in doing so we were blessed with her existence.
When she went home to God four years ago I wrote, with his inspiration, a eulogy for her, and I will finish this tribute to her here just like I did then with the words of the book of Numbers that say:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

Obession with guns and other weapons

We seem to live in a country obsessed with guns. The NRA and lots of fanatics across country hide behind the 2nd amendment to the Constitution.
The 2nd amendment reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
People who say “it’s my God given right” should still be required to register any arms, whatever type, just like we are required to register driving vehicles, licenses should be required, just like we are required to have a driver's license, and seller's should also be required licenses so that they can sell, we should also have a waiting period when buying a gun, where backgrounds checks are performed.
Shows, where many of these weapons change hands do not fulfill any of these requirements. You can have a felon with a past longer than his arm, and he would out of that show with whatever weapon he wants. The NRA defends these shows, and says that the rights of law abiding citizens should not be taken away.
What a crock. That is absolutely a joke. What we have is chaos. This country has the highest amount of people behind bars in the world, the highest gun shooting in the world, deaths caused by gun, but we still believe, like in many states, that we should be able to walk in the street with a gun, that we should go to work with a gun, go to church with a gun. When is enough enough?
What it comes down to is the idea of bullying people, I am stronger or bigger than you, I have no brains but I have guns. It the same way that we behave in the international arena, invading or attacking countries.
We say that people kill people. Another joke. Guns kill people. Ask the people in Columbine, or in Virginia Tech, or today in Ohio who kills people.
I think that we should draw a line between is necessary such as a hunting rifle, and an m14 or a Smith & Wesson 45, or a Magnum 357. These are weapons to kill people.
A friend of mine once asked me if I consider moving to Texas. I said that I was not interested for two reasons, the first one The Death Penalty, something that I not only disagree with but also don’t believe in, and second, Gun possession.
Some states seem to believe that they are still in the Wild West. It’s the 21st Century. Wake up.
I live in a state that abolished the Death Penalty, and that has tight gun controls, and I like it that way.
I am not naïve to believe that we are an island, people buy them in other states with flex laws and then come here with them, but at least I know that we have big penalties for people who break the law.

The Supreme Court and the effects of Citizens United

Many times Republicans like to brag about the fact that everything should be either handled by the states or even locally.
Not necessarily when it favors their interests.
They always talk about how justices in the Supreme Court should not legislate from the bench.
We are now living with one of the most overreaching supreme courts in a generation.
This started with the election of Bush/Gore and their decision to choose a winner, by stopping the recount, probably because they feared that Bush could end up being the looser.
In 2010 they overturned a decision that was over 100 years old with Citizens United to allow unlimited corporate money in elections, with no disclosures, no traces. Republicans like to say that corporations are people. I don't know where in the Constitution it says that. And because of that they should be able to spend unlimited amounts of money to decide elections.
A few days ago they blocked the state of Montana from being able to enforce their own legislation that does not allow corporations to fund elections. Here we go with the overreaching.
They had already legislated from the bench in the Citizens United case, so that the 1% of the population have more saying in the election than the other 99%.
It is wonderful to see the Republican Candidates how they are now “suffering” the consequences of this wrong decision from this Supreme Court, with negative adds that have only turned off people in the states where primaries are being conducted.
2010 saw many states being hijacked by neo-conservatives with the help of Citizens United, and I say hijacked because Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, Michigan, and Florida, to name a few are being run down to the ground by the few at the expense of the many, with legislation that they never disclosed they would pass once in office. In Wisconsin and Ohio union busting and the elimination of negotiation, in Michigan of the governor disallowing local elections by appointing viceroys of his choosing, in Florida by destroying education, and in Virginia by trying to pass legislation that would force women who would want to terminate a pregnancy to be do a trans-vaginal ultrasound with a probe.
Talk about lets reduce government in our lives. Republicans in power are overreaching in all aspects, they want to know what you do in your bedroom, with whom, and when. They want to legislate people’s every moves. We cannot forget either that their goal is always to cut taxes, not for the average Joe but for the friends who financed their campaigns, same thing with regulations, and then we end up in a total meltdown like the one we suffered in 2008. Governor Christie in NJ wants to reduce taxes, he says. To the average family it will probably represent a few hundred dollars a year. What he should focus on is in how to give property tax relief to the families of this state, not benefit the 1% of the population. That will not revive the economy, if that is his "supposedly" goal.
Republicans always say that the government should not choose winners and losers. Ironic because that's what they have been doing in every place where they can get their hands on. They believe in corporate welfare, at the expense of everybody else, they say that we should lower taxes and broaden the base, in lame English it means lower the taxes for the wealthy and start taxing low income people to make up for the loss in revenue, so that people like my daughter who work for minimum wage pay income taxes as well. Their policies for the last 30 years have caused the near annihilation of the middle class. And when the rest of us say we need assistance they always say that there isn’t any money.

Friendship in the US/Amistad en EEUU

In 2001 my father in law while visiting us asked me if I could tell him what I felt the pros and cons of living in the US were.
A little over ten years has passed since that visit, and I still believe the same thing that I did then.
I can come up with many pros of the US.
On the other hand, the con that I told my in laws during that visit is still the same, and that is that people in the US have no concept of friendship.
A very good friend of mine who now lives in Virginia, back then used to live in the area where I live, the northeast of the country, said that I was stereotyping the whole country. I admit that I was doing that. So I can probably say that the northeast, that the New York area, is that way.
But whatever the region I may live in, the bottom line is that people who live here have no real idea what friendship is all about.
It is not casual B.S., talking about the weather, to go to a church, to go to a funeral to say goodbye to somebody.
It is deeper than that. They are very supportive. But there is a difference.
I used to work with a gentleman who was from Spain and we used to joke that you could be working for a few years in a company and when you would resign, on your last day co-workers would usually through a goodbye party. This probably would fall on a Friday. You would then call on the following Monday and the same people who through the party for you would not know you any longer. It was like they never knew you.
I can safely say that I have truly a few friends with whom I have deep friendships. Most live in Argentina.
Some people who read this may say I have a lot of friends. I’m happy for you. I ask: How many times have you been to their house? When was the last time you were invited to their house? How often do you talk to them? Are you the one who always calls?
If you’re honest with yourself you know the answer.
I find people in the US to be superficial; you just get to see a what they want to share with you. They don’t plant deep roots so that they can uproot them and move somewhere else. They are not into commitments, because it takes energy to maintain a commitment, and friendships are commitments.
One can ask how do they build relationships that can lead to marriages. There are several answers, one, you have couples that are high school sweethearts, others meet in college, church can also be a place to build relationships as well, at work, although a little bit harder.
I used to work in an office with a woman who was younger than me, she was a back stabber, competitive, and she would say that she considered me a friend. With friends like that who needs enemies. After I left she kept on calling me for quite some time until she came to the conclusion that I was not interested in her friendship. She once said that she came to work to make friends. That’s pretty sad.
When one has something to compare with it makes it easier to see the difference.
A lot of what they call friendships where I come from people would call acquaintances.
I have one friend in Argentina that I have known since 1970, we went to 8th grade together.
I have another friend in Argentina that we went to 12th grade together, and I consider him the brother I never had. Many times when we are together it seems like we don’t have to say anything and the other one knows what the other one is thinking or feeling.
I have some very good friends that, although we have lived over 26 years in the US, call us for our birthdays every year. With the exception of people in my office that know my birthday nobody else in the US knows or cares about it.
I’ve also rejoined with a few other friends that I hadn’t seen in many years, and we try to get together every year now.
And last but not least my former school mates. I left for the end because 3 years ago when I agreed to be a Facebook member the first thing that came to my mind was “I’d like to know what happened, what had become of the people from my past, and primarily of my youth.. I tried finding people from my elementary school, from the club I was member of, and primarily my high schoolmates. I graduated in a school where we were the first class to graduate, as it was a new school. We were twelve in the class, 6 girls and 6 guys. I knew that one of the guys had passed away a few years, and one I’ve been in contact for some time, so my goal was to find the other nine. So with the help of Facebook, Sonico, and Google I got in touch with one, then she put me in contact with others, and so on. In 1995 or 1996 we had had a school reunion and I had already seen some of them, but that did not last. So I felt that this time I was not going to let them slip through the cracks, so I started calling, bugging, and so on, so that when I traveled to Argentina we could have a reunion. We get together every year ever since. Some of them who don’t live in Buenos Aires even make the effort of traveling so that we can get together as many as possible. We created a blog where we can say whatever is on our mind. This keeps us together. I don’t think that I did anything less that any friend would do for another.
Friendship requires work, but is extremely rewarding. Friendship requires giving without expecting anything back, and accepting your friends with all their shortcomings and all their flaws. You love them for who they are, not what you would like them to be. And you should not change your friends because your income status changes.
There is a song in Spanish written by an Argentinian that says “Cuando un amigo se va, deja un espacio vacio, que no lo puede llenar la llegada de otro amigo”, When a friend departs he/she leaves an open space, that cannot be filled by the arrival of another or a new friend.
I think that it may be safe to say that the people in the US that I have come in contact with (this to please my friend with no stereotypes), maybe with a few exceptions, have no clue what that means, it is so foreign to them as to how poor the majority of the world is.
Many Christians who pad themselves in the back should read closely what Jesus told his disciples: There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.


(Español)
En el 2001 mi suegro me preguntó durante su visita si le podia decir cuales eran los pros y contras de vivir en EEUU.
Han pasado un poco mas de una decada desde aquella visita pero mi forma de pensar no ha cambiado desde entonces. Puedo dar una larga lista de pros de EEUU.
Por otro lado el contra que le dije a mi suegro durante su visita no ha cambiado, y es que la gente en EEUU no tiene ni idea lo que es Amistad.
Un muy buen amigo que ahora vive en Virginia, y que en el pasado vivia en nuestra zona, el noreste del pais, me dijo que estaba generalizando a todo el pais. Admito que estaba hacienda eso. Tal vez pueda decir que el noreste, que la zona de Nueva York, es asi.
Miremos como lo miremos, el tema es que la gente que vive aca no tiene idea de lo que es amistad.
No es conversacion superficial, hablar del tiempo, ir a la iglesia, ir a un funeral a decir adios a alguien.
Es mucho mas profundo que eso. Son muy solidarios. Pero no es lo mismo.
Hace un tiempo atras cuando trabajaba con un señor que habia nacido en España nos reimos de que cuando muchas veces cuando uno trabaja por un tiempo en una empresa el ultimo dia de trabajo los compañeros le tiran un fiesta de despedida, esto normalmente es un viernes. Cuando uno llama el lunes, esa misma gente se comportan como si nunca lo hubieran conocido.
Puedo decir que tengo unos pocos amigos con los cuales tengo una real amistad. La gran mayoria vive en Argentina.
Mucha gente que lea esto puede llegar a decir que tiene muchos amigos. Me alegro por ellos. Yo le pregunto: Cuantas veces has estado en sus casas? Cuando fue la ultima vez que fuiste invitado a sus casas? Que seguido hablas con ellos? Sos vos el que siempre llamas?
Si sos honesto con vos mismo sabes la contestacion.
Yo siento que la gente en EEUU es superficial, te dejan ver unicamente lo que le interesa que veas. No plantan reaices profundas dado que eso le permite plantarlas en otro lugar sin dificultad. No tienen interes in compromisos porque se requiere energia para mantener un compromiso, y amistades son compromisos.
Uno puede preguntarse como comienzan relaciones que puedan convertirse en matrimonios. Hay muchas contestaciones, parejas que se conocieron en la secundaria, o en la Universidad, la iglesia es un lugar donde se crean amistades, en el trabajo, a pesar de que no es facil.
Yo trabajaba con un mujer mas joven que yo, y era competitive, traicionera, y decia que me consideraba un amigo. Con amigos como ella no hace falta tener enemigos. Cuando me fui de ese trabajo me siguio llamando durante varios años, hasta que finalmente se dió que no me interesaba su “amistad”. En una oportunidad recuerdo que me dijo que venia a trabajar para hacer amigos. Eso realmente es lamentable.
Cuando uno tiene con que comparer ahi es donde ve la diferencia.
Muchos de los que ellos llaman amistades de donde vengo yo le diriamos conocidos.
Yo tengo un amigo en Argentina que conozco desde el año ’70, fuimos juntos a primer año de la secundaria.
Tengo otro amigo con el que fui solamente en quinto año de la secundaria, al cual consider el hermano que nunca tuve. Muchas veces cuando estamos juntos da la impression de que no tenemos necesidad de decir algo y el otro sabe que uno esta pensando o sintiendo.
Tengo muy Buenos amigos que, a pesar de nosotros estar viviendo desde hace 26 años en EEUU, nos llaman para cada cumpleaños. Sacando a la gente con la cual trabajo que sabe mi cumpleaños nadie mas en EEUU sabe o le interesa.
Tambien me he vuelto a encontrar con algunos otros amigos, y nos tratamos de reunir todos los años cuando voy.
Ultimo pero no por eso mucho menos mi ex-compañeros. Lo deje para le final porque hace 3 años atras cuando finalmente acepte ser miembro de Facebook, (o como le dice un ex-compañero de la primaria cara-libro), lo primero que me vino a la mente fue “que fue de la vida de la gente de mi pasado, y primoridialmente, de mi juventud. Trate de encontrar gente de la primaria, del club era socio, y primoridialmente mis ex-companeros de la secundaria. Me gradué en un colegio donde eramos los primeros egresados dado que era un colegio nuevo. Eramos doce, 6 chicas y 6 tipos. Sabia que uno de los muchachos habia fallecido hace unos años, y con otro ya estaba en contacto desde hace un tiempo, asi que me quedaban 9.
Gracias a la ayuda de Facebook,Sonico y Google encontré a una, ella me puso en contacto con otros, y de ahi en más. En 1995 o 1996 habiamos tenido una reunion del colegio y ya habia visto a algunos de ellos, pero no duró. Esta vuelta no iba a dejar que sucediera lo mismo, entonces empecé a llamar, a jorobar, y asi cuando viajase pudieramos tener una reencuentro. Hemos tenido un encuentro todos los años desde esa oportunidad. Algunos de ellos que no viven en Buenos Aires hacen un gran esfuerzo y viajan desde lugares del interior, de esa manera podemos juntarnos la mayor cantidad possible. Creamos un blog para que podamos expresar lo que querramos. Esto nos mantiene unidos. Yo no creo que hice nada que otro amigo no hubiese hecho.
La amistad requiere trabajo, pero es muy gratificante. La amistad requiere dar sin esperar recibir nada a cambio, aceptando a los amigos con todos sus defectos. Uno los quiere por quien son, y no quien nos gustaria que fueran. Y no deberiamos cambiar nuestras amistades porque ha cambiado nuestro posicion economica.
En castellano hay una cancion compuesta por un argentine que dice “Cuando un amigo se va, deja un espacio vacio, que no lo puede llenar la llegada de otro amigo”.
Creo que puedo decir con cierta certeza de que la gente que en EEUU con la cual yo he tenido contacto (y digo esto para que mi amigo este content que no estoy generalizando), con muy pocas excepciones, no tiene ni la mas remota idea lo que eso significa, es tan foraneo para ellos como lo hes que la gran mayoria del mundo es pobre.
Muchos Cristianos los cuales les gusta dares una palmada en la espalda deberian leer lo que le dijo Cristo a sus discipulos: Nadie tiene mayor amor que este, que uno ponga su vida por sus amigos.