Harold Camping and his followers

Harold Camping, a radio preacher had been telling us for many years that may 21st , 2011 at 6pm E.T. the world would be coming to an end, in other words that it was going to be the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Mr. Camping said that he reached this conclusion based on what the bible said , that the events that were taking place confirmed all his studies.
In the book of Matthew, chapter 24 versus 36-44 Jesus says: 36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[a] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
I don’t think you need anything clearer than that.
Many followers of Mr. Camping resigned their jobs, billboards across country were putting advertising the end of civilization. People were saying that we would have earthquakes.
May 21st came and went. Nothing happened.
As a Christian people like Mr. Camping offend me. He gives Christians a bad name.
But the thing that I find interesting is that Mr. Camping had 74 million in his bank account. If he thought that his prophecies were true why would he keep his bank account with all that money and not give it away, after all the world was coming to an end.
This completely discredits this gentleman.
He now says that he is flabbergasted that nothing happened this past Saturday.
When I hear things like this it reminds of Jonestown, Guyana, 1978 when 900 members of the Peoples Temple committed suicide.
Instead of worrying about the signs of the second coming we should focus on The Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Obama, Bin Laden y Perez Esqivel

Hace unos días una persona conocida me decía que no podia entender como se puede justificar la muerte de alguien, como fue el asesinato de Bin Laden. Es discutible que las fuerzas especiales podrían haber capturado a Bin Laden, que se lo podría haber enjuiciado en Guantanamo en una corte militar, o en una corte civil dentro de EEUU. Pero indudablemente si se determino que Bin Laden terminara de la manera que termino era porque capturarlo y hacer todos los otros procedimientos anteriormente nombrados sin lugar a dudas hubiese creado en terminos de seguridad muchísimas complicaciones como también dar al terrorismo internacional un motivo para tomar rehenes para hacer un intercambio por un largo período.
Podemos tambien criticar la política exterior de EEUU desde el final de la segunda guerra mundial, muchas veces apoyando golpes de estado en muchos paises del mundo, pero defender a Bin Laden como un héreo es como defender a los terroristas durante todo el proceso que termino en la guerra sucia de la Argentina desde el ’76 y el ’83. Yo nunca defendi los medios que utilizo el ejercito durante esos años, pero tampoco se pueden cerrar los ojos a la realidad que condujo a eso.
Simplemente recordemos como y cuando empezó todo el proceso de terrorismo en la Argentina. En 1970 el ex-presidente Aramburu fué secuestrado y asesinado por lo que después se terminó convirtiendo en Montoneros con Firmenich, Abal Medina, Arrostito y Capuano Martinez.
Esta persona conocida que nombre al principio también me envió un editorial que es una carta de Perez Ezquivel a Obama cuestionando los métodos de EEUU, y dónde cuestiona las calificaciones del premio Nobel de la paz otorgado a Obama.
Tenemos que ser conscientes y realistas de como se determina quien recibe el premio Nobel de la paz. Es un premio politico mas que nada. Obama lo recibe con unos pocos meses en su administración. Porqué es adjudicado el premio? A pesar de no conocer los motivos yo pienso que es muy simple. Es el primer presidente negro de EEUU. No ganó con fraude sino en total justicia, fue votado por una mayoría de votos y de estados (colegio electoral).
Yo encuentro la carta de Perez Esquivel particularmente graciosa. Supongo que porque no puedo contener mi cinismo. Sabemos que el Señor Perez Esquivel no puede ser etiquetado de derecha, me parece que ni siquiera de centro, a menos que el centro dejó de ser la línea de 50, siendo 0 la ultra izquierda y 100 la ultra derecha.
Yo he sido etiquetado de burgués, lo cual me causa gracia porque la persona que me puso esa etiqueta creció entre algodones y vive en un mundo que podríamos llamar de una clase privilegiada. Fernando Abal Medina también vino de familia privilegiada. Yo siempre digo que es fácil ser de izquierda cuando uno tiene una buena cuenta bancaria.
También he sido etiquetado de comunista en EEUU. Eso también es gracioso porque para los estadounidenses izquierda de Atila, el rey de los Hunos ya es ser comunista.
Yo me considero un social demócrata europeo, como piensan la gran mayoría de los países europeos continentals, como Francia, Holanda, Dinamarca, Suecia, etc.
Volviendo a nuestra figura principal Bin Laden, fué un oportunista, que no unicamente le declara la Guerra a EEUU por medio de una organización que utiliza el terrorismo llamada Al-Qaeda, sino que también asesinó gente de otros países. No nos podemos olvidar de la bomba de la discoteca en Bali, de bombas y asesinatos en Iraq, de las bombas en Kenya y Tanzanía contra embajadas de EEUU, pero en donde murieron mas locales que estadounidenses.
Muchos otros en el pasado como Guevara también decidieron tomar en sus propias manos el avance del “Norte”, pero a pesar de que no podemos dejar de reconocer que muchos de los medios utilizados por Guevara en Cuba no fueron los ideales, el “Che” trabajo en el campo y en industrias durante su período en Cuba, en donde buscaba la mejora de la calidad de vida de los cubanos. Pero no podemos decir lo mismo de Bin Laden. Que beneficios le trajo a la gente de Afganistan, a la gente de Sudan, a la gente de Paquistán. NADA. Por eso para mi el no califica como un libertador sino simplemente como un terrorista, sin ningún objetivo de bien sino de destrucción. Y una casualidad más antes que termine con este blog, Osama Bin Laden venía de una familia de ricos. Bin Laden no sera extrañado.
Y dado que Obama también juega un rol en este blog, el actual presidente tenía todas en su contra en su vida, su padre era negro (africano) que se casó con una mujer blanca, su padre los abandona cuando Obama tenía 2 años, fué criado por sus abuelos, y el también es negro, en un país que a pesar de haber pasado leyes contra la discriminación sigue teniendo mucha gente que todavía tiene dificultades con las minorías. Pero el puso todo eso de lado, fue a la Universidad de Columbia en Nueva York, y después a Harvard. Se recibió con honores.
Perez Esquivel me parece tiene mucho para aprender todavía antes de cuestionar a Obama.

Big Oil and the U.S. government

The U.S. Senate blocked this week a proposal to stop handouts to the 5 big oil companies worth 5 billion.
All of the 47 Republicans and 3 Democrat Senators voted to keep the subsidies under the pretense that it would hurt customers at the pump. Customers are already hurting. The Energy Committee of the U.S. Senate had hearings with the Chairmen of the big oil companies. One of the chairmen said that the American public does not want the oil companies to sacrifice, they only want the wellbeing of businesses.
A poll taken by NBC/Wall Street Journal taken in February of 2011 showed that 74% of Americans believe that subsidies should be eliminated.
But the members that voted not to eliminate those subsidies have received 25 million in campaign contributions from these companies while the people who voted in favor of eliminating them only received 5 million from the oil industry.
I have said in the past that the oil industry together with other big contributors is one of the cancers of this country. They corrupt the system, poison the air we breathe and pollute the water we drink with leaks into soil.
The hoax of the republican party about cutting the federal deficit is nothing but a cover up of what it really is, the dismantling of ALL the programs that help the middle class and the poor, destroying Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Dond Trump and the shameful white majority of the US

Today is a sad day in the United States of America when an African American man had to show his papers just like in the times of slavery when white people considered a black man a second class citizen.
Donald Trump has proven to the whole country that he nothing short of a buffoon, questioning the fact that President Obama was born in Hawaii. He is also focusing on the fact that nobody can remember going to school and to college with this president. He is questioning Obama’s grades and how he got into Columbia and Harvard.
What makes this matter sad is that no other republican candidate or member of the Republican Party is denouncing Trump for this. When you have almost 50% of republicans who believe that Obama was not born in the U.S. and that he is a Muslim.
The main reason the Republican Party has behaved shamefully is because the president is an African American. Nobody would have ever questioned him if he would have been white.
It is hard to believe that the white majority in this country have not moved on since the Civil rights act of the 60s.

House Republicans getting a little bit of their own medicine

House Republicans voted last week to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid as we know it and provide vouchers to seniors so that people who have a hard time figuring out how to setup a VCR, how to turn on a computer and how to use a cell phone can negotiate their own policy with the insurance companies.
We have to imagine that these members of the House were expecting to be treated as, in the words of Vice-President Cheney, “liberators”. But that was not the case. People are not only extremely angry at this House members, but they are telling them that they don’t want their health coverage to be taken away so that the wealthy get more tax cuts.
If I didn’t say that I am extremely pleased with people’s reactions I would not be honest. I am very happy. All the networks are talking about this, all of them with the exception of one, Fox News. This does not come as a surprise as they endorse the destruction of all the programs that help the needy.
What the majority of people across the country are saying is the same that polls are showing, do not take away Medicare and Medicaid, raise taxes on the wealthy, raise taxes on corporations, take away subsidies for the oil companies.
Republicans are not in the business of listening to the middle class and the poor. They are there to defend the interests of the wealthy, the insurance companies, the banking industry and corporations that do not want to pay their fair share in taxes.
What the public needs to understand is that unless they show up to vote this will not change. The people who want to take their social security and Medicare and who whipped out their 401ks will make sure that no programs that benefit most of Americans will be left untouched.

Argentina y la eleccion del 2011

A pesar de haber emigrado de la Argentina hace casi 26 años sigo con interés y de manera casi diaria los acontecimientos que viven los argentinos. Mi incentivo son mis familiares y muchos amigos aún viviendo ahí, y porque he podido volver a visitar casi todos estos años de vivir en el exterior.
Durante este largo período he notado una gran cantidad de cambios, algunos más preocupantes que otros.
Primero está el tema de la inseguridad, que he notado en parte en carne propia la última vez que estuve ahí. El incidente me tomó por sorpresa, tal vez porque donde vivo no se da. Se ve de todo en EEUU incluyendo crimininalidad, pero el incidente fue algo inesperado. La falta de seguridad comenzo con el gobierno de Menem, pero se ha acelerado en estos ultimos años.
Segundo está el tema de los cortes de las calles, avenidas, rutas, etc. Yo soy un ferviente defensor de las libertades individuales, incluyendo el derecho de manifestar. Pero cuando las libertades de un grupo de gente invaden las libertades de otros, eso deja de ser libertad de expresion.
Tercero, la represion o el intent de callar las voces de la oposición al gobierno central de la República. Hago esta distincion porque tambien existen los gobiernos de la capital y de las provincias. Esta represion se da por distintos medios, desde no permitir la circulacion de diarios como tambien de traer juicios contra miembros de la oposicion.
Hay otras cosas que leo que tambien son de preocupacion como los sindicatos, que en mi opinion estan fuera de control, como exigir representacion en empresas. Si Argentina fuese Alemania lo aceptaria, dado que miembros de sindicatos tienen representacion en Mercedez Benz, como tambien en otras empresas. Pero los sindicatos de Argentina no son los sindicatos de Alemania.
Inflacion que se esta acelerando, a pesar de no reconocer esto, provocando un deterioro del poder adquisitivo, y creando mayores problemas sociales producto de la pobreza, como tambien relegando a los jubilados a decaer en su calidad de vida. La prueba de que se sabe el verdadero deterioro del salario son los constants reclamos de incrementos de los sindicatos.
En todas estas cosas hay siempre un factor común que no he nombrado, pero que para mi es evidente. La familia Kirchner. El desaparecido ex-presidente tenia sus tentaculos en todo. Durante su presidencia y durante la presidencia de su mujer.
La familia Kirchner y todos sus emisarios, desde Moyano, Fernandez, hasta miembros del congreso y el senado manejan todo, y se reprime o calla a la oposicion.
Y no he incluido en todo esto el enriquecimiento ilicito de la familia Kirchner y todos sus secuaces. Esto parece mas Ali Baba y los 40 ladrones.
La eleccion presidencial por venir es una de las mas importantes en la era post-militar 1976-1983. A pesar de no estar mas Nestor Kirchner para seguir con la dinastia, todo indicaria que la actual presidenta sera re-elegida, no por sus cualidades sino porque no existe una oposicion organizada. La falta de una oposicion es gran gran parte del problema. Da la impresion que todos quieren una parte de la torta. Carrio no tiene ninguna posibilidad por su cuenta, Alfonsin esta en la misma, Macri no puede ganar con la Capital Federal solamente, Duhalde, no se decide. En la ultima eleccion presidencial la actual presidenta no llego a la mayoria, pero tuvo la mayor minoria. En esta proxima eleccion da la impresion de que va a suceder lo mismo. Es hora de que la oposicion se unifique para destronar, y por fin terminar con todos estos abusos de poder que han vivido durante esta ultima decada.

The elimination of Medicare and Medicaid

Representative Paul Ryan, House Budget Committee Chairman, proposed yesterday what will become the dismantling of Medicare and Medicaid as we know it.
His plan proposes to eliminate the program and its place offer vouchers to senior citizens. He said that Medicare will be available to people 55 and older, but that, and I quote “the government should stay out of healthcare”.
What he is proposing is a fixed amount so that seniors can go out and purchase health coverage. What he is keeping in mind is that healthcare has had increases far above the inflation. That means that eventually, down the road, senior will have to choose between food and healthcare.
These are the same people who were saying that the healthcare reform that President Obama was proposing would kill granny.
Rep. Ryan as says that the problem is that the federal government spends too much, and not that it taxes the wealthiest and corporation not enough.
He is proposing together with the elimination of Medicare and Medicaid, programs that help the middle class and poor, the reduction of taxes for the wealthiest and corporations to a 25%, instead of the 35% that “they are paying today”. The reason I used quotation marks is because they do not really pay that percentage. They find loopholes to avoid their fair share of taxes.
Rep. Ryan is not interested in eliminating the welfare state for corporations that we have right now. He does believe of eliminating subsidies to oil companies. Companies that have made over 1 trillion in profit in the last ten years.
He does not believe in the reduction of the biggest waste in the federal budget, the Department of Defense. The 2011 budget for defense is 750 billion dollars. There is plenty of waste there.
The U.S. has not been able to get out of the war economy that brought the country from the depression during WW II.
After President Clinton reduced the size of the Pentagon, came the Bush-Chenney administration and almost doubled the budget that President Clinton had. We will have spent 3 trillion dollars by the time we are finished with Iraq, a war not only based on lies, but also unnecessary and that has not been paid.
After republicans will try to impose the demolition of the healthcare system in this country they will also try to sell us the idea of the elimination of Social Security.
And all this is under the premise that the country cannot afford these programs.
The beginning of the government having problems with its finances started with the Reagan administration when taxes on the wealthiest and corporations were reduced in half.
Republicans are now threatening a shutdown of government. This may be the only way that people who voted for these members of congress wake up and realize the mistake they made.