Today, after arriving in the office, I see some business cards pinned to the wall. With an American flag as background, the cards have the title "Government is not your daddy." and then "Free will. Free market. What' s so hard to understand about thtat?". The cards are to advertise the following blog:
http://notyourdadddy.wordpress.com
And although I couldn't read it yet to know if their texts are good or not, I really liked their creativity about the name and their efforts to make it known.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Monday, April 14, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
¿Por qué nos tratan como a perros?
TH was kind to send me a link to an article in El País that is worth mentioning.
Trying to display a sense of nationalism and defending stupid retaliation against Spanish people stand out in all comments I've read about this case, inflated of course by the Brazilian media. Having it as a basis of comparison, I thought the article was quite sensible, and even much more impartial than I would expect from a Spanish newspaper.
However, El País avoided going further deep into the subject and did not address problems like prostitution, illegal immigration, or what exactly are the criteria for denying the entrance - that seemed unlikely to be objective at all. One could go deeper and say their opinion about Brazilian retaliation, but that would be more appropriate for an editorial.
Definitely what should never happen in a civilized world is to treat people like dogs, like a sociologist told one of the immigration officers in Madrid. That is outrageous and unacceptable disregard. And no officer that deals with people on daily basis could be allowed to keep working if proved that he replied to the question in the title of this post saying that retained people wait for the flight back were no more than dogs ("Porque ustedes no son más que perros"). For writing about this in El País, the author of this article deserves my compliments.
Trying to display a sense of nationalism and defending stupid retaliation against Spanish people stand out in all comments I've read about this case, inflated of course by the Brazilian media. Having it as a basis of comparison, I thought the article was quite sensible, and even much more impartial than I would expect from a Spanish newspaper.
However, El País avoided going further deep into the subject and did not address problems like prostitution, illegal immigration, or what exactly are the criteria for denying the entrance - that seemed unlikely to be objective at all. One could go deeper and say their opinion about Brazilian retaliation, but that would be more appropriate for an editorial.
Definitely what should never happen in a civilized world is to treat people like dogs, like a sociologist told one of the immigration officers in Madrid. That is outrageous and unacceptable disregard. And no officer that deals with people on daily basis could be allowed to keep working if proved that he replied to the question in the title of this post saying that retained people wait for the flight back were no more than dogs ("Porque ustedes no son más que perros"). For writing about this in El País, the author of this article deserves my compliments.
Monday, March 10, 2008
I am not spanish, I am catalan!
Brazil government has never been known as one of the most diplomatic governments in the world, but it still manages to amaze me. First, it was with Americans - which now choose to visit other South American countries like Chile or Argentina, where visa or fingerprinting are not required. Now with Europeans, mostly Spanish people. When is that going to end?
All the facts make me believe that the Spanish government has been rude and using inappropriate criteria when denying entrance of people that are there to catch a connection flight to other places or even those that are simply going to visit Spain and Europe. However, acting by the same standards is something that is completely stupid to me, because it does not help and, worse, it harms Brazil's image and its turism.
Illegal immigration is something that must be fought and people arrested in this situation must pay for their crime (yes, it is a crime) and get deported. No excuses, no privileges. It is inconceivable that any country accept illegal immigrants and make their taxpayers to pay for people that were not allowed to live in the country. That happens with some poor countries, like I just read today about Bolivians trying to immigrate illegaly to Brazil, but the vast majority of the destinations are richer countries, like North America or Europe. I can't think of people from these countries planning to immigrate illegaly to Brazil. It does not make any sense, while the contrary does.
Spain is totally right to protect itself against illegal immigration, it is right to protect their borders, but it is wrong to have different criteria depending on the nationality. Why would someone with an US passport or even European passport have different treatment by immigration offices? Definitely they are way more unlikely to be in the group of people that would immigrate illegaly, but also part of this group are lots of Brazilian and people from all over the world, no matter where they are from. And judging all by the behavior of some is wrong.
Anyway, although I expect some improvement, it is hard to believe that people won't have some preconceived ideas whenever someone from South America shows up his/her passport to immigration officers from richer countries. Unfortunately it is very natural to be associated with the society where you come from. Everybody does that to some extent, consciously or not, that is why racism still exists and may take a while to be extinguished - if it will be ever extinguished.
If you also take into account the political scenario in Latin America, with the conflicts between Colombia and Ecuador and relationship with Venezuela and Cuba, one can see how amateur politicians can be.
The interesting phrase above I read in a post of a Catalan defending Spain regarding this issue. And he mentions the problem with illegal immigration as being the justification for this behavior.
All the facts make me believe that the Spanish government has been rude and using inappropriate criteria when denying entrance of people that are there to catch a connection flight to other places or even those that are simply going to visit Spain and Europe. However, acting by the same standards is something that is completely stupid to me, because it does not help and, worse, it harms Brazil's image and its turism.
Illegal immigration is something that must be fought and people arrested in this situation must pay for their crime (yes, it is a crime) and get deported. No excuses, no privileges. It is inconceivable that any country accept illegal immigrants and make their taxpayers to pay for people that were not allowed to live in the country. That happens with some poor countries, like I just read today about Bolivians trying to immigrate illegaly to Brazil, but the vast majority of the destinations are richer countries, like North America or Europe. I can't think of people from these countries planning to immigrate illegaly to Brazil. It does not make any sense, while the contrary does.
Spain is totally right to protect itself against illegal immigration, it is right to protect their borders, but it is wrong to have different criteria depending on the nationality. Why would someone with an US passport or even European passport have different treatment by immigration offices? Definitely they are way more unlikely to be in the group of people that would immigrate illegaly, but also part of this group are lots of Brazilian and people from all over the world, no matter where they are from. And judging all by the behavior of some is wrong.
Anyway, although I expect some improvement, it is hard to believe that people won't have some preconceived ideas whenever someone from South America shows up his/her passport to immigration officers from richer countries. Unfortunately it is very natural to be associated with the society where you come from. Everybody does that to some extent, consciously or not, that is why racism still exists and may take a while to be extinguished - if it will be ever extinguished.
If you also take into account the political scenario in Latin America, with the conflicts between Colombia and Ecuador and relationship with Venezuela and Cuba, one can see how amateur politicians can be.
The interesting phrase above I read in a post of a Catalan defending Spain regarding this issue. And he mentions the problem with illegal immigration as being the justification for this behavior.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Kiva
Today I learned about a very interesting website named Kiva where people can loan money to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Really beautiful work and definitely a better way to pull these people out of the poverty than giving money away in assistencialist welfare programs.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Who will dream to be an astronomer?
In "The Seattle Times" of today there is an article on China's efforts to fight against pollution that is inherently tied to its huge development in the last years (see online version here).
I am very glad to see that they are awakening to this problem. This problem will affect more directly the Chinese people, but not only them. Pollution from China can travel to as far as the US West Coast and can be felt even here in Seattle area. Some of the actions they are taking is the increase in the clean techonology investments (which doubled since 2006) and they are also working with planners, architects and venture capitalists to address these issues. One of most ambitious plan is to build a eco-friendly city on the outskirts of Shangai. The whole world watch with attention this effort.
Young Chineses can already notice the effects of the uncontrolled development and many environment groups are trying to educate people about the importance of going green. One of the activists, Wen Bo, who was born in a time with blue skies and white coulds, regret that this time is over. And he says something very interesting about how that could impact future generations: "if they've never seen starts, how can you expect them to dream to be an astronomer?". It is interesting to think how future generations may see the world in such a different way.
People with the mindset that "environmental protection and development are inherently a contradiction" still justifies the damages to the environment as the country grows and don't seem to care much about the problem. The reason behind this behavior is that they see no other way to develop the country, which was very poor a few decades ago. But, as another activist says, "Live is not just about money." Balance is probably one of the most important keys for live.
Finally, one curious information is that China is on the way to overtake US as the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, although US still consumes more energy. As a matter of fact, energy consumption per capita in the US is 6 times China's. But being a high energy consumer does not mean that you will necessarily emit more carbon dioxide. And China must learn that. Maybe a "war" between US and China over which country is the greenest one could be one of best wars ever. And acting together, like they are doing now with joint efforts from China government, entrepreneurs and experienced people from the US, I foresee a possible great future.
China's impact on the world is not only about US or the pollution here in the Seattle area, but they will set standards. Worrying about environment is something that should be a top priority as doing it early in the process is much easier than trying to patch that later. I can see, mostly in developed countries, that protecting the environment and having an impact as low as possible has made its way into people's lives. I can see that all around me and how I end up try to do my part as well. Being a "compulsive" recycler, and avoid using disposable bags when doing groceries or disposable cups when drinking my daily coffee at the office are the two timid steps I took toward this direction.
PS: Although China is being the focus currently, we cannot forget about other country that has been having amazing growth rates and that is the country that had the highest increase in energy consumption in the 1990-2004 period: India. I would like to see similar initiatives with the Indian people. As it happens with Chinese people in the US that impact on this discussions (and sometimes even move back to their native country), hopefully the same will happen with India.
I am very glad to see that they are awakening to this problem. This problem will affect more directly the Chinese people, but not only them. Pollution from China can travel to as far as the US West Coast and can be felt even here in Seattle area. Some of the actions they are taking is the increase in the clean techonology investments (which doubled since 2006) and they are also working with planners, architects and venture capitalists to address these issues. One of most ambitious plan is to build a eco-friendly city on the outskirts of Shangai. The whole world watch with attention this effort.
Young Chineses can already notice the effects of the uncontrolled development and many environment groups are trying to educate people about the importance of going green. One of the activists, Wen Bo, who was born in a time with blue skies and white coulds, regret that this time is over. And he says something very interesting about how that could impact future generations: "if they've never seen starts, how can you expect them to dream to be an astronomer?". It is interesting to think how future generations may see the world in such a different way.
People with the mindset that "environmental protection and development are inherently a contradiction" still justifies the damages to the environment as the country grows and don't seem to care much about the problem. The reason behind this behavior is that they see no other way to develop the country, which was very poor a few decades ago. But, as another activist says, "Live is not just about money." Balance is probably one of the most important keys for live.
Finally, one curious information is that China is on the way to overtake US as the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, although US still consumes more energy. As a matter of fact, energy consumption per capita in the US is 6 times China's. But being a high energy consumer does not mean that you will necessarily emit more carbon dioxide. And China must learn that. Maybe a "war" between US and China over which country is the greenest one could be one of best wars ever. And acting together, like they are doing now with joint efforts from China government, entrepreneurs and experienced people from the US, I foresee a possible great future.
China's impact on the world is not only about US or the pollution here in the Seattle area, but they will set standards. Worrying about environment is something that should be a top priority as doing it early in the process is much easier than trying to patch that later. I can see, mostly in developed countries, that protecting the environment and having an impact as low as possible has made its way into people's lives. I can see that all around me and how I end up try to do my part as well. Being a "compulsive" recycler, and avoid using disposable bags when doing groceries or disposable cups when drinking my daily coffee at the office are the two timid steps I took toward this direction.
PS: Although China is being the focus currently, we cannot forget about other country that has been having amazing growth rates and that is the country that had the highest increase in energy consumption in the 1990-2004 period: India. I would like to see similar initiatives with the Indian people. As it happens with Chinese people in the US that impact on this discussions (and sometimes even move back to their native country), hopefully the same will happen with India.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
"Congreço"
Carimbo do Congresso Nacional em imagem da Folha de São Paulo. Como diz o Reinaldo Azevedo, é o apedeutismo deixando o seu rastro.
Dom Lula, o apedeuta
Curioso para saber o que quer dizer apedeuta? Segundo o Wikcionário: 1. sem instrução; 2. ignorante; 3. estúpido; 4. insipiente. Pois é, assim o nosso culto presidente é referenciado há bastante tempo. Realmente boa escolha de adjetivo.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Espetáculo grotesco na TV Cultura
Leia aqui texto do Reinaldo Azevedo sobre a participação do Mano Brown no programa Roda Viva da TV Cultura. Interessantíssimo.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Fim da CPMF
Um amigo me indicou um abaixo-assinado da FIESP com relação ao fim da CPMF. Se você compartilha da opinião de que esse imposto não deve ser prorrogado, contribua com esse abaixo-assinado.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
