No Country for Honourable Men

São Paulo, Brazil. July 2008. Paulistas, the inhabitants of the State of São Paulo, have to vote for governorship. They HAVE TO because vote is mandatory in Brazil. One could say "alright, voting is a right of expression". I'd say it's not when you are compelled to.

But here is my point: Paulo Maluf is one of the candidates. He has a career spanning over four decades. He was elected governorship of the State of São Paulo, mayor of the city of São Paulo and he has run as presidential candidate as well. During these years he has been plagued with several accusations of corruption.

In July 2003, Paulo Maluf was arrested in Paris, trying to transfer [illegal] money into an [illegal] account. In early September 2005 he was arrested by the Brazilian Federal police, under the charge of intimidating witnesses of an ongoing investigation. Again, in July 2008 he gave in to police under the same charge. In all these arrests, he was incarcerated from one night to no more than a few weeks. He was really convicted on one charge in 2001, but due to the nature of the Brazilian judicial system, in which only final convictions are considered, he has been always released... What a shame!

So notorious is his reputation in Brazil that, sadly, a "verb" called "malufar" (something like "to maluf") was created, meaning "to steal public money". And those who vote for him say "he steals public money but does the job". There is a quotation attributed to him which says "Rape them, but don't kill them!", said to a journalist during a workshop, regarding to a raper who had killed the victim.

But the worst is that in the last poll, he ranked a third place for the governorship... So far, I tell you, Brazil is not the better place where ones would like to raise their children.

Sarkozy's Deafness

France President Nicolas Sarkozy - born Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa, which sounds much nobler! - is the actual "filler" of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union - sometimes called EU Presidency. This position is not centered in one person, but in the government of the country, which inherits a responsibility over the functioning of the Council of the European Union.

The EU Presidency is rotated between European Union member states every six months. To cope with the rather short six month term of the presidency, since 2007 the position is being executed in a shared manner: a "triple-shared presidency" work together over a 1.5 year period, based in a common agenda by continuing the work of the previous president.

The first "Triple-Alliance", also called "T1", from January 2007 to June 2008 was led by Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, and the Treaty of Lisbon, the Lisbon Strategy and Security, Freedom & Justice were among their priorities.

The "T2" started on July 2008 and will be on till December 2009, with France (Jul-Dec 2008), Czech Republic (Jan-Jun 2009) and Sweden (Jul-Dec 2009) as president-countries. Among their priorities are [at least should be] defence integration, Kosovo and the infamous Mediterranean Union, a proposed community of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, which should be established by 2008.

But Sarkozy seems to be suffering from a ideological deafness. He is not able to "hear" the Irish NO to the Lisbon Treaty yet, and has decided to come over Ireland - not to question, he said, but to listen! - to know better WHY Irish people voted NO to Lisbon.

Well, we could say, first, wich part of the word NO you didn't understand? And second, Lisbon is not among the T2 mandate's priorities anymore. But he insists!

And as we learned that Sarkozy, aka "Sarko" is fan of Amy Jade Winehouse - ah, this explains a lot! - we can sing him a welcome song:

I ain’t got the time
And if Sarko thinks we ain't fine
He’s trying to make up mi mind, so
But I'll say NO! NO! NO!

A Carbon-Free Festival

... whatever it means!

Oxegen Festival is on from today till Sunday. They say doesn't matter which weekend it is, it will be raining. True. Here in Ireland, we can surely say "I know what you did last Summer", because the answer will be "nothing, really... it was bloody rainy!"

Oxegen organisers want to make us believe this year the festival will be more "carbonfree". What a hell they mean? Everybody should go to Punchestown in Co. Kildare WALKING? Using "non-petroleum-sole" shoes? Nobody can smoke cigarettes (cannabis is greener!) ?

Of course not, otherwise the whole festival would be a flop! What these people still believe is that if you can't be green enough, you should offset! So, measure your so-called "carbon footprint" - nothing more that the amount of waste you leave behind - and try hard not to fuck even more the planet. But if you eventualy fuck it anyway, understand that your shit is done and there's no money which could help to amend it...

THINK about this... GREENER!

Fuel or Food?

As energy demands devour crops once meant for sustenance, the economics of agriculture are being rewritten

People say this just insane to turn food into fuel in order to improve people's lives - bio-fuel. Others say it takes more energy to make renewable fuels than the actually fuel. EPA has concluded that ethanol and biodiesel generate more energy than the fossil fuel, but we could ask 'at what cost'? Would this be a excuse for a escape from the petroleum dependency we see fleetly increasing day by day? Biofuel can reduce petroleum use and generate a shortage of certain food in the planet, but who will care? Not the companies who are doing that - fuel can be far more lucrative than mere food. Governments who nowadays depend on the mad petroleum contries? You can doubt!

Feed the Soul
Is it really any more reprehensible to make fuel from corn than it is to make beer from barley and rice? Vodkas, whyskies, brandies andmany other spirits are made from wheat. How is this justifiable? To drink a beer or other spirit makes one part of the problem? Ican answer that, and the answer is NO. We are only feeding our souls...

wouldn't you mind, would ya?

If you run a hotel, and year after year you see it getting more and more crowded of people, you would say "my hotel is a success!" And as an entrepreneur you would think in expand your business, probably building another hotel, right? Alright, but not irish government. Irish government don't run hotels - as far as we know - but they run more serious business. They (are supoused to) take care of public transportation and healthcare, for instance. They are not entrepreneurs but they managed a lot of money. Public money. OUR MONEY! And they should do it more efficiently, making incomings from this money. Not personal incomings, of course, but basic ones. Ones that don't need that much outlook to realise they're essential and substantial. Otherwise you would get yourself - the entrepreneur - asking your hotel guests if they would mind to share their room, because you are putting one or two extra beds there. Of course it doesn't work, but in a HOSPITAL people are not exactly a GUEST. And in a country where public transportation is a monopoly, you can expect the worst. People waiting for practically virtual and non-existent buses, sporadic trams (the Luas, the irish word for "speed" - believe me!) and far from efficient trains.

By the way, the photo is the healthy face of Mary Harney, the current Minister for Health & Children.