Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

Archives for October 2009

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To hell in a hand basket

No Carnival this week, but you may understand why I needed a weekend of tango after reading these headlines:

Brazilian police have seized weapons from the FARC destined to the Rio slums. (link in Portuguse)

As the educational budget in Venezuela is reduced, Chavez increases his budget by 638%.

We seldom hear about the Colombian ELN here in the US, but they are as bad as the FARC: Colombian football team ‘killed’

At least 10 bodies – believed to be those of a kidnapped Colombian football team – have been found across the border in Venezuela.

The bodies, with multiple gunshot wounds, were found in Tachira. One of the team is reported to have survived.

State authorities say they suspect a left-wing Colombian guerrilla group, the ELN, is to blame for the deaths.

The team, kidnapped two weeks ago, was known as Los Maniceros or Peanut Men, as they sold nuts along the border.
…
The most senior official in Tachira state, Leomagno Flores, blamed the violence on the armed wing of the ELN, a group led by a man known El Payaso or the Clown.

Venezuela had denied permission to land to a plane sent to pick up the corpses but the Venezuelans finally came around and are paying for shipping the bodies back to Colombia. The governor of the state of Tachira asserts that the ELN has four guerrilla camps in Venezuela.

Right now I have a cold and will get some rest. Will deal with American politics later today.

And
Don’t know why the BBC had to say ‘killed’; clearly the people were murdered, so why the quotes??

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Argentina: The war against the media

Mary O’Grady writes on the war against the media in Argentina,
Argentina’s Kirchner Targets the Press
As the state-run economy hits the skids, the government responds with a crackdown on the free press.

Not only is the economy going sour, but according to polls, the nation is growing intolerant of what many consider to be the first couple’s abuse of power.

Four examples serve to make the point: First, when Mrs. Kirchner attacked the farm sector last year because it resisted her plan to impose high export taxes on its harvests, the nation rallied to the defense of the farmers, much to her surprise. Second, her decision to confiscate privately held pension accounts was loudly denounced as a violation of the rule of law. Third, there is a widespread belief that her government is using the state intelligence service to collect information against the president’s “enemies.” Fourth, an overwhelming majority of Argentines resent the privileges and jet-set lifestyle of the first family while national living standards plummet.

This popular dissatisfaction showed up at the polls in the June midterm elections, when Mrs. Kirchner’s wing of the Peronist party lost badly. Even Mr. Kirchner did not manage to prevail in his bid for a house seat representing the province of Buenos Aires, which should have been a stronghold for the first couple.

Mrs. Kirchner and her husband have decided that they lost because of bad press coverage. They are especially upset with the Clarin media company, which though once a supporter, is now an outspoken critic. In public comments Mr. Kirchner often implies that the government is analyzing the company to see if it might not need to be downsized. In September, tax authorities launched a raid on the Buenos Aires offices of its daily newspaper. Tax authorities later issued an apology for the raid, but the paper maintains that it was an act of intimidation.

Could it happen here?

Well, there’s the White House’s “war” against Fox News.

And then there’s the economy: As O’Grady reminds us, in Argentina,

One way a president can boost poll numbers in a bad economy is to wrest control of the central bank and start printing lots of pesos. There’s nothing like cheap financing to restore the market’s enthusiasm for buying all sorts of stuff—from stocks to houses—already on sale at fire sale prices.

The great reflation will make people feel rich again. A weak currency will also be a short-term boon to exporters, whose profits can then be taxed at ever higher rates. Complainers can be denounced for their greed.

It’s a good thing I took up tango. Give it time and it’ll be feeling like Buenos Aires, only here.

——————————

There will be no Carnival of Latin America this week. I just got back from Washington, DC’s Tangosutra and now need to catch up with business and blogging.

The Carnival will be back next week.

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NYT does Malthus

Sunday fun is taking the place of blogging today, but don’t miss Tom Maguire’s Malthus Lives! (But Not Here – Dismal Reporting On The Dismal Science), where he’s chopping, slicing, and dicing Nathan Greenwold’s uncritical article at the NYT, New School of Thought Brings Energy to ‘the Dismal Science’

A small but growing group of academics believe the latter is true, and they are out to prove it. These thinkers say that the neoclassical mantra of constant economic growth is ignoring the world’s diminishing supply of energy at humanity’s peril, failing to take account of the principle of net energy return on investment. They hope that a set of theories they call “biophysical economics” will improve upon neoclassical theory, or even replace it altogether.

The so-called new school is yet another re-incarnation of Malthus, so, yes, everything old is new again… at the School of Rome.

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Idle rich Germans too stupid to start their own charities

Rich Germans demand higher taxes

Rather than become personally involved in their communities and find ways to creatively enrich their lives through charity, these fools can’t wait for the nanny state to do it for them, so they want higher taxes:

A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes.

The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany’s economic recovery.

Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid a 5% wealth tax for two years, they say.

The petition has 44 signatories so far, and will be presented to newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The group say the financial crisis is leading to an increase in unemployment, poverty and social inequality.

Forty-four people with too much time and money in their hands, and one one brain among them.

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Huge explosion in PR oil refinery

Puerto Rico Refinery Ablaze Following Two Explosions

Caribbean Petroleum Corp.’s refinery and tank farm at Bayamon, Puerto Rico is on fire after two explosions at the site today.

Firefighters are still fighting the blaze, the cause of which is still unknown, according to a spokeswoman for the local Guaynabo police force, who was speaking by telephone and asked to not be identified by name. She said the explosions happened at about 12:30 a.m. local time.

At least 11 tanks at the oil distribution center were ablaze, and firefighters were trying to prevent further explosions at 22 other tanks, local news service Noti Uno reported, citing police superintendent Jose Fugeroa Sancha.

CPC markets the Gulf brand on the island. The Bayamon facility, near the capital city of San Juan, can process 48,000 barrels of crude oil a day, according to the company Web site.

The sour-crude refinery isn’t operating, according to undated information on the Web site. The facility also houses a tank farm and oil-product import terminal.

One of the versions of the story said, Explosion near San Juan, Puerto Rico believed to be Crashed Spirit Airlines Flight 837, but police later confirmed that no aircraft were involved.

Noticias 24 posted a homemade video (in Spanish):

El Nuevo Dia is running news updates (in Spanish). The latest is that the fire is still raging, local schools and businesses are closed, and electricity has been cut off in the neighborhood of the fire. The FBI are already investigating.

This massive fire affects the entire metro area. We’ll see if it has any effect on oil prices, too.

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Networks side with Fox when WH tries to ban Fox

Charles Krauthammer explains,

Then on Thursday, the administration tried to make them complicit in an actual boycott of Fox. The Treasury Department made available Ken Feinberg, the executive pay czar, for interviews with the White House “pool” news organizations — except Fox. The other networks admirably refused, saying they would not interview Feinberg unless Fox was permitted to as well. The administration backed down.

Doug Ross, Dan Riehl, The Hope For America, Moe Lane and Allahpundit have more.

David Frum asks, “Will the Rule of Law Survive Obama?

Chavez and Globovision; Obama and Fox News.

How’s that hope and change working for you?

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Ed Driscoll:

Obviously bias isn’t the issue with this administration; the direction of the bias is.

Moe’s commenter, however, sees tactics

The white house is trying to distract the media. Get conservatives talking about FOX News instead of health care, while they are lining up the votes for cloture on the public option.

And they now claim to have those votes.

Jennifer Rubin:

it’s disturbing that at a time when we still lack a strategy decision on Afghanistan, unemployment is sky high, and health-care reform is in disarray, this is what consumes the White House.

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