Quickies

The ancient Chinese curse which is not an ancient Chinese curse at all seems appropriate to describe these interesting (as in chaotic) times. I've had no time to write one post, but I need to write several.

On one hand, Governor Rovira of Misiones is setting up the largest scam that has passed for an election in this country in decades. He, you might remember, is trying to get reelected, but this election is actually the one where people will choose representatives to form a Constitutional Assembly, which will modify the provincial Constitution to allow for indefinite reelection. Rovira's government is handing out money and loans to poor people who barely know what to write in their loan application; giving away bicycles and washing machines; distributing national IDs without pictures to be used by his political minions to vote in the name of other people. You can't call it fraud; it's done obscenely in the open. An opposition front made up of every other political party in the province plus a number of independents, notably Bishop Emeritus Piña and other religious men and women. Rovira is backed by President Kirchner and has told the Catholic Church to go back to preach and pray while the politicians take care of the real stuff. I'm losing respect for Kirchner every day.

On the other hand, Juan Carlos Blumberg got what he wanted: his son Axel's murderers have been sentenced to a life term. However, he still lost his temper and claimed the court's sentence was "shit" because the rest of the gang that kidnapped Axel got shorter terms, and two policemen who were also involved were absolved. Again he voiced his unfortunate concept that innocent people (like his son) seem not to have human rights which are, however, granted to the criminals. Well, that's why they're criminals -- because they don't respect other people's human rights like freedom and life. Blumberg has never conceived the possibility that he, or someone he loves, may some day turn the wrong way and commit a crime. He needs to believe (maybe like everyone) that hell is other people.

On the other hand (I have many hands), Governor Solá of Buenos Aires is also trying to get reelected, in this case through a technicality. And they said Menem was a rat.

On the fourth hand, wherever it came from, our own Guillermo Moreno (Secretary of Interior Commerce) and Economy Minister Felisa Miceli again gathered a few businessmen, this time people of the dairy industry, to have a chat about prices, how you don't want to have higher prices (ooh, what's this gun doing on the table, pointing at you? I must have left it there by mistake, sorry), how you'd better keep the prices down and the people happy at least until the October 2007 elections, etc. You see, nobody wants inflation to come back, and the law of offer and demand working to find a fair price is bullshit, and business here is usually oligopolic and businessmen are despicably greedy, but somehow I don't like it when a government official says on the record "we are not going to allow [insert a private company] raise the price of [insert a sensitive product]" using a certain tone. Call me a self-hating leftie, I just don't.

The last hand holds a wall. It's the wall that the Dangerously Dumb Lord of the Benevolent Empire has got approval to get built between the Imperial Backyard and a couple of places stolen from Mexico a while ago. You might be one of those alarmists that claim the relationship between the Land of Jalapeño and the Realm of Oblivion will be harmed by this. Don't worry! Free trade will not be impeded by the wall -- its unique design, like a filter, is intended to leave people out while money continues to flow in... Pancho Villa, before turning into a moustached stereotype, once lamented his country's lot thus: "Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States." Amen.