Monthly Archives: April 2008
Thelonious
Thelonious Monk. He was a very strange, eccentric, and cool character — completely unique in every sense. Sometimes you just have to watch to fully enjoying listening.
Filed under Jazz
Conflicts of Interest
Sleep deprivation may or may not cause deliberate lying, but having trouble sorting out reality when you’re tired does not lead to “day one readiness” or fair well at 3:00 am under any circumstances. But what we have here today is some good old fashioned American hypocrisy. No, I am not talking about telling the American people that you have real solutions to their economic problems when you’ve just brought in over $100 million.
I am talking about traveling the country telling working class people that you’ve always been firmly against NAFTA and other free trade agreements when you weren’t in the past and you’re not in the present. Just ask Hillary’s Chief Campaign Strategist, Mark Penn. Penn continues to work as a lobbyist for a company that has recently been contracted to lobby Congress to pass a trade deal with Colombia. No matter how you pin it, it’s a conflict and smells real bad.
Honey, We’re Rich!
The Clintons are dirt. Dirt Rich! Hillary and Bill have just finally released their tax returns for the past seven years. In 2000, the last time they made their income public, the Clintons reported an adjusted gross income of $416,039. From that point until now — in only seven years — they’ve earned $109.2 million. Not bad at all! The Bush economy and NAFTA were sure good for some people. I never knew that politics could be so profitable. Being president was sure a solution for one family’s economy. Now it is pretty obvious why Billary is staying in the race until the very end.
Nevertheless, it will probably be a few more days before the information is fully scrutinized.
Barack Likes Mediterranean Food
The Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, published this photo today of Obama enjoying Mediterranean cuisine. “Mediterranean cuisine”? Mediterranean cuisine can be Moroccan, Tunisian, Lebanese, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, and so on. Not necessarily Spanish. My guess is Barack is surrounded by French and Italian food, but if it makes El Mundo feel more patriotic to call it Mediterranean and have its readers believe it is Spanish, then more power to them.
It’s a shame that Spain does not do a better job of marketing and exporting its food.
Filed under Living la vida española, Obama 08
How Immigrants Saved Social Security
Heaven knows that I have done my share of waiting in long, depressing, and dehumanizing lines, and I have to continue to do so in the future. It is the life of an immigrant.
Regardless of what popular opinion tells us, it looks like legal and illegal immigration are good for the economy and social security. That’s what an editorial in today’s New York Times tell us. Continue reading
Filed under Essays, Living la vida española
Books March 2008
Recently, I haven’t had much time to write about books, so I thought I would briefly list the books that I read during the month of March:
- Vladimir Nabokov: Mary
- Vladimir Nabokov: Pnin
- Steig Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- The Travels of Ibn Battutah.
Here are my observations: Continue reading
Filed under Digressions, Literature
“Yes We Can” T-Shirt
My friend and co-worker Jacobo (who I used to affectionately call Hysidro) made this Obama “Yes We Can” T-Shirt for me. It actually looks much better on than in the photo. Unfortunately, I had to crop the image to hide sweat marks.
Thanks Hysidro! ¡Eres el mejor!
Filed under Friends / Family, Obama 08
Lies and News Footage
Notice I didn’t say, “Sex, Lies, and New Footage” — there is no reason to bring up those lies as well. No one is interested in the Clinton’s sham marriage of political convenience. What is interesting are a few of the other takes on the Tuzla “mistatements”. I think that the video above does a great job of highlighting Hillary’s ability to willfully give false statements with absolutely no remorse and to craft them in such a way as to be detailed and unapologizing — not to mention that she is condescending to Sinbad.
Meanwhile, ReWrite recommended this video:
Ground Zero: There Goes the Neighborhood
Esto me recuerda a mi primer divorcio. Después de más de dos años en la tercera planta, nos vamos (casi) todos a la planta cero para juntarnos con los técnicos y demás — “There Goes the Neighborhood!”
¡Cuanto recuerdo aquí en este espacio! Aquí empecé en el 2006 cuando éramos muy pocos. Hasta me recuerda a aquel poema que tanto me gusta del griego Cavafy: Continue reading
Grave Error 