350

Article 350 of the Venezuelan Bolivarian Constitution:

The people of Venezuela, true to their republican tradition and their struggle for independence, peace and freedom, shall disown any regime, legislation or authority that violates democratic values, principles and guarantees or encroaches upon human rights.

Chavez announces that Globovision will be taken off the airwaves...

Yesterday, in his personal efforts to also control the media, Hugo Chavez Frias, Venezuela´s current President announced that he will close Globovision or his name will no longer be Hugo Chavez Frias.

Emulating a very intellectually poor barrio thug, Chavez made a personal threat to close Globovision (or take them off the Venezuelan public airwaves) or he will change his name. So lets wait and watch the press closely to see whether or not, Chavez will close them or to see if he changes his name to something like CheGuevara, Fidel or Camilo Cienfuegos...

Lets remember Chavez´s war against private media en Venezuela. Even though that Chavez was democratically elected back in 1999 by strong collaboration of the status quo media outlets at that time, after more than a decade of governing Venezuela, he has waged a personal battle against the private media.

Back in 2006 Chavez ordered the closure of the first Television station in Venezuela, Radio Caracas Television, on account that they had collaborated with the coup de etat in April/2002 against his government. On account that the Television Station did not politically support his government, Chavez did not grant the extension of the television concession to Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) and orderred the transfer of all their assets to a socially motived television station called, TVES. No compensation was paid by the government in a clear ilegitimate confiscatory measure. Chavez´s argument for this government intervention was the lack of government news in television, which was clearly not the case, since the government had at that specific more more than 10 television stations, 4 of them transmitting nationally and more than 100 community radio stations.

Not only that but on account of the political violence of Chavez against Globovision and their reporters, some reporters filed a lawsuit before the Interamerican Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS), which after strong litigation, ordered the state of Venezuela to stop the violation of free press against Globovision and their reporters. What is Globovision´s mistake? What are Globovision´s reporters doing wrong? They just disagree with Chavez and its government.

What I find really sad and pathetic is that because of Chavez direct intervention, several private media outlets (Venevision, Panorama, Televen) have had no choice but divert their editorial to favour or support Chavez and his socialist ideologies. This is also called censorship...

Now, why do you think Chavez wants to censor the media?

Chavez expropriates Oil Contractors in Lake Maracaibo

In his personal efforts to control Venezuela´s economy, the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has enacted a new law to expropriate the provision of goods and services related to the Oil Industry. The law is termed, Organic Law that Reserves to the State Goods and Services related to the primary activity of the Oil Industry.

The law was quickly prepared by the National Assembly and last night was enacted by Hugo Chavez himself. What is really important about the law is that all activities involving goods and services related to the Oil Industry will now be owned by the State in what Chavez calls "social property" or in spanish "propiedad social". The law provides that the expropriated shareholders will be paid book value for their shares and permits the avenue of public bonds.

And what is social property, is it the same treatment as public goods destined for public utility, like say public parks, benches and plazas, or is Chavez reffering to public goods destined for private utility, such as the huge network of private companies owned by the State, such as PDVSA (Oil), Pequiven (Petrochemicals), CVG (Steel, Aluminum), the Venezuela Cement Corporation? Chavez has a very confused and troubled head...

Chavez wants to totally control Venezuela´s economy and his advisers have come up now with the idea that all the Oil contractors in Venezuela should be expropriated and its assets and employees transferred to state owned PDVSA. Lets consider that the Oil contractors in Venezuela and even more in the State of Zulia significantly contribute to the local economy. What we are seeing is just a revenge against privately own contractors, most of them owned by European families with highly technical and ethical corporate histories, to wipe them out of the oil economic scene.

I personally think that Hugo Chavez has a personal and hidden agenda against the State of Zulia and the city of Maracaibo.

Murdoch bites back / Internet in market failure

The net is in market failure. Could you believe that?

The efforts of the status-quo in Wall Street are trying to turn the internet into a (more efficient) cash machine. They have plans to eliminate or signficantly reduce free online content in a move that will definitely change internet. Or at least thats what they will try to do...

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch expects News Corporation-owned newspaper Web sites to start charging users for access within a year in a move he says could radically shake-up the culture of freely available content.

Murdoch said the existing Internet business model was "malfunctioning."

Speaking on a conference call as News Corporation announced a 47 percent slide in quarterly profits to $755 million, Murdoch said the current free access business model favored by most content providers was flawed.

"We are now in the midst of an epochal debate over the value of content and it is clear to many newspapers that the current model is malfunctioning," the News Corp. Chairman and CEO said.

"We have been at the forefront of that debate and you can confidently presume that we are leading the way in finding a model that maximises revenues in return for our shareholders... The current days of the Internet will soon be over."

Murdoch said the experience of the News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal had proved that charging for content could be made to work. Would you pay to use news Web sites? Sound Off below

He said 360,000 people had downloaded an iPhone WSJ application in three weeks and said users would soon be made to pay "handsomely" for accessing WSJ content.

Murdoch said he envisaged News Corporation titles introducing charges within 12 months.

Now the real issue will be if Rupert Murdoch will go after Google and Youtube and charge them for the free online content. This will obviously create a hurricane of legal fees in major IP law firms in London and New York. Covington & Burling, White and Case and the likes...

Venezuelan anomie

Anomie, is a sociological term that signifies in individuals an erosion, diminution, or absence of personal norms, standards, or values, and increased states of psychological normlessness. It also translates into a social condition in which norms are weak, conflicting, or absent. When applied to a government or society, anomie implies a social unrest.

Émile Durkheim described anomie as a state of relative normlessness or a state in which norms have been eroded. A norm is an expectation of how people will behave, and it takes the form of a rule that is socially rather than formally enforced. Thus, in structural functionalist theory, whether at a personal or societal level, the effect of normlessness is to introduce alienation, isolation, and desocialisation as norms become less binding for individuals.

In my opinion, what we are living in Venezuela is a sense of chronic anomie. With the high levels of crimes commited, it also makes no sense to report them to the police. Yesterday, Tuesday May 5, 2009 my brother got mugged at gun point at around 7pm while going in a pizza joint in front of a major hospital in Maracaibo. The burglar took his cellphone and his wallet.

It is true here in Venezuela theres always a sense of normlessness, everything from the guy that watches your car and demands his tip to the bank officer who expects his bottle of whisky if he approves your credit. The worst part is that we Venezuelans often take advantage of the chaos around us, or anomie, and often use to our own convenience.

While I remain in agreement with Ralph Dahrendorf that a legal system that prosecutes all the crimes renders it ineffective, at the same time, a system where no or little crimes are prosecuted gives a sense of unrest, where people tend to take the law into their own hands, into a violating-the-law-down-whirl-spiral, wheres theres nothing in the end. There are loads of examples in Venezuela, from local lynch mobs killing local barrio thugs to blunt fragrant violation of exchange laws by thousands of people selling their Cadivi rights to obtain foreing currency, buying pirate hollywood dvds or software in the street in broad daylight or just paying to get your legally free passport.

The sense of law is absent in Venezuela...

Social-who?

Social-me, social-forever, social-comics....what is socialism?

Edmund Burke on (the Venezuelan) Revolution

Do not be fooled, it is virtually impossible that Edmund Burke wrote something about Venezuela, let alone about the Chavista so-called socialist Revolution...

Edmund Burke was a famous Irish born political thinker back in the 18th century and served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. He is mainly remembered for his opposition to the French Revolution.

In 1789, soon after the Fall of the Bastille, the French aristocrat Charles-Jean-François Depont asked his impressions of the Revolution; Burke replied with two letters. The longer, second letter became Reflections on the Revolution in France, published in 1790.

As per his Reflections, Burke argued that the French Revolution would end disastrously, because its abstract foundations, purportedly rational, ignored the huge complexities of human nature and society. Further, he focused on the practicality of solutions instead of the metaphysics, writing:

'What is the use of discussing a man's abstract right to food or to medicine? The question is upon the method of procuring and administering them. In this deliberation I shall always advise to call in the aid of the farmer and the physician, rather than the professor."

Founded upon St. Augustine, Cicero, and Plato, he believed in "human heart"-based government. Nevertheless, he was contemptuous and afraid of the Enlightenment, led by intellectuals such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Turgot, who disbelieved in Divine Moral Order and Original Sin, saying that society should be handled like a living organism, that people and society are limitlessly complicated, thus, leading him to conflict with Thomas Hobbes's assertion that politics might be reducible to a deductive system akin to mathematics.

Burke has been termed as a cornerstone of the conservative intellectual in Britain, eventhough that he was a member of the Whig party which in turn became the Liberals. So it is also natural to see classic liberal thinkers supporting Burkes view on government and society.

Swine flu in Venezuela?

Of course the swine flu is all over the news. The alert level was recently raised to 5 (of 6) which means that its a worldwide pandemic.

However, it was a regular day for Venezuelan politics. President Hugo Chavez went yesterday on national television saying that there was not a single case of swine influenza in Venezuela. Also, continuing with the dictated line, the Health Minister also went on national television saying that some cases in Merida where they initially thought was swine flu, they are not, so Venezuela is protected against swine flu.

Now, do you really believe what these public officials are saying? Apparently it has been almost 4 weeks since the first case of swine flu in Mexico, and now a world pandemic. I do not want to sound alarming or controversial, but did you Mexicana has a daily non stop flight between Caracas and Mexico City? How many people came into Venezuela from Mexico in that timeframe? 2 weeks of daily flights transporting people from Mexico to Venezuela? And thats not considering the people that might connect in the United States from Mexico? And Panama? And Colombia? Aruba?

I understand that the risks of Venezuela are minimal in contrast to say, United States, but to go on national television and say that Venezuela is secure from swine flu is just down right irresponsible in my book.

Emerson on Travelling (Self Reliance)

It is for want of self-culture that the idol of Traveling, the idol of Italy, of England, of Egypt, remains for all educated Americans. They who made England, Italy, or Greece venerable in the imagination, did so not by rambling round creation as a moth round a lamp, but by sticking fast where they were, like an axis of the earth. In manly hours we feel that duty is our place and that the merry men of circumstance should follow as they may. The soul is no traveler: the wise man stays at home with the soul, and when his necessities, his duties, on any occasion call him from his house, or into foreign lands, he is at home still and is not gadding abroad from himself, and shall make men sensible by the expression of his countenance that he goes, the missionary of wisdom and virtue, and visits cities and men like a sovereign and not like an interloper or a valet.

I have no churlish objection to the circumnavigation of the globe for the purposes of art, of study, and benevolence, so that the man is first domesticated, or does not go abroad with the hope of finding somewhat greater than he knows. He who travels to be amused or to get somewhat which he does not carry, travels away from himself, and grows old even in youth among old things. In Thebes, in Palmyra, his will and mind have become old and dilapidated as they. He carries ruins to ruins.

Traveling is a fool's paradise. We owe to our first journeys the discovery that place is nothing. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern Fact, and sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. I seek the Vatican and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated. My giant goes with me wherever I go.

3. But the rage of traveling is itself only a symptom of a deeper unsoundness affecting the whole intellectual action. The intellect is vagabond, and the universal system of education fosters restlessness. Our minds travel when our bodies are forced to stay at home. We imitate; and what is imitation but the traveling of the mind? Our houses are built with foreign taste; our shelves are garnished with foreign ornaments; our opinions, our tastes, our whole minds, lean, and follow the Past and the Distant, as the eyes of a maid follow her mistress. The soul created the arts wherever they have flourished. It was in his own mind that the artist sought the model. It was an application of his own thought to the thing to be done and the conditions to be observed. And why need we copy the Doric or the Gothic model? Beauty, convenience, grandeur of thought and quaint expression are as near to us as to any, and if the American artist will study with hope and love the precise thing to be done by him, considering the climate, the soil, the length of the day, the wants of the people, the habit and form of the government, he will create a house in which all these will find themselves fitted, and taste and sentiment will be satisfied also.

On Imperialism

I make huge efforts not to laugh when I hear Venezuelan President Chavez attacking the United States on account that it represents the Empire. Any argument that this or that specific nation or company represents or is in fact the Empire, really reflects ignorance about history. But this naive ignorance is not as bad as when it is mixed with Marxist or Socialist arguments...

Not going into detail about Marxism and Socialist and its failed concepts in this post. Two really clever academics came up with a contemporary view of the empire and a view from Marxism. Their names Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt. Negri and Hardt wrote a book, title "Empire" and it has been deeply studied by constitutional academics in law schools around the world. Negri and Hardt have outlined the revised marxist concepts. Concepts with have failed throughout history in my personal opinion.

What is truly important is that two neo-marxists have seem to agree that

"Imperialism...is over."

Classical 19th and early 20th c. imperialism, as the extension of national sovereignty beyond the borders of the nation-state no longer organizes nor articulates the world economy. For Negri and Hardt imperialism has been replaced by imperium (Empire) or "a series of national or supranational organisms united under a single logic of rule."

Empire is a consequence of the globalization of Capital which they claim is unlike the global spread of capitalism which has characterized the previous 450 years of the world economy. As such, Empire, is a qualitative break with the past and all previous forms of hegemony.

Therefore to talk about Imperialism against a specific country, company or even product is really naive. What remains as the empire is the single logic of rule, and the rule seems to dictate towards the economic gain of the individual. For me money is empire, in the sense that everyone works for it and needs it.

Does Chavez know what is talking about? Would he give his personal wealth on currency just to abolish the empire? Would his Ministers and Chavista businessmen give away their money for socialist causes? I do not think so...

Perhaps the abolition of currency could entail the end the empire? If so...welcome to Utopia City, Population 1.

Oh the places you will go

by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don' t
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both you elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

Haile Selassie the I of Ethiopia

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”

"We have finished the job. What shall we do with the tools?"

Haile Selassie I (Ge'ez: ኃይለ፡ ሥላሴ, "Power of the Trinity"; 23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. The heir to a dynasty that traced its origins to the 13th century, and from there by tradition back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Haile Selassie is a defining figure in both Ethiopian and African history.

At the League of Nations in 1936, the Emperor's condemnation of the use of chemical weapons against his people was a pivotal moment in the onset of World War II, as well as a foreshadowing of the "barbarism" which was to come.His internationalist views led to Ethiopia's becoming a charter member of the United Nations, and his political thought and experience in promoting multilateralism and collective security have proved seminal and enduring.His suppression of rebellions among the nobles (mekwannint), as well as what some perceived to be Ethiopia's failure to modernize adequately, earned him criticism among some contemporaries and historians.

Haile Selassie is revered as the religious symbol for God incarnate among the Rastafari movement, the number of adherents of which is indeterminate due to the loose structure of the religion, but is estimated between 1 and 2 million. Begun in Jamaica in the 1930s, the Rastafarian movement perceives Haile Selassie as a messianic figure who will lead the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora to a golden age of peace, righteousness, and prosperity.

A dream

"A dream is not what you see in your sleep.
A dream is what does not let you sleep"
Vishal Katariya, Pune India

Manuel Rosales, Maracaibo´s elected mayor seeks political assylum

Maracaibo´s elected mayor, Manuel Rosales, yesterday requested political assylum in the Republic of Peru, on account of politicial prosecution of the Chavez regime. Manuel Rosales is being criminally prosecuted by the Chavez regime on 2 counts of unjust enrichment. The judicial process has been tainted from the getgo, including leaking a draft of the judicial decision by the Judge to the media before the hearing. The judicial process started when President Chavez went on national television and declared "that Rosales is going to be put in jail"...and "the mission is called, lets put Rosales in jail"

Not only that but Chavez has also blocked Antonio Ledezma as Metropolitan mayor of Caracas, by enacting a law creating a superior official for Caracas which is appointed by the President. Also, the inconstitutional reversion of jurisdiction of State governorships over highways, ports and airports.

This is further evidence of the lack of democracy in Venezuela and that even though some democratic features are still present (aka freedom of speech) the Chavez regime is on offensive mode to control their political adversaries. Its what we term as Neodictatorship. What is really shocking is that lack of division of powers in Venezuela and the obsene control exerted from Chavez to all public powers in Venezuela.

Do not be surprised if communications are heavily monitored...

ala Sieyes for the Sixth Venezuela

What is the third [Sixth Venezuelan] Estate? Everything. What has it been hitherto in the political order? Nothing. What does it desire? To be something.

This is a manifesto for the establishment of the next Venezuelan state. The Fifth State starting from 1999 proved to a failure. After constantly violating human rights, freedom of expression and electoral fraud.

Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (3 May 1748 – 20 June 1836) (pronounced [sjejɛs] or [sijɛs]) was a French Roman Catholic abbé and clergyman, one of the chief theorists of the French Revolution, French Consulate, and First French Empire. His liberal 1789 pamphlet What is the Third Estate? became the manifesto of the Revolution that helped transform the Estates-General into the National Assembly in June 1789. In 1799, he was the instigator of the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799), which brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power. He was also the first to coin the term "sociologie" (French for "sociology") in an unpublished manuscript. Sieyès and his party "spoke the language of democracy", unlike Jean Joseph Mounier and his party the Monarchiens.

In 1788, Louis XVI of France proposed convocation of the Estates-General of France after the interval of more than a century and a half, and the invitation of Jacques Necker to writers to state their views as to the organization of the Estates, enabled Sieyès to publish his celebrated January 1789 pamphlet, Qu’est-ce que le tiers état? ("What Is the Third Estate?") He begins his answer:
"What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been hitherto in the political order? Nothing. What does it desire? To be something."

This phrase, which was to remain famous, is said to have been inspired by Nicolas Chamfort. The pamphlet was very successful, and its author, despite his clerical vocation (which made him part of the First Estate), was elected as the last (the twentieth) of the deputies the Third Estate of Paris to the Estates-General. He played his main role in the opening years of the Revolution, drafting the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, expanding on the theory of national sovereignty, popular sovereignty, and representation implied in his pamphlet, with a distinction between active and passive citizens that justified suffrage limited to male owners of property.

Impact on the Revolution

The contributions of Sieyès’s pamphlet were indispensable to the revolutionary thought that projected France towards the French Revolution. In his pamphlet he outlined the desires and frustrations of the alienated class of people that made up the third estate. In many senses of the expression, he was the force that ripped the band-aid off the Ancien Régime in France by arguing the nobility to be fraudulent and preying on an overburdened and despondent bourgeoisie. The pamphlet was essentially the rallying cry that united a hitherto neglectable class into an unheard-of political force outlining and stating grievances that for the first time were not to be overlooked in the convocation of the Estates General.
Whereas the aristocracy defined themselves as an elite ruling class charged with maintaining the social order in France, Sieyès saw the Third estate as the primary mechanism of public service. Expression of radical thought at its best, the pamphlet placed sovereignty not in the hands of aristocrats but instead defined the nation of France by its working class, whose daily trials and tribulations “are the activities which support society”. The French Revolution could not have been what it was without this patriotic and radical message, more importantly one so eagerly dispersed by the rising revolutionary politics within the third estate.
In being perhaps the most daunting of his rhetorical repertoire, Sieyès essentially argued from the nobility's privileges that to establish the aristocracy as an alien body acting outside of the nation of France and deemed noble privilege “treason to the commonwealth”. As a consequence, the resulting conflict between the orders inspired the proper political sphere from which the revolution grew.

Perhaps most significant was the influence of Sieyès’s pamphlet on the structural concerns that arose surrounding the convocation of the Estates general. Specifically, the third estate demanded that the number of deputies for their order be equal that of the two privileged orders combined, and most controversially “that the States General Vote, Not by Orders, but by Heads.” The pamphlet took these issues to the masses and their partial appeasement was met with revolutionary reaction. By addressing the issues of representation directly, Sieyès inspired resentment and agitation that united the third estate against the feudalistic traditions of the Ancien Régime.
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Obama's lack of street smarts

The infamous handshake that over shadowed the Americas Summit at Trinidad & Tobago. As the press covered it, Obama surprised Chavez with an initial handshake. Clearly in the picture Chavez seemed very surprised. In the second meeting, Chavez entered a room where Obama was giving a press conference and gave him a copy of Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America. Obama was surprised and said that he "thought that it was one of his books, I was going to give him mine". How naive can you be? The book in my opinion represents the message Chavez wants to send to Americans, please dont be stupid and naive and read history...

Lets remember that recently Chavez cursed against Obama in relation to the report of Human Rights in Venezuela. The political prisoners and the constant violations of human rights, including freedom of speech and economic freedom. Chavez said to Obama, "go and clean your suit Mr Obama" [vaya a lavarse el palto Mr Obama]....if not to say "go and clean your ass Mr Obama"...

Chavez appears to be a local barrio thug with this language and antics. Now, Obama appears to be a golden boy from Harvard Law who clearly lacks street smarts to deal with latin thugs.

I think this is a political disaster against the United States and could be an omen for Latin American relations...

GI JOE gone wrong...

I think this picture is really funny...or pathetic...


or both

Jeff Koons- Artist review

I remember going almost a year ago to the Metropolitan Museum with my childhood buddy, NYC Brooklyn resident Diego Dax Rooks *aka prux, and going in an elevator to the roof top of the museum. The day was sunny and the people in the elevator crowded, I remember the elevator made a stop at some floor and some staff of the Met came in the elevator. I remember flirting with a girl staff she was really cute...and at the roof top they were displaying some works of Jeff Koons...

Jeff Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist whose work incorporates kitsch imagery using painting, sculpture, and other forms, often in large scale.

Koons was born in York, Pennsylvania; as a teenager he revered Salvador Dalí, to the extent of visiting him at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. Koons studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Maryland Institute College of Art. After college, he worked as a Wall Street commodities broker while establishing himself as an artist. He gained recognition in the 1980s and subsequently set up a factory-like studio in a SoHo loft on the corner of Houston and Broadway in New York. It was staffed with over 30 assistants, each assigned to a different aspect of producing his work—in a similar mode to Andy Warhol's Factory.

Copyright litigation

Koons has been sued several times for copyright infringement over his use of pre-existing images in his work. In Rogers v. Koons, 960 F.2d 301 (2d Cir. 1992), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a judgment against him for his use of a photograph of puppies as the basis for a sculpture, String of Puppies.[21]
Koons also lost lawsuits in United Features Syndicate, Inc. v. Koons, 817 F. Supp. 370 (S.D.N.Y. 1993), and Campbell v. Koons, No. 91 Civ. 6055, 1993 WL 97381 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 1, 1993). More recently, he won a lawsuit in Blanch v. Koons, No. 03 Civ. 8026 (LLS), S.D.N.Y., Nov. 1 2005 (slip op.),[22] affirmed by the Second Circuit in October, 2006, brought over his use of a photographic advertisement as source material for legs and feet in a painting, Niagara (2000). The court ruled that Koons had sufficiently transformed the original advertisement so as to qualify as a fair use.

Manuel Rosales speaks from his safehaven

Manuel Rosales, who recently has been subject of judicial criminal prosecution by the Chavez regime, has today issued a letter to the people of Venezuela. I will free translate some relevant parts of the letter.

Manuel Rosales was democratically elected to be Mayor of the city of Maracaibo (Western Venezuela, and second most populated city in Venezuela) in the last election of November 2008. During the campaign Chavez declared publicly that he was corrupt and leader of local mafias and that "he will send Rosales to jail" and even further insulting him as "one thousand times disgraced". Rosales and his candidate for the Zulia State governorship Pablo Perez won cleanly and notwithstanding Chavez's efforts to include last minute people in the electoral college, and including electronic fraud. Rosales won fair and square and the difference in the city of Maracaibo was brutal. Recently, Rosales has been the center of a criminal investigation prompted by the National Assembly concerning corruption charges. The core issue was his economic gain for private endeavors in a cattle ranch he invested some time ago. Now, according to the prosecuting lawmakers (Representative Mario Isea) they argue that Rosales can not lawfully admit such economic gains. The amount in question is roughly $70,000 and considering that Rosales has been a public official for the last 15 years, previously 2 time governor and 2 time elected Mayor for the city of Maracaibo, at least he can account for $70,000 as private economic gain. From another side the prosecuting party also argues that Rosales executed a donation of a 10 year old pick up truck to a Governorship employee of more than 30 years. Rosales has gone in the media and has declared that he will stand by the legal process and will submit his defense and further evidence. Now, do you really think that after a President of Venezuela on live Television declaring that "he will send Manuel Rosales to jail" is not a political trial? It is obvious that it is, and Rosales is a trophy for any Chavez government official.

Excerpt of the letter from Manuel Rosales to the people of Venezuela

"Dear and beloved people of Venezuela

From my safehaven, protecting my physical integrity with the support of democratic factors, I have reflected upon the last events produced in the national political scene, and remain expectant to observe the fashion in which the Government and his boss, Hugo Chavez, without shame or remorse, is conducting us to the establishment of a totalitarian and authocratic regime, that without a doubt, has closed all the democratic spaces.

We are in front of a President that has proposed to control the functioning mechanisms of our country, and has obtained the silent support of the public powers, who remain dominated and directed in a obscene fashion, just like dictators have done when comparing history."

Bernie the Relentless

Yes, I agree with Gore Vidal who recently said about Bernie Madoff that he was "relentless". He fooled everyone and thats not quite easy to do. 13 years without ever processing a single financial transaction. The lists of clients include Wall Street CEOs, CFOs, Hollywood actors, directors and producers, international banks from Spain, Swiss, Japan, Hong Kong and loads of charitable foundations. Bernie was relentless because he had no favorites, I mean everyone has to have to favorite, specially when you see charitable foundations on the list. Not only that but he also rejected thousands of investors, apparently the minimum to invest with Bernie was US 20 Million.

Now, a UK High court approves of data transfer to the US in Madoff case

The Chancery Division of the High Court gave its nod of assent - on 27 February 2009 - to the transfer of personal data to the Unites States (US) to further ongoing legal proceedings against Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

In the case (Re Madoff Securities International Ltd, 2009 EWHC 442), Justice Lewison ruled that although such transfers are normally barred under the Data Protection Act of 1998 (DPA), certain exemptions apply "when the transfer is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest and ...for the purpose of, or in connection with, any legal proceedings (including prospective legal proceedings)”. Section 4 of the DPA specifically forbids the transfer of personal data to countries outside of the European Economic Area, unless that country ensures an adequate level of protection – the US is not deemed to have such an adequate level of protection.

"I am satisfied that it is in the public interests for an alleged fraud on this scale and of this complexity to be investigated," said Justice Lewison, "and on the evidence before me, I am therefore satisfied that the transfers of the information scheduled to the draft order are necessary for reasons of substantial public interest."

The Court was also satisfied that the exemption relating to legal proceedings was applicable in this situation as well.

"The unravelling of the fraud will undoubtedly involve legal proceedings", said Justice Lewison. "Indeed...there are two such proceedings already on foot, namely the liquidators both in New York and in this country, and the establishment of legal rights will no doubt be necessary in order to wind up the affairs of both companies in an orderly fashion."

Madoff Investment Securities LLC, including its English subsidiary Madoff Securities International Limited, is alleged to have been at the heart of a $50 billion fraud, involving a number of charities and public authorities. The provisionally appointed UK liquidators, under the request of the US liquidators, had requested the UK High court to consider the data transfer under Section 112 of the Insolvency Act of 1986.