politricks

ecuador’s rafael correa: an interesting man

 

 

rafael correa secures a third term as the president of ecuador. with a phd in economics, educated in belgium and the united states, the man is clearly no dummy and a welcomed soul in a line of externally backed generals who have ruled most of the third world. since 2007, his administration has succeeded in reducing the high levels of poverty, indigence, and unemployment in ecuador. he ordered an increase in the percentage of petroleum revenues spent on social programs for the ecuadorian poor and challenged the foreign oil interests in his country.  he said, “many of the existing oil contracts are a true entrapment for the country. of every 5 barrels of oil that the multinationals produce, they leave only 1 for the state and take 4… that is absolutely unacceptable. we’re going to revise and renegotiate the contracts” and he did. critics charged correa with running a campaign against the independence of the media, and if the media there is anything like the media here, sponsored by big business, there was never any independence to begin with, so not many tears shed there. in 2012 an independent survey found that he has 80% of approval rate among ecuadorians, significantly the highest rate in the americas, but a very low rating amongst key foreign governments. to enhance that, he has recently upset the UK and US by supporting wikileaks leader, julian assange, and offering him political asylum, granted inside the embassy in london. the irony of this all is that pinochet, a south american dictator supported by the US and UK, remained in london and died in london in 2006 despite his indictment in 1998, for human rights violations committed in chile, never to face trial. the U.S. provided material support to the military regime of pinochet after his coup and the assassination on september 11, 1973 of its democratically elected president, salvador allende, although criticizing it in public… i suppose, hypocrisy clearly has never had any shame? by xy

CATEGORIES: earth related, politricks

cozy with sarkozy

 

“let go of my hand, lets not make it so obvious”

 

the irony of it all still baffles me and yet it’s still business as usual, it’s just elsewhere.  we are very silly aren’t we? 50 million or not: “shortly after sarkozy’s election in 2007, gaddafi was invited to paris and pitched his bedouin-style tent in an official french residence near the elysée. sarkozy has acknowledged that his government had considered co-operation with libya in civil nuclear energy, having earlier denied it.” source by dd

CATEGORIES: earth related, politricks

so you think a gallon of gas is too expensive?

how would you feel to learn that a barrel of crude oil, a liquid that is scarce and valuable in so many industries from plastic to fabrics etc, is less expensive than its equivalent in coca cola, which is basically water high fructose corn sugar and carbon dioxide? i don’t know, but some how i feel if we were selling oil and the arabs were selling coke the balance would have been a little bit tilted? and then we wonder why they are so pissed off while we bitch about the prices at the pump. here are a few price metrics to put it into perspective:

1) a barrel of brent oil ($117).
2) a barrel of coca cola ($126)
3) a barrel of budweiser beer ($447)
4) a barrel of starbucks juice ($954)
5) a barrel of chanel perfume ($1,666,560) thanks Karl
by pr

CATEGORIES: earth related, politricks

wired for war…


and that’s the problem. 27% of our tax spending goes to the military, and only 2.5% to education. you ask about science? ah, give em 1%. i think we’ve all seen where countries with nominal education end up, usually praying to some god (pick one) to get ’em out of here and into some heaven.  interestingly enough, according to a GE report conducted via 1,000 senior execs from 12 countries, the report shows that a strong majority believe that innovation will take on forms not yet seen in history, and it will be localized to specific markets and driven more by “creativity” than by scientific research alone. now chew on that mister 1% scientist. granted i don’t even see a 0.00005% funding for the arts on that chart. by xy

CATEGORIES: earth related, politricks

of all places, not australia but ecuador?

 

 

let’s not confuse the facts here, ecuador is not exactly a place we’d consider ideal and surely they have their issues and internal agendas for considering taking on julian assange under asylum. but non-the-less i have come to appreciate ecuador’s stance not to mention their balls. the world, or better put the citizens of this world, should be ashamed of themselves when the peace prize is given to war mongers and terrorist and the one person who reveals the truth is being hunted down by our various governments. the very governments we consider to be the best of the best in terms of fairness, in terms of freedom of the press. you think the US is great? how about UK? what about sweden? well think again, an independent international body, “reporters without borders” press freedom index  rates sweden today to be ranked as the 12th, the united states justice system to be the 47th in the world, and the UK to be the 28th. that means there are 47 other countries that rate higher in press freedom than the US and 28 country’s above the UK.  its mind boggling? imagine that… were would water gate be with out assange and his like? shame indeed. watch the pathetic cnn anchor “do his job”… i wonder what amount of money warrants selling your soul? by xy

CATEGORIES: earth related, politricks

The sweet story of the Falkland Islands otherwise known as Islas Malvinas


how sweet of UK to put so much time and effort just to address the “wishes of a few islanders” on the other side of the world. they even send their prince there on a nuclear submarine just for good measures. those darn kind and loving brits.

a little background: as you may know, argentina claims the island as theirs, britain considers it as part of the british territory (a more acceptable word for empire) since 1833. note: it appears that the world didn’t exist pre 1833.

argentina’s president, cristina fernandez de kirchner asks the UN today, “how can it be claimed that this territory is part of britain? how can it be claimed that an island, 14,000 kilometers away, can be part of the british territory?”

david cameron passionately replied: “UK has no aggressive intentions, but do not under-estimate our resolve, threats will not work, attempts to intimidate the islanders will not succeed, because britain stands ready and willing to stand up for the falkland islanders at ANY TIME. as long as they wish to remain a british territory, that is the way it will stay.”

if i didn’t know better i would have thought david cameron’s mother was argentinian and from the falklands the way he talks about “the falklanders wishes.” can someone please ask the kind-hearted british government when was the last time they spent their money, their lives and their energy in addressing anyone else’s wishes but their own? makes you think why britain is so set on the wishes of a few islanders 14,000 kilometers away? mind you the total population on the falklands is only 3,000 people and 30% of them are british expats to begin with. now, just because a few islanders prefer to be under british rule rather than argentina’s economic depression doesn’t make it so. i assure you that many islanders around the world would prefer to be under US territory rather than their own bankrupt government but since when did that become ok? good luck at the UN and fix that bankrupt country, we’d love to visit… by xy

CATEGORIES: earth related, politricks

good girl!


we like sandra fluke. for a second, consider the absurdity. religious organizations are trying to ban offering birth control to those on their insurance plan, because their religion is against it. their religion is against birth control because no one but god can take a life; yet, they are for capital punishment, and hell–why not war! (hmmm? tight argument) in other words, they will force upon you their religious beliefs should you work there or in this case go to school there. rush limbaugh (some conservative political commentator and radio host) made an ignorant comment, inline with his apparent character, stating sandra fluke, who opposed this absurd law “is a slut… a prostitute” for simply wanting  birth control to be covered under her insurance she is surely paying for. he stated that if we are paying for a portion her birth control through our taxes “so she can have sex”(another thing banned by god and religion apparently), we should then get something in return. rush wanted her to at least post videos of her having sex online so taxpayers can watch it (now that is surely in line with his religion and american moral/conservative values). as if the rest of our tax dollars are really accounted for… like the billions spent on fake wars or funding wall street. now it even more absurd when all of this is from a man, rush limbaugh, who was detained in a florida airport last year after returning from a trip to the dominican republican with viagra that he did not have a prescription for. it all makes me want to puke… and puke on his very small penis and his even smaller ideology. off the air please! by ts

CATEGORIES: earth related, politricks

it’s a choice and it’s mine


so bugger off… i must admit it’s a bit strange to wear a shirt like this as it’s so personal, but i guess you need to make it ok, in the face of all those religious freaks who are somehow for capital punishment, guns, and wars but suddenly against taking a life? go figure…  by ld

CATEGORIES: earth related, politricks