Canada

I am writing this on a strip of white birch bark
that I cut from a tree with a penknife.
There is no other way to express adequately
the immensity of the clouds that are passing over the farms
and wooded lakes of Ontario and the endless visibility
that hands you the horizon on a platter.

I am also writing this in a wooden canoe,
a point of balance in the middle of Lake Couchiching,
resting the birch bark against my knees.
I can feel the sun’s hands on my bare back,
but I am thinking of winter,
snow piled up in all the provinces
and the solemnity of the long grain-ships
that pass the cold months moored at Owen Sound.

O Canada, as the anthem goes,
scene of my boyhood summers,
you are the pack of Sweet Caporals on the table,
you are the dove-soft train whistle in the night,
you are the empty chair at the end of an empty dock.
You are the shelves of hooks in a lakeside cottage:
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh,
A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson,
Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery,
So You’re Going to Paris! by Clara E. Laughlin,
and Peril Orer the Airport, one
of the Vicky Barr Flight Stewardess series
by Helen Wills whom some will remember
as the author of the Cherry Ames Nurse stories.
What has become of the languorous girls
who would pass the long limp summer evenings reading
Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse,
Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse, and Cherry Ames, Flight Nurse?
Where are they now, the ones who shared her adventures
as a veterans’ nurse, private duty nurse, visiting nurse,
cruise nurse, night supervisor, mountaineer nurse,
dude ranch nurse (there is little she has not done),
rest home nurse, department store nurse,
boarding school nurse, and country doctor's nurse?

O Canada, I have not forgotten you,
and as I kneel in my canoe, beholding this vision
of a bookcase, I pray that I remain in your vast,
polar, North American memory.
You are the paddle, the snowshoe, the cabin in the pines.
You are Jean de Brebeuf with his martyr’s necklace of hatchet heads.
You are the moose in the clearing and the moosehead on the wall.
You are the rapids, the propeller, the kerosene lamp.
You are the dust that coats the roadside berries.
But not only that.
You are the two boys with pails walking along that road,
and one of them, the taller one minus the straw hat, is me.

—BILLY COLLINS

Cynthia McKinney On Board Gaza Aid Boat Intercepted By Israeli Navy
AP
June 30, 2009, © The Huffington Post
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Israeli navy intercepted a ship carrying foreign peace activists trying to break a blockade of Gaza on Tuesday and forced it to sail to an Israeli port, the military said. . . .

Clarence Thomas Drifts Further Right Than Scalia
By Matthew Rothschild
June 25, 2009, © The Progressive
Finally, the Supreme Court has made a good decision on civil liberties.
The justices ruled when she was 13, Savana Redding had her rights violated when school officials insisted that she be strip-searched for the possession of—hold on here!—ibuprofen. . . .

Brasil 3 - USA 2
Congratulations to the USA for nearly pulling off another historic upset victory, this time against Brazil in the final of the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Perhaps in the future it will no longer be such a shock when this team plays as well as it has this week, and perhaps the media in the USA will start giving soccer-football and our international representative in that sport the credit and attention they deserve. Brazil showed in the end that it deserved to win, and is once again a worthy champion. congratulações!

Israel's settlements are on shaky ground
International law mandates that they must be removed and that the Palestinians should be compensated for their losses.
By Sarah Leah Whitson
June 28, 2009, © The Los Angeles Times
The debate over Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is often framed in terms of whether they should be "frozen" or allowed to grow "naturally." But that is akin to asking whether a thief should be allowed merely to keep his ill-gotten gains or steal some more. It misses the most fundamental point: Under international law, all settlements on occupied territory are unlawful. And there is only one remedy: Israel should dismantle them, relocate the settlers within its recognized 1967 borders and compensate Palestinians for the losses the settlements have caused. . . .

The June 23rd availability for Twelve, The King by Michael Blake has been delayed by U.S. Customs inspection. We hope to have word from Customs in the next few days and will make the book available at that time. Thank you to all who have inquired about Twelve, The King.  We apologize for the delay. The new edition of The Silencing, By Alix Lambert is now available for purchase. 
____________

The man who does evil to another does evil to himself, and the evil counsel is most evil for him who counsels it.
—Hesiod

¡Se gradúa!
efe
2009-06-25, © La Opinión
BLOEMFONTEIN, Sudáfrica.— Estados Unidos se confirmó ayer como el equipo revelación de la Copa Confederaciones al derrotar a España, por 2-0, en un día en el que el futbol castigó a los campeones de Europa, al equipo de los récords, por dos errores infantiles defensivos, tras una treintena de disparos a puerta y un desgaste físico exagerado. . . .

On Turning Ten

The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.

—Billy Collins

Un dato más para la estadística
Estados Unidos no alza la voz para valorar la hazaña de su selección
JUAN-JOSÉ FERNÁNDEZ
25/06/2009, © El País
Una hazaña tan sorprendente como la de la selección de Bob Bradley, conseguida con aplicación, seriedad y sus dosis de calidad y suerte, habría bastado para festejar en cualquier país los días de San Juan como milagrosos, para encender la mayor de las hogueras. Pero en Estados Unidos, gigante de tantas cosas, sólo se echa mano de la estadística, sin alharacas. Así, se ha catalogado el triunfo sobre España como uno de los importantes en la historia de este deporte. Pero no de su deporte. Un éxito enorme del soccer, no del fútbol, algo mucho más lejano de lo que aquí se considera lo mejor del mundo. En resumen, sus series de deportes profesionales y, si acaso, los máximos hitos en los Juegos Olímpicos. . . .

Forgetfulness

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

—Billy Collins

La comunidad wichí de Formosa suma nuevas denuncias por sustracción de DNI
Una integrante de esa comunidad reveló que "ya son varias elecciones que pasa lo mismo"; acusan a un intendente de haberles quitado el documento a unos 2000 indígenas
24 de junio de 2009, © La Nacion
La polémica desatada ayer tras las denuncias de un grupo de aborígenes wichí de Formosa volvió a cobrar relevancia esta mañana, después de una integrante de esa comunidad lanzara nuevas acusaciones por la sustracción documentos. . . .

CONGRATULATIONS U.S.A.!!!
GREAT DEFENDING AND TEAM PLAY!

España 0 - U.S.A. 2
This is as significant an achievement as that
of the US Olympic hockey team defeating the
USSR in Lake Placid in 1980. Well done.

____________

Respondo a las boludeces dichas hoy 24 de junio en el Canal 9 sobre la capilla en la Ciudad Deportiva del Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, entre otras tonterías que lanzaron:

Parece que los "periodistas" deportivos de este canal se aburren a pesar de tener un final de torneo lindo, con el partido decisivo este fin de semana entre Vélez y Huracán.

Para dejarlo claro: a mí me gusta muchísimo el trabajo de construcción que se está llevando a cabo para la capilla. La fundación del edificio, que no se ve para nada en las imágenes que el Canal 9 ha mostrado en su pésimo "informe", es complicado y de la mejor calidad. Ni yo ni nadie que sabe de verdad como se está haciendo la construcción de este edificio tiene queja alguna. Al contrario, estamos muy agradecidos por el trabajo de los arquitectos y los albañiles.

Además, como el Canal 9 lo mencionó, sépase que, aparte de no estar enojado con nadie en relación a la capilla, tampoco lo estoy con el resultado del reciente partido que se jugó en La Boca entre San Lorenzo y Huracán. La capilla va a quedar lindísima, y San Lorenzo, que fue el primer equipo en este torneo que logró dominar la pelota y prohibirle al Globo jugar su lindo fútbol actual, volverá con la fuerza y la nobleza que le caracteriza como el equipo históricamente más guapo de Boedo y de Argentina.

La próxima vez que yo tenga la oportunidad de hacer entrevistas relacionadas a cualquier tema de promoción en Argentina, que ni piense en ser atendido el Canal 9 a menos que se retracten por completo el día de mañana, 25 de junio,  incluyendo clarísimas disculpas al Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro y su Comisión Directiva.

Un cordial saludo a los periodistas honestos y a todos los Cuervos del mundo,
  Viggo Mortensen.

A World Apart? : The White House and the Middle East
By Bernard Avishai
June 17, 2009, © The Nation
A writer can't tackle a subject as immense as the United States and the Middle East without a kind of working conundrum. Patrick Tyler, a former New York Times and Washington Post correspondent, does not tell us what prompted him to write A World of Trouble, other than the declassification of some documents; but his conundrum is fairly easy to infer from the book's first chapter, which chronicles President Eisenhower's strong response to Israel during the aftermath of the 1956 Sinai War. . . .

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
—Thomas Merton

Serving the Medical-Industrial Complex
By Robert Parry
June 22, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
The usual knock on government programs is that they’re not as efficient as the private sector, which we’re told can provide the same product for less money and with higher quality. Thus, it should be no big deal when the public and private collide because the private sector should prevail. . . .

The tighter you squeeze, the less you have.
—Thomas Merton

Todavía viendo a Tencha
Por Ariel Dorfman
20 de Junio de 2009, © Página 12
La primera vez que vi a Tencha Bussi de Allende –la primera vez de veras, que de veras la vi, que verdaderamente comprendí quién era ella– fue en Roma, un día incierto de marzo de 1974. Por cierto que mis ojos la habían divisado antes, en múltiples ocasiones: en su casa en Santiago, ya que era amigo de juventud de sus hijas Isabel y Taty; en la Moneda, cuando trabajaba yo con Allende y ella llevaba a cabo las funciones oficiales de primera dama; y durante las marchas y los mítines y las luchas de la revolución chilena. . . .

Netanyahu's message is there will be no peace
By David Grossman
June 16, 2009, © Haaretz
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech was indeed, as it has been decribed, the speech of our lives. Our bogged-down, hopeless lives. . . .

Domingueros
RAY LORIGA
21/06/2009, © El País
Como bien sabe todo el mundo, una cadena es tan fuerte como su eslabón más débil, de ahí que el nacionalismo beligerante se muestre tan delicado a la hora de caminar de puntillas sobre sus métodos, y tan contundente a la hora de establecer sus raíces y sus propósitos. En la cadena de la patria, el rencor y el futuro justifican la parte más dudosa de cualquier camino que conlleve también la coacción y la amenaza. . . .

La doctrina Rajoy
JOSEP RAMONEDA
21/06/2009, © El País
No sé si el destino de Mariano Rajoy es ser presidente del Gobierno o estrellarse en la tercera y última oportunidad que le queda. El PP ha ganado las elecciones europeas y, sin embargo, Mariano Rajoy sigue con cuotas de popularidad bajísimas, muy lejos del presidente Zapatero. En España, la marca PP -y la marca PSOE- son realmente muy poderosas. ¿Tanto como para que la marca PP pueda ganar unas elecciones sin contar con el valor añadido de una marca de liderazgo fuerte, como en su día fue Aznar? . . .

ways and means
ways and means got popped for indecency
come and teach me to read
pumpkin done went splat
get the cleanup crew
the evening news just shot itself
will you make the wake?
senators crawling through air ducts
claim the playground is made up of natural
old men and women will canoe you across
the big belligerent muddy
you won’t pay too much
just expose your ways and means
the lifeguard is inattentive
the water never was that deep
come and teach me the bone
who lives there
how the doors open when you smile
the war is not going anytime soon.
—Scott Wannberg

"El hombre blanco enloquece con la tierra"
JOSEBA ELOLA
21/06/2009, © El País
Terraza del restaurante de Casa de América, Madrid, a principios de junio. Davi Kopenawa saca una bolsa de plástico y extrae una especie de pelota negra que coloca bajo su labio superior. Es la hora de mascar tabaco. "No queremos dar nuestra tierra a los blancos porque los blancos ya tienen mucha tierra", dice. "Nosotros somos los que la protegemos, las personas de la ciudad talan árboles. El hombre blanco ama el dinero, el avión, el coche. Nosotros pensamos diferente". Kopenawa se recuesta en la silla. Lleva pintura roja en la cara, corona de plumas, collar. Viste camisa, vaqueros y zapatillas deportivas. Calcula que nació en torno a 1956. . . .

Confidential memo reveals US plan to provoke an invasion of Iraq
Jamie Doward, Gaby Hinsliff and Mark Townsend
The Observer, Sunday 21 June 2009
A confidential record of a meeting between President Bush and Tony Blair before the invasion of Iraq, outlining their intention to go to war without a second United Nations resolution, will be an explosive issue for the official inquiry into the UK's role in toppling Saddam Hussein. . . .

S. A. Griffin Two-Step
The sun shines in your back door someday.
We sang loud in the Aleutians.
Sky divers have your poems written in their skin.
Diana Bonebrake sings and we
walk backward up a mountain range.
The medicine bag is full of dancing men and women.
Permission to climb aboard.
For whatever ails you
we got it.
The highway has no press agent
and rubs our stomach as we glide North
toward epiphany and damn right.
God is a sumo wrestler attempting to lose weight.
Dreams have their own political party,
and you can tell the border guards your real name.
The sun shines in your front door someday.
We sing wherever we will have us.
—Scott Wannberg

A Threat We Can’t Ignore
By BOB HERBERT
June 19, 2009, © The New York Times
Even with the murders that have already occurred, Americans are not paying enough attention to the frightening connection between the right-wing hate-mongers who continue to slither among us and the gun crazies who believe a well-aimed bullet is the ticket to all their dreams. . . .

An apathetic, greedy west has abandoned war-torn Congo
Despite an emerging women's movement, the rape of women and girls continues as the UN looks the other way
Eve Ensler
June 18, 2009, © The Guardian
In 1996, I was sitting with 20,000 grieving women in a stadium in Tuzla, Bosnia. The women were holding photographs of husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and boyfriends who had been ­disappeared a year earlier in a place called Srebrenica, a UN enclave where Bosnian refugees had turned over their protection to UN peacekeepers who stood passively by as 10,000 men were marched off to be slaughtered. I will never forget the wailing of the women in that ­stadium as they cried out, demanding the ­international community explain how they could have allowed this horror to take place. . . .

Sombra, trémula sombra de las voces.
Arrastra el río negro mármoles ahogados.
¿Cómo decir del aire asesinado,
de los vocablos huérfanos,
cómo decir del sueño?

Sombra, trémula sombra de las voces.
Negra escala de lirios llameantes.
¿Cómo decir los nombres, las estrellas,
los albos pájaros de los pianos nocturnos
y el obelisco del silencio?

Sombra, trémula sombra de las voces.
Estatuas derribadas en la luna.
¿Cómo decir, camelia,
la menos flor entre las flores,
cómo decir tus blancas geometrías?

¿Cómo decir, oh Sueño, tu silencio en voces?

—Octavio Paz

Israel's Crimes, America's Silence
By John Dugard
June 17, 2009, © The Nation
President Obama's recent speech to the Muslim World failed to address allegations that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. Palestinians and people throughout the region were shocked at the firepower Israel brought to bear against Gaza's civilians and do not want Palestinians' ongoing misery to be further ignored. Many were surely waiting to hear from President Obama that the way to peace does not lie through the devastation of civilian life and infrastructure in Gaza. . . .

Colonos, el enemigo interior
AKIVA ELDAR
13/06/2009, © El País
En octubre de 1991, pocos meses después de la primera Guerra del Golfo, mi periódico me envió a Madrid para cubrir la histórica conferencia sobre Oriente Próximo que promovió la Administración del primer presidente Bush. . . .

Papel de arroz
Mariano, los chicos interrumpen el fulbito
para dejarme pasar.
Soy el hombre del piloto
abrazado a su botella de Wild Turkey
caminando sobre papel de arroz.
Tres miligramos a la mañana
y tres a la noche, hacen que no me preocupe
por mis ejercitos metafísicos.
¿Te acordás, Mariano, cuando salimos
escoltados por la policia
de aquella cancha oscura y peligrosa?
¿No era glorioso sonar en todas las radios
y poder identificar a nuestros héroes?
—Fabián Casas

Queen's birthday honours list recognises local heroes over politicians and bankers
Allegra Stratton
Saturday 13 June 2009, ©The Guardian
Local heroes are the chief beneficiaries of this year's austere Queen's birthday honours list, published today, with the names of politicians and bankers notably absent. . . .

Congratulations, Sir Christopher Lee!

Otra amenaza de Chávez a un canal
Por: CARACAS. AFP Y EFE
13, Junio 2009, © Clarín.com
El presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, dijo ayer que el canal de TV Globovisión, el más crítico con su gobierno, "envenena la mente" y que el país no puede tolerarlo, al hacer una advertencia a sus directivos para "rectificar" o si no, dijo, "poco tiempo le queda saliendo al aire". . . .

¿Cristiano Ronaldo al Real Madrid? Uy... ¿Y si no lo miman al nene
fastidioso? ¿Y si lo miman?
____________

" ... El día que nací había un gato esperando al otro lado de la
puerta. Mi padre fumaba en Mar del Plata, en el patio. Mi madre dice
que fue un parto difícil, a las cuatro y veinte de la tarde de un día
de verano. El sol rajaba la tierra. Los jóvenes Borges y Bioy Casares
paraban cerca de ahí, en Los Troncos, alucinando las historias de don
Isidro Parodi. A Borges lo seguían los gatos. En una de sus fotos más
hermosas está junto a María Kodama, que tiene uno en brazos; Borges lo
acaricia como a un amigo.

A mi un gato me trajo la solución para Triste, solitario y
final. Un negro de mirada contundente , muy parecido a Taki, la gata
de Chandler. Otro, el negro Veni, me acompañó en el exilio y murió en
Buenos Aires. Hubo uno llamado Peteco que me sacó de muchos apuros en
los días en que escribía "A sus plantas rendido un Ieón". Viví con una
chica alérgica a los gatos y al poco tiempo nos separamos. En París,
mientras trabajaba en "El ojo de la patria", en un quinto piso
inaccesible, se me apareció un gato equilibrista caminando por la
canaleta del desagüe. Para sentirme más seguro de mi mismo puse un
gato negro al comienzo y uno colorado al final de "Una sombra ya
pronto serás".

Para decirlo mal y pronto: hay gatos en todas mis novelas. Soy
uno de ellos, perezoso y distante. Aunque nunca aprendí la sutileza de
la especie. Ahora mismo, una de mis gatas se lava la manos acostada
sobre el teclado y tengo que apartarla con suavidad para seguir
escribiendo. Hace cinco meses que no prendemos un cigarrillo. Juntos
sufrimos el vejamen de la abstinencia y !a vida limpia. Hace unos
meses esta habitación era un quemadero de fragancias maravillosas.
Tabacos de la Argentina, de Cuba y de Holanda, ya no; resignamos algo
de la utilería que compone a los duros: cigarrillos, sombrero,
impermeable, el revolver de juguete.

Los fantásticos vampiros de Matheson; entre los que estaban
Laurel y Hardy y el realismo romántico de Chandler, sobreviven a las
modas y las vanguardias porque el lector quiere verse ahí en sangre de
papel. Necesita leer sus miedos. Con eso Stephen King escribe ahora
una obra excesiva e inquietante. En uno de sus libros, un personaje
acusa de plagiario al narrador, le mata el gato y se lo deja frente a
la puerta. Es un momento insoportable en la literatura de terror. Algo
cercano a los escalofriantes efectos de H.P. Lovecraft.

Todos los escritores con corazón se han ganado un gato que los
sigue y los protege. Tal vez el de Gibbins, cercado por el fuego, le
haya pedido auxilio en nombre de los gatos inspiradores: el de Dante,
el de Baudelaire, el de Lewis Carrol, el de Borges. Y ahí fue el
director de pobres películas, a purificarse en el incendio y cumplir
con el ritual de todos los demonios.

Un escritor sin gato es como un ciego sin lazarillo. No es
posible usar al gato para nada personal, no hay manera de
privatizarlos. En "La noche americana", Francois Truffaut aconseja a
las realizadores de cine no meterse jamás con un gato en acción.
También me lo dijo Hector Olivera a la hora de escribir el guión de
"Una sombra ya pronto serás". ¿Cómo hacer para que dos gatos de cine
interpreten disciplinadamente a los que aparecen en la novela? Yo los
puse en el libreto nada más que para aplacar mis miedos. Con una
sonrisa; Olivera me dijo que estaba loco: un gato actor, el negro,
tendría que seguir al personaje de Miguel Angel SoIá, lavarse a su
lado comerse una laucha y echarse a dormir. El otro un colorado,
aparece al final, poco después que Pepe Soriano, el Coluccini de la
película, haya tenido una charla con Dios. Olivera decidió que no
hubiera gatos, pero creo que estoy a tiempo de convencerlo de que
ponga al menos una silueta. Cuando hablábamos de eso, todavía Gibbins
no se había arrojado al incendio. Yo creía, Dios me perdone, que
Matheson se había muerto de viejo. Pero no: allí estaba, peleando
frente al fuego, apartando maderas en llamas, abriendo un camino para
que su gato pudiera escapar con él. En el revoltijo alcanzó a salvar
una carpeta con su último manuscrito. Es que siempre cuando uno
rescata un manuscrito, hay un gato adentro.

Cuando yo era chico mi gato Pulqui era mono, león, pirata y
bandolero. Yo lo acechaba entre las plantas del jardín y me le tiraba
encima con el cuchillo de madera entre los dientes. Ahora mi hijo
combate contra la gata Virgula que le devuelve los golpes. Son
arañazos de mentira, en un revoltijo de sillas volteadas y malvones
floridos. Las suyas, como las mías antes, son fantasías de selvas y
mares, de castillos y mosqueteros. Esos años felices e irrecuperables
en los que uno aprende, si aprende algo, que los gatos nos traen a
domicilio el misterio de la creación. Chandler les atribuía toda la
sabiduría y creía que provocaban la explosión creadora. Un día le
pidieron que hablara de Philip Marlowe y prefirió que fuera Taki la
que la hiciera por él. Pretendía que era la gata quien escribía sus
novelas bien entrada la noche: A mí suele pasarme algo parecido.

Richard Matheson perdió todo; la casa los muebles y los premios,
pero alcanzó a salvar lo esencial: esa mirada que lo sostiene por las
noches, cuando la palabra no viene y la novela no avanza. Esa mirada
que nos atornilla al sillón, ese ronroneo que precede a la llegada del
diablo.

Poe, Lovecraft y Matheson asociaron los gatos al horror; en los
dibujos animados Willam Hanna y Joe Barbera le dieron a Tom el papel
de víctima y al ratón Jerry el de la picardía. El gato Félix fue un
gran héroe yanqui de los año treinta, puritano y travieso. El Fritz
the Cat, de Ralph Baskhi y Robert Crumb, sintetizó los eróticos y
crueles años de mi juventud; apareciendo en 1968, Fritz es el primer
gato de dibujo que vuelve de Vietnam, se droga, callejea de un
prostíbulo a otro, fuma como un escuerzo, duerme con las mejores
chicas, incluida su hermana, y termina asesinado por una gata vieja a
la que había abandonado en tiempos mejores.

En cambio, Walt Disney detestaba a los gatos. Recién en 1970 se
decidió a crear un personaje que, por supuesto, no le dejó éxito ni
plata. Disney era uno de esos tipos que nunca se hacen querer por los
gatos. Creo que fue Chandler quien lo dijo. No se si en la biografía
del detective Marlowe o en la propia. Hace unos días, una
investigadora que prepara un libro de reportajes a escritores
argentinos nos pidió a sus entrevistados que trazáramos cada uno una
breve autobiografía. ¿Como hacerlo? ¿Cómo hablar de nosotros si no
sabemos quienes somos? Le dije que yo no tengo biografía. Me la van a
inventar los gatos que vendrán cuando yo esté, muy orondo, sentado en
el redondel de la luna."

—Osvaldo Soriano (fragmento de "Educación Sentimental")
____________

Some People
some people never go crazy.
me, sometimes I'll lie down behind the couch
for 3 or 4 days.
they'll find me there.
it's Cherub, they'll say, and
they pour wine down my throat
rub my chest
sprinkle me with oils.
—Charles Bukowski

Llevarían a juicio a 70 militares por torturas a soldados en Malvinas
Natasha Niebieskikwiat
Martes 09, Junio 2009, © Clarín.com
Para una jueza, los más de 80 casos de malos tratos que ex combatientes de Malvinas denunciaron haber sufrido por parte de sus superiores durante la guerra con el Reino Unido son "delito de lesa humanidad" y de carácter "imprescriptibles". Se trata de la jueza Lilian Herraez, a cargo del Juzgado Federal de primera instancia de Río Grande adonde está radicada esta histórica megacausa, por ser las islas jurisdicción de Tierra del Fuego. La magistrada lo resolvió a fines de marzo, aunque Clarín lo supo ayer, al tener de fuentes ligadas a la investigación la resolución que así lo confirma. . . .

When we can begin to take our failures seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.
—Katherine Mansfield

Obama's Quid Pro Quo
Natural Growth: Israel's Demographic Hogwash
By FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY
June 8, 2009
President Barack Obama has put Israel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries in the American press in uproar by demanding that Israel halt its policy of settlement growth in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the now infamous "natural growth." He has posited this as a condition for a peace process that results in what is called the two-state solution. Obama says Israel agreed to this in 2003, when Israel signed onto Mad King George's so-called Roadmap To Peace. Readers might recall that the Roadmap was supposed to produce a comprehensive settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by 2005. . . .

I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing.
—Katherine Mansfield

Mano tendida a los árabes
JEAN-MARIE COLOMBANI
09/06/2009, © El País
Mano tendida al mundo árabe, del que EE UU "nunca" será enemigo; llamamiento a ese mismo mundo árabe a combatir el extremismo islamista; afirmación de que los intereses norteamericanos, lo mismo que los de Israel y Palestina -mencionada por primera vez así y no con el vocablo habitual: "Estado o Autoridad Palestina"-, exigen la coexistencia de dos Estados: ésta es la sustancia del discurso de Barack Obama en El Cairo, un momento importante en la definición del nuevo rumbo que está tomando EE UU. . . .

Amazonia'Far West'
CLEMENTE ÁLVAREZ
07/06/2009, © El País
En el horizonte verde de la Amazonia brasileña zumba insignificante un pequeño hidroavión que es sacudido por el aire como si quisiera quitarse de encima un ruidoso mosquito. El altímetro marca 7.000 pies, unos 2.500 metros, y André Muggiati busca por la ventanilla el rastro de rebaños de vacas en la reserva indígena de Apyterewa. Hasta que no ha embarcado al avión, este brasileño no se ha enfundado el chaleco con el nombre que le delata: Greenpeace. Los ecologistas siguen en esta zona estrictas normas de seguridad. . . .

My Philosophy of Life

Just when I thought there wasn't room enough
for another thought in my head, I had this great idea--
call it a philosophy of life, if you will. Briefly,
it involved living the way philosophers live,
according to a set of principles. OK, but which ones?

That was the hardest part, I admit, but I had a
kind of dark foreknowledge of what it would be like.
Everything, from eating watermelon or going to the bathroom
or just standing on a subway platform, lost in thought
for a few minutes, or worrying about rain forests,
would be affected, or more precisely, inflected
by my new attitude. I wouldn't be preachy,
or worry about children and old people, except
in the general way prescribed by our clockwork universe.
Instead I'd sort of let things be what they are
while injecting them with the serum of the new moral climate
I thought I'd stumbled into, as a stranger
accidentally presses against a panel and a bookcase slides back,
revealing a winding staircase with greenish light
somewhere down below, and he automatically steps inside
and the bookcase slides shut, as is customary on such occasions.
At once a fragrance overwhelms him--not saffron, not lavender,
but something in between.He thinks of cushions, like the one
his uncle's Boston bull terrier used to lie on watching him
quizzically, pointed ear-tips folded over. And then the great rush
is on. Not a single idea emerges from it. It's enough
to disgust you with thought. But then you remember something
    William James
wrote in some book of his you never read--it was fine, it had the
    fineness,
the powder of life dusted over it, by chance, of course, yet
    still looking
for evidence of fingerprints. Someone had handled it
even before he formulated it, though the thought was his and
      his alone.

It's fine, in summer, to visit the seashore.
There are lots of little trips to be made.
A grove of fledgling aspens welcomes the traveler. Nearby
are the public toilets where weary pilgrims have carved
their names and addresses, and perhaps messages as well,
messages to the world, as they sat
and thought about what they'd do after using the toilet
and washing their hands at the sink, prior to stepping out
into the open again. Had they been coaxed in by principles,
and were their words philosophy, of however crude a sort?
I confess I can move no farther along this train of thought--
something's blocking it. Something I'm
not big enough to see over. Or maybe I'm frankly scared.
What was the matter with how I acted before?
But maybe I can come up with a compromise--I'll let
things be what they are, sort of. In the autumn I'll put up jellies
and preserves, against the winter cold and futility,
and that will be a human thing, and intelligent as well.
I won't be embarrassed by my friends' dumb remarks,
or even my own, though admittedly that's the hardest part,
as when you are in a crowded theater and something you say
riles the spectator in front of you, who doesn't even like the idea
of two people near him talking together. Well he's
got to be flushed out so the hunters can have a crack at him--
this thing works both ways, you know. You can't always
be worrying about others and keeping track of yourself
at the same time.That would be abusive, and about as much fun
as attending the wedding of two people you don't know.
Still, there's a lot of fun to be had in the gaps between ideas.
That's what they're made for! Now I want you to go out there
and enjoy yourself, and yes, enjoy your philosophy of life, too.
They don't come along every day. Look out! There's a big one...
—John Ashbery

Gran Chaco
El Gran Chaco (término generalmente aceptado como proveniente del quechua chaku: (territorio de cacería) es una de las principales regiones geográficas de Sudamérica, ubicada en el Cono Sur, que se extiende por parte de los actuales territorios de la Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil y Paraguay, entre los ríos Paraguay y Paraná y el Altiplano andino. . . .

Argentina  -  Población Indígena
Toba (Guaykuru)   
Wichí (Mataco-Mataguayo o Maka)  
Ava guaraní (Tupí Guaraní-Chané)    
Mbya Guaraní  
Pilagá (Guaykuru)  
Guaraní (Tupi- Guaraní)  
Chorote (Mataco-Mataguayo o Maka)    
Chané (Arawak)  
Mocoví   
Tapiete (Tupi-Guaraní)    
Chulupí (Mataco-Mataguayo o Maka)

Bolivia  -  Población Indígena
Ava Guaraní, Izoceño  (Tupi-Guaraní- Chané)    
Weenhayek (Mataco-Mataguayo o Maka)  
Tapiete (Tupi-Guaraní)  

Paraguay  -  Población Indígena
Guaraní (occidental)
Guaraní- Nandeva (Tapieté),(Tupi-Guaraní)  
Ayoreo  (Zamuco-Ayoreo)   
Yshiro (Zamuco-Chamacoco)    
Nivaclé (Chulupi) (Maka-Nivaklé)   
Maká (Mataco-Mataguayo o Maka)   
Manjují  (Choroti)(Mataco-Mataguayo o Maka)    
Enxet (Lengua Enxet, Enth-let o Enxlet)    
Sanapaná (Nenlhet, Lengua Maskoy)    
Angaité (enenlhet, Lengua Maskoy)   
Toba- Maskoy (o Enenxet, Lengua Maskoy)    
Guaná   
Toba Qom (Guaykurú- Qom)

Toba
Los tobas (del guaraní, tová: rostro, cara, frente) son una etnia del grupo pámpido que habita en el Gran Chaco. Hacia el siglo XVI habitaba gran parte del Chaco Central y del Chaco Austral.
La etnia toba se autodenominaba en su idioma ntokóit, luego comenzaron a utilizar el autoetnónimo q'om o qom (hombre) y más infrecuentemente por el uso de su propio idioma: qom'lek o qom'lik. Como habitualmente ocurre con las grafías de nombres indígenas se encuentran muchas variantes en la escritura de estas palabras. . . .

Chané
The Chané are a native ethnic group that populated the plains and valleys between the Chaco and the Andes in northern Argentina and southern Bolivia. The Chanes together with other Arawak groups left Guyana approximately 2,500 years ago. They developed a Neolithic culture, built densely populated villages, cultivated corn, peanuts, cotton and squash, and are famous for their ceramics and graphics which have been found mainly in the pampas surrounding the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, El Fuerte in Samaipata, and in Portachuelo, Valle Abajo, Okinawa, Cotoca, El Pari, Mataral and Warnes. They also crafted wooden masks and fabric clothing. . . .

Chorote
Los chorotes, chorotí, manjuy o como se autodenominan, yofuasha o yofwaja, son un pueblo originario de ambas orillas del río Pilcomayo, en Bolivia, Paraguay y la Argentina.
En la Argentina son cerca de 2.300 personas, repartidas en ocho comunidades de la provincia de Salta. En Bolivia habitan en el departamento de Tarija. . . .

Historia de HOKTEK T'OI (Wichi)
© WRM Movimiento Mundial por los Bosques Tropicales
INTRODUCCION Somos una comunidad indígena del pueblo wichí. Nuestra comunidad se llama Hoktek T'oi, que significa en castellano "Lapacho Mocho". Se ubica cerca de la Ruta 86, a 18 km. del pueblo de Tartagal en la Provincia de Salta, Argentina. Somos unas 20 familias nucleares, con una población que oscila entre 60 y 80 personas. Tenemos el título de propiedad de un terreno de 27 hectáreas, y detentamos la posesión de un espacio contiguo de 17 hectáreas, más las dos hectáreas ocupadas por el cementerio comunitario.
La historia de nuestra comunidad lleva las heridas de políticas estatales e intereses económicos que militan contra nuestra existencia. Víctima sacrificial del equívoco "progreso humano", Hoktek T'oi tiene un futuro que no puede ser sino un flagelio para los miembros, si no se pone fin a los abusos que sufrimos. . . .

Roberto "Oveja" Telch (born November 6, 1943 in San Vicente, Córdoba) is a former Argentine footballer. He won four league championships with San Lorenzo in Argentina and represented the Argentina national football team at the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
Playing Career
Telch started his professional career in a 3-2 win against Ferro Carril Oeste on September 9, 1962. He was first selected to play for the Argentina national team in 1964 when he played in the 1964 Cup of Nations.
In 1968 Telch won his first title with San Lorenzo, winning the Metropolitano, and becoming the first team in the professional era of Argentine football to complete a season without losing a game. . . .

pregunta de un visitante:
¿Qué pasa en Tartagal y en la Provincia de Salta con los que gobiernan? ¿Aunque sea ilegal hacerlo de momento, es posible que empresas sigan talando árboles para llevárselos en camiones sin que nadie se oponga de verdad aparte de algunos miembros de la Comunidad Wichi en Lapacho Mocho y pocos otros ciudadanos? Así me pareció, así lo ví, y lo digo con todo el respeto del mundo para los ciudadanos de Tartagal y de Salta, y para los lindos bosques del norte.
v.m.
____________

Tillykke Danmark!

Sverige 0 - Danmark 1
____________

frase lamentable:
"Los desaparecidos no están ni vivos ni muertos: están desaparecidos".
—Jorge Rafael Videla, militar genocida de la última dictadura Argentina.

Hay algo en tu nariz que escondes muy bien
Domingo, 7 de Junio de 2009, © Página 12
Por Marisa Rubio
Buscando imágenes de Condes me encontré con la del Conde-Duque de Olivares.
Empecé por guardarla entre otras que iba encontrando. Después, para tenerla más a la vista, la imprimí. Más adelante volví a imprimirla por partes hasta llevar al personaje a escala real y armar un mural. Conviví con el Conde-Duque casi un año. Todavía no sé si su compañía me gusta o no, pero su presencia constante, cargada de esa fija insistencia, terminó por descomponer algo dentro de mi percepción cotidiana. . . .

El recuerdo que deja un libro a veces es más importante que el libro en sí.
—Adolfo Bioy Casares

Múltiples patiperros
El escritor vuelve a Holanda, lugar de sus exilios, con la presidenta Bachelet. Y encuentra tanto su vieja comunidad chilena como una nueva, más alegre, que es fruto de una democracia.
Domingo, 7 de Junio de 2009, © Página 12
Por Ariel Dorfman
Fue recién llegado a Chile, a los doce años, que escuché por primera vez la extraña palabra “patiperros”. Le había confidenciado a un amigo de mi nuevo colegio que me sentía yo distante de los chilenos –habiendo nacido en Buenos Aires y pasado el resto de mis años juveniles en Nueva York–, y él me respondió: “Pero en algo ya te pareces a los chilenos. Somos todos unos patiperros”. . . .

frase lamentable:
La vida de un judío vale más que la vida de un palestino
—Ehud Olmert, Primer Ministro Israelí

Más de 50 indios muertos
El gobierno confirmó el fallecimiento de 22 policías, mientras los indígenas muertos serían, según diversas versiones llegadas desde la zona de la masacre, más de treinta. Sólo se han admitido nueve víctimas civiles.
Domingo, 7 de Junio de 2009, © Página 12
Por Carlos Noriega
Desde Lima
La cifra de muertos subió ayer a más de cincuenta luego de la violenta represión policial contra un piquete de nativos amazónicos que bloqueaban una carretera de la selva en protesta contra una serie de leyes dadas para implementar el Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) con Estados Unidos y que afectan a sus comunidades. . . .

Un nieto de Franco insultó y le dio patadas a una argentina
Por: Juan Carlos Algañaraz
Domingo 07, Junio 2009, © Clarín.com
Francisco Franco Martínez Bordiú, nieto del dictador español, agredió a una vigilante de seguridad, ciudadana argentina, del tren de Alta Velocidad en la estación de Zaragoza tras atravesar por la fuerza el control porque llegó tarde. "¡Vete a tu puto país!", la increpó después de arrojarla al suelo y propinarle unas patadas, según informan varios medios. . . .

"De la ley de residencia al terrorismo de Estado"
Un viaje, a través de las imágenes, por la historia negra de nuestro país entre los años 1900 y 1983.Viernes 22 de Mayo de 2009, © El Tribuno Salta
Los oscuros días del proceso militar que durante siete años gobernó nuestro país están reflejados en una muestra de fotografías que desde esta semana se puso a consideración del público. . . .

Identifican a 42 desaparecidos durante la dictadura
Martes 02.06.2009, © El País Digital
El Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF) anunció el martes la identificación de los restos de 42 desaparecidos durante la dictadura militar de 1976 a 1983 en este país. . . .

Lo Gris
"Mi alma es hermana del cielo gris
y de las hojas secas"
(Juan Ramón Jiménez)

Amo lo gris.
El plenilunio exacto
de la niebla sutil.
Hay algo melancólico,
indefinido y leve
en la dulzura del dolor así.

Amo lo gris
porque tras él espero
la forma iridiscente
de la felicidad.
En este nostalgioso cortejo
de penurias, sostengo la alegría
de mis heridos pies,
que sólo han encontrado
jazmines ya dolientes
y alguna que otra altura
de redención,
de luz.

Amo lo gris.
En el paisaje oculto
de la risa fugaz
hay algo de fragancias
magnólicas y errantes
que dibuja en los vientos
la transparencia gris.

Amo en lo gris
un cuento de la vida,
orfebre de soledosa
vastedad.
Pinar profundo.
Retorcidas ramas.
Alas que sueñan así
la inmensidad.

Amo en lo gris
el fondo de las aguas
donde se esconde la pasión
del coral.
La terneza de algas.
La sed del mismo vuelo
en procura insaciable
de la lumbre inmortal.

Amo en lo gris
el luminoso marco de las cosas.
El diálogo infinito
del invisible ser.
La amada luna ausente
de las noches veladas
por ese signo oculto
de lo insondable gris.

La angustia que sumerge
sus manos ateridas
en ese mar oscuro
sin conocer el fin,
fue en busca de la estrella
y a veces fue la piedra;
quiso en sí las espinas
y se le dio el dulzor.

La mano de la angustia
tiene falanges grises.
Diez centinelas duros
sobre el reloj de cal.

Los diamantes son grises.
Las esmeraldas grises,
y el brillo que deslumbra
les damos en la lucha
de ansiar en nuestro cielo
la rosa venturosa
que viene de lo gris.

Amo lo gris
talvez porque a mis ojos
dieron color de la fruta total,
que sabe dar al tiempo
de la dicha su esencia
y al tiempo de la pena
sus lágrimas de miel.

Amo en lo gris
indefinidamente,
la llovizna, la niebla,
la arboleda sin sol,
que atesoran en torno
de cosas olvidadas
todo ese mundo tierno
que me hace amar lo gris.

Amo lo gris
indefinidamente,
y soy apenas, creo,
un estuche pequeño de grises
terciopelos
que aprieta el rojo exacto
de la vida que bebe
su propio corazón.

—María Luisa Artecona de Thompson

'Scaredy-Cat Nation' Risks US Security
By Robert Parry
May 29, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
Some Americans may think they’re looking tough by refusing to allow any Guantanamo Bay detainees to enter the United States, whether as prisoners to face trial or as people who were incorrectly swept up – like the Chinese Uighurs – and have been deemed no threat to U.S. security. . . .

Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
—Tecumseh

Colin Powell: No Good Samaritan
By Ray McGovern
May 28, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
Watching retired Gen. Colin Powell cite Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan during Sunday’s Memorial Day ceremonies on the Mall in Washington, it struck me that Powell was giving hypocrisy a bad name.
Those familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan and the under-reported behavior of Gen. Powell, resurgent star of the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM), know that the two do not mesh. . . .

La ciencia se compone de errores, que, a su vez, son los pasos hacia la verdad.
—Julio Cortázar

Torture and Truth
By Jonathan Schell
May 27, 2009, © The Nation
It has fallen to President Obama to deal with the policies and practices of torture inaugurated by the Bush administration. He started boldly, ordering an end to the abuses, announcing the closing in one year of the detention camp at Guantánamo and releasing the Bush-era Justice Department memos authorizing torture. Subsequently, he seemed to grow cautious. . . .

felicitats al millor equip del món en aquest moment-
felicitats al campió!!!
____________

Perceval Press recién comienza a preparar el trabajo para producir un libro sobre los importantes trabajos etnográficos de los doctores Schmidt y Susnik en el Gran Chaco durante el siglo XX. El libro incluirá una buena selección de fotos únicas de los pueblos indígenas de la región, tomadas por estos reconocidos investigadores europeos, con el permiso y apoyo de la Fundación La Piedad, propietaria y sostenedora del Museo Etnográfico Doctor Andrés Barbero (www.museobarbero.org.py). Cuando dicho libro, con sus textos en castellano e inglés, esté listo para ser presentado, lo anunciaremos. Gracias.
Viggo Mortensen.
____________

Vuelvo / quiero creer que estoy volviendo
con mi peor y mi mejor historia
conozco este camino de memoria
pero igual me sorprendo

hay tanto siempre que no llega nunca
tanta osadía tanta paz dispersa
tanta luz que era sombra y viceversa
y tanta vida trunca

vuelvo y pido perdón por la tardanza
se debe a que hice muchos borradores
me quedan dos o tres viejos rencores
y sólo una confianza

reparto mi experiencia a domicilio
y cada abrazo es una recompensa
pero me queda / y no siento vergüenza /
nostalgia del exilio

en qué momento consiguió la gente
abrir de nuevo lo que no se olvida
la madriguera linda que es la vida
culpable o inocente

vuelvo y se distribuyen mi jornada
las manos que recobro y las que dejo
vuelvo a tener un rostro en el espejo
y encuentro mi mirada

propios y ajenos vienen en mi ayuda
preguntan las preguntas que uno sueña
cruzo silbando por el santo y seña
y el puente de la duda

me fui menos mortal de lo que vengo
ustedes estuvieron / yo no estuve
por eso en este cielo hay una nube
y es todo lo que tengo

tira y afloja entre lo que se añora
y el fuego propio y la ceniza ajena
y el entusiasmo pobre y la condena
que no nos sirve ahora

vuelvo de buen talante y buena gana
se fueron las arrugas de mi ceño
por fin puedo creer en lo que sueño
estoy en mi ventana

nosotros mantuvimos nuestras voces
ustedes van curando sus heridas
empiezo a comprender las bienvenidas
mejor que los adioses

vuelvo con la esperanza abrumadora
y los fantasmas que llevé conmigo
y el arrabal de todos y el amigo
que estaba y no está ahora

todos estamos rotos pero enteros
diezmados por perdones y resabios
un poco más gastados y más sabios
más viejos y sinceros

vuelvo sin duelo y ha llovido tanto
en mi ausencia en mis calles en mi mundo
que me pierdo en los nombres y confundo
la lluvia con el llanto

vuelvo / quiero creer que estoy volviendo
con mi peor y mi mejor historia
conozco este camino de memoria
pero igual me sorprendo.

(Mario Benedetti)

Apuntes sobre la Revolución de Mayo
Por José Pablo Feinmann
Domingo, 24 de Mayo de 2009, © Página/12
¡Cuántos puntos de vista hemos trazado sobre la Revolución de Mayo! ¿Tendrá sentido seguir discutiendo? ¿Qué discutimos? Puedo decir qué discutía yo en 1975 cuando escribí Filosofía y Nación y fui duro y crítico con Moreno y los suyos. . . .

Sin tregua
UNA ENTREVISTA DE MARIA ESTHER GILIO A BENEDETTI
Por María Esther Gilio
Domingo, 24 de Mayo de 2009, © Radar, Página/12
Me gustaría que empezaras por recordar tu vida en el momento en que escribiste La tregua. ¿Por qué esa historia difícil de imaginar en un escritor joven? ¿Qué edad tenías cuando la escribiste?
–No tan joven. Ya estaba casado. Tendría 25. . . .

Entre Vallejo y Neruda
Por Mario Benedetti
Domingo, 24 de Mayo de 2009, © Radar, Página/12
Hoy en día parece bastante claro que, en la actual poesía hispanoamericana, las dos presencias tutelares se llaman Pablo Neruda y César Vallejo. No pienso meterme aquí en el atolladero de decidir qué vale más: si el caudal incesante, avasallador, abundante en plenitudes, del chileno, o el lenguaje seco a veces, irregular, entrañable y estallante, vital hasta el sufrimiento, del peruano. Más allá de discutibles o gratuitos cotejos, creo sin embargo que es posible relevar una esencial diferencia en cuanto tiene relación con las influencias que uno y otro ejercieron y ejercen en las generaciones posteriores, que inevitablemente reconocen su magisterio. . . .

Benedetti: los lectores lloran a su poeta
A su muerte, Mario Benedetti dejó un libro sin terminar. Dos de esos poemas se publican por primera vez aquí. Y también, las cartas en las que gente de varios países se despide del querido escritor.
Patricia Kolesnicov
Domingo, 24 de Mayo de 2009, © Clarín
Si no hay retiro, si no hay jubilación para los escritores, es casi inevitable que al morir dejen algún libro a medio camino. Es el caso: hace una semana moría el uruguayo Mario Benedetti y en la computadora de su agente, Willie Schávelzon, quedaban los poemas de un libro que venía escribiendo lentamente. En los últimos meses, enfermo, se los dictaba a Ariel Silva, su secretario, quien los iba escribiendo y los leía con él para que los corrigiera. Entre ellos estaban "Crepúsculo" y "A pesar mío", que se publican por primera vez en la página que sigue. . . .

Quien obra puede equivocarse, pero quien no hace nada ya está equivocado.
—Santa Teresa de Jesús

A boyhood encounter with Bonnie and Clyde
By DAVID CASSTEVENS
MIDLOTHIAN — Seventy-five years ago, a posse of six lawmen armed with automatic rifles shot and killed Bonnie and Clyde on a desolate gravel road in rural Louisiana. . . .

Mr. Obama,
You are a fine speechmaker and have helped the government and people of the U.S.A. generally feel a more sincere and positive connection to the civilized world than they have had a right to feel in recent years. However, to name a few of what I honestly feel are dangerously misguided positions of yours that will allow the black mark on our nation’s legacy to further stain its way towards becoming a permanent scar:

1) Afghanistan is not a “good” war.
2) The government and people of Israel ought not be held in higher esteem than those of any other nation.
3) Most importantly, you should not let Cheney, G.W. Bush, and other immoral, murderous criminals in their administration off the hook. You and your relatively new government are, it is hoped, better than Gerald Ford and his government, who unforgivably pardoned the wretched criminal Richard Nixon for somewhat less significant wrongdoings and betrayals of the people of this and other countries than Cheney and company are guilty of.

Mr. Cheney,
Please return to cuddling up on your immense pile of blood-soaked plunder and go back to sleep. You are a lying, mercenary, savagely cruel, shameless coward. You were a child once; please remember that there are children and families of these children in the United States of America and in the rest of the world who suffer long-lasting harm from your merciless, uncompassionate words and actions, and from your continuing unrepentant espousal of the same.

V.M.
____________

COMO QUIEN OYE LLOVER

Óyeme como quien oye llover,
ni atenta ni distraída,
pasos leves, llovizna,
agua que es aire, aire que es tiempo,
el día no acaba de irse,
la noche no llega todavía,
figuraciones de la niebla
al doblar la esquina,
figuraciones del tiempo
en el recodo de esta pausa,
óyeme como quien oye llover,
sin oírme, oyendo lo que digo
con los ojos abiertos hacia adentro,
dormida con los cinco sentidos despiertos,
llueve, pasos leves, rumor de sílabas,
aire y agua, palabras que no pesan:
lo que fuimos y somos,
los días y los años, este instante,
tiempo sin peso, pesadumbre enorme,
óyeme como quien oye llover,
relumbra el asfalto húmedo,
el vaho se levanta y camina,
la noche se abre y me mira,
eres tú y tu talle de vaho,
tú y tu cara de noche,
tú y tu pelo, lento relámpago,
cruzas la calle y entras en mi frente,
pasos de agua sobre mis párpados,
óyeme como quien oye llover,
el asfalto relumbra, tú cruzas la calle,
es la niebla errante en la noche,
como quien oye llover
es la noche dormida en tu cama,
es el oleaje de tu respiración,
tus dedos de agua mojan mi frente,
tus dedos de llama queman mis ojos,
tus dedos de aire abren los párpados del tiempo,
manar de apariciones y resurrecciones,
óyeme como quien oye llover,
pasan los años, regresan los instantes,
¿oyes tus pasos en el cuarto vecino?
no aquí ni allá: los oyes
en otro tiempo que es ahora mismo,
oye los pasos del tiempo
inventor de lugares sin peso ni sitio,
oye la lluvia correr por la terraza,
la noche ya es más noche en la arboleda,
en los follajes ha anidado el rayo,
vago jardín a la deriva
entra, tu sombra cubre esta página.

—Octavio Paz
____________

Chau, Mario Benedetti.
¡Gracias, Maestro, por tu arte y tu amor!

Entre siempre y jamás

Entre siempre y jamás
el rumbo el mundo oscilan
y ya que amor y odio
nos vuelven categóricos
pongamos etiquetas
de rutina y tanteo

-jamás volveré a verte
-unidos para siempre
-no morirán jamás
-siempre y cuando me admitan
-jamás de los jamases
-(y hasta la fe dialéctica
de) por siempre jamás
-etcétera etcétera

de acuerdo
pero en tanto
que un siempre abre un futuro
y un jamás se hace un abismo
mi siempre puede ser
jamás de otros tantos

siempre es una meseta
con borde con final
jamás es una oscura
caverna de imposibles
y sin embargo a veces
nos ayuda un indicio

que cada siempre lleva
su hueso de jamás
que los jamases tienen
arrebatos de siempres

así
incansablemente
insobornablemente
entre siempre y jamás
fluye la vida insomne
pasan los grandes ojos
abiertos de la vida.

—Mario Benedetti

Please support Homeboy Industries. Some Information about this unique and invaluable Los Angeles organization:
Homeboy Industries assists at-risk and former gang involved youth to become contributing members of our community through a variety of services in response to their multiple needs.  Free programs -- including counseling, education, tattoo removal, job training and job placement -- enable young people to redirect their lives and provide them with hope for their futures.  A distinctive feature of Homeboy Industries is its small businesses, where the most difficult to place individuals are hired in transitional jobs, thus giving them a safe, supportive environment in which to learn both concrete and soft job skills, while simultaneously building their resume and work experience. As City and County leadership strive to combat this complex and entrenched issue, we at Homeboy Industries remain committed to addressing the root causes of gang violence: poverty, lack of education, lack of opportunity, and perhaps most importantly, a lethal absence of hope.
Kaile Shilling
Associate Director of Development
Homeboy Industries
130 W. Bruno Street Los Angeles, CA 90012
(323) 526-1254 phone
(323) 526-1257 fax

Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense.
—Amelia Earhart

The Right Bullied Obama on Photos
By Jason Leopold
May 14, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
In reversing an earlier commitment to release photos of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners, President Barack Obama succumbed to a propaganda barrage unleashed by former Bush administration officials, their congressional allies, the right-wing news media and holdovers who retain key jobs under Obama. . . .

The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest.
—Henry David Thoreau

Tortured Logic, Tortured Results
By William Loren Katz
May 14, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
Each day the evidence piles up - highlighted by the unconvincing (and self-incriminating) rants of Dick Cheney.
Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, said, "the administration authorized harsh interrogation in April and May of 2002 -- well before the Justice Department had rendered any legal opinion -- its principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at pre-empting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al-Qa'ida." (Washington Note, May 13, 2009) . . .

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure , the process is its own reward.
—Amelia Earhart
____________

You never need an argument against the use of violence, you need an argument for it.
—Noam Chomsky

The Politics of Escalation
By Tom Hayden & Joseph Gerson
May 12, 2009, © The Nation
Congressional leaders are cooperating with the Obama administration in quashing any serious criticism of growing military escalation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. . . .

If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged.
—Noam Chomsky

The Bomb Iran Faction
By GARY LEUPP
May 12, 2009, © Counterpunch
There is clearly a faction of the power elite that is, and has for some years been pressing, for a U.S. military attack on Iran. It is not advocating a war, at least openly, or an occupation of that vast nation; rather, it is advocating an operation similar in concept to the Israeli attack on Iraq’s French-built Osiraq nuclear reactor in 1981. In a word, it is both advocating an Israeli-like action and justifying it explicitly as one on behalf of Israel. . . .

To some degree it matters who's in office, but it matters more how much pressure they're under from the public.
—Noam Chomsky

Cheney Learned Iran-Contra Lessons
By Jonathan Schwarz
May 9, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
In a new article by Stephen "W.W. Beauchamp" Hayes, former Vice President Cheney gripes extensively about the Obama administration. It's exactly what you'd expect.
But what you might not expect is that Cheney (seemingly inadvertently) confirms that there was a massive cover-up of the Iran-Contra scandal by the Reagan administration . . .

¡Grande Bergessio, Grande!
SAN LORENZO AGUANTA MÁS

AUNQUE LA AFA-NO QUIERA
Por la decimotercera fecha del Clausura, San Lorenzo igualó 1 a 1 con Boca, en un encuentro signado por los fallos del árbitro Beligoy y sus colaboradores. La visita se puso en ventaja con un gol polémico de Roncaglia, que sólo fue marcado por el juez luego de que su asistente lo señalara. Minutos después, un grotesco penal de Forlín no contó con una visión similar, y no fue sancionado. En el inicio del complemento, Beligoy expulsó a Juan Manuel Torres y dejó al beneficiario del Apertura 2008 con un hombre más. En el cierre del encuentro, una guapeada deGonzalo Bergessio llevó algo de justicia al marcador, y postergó los deseos xeneizes de reducir la histórica paternidad azulgrana.
____________

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”
—Howard Zinn

Cashing in on 'Government Sachs'
By Robert Scheer
May 6, 2009, © The Nation
We are so inured to tales of business corruption that even a devastating expose in the Wall Street Journal no longer shocks us. The fact that the chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank made millions off his secret purchase of Goldman Sachs stock, "in violation of Federal Reserve policy," as the WSJ put it, at a time when the New York Fed was ostensibly overseeing the antics of the Wall Street firm, has barely registered a blip of outrage. . . .

Chelsea got away with murder in Barcelona, and Barcelona got away with murder at Chelsea. Seems fair enough. Not really. Two of the worst jobs of refereeing seen in a long time. The bottom line is that Barcelona played better in both games and have a superior team. Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink and many of his players, especially Michael Ballack, should go back to football and leave martial arts behind as their sport of choice. Felicitats al Barça!
____________

¡DALE DALE DALE SANLORÉ!

____________

Dear Mr. Obama,
Please close the Guantánamo detention facilities, as you promised to do. Please remove the U.S. military from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, giving that property back to the Cuban government. Please get the U.S. military out of Iraq, as you promised to do. Please stop ramping up the insanely destructive, costly, and ultimately pointless occupation of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not the "good war". Please remove the U.S. military from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Central and South America - for starters. Please support our troops by bringing them home where they belong, to train for defending the nation should that need truly arise.
Thank you.
____________

In an economy motivated by private corporate profit, the human effects of production are secondary,
and social concern is a luxury.
—Howard Zinn
____________

Felicitats al Barça.

Gracias, Robben y Casillas, por la valentía y la entrega.

Trial opens into alleged gang kidnap, torture and murder of French Jew
Angelique Chrisafis
29 April 2009, © The Guardian
France was forced to confront the moral decay of its deprived housing estates as the trial opened today one of the decade's most harrowing murder cases: the kidnap and torturing to death of a Jewish mobile phone salesman by a gang said to believe Jews were "loaded" and would club together to pay a ransom. . . .

"Evidentemente algo se quebró"
Román Perroni
30.04.2009, © Mundo Azulgrana
BUENOS AIRES- Para el fútbol actual, el de "estos tiempos" como remarcó en varios tramos de la nota con Mariano Closs en radio La Red, Santiago Solari es un libro abierto a la hora hablar de este deporte que moviliza multitudes. “Estoy bien, un poco mejor por la victoria y el buen comienzo de Simeone como entrenador”, arrancó el zurdo que llegó al Ciclón en septiembre de 2008. . . .

No habrá copa, pero ganamos bien y ya cambió la cosa.
¡Dale Cholo,
Dale San Lorenzo!

"¿El Chelsea? Muchas patadas y poco fútbol"
LUIS MARTÍN
29/04/2009, © El País
"Fuimos mejores", dijo Piqué al final del partido con cara de circunstancias. "El equipo se merece un 10", insitió la revelación azulgrana de la temporada, que ayer volvió a jugar un partidazo. Un sentimiento compartido por sus compañeros. "Un 0-0 no está mal", apuntó Eto'o. "Han sido muy defensivos. Hemos tenido ocasiones para marcar. Hemos dominado arriba, visto al Barça de siempre, pero sin concretar las ocasiones. Nos ha faltado marcar algún golito. El resultado es injusto", resumió Xavi. . . .

The swine flu crisis lays bare the meat industry's monstrous power
Mike Davis
Monday 27 April 2009, © The Guardian
The Mexican swine flu, a genetic chimera probably conceived in the faecal mire of an industrial pigsty, suddenly threatens to give the whole world a fever. The initial outbreaks across North America reveal an infection already travelling at higher velocity than did the last official pandemic strain, the 1968 Hong Kong flu. . . .

Entre el rencor de unos y el desahogo de los de enfrente
Por Nicolas Castrovillari
26 de Abril de 2009, © Perfil.com
Aunque el sol inunda los rincones del Nuevo Gasómetro, la tarde arranca fría por el Bajo Flores. Faltan 20 minutos para el comienzo del partido y la tribuna local está lejos de llenarse. Es, acaso, un síntoma del desencanto que aún perdura en los hinchas con el plantel de San Lorenzo. . . .

Pezzotta, sos un pelotudo sin vergüenza, pero no pasa nada. Estamos acostumbrados a tener que ver con imbéciles. Aguantaremos, como siempre.
¡Lindo gol, "Indiecito"! Adelante Ciclón.
____________

Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor. —Francis Bacon

El Negro que sobrevivió a los nazis
IÑIGO LÓPEZ PALACIOS
26/04/2009, © El País
"¿Yo no soy ario?". Hans tenía ocho años cuando lanzó esta pregunta a su madre. Así lo narra en su biografía Testigo de raza. Un negro en la Alemania nazi. La historia de un mulato nacido en Hamburgo en 1926 y que vivió en esa ciudad el ascenso y la caída del nazismo. "Sobreviví gracias a un resquicio en las leyes raciales. No éramos suficientes en mi ciudad para que los nazis se fijaran en mí, al revés de lo que les pasó a los llamados bastardos de Rhineland", dice Massaquoi desde su jubilación en Estados Unidos. . . .

When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a great many friends. They never forgive the loss of their prerogative.
—Francis Bacon

Obama y Afganistán
FRANCESC VENDRELL
26/04/2009
A primera vista, muchas cosas encomiables se aprecian en la perspectiva adoptada por la Administración de Barack Obama respecto a Afganistán. En realidad, muchos de sus nuevos elementos coinciden con los que mi organismo defendió cuando yo era Representante Especial de la Unión Europea para ese país. . . .

Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
—Francis Bacon

Putting the Bush Years on Trial
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
April 24-26, 2009, © Counterpunch
The notion of putting the Bush years on trial has never held allure for President Obama; even less so that of putting Wall Street in the dock. From his lips has always dropped the catechism of uplift and forgiveness, of “moving forward”. He and his advisors had supposed that closing down Guantanamo and issuing a stern denunciation of torture would be sufficient advertisement of the new era; that a few terse reprimands for excessive bonuses for executives would slake the public appetite for retribution on the bankers and tycoons. . . .

Je reviendrai à Montréal...
Alexandre Harvey
23 avr. 2009, © canadiens.com
MONTRÉAL – Beaucoup d’encre a coulé à propos des 10 joueurs des Canadiens qui voient se pointer à l’horizon l’autonomie complète le 1er juillet. Que leur réserve l’avenir? Plusieurs d’entre eux savent déjà où ils veulent être. . . .

The Great Credit Card Battle To Come
Robert Reich
April 23, 2009, © RobertReich.blogspot.com
The next front in the banking wars will be over credit cards. Some of the nation's biggest bankers -- including representatives of Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and other recipients of billions of taxpayer dollars -- are meeting today with the President to ask him back off his move to reform credit-card lending practices. . . .

Alba de noche oscura

Sobre la luna inmóvil de un espejo,
celebra una redonda cofradía
de verdes pinos, tintos de oro viejo,
la transfiguración del rey del día.

La plata blanda, ayuna del reflejo,
muere ya. Del cristal -lámina fría-
dice la voz del vaho en agonía:
-Doró mi lengua el sol, ¿de qué me quejo?

La puertas del ocaso, ya cerradas,
tapina de luto el campo. Negros perros,
a lo que nadie sabe, ocultos, gritan.

Decapitando sueños, fatigadas,
sobre el túmulo alto de los cerros
las estrellas del valle se marchitan.

—Rafael Alberti

Real World Reasons Against Torture
By Coleen Rowley
April 24, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
Back in December 2007, when I wrote "Torture is Wrong, Illegal and It Doesn't Work," I mentioned that "the FBI agent who reportedly had the best chance of foiling the 9/11 plot, Ali Soufan, the only Arabic-speaking agent in New York and one of only eight in the country, and who has since resigned from the FBI, could and should tell people the truth of how the CIA's tactics were counterproductive." . . .

Torture-Spinning Punditry
By David Swanson
April 23, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
While much of elite U.S. punditry is backing away from torture, Jeff Jacoby is claiming to have opposed it but to now find it excusable. . . .

What credibility is there in Geneva's all-white boycott?
Seumas Milne
Thursday 23 April 2009, © The Guardian
What do the US, Canada, ­Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Italy and Israel have in common? They are all either European or European-settler states. And they all decided to boycott this week's UN ­conference against racism in Geneva – even before Monday's incendiary speech by the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which triggered a further white-flight walkout by representatives of another 23 European states. . . .

If you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else.
—Marvin Gaye

Obama and the Big Dogs
By William Greider
April 22, 2009, © The Nation
The big dogs of banking and finance are playing a rough game of bump-and-run with our president, trying to knock him off balance and demonstrate their dominance. The best names in Wall Street--Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase--pumped out happy talk about quarterly earnings, then announced that they intend to give back the government's money (more than $50 billion, if counted honestly). The crisis, they announce, is over for them. They want to be free of official meddling in their private affairs. The arrogance is breathtaking, even for Wall Street bankers. . . .

"No hay reconstrucción en Gaza"
ENTREVISTA: JOHN GING Director de la Agencia de la ONU para los Refugiados en Gaza
JUAN MIGUEL MUÑOZ
20/04/2009, © El País
Curtido en Congo, Bosnia y Kosovo, la conversación con el ex oficial del Ejército irlandés John Ging (1965), director de la Agencia de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados Palestinos (UNRWA) en Gaza, gira en torno a la gente corriente y al fracaso del imperio de la ley. Tres meses después de la guerra que arrasó la infraestructura económica del territorio, Ging trata de reactivar los amplísimos programas educativos y sociales. Pero Israel rechaza abrir las fronteras. "Faltan cosas como papel para imprimir libros de texto y los exámenes", dice. Y añade: "No hay reconstrucción. No la habrá hasta que tengamos acceso al suministro de materiales". . . .

Historia e impostura, una fraternidad
FÉLIX DE AZÚA
20/04/2009, © El País
Si descartamos el pundonor profesional, virtud de difícil defensa (¿soy honrado o me he acomodado a la "honradez" de mi biotopo?), no hay muchas razones para escribir honradamente la verdad. Los historiadores, como los periodistas, han de verse constantemente asaltados por la duda. ¿Es verdad que los franquistas "ocuparon" Barcelona, o la "liberaron", como decían las grandes familias que todavía hoy controlan el país con nuevas máscaras? Decidir sobre un verbo puede marcar para siempre. . . .

How Bush's Tortured Legal Logic Won
By Robert Parry
April 17, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
Almost as disturbing as reading the Bush administration’s approved menu of brutal interrogation techniques is recognizing how President George W. Bush successfully shopped for government attorneys willing to render American laws meaningless by turning words inside out. . . .

Just Walking Around

What name do I have for you?
Certainly there is not name for you
In the sense that the stars have names
That somehow fit them. Just walking around,

An object of curiosity to some,
But you are too preoccupied
By the secret smudge in the back of your soul
To say much and wander around,

Smiling to yourself and others.
It gets to be kind of lonely
But at the same time off-putting.
Counterproductive, as you realize once again

That the longest way is the most efficient way,
The one that looped among islands, and
You always seemed to be traveling in a circle.
And now that the end is near

The segments of the trip swing open like an orange.
There is light in there and mystery and food.
Come see it.
Come not for me but it.
But if I am still there, grant that we may see each other.

—John Ashbery

Judgment Day for Tax Cheats
By Robert Scheer
April 15, 2009, © The Nation
One wonders if Phil Gramm has been made just a tad nervous by the news on Tuesday that one of UBS's super-wealthy private clients has pleaded guilty to tax evasion. That's the second case in two weeks involving the bank at which the former senator is a vice chairman, and 100 other clients are under investigation for possible bank-assisted tax fraud. . . .

"Le voy a pelear el puesto a mi vejo"
NICOLAS MIGLIAVACCA
Jueves 26, Marzo 2009, © Olé
Ahí estaban. Solitos en la tranquilidad que ofrece Pilar y el verde paisaje que decora cada rincón. Ellos dos, padre e hijo... Alberto Acosta, el viejo. Y Mickael, el nene. De punta en blanco, poniéndose el traje de anfitrión, el Beto recibió a Olé como si fuese su casa. En realidad, Fénix sí es su casa. Al punto que no tuvo problemas en abrir él mismo el estadio para hacer algunas fotos. . . .

Bienvenido al nido y ¡Suerte, Cholo!

____________

¡Pasá la pelota, Robben! Tenés talento, pero dejá de hacerte el
cancherito, que Messi no sos.

____________

Dear Barack Obama,
Please end the embargo against Cuba, and thereby, aside from acting humanely, take away all possible justification for the Castro regime's oppression and censorship of the Cuban people. Set the example no other president has had the courage to. Go all the way, live and let live. Thank you in advance.

____________

Dear Mr. Obama,
Mr. Netanyahu does not and should not dictate US foreign policy any more than any murderous entity of any alliegance or origin ought to. Please have the courage to stop giving special treatment to Israel in the misguided interest that all US presidents since the foundation of the state of Israel have had in pampering that nation's governments in order to maintain what in effect has been an off-shore US military base in the Middle East. Otherwise, all efforts to move past the long-standing political misunderstandings in that region will be doomed to fail, and the resulting carnage and terrorist actions from all sides - including not only those of so-called "Muslim" armed groups but also those of the United States and Israeli armed forces - will continue to be the norm. Thank you in advance. Shalom.

____________

THE PEOPLE SPEAK
Documentary Film The People Speak premieres in 2009
Featuring a roster of celebrities including Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Eddie Vedder

New York, NY, April 14, 2009 – HISTORY™ and The People Speak organization, VOICES OF A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, have entered into a multi-tiered marketing and programming event, it was announced today by Nancy Dubuc, EVP/GM, HISTORY.  As part of this broad initiative, the network will premiere in 2009 THE PEOPLE SPEAK, a film which focuses on the concept of democracy, based on the lives and experiences of ordinary Americans who, through their words and actions, changed the course of history. The film will take viewers on a journey from the founding of this country to the civil rights movement and beyond.

THE PEOPLE SPEAK will feature dramatic performances chronicling the history of this country, including charter documents, letters, diaries and more, from such celebrities as Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, David Strathairn, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, Jasmine Guy, Q’orianka Kilcher, Michael Ealy, Kerry Washington, and musical performances from Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Allison Moorer and John Legend. These slices of life will be woven together with archival footage and interviews. . . .

“If the market is left to sort matters out, social injustice will be heightened and suffering in the community will grow with the neglect the market fosters.”
—Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand.

HELEN CLARK

Head of the UN Development Programme, Incumbent, Assumed office April 2009

37th Prime Minister of New Zealand: 5 December 1999 – 19 November 2008
Born: 26 February 1950 (age 59), Hamilton, New Zealand
Political party: Labour

Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950), a former Prime Minister of New Zealand, is the incoming head of theUnited Nations Development Programme, being appointed unanimously by the 192-member General Assembly. Clark was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand during three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008. She led theLabour Party from 1993 until it lost the 2008 general election. Clark is currently Labour's foreign affairs spokeswoman and MP for the Mount Albert electorate which she has held since 1981. Forbes magazine ranked her 20th most powerful woman in the world in 2006.

Clark was the eldest of four daughters of a Waikato farming family. Her mother, Margaret, of Irish birth, was a primary school teacher. Her father, George, a farmer, supported the National Party at the 1981 election. Clark studied at Te Pahu Primary School, at Epsom Girls' Grammar School in Auckland and at the University of Auckland, where she majored in politics and graduated with an MA (Honours) in 1974. Her thesis focused on rural political behaviour and representation. Helen Clark was a junior lecturer in political studies at the University of Auckland from 1973 to 1975, studied abroad on a University Grants Committee post-graduate scholarship in 1976, and then lectured in political studies at Auckland again while undertaking her PhD (which she never completed) from 1977 until her election to Parliament in 1981.

As a teenager Clark became politically active, protesting against the Vietnam War and campaigning against foreign military bases in New Zealand. She has worked actively in the New Zealand Labour Party for most of her life. She served as a member of the Party's New Zealand executive from 1978 until September 1988 and again from April 1989. She chaired the University of Auckland Princes Street branch of the Labour Party during her studies, becoming active alongside future Labour Party politicians including Richard Prebble, David Caygill, Margaret Wilson, and Richard Northey. Clark held the positions of president of the Labour Youth Council, executive member of the Party's Auckland Regional Council, secretary of the Labour Women's Council and member of the Policy Council.
She represented the New Zealand Labour Party at the congresses of the Socialist International and of the Socialist International Women in 1976, 1978, 1983 and 1986, at an Asia-Pacific Socialist Organisation Conference held in Sydney in 1981, and at the Socialist International Party Leaders' Meeting in Sydney in 1991.

Helen Clark first gained election to the New Zealand House of Representatives in the 1981 general election as one of four women who entered Parliament on that occasion. In winning the Mount Albert electorate in Auckland, she became the second woman elected to represent an Auckland electorate, and the seventeenth woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. At the 2005 general election Clark won 66% of the electorate votes, or 20,918 votes with a 14,749 majority. During her first term in the House (1981 - 1984), she became a member of the Statutes Revision Committee. In her second term (1984 - 1987), she chaired the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Select Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control, both of which combined with the Defence Select Committee in 1985 to form a single committee.

In 1987, Clark became a Cabinet Minister in the Fourth Labour Government, led by David Lange (1984-1989), Geoffrey Palmer (1989-1990) and Mike Moore (1990), first as Minister of Housing and as Minister of Conservation, then as Minister of Health and later as Deputy Prime Minister. She served as Minister of Conservation from August 1987 until January 1989 and as Minister of Housing from August 1987 until August 1989. She became Minister of Health in January 1989 and Minister of Labour and Deputy Prime Minister in August 1989. She chaired the Cabinet Social Equity Committee and became a member of the Cabinet Policy Committee, of the Cabinet Committee on Chief Executives, of the Cabinet Economic Development and Employment Committee, of the Cabinet Expenditure Review Committee, of the Cabinet State Agencies Committee, of the Cabinet Honours Appointments and Travel Committee and of the Cabinet Domestic and External Security Committee.

From October 1990 until December 1993 Clark held the posts of Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Opposition spokesperson for Health and Labour and member of the Social Services Select Committee and of the Labour Select Committee. After the National Party won the 1993 general election with a majority of one seat, Clark challenged Mike Moore for the leadership of the parliamentary Labour Party and became Leader of the Opposition on 1 December 1993. She led the Opposition during the National-led Governments of Jim Bolger (1990-1997) and Jenny Shipley (1997-1999).

Clark, like some other MPs and some New Zealanders (including some Labour Party members), supports New Zealand becoming a republic. Clark's term in office saw a number of alleged moves towards a republic, under her government's policy of building national identity. Examples include the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council and the setting up of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, the abolition of titular Knighthood and Damehood honours, and the abolition of the title "Queen's Counsel" (replaced by "Senior Counsel"). On 24 July 2008 Clark passed Sir Robert Muldoon to become New Zealand's sixth-longest-serving Prime Minister, and on 27 October 2008 she passed Edward Stafford's combined terms to become the 5th longest-serving Prime Minister. On 8 February 2008, Clark became the longest serving leader of the Labour Party in its history (although some dispute exists over when Harry Holland became leader), having served for 14 years, 69 days, by 26 October 2008 she had passed Holland's longest possible term and her position as longest serving Labour Party leader was put beyond doubt. Clark conceded defeat following the 2008 general election to John Key and announced that she was standing down as Labour Party leader. On 11 November 2008 Clark was replaced by Phil Goff as leader of the Labour Party. As Prime Minister, Helen Clark was a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

"Our prime minister has been rather unique in being a great lover of the out of doors and she's always off climbing something, doing something exciting and I think that New Zealanders admire that. That is sort of the way of life that they have come to accept in our little old island in the south seas. But Helen as been particularly strong in this respect. So long may she reign." —Sir Edmund Hillary

During Clark's terms of office, New Zealand pursued what she and her supporters call an independent foreign policy. New Zealand retains a nuclear-free zone status, a stance also taken by the National Party, the then-opposition, (possibly at the cost of a free-trade agreement with the United States of America), and refused to participate in the Iraq invasion without UN sanction. In March 2003, referring to the U.S. led coalition's actions in the Iraq War, Clark told the newspaper Sunday Star Times that, "I don't think that September 11 under a Gore presidency would have had this consequence for Iraq." She later sent a letter to Washington apologising for any offence that her comment may have caused.

In a report in the People's Daily, Chinese President Jiang Zemin referred to Clark as an "old friend". He hoped to "establish bilateral long-term and stable overall cooperative relations with a healthy development geared to the 21st century", and "broad prospects for bilateral economic cooperation". Clark had strongly supported China's entry into the WTO.

In January 2008 Clark won the United Nations Environment Programme Champions of the Earth award in recognition of the government’s promotion of sustainability initiatives.

Clark is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

In January 2009, two months after losing office, Clark was voted Greatest Living New Zealander in an opt-in website poll run by the New Zealand Herald. In a close race she received 25 percent of the vote, ahead of Victoria Cross recipient Willie Apiata at 21 percent. Current Prime Minister John Key said he was not surprised by the poll, saying "... she is well thought of as a New Zealand Prime Minister."

La amenaza de la extrema derecha se extiende en EE UU
YOLANDA MONGE | Washington
15/04/2009, © El País
La recesión económica y la elección del primer presidente negro en la historia del país han hecho que aumente en Estados Unidos el extremismo de derechas, que recluta nuevos miembros entre los veteranos de guerra frustrados que vuelven de Irak o Afganistán, según un informe del Departamento de Seguridad Interior conocido este miércoles. Estos grupos de ultraderecha explotan el miedo de los ciudadanos y utilizan los desahucios, el paro y la pobreza como caldo de cultivo perfecto para que los descontentos con el sistema se sumen a sus filas. . . .

Syringa

Orpheus liked the glad personal quality
Of the things beneath the sky. Of course, Eurydice was a part
Of this. Then one day, everything changed. He rends
Rocks into fissures with lament. Gullies, hummocks
Can't withstand it. The sky shudders from one horizon
To the other, almost ready to give up wholeness.
Then Apollo quietly told him: "Leave it all on earth.
Your lute, what point? Why pick at a dull pavan few care to
Follow, except a few birds of dusty feather,
Not vivid performances of the past." But why not?
All other things must change too.
The seasons are no longer what they once were,
But it is the nature of things to be seen only once,
As they happen along, bumping into other things, getting along
Somehow. That's where Orpheus made his mistake.
Of course Eurydice vanished into the shade;
She would have even if he hadn't turned around.
No use standing there like a gray stone toga as the whole wheel
Of recorded history flashes past, struck dumb, unable to
utter an intelligent
Comment on the most thought-provoking element in its train.
Only love stays on the brain, and something these people,
These other ones, call life. Singing accurately
So that the notes mount straight up out of the well of
Dim noon and rival the tiny, sparkling yellow flowers
Growing around the brink of the quarry, encapsulizes
The different weights of the things.
But it isn't enough
To just go on singing. Orpheus realized this
And didn't mind so much about his reward being in heaven
After the Bacchantes had torn him apart, driven
Half out of their minds by his music, what it was doing to them.
Some say it was for his treatment of Eurydice.
But probably the music had more to do with it, and
The way music passes, emblematic
Of life and how you cannot isolate a note of it
And say it is good or bad. You must
Wait till it's over. "The end crowns all,"
Meaning also that the "tableau"
Is wrong. For although memories, of a season, for example,
Melt into a single snapshot, one cannot guard, treasure
That stalled moment. It too is flowing, fleeting;
It is a picture of flowing, scenery, though living, mortal,
Over which an abstract action is laid out in blunt,
Harsh strokes. And to ask more than this
Is to become the tossing reeds of that slow,
Powerful stream, the trailing grasses
Playfully tugged at, but to participate in the action
No more than this. Then in the lowering gentian sky
Electric twitches are faintly apparent first, then burst forth
Into a shower of fixed, cream-colored flares. The horses
Have each seen a share of the truth, though each thinks,
"I'm a maverick. Nothing of this is happening to me,
Though I can understand the language of birds, and
The itinerary of the lights caught in the storm is
fully apparent to me.
Their jousting ends in music much
As trees move more easily in the wind after a summer storm
And is happening in lacy shadows of shore-trees, now,
day after day."

But how late to be regretting all this, even
Bearing in mind that regrets are always late, too late!
To which Orpheus, a bluish cloud with white contours,
Replies that these are of course not regrets at all,
Merely a careful, scholarly setting down of
Unquestioned facts, a record of pebbles along the way.
And no matter how all this disappeared,
Or got where it was going, it is no longer
Material for a poem. Its subject
Matters too much, and not enough, standing there helplessly
While the poem streaked by, its tail afire, a bad
Comet screaming hate and disaster, but so turned inward
That the meaning, good or other, can never
Become known. The singer thinks
Constructively, builds up his chant in progressive stages
Like a skyscraper, but at the last minute turns away.
The song is engulfed in an instant in blackness
Which must in turn flood the whole continent
With blackness, for it cannot see. The singer
Must then pass out of sight, not even relieved
Of the evil burthen of the words. Stellification
Is for the few, and comes about much later
When all record of these people and their lives
Has disappeared into libraries, onto microfilm.
A few are still interested in them. "But what about
So-and-so?" is still asked on occasion. But they lie
Frozen and out of touch until an arbitrary chorus
Speaks of a totally different incident with a similar name
In whose tale are hidden syllables
Of what happened so long before that
In some small town, one different summer.

—John Ashbery

US police warn that threat of rightwing extremism on rise amid recession
Ewen MacAskill
16 April 2009, © The Guardian
The Obama administration has issued a chilling warning to US police forces about the threat of a rise in violent rightwing extremist groups fuelled by recession, the return of disgruntled army veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and hostility over the election of the first black president. . . .

It wasn't singer Susan Boyle who was ugly on Britain's Got Talent so much as our reaction to her
Tanya Gold
16 April 2009, © The Guardian
Is Susan Boyle ugly? Or are we? On Saturday night she stood on the stage in Britain's Got Talent; small and rather chubby, with a squashed face, unruly teeth and unkempt hair. She wore a gold lace dress, which made her look like a piece of pork sitting on a doily. Interviewed by Ant and Dec beforehand, she told them that she is unemployed, single, lives with a cat called Pebbles and has never been kissed. Susan then walked out to chatter, giggling, and a long and unpleasant wolf whistle. . . .

¿Para qué quiso ser Papa?
JUAN ARIAS
15/04/2009, © El País
Conocí en Roma, hace ahora 50 años, al entonces simple teólogo progresista, Joseph Ratzinger, cuando era asesor del también progresista episcopado alemán. Era ya como hoy: delgado, de mirada esquiva y misteriosa, lo opuesto del otro teólogo también asesor de los obispos progresistas, el suizo Hans Küng, todo él alegría y vitalidad. Eran los tiempos del Concilio Vaticano II. Juan XXIII, que hablaba por teléfono con Kruschev en ruso para intentar evitar la guerra de los misiles de Cuba, lanzó un reto al mundo descreído y pidió que volviera a la Iglesia. Abrió las puertas a los episcopados más avanzados, gritó contra los "profetas de desventuras", se ganó a la inteligencia de la Iglesia de entonces. Se vislumbró la esperanza. . . .

Out in the Garden

Out in the garden,
Out in the windy, swinging dark,
Under the trees and over the flower-beds,
Over the grass and under the hedge border,
Someone is sweeping, sweeping,
Some old gardener.
Out in the windy, swinging dark,
Someone is secretly putting in order,
Someone is creeping, creeping.

-Katherine Mansfield
____________

Forgetfulness

Forgetfulness is like a song
That, freed from beat and measure, wanders.
Forgetfulness is like a bird whose wings are reconciled,
Outspread and motionless, --
A bird that coasts the wind unwearyingly.

Forgetfulness is rain at night,
Or an old house in a forest, -- or a child.
Forgetfulness is white, -- white as a blasted tree,
And it may stun the sybil into prophecy,
Or bury the Gods.

I can remember much forgetfulness.

—Hart Crane

Who moved my rank? Sales rank purged from Amazon
By HILLEL ITALIE
Monday April 13, 2009, © AP National Writer(AP news)
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon.com apologized Monday for an "embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error" that led to the sales ranking being removed from tens of thousands of books. . . .

¡Gracias por el esfuerzo que hiciste Miguel Ángel Russo! Sos un capo y un caballero, pero no tuviste suerte esta vez en Boedo. Y a los jugadores tampoco hay que culparles tanto de la mala racha deportiva del Ciclón. Este hincha opina que son cosas de la suerte. Son muchos los Cuervos que dicen que los jugadores son malagradecidos y que se dan por vencidos. No estoy de acuerdo. Hay temporadas durante las cuales uno tiene que aguantar más de lo normal. Esta es una de esas. Espero que la gente pare de relinchar tanto, y que apoye incondicionalmente a los muchachos para que puedan recuperar el orgullo y nuestra confianza con sus mejores esfuerzos.
¡Aguante San Lorenzo!
—Guido
____________

A Map of the City

I stand upon a hill and see
A luminous country under me,
Through which at two the drunk sailor must weave;
The transient's pause, the sailor's leave.

I notice, looking down the hill,
Arms braced upon a window sill;
And on the web of fire escapes
Move the potential, the grey shapes.

I hold the city here, complete;
And every shape defined by light
Is mine, or corresponds to mine,
Some flickering or some steady shine.

This map is ground of my delight.
Between the limits, night by night,
I watch a malady's advance,
I recognize my love of chance.

By the recurrent lights I see
Endless potentiality,
The crowded, broken, and unfinished!
I would not have the risk diminished.

-Thom Gunn

Obama y la esquizofrenia del PP
Emilio Menéndez del Valle
08/04/2009, © El País
Por más que le pese al Partido Popular y a algún otro despistado en las relaciones internacionales, el presidente de Estados Unidos ha incorporado ya a su filosofía y práctica de la política exterior las premisas de la Alianza de Civilizaciones, proyecto oficial de Naciones Unidas, apoyado por casi cien países. Ha singularizado a dos Estados de cultura islámica como actores importantes en la escena internacional con los que desea mantener una especial relación: Turquía e Irán. Con el primero quiere mejorar determinados aspectos. Con Irán desea pasar de una mutua relación hostil a otra de cooperación y entendimiento. . . .

The protesters are the ones we should listen to at this summit
The way out of the credit and the climate crunch is the same - a Green New Deal
Johann Hari
Friday, 3 April 2009, © The Independent
When this hinge-point in human history is remembered, there will be far more sympathy for the people who took to the streets and rioted than for the people who stayed silently in their homes. Two global crises have collided, and we have a chance here, now, to solve them both with one mighty heave – but our leaders are letting this opportunity for greatness leach away. The protesters here in London were trying to sound an alarm now, at five minutes to ecological midnight. . . .

There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a great competition and rivalry between the two. There is a third power stronger than both, that of the women.
—Muhammad Ali Jinnah

G20 forgets the environment
Climate breakdown, peak oil and resource depletion all dwarf the financial crisis in financial and humanitarian terms
George Monbiot
2 April 2009, © The Guardian
Here is the text of the G20 communique, in compressed form.
"We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, will use every cent we don't possess to rescue corporate capitalism from its contradictions and set the world economy back onto the path of unsustainable growth. . . .

I fear a looming catastrophe
There is a thin line between failing banks and failing countries. We cross it at our peril
Ban Ki-moon
Thursday 2 April 2009, © The Guardian
Today's G20 meeting can make the difference between human hope and despair, between economic recovery and a plunge into deepening recession. We have seen the frightening velocity of change. What began as a financial crisis has become a global economic crisis. I fear worse to come: a full-blown political crisis defined by growing social unrest, weakened governments and angry publics who have lost all faith in their leaders and their own future. . . .

What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless, you might say, by choice.
—Ronald Reagan

My tour of 'beautiful' Guantanamo Bay, by Miss Universe
By Claire Soares
1 April 2009, © The Independent
Wishing for world peace is so passé; nowadays Miss Universe can be found blogging about Guantanamo Bay.
"I didn't want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful," Dayana Mendoza gushed at the end of a five-day trip. It may not be a sentiment that Binyam Mohamed would share about his time at the US base in Cuba, but then he wasn't buying souvenir necklaces to take home at the end of his four years of incarceration. . . .

The Veteran

When I was young and bold and strong,
Oh, right was right, and wrong was wrong!
My plume on high, my flag unfurled,
I rode away to right the world.
"Come out, you dogs, and fight!" said I,
And wept there was but once to die.

But I am old; and good and bad
Are woven in a crazy plaid.
I sit and say, "The world is so;
And he is wise who lets it go.
A battle lost, a battle won-
The difference is small, my son."

Inertia rides and riddles me;
The which is called Philosophy.

—Dorothy Parker

'Worse than the Taliban' - new law rolls back rights for Afghan women
Jon Boone in Kabul
31 March 2009, © The Guardian
Hamid Karzai has been accused of trying to win votes in Afghanistan's presidential election by backing a law the UN says legalises rape within marriage and bans wives from stepping outside their homes without their husbands' permission. . . .

FEAR
Fear of seeing a police car pull into the drive.
Fear of falling asleep at night.
Fear of not falling asleep.
Fear of the past rising up.
Fear of the present taking flight.
Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night.
Fear of electrical storms.
Fear of the cleaning woman who has a spot on her cheek!
Fear of dogs I've been told won't bite.
Fear of anxiety!
Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend.
Fear of running out of money.
Fear of having too much, though people will not believe this.
Fear of psychological profiles.
Fear of being late and fear of arriving before anyone else.
Fear of my children's handwriting on envelopes.
Fear they'll die before I do, and I'll feel guilty.
Fear of having to live with my mother in her old age, and mine.
Fear of confusion.
Fear this day will end on an unhappy note.
Fear of waking up to find you gone.
Fear of not loving and fear of not loving enough.
Fear that what I love will prove lethal to those I love.
Fear of death.
Fear of living too long.
Fear of death.

I've said that

—Raymond Carver

Catholic bishops in US ban Japanese reiki
Riazat Butt
31 March 2009, © The Guardian
Reiki, an alternative Japanese therapy with a growing band of followers in the west, is "unscientific" and "inappropriate" for use in Catholic institutions, according to America's bishops. . . .

Spanish Judge Accuses Six Top Bush Officials of Torture
Legal moves may force Obama's government into starting a new inquiry into abuses at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib
by Julian Borger and Dale Fuchs
Saturday, March 28, 2009, © Commondreams
MADRID - Criminal proceedings have begun in Spain against six senior officials in the Bush administration for the use of torture against detainees in Guantánamo Bay. Baltasar Garzón, the counter-terrorism judge whose prosecution of General Augusto Pinochet led to his arrest in Britain in 1998, has referred the case to the chief prosecutor before deciding whether to proceed. . . .

PLEASURE
After the Cleopatra exhibition, British Museum

Is it the bite
of a sighing crocodile?

All your voluptuous
bleeding incense
come at once?

I have traveled its Silk Road
with my curtains drawn,
hearing
its lurching mirages
shiver among the stones
and nettles
of its gorgeous desert.

—Dorothy Porter

It is now impossible to trust any 'official' inquiry into Iraq
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Monday, 30 March 2009, © The Independent
I watched a report on Fallujah last week on Sky News by Lisa Holland for which she deserves our gratitude and a top television award. It featured a quietly spoken Iraqi neo-natal specialist, Dr Muntaha Hashim, who is finding that in that town, bombed and collectively punished by the allies, there has been a massive increase in the number of deformed babies. Dr Hashim sees children with two heads – one, a young girl with bountiful hair was curled up on a bed – and others limbless, or born without vital organs. The number has doubled since the days of Saddam. . . .

Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war.
—Gerry Adams

At last we get it - this war is Vietnam for slow learners
Simon Jenkins
Wednesday 25 March 2009, © The Guardian
One word shines through the spin surrounding this week's Barack Obama policy review on Afghanistan. The word is exit. Before he became president, Obama was much taken by the idea that Afghanistan was a good and winnable war, a usefully macho contrast to his retreatism on Iraq. But in a military briefing at the time, he asked what was the exit strategy from Kabul and was met with silence. He has got the point. . . .

Mild winters push long-tailed tit up garden bird chart
Stephen Moss and Adam Vaughan
Wednesday 25 March 2009, © The Guardian
The long-tailed tit has emerged as the surprise success story of the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, its annual garden bird-counting survey. The RSPB believes that the tiny bird's rapid growth in numbers is due to a run of mild UK winters. . . .

Terrorism has replaced Communism as the rationale for the militarization of the country (America), for military adventures abroad, and for the suppression of civil liberties at home. It serves the same purpose, serving to create hysteria.
—HOWARD ZINN, Terrorism and War
____________

Fútbol Femenino: ¡Campeonas!
En el cierre del Torneo Apertura, San Lorenzo venció a Platense por 4 a 0 y se consagró Campeón de la disciplina por primera vez en su historia, luego del monopolio que ejercían Boca y River. Núñez -3- y Tierri anotaron los tantos del equipo azulgrana, que redondeó una campaña demoledora, con ocho victorias y un empate, veintinueve goles a favor y sólo uno en contra.

The Iraq War's Six Years of Mayhem
By David Swanson
March 22, 2009
Editor’s Note: The U.S. government’s occupation of Iraq has just passed its sixth anniversary, with many of its neoconservative supporters claiming vindication because the horrific death toll has declined over the last two years. Other Americans are willing to give President Barack Obama time to extricate the United States from what they view as a bloody quagmire.
But the horror and the lies behind President George W. Bush’s war of aggression remain very real to many people both inside the United States and inside Iraq, as David Swanson of afterdowningstreet.org notes in this guest essay:
Thus far, 4,261 members of the U.S. military have been killed in Iraq and 67,237 wounded. . . .

Oh, isn't life a terrible thing, thank God?
—Dylan Thomas (Under Milk Wood)

WPost Elitists Feel for Wall St. Brethren
By Robert Parry
March 22, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
One interesting trait of elitists is that they show remarkable class solidarity, often more so than people of lesser means. Which may help explain why the Washington Post’s editorial writers penned three editorials last week decrying the populist outrage over the AIG bonuses.
Yes, the Post gave a nod of understanding to why the American people are furious over the idea of giving $165 million in bonuses to executives in the American International Group’s financial products division after that bunch helped set in motion the economic catastrophe which is driving millions of people around the world out of their jobs and homes and into poverty and despair. . . .

Horse-slaughter bill gallops through state Senate
By MIKE DENNISON
March 19, 2009, © Billings Gazette
HELENA - The bill to encourage construction of a horse-slaughtering plant in Montana won endorsement from the state Senate Thursday, putting it one step away from the governor's desk for signature into law. . . .

France honours Cronenberg
Martin Knelman
Mar 11, 2009, © The Toronto Star
The government of France will announce today it is giving Toronto movie director David Cronenberg its highest honour – the Légion d'Honneur.
"The distinction underlines Mr. Cronenberg's achievements to date and recognizes the service he has rendered to French culture and to cultural relations between France and Canada," according to a statement being sent from the Toronto consulate general. . . .

En la disputa entre Maradona y Riquelme, no me quedo con ninguno de los dos
Por Washington Cucurto
14 de marzo de 2009, © ESPNdeportes.com
BUENOS AIRES -- Maradona y Riquelme son tal para cual. Los dos agrandados, egoístas y con una soberbia característica de italianos y argentinos. Toda su vida vivieron en una burbuja de humo o de fútbol, que es lo mismo. . . .

Double life of Witold Pilecki, the Auschwitz volunteer who uncovered Holocaust secrets
Kamil Tchorek
March 12, 2009, © The Times
It was perhaps the bravest act of espionage of the Second World War. After voluntarily being imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp for 2½ years, and smuggling out its darkest secrets to the Allies, Witold Pilecki overcame a guard and, with two comrades, escaped almost certain death. . . .

Este Libro

Me vienen estas cosas del fondo de la vida:
Acumulado estaba, yo me vuelvo reflejo...
Agua continuamente cambiada y removida;
Así como las cosas, es mudable el espejo.

Momentos de la vida aprisionó mi pluma,
Momentos de la vida que se fugaron luego,
Momentos que tuvieron la violencia del fuego
O fueron más livianos que los copos de espuma.

En todos los momentos donde mi ser estuvo,
En todo esto que cambia, en todo esto que muda,
En toda la sustancia que el espejo retuvo,
Sin ropajes, el alma está limpia y desnuda.

Yo no estoy y estoy siempre en mis versos, viajero,
Pero puedes hallarme si por el libro avanzas
Dejando en los umbrales tus fieles y balanzas:
Requieren mis jardines piedad de jardinero.

—Alfonsina Storni

Montana Senate hears horse slaughter bill
March 12, 2009, © Montana News Station
A bill to authorize investor-owned livestock slaughter and processing plants has passed through the Montana House, and on Thursday what's become known as the "Horse Slaughter bill" was heard in front of the Senate Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation committee. . . .

Espinas cuando nieva

Suéñame suéñame aprisa estrella de tierra
cultivada por mis párpados cógeme por mis asas de sombra
alócame de alas de mármol ardiendo estrella estrella entre mis cenizas

Poder poder al fin hallar bajo mi sonrisa la estatua
de una tarde de sol los gestos a flor de agua
los ojos a flor de invierno

Tú que en la alcoba del viento estás velando
la inocencia de depender de la hermosura volandera
que se traiciona en el ardor con que las hojas se vuelven hacia el pecho mas débil

Tú que asumes luz y abismo al borde esta carne
que cae hasta mis pies como una viveza herida

Tú que en selvas de error andas perdida

Supón que en mi silencio vive una oscura rosa sin salida y sin lucha

—Juan Larrea
____________

It has come to our attention that incorrect assumptions have been made about Perceval Press and/or its editor, Viggo Mortensen, being connected to, funding or somehow being in control of one or more so-called "fan-sites" . Neither Perceval Press nor Mr. Mortensen has any financial interest in, or any direct or indirect affiliation of any kind to any site other than this one. Perhaps these rumours spring from some undefined resentment on the part of an individual or individuals over the fact that Mr. Mortensen has twice previously given answers via e-mail to questions sent by one particular site, and over these answers being posted on that site. It is unfortunate that the simple courtesy of answering these requests has been turned against him and, by extension, against Perceval Press in the form of unfounded allegations of media manipulation. From now on he will not grant any more interviews or answers of any kind to any "fan-site" so as to avoid these unwarranted accusations. As has always been the case since Perceval Press was founded in 2002, Mr. Mortensen, as editor, has been and will continue to be responsible for the news items, recommendations of books, music, movies, listing of exhibitions, the odd editorial statement, and whatever might be deemed appropriate for posting on this site. As has also always been the case, these postings, regardless of whatever reaction or conjecture they might provoke, are not meant to be taken as an invitation to anyone to establish communication with Mr. Mortensen. The postings that he assumes responsibility for constitute one-way communication, take it or leave it, love it or hate it. We will continue to do our very best to attend to our customers and their reasonable queries as regards the quality and availability of our books, Cds, and DVDs. We are grateful for your interest in our publications, and thank you for your business.
____________

EL MAR EN PERSONA

He aquí el mar alzado en un abrir y cerrar de ojos de pastor
He aquí el mar sin sueño como un gran miedo de tréboles en flor
y en postura de tierra sumisa al parecer
Ya se van con sus lanas de evidencia su nube y su labor
A la sombra de un olmo nunca hay tiempo que perder

Crédula exquisita la oscuridad sale a mi encuentro
Mi frente abriga la corteza del pan que llevo adentro
cortado a pico sobre un pájaro inseguro

Y así me alejo bajo la acción del piano
que me cose a las plantas precursoras del mar
Un ciervo de otoño baja a lamer la luna de tu mano
Y ahora a mi orilla el mundo se empieza a desnudar
para morirse de árboles al fondo de mis ojos

Mis cabellos se llenan de peces de penumbra
y de esqueletos de navíos forzosos

Sin ir más lejos
tú eres fría como el hacha que derriba el silencio
en la lucha entre el paisaje y su golpe de vista

Mas cuando el cielo exporta sus célebres pianistas
y la lluvia el olor de mi persona
cómo tu hermoso corazón se traiciona

—Juan Larrea
____________

Dear Horton Foote,
Thank you for your art, your heart, and your life.

Insanely out of balance, the Republicans are all set to fail
The conservatives who now dominate the party of the American right may come to rue losing their moderate wing
Michael Tomasky
9 March 2009, © The Guardian
Michael Steele, the new chairman of the Republican party, is surely setting some sort of land speed record for public-relations disaster. Elected on 30 January, he barely lasted a month before the first calls came for his resignation. The month in question included various oddities on his part, most notably his disastrous attempt to show he was a bigger dog on the Republican porch than radio fat-mouth Rush Limbaugh, which ended with Steele in full retreat, tail between his legs. . . .

The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity - much less dissent. —Gore Vidal

WORDS FOR WALL STREET GREED
by Jim Hightower
March 6, 2009, © Jim Hightower
Wow, y’all are prolific. And good.
I recently ran a little contest asking readers to come up with some new words to describe the abominable sense of self-entitlement that afflicts Wall Street bankers. I noted that such common pejoratives as “greedy” and “shameful” just don’t cover the astonishing arrogance presently being flashed at us by the Royal Princes of High Finance, so I sought your creativity for devising more appropriate terms. . . .

In almost every case (where the United States has fought wars) our overwhelming commitment to freedom, democracy and human rights has required us to support those regimes that would deny freedom, democracy and human rights to their own people. —Gore Vidal

CORPRATIST COURT FAVORS MOUNTAINTOP DESTRUCTION
by Jim Hightower
March 5, 2009, © Jim Hightower
Once again, the black-robed corporatists of the federal courts have shown their true bias by ruling in favor of corporate power over common sense and the common good. . . .

¡¡¡Aguanten Cuervos dondequiera que esten - nos sobran vida y guapeza!!!

"No hay razón para buscar el sufrimiento,
pero si éste llega y trata de meterse en tu vida,
no temas; míralo a la cara y con la frente bien levantada."
—Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
____________

There are more acres of forestland in America today than when Columbus discovered the continent in 1492.
—Rush Limbaugh

Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.
—Rush Limbaugh

On Bush, Cheney Crimes: Seek Truth and Accountability
John Nichols
03/04/2009, © The Nation
Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, deserves credit for pressing ahead with his modest proposal to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to review the assaults on the Constitution and general lawlessness of the Bush-Cheney administration. . . .

Lindo mantel para el caldo de gallina y el asado de pollo...
____________

sierra nobody
the girl’s name is sierra nobody
dogs let her pet them
phases of something like a moon
all of us can’t be undone
hot food on the premises
bring your kill home
the vice-president has eerie feelings in his eye.
highway patrol might be here any minute.
they quiver and quake.
government leaking blood.
gimme a working band aid.
here comes the kid with the lie detector set.
he looks buff.
jack and jill ran out of hills.
fetch me a tale.
the story sometimes moves slow
all those offers to dance
piñatas of stone
— Scott Wannberg

Las flores y el sexo
JAVIER SAMPEDRO
01/03/2009, © El País
Para Linneo, el gran botánico del siglo XVIII, una planta refleja en sus pistilos los genitales humanos. Con esa idea, Edvard Koinberg ha fotografiado este 'Herbarium amoris'. entramos en el mes de la primavera con un homenaje a la lujuria vegetal.
¿Le gustan las orquídeas, señor Marlowe?
- No en especial.
- Dan asco. Se parecen demasiado a la carne humana, y emanan la fragancia podrida de la corrupción. . . .

Van a por él
LUIS GÓMEZ Y JOSÉ YOLDI
01/03/2009, © El País
Después de 21 años de carrera brillante y polémica, a Baltasar Garzón le quedan pocos apoyos. En cuanto toca asuntos de corrupción, la parte afectada de la política se remueve para apartarle del caso; ayer, desde las filas del PSOE; hoy, desde el PP. El juez lo sabe y está preparado
Utilizando un símil deportivo, el partido se está jugando en el terreno que mejor domina el juez Baltasar Garzón: sumario polémico, indignación de los afectados y feroz campaña solicitando su recusación. Estamos en una nueva edición del acoso a Garzón. Conocidos la existencia de la instrucción y los apellidos de los primeros imputados, llega el contraataque. . . .

Uno No Escoge

Uno no escoge el país donde nace;
pero ama el país donde ha nacido.

Uno no escoge el tiempo para venir al mundo;
pero debe dejar huella de su tiempo.

Nadie puede evadir su responsabilidad.

Nadie puede taparse los ojos, los oidos,
enmudecer y cortarse las manos.

Todos tenemos un deber de amor que cumplir,.
una historia que nacer
una meta que alcanzar.

No escogimos el momento para venir al mundo:
Ahora podemos hacer el mundo
en que nacerá y crecerá
la semilla que trajimos con nosotros.

—Giaconda Belli

Redención y palabra
VÍCTOR GÓMEZ PIN
01/03/2009, © El País
Es seguro que, al menos en los Estados Unidos, el año Darwin será ocasión de que se acentúe la crudeza de la polémica entre los defensores de las tesis evolucionistas y los defensores de posiciones creacionistas, ya sea en su formulación convencional, ya sea en modalidades aparentemente más sofisticadas, como las que apelan a una idea directriz que se hallaría en el origen de la naturaleza y de la vida y que determinaría su evolución. . . .

Un Manso Río ...

Un manso río, una vereda estrecha,
un campo solitario y un pinar,
y el viejo puente rustico y sencillo
completando tan grata soledad.

¿Qué es soledad?

Para llenar el mundo
basta a veces
un solo pensamiento.
Por eso hoy,
hartos de belleza,
encuentras el puente,
el río y el pinar desiertos.

No son nube ni flor los que enamoran;
eres tú, corazón, triste o dichoso,
ya del dolor y del placer el árbitro,
quien seca el mar y hace habitar el polo.

—Rosalía de Castro

Mugabe, de espaldas al pueblo
El presidente de Zimbabue celebra su 85º cumpleaños congran lujo mientras el paro, el hambre y el cólera azotan al país
F. PEREGIL
01/03/2009, © El País
La crisis financiera también se está dejando notar en Zimbabue. Pero no porque hace diez meses la inflación estuviera en el 14.000.000% anual y ahora supere el 231.000.000% (sí, 231 millones por ciento); ni porque 94 de cada 100 personas no tengan trabajo; ni porque siete de sus trece millones de habitantes necesiten ayuda humanitaria urgente para paliar el hambre, según la ONU; ni porque la epidemia del cólera que brotó en agosto haya matado desde entonces a 3.868 personas e infectado a 83.000, según el último informe de la Organización Mundial de la Salud. . . .

Sergio Bismarck Villar

1 de Marzo, 2009.

¡Queridísimo "Sapo" Matador!

Se hablará siempre de los 446 partidos (o más, según algunas fuentes) que jugaste con los colores de nuestro querido San Lorenzo de Almagro, y con razón. Eso es algo muy especial. Tu tenacidad, astucia deportiva, compañerismo, y entrega total son parte de tu leyenda durante los 13 años que fuiste jugador en Boedo. Pero te apreciamos por mucho más que los cientos de partidos en que saliste a la cancha como Cuervo y los campeonatos que nos ayudaste a ganar. No solamente has ido a ver cientos de partidos más como hincha por excelencia, pero todos sabemos que sos la viva conciencia de nuestro club. Siempre has sido defensor de los jugadores nuevos, de los jóvenes que llegan al club con necesidad del buen ejemplo y una mano amiga. Siempre has tratado bien a los hinchas, haciendote con gran naturalidad uno más de nosotros.  

De lo más noble y sensato que tenés es el siempre haber dejado que hablen por vos, como jugador y como pilar fundamental de la tradición azulgrana, tus hazañas, tu permanencia, tu aguante. Sos un hombre de acción. ¡Cancheritos los demás!: vos a defender, a marcar, a mostrar como hace las cosas un hombre de coraje y de inquebrantable palabra de honor. En este bien merecido día de homenaje especial que te brinda la peña de San Martín, te saludo desde lejos, pero sintiendome muy cerca de vos, muy honrado por tenerte como amigo.

 ¡Felicidades Sapo!

Con amor incondicional,
"Guido".

____________

RAÚL.

____________

Tu Risa

Quítame el pan, si quieres,
quítame el aire, pero
no me quites tu risa.

No me quites la rosa,
la lanza que desgranas,
el agua que de pronto
estalla en tu alegría,
la repentina ola
de plata que te nace.

Mi lucha es dura y vuelvo
con los ojos cansados
a veces de haber visto
la tierra que no cambia,
pero al entrar tu risa
sube al cielo buscándome
y abre para mi todas
las puertas de la vida.

Amor mío, en la hora
más oscura desgrana
tu risa, y si de pronto
ves que mi sangre mancha
las piedras de la calle,
ríe, por que tu risa
será para mis manos
como una espada fresca.

Junto al mar en otoño,
tu risa debe alzar
su cascada de espuma,
y en primavera, amor,
quiero tu risa como
la flor que yo esperaba,
la flor azul, la rosa
de mi patria sonora.

Ríete de la noche,
del día, de la luna,
ríete de las calles
torcidas de la isla,
ríete de este torpe
muchacho que te quiere,
pero cuando yo abro
los ojos y los cierro,
cuando mis pasos van,
cuando vuelven mis pasos,
niégame el pan, el aire,
la luz, la primavera
pero tu risa nunca
porque me moriría.

—Pablo Neruda

Betancourt vilified by fellow hostages
Ed Pilkington
26 February 2009, © The Guardian
There was celebrating all around the world when Ingrid Betancourt was rescued last July from the Colombian jungle, where she had been held hostage for six years by leftist guerrillas. Newspapers dubbed her the new Joan of Arc, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy greeted her with a hero's welcome in Paris and a special service in her honour was held at Lourdes. . . .

Leahy, Pelosi Differ on Bush Inquiry
By Jason Leopold
February 26, 2009, © consortiumnews.com
In one week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy says he will begin establishing a “commission of inquiry” to investigate the Bush administration’s use of torture and other abuses of power, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is objecting to his plan of granting immunity to some witnesses.
In an interview with Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC program Wednesday, Pelosi called Leahy's investigative plan “a good idea,” but objected to immunity that could prevent prosecutors from holding Bush administration officials accountable for crimes in a court of law. . . .

Yo voy soñando caminos

Yo voy soñando caminos
de la tarde. ¡Las colinas
doradas, los verdes pinos,
las polvorientas encinas!...
¿Adónde el camino irá?
Yo voy cantando, viajero
a lo largo del sendero...
la tarde cayendo está.
"En el corazón tenía
"la espina de una pasión;
"logré arrancármela un día:
"ya no siento el corazón".

Y todo el campo un momento
se queda, mudo y sombrío,
meditando. Suena el viento
en los álamos del río.

La tarde más se oscurece;
y el camino que serpea
y débilmente blanquea
se enturbia y desaparece.

Mi cantar vuelve a plañir:
"Aguda espina dorada,
"quién te pudiera sentir
"en el corazón clavada".

—Antonio Machado
____________

SEVEN JEWISH CHILDREN a play for Gaza
Caryl Churchill
No children appear in the play. The speakers are adults, the parents and if you like other relations of the children. The lines can be shared out in any way you like among those characters. The characters are different in each small scene as the time and child are different. They may be played by any number of actors.
1
Tell her it’s a game
Tell her it’s serious
But don’t frighten her
Don’t tell her they’ll kill her
Tell her it’s important to be quiet
Tell her she’ll have cake if she’s good
Tell her to curl up as if she’s in bed
But not to sing.
Tell her not to come out
Tell her not to come out even if she hears shouting
Don’t frighten her
Tell her not to come out even if she hears nothing for a long time
Tell her we’ll come and find her
Tell her we’ll be here all the time.
Tell her something about the men
Tell her they’re bad in the game
Tell her it’s a story
Tell her they’ll go away
Tell her she can make them go away if she keeps still
By magic
But not to sing.
2
Tell her this is a photograph of her grandmother, her uncles and
me
Tell her her uncles died
Don’t tell her they were killed
Tell her they were killed
Don’t frighten her.
Tell her her grandmother was clever
Don’t tell her what they did
Tell her she was brave
Tell her she taught me how to make cakes
Don’t tell her what they did
Tell her something
Tell her more when she’s older.
Tell her there were people who hated Jews
Don’t tell her
Tell her it’s over now
Tell her there are still people who hate Jews
Tell her there are people who love Jews
Don’t tell her to think Jews or not Jews
Tell her more when she’s older
Tell her how many when she’s older
Tell her it was before she was born and she’s not in danger
Don’t tell her there’s any question of danger.
Tell her we love her
Tell her dead or alive her family all love her
Tell her her grandmother would be proud of her.
3
Don’t tell her we’re going for ever
Tell her she can write to her friends, tell her her friends can maybe come and visit
Tell her it’s sunny there
Tell her we’re going home
Tell her it’s the land God gave us
Don’t tell her religion
Tell her her great great great great lots of greats grandad lived there
Don’t tell her he was driven out
Tell her, of course tell her, tell her everyone was driven out and
the country is waiting for us to come home
Don’t tell her she doesn’t belong here
Tell her of course she likes it here but she’ll like it there even more.
Tell her it’s an adventure
Tell her no one will tease her
Tell her she’ll have new friends
Tell her she can take her toys
Don’t tell her she can take all her toys
Tell her she’s a special girl
Tell her about Jerusalem.
4
Don’t tell her who they are
Tell her something
Tell her they’re Bedouin, they travel about
Tell her about camels in the desert and dates
Tell her they live in tents
Tell her this wasn’t their home
Don’t tell her home, not home, tell her they’re going away
Don’t tell her they don’t like her
Tell her to be careful.
Don’t tell her who used to live in this house
No but don’t tell her her great great grandfather used to live in this house
No but don’t tell her Arabs used to sleep in her bedroom.
Tell her not to be rude to them
Tell her not to be frightened
Don’t tell her she can’t play with the children
Don’t tell her she can have them in the house.
Tell her they have plenty of friends and family
Tell her for miles and miles all round they have lands of their own
Tell her again this is our promised land.
Don’t tell her they said it was a land without people
Don’t tell her I wouldn’t have come if I’d known.
Tell her maybe we can share.
Don’t tell her that.
5
Tell her we won
Tell her her brother’s a hero
Tell her how big their armies are
Tell her we turned them back
Tell her we’re fighters
Tell her we’ve got new land.
6
Don’t tell her
Don’t tell her the trouble about the swimming pool
Tell her it’s our water, we have the right
Tell her it’s not the water for their fields
Don’t tell her anything about water.
Don’t tell her about the bulldozer
Don’t tell her not to look at the bulldozer
Don’t tell her it was knocking the house down
Tell her it’s a building site
Don’t tell her anything about bulldozers.
Don’t tell her about the queues at the checkpoint
Tell her we’ll be there in no time
Don’t tell her anything she doesn’t ask
Don’t tell her the boy was shot
Don’t tell her anything.
Tell her we’re making new farms in the desert
Don’t tell her about the olive trees
Tell her we’re building new towns in the wilderness.
Don’t tell her they throw stones
Tell her they’re not much good against tanks
Don’t tell her that.
Don’t tell her they set off bombs in cafés
Tell her, tell her they set off bombs in cafés
Tell her to be careful
Don’t frighten her.
Tell her we need the wall to keep us safe
Tell her they want to drive us into the sea
Tell her they don’t
Tell her they want to drive us into the sea.
Tell her we kill far more of them
Don’t tell her that
Tell her that
Tell her we’re stronger
Tell her we’re entitled
Tell her they don’t understand anything except violence
Tell her we want peace
Tell her we’re going swimming.
7
Tell her she can’t watch the news
Tell her she can watch cartoons
Tell her she can stay up late and watch Friends.
Tell her they’re attacking with rockets
Don’t frighten her
Tell her only a few of us have been killed
Tell her the army has come to our defence
Don’t tell her her cousin refused to serve in the army.
Don’t tell her how many of them have been killed
Tell her the Hamas fighters have been killed
Tell her they’re terrorists
Tell her they’re filth
Don’t
Don’t tell her about the family of dead girls
Tell her you can’t believe what you see on television
Tell her we killed the babies by mistake
Don’t tell her anything about the army
Tell her, tell her about the army, tell her to be proud of the army.
Tell her about the family of dead girls, tell her their names why
not, tell her the whole world knows why shouldn’t she know? tell
her there’s dead babies, did she see babies? tell her she’s got
nothing to be ashamed of. Tell her they did it to themselves. Tell
her they want their children killed to make people sorry for them,
tell her I’m not sorry for them, tell her not to be sorry for them,
tell her we’re the ones to be sorry for, tell her they can’t talk
suffering to us. Tell her we’re the iron fist now, tell her it’s the fog
of war, tell her we won’t stop killing them till we’re safe, tell her I
laughed when I saw the dead policemen, tell her they’re animals
living in rubble now, tell her I wouldn’t care if we wiped them out,
the world would hate us is the only thing, tell her I don’t care if
the world hates us, tell her we’re better haters, tell her we’re
chosen people, tell her I look at one of their children covered in
blood and what do I feel? tell her all I feel is happy it’s not her.
Don’t tell her that.
Tell her we love her.
Don’t frighten her.

Gaza. Después de la masacre
JUAN MIGUEL MUÑOZ
22/02/2009, © El País semanal
Durante 23 días, Israel convirtió Gaza en una trampa mortal para un millón y medio de palestinos. El Ejército israelí sometió a la población a un duro castigo colectivo. Murieron casi 1.400 personas. Pocos días después de terminar el asedio, vetado para los periodistas, dos reporteros captaron la destrucción, el dolor y también el orgullo de un pueblo.
Durante 23 días, Israel convirtió Gaza en una trampa mortal para un millón y medio de palestinos. El Ejército israelí sometió a la población a un duro castigo colectivo. Murieron casi 1.400 personas. Pocos días después de terminar el asedio, vetado para los periodistas, dos reporteros captaron la destrucción, el dolor y también el orgullo de un pueblo. . . .

So you think women would have saved us. Think again
Catherine Bennett
22 February 2009, © The Observer
Isn't it time a man had a go at being Tessa Jowell? Even her friends must admit that, given her impetuous style of personal finance, at least where her newly convicted husband David Mills is concerned, she is not the ideal figurehead for the economic catastrophe that is the 2012 Olympics. Not that one wants to pick on Tessa. She is having a difficult enough time protesting the innocence of a man who, by his own admission, "turned some very tricky corners" for Silvio Berlusconi. But in the current climate, with the values of steadiness and thrift finally prevailing over fecklessness and greed, it is becoming customary to ask for a sex change at the top. . . .

RETRATO

Mi infancia son recuerdos de un patio de Sevilla,
y un huerto claro donde madura el limonero;
mi juventud, veinte años en tierras de Castilla;
mi historia, algunos casos que recordar no quiero.

Ni un seductor Mañara, ni un Bradomín he sido
—ya conocéis mi torpe aliño indumentario—,
más recibí la flecha que me asignó Cupido,
y amé cuanto ellas puedan tener de hospitalario.

Hay en mis venas gotas de sangre jacobina,
pero mi verso brota de manantial sereno;
y, más que un hombre al uso que sabe su doctrina,
soy, en el buen sentido de la palabra, bueno.

Adoro la hermosura, y en la moderna estética
corté las viejas rosas del huerto de Ronsard;
mas no amo los afeites de la actual cosmética,
ni soy un ave de esas del nuevo gay-trinar.

Desdeño las romanzas de los tenores huecos
y el coro de los grillos que cantan a la luna.
A distinguir me paro las voces de los ecos,
y escucho solamente, entre las voces, una.

¿Soy clásico o romántico? No sé. Dejar quisiera
mi verso, como deja el capitán su espada:
famosa por la mano viril que la blandiera,
no por el docto oficio del forjador preciada.

Converso con el hombre que siempre va conmigo
—quien habla solo espera hablar a Dios un día—;
mi soliloquio es plática con ese buen amigo
que me enseñó el secreto de la filantropía.

Y al cabo, nada os debo; debéisme cuanto he escrito.
A mi trabajo acudo, con mi dinero pago
el traje que me cubre y la mansión que habito,
el pan que me alimenta y el lecho en donde yago.

Y cuando llegue el día del último vïaje,
y esté al partir la nave que nunca ha de tornar,
me encontraréis a bordo ligero de equipaje,
casi desnudo, como los hijos de la mar.

—ANTONIO MACHADO

Estudiantes de La Plata
Estudiantes de La Plata is a sports club in La Plata, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, with a history of achievement in professional football.
The current club badge has nine stars for its five international and four local titles. The last of these stars was earned on December 13, 2006, when Estudiantes won the Apertura tournament over Boca Juniors by 2-1 in a play-off match.
Estudiantes' rival in the La Plata derby is Club Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. . . .

¿Se hará justicia?
Un hombre de 28 años fue arrestado en Uruguay, acusado de ser el asesino del hincha de Vélez Emanuel Álvarez, quien murió el año pasado, rumbo a la cancha de San Lorenzo
21 de febrero de 2009, © espndeportes
BUENOS AIRES -- Un hombre de 28 años fue detenido en la ciudad uruguaya de Paysandú por efectivos de Interpol acusado de ser el presunto asesino del hincha de Vélez Sarsfield Emanuel Alvarez, quien murió el 15 de marzo del año pasado al recibir un balazo cuando iba en una caravana de micros fletados por el club de Liniers hacia el estadio de San Lorenzo. . . .

The novelist in wartime
In this powerful speech, the great author explains his controversial decision to accept a literary prize in Israel and why we need to fight the System.
By Haruki Murakami
Feb. 20, 2009, © Salon.com
I have come to Jerusalem today as a novelist, which is to say as a professional spinner of lies.
Of course, novelists are not the only ones who tell lies. Politicians do it, too, as we all know. Diplomats and military men tell their own kinds of lies on occasion, as do used car salesmen, butchers and builders. The lies of novelists differ from others, however, in that no one criticizes the novelist as immoral for telling lies. Indeed, the bigger and better his lies and the more ingeniously he creates them, the more he is likely to be praised by the public and the critics. Why should that be? . . .

Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.
—William S. Burroughs

Hearing Tomorrow on Horse Slaughter Bill in Montana!
Update Feb. 18, 2009: Another hearing is set for tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009 on this bill, H.B. 418, which proposes to resurrect horse slaughter in the U.S. and specifically, pave the way for building a horse slaughter facility in Montana. . . .

3 Men Acquitted in Murder of Russian Journalist
By ELLEN BARRY and MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
February 19, 2009, © The New York Times
MOSCOW — A Moscow jury ruled unanimously on Thursday to acquit three men in the 2006 murder of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, frustrating state prosecutors’ hopes of putting to rest a case that provoked international outrage and cast a shadow over Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia. . . .

Dusk

Now the ashen shadows mingle,
tints faded, sounds remote.
Life has dwindled to a single
vague reverberating note.
In the dusk I hear the humming
of a moth I cannot see.
Whence is this oppression coming?
I'm in all, and all's in me.

Gloom so dreamy, so lulling,
flow into my deepest deep,
flow, ambrosial and dulling,
steeping everything in sleep.
With oblivion's obscuration
fill my senses to the brim,
make me taste obliteration,
in this dimness let me dim.

—Fyodor Tyutchev
(translated by Vladimir Nabokov)

In Washington, Public Policy and Private Wealth Are Hopelessly Tangled
By William Pfaff
Feb 5, 2009, © truthdig
Barack Obama in Washington reminds one of Diogenes in Athens, with his lantern in search of an honest man. They seem harder to find than the candidate Obama thought when he promised a Cabinet unsullied by business lobbyists and other peddlers of sectarian interests. Surely he can’t have thought the lobbyists all Republicans—he’s been around Washington long enough to know better. . . .

Crows

From a single grain they have multiplied.
When you look in the eyes of one
You have seen them all.

At the edges of highways
They pick at limp things.
They are anything but refined.

Or they fly out over the corn
Like pellets of black fire,
Like overlords.

Crow is crow, you say.
What else is there to say?
Drive down any road,

Take a train or an airplane
Across the world, leave
Your old life behind,

Die and be born again -
Wherever you arrive
They'll be there first,

Glossy and rowdy
And indistinguishable.
The deep muscle of the world.

—Mary Oliver

Que vuelva a jugar Raúl en la selección de España...

Song

Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
and how the wind doth ramm,
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn you, sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm,

Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

—Ezra Pound

Help Billy
When the city council voted on Wednesday to continue to keep elephants in inadequate conditions that claim their lives prematurely, they didn't realize how persistent pro-elephant advocates will be! As long as there are elephants at LA Zoo, we will not give up our vigilance or our fight. We will not abandon Billy or any other elephants because we are their only hope! . . .

Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other.
—Euripides

A Government of Laws, Not of Men
By Peter Dyer
February 10, 2009, © Consortiumnews.com
Now that the unprecedented lawlessness of the Bush administration is history, we have an equally unprecedented opportunity to reaffirm the foundation of American democracy: the rule of law.
Restoring the rule of law is as urgent as restoring the economy. Indeed, the problems are closely related and best addressed together. . . .

Events will take their course, it is no good of being angry at them;
he is happiest who wisely turns them to the best account.
—Euripides

Robert Fisk: War reporters used to prefer morality over impartiality
I wonder whether we show the same power and passion as the earlier generations
Saturday, 7 February 2009, © The Independent
The "normality" of war, part two. We had a great storm in Beirut this week, thunder-cracks like gunfire, great green waves crashing below my balcony, rain like hail. So I curled up on my balcony sofa – coat and red scarf and thick socks – and opened a book sent by a kindly Independent reader, a much bent copy of Snyder and Morris's 1949 A Treasury of Great Reporting. And I began to wonder – in an age when the BBC can refuse help to the suffering because of its "impartiality" – whether we still report war with the same power and passion as the men and women of an earlier generation. . . .

¡Que se vayan todos! - that's the global backlash talking
It's not just governing elites that the world is rising up against - it's the entire model of deregulated capitalism
Naomi Klein
Friday 6 February 2009, © The Guardian
Watching the crowds in Iceland banging pots and pans until their government fell reminded me of a chant popular in anti-capitalist circles in 2002: "You are Enron. We are Argentina."
Its message was simple enough. You - politicians and CEOs huddled at some trade summit - are like the reckless scamming execs at Enron (of course, we didn't know the half of it). We - the rabble outside - are like the people of Argentina, who, in the midst of an economic crisis eerily similar to our own, took to the street banging pots and pans. They shouted, "¡Que se vayan todos!" ("All of them must go!") - and forced out a procession of four presidents in less than three weeks. What made Argentina's 2001-02 uprising unique was that it wasn't directed at a particular political party or even at corruption in the abstract. The target was the dominant economic model: this was the first national revolt against contemporary deregulated capitalism. . . .

The Valley of Unrest
Once it smiled a silent dell
Where the people did not dwell;
They had gone unto the wars,
Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,
Nightly, from their azure towers,
To keep watch above the flowers,
In the midst of which all day
The red sunlight lazily lay.
Now each visitor shall confess
The sad valley's restlessness.
Nothing there is motionless-
Nothing save the airs that brood
Over the magic solitude.
Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees
That palpitate like the chill seas
Around the misty Hebrides!
Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven
That rustle through the unquiet Heaven
Uneasily, from morn till even,
Over the violets there that lie
In myriad types of the human eye-
Over the lilies there that wave
And weep above a nameless grave!
They wave:- from out their fragrant tops
Eternal dews come down in drops.
They weep:- from off their delicate stems
Perennial tears descend in gems.
—Edgar Allan Poe

The poison of Guantánamo still courses through ministerial veins
Simon Jenkins
Friday 6 February 2009, © The Guardian
Gordon Brown should call Barack Obama and say: "Mr President, our predecessors left us with a great steaming pile of ordure called the war on terror. It is going to blight our works, spoil our reputations and, incidentally, undermine liberty. Let us join now in declaring a giant inquiry into every murky corner of this so-called war and come clean. Let's do it now." . . .

The Lake

In spring of youth it was my lot
To haunt of the wide world a spot
The which I could not love the less-
So lovely was the loneliness
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound,
And the tall pines that towered around.

But when the Night had thrown her pall
Upon that spot, as upon all,
And the mystic wind went by
Murmuring in melody-
Then- ah then I would awake
To the terror of the lone lake.

Yet that terror was not fright,
But a tremulous delight-
A feeling not the jewelled mine
Could teach or bribe me to define-
Nor Love- although the Love were thine.

Death was in that poisonous wave,
And in its gulf a fitting grave
For him who thence could solace bring
To his lone imagining-
Whose solitary soul could make
An Eden of that dim lake.

—Edgar Allan Poe

L'une des clés d'une relation amoureuse est de respecter la maladie que l'autre porte en lui.

Wild Horse Preservation:
The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come.