Gov of P.R. Asks The U.N. to Push for Change in P.R. Status

So the governor of my fair island, whom I’ve written about before, has done something pretty interesting at the United Nations. I haven’t really made up my mind yet, on one hand, it is a great way to bring about some change, in any direction… on the other hand, this could all be part of a plan to construe the various federal charges recently brought against the governor as an attempt to… I don’t know.

Curiously enough, the gov’s party favors the status quo as an answer to the status question. (?)

No se que carajos pensar, excepto que coño, quiero ver que pasa con esto…

Moog Guitar Causes Drooling With Its Sounds, Induces Vomiting With Its Looks

The Moog guitar might just be one of the ugliest expensive-ass custom guitars on the planet (looks like an ultra-premium Jackson), but from what I hear on this demo, there are some amazing possibilities that this instrument is going to open up. The sitar and banjo-type sounds on there are just nuts.

Price is upwards of 6500, I think. It’ll be a loooong time before I can have one. Details at:

• Create Digital Music
• Matrix Synth

Awesomeness of the Day: Bionic Eagle Beak

Better, faster, stronger…

The DC Securitron

DJ Eurok over at Upset the Setup is suitably upset at the fact that the DC police is taking a very… er… radical approach to “rescue the city from it’s out-of-control violence.” It basically involves roping off neighborhoods and having cops screen anyone who comes in or goes out of the areas - making sure they “have business being there.”

Huh? Am I reading correctly? No visitors allowed either? What if you forgot your ID, do you go to jail? Are these going to be like admissions lines to a ballpark, or more like the TSA checkpoints at the airports? Or are these cops going to be doing the full-on riot gear thing?

For some reason I think this may cause a hell of a lot more problems than it could potentially alleviate…

Hillary Won Puerto Rico: Ricky Martin Has Nothing To Do With It!

The Latin Americanist really pissed me off this morning with a post implying that the reason Hillary Clinton won Puerto Rico was… *drum roll*… Ricky Martin’s support! Thanks, Latin Americanist, for that well-researched, highly intellectual root cause analysis. Obviously, Puerto Ricans must base all their political decisions on Ricky Martin’s opinions… I mean, he’s from there, right?

While Mr. Martin’s support may have swayed one or two people (or at least the folks at the Latin Americanist), it’s sad to see such a short-sighted analysis of a complicated political situation being offered so seriously. I mean, did they post it there by mistake when it should’ve really gone on The Onion?

Anyway, here are what one ‘can thinks are the real reasons for Hillary’s victory:

• Carlos Romero Barcelo and Luis Fortuño - the support of former governors and resident comissioners carries a lot of political clout, especially in the PNP party side (NPP in English).
• Ricky Rossello - Ricky Rossello (who actually went to the same high school as me) is leading some type of new political organization whose purpose was to obtain answers from each of the presidential candidates in regarding their plans around resolving the issue of Puerto Rico’s political status. His support carries a lot of clout, both with the PNP party and his dad’s followers (his old man is a former governor).
• She promised to resolve the issue of Puerto Rico’s political status during her first term. This is possibly one of the most important items on any Puerto Rican’s political agenda… we’ve been working on this since 1868. Personally I consider this an empty promise - a lie told by a politician attempting to be elected.

Or maybe, I’m totally off base and the entire island of Puerto Rico is just doing whatever Ricky Martin says… oh wait, only 387,299 out of the 2.8 million eligible voters turned out to vote, period.

Update: This guy also has a pretty good take on all the analysis on Hillary’s Puerto Rico win…

Puerto Rico, Getting Screwed…

An article it today’s El Vocero talks about the increasingly difficult economic situation in Puerto Rico:

• Like the rest of the U.S., Puerto Rico faces increasing construction costs, while salaries stagnate.
• Puerto Rico has the worst spending power / cost of ownership ratio of any U.S. territory. That is, Puerto Ricans are the U.S. citizens that are the least likely to be able to afford the cost of their mortgage.  Homes are more expensive - a function of island living and concrete and rebar construction - while salaries are at the bottom of the curve for practically all industries.
• And yet, there is hope. We Puerto Ricans seem to have a much stronger investment ethic than our American brethren… 75% of Puerto Rican families own the home that they live in, while this number is less than 70% for the 50 states.

Dobbs, O’Reilly, Beck Proved To Be Xenophobes And Liars

Apparently, I was not mistaken all those times that I threw my arms up in anger and screamed “bullshit!” at Lou Dobbs’, Bill O’Reilly’s, or Glenn Beck’s huge ugly mug staring at me from the screen.

Nor was I being too harsh when I lost control and started uncontrollably yelling “liar!” at my TV.

A post from one of the ladies at VivirLatino turned me on to this video and to a report by the Media Matters Action Network which takes an objective look at the wave of anti-immigrant hysteria that is currently sweeping across America:

There are two types of myths we discuss in this report. The first type is the large and most common myths, about crime and undocumented immigrants, and the costs of illegal immigration in social services and taxes. These topics are complex, and there are sometimes legitimate points buried within the arguments immigration opponents make. The second type of myth is the urban legend: that there is a conspiracy to take back the Southwest United States for Mexico; that there is a secret plan to construct a “NAFTA Superhighway” running from Canada to Mexico; that the U.S. is well on its way to surrendering its sovereignty to a “North American Union” (NAU); that Mexican immigrants are infecting Americans with leprosy; and that undocumented immigrants are responsible for a wave of election fraud. These myths are discussed less often, but are notable for their sheer ludicrousness.

I’m glad someone is finally trying to expose the truth about the NAFTA Superhighway and North American Union - they are fear-mongering devices fabricated from out-of-context quotes from fringe organizations and conspiracy theorists that have been co-opted by the media (which in America, = big business) in order to boost ratings.   From the website of North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc., a non-profit organization representing the interests of residents along the corridor:

“NAFTA Superhighway” is a slogan for EXISTING corridors that carry international trade with Canada and/or Mexico. NASCO and the cities, counties, states and provinces along our existing Interstate Highways 35/29/94 (the NASCO Corridor) have been referring to I-35 as the “NAFTA Superhighway” for many years as it carries a substantial amount of international trade with Mexico, the United States and Canada. There are no plans to build a new NAFTA Superhighway — it exists today as I-35.

So there you have it: the “NAFTA Superhighway” is not some super-secret project to destroy America, rather, it’s the name that many people in the Western U.S. use for I-35.

My advice? Take anything any of these pundits say with an entire salt shaker, or better yet, stick to watching the local news. Don’t buy the fucking hype.

Puerto Rico’s Political Situation Explained in the New York Times

My boss (who would’ve thunk it?) pointed me to an interesting article in today’s New York Times which explains my island’s current political situation, while also providing some insight into the reasons Puerto Rico will play such an important role in the presidential primaries.

And while it is not all bad, some of Mr. Janeway’s information is not entirely correct:

• “…nor will its 2.5 million registered voters cast ballots for president in November.” - I’m not sure if this number is accurate or not - it may actually only reflect the number of Puerto Ricans registered as Democrats or Republicans expected to turn out for the primaries. Voting in Puerto Rico is serious business, and the island typically becomes paralyzed on election days: no work, no school, nothing non-essential happens. And everybody that can vote, does. Unfortunately, this may not be the case for the presidential primaries.
• “And until mid-century, sporadic outbursts of violent nationalism haunted the scene.” - The Puerto Rican nationalist movement is alive and well. The EPB (Ejercito Popular Boricua, AKA “Los Macheteros”) is clearly present and active on the island - except the movement rarely receives the press coverage it deserves. And while Puerto Rican nationalism are mostly non-violent now, the same cannot be said for the FBI’s attempts to squash the movement (read more about Filiberto here). Janeway’s assertion that Puerto Ricans want to be Americans is a half-truth - perhaps it is propaganda? Since the United States frowns on the pro-independence movement and discourages its participants every chance it gets (see some of my previous posts), rooting for independence is always a bad proposition politically. I believe that a large number of Puerto Ricans are very much like Muñoz Marin, who wished for independence but then took a more pragmatic approach.
• “Puerto Ricans elect their own Legislature, along with the governor. They enjoy entitlements like Social Security, but they do not pay federal income taxes… They have been citizens since 1917, but they have no vote in Congress or for the presidency.” - This makes it sound like we don’t get screwed on our taxes like every other tax-paying American. A middle class Puerto-Rican will still have to give up a third of his or her income to the government, except that it goes to the state rather than the federal government. And while we do not have a vote in Congress, we do get a single chair - and we have a dude that sits in it and watches. But he gets no say in anything.
• “Since 1967, public support on the island has seesawed inconclusively between statehood and enhanced autonomy — a better version of the deal they already have.” - Liar, liar, pants on fire! The choice has always been STATEHOOD or STATUS QUO. Short of Congress deciding to grant us said “enhanced autonomy” (why would they do that?), Puerto Rico’s choices are to stay the same or fight for statehood. The status quo is not a pretty picture and I take offense when anyone tries to paint it as such.

And last but not least, there is this little nugget about the writer:

“Michael Janeway, a former editor of The Boston Globe and a professor of journalism and arts at Columbia, is writing a history of the United States and Puerto Rico in the 20th century.”

He’s writing a history of United States and Puerto Rico in the 20th century? God help us all.

Multi-Million Dollar Pay Day for Puerto Rico Police, Anti-Pirates Hate Deaf People, ICE “Respects” Immigrant Families

Since I was going to write about things that piss me off, I decided to lump them all together in a single post. Might as well keep my bitching confined to a small space:

Pissing Me Off, Issue 1

The island of Puerto Rico woke up this morning to 81 drug-and-gun-related arrests. One of them was even a minor league baseball player. The police conducted raids in 6 different cities. The numbers for the city of Ponce come in as follows: 14 arrests, 6 seized vehicles, 31 grams of cocaine, and 3.4 pounds of pot. Plus five handguns, an AK-47, and a submachine gun which were bought by an undercover agent during one of the raids. That’s it???

That means if we take that as an average, the raid that net 81 arrests also yielded a maximum of 7 oz. of cocaine, on an island that lies exactly halfway between Columbia and Miami. Considering the quantities that are typically seized by the Puerto Rican police during raids, doesn’t that count as an epic “fail?”

It’s sad that the corruption-filled Puerto Rican police organization is so involved in the world of gun and drug trafficking that they can walk away from an island-wide raid with so little in terms of seizures, while at the same time managing to rack up an unbelievable $24,905,000.00 in bail money.

I guess they need to get money any way they can. I visited PR recently and that definitely jives with the way that everything government-related is now more expensive.

Pissing Me Off, Issue 2

One of the ladies from VivirLatino has pointed out that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking to build 3 “family detention centers” in the United States. This would allow ICE to continue its Gestapo-style raids on the US’s various poultry processing plants and Home Depot parking lots while at the same time being able to claim that they are “looking out for the families.”

What xenophobic pigs they are.

Pissing Me Off, Issue 3

WikiSubtitles is (you guessed it!) a wiki site aimed at the collaborative transcription and captioning of TV shows and movies - according to TorrentFreak it is partly aimed at foreign and deaf Internet users. Earlier today, they received a cease-and-desist letter from Spanish anti-piracy outfit FAP (Anti-Piracy Federation). Apparently, they believe the site contains captions obtained from copyrighted material. Some issues:

• Whether or not a set of sub-titles was taken from a DVD would be slightly difficult to prove since accurate movie sub-titles SHOULD BE INDISTINGUISHABLE from what is included on a sub-titled DVD.
• I’m not sure how liable WikiSubtitles would be for something submitted by one of their users. Then again, I’m not sure what the legality of any of this would be like in Spain.
• Finally, anybody that keeps cute little deaf Filipino children from enjoying Dora The Explorer in Tagalog is an agent of evil, in my opinion.

What bastards.

Some Cool Eye Candy…

…and the girl singing in the video is kinda cute, too.  It took me a few seconds of viewing to realize that it was sped up and not just done by a casual Mac user.

Apparently, it took a while to put together.