House of horrors

Brazil's Senate has just 81 members but somehow they require almost 10,000 staff to take care of them. Many of these are appointed as favours to senators’ friends or political supporters. One former staffer says that his fellow-employees used to say that the senate was like a mother to them. Others liken it to a country club. The benefits of membership include free health insurance for life for all senators and their families, generous pension arrangements and housing allowances. This much was already familiar to Brazilians and, perhaps, not so different from the goings on in many other legislatures around the world.

But the past few months have brought new revelations. The police are investigating some 660 “secret acts” passed since 1995 which have awarded jobs and pay rises to members of staff. Senators have given free air tickets to relatives and claimed housing allowances for houses they did not live in. Senate staff were paid overtime even when the chamber was in recess. The head of the senate administration, Agaciel Maia, was revealed to own a house worth 5m reais ($2.5m) that was registered in his brother’s name and thus not declared to the tax authorities.

Lots of senators, more or less across the political spectrum, are at fault. When the leader of the opposition Party of Brazilian Social Democracy went on a jaunt to Paris, for example, the Senate paid his hotel bill. (He says this was a “loan”.) It therefore might seem unfair that Mr Sarney is under pressure to resign.

Yet he cannot plead ignorance of the Senate’s workings. This is his third spell as its president. During a previous stint in the blue chair he appointed Mr Maia to his lucrative position. A grandchild of Mr Sarney’s received business from the Senate (although he was not its president at the time). Mr Sarney also omitted from his declaration of assets to the federal electoral tribunal a big house he owns in Brasília.

Mr Sarney, who has spent 50 years in public life, is a survivor. He will probably keep his post. He remains a power in the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB), a catch-all outfit that is an important part of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s governing coalition.

Lula wants Mr Sarney to swing the weight of the PMDB, and its patronage machine, behind Dilma Rousseff, the probable candidate of the ruling Workers’ Party in the presidential election next year. Lula has said that Mr Sarney deserves more respect, and has blamed the press for whipping up scandal.

But at a time when the economy is only just emerging from recession, the saga of the “secret acts” has reminded Brazilians that their politicians never impose austerity on themselves. It may also have reminded them of the flaws of some of Lula’s allies, and his willingness to shut his eyes to scandal when it suits him.

Source: The Economist

Guess who’s a-calling?

New Chávez mobile will ring a bell on most Venezuelan years. But does it come with customizable ringtones?

Self-elected President Hugo Chávez, the fruity “generalissimo”, supreme ruler of poor, shafted Venezuela, recently launched a "revolutionary" mobile phone (Chinese tech by ZTE, so you know it's the genuine communist article) assembled locally and called The "Vergatorio".

That is downright rude! Well, with Venezuela’s government (block)head, no surprises here. The fella should be mentioned in Webster’s under “awkward”. Now, ok, let's look at the name's context; in local lingo could be interpreted as something like “the great one". But I guess Chávez realy meant "majestic, enormous, gigantic big one”. That actually makes it worse.

Now, ok, there is nothing wrong to try and provide a cheap option for a country used to a very few of them for everything else, but why must Chávez always make everything so “3rd. rate soap opera” like?

I can’t fail to associate it to the Chávez’s opponents' rallying cry, “Why don’t you shut up!” ( available here: www.zedge.net/ringtones/562597/por-que-no-te-callas-ringtone ), based on that (in)famous incident that catapulted Spain’s short-tempered King Juan Carlos to internet stardom, and driven Spain’s relations with Venezuela to a new low.

I wonder if he will allow any ringtone download features…

Big Brother Bullshit - start again!

Brazil has more to say about who will be the next BBBastard than who is minding the nation.

Brazil is a nation of media-zombies. Not the people’s fault, when the country still has over 70% of illiterate voters, many of those struggling to earn their daily bread, not get killed on the latest drug war, try to find some comfort while living in a “favela” under unsanitary conditions, and still gawking madly at a bunch of empty-headed, sexually driven media whores wiggling their genitals (not even good looking ones at that) and struggling to earn 1 mil in that “circus maximus”.

Their host calls them “heroes” when the working man has to put up with an indecent salary (when he / she can find one), feed the kids, get them some education (although Brazil’s president states that an education is unnecessary) and hope to keep their heads above the sewage (water is for the well to do).

The media frenzy has reached its 9th edition, spurting the next pseudo-actress to feature the next ridiculous soap-opera (another mind-numbing best seller) and flaunt their man-made attributes (any self-respecting God would not have done any of that).
The poor folk, lacking education, health and any decent chance of a proper living, hasn’t got a prayer. That will never change. They are too useful as they are.
And the ruling party, self-appointed “proletarian representatives”! (PT and their evil cousins) learn the lesson well. They are even worse than the usual suspects (read “all other parties”). No one is innocent anymore.

We care more about voting arsewipes off the TV show than minding who is ruling the government. No surprises here.

No escape: pig pandemics apart, the Big Brother franchise is a world wide plage. Check out their UK cousins @ http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-&-entertainment/big-brother-unveils-%27all-idiot%27-house-20070531180/

Bad, bad Senate! No freebies!

Brazil's Senate "might" review its internal rules regarding freebies for its members' families. Than again, they might not.

For the last 79 days, the largest newspapers in the land have uncovered a succession of scandals regarding private spending with tax payers’ money (air tickets, phone bills, parties, etc.). And the worse bit is that the Senate just goes on approving and masking any accountability issues. They protect their own and there is the old “wall of silence”. Who will watch them, if they approve their own laws? That is what goes on in Brazil. For those who red Portuguese, here is the official senate website with their accounts – mind you, many aren’t listed at all. http://www.senado.gov.br/sf/senadores/verba/Asp/Apresentacao.asp Weird enough, Brazil has such a bad, crooked image abroad, it’s president and government (by proxy) were depicted in a South Park episode, regarding an effort to conceal alien stolen money, or something like that – O.K., all other countries did the same, but this is Brazil's 1st appearance ever! Rings a bell? (the Edward G. Robinson reference is very good! See?)
http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/220763

Pirate Bay in Chains - political trial?

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8003799.stm) - "A court in Sweden has jailed four men behind The Pirate Bay (TPB), the world's most high-profile file-sharing website, in a landmark case."

I guess one cannot underestimate the power of big-business entertainment companies, when they decide to crucify someone.

It was decided that they " assisted in making copyright content available ". But we shared them files. That means, of course, you and I must also be considered culprits, of the worst kind. REAL MONSTERS! How dare we scoop a few buck from poor Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, Columbia Pictures, and the like? How will they feed their cats?

If those four lads are going to jail for providing infrastructure, the real criminals (that means all you millions of people that use it currently) must get heavier penalties.

I am waiting for a SAS special élite task force to knock down my door at any moment. That is why I prepared myself with my "do-it-yerself" laser saber and my own army from "World of Warcraft" fiends. "We will sell our skins at a steep price, I promise you!". Are you laughing? Don't. If this becomes a fad, we will drop back to pre-web days and life will change somewhat.

By the way, “no copyright content is hosted on The Pirate Bay's web servers; instead the site hosts "torrent" links”. And “Millions of files are exchanged using the service every day. “ Go figure.

Fatso-o-Matic: Brazil's gov spends far too much but promotes far too little social benefits

Brazil's government just made officials a "free for all", happy-go-lucky spending spree, with itself, creating a far bigger social gap now even with decreasing funds and nowhere near enough social investments. It is an ever-growing monster that is never satisfied.

Now, after a wave of political scandals on illicit spending, Brazil's senate leaders increase the amount of hired officials, use government-issued mobile phones for their relatives (with monthly bills rating up to US$ 5 thou!!!) and book travel expenses for friends and family. All that while layoffs and unemployment rates rises sky high.

Some wiseass government speaker mentioned that the government, while increasing the number of public servants, is doing its share to promote more jobs. With 181 “directors” getting premium salaries in Brasilia, this guy must have been the “bull director”.

In times of global crisis and tightened belts, instead of setting things right and blocking the locally known “happy wagon train” of public spending, the senate decided to make the unaccountability of public spending official. Now senate members can book travels for friends, family and whomever without having to explain its reasons. Another slap on the face of us, poor tax-paying citizens (read “morons”).