It’s the Tea Party spirit distilled: pose as the champion of Joe America, while actually ripping him off The laws and policies of the legislature of the United States of America are now effectively on e-Bay, for sale to the highest bidder. Are you a Wall Street boss who wants to party like it’s 2007? Are [...]

El Estado moderno no hace énfasis en la tragedia ni en su causalidad, sino más bien en la supervivencia pues ella se presenta (mejor que la vida, mejor que la muerte) como el espectáculo mediático que justifica su existencia. Sin embargo, lo que oculta, subrepticiamente, la propia supervivencia no es sino la “condición humana” en [...]

“La pregunta no es si pueden razonar o si pueden hablar, sino ¿pueden sufrir?” Jeremy Bentham No se puede dejar de sentir alegría por el rescate de los mineros chilenos que llevaban varios meses bajo tierra. En una América Latina -y un Chile- donde los derechos de los trabajadores han sido sistemáticamente ignorados, el que una catástrofe [...]

El rescate de 33 mineros en Chile es un drama extraordinario lleno de heroísmo. También es un golpe de suerte mediático para el gobierno chileno, en el que cada acto de bondad es registrado por un bosque de cámaras. Uno no puede dejar de sentirse impresionado. Sin embargo, como todos los grandes eventos mediaticos se [...]

The rescue of 33 miners in Chile is an extraordinary drama filled with pathos and heroism. It is also a media windfall for the Chilean government, whose every beneficence is recorded by a forest of cameras. One cannot fail to be impressed. However, like all great media events, it is a facade. The accident that trapped [...]

Estoy profundamente a favor de la libertad de expresión por la cual fui castigado con “silencio obsequioso” por las autoridades del Vaticano. A riesgo de ser preso y torturado ayudé a la editorial Vozes a publicar el libro Brasil Nunca Mais, donde se denuncian las torturas usando exclusivamente fuentes militares, lo que aceleró la caída [...]

Lecciones del 26 de Septiembre El pasado domingo hubo en Venezuela varias elecciones. Una fue de carácter nacional, realizada a distrito único, y que eligió los diputados venezolanos que se integrarán al Parlamento Latinoamericano (Parlatino). Otra, la de los diputados de la Asamblea Nacional, fue la caprichosa sumatoria de un conjunto de situaciones estaduales [...]

We deceive ourselves in thinking that the Beeb has a left-wing bias. The corporation is in thrall to the same interests as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and the saviour of Iraq, Tony Blair. Britain is said to be approaching its Berlusconi moment. That is to say, if Rupert Murdoch wins control of Sky he will [...]

Based on what we have learned so far from those select few provided with advance copies of the book -- mostly reporters for the Post and The New York Times who, for whatever reason, seem happy to serve as its shills -- Obama’s Wars contains hints of another story, the significance of which seems to have eluded Woodward. The theme of that story is not whether Dick likes Jane, but whether the Constitution remains an operative document. The Constitution explicitly assigns to the president the role of commander-in-chief. Responsibility for the direction of American wars rests with him. According to the principle of civilian control, senior military officers advise and execute, but it's the president who decides. That's the theory, at least. Reality turns out to be considerably different and, to be kind about it, more complicated.

Here's a fact that even drug policy reform advocates can acknowledge: California's 2010 ballot initiative to legalize marijuana does, indeed, pose a real threat, as conservative culture warriors insist. But not to public health, as those conservatives claim. According to most physicians, pot is less toxic -- and has more medicinal applications -- than a legal and more pervasive drug like alcohol. Whereas alcohol causes hundreds of annual overdose deaths, contributes to untold numbers of illnesses and is a major factor in violent crime, marijuana has never resulted in a fatal overdose and has not been systemically linked to major illness or violent crime. So this ballot measure is no public health threat. If anything, it would give the millions of citizens who want to use inebriating substances a safer alternative to alcohol. Which, of course, gets to what this ballot initiative really endangers: alcohol industry profits.