"The party resolution is ominous, unworthy of a democratic party "...
Duh-uh, REALLY???!!!
Maybe that's because PT is NOT a democratic party, and never was.To them, democracy is a means, not an end. They used it to get to power, but their only goal was POWER. They are Trotskist and Leninist, with one of the factions actually adopting Stalinist views.Their ideal government involves soviet-style rule, complete with gulags and all the other trappings of a totalitarian régime.Check the history of the guys in power now - they were the activists who fought the military dictatorship so as to establish a "dictatorship of the proletariat"(thier words, not mine), where all critical thought was to be punished as burgeois counterrevolutionary sedition by reeducation camps, or, failing that, execution.They NEVER fought for democracy - they fought the black hats so they could become the dominant black hats.They wanted - and still want -THEIR dictatorship.
Controling the press is an important step for that (Chavez redux, anyone?)

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And if anyone happens to think I'm being unfair, sorry kids, I lived through it. Okay, so I'm a cold war dinosaur who happens to think( based on what I LIVED - not heard, or read) that as bad as right-wing capitalist governments are(and they DO suck - Bush, anyone?), well continuing, as bad as they are, they are truly penny-ante when compared to communist totalitarian governments, which repressed and killed by the millions (remember Stalin's two favorite mottos: "the death of a man is a tragedy; the death of a million, a statistic" and "death solves all problems: no man, no problems"). Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao... the list goes on.
So, until somebody finds something really better that actually works, I'll stick to capitalism. Those who disagree, feel free to move to Cuba, Venezuela or North Korea.

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"
The election of a metal worker, mainly by the poor, for the presidency of one of the largest countries on earth has put in check many heavy private and government interests around the globe and it is still far from being accepted.
The opposition starts with fellow rich Brazilian who spent the last five or six decades (or even more) depositing their money in the American and Swiss banks "defending" it from being devaluated inside the borders of Brazil.
Now these same Brazilians don't want to believe the reality when they see the graphs on newspapers showing that those deposits abroad have already devaluated around 50% mainly because of the economical policy of the "incompetent" PT government of Brazil, which has finally started to privilege the rescue of the poor Brazilians from their stone-age level, instead of defending the centenary privileges (mordomias) of the rich.
Sooner or later people will realize that opposition in Brazil is again being unfair and all they want is to bring the government down by force since they weren't able to do it in the ballot box.
Of course they have to do their opposition to the government, no doubt about it. It's their job. But by making opposition to the deep desire of the Brazilian people to make their lives a little less primitive is a terrible mistake and a bizarre nonsense that will be shown to be a shot in their own foot. Hopefully.
"
Dudes, That is it ! (see: http://www.brazzil.com/content/view/9945/1/)

Like people say on the streets: More blind are those who don't want to see.

This reactionary oposition in Brazil has allways been priviledged in the past by former governments, when only them could make money in Brazil: The poor had to see their salaries devaluated in 30% in a month (!) because of the inflation that the Workers Party on power banned from the country, while the rich and powerfull invested their money overnight. What they did with the profit? Instead of investing in their own country (at the time backed by "their" own government in power therefore the investiments had to be safe) what they did was to export those assets to the safer economies like Switzerland, USA, not to mention those "fiscal paradieses" like Jersey Ilands that still holds fortunes stollen from the brazilian people by corrupt politicians and bussiness men.

These people who are screaming now are the people who international comunities must watch of carefully. All they want is to perpetuate their "mordomias" as the author sugests in order to become even reacher, at the expenses of the poor and laborious brazilians that up to date still work as slaves in their proprieties.

The use by the oposition of a tragedy of such proportions like the aeronautical accidents in Brazil is what is ominous.

International agencies like this one should take their asses off their confortable offices in "normal" cities Paris and spend a year or two in this country studing the complex relation between people, government, parliament and the coprrupt bussiness segment accostumed for centuries to suck the blood and exploit the felow brazilians. Then they will learn a bit more about the real people who make the good and the bad things in this country.

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Lula gives the poor cachaca (bolsa familia) to keep them in the continuous cycle of dependency instead of giving education and the necessary tools in order to be less dependent on "esmola" from the gov. Anyway, the rich made sooo much money and maybe they are angered that they are getting a few slaps from the current administration. Brazil has never been a democracy, we are obligated to vote and if we don't we pay penalties, can face jail time, etc. Freedom of speech??? No, thanks. The media are together on this situation and we don't have a decent newspaper or organization that we can say: they are the voice of the public and represent our values. If anyone attempts to criticize egocentric LULA, he will haunt you down and make your life a misery. To me all this bickering has to do with who will siege power and who will get more for less. It has always been this way and unless the public and we the brasileiros do something about it, nothing will change. It is my belief that a civil war will have to take place in order to set the record straight, we'll see more air traffic accidents, more violence, more corruption. The government and Rede Globo keeps feeding the ignorant masses with their novelas and from 6:00pm until 9/10 all you'll see is novela. Talk about a brainwashed nation, we are just that. Feed us the famous bunda, carnival, football and novela and you have a recipe on how to brainwash a nation.

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Shelly
you want to lead , fallow or just get out of the way .
brasil does need a kink jerked in its ass as does the goverment of the US
they all have gotten to the we be the kings they be the workers .
keep them down , stupid and dependent on us and they will alaways be our slaves

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Shelly
you want to lead , fallow or just get out of the way .

You sound ominous.Must be your training in the Marine Corps.A good order,though.

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Allo allo allo.....where is Carlos the Idiot ?
How could he tolerate such bashing.....once more ?

-)))))

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Allo allo allo.....where is Carlos the Idiot ?

May be, he is taking a vacation paid by the government

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Forrest, that was good, how about we go and sort this shit out?

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The government and Rede Globo keeps feeding the ignorant masses with their novelas and from 6:00pm until 9/10 all you'll see is novela. Talk about a brainwashed nation, we are just that. Feed us the famous bunda, carnival, football and novela and you have a recipe on how to brainwash a nation.

This is what lots of Brazilians in this blog have been saying and we are classified as unpatriotic citizens. Today, there was a protest organized by Orkut called "Cansei". Globo didnt show anything,but I did see on Record . Of course the number of people present was very small,but at least,they did protest. I dont believe in violent protests,but in civil disobeience movement. For xample, OAB has called for protest against CPMF and I support this. Why should we pay CPMF, when the banks charge exorbitant fees to maintain our accounts,give credit cards and the government charging us almost 45% of our income on everything (ICM,IPI,CPMF,IOF,etc)?

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Joao,

I don't think we should be considered unpatriotic. Being unpatriotic is to see my country in ruins and do nothing about. I don't agree with violence either, but in the case of Brazil, of my country, I don't see an alternative. My father owns a company in Brazil and you cannot even imagine the amount of taxes he pays, and for what? We were never sent to public schools or used national health care, but had to pay for everything TWICE. The protests when the little boy was killed in Rio not long ago, what did it achieve? I am sorry, but I am for a rebellion against the government that takes 45% of
tax. and destroys the country. Let's see what the American or any industrialized country would do if they had to put up with half of the crap in Brazil. I am afraid we are not at the protest level, maybe in 2 generations, but right now something needs to be done. The only time we seem to get half a dozen idiots to rebel is when America visits Brazil, did you see the "show"? I though it was pathetic, we don't see half of that done when someone gets murdered in Rio. Record has always been a little better and Globo continues to be the brainwashing newscast.
I heard of Cansei, and I cansei too! Cansei de ir ao Rio e ver o meu estado em situacao precaria! Cansei de ver o meu pai pagar tanto imposto pra nada, cansei de ver o numero de mortos no Brasil, cansei do desemprego, casei da desmatacao da floresta amazonica... Do you know what this does? Absolutely nothing, tomorrow everything will continue to be the same, why do you think Brasilia is the capital of our beloved country??? Let me tell you a story. My uncle used to work for Jarbas Passarinho, do you remember him? Jarbas used to say to my uncle " out of sight out of mind" and most of the senators had the same sort of behavior. In the end, he resigned and opened a small computer company in Brasilia( he continues to live there). Brasilia has the worst youth violence, mostly are sons of deputies/senators/sons of rich people and guess what they like to do on a Friday night? They go outside the bars or nightclubs looking for people to beat or kill for a laugh. My brother- in- law was a victim of an assault 2 weeks ago in Brasilia. He was visiting from Rio and went out with my cousin (family reunion after 15 years) and his wife to a nightclub and was beaten by 7 guys with a steal bar. Not only that, but they tried to run him over using their Ford pick-up truck. Correio Brasiliense did a huge work on this case, guess what happened to the perpetrators NOTHING because their parents own a large corporation. Therefore, I can say that being a family member of someone who has seen the rich get away with almost murder, that only a rebellion will solve things. I have lost all hope in my country. I am sick and tired of seeing bad news coming from Brazil, we have a lot of potential, more than most countries in the world, however we always seem to miss the opportunity.

My mother is a teacher, has a PHD in English and Portuguese, do you happen to know how much she gets paid per month? Sorry Joao, but I think that we are always dreaming that some president will take the lead and help us get out of the crisis. President Kennedy has said, what I consider one of the most beautiful quotes, "Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country" and I truly believe that we should all do our part. I am, in a sense (geographically it is impossible for me to do more), but whenever I can, I teach about the Amazon and the civil issues in my country. I give people the option to contact a NGO and help out, even if it is with a letter. I am a ocean and marine scientist, I wish I could go to the Amazon and help out with the environmental issues that we are facing there, but I fear for my life. My brother-in-law's father works for IBAMA and a co-worker had a Indian put a rifle to her head and was told her to leave, how do you think we can solve this?

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nothing about it. Do we have a preview button on this site?

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He told her to leave. I should write on Word before posting here, this is really annoying...

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There are lots of mistakes going on in Brazil right now. The most recent is the belief that helping the chaos to install will make things goin better right away. That's what the radicals are trying to sell... and that so many interests are trying to watch. But it's a mere stupidity. Before going radical it is necessary to recall 10, 20, 30 years ago and compare it with today. And foolish will be the "novelas brainwashed" brazilians if they dont forget the fofocas of TV Globo soap operas and get focused on the real overall situation of the country.

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VIOLÊNCIA
Casal agredido ao sair de boate

Um grupo de pelo menos sete jovens espancou analista de sistemas a socos e com uma barra de ferro na QI 9 do Lago Sul. Mulher levou tapa no rosto e chute na barriga

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcela Duarte
Da equipe do Correio
Carlos Vieira/CB

Homem de 32 anos diz não entender razão da agressão. Jovens teriam fugido em duas caminhonetes


As lembranças da madrugada de domingo em Brasília para Ângela*, 32 anos, moradora do Rio de Janeiro, são de horror e revolta. Ela, o marido e um primo foram agredidos por um grupo de pelo menos sete rapazes, na saída da boate Nix, localizada na QI 9, no Lago Sul. O marido de Ângela, Rafael*, 32 anos, analista de sistemas, foi atingido na cabeça com um bastão de ferro. Levou seis pontos na cabeça e dois próximos ao olho esquerdo. Agentes da 10ª Delegacia de Polícia (Lago Sul) procuram os agressores.

O casal Ângela e Rafael visitava Brasília pela primeira vez. Eles vieram para o aniversário de uma sobrinha. Com os primos Fábio*, 27 anos, e Marli*, 26 anos, moradores da Asa Norte, saíram para aproveitar o fim de semana. “A noite foi tranqüila. Ficamos em uma área reservada. Não aconteceu nada de diferente, não teve discussão, ou qualquer pessoa que mexesse com a gente”, sustentou Fábio. As agressões começaram quando os quatro estavam indo embora.

“Quando eu saí, levei um soco no rosto e caí. O meu primo me viu e foi me socorrer. Neste momento, os seguranças me ajudaram e me colocaram para dentro da boate para evitar que eu levasse mais golpes. Foi aí que pegaram o Rafael”, contou Fábio. Ângela, que estava do lado de fora com Marli, também foi agredida: levou um tapa no rosto e um chute na barriga e desmaiou. Rafael foi segurado e viu um rapaz pegar, em uma caminhonete L-200, um pedaço de ferro.

Testemunhas ligaram para a polícia. Segundo Rafael, ele conseguiu se soltar do grupo, e tentou se proteger entre uma árvore e um poste. Na delegacia, as vítimas prestaram depoimento e passaram informações sobre duas caminhonetes L-200, uma preta e outra branca, que o grupo teria usado para deixar o local. As vítimas passaram por exames no Instituto Médico Legal (IML). De acordo com o delegado titular da 10ª DP, Antônio Cavalheiro, com o laudo da perícia a ocorrência de lesão corporal poderá, eventualmente, ser caracterizada como tentativa de homicídio — devido à gravidade das lesões.

O gerente da Nix, André Castanharo, alegou desconhecer que os agressores tenham estado dentro da boate naquele noite ou que tenham algum vínculo com o estabelecimento. “Nada aconteceu de errado naquela noite dentro da boate. Vi a confusão quando já estava no fim, do lado de fora. Tentamos ajudar as pessoas feridas, mesmo tendo acontecido fora do estabelecimento”, disse.

Sem alvará
Segundo a Administração Regional do Lago Sul, a boate Nix não tem alvará para funcionar depois da meia-noite — e a autorização é para atuar apenas como restaurante. O delegado Antônio Cavalheiro disse que está preparando um dossiê para a administração. “Vamos pedir o cancelamento do alvará de boates que funcionam em quadras comerciais. Temos recebido muitas reclamações. Coisas graves estão acontecendo e podem acabar em morte”, ressaltou. Moradores reclamam da desordem provocada pelas boates. “Além do barulho, temos que nos preocupar com outros transtornos, como falta de estacionamento e a insegurança”, alega uma moradora da QL 17, que pede para não se identificar. Segundo o administrador do Lago Sul, Paulo Zuba, a fiscalização será intensificada.

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(Lula gives the poor cachaca (bolsa familia) to keep them in the continuous cycle of dependency instead of giving education and the necessary tools in order to be less dependent on "esmola" from the gov.)

Let's be fair. The last PanAm Games shows the opposite of what you say. Not just for the medals. The periferia of Rio de Janeiro was totaly involved in this project. For months. And they are happy. Have you watched the games ?

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Yes, my father actually has an apartment in the pan buildings. How much do you think that project was? What about Nova iguacu, Sao Joao de Meriti? My father lives in Barra da Tijuca, you can see the sea from his balcony, do you think he rather see the money go into education or PAM Games. We did great, Thiago was fascinating to see, but what about the thousands of other Thiago out there? Let's be fair?? I am being fair, I rather see more done for the people than overpaying for a project. Where do you think the money came from?

"A polícia do Rio invadiu a sede da ONG Rede de Comunicação Contra a Violência, apreendeu 60 camisetas de protesto contra o Pan e prendeu as duas pessoas presentes no local no centro da cidade. Vendida a R$ 10, a roupa é parte das manifestações contra os atos violentos nas comunidades populares prévios ao Pan e os gastos excessivos do evento e contratações sem licitação. Depois de assinar um termo em que assumiam terem usado uma marca registrada (o mascote Cauê, mas na versão maligna e segurando um fuzil), os dois foram liberados."

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/07/30/brazil-about-the-2007-rio-pan-american-games/

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We cannot succeed as a country until everyone has their basic human rights respected. Go the the UN website and read their universal declaration of human rights, we don't follow one line let alone the document.

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....BUT to get paid TWICE or more, just become a government worker or a politician !

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however...... we always miss the opportunity...is more appropriate !

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My father is too much of a honest person to be around this sort of people. We don't mix with the scum bags in Brasilia.

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....BUT to get paid TWICE or more, just become a government worker or a politician !

Politicians are getting paid much better!.But you are too blunt to be one!!. So you better stay put in Switzerland.

As for you,Shelly, I understand about your Dad and his honesty. Honesty is a rare commodity in Brazil, these days. I think we have lost our moral values right from April 21st of 1985. Please do correct me if I am wrong.

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Ch.C.

I think you are referring to Tancredo Neves, am I right? I was 12 years old and remember seeing people out in the streets just crying. I also remember that my family thinks that he was poisoned (assassinated). He was fit up to that moment and all of a sudden he died, I too believe he was killed by someone in the Sarney campaign. When we have lost our moral values in Brazil? Well, I don't really know the answer to this, but I can say for sure that a small elite hold power and the wealth in our country. We have lost our values when we allow little girls to be prostitutes in the streets of Rio de Janeiro or any other state for that matter and allow politicians to go free, killing the dreams and destroying the future of our country.


My father is a good man. Every Saturday he goes to a favela in Rio-favela do ANil and helps out. He has being doing this for a very long time, more than 15 years every Saturday. On Wednesday's he helps out with the meetings, etc. When we were kids we used to go there and help too. He always said that the fact that we were better off than most people meant that we had a duty to do something.

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Is possibly a misled idealist. His belief that Bin Lula tamed inflation reeks of a typical adolescent UNE brainwashing mantra.Give the kid some time, maybe he will come to his senses.

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Joao, In case you don't believe me...

Shelly, thanks for posting this article. Not many people are aware of the situation in Brasilia.It too has gangs formed by kids from affluent families and political clans from all over the country. They are volent for the sake of fun and not to rob.Some years ago, a native Indian who was sleeping in a bus shelter was burnt alive. Some kids threw spirit on him and set fire.In aother incident, the son of a minister killed a couple of bicyclists in a hit and run accident.I am told that such violences ae on the rise and the mainstream media do not bring to the attention of the national audience.

I have gone to Brasilia several times (that was several years ago) and always found the city to be friendly .I am told that it is no longer so. I am sorry about what happened to your relatives and happy that they survived the ordeal . As for finding the culprits,forget about it.Probably the kids of some politicians.

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Is NOT a recent phenomenon.It started in the 80's,with middle-class and above juvies who were "bored" and formed territory-based gangs (each "quadra" had one, the most infamously violent being from SQS 109). These guys would prowl around looking for other quadra's members to fight, wherever they might be; parties, movies, fast-food outlets... they actually went to parties carrying nunchuks, chains, knives...a real Cockwork Orange scenario.The "in" thing was to practice some martial art to improve your fighting skills so as to have more prestige with your gang.
Quite a few people ended up in hospitals or dead those days; however, we were still under a military rule until '84, and newsstories on those events were squashed.
The tradition of not reporting these events during the rest of that decade continued, especially as many of the involved in the felonies were the kids of important poeple. Being underage and therefore protected from several points of view also helped.
Brasilia has been extremely violent for DECADES now.The few incidents we see in the news are the tip of the iceberg.

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"We cannot succeed as a country until everyone has their basic human rights respected."

Perfect!
How about aplying that UN declaration starting with those sufferd people who has always been stollen by the most powerfull - including the previous governments - that allowed corruption to be installed as an "institution" in this country.
I am not rich but I can consider myself part of the brazilian elite, but I don't close my eyes to the many mistakes other governments made in the past that this blind elite insists in puting under the carpet. Today, when they are called to do their dutties in helping to improve life in this country by stop sucking the teets of the government, they refuse and try to conturbate the environment by pointing the errors and mistakes of this goverment - that of course exist! - but have been created several years ago by these same ones who are screaming on Lula now.
Because our metal worker president makes spelling errors in his speachs, it doesn't mean that we should break the government apart.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, honoris causa in world best univertities doesn't make spelling errors but has bought his re-election with dirty money (have you forgoten it?) and Marcos Valerio, the Mensalão operator and the "máfia das ambulancias" were his government's creation. Not to mention the scandalls of privatização, etc etc etc.
Please, let's give this man a chance. Let us remember how it was a few years ago when the reflections of a farth in Poland or wherever, would put our economy and markets on its knees in minutes.
Today, all financial indexes in this country are pointing up, something we haven't seen for so long, and as consequence of this, more low income people are buying more, warming up the economy that in consequence makes the index go better. That is such a human right acchievment, and I believe you and I have heard this simple equation millions of times when in the school benchs... But only "iliterate" Lula and his "incapable" PT are being able to make this to work, what causes a terrible envy among the so called elite. Dumb elite.
The problem in this country is very simple: Politics here is done by destroying the good things that an oppositor makes or what he or she wants to make, instead of making something better than the oppositor and in consequence gain the votes. Now, this group of "ever privileged" people -potilicians, government employees, empresários, "marajás", corrupt judges, US$ 20K/month pensionists and retired people, etc- are loosing their unfair (or even ilegal) privileges and then what they do ? They atack those who are trying to do it right. They want to destroy what Lula and PT are trying to do, conturbating the environment like I said.
Believe me, most of the so called scandalls in PT federal government have their roots in previous governments. Corruption is an institution in this country, worse than it was in Italy 30 years ago. Much worse. They have dozens of deputados and senators, they have judges, they have priests, they have a squad of the best layers in the country and even abroad.
The main chalenge to us brazilians in this moment is to have the wisdom of separating the good from de bad ones.
Problems, yes, we have many and we all need to join hands and help the country to start wiping out these blood suckers from our history for ever.

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I am not rich but I can consider myself part of the brazilian elite,

At least you are honest in acknowledging that one needs not to be rich,but still can be elite.I guess you are talking about intellectual elite.You talked a lot about the f**kups FHC made and you didnt mention about Sarney nor Color.Fair enough,because you were a small kid or was not born during their period.

My question is Lula has been in power for almost 5 years and why didnt he correct the mistakes of others? He declared himself NOT to be a Leftist (because, according to him, when one is young a person tends to be a leftist radical) and a great friend of Delfim Neto.Of course he doesnt know anything that is going on around him, including the Air Travel crisis.Strange,isnt it?

And please do explain to me why our first family has taken Italian citizenship for their "better future". That shows that they themselves dont have faith in Brazil. Or do you have another explanation?

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You are right about the problems in Brasilia. This is one of the reasons we went back to Rio, my family hated all the problems and the violent youth. I remember going to a Taekawndo gym and being "trained to hit the enemy to cause damage". The enemy was someone from a different quadra. Anyway, I have know this problem for years and nothing gets done. I have lived in Brasilia for a very short period and saw the gang problem with my own eyes. They were gangs from ASA norte/sul, SQ against SQ. Yes, I do remember the indio that was set on fire, the judge said that the "boys were just playing". Yeah, right! The boys were old enough to make better judgment and were allowed to live a normal life. One never thinks or dreams that something like this could happen to a family member. Knowing my sister and my brother-in-law (my nice and my daughter stayed at home, thank God, she is there on vacation) are just normal and caring people, I cannot comprehend why someone would attack others for fun. Brasilia has been as my mother would say "a vergonha do Brasil". The night before, another youth died after being beaten, he died of complications at the hospital. My brother-in-law was lucky to have survived this attack, you cannot imagine the grief this has caused his little girl. If you look around you can see his picture on the newspaper, he was disfigured. When you see this sort of injustice hit your life, one should begin questioning where did our values go? This is why I am angry and feel that only violence will sort things out. These people do not understand or think the same way we do, they don't have ethics, moral or sound judgment. Therefore, I truly believe that we have one option and should give this son of a B a spoonful of their own remedy.

Lucas, how much time to you think Lula needs to set things straight from previous administrations? Please, can you ask him to be quick! I really like to see when people blame the past presidents and think we have something better going on now. He has been in power for how long? What is the plan to make Brazil a great country? And as for the environment, please don't get me going on this, I am an expert on this one. We are destroying the Amazon to a point of no return. Do you know what desertification is? Do you know that the Sahara is a man made desert and do you know why? Please, I have family members that are employees of IBAMA and they don't have the man power to police the Amazon. We put our sewage directly into the ocean without going first through the proper procedures to clean up the particular matters that live in dirty water. Do you know what that does to the marine life? Please, do me a favor, tell Lula that the Amazon and the ocean cannot wait too long for him to set "what others have done wrong". Before judging the US as the biggest polluter, please let me tell you that at least the sewage water reclamation plants in this country are fantastic and a lot of science and technology goes onto cleaning the water. I have visited the Occoquan sewage treatment plant and I was amazed that by the end of the tertiary treatment you could DRINK that water. Can we do that in our country?

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goes into, I get carried away with the environmental protection issues

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I am an expert on this one. We are destroying the Amazon to a point of no return. Do you know what desertification is? Do you know that the Sahara is a man made desert and do you know why?

I am not an expert on enviornment,but I agree with your view that the Sahara is a man made desert and the Amazon sub soil is too thin for agriculture to last forever.I think you forgot to explain to young Lucas how we manged to make the "Sertão" of our Nordeste an arid desert too.It would be interesting to hear your views.

btw, the state of MT had a large forest area, which has now been destroyed and Soy beans being planted. You know that Soya beans are not staple food for us.

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TO put it simple, the Sertao used to be covered with a vegetation called caatinga. All soil at the top level have what is called the O horizon, which is mainly covered by organic matter that are in the process of decomposition or decomposed. The vegetation as we all known are important for 2 main reasons: 1) it holds the soil together 2) two keeps the water content in the soil-which varies from soil formation, some it holds 45% of water. When you farm the land and clear the native vegetation, you are by default change the soil chemistry and organic composition. The Sertao used to be a rich resourceful land, it was the farming that destroyed the land. Mainly cotton and cattle ranches are responsible for the destruction of the land.When you destroy the biodiversity of the soil, all living things, from the microscopic life to what we can see with our own eyes sometimes die or go through the natural selection process. However, the end result will never be the same as to the original life. The Sertao is a man made desert in a sense because the land was overexploited leading to soil depletion. That are things that can be done, but I think a lot of money needs to be invested in soil recomposition,and it is my belief that it is always better to preserve.

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1- I constantly mention FHC because he is a freaky reactionary. Due to his envy of what Lula has already achieved and he didn't, he is puting fire in this country. Believe me, this seems to be rediculous but it is the central point in this nightmare Brazil is involved in these days and it is originated in the insane fight between PSDB and PT. They have forgoten they both came from the same organized center-left that fought the militars dictatorship, and now they are shootting each other with the people and the nation in between them. PSDB had their 8 years in charge of power and didn't do what they were supposed to do. Now they have forgoten their roots. After they joined forces with the PFL gangsters -the real mother f**kers and blood suckers- they've together installed the industry of corruption in this country. PFL was the teacher and PSDB was the student. Now, the creation has swallowed the creator. I hate FHC for that. He cheated millions of people with his Sorbone accent and is still cheating. Sarney and Collor dont even deserve my attention. I wouldn't waist my time on even thinking about them. Diferent from FHC they are banana trees after frutification, in other words, no good for nothing. Sarney's clan have lost all their "capitania hereditária" while Collor is and has allways been nothing more than a criminal clown who has got what he deserved. By the way, I am not the kid you imagine me to be. Maybe a grown up kid, much more knowleged an political oriented than you can imagine...

2- Lula did not correct the mistakes of the others (yet...) due to a simple fact: If he had tryied it harder he wouldn't be here now. They would have had him already killed, long ago. But slowly and thoroughly he will get there. I'll bet all my cards. The reactionary oposition has already put down Dirceu, Paloci and now Pires, involving the three of them in their smoke and mirrors traps. They can't get to Lula because Lula is much more inteligent than most idiots think he is and will not be trapped by these smoke and mirrors put in his path every day by this kids of DEM (or shall I call them PFL ?, or PDS ??, or Arena ??? anyways, still f**king camaleons) and PSDB. Do you get it ???

3- In a few weeks I myself will have the honor of having my own italian citizenship. Papers have already been filled and on course. Marisa Letícia, Lula's wife, is descendant of the same group of italians who setled down in Sao Bernadro do Campo back in 1890. Among this group was Leticia's grandfather and my own grandgrandfather. We both and our descendants are elegible for having an Italian passport. What an honor, isn't it? And do you want no know more: A year ago I was in Italy and when I mentioned to a regular citizen on the streets of an italian city that I was from Brazil he says so: You have a bravo president in Brasile... Bravo = Coragious, brave, valente.

Dear Joao da Silva, or whoever you are in your real life, we can't go insane. We can't let these corrupt politicians corrupt our minds. We have paid a lot to learn how acts the criminal mechanism that rule this country and now we want it to be demolished. Imploded like they will do in a few minutes with the TAM's buildings hit by the airplane.

Go you get it ????

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Sertao

Thanks for your explanation and glad to know that your views coincide with mine. There have been plenty of articles in this news magazine talking about building dams on the Amazon river, diverting Rio S.Francisco,etc; There are many of us Brazilians as well as foreigners questioning the real benefits of such projects and the enviornmental damages they would cause. Our friend Forrest, who has traveled to may parts of the world,including the River Nile and the three Gorges dam in China had very interesting things to say. btw, he has been up the Amazon river too.

It would be interesting for you to read these articles and write one, expressing your views. Being an expert on these issues and a Brazilian,your opinion may help to open the eyes of many of the skeptical readers.

btw, it is my firm belief too that it is better to preserve than to spend large amount of money to repair.

Ah, I have a strange feeling that it would take a shorter time to turn the Amazon forest into a desert than it took to do so in the case of Sertão. Thanks again for the explanation.

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I have a degree in Marine and Ocean science. A little different from Environmental Science, but I have taken a few classes in Environmental policy, science and so forth. The 3 Gorges Dam in China sits on a active tectonic zonation (this is the correct term) and I let's hope we don't have a major landslide or earthquake in that area. Yes, building a dam in the Amazon will disrupt and destroy the marine life. When a dam is built, the silt that normally flows downstream gets trapped, therefore pollution and water quality decreases. Also, the mercury that settles down deep into the river bed, gets disrupted when a dam is being built. The water temperature rises and some marine life is lost due to the temperature change. I am going Costa Rica next spring to do a study in coral reef ecology and will do some dives in the area. Mainly, we will learn about Coral reef conservation and how to restore life when a "bleaching" occurs.

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1. About one sixth of the land area of the earth is desert
2. The large deserts the subtropical belts of high atmospheric pressure where the wind is dry, the clouds few, low precip, high evaporation.
3. The Sahara was there before the people. Milenia.
4. It is about the same size as the USA.
5. It was that size 12,000 years ago, got more rain and shrank somewhat about 500 B.C., then grew again, none of these changes having anything to do with the population.

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Thanks for your interesting post and giving me your points of view about Lula,FHC and other politicians. I do believe in freedom of speech and expression.You have your opinion and I have mine.

To be honest with you, I am totally disillusioned with ALL the politicians and I had a premonition on April 21st,1985 that it was going to happen.Sarney who was of ARENA/PDS changed his party to PMDB,became the President and the champion of democracy. The inflation rate was running at almost 100% a MONTH and he didnt really care much about it and instead spent his time bullshitting and writing books. Then came Collor who stole the money from the middle class and the "aposentados",completely destroying the credibility of the traditional "Caderneta de Poupança" (Our family were victims of this stealing). Then came Itamar, who was another bullshitter, who made VW to resurrect the Fusca. After that came, FHC, with his bullshit as well as his phoney Sorbonne accent and sold all the State Owned Companies for a song (I wonder how Itaipu escaped his attention). After 8 years of fest, now we have Lula, in whom you have great faith and admire. I am not a big admirer of him,because he is continuing with the policy of FHC in screwing the Middle Class. The difference between FHC and Lula,in my opinion, is that FHC was blunt about calling the Middle class "Vagabundos" and he really didnt give a shit about the poor.On the contrary, Lula doesnt call such names,but makes a drama about Bolsa Familiar.I agree with you that he is one of the most intelligent guys one could come across. I guess, intelligence has nothing to do with education,so it doesnt matter if FHC was a "visiting Professor" in France and Lula hasnt completed his High School. All that matters is that Lula in command now and he has 3 1/2 years to accomplish his objectives.If he does not, he always can go and live in Italy with the pension.

I am also glad that you are honoured to be acquiring the sought after Italian Citizenship,just like the first family. It does give you an option to quit Brazil and live in Italy. I sincerely hope that all our other politicians are also applying for citizenships of European countries where there ancestors came from and move, once the heat becomes unbearable here.This way, they would be joining the ghosts of the noblemen who came from Spain and Portugal to Latin America to rob and take back the wealth to the Royals of those two countries.If they go away, then we will be left with the Afro Brasilians (who wouldnt like to go back to their "Home " countries) and the Native Indians.Not a bad idea,because they may be able to run the country better.

All the best Lucas in your new country and for our first family too.

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Shelly.....Your " but I can say for sure that a small elite hold power and the wealth in our country."

Easy analysis.
Why do you think that Brazil is ranked 10th......from the queue of course......for the world worst wealth inequality ?

You confirmed it !

Joao : I will definitely stay put in my country. Why should I change it ? We are ranked at or near the top for almost all rankings !
Noooooo.....we are not in paradise. But we are certainly closer to it than Brazil !
Just think of it. Our small country with a population of 7,5 million has as much exports and imports than Brazil with a population of 185 millions. And that doesnt include Services yet, much larger than the Industrial sector.
Yessss, for example we have more tourism revenues than Brazil despite we are so small !
Our inflation is well below Brazil, and our interests rates are many times...below Brazil !
Our unemployment rate is below 3 %. Employers cant find enough qualified workers.

It happens that most Swiss, travel a few times a year. We have more BMWs, Mercedes, Ferrari per capita than anyone else on earth.
Despite our small size, we have the world largest food company.....in the world. We are even selling brazilian bottled water to......Brazilians !!!!!!! Hey hey.
we are selling premium French and Italian water (Perrier and San Pellegrino) all over the world .
We are selling grains seeds, pesticides, fongicides to all agricultural countries, including Brazil.


Ohhhh and I have not yet included banking sector !!! Hey hey....
Neither did I include yet the watches, chocolate, precision machinery.
Nor did I include the insurance and re-insurance industries. Yesssss. Joao even in the re-insurance industry we have the world largest
company
My city Geneva, has tens and tens (200 I believe) International agencies headquarters and large NGOs. Koffi Annan, retired here, and decided to make Geneva, the world center for humanitarian organizations.
Ohhh and we have also the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) headquarters for Gillette, Colgate, Philip Morris (Altria now), Procter Gamble,. Elizabeth Arden, Ralph Lauren....just to name a few !!!!

Yesss Joao why for god sake should I leave such a place and go to Brazil ?

This said, I have a business with friends...in Brazil. In 2006 right at the bottom, I bought a large land of several thousand hectares in Western Bahia. We are going to grow premium coffee. Smile.....
Never heard of BHC..... Blue Haitian Coffee ? Well, we are going to produce a new brand, BBC, .....Blue Brazilian Coffee, irrigated with several large pivot centers.
We dont need to spend on marketing and sales. Large european and swiss buyers are knocking to our door. They all try to have a fixed
percentage of our future crop.
Quite a long story........

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Quite a long story........

Ok,you young piss ant.Lets hear the complete story.btw, I always knew you have "Brazilian Connections". I hope you are not corrupting the politicians in Bahia. If so, I would be very disappointed. May be you are a relative of ACM.Who knows. Come out clean and dont hide anything

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Yo, I have a SERIOUS coffee adiction! Tell me all about this variety, mate!

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Ch.c is playing coy. I am all ears,dude.Do you think that we should submit him to third degree torture?. btw, I know what he is talking about coffee. The Kenyan variety is also very good. Lets wait and see what he has to say.Then I will say my own say.In the meantime,you keep cool. btw, how was the movement "Cansei" in your city? In mine nothing.A bunch of "Bundões".

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Ric, I am Sorry, but I disagree with you.

1) Before the dawn of the agriculture, forests and open woodland covered 15 billion acres of the globe.
2)One third of these forests have been destroyed.
3)The Sahara was once in some parts a rainforest and in some area a swamp. There are fossil records to prove that, they vary in size from pieces of fossilized leaves and pieces of bark
4)With the rise of the agriculture, many forests were cleared and water was brought from other areas to irrigate the land. Soil salinization often results from irrigated agriculture and it is a problem in arid areas. Generally, water for irrigation has small amounts of salt, enough to change the chemistry of the plants and the soil. As water evaporates what is left is salt. Carbon dating of the salt crystals has proven that the salt in some areas is recent, not as old as you say.

5) When the modes of subsistence changed from foraging and hunting to agriculture, women became more overweight and estrogen helped women have more periods and have more babies. In foraging cultures, women are lean, they have to be it as they eat a well balanced diet.Therefore, less body fat means less chance of having a child. Agriculture, is responsible for the population explosion. More people=more land=deforestation.
6) Desertification of a land has to do with a lot of factors. Climate change is one of them, and there are records that a dramatic change occurred 6,000 and 5,000 years ago and it changed the climate in the area.
7)Read "The worst mistake in the history of the human race" by Jared Diamond, a professor at UCLA. It is an anthropological study that include environmental issues too.
http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/docs/002-193/002-193.html
http://www.environnement.ens.fr/perso/claessen/agriculture/mistake_jared_diamond.pdf

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If you want to believe that the Sahara is man-made, that´s fine. But your disagreement above is more like a general litany of what´s wrong with everything, like If I Ran The Zoo. Unless doing so would encroach on your Comfort Zone, you might want to read up a little on the Sahara in a geology text or even an encyclopedia, and leave Malthusian musings aside for awhile.

There are fish fossils on the Chapada de Ariripe in the Cariri area of Ceará also, hundreds of miles from the sea and 3000 feet elevation, but that has nothing to do with the flora, fauna, climate or people in that area for the last several thousand years. Thy logic is specious.

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Over here, "Cansei" was also quite weak. BTW, Ch.c should never, NEVER taese coffee adicts.We are a seriously deranged bunch who would gladly pull out his nails one by one using a pair of heated, electrified pliers just to guarantee ou next caffein fix

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Is good for you.

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huh?? I know logic is specious, I use it everyday dear. I have had geology in college, so what??? It didn't change my mind, actually it helped me look further into the issue and made me realize that we are on the path of destruction of the Amazon. Not only did I study geology in college but also chemistry, physics, biology, anthropology and psychology. Not just a year, like most colleges and universities make you, but my degree requires a LOT of science classes. You are so arrogant to think that I haven't read any geological work on the formation of the Sahara, how do you know that? Yes, I have and I don' t agree with it. I believe in things that can be PROVEN, and carbon data of fossilized material gives me a lot more information.The Sahara supposition, note supposition doesn't mean that it is fact or theory, says that the earth's magnetic field changed the climate from humid to arid over thousand of years, creating the conditions we see today in the Sahara, if you want to believe that is up to you, some people do. We all know there is evidence of a magnetic change--ocean sea floor shows that. People like you still think that climate change is "normal" and what we have going on right now is part of nature, please do correct me if I am wrong! You believe in Hutton, so do I, but also Lyell, Darwin, Mendel, Lamark, Cuvier, I can name quite a few...Actually, interestingly enough the extension of Malthu's principles to all organisms was acknowledged by both Darwin and Wallace. If you can be bothered, read about the Tragedy of the Commons by Hardin.

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Yes, Arrogance R Us.

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