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Monday, December 06, 2004Bringing It All Back Home Well, I’m back... I have had one of those periods when days seem to have less hours than they should to get everything done. I spent November working like a dog, trying to figure out what future holds for the European economy (no kidding, have you seen that euro at US$ 1.35???). So, I didn’t have much time for blogging or anything else for that matter.I had the pleasure to be stateside during the election (I got to Miami one good week in advance and stayed until Nov. 10th busy as I was pinching myself) and, well, I had that peculiar feeling of being a first row witness of something really important, some sorts of social mutation. I didn’t see it coming. When history’s pendulum goes back and passes in front of us, it always seems to catch us off-guard, busily glancing at the tip of our noses… Then I went to Spain to spend three weeks doing some research and interviewing people about their feelings regarding the country’s economic prospects for 2005. The situation there is chaotic in more than one way, with at least a dozen of different factions vying for power within the clannish Spanish left. Zapatero [another link in English and a surprised decryption of Europe's daftest politician ever] is fast losing his shine and people start to realize that the terrorist attacks in Madrid last March maybe were some sort of coup d’état. I intend to write about that and, generally speaking, about Spain in the coming weeks, since it appears to me that it is still the weakest link in the War on Terror… Talking about the American election, let me quote Urban Empire who has a very insightful and representative account of the day after in Milwaukee assorted of a magnificent statistical quote: I did want to touch on the election just a bit. Throughout the day on Wednesday, there was this feeling of shock and depression in the city. I live in Milwaukee, a city which went 73% for Kerry and it was just like no one could believe it. My one Republican friend was all smiles, of course. My other friends almost immediately started distancing themselves from Kerry saying how much of a horrible candidate he was (even though they vehemently defended him whenever I made such a claim about him). Then suddenly, the blame shifted. As the fact that Bush won the popular vote by over 3.6 million votes sunk in, many (excluding myself) Kerry supporters started to blame the voters themselves. Comments such as "This is why democracies really suck" or "Stupid dumb hicks shouldn't be allowed to vote" were frequent. Then they see figures like this and the absoluteness of Bush's margin is solidifed. 3,141 counties, boroughs, and parishes in the United States 
[via Montmartre] No less than 32 Spanish copycats of Michael Moore produced a documentary movie against former prime minister José M. Aznar, a staunch ally of the US and the UK in the War on Terror. It was called "Hay Motivo" (there is motive) and was to be used during the campaign for the Spanish election in Marrch, giving all sorts of reasons why Mr. Aznar was to be voted out. Three days before election day, Islamic terrorists -by themselves or perhaps with help from homegrown elements- killed 194 people in Madrid and decided the outcome of the vote. The new rabidly anti-American government of José Rodriguez Zapatero did its best to promote the Hay Motivo movie and it went to the theaters Nov 15th. Something is changing in Spain. According to mr. Zapatero's ministry of Cultural Affairs, the movie was seen all in all by 496 people throughout Spain (42 million ibhabitants). Believe it or not, if Montmartre has it right, the Spanish emulators of Moore will receive some money from the government. It's called socialism, folks.
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