A tiger can't change its stripes...

As usual, Bush presented a rosier picture about Iraq and its new parliamentary elections than reality seems to offer. In other words, he lied.

He said, rightly so, that it was unprecedented and historical that the citizens of Iraq could freely vote, but accusations of voting irregularities and rigging have surfaced that put the whole election result into question.

Actually, Bush might be caught in a catch 22 here, since he can't denounce the election as irregular and call for a do over (since he'd lose face, not having allowed one when his first dubious election was called into question) and at the same time is faced with the same religious fanatics who rule Iran to take over in Iraq. What a position. No wonder the guy looks 20 years older then when he took office 5 years ago!

Obviously, nobody knows what will happen, but the secular parties and the Sunnis are already threatening to refuse the results and boycott the next parliament if an international review isn't conducted. Well, wouldn't that be a pretty sight?!

A few quotes from Yahoo! articles here:

Dozens of Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups threatened to boycott Iraq's new legislature Thursday if complaints about tainted voting are not reviewed by an international body.

A representative for former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi described the Dec. 15 vote as "fraudulent" and the elected lawmakers "illegitimate."

A joint statement issued by 35 political groups that competed in last week's elections said the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, which oversaw the ballot, should be disbanded.

It also said the more than 1,250 complaints about fraud, ballot box stuffing and intimidation should be reviewed by international organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization of the Islamic Conference or the Arab League.
[...]
"We hold the IECI responsible for all the violations which took place during the elections and demand that it be dissolved and a suitable alternative to be found," said the statement read by Ali al-Timimi, the head of the Hilla al-Fayha List, a secular Shiite ticket Babil province south of the capital.

"If this is not achieved, then we will have no choice but to refuse the results and boycott the new parliament."

and here:

More than 10,000 people marched through Baghdad on Tuesday in support of a national unity government of Sunnis and Shiites.
[...]
Officials said insurgents were trying to deepen the political turmoil surrounding the contested vote. Preliminary figures have given a big lead to the religious Shiite bloc that controls the current interim government.
[...]
Sunni Arab and secular Shiite factions are demanding that an international body review more than 1,500 complaints, warning they may boycott the new legislature. They also want new elections in some provinces, including Baghdad. The United Nations has rejected an outside review.

"We will resort to peaceful options, including protests, civil disobedience and a boycott of the political process until our demands are met," said Hassan Zaidan al-Lahaibi of the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Front for National Dialogue. He spoke in neighboring Jordan, where representatives of the groups have met in recent days.

Isn't democracy fun!

Back to work

Our second Christmas with the kids is passed and it went pretty well. They had a lot of fun opening presents, especially Nicole. I foresee Daniel will be just as excited next year, when he'll be a little older. The most amazing thing is seeing how much Nicole believes in Santa Claus. Amazing. Her eyes lit up when she saw the stockings full to the top, the missing cookies and milk, and then... she saw the tree!! Daniel was pretty much just following her, but given his energy level, I think next year he'll probably overtake her in the presents-opening race. Anyway, we went to Grandma for Christmas dinner and everything went ok. The only sad thing was seeing how tired Grandpa looks and how hard it is for him to get around now. I hope he'll get better soon. His birthday, as Nicole pointed out, is the next one up! Santa was very generous not just with the kids, but with all of us, although the kids definitely got the lion share of presents, as it should be. Anyway, I'm currently enjoying both my mug warmer and my foot rest, so... thank you Santa ;) PS: the magnet is the sweetest thing ever. Thanks.

Bird Flu Update

Unfortunately two more people have died in Indonesia, and it looks like the H5N1 virus is developing resistance to the only known drug to have any effect on the virus itself, Tamiflu:

The latest news comes as researchers reported two cases of patients in Vietnam who died after failing to respond to the drug Tamiflu.

The drug, which governments around the world have been stockpiling in case of a pandemic, is the most effective yet found in combating the virus.

The Vietnam cases, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, suggested the H5N1 virus which causes bird flu is mutating and becoming resistant to the drug.
[...]
The lead researcher into the Vietnam cases described the latest findings on Tamiflu as "very worrying" - but said they were not surprising.

Dr Jeremy Farrar said all microbes, whether parasites, bacteria or viruses, eventually started to develop drug resistance.
[...]
However, Dr Farrar said there was some evidence to suggest viruses that developed drug resistance were also less likely to gain the ability to jump from person to person.

Let's just hope the evidence holds true this time too, even though this virus has already shown several unpredictable behaviors.

The United Kingdom joins the civilized world

I'm obviously referring to the legalization of civil union ceremonies in the UK, starting this week, first in Northern Ireland, then in Scotland, and finally in England and Wales.

The biggest name to attract attention in the papers was obviously that of Sir Elton John, who "married" his longtime companion David Furnish.

The reason I'm putting the word marriage in quotes is that:

[The Civil Partnership Act] means same-sex couples can have their relationships recognised in law for the first time.

It also provides registered gay and lesbian couples with a number of legal rights and entitlements already held by heterosexual couples in civil marriages.
[...]
Couples will benefit from a major change in next of kin status and inheritance tax and pension rights.
[...]
The couples will be granted new rights in areas such as employment, pension and inheritance. But the partnerships are not officially regarded as marriages under UK law.

So it's definitely not perfect, but it's a good start, that puts the UK ahead of many other European countries (though some are ahead of it, like Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands) and certainly of the US.

A good week for gay civil rights.

Europe, the big polluter

I often blast the US for not doing more to save our planet from the damaging effects of global warming, but this time I'm pointing the finger at Europe. This article from Energy Bulletin (originally posted on The Independent,) says that Europe is polluting much more than any other country in the world, except for the US of course, which pollutes twice as much as Europe:

The document highlights Europe's "ecological footprint", the estimated land area required to produce the resources each person consumes and to absorb the waste they produce. At five global hectares per person, the figure for the 25 EU member states is half of that for the US but larger than Japan and more than double the average for countries such as Brazil, China or India.

And the Union is not doing enough about it by far:

Europe is devouring the world's natural resources at twice the global rate.

Climate change on a scale unseen on the European continent for 5,000 years is now under way, according to the report, which warned yesterday that at current rates three quarters of Switzerland's glaciers will have melted by 2050.

The document points out that the four hottest years on record were 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004, all within the past decade, which suggests things are getting worse at a faster pace, and that 10 per cent of Alpine glaciers disappeared during summer 2003 alone.

Jacqueline McGlade, the agency's executive director, said: "Without effective action over several decades, global warming will see ice sheets melting in the north and the spread of deserts from the south. The continent's population could become concentrated in the centre."

"Even if we constrain global warming to the EU target of a 2C increase, we will be living in atmospheric conditions that human beings have never experienced. Deeper cuts in emissions are needed."

The report's authors believe that individual behaviour needs to change but also urged reform of the taxation systems to ensure that polluters pay more, and naturally, when you point the finger at big money:

The recommendation for more use of the tax system to discourage waste provoked a political row last night. The agency report called for "a gradual shift of the tax base away from taxing 'good resources' such as investment and labour, towards taxing 'bad resources', such as pollution and inefficient use".

What a surprise, who would have ever thought that the bad guys would object at being taxed more just because they are the ones causing the bigger share of the problem. Are we crazy? Why don't we pay their taxes too, so they can go out and buy themselves another private jet or something nice like that.

Europe is definitely doing more than the US on this matter, but I'm hoping the next president, whoever he (or she) is, will try to better our image in the world and reduce our polluting levels, at which point even Europe will have to do better than what it's doing now, or risk taking that notorious number one spot.

Bush, the new Hitler

A timeless post I read last week in AMERICAblog linked to this excerpt:

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

Hermann Goering, Hitler's Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials

How scary is it that the same kind of rhetoric used by the Nazis to explain their methodology has been (and is being) used in America today by this corrupt administration to justify attacking a sovereign country based on lies and manipulated intelligence and to attack its own critics at home?

Let's just hope the few checks and balances still present in the institutions of this country, and the larger freedoms and availability of information Americans enjoy will be enough to stifle any efforts on the part of George W. Bush to bring the US back in time to the most horrifying period in the history of humanity.

George W. Bush, the WORST PRESIDENT EVER.

Madonna, the new Queen of Billboard

I read this on the TVGuide website:

THE KING IS DETHRONED: With "Hung Up" now perched at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, Madonna has tied Elvis Presley's record for the most Top 10 hits in history. Both her Madgesty and the King of Rock 'n' Roll have scored 36 apiece.

And considering that Madonna is far from dead and has quite certainly a few more hits in her future, I'm sure the tie will be broken in her favor soon, and she'll be alone on top for many years to come.

See you soon, Vittorio

Vittorio went back home almost a week ago, but the emptiness he left at home and in my life is still palpable.

We always have the best of times together, laughing like crazy teenagers and teasing each other endlessly (I'm not surprised it's hard for Ray to be around us when we're being ourselves.) The last time we spent so much time together was in 2003, and I honestly don't know when the next chance will be. Because of the kids, my trips to Italy have slowed down dramatically, and whenever I go there I always have to divide my time up among all my friends from when I lived there.

Anyway, we spent quite a bit of time together, either with my whole family or just the two of us. Our road trip to Maine was a blast, in spite of both of us being sick, which made us resemble more Maggie Smith and Judi Dench then Thelma & Louise. We saw so many beautiful spots and so many typically American things, that you casually always see in movies.

When he left last Wednesday, I was very sad. I cried. A lot. I'm hoping some time soon, we'll see each other again. In the meantime, I guess I just have to be thankful for these technological marvels called email and instant messaging, which allow us to stay in contact much more than with the more expensive telephone call.

I miss you, Vitto. Always. I wish the world were a much smaller place, or that we lived much closer. Neither is true. But our friendship is. And lives on.

Much love, Massimo.

Vitto & I are in Bucksport, ME on our road trip and after a week in the States he hasn't blogged about any of it yet!!

Technology to our rescue

I personally love technology. I can't imagine not having my computer, my car's navigation system, or my cell phone. There are, however, many people who do not like technology, and this CNN article is for them:

A Web camera in a Norwegian artist's living room in California allowed her sons in Norway and the Philippines to see that she had collapsed and call for help, one of the sons said Friday.
...
He said the family was on the verge of tears when they watched on the Web camera as ambulance personnel assisted their diabetic mother, who is recovering in the Desert Valley Hospital in California.

"I thank that camera and my sons for my life," Karin Jordal told the Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende by telephone from her hospital bed. She has lived in the U.S. and Spain on and off for the past 15 years.
...
He said the family set up Web cameras in their homes because of the high cost of staying in touch by telephone when they live so far apart.

"But now I see the Internet as a way to save lives. It's also a wonderful tool for people who live alone in some remote area, and might need help," he said.

A nice ending to a good story. Don't we all need to read stuff like that from time to time? :-)