Showing posts with label world affairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world affairs. Show all posts

Sunday, January 22, 2012

World status update by country (taken from the Internet and modified)

I got this non-pc satire from the blog International Liberty. In these SOPA days sure I can feel nervous about knocking down an entire post, but it is awesome enough to deserve the reposting and even more worth of being added some new material.

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The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France’s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”

The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose.”

Colombia on the contrary, has lowered its alert level from “revolted, give’em hell” to “gullible, let’s hear them”, still away from the lowest level “naïve, let’s make a new constitution”.

Venezuela, maintains its only level since 1999 “paranoia, pretend those Yankees are after you to retain full power.”

North Korea is making its transition from “worker’s paradise” to “surreal” to “completely loony tunes”, which will be called later “normal”.

China is upgrading from “frenemy” to “only major player”, only if they can avoid the “implosion” status because of abusing the “everything’s fine” grade, without revealing its hidden housing bubble and railroad fiasco and infrastructure systems failures.

Argentina, after taking over the pensions system, upgraded from “perceived catastrophe” to “nothing to see here, pal”. The lowest level “real catastrophe, every man for himself” is somewhat consistent with its highest threat level “head in the sand.”

Russia has four levels: “I can get no respect”, “demand respect”, its current “extract respect” and “war”.


Alert level of this blog? Red, of course.

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Thursday, June 9, 2011

10 Tipping Points Which Could Potentially Plunge The World Into A Horrific Economic Nightmare - Business Insider


Forget about aliens, meteorites and grey goo. After the sucess of Ten Ways the World is Going To End (name that movie!), here comes the sequel with a (more realistic) vengeance: Thanks to Bussiness Insider's analysis, the way the current statu quo is going to implode is ten times more plausible. Enjoy:





Gird your loins...

Friday, September 17, 2010

Ingrid of the Jungle

A Dr. sipmac translation (original text taken from Tijera Press)

"This should never have happened. Everything was so crystal clear in my mind: Larry King, Oprah, then the Nobel Prize, best-selling books about my captivity in Spanish, English and French, a major motion picture in Hollywood, the Awards ceremony, negligence lawsuit against the Colombian state, the presidency, and then ... " Perhaps I exaggerate, but more than one of these things certainly thought Ingrid Betancourt during and after his captivity. The story of her mighty tantrum originated because she didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize says a lot.

Accustomed as we are to their miscalculations, it took us completely by surprise the obvious: writers Serge Scotto and Eric Stoffel, teamed up with illustrator Richard di Martino and prepared between July 2008 and December 2009 the perfect blow to the arrogance and ambition of the former hostage, a comic satire of her well known behavior in and out of captivity. A simple idea, but it never ocurred until now in this proud land of "humorists".

Currently scheduled to go on sale one week before the captivity memoir "There is no silence that does not end", the graphic satire and is already an Internet sensation. The web forums are full of prospective buyers, willing to buy a Spanish version.

Yet to be known is if the parody will be successful in France, where there was certainly a lot of backlash, and saturation with everything having to do with Ingrid Betancourt; but is almost certain that it could be completely successful in the country that loves to hate her. Meanwhile, she continues with its strong levels of unpopularity, which I doubt can be alleviated with an exclusive interview with reputed writer and intellectual Héctor Abad. Even Larry King at its best couldn't have been able to rescue her image. Another gaffetastic miscalculation.

We should recall that her first miscalculation was to enter a combat zone in spite of the warnings.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Cool Investment Opportunity in New York: An Islamic Gay Bar


Greg Gutfeld, the libertarian hero of Big Hollywood and Fox's Red Eye, is looking for investors for an interesting project a propos of the new mosque at Ground Zero: an islamic gay bar.

Why? In spite of the protests of the 9/11 victims' relatives, and in spite that it was thought this decision was in extremely bad taste, it was approved by a New York City community board the building of a mosque near the site where the Twin Towers collapsed and +3.000 people died right before the eyes of the entire world. Well, Mr. Gutfeld thinks this is a game we can play, too.
First of all, Dr. sipmac would like to know what GLAAD and NOW think about this. Will they be supportive? If they are afraid of the fatwa (as Dr. sipmac is), will they support Gutfeld (and the LGBT and straight potential customers of the bar), at least under the table? BTW, should women wear burqa-style clothes in the new bar? Could we draw the prophet everytime we drop there if we want it? Could sip watch the Super Best Friends, 200 and 201 episodes from South Park in there? Could Dr. sipmac watch those episodes without censorship? In a nutshell, will sharia law still apply in a muslim gay bar?

Could the Islam culture and religion be reinvented in the meanwhile?


Anyway, count me in.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Beware! The French nagging police is watching you!

By Paul Maršić

Domestic violence is a serious matter. Domestic violence is no laughing matter. You just tell Nadine Morano, junior family minister of France, she’s making a travesty of domestic violence by praising the latest attempt of the French National Assembly to regulate human life and human nature: “we have introduced an important measure here, which recognizes psychological violence, because it isn’t just blows [that hurt], but also words”.

What she is referring is that now in France is unlawful by decree any kind of verbal abuse between spouses (or domestic partners); perpetrators would be facing up to three years in prison and 92.000. French lawmakers and bureaucrats (ever wonder how the dreaded word originates?) are looking to proscribe badmouthing in blogs and trolling in web forums next. It’s just the natural logical progression.By attempting to micro-regulate human behavior this way, the state is risking more loss of respect from its citizens and effectiveness. Do you think this is law applicable? Define verbal abuse first. Did your spouse threaten with beating or killing you? Well, I’m completely sure that when a citizen threatens another, is breaking an already established law. See, this is a futile effort, a superfluous law. There is a lot of serious nagging in every marriage. The law already contemplates that when people in marriages are fed up with this (mental cruelty), they can always call it quits (it is already called divorce).
This puerile law tries to coerce people to “behave properly” in a most impractical way. It is like trying to outlaw stupid behavior with a bill. And with people like the junior family minister of France, who doesn’t recognized that the road to hell is paved with good intentions or realize legislature must be full of common sense, well, it is worth a try.

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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Barack Obama must be held accountable for the Gulf Oil Spill

Before you go to another website, I kindly ask you to consider a few verifiable facts, and I promise you that I will provide the links. Consider this:

The oil spill must have started as early as April 20th this year. Well, it was a known fact already on May 6th, that the U.S. goverment was not accepting foreign help on the dreadful incident. Iran, as implausible as it sounds, offered help, besides others. It is fairly evident that with joining efforts with all the countries willing to help, the task of cleaning would take less time than by the U.S. alone. Firms as the Jan De Nul Group could be of great help if properly requested.

The situation is still not getting better, and to top it, almost at the same time, as Obama is going golfing (he's golfing a lot more than Bush), the BP CEO is going sailing. By now it is clear that both the president and Tony Hayward are as clueless in PR as they can be. The "let them eat cake" is superfluous by now. Whose ass should be kicked, we know that already.
(...) Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal (...)
That was said by none other than presidential hopeful Barack Obama himself on June 3, 2008 (He sure didn't know those words were going to haunt him forever). Instead of looking for the real causes and solutions, Mr. Hope-and-Change is looking how to involve more politics in such an hour. Remember, a good 100.000 barrels are estimated to be thrown into the ocean every day. I don't know much about what BP is doing, I concede (that is, not counting the oil filtration machines the Beyond Petroleum farce is buying from Kevin Costner - no joke!), but this no acceptance of help truly enrages me.

There is still a lot of people talking about the brilliance of Barack Obama. Some would say that passing the Health Care Bill grants him a great place in American history alone. They might be right, but for the wrong reasons. Stiff defenders are already giving up. I don't care how much bulletins are posted on Deepwater Horizon Response, the approach of the U.S. goverment was flawed since the very beggining. I won't speculate, this blog is not the place for conspiracy theories. But sacrificing the environment, people and the economy in the name of a cap-and-trade legislation, thinking the bigger the spill, the more easy is to pass the law, is downright criminal.

BP used the motto "Beyond Petroleum", presenting itself as a green company. It never was that way. BP was only trying to please the environmentalism movement. Environmentalism is loaded more with wishful thinking and good intentions than real solutions. In a nutshell, cap-and-trade legislation would bring the entire global economy down. Let's get realistic. Please don't sell us more fraud and fear, and we will start to consider what to do next.

Barack Obama sold himself as a postpartisan, compentent, cool and rational president. Until the oil spill I was very reluctantly giving the benefit of the doubt, but giving it anyway. After what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico not anymore, I might add. Barack Obama must be held accountable for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, not for causing it, but for making it intentionally worse.

Paul Maršić has ranted.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Climategate 4: Phil Jones Confesses to Climate Fraud


To the global warming family: please man up, fess it up and take it up. Stop hurting science the way you are doing it now.
That's what Dr. sipmac said a few days after Climategate exploded over the thick hubris cloud of anthropogenic global warming supporters (AGW). Little by little, it is happening. Don't need to be too judgemental. You'd have to grow a pair to admit that kind of wrongdoing. Nobody's gonna give you a medal for that, people are gonna spit after they hear your name for years to come, your only reward is going to be the possible last line of your bio/epitaph: and in the end, he did the right thing. Virtue is its own reward.

Now, just read it and breath with relief.



Dr.sipmac has ranted.
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Thursday, February 4, 2010

Did America waste $5 billion in Colombia?


By Dr. sipmac

"See you at the cities", said "Mono" Jojoy, number 3 at the farc at the very heyday of the failed peace talks in the Pastrana administration. Politicians, bankers and clergymen from all over the world, NYSE's chairman included, visited San Vicente del Caguan or received Raul Reyes (number two in the organization) in a trip with colombian government officials to Europe. Just everybody wanted to be in the history books. ¿And what was what the farc had to offer? Just to extend the war from the jungle to the colombian cities, where the most part of the population live. And in the late nineties, they were in pretty good shape to do that (they've got a lot of help btw, even from outside Colombia).

That was between 1999 and 2002, and then the tide turns against the farc: Reyes is killed, the organization is in disarray, Jojoy is on the run and Tirofijo, the legendary leader died without being nearer to his final goal: to size absolute power in Colombia.

Now, today Dr. sipmac read an article written by Mr. Ray Fisman about 5 billion dollars wasted in the war against drugs in Colombia. The article is based in a Center for Global Development report. Sip won't go into the legalization debate, not for now. But Mr. Fisman surely does not mention how was the situation in the late nineties: it was more than possible that the guerrilla could win the war. Because it wasn't only a guerrilla war but pure terrorism used against innocent civilians, too. Anybody who cared to travel by car or by bus outside the big cities risked dear life by being caught by guerrilleros, and spent years kidnapped, for starters.

In a nutshell, this situation changed thanks to the U.S. aid, those 5 billion dollars reported in Mr. Fisman's article and allegedly to have no positive outcome after being spent. It is interesting how it is mentioned both in the CGD report and the article the truly evil (and very condemnable) deeds of the paramilitary forces but not all the damage caused by the guerrilla all these years. Not to mention that in Wikipedia's entry on CGD it is mentioned the Foreign Policy Magazine, the one that works very closely with Slate, all with the same political orientation.

All of this is to say, the U.S. aid to Colombia may have not been 100% succesful, but it has done a lot of good to the majority of colombians that want to live in peace, and they are thankful for this. Dr. sipmac remembers about one or two years ago an american cartoonist horrified by the colombian paramilitary and asked not to drink colombian coffee. I'd rather been suggesting him not to blow any coke.
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Saturday, January 16, 2010

James Cameron, that's it!


Dr. sipmac can barely tolerate that Avatar movie as a three-hour brainwashing process thinly disguised as entertainment. So, why dignify that with a review? Hello! This is not a review. Dr. sipmac is here to remind you that every act of terrorism is despicable and condemnable. A simple definition can be found on wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn:

(the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear)
So, say what you want, but the words "againts civilians", "intimidation". "coercion" and "fear" must be ringing a bell for you, or you must be not a human at all. If terrorism is not justifiable at all, then you must react with utter disgust to what James Cameron said to Entertainment Weekly:

EW: “Avatar” is the perfect eco-terrorism recruiting tool.”

JC: Good, good. I like that one. I consider that a positive review. I believe in ecoterrorism.”

Dr. sipmac says then "That's it!". The one and only Mel Gibson got nailed for what he said against the jews, even counting he was being arrested for drunk driving. James Cameron, until I hear or read something different, was sober when he said that. The more guilty he is then for instigating violence. The affix eco is not a free pass for everything, and not for ecoterrorism, either. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is coming, Mr. Cameron. How about a little non-violence to achieve your goals? Or are you just another Machiavelli wannabe? People with the same success and wealth like you have paid (deservedly) dearly for saying things like you said. So, take what you said back and apologize, or sooner or later, you will be held responsible for what you said. Look at the face of that guy at your side. What do you think he is going to do?

Dr. sipmac has ranted

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Cooking the Global Warming Books 2: What's next?


Could be Manmade Global Warming theory in the same level as the Piltdown Man? Should Al Gore give his Nobel Prize back? Should he rectify his film publicly? Should the CRU accept the manipulation of data and accept the consequences? Well, it is sure the honorable thing to do. But that surely won’t happen. Dr. sipmac wishes it would.


We were talking yesterday about the deep silence in the mainstream media. Now the people involved in the scandal feel shielded by the press trying conveniently to ignore and shut down what happened. As people say somewhere in Latin America: “cover up, cover up, cover up.”


That will hurt this particular cause and the cause of science in general by not realizing that by denying the manipulation the manmade global warming advocates are giving a debate-ready argument to people who assess that the earth is flat, that humans never went to the moon, and yes, to the creationists, too. The e-mail scandal will be then hung undeservedly on the honest, decent and dedicated scientists for decades to come.


Dr. sipmac cited the Piltdown man fiasco before for a reason. When the “archeological findings” were denounced as a fraud, it didn’t poke a huge hole in Darwin’s theory of evolution. On the contrary, new discoveries cemented the validity of the theory years after the exposé. But this Climategate looks more like the N-Ray case than the Piltdown man: scientists deceiving the people and/or deceiving themselves into believing something that isn’t there.


The other thing that demonstrates this scandal is that the scientists are human after all: prone to do the wrong things for fame, money, recognition and help further political agendas. To the global warming family: please man up, fess it up and take it up. Stop hurting science the way you are doing it now.



Dr. sipmac has ranted
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Cooking the Global Warming Books – Until they burn - Climategate!

This time Dr. sipmac’s new rant looks like a minefield after he used (or abused?) the linking to other websites. He feels it is necessary. It is necessary to do a lot of research, stop taking what you hear and see everyday as granted. Always referring about himself in the third person (true to his internet persona), this time thinks there’s no time and he needs to talk about:


Cooking the Global Warming Books – Until they burn


Dr. sipmac really feels the urge to post this rant. Always wanting to say something about the climate change, formerly know as climate warming, until last year a crude winter was experienced in the northern hemisphere and the alarmists (both scientists and lay people) couldn’t sell the idea of increasingly benign winters anymore. He hesitated, because he wanted to substantiate all the facts with undisputed evidence.

It wasn’t long ago, when he took a cab to his workplace and began to talk nonchalantly with the chauffeur until they arrived to that particular theme. It appeared that the taxi driver was a Discovery Networks fan, and he couldn’t even contemplate the very notion of the inexistence of the manmade global warming, much less the idea of the untruth of a global warming at all. What makes Dr. sipmac shudder energetically is the remembrance of his stare: he was watching Dr. sipmac like someone discovering he was talking with a madman, and the driver was at the same time wanting to punch him in the face.


Besides, who can dispute, who is crazy enough to dissent, when the city in which they live has experienced a very hot and dry year? Just the last year it didn’t rain: it poured. El Niño phenomenon? The one that appears every three to eight years? No, it must be global warming. It’s in all the media!


It is a real sensitive theme, and when you are a skeptic, it is like talking about religion and/or politics. Until recently people in the first world accepted the dogma of the manmade global warming (MGW) without questioning it. But the tide is changing. In the meanwhile, in every part of the globe the dogma still persists among official levels. Governments talk about it and devise policies regarding MGW assuming it is a reality, a settled matter. After all, it wasn’t only the desperate admonitions of washed-up politicians who have found new relevance: scientists, serious scientists flooded the media with data, computer models and pictures that showed how real the threat was.


The few that dare to dissent were facing difficulties, even threats, not just because of their beliefs, but because they dare to confront the advocates of MGW and simple GW… with facts. Speaking of which, now it is time to announce that those serious scientists that advocate for radical measures to stop the irresponsible actions that harm the environment have been caught red-handed. The UK Climate Research Centre’s (a component of the University of East Anglia U.K., one of the leading institutions concerned with the study MGW and GW) e-mails have been hacked (some say they have been leaked). You can read them in http://www.anelegantchaos.org/ and weep. Finally, we have strong evidence that, in order to further the alarmist agenda (and earn a little money), the data has been doctored and bogus research methods had been used.


Mainstream media is now in full denial mode, alleging that these e-mails are fake themselves, or that they are private communications that never were intended for the public (yeah, *sure*). But they seem to be right. Only time will tell if this real discovery will change the course of the MGW juggernaut. By the way, Dr. sipmac is willing to accept there could be a global warming caused by CO2 emissions, even a manmade global warming… but stop offering the people to drink of the same old kool-aid. Gimme some truth.


Dr. sipmac has ranted.
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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Still sick - but fighting!



As I told you before, I'm pretty sick these days. Broncopneumonia, and the doctors scared me to death. They warned me a lot, telling me I should rest a lot and take a gazillion medicines. Well, even today I'm not feeling strong enough to resume my normal activities, and, if I take the doctors' advice seriously, it would be unwise to even try now, too.

It's been a period on time when I found with great disappointment that the American Healthcare Reform is still alive and well (they should ask ME how I get my medical attention through this rotten system - as I told someone before, I'm always on the verge of taking legal action against my medical company to get some healthcare - pretty darn funny, huh?), and found great pageant activity lately, both in North and South America. Sorry, but that activity has been soaked with lethal doses of stupidity.

Gone is the goodwill and simpathy I had for Carrie Prejean. Look, she's a celebrity wannabe, and she (and her manager, whoever-might-be) doesn't know how to deal with a scandal, or the press, or a soft interview! She attempted to leave the interview she had with Larry King. Larry King! She is selling a book, too. The photo of the cover makes her look like a martyr, something apparently she likes to be. If she wants a career, she should know better.


Diana María Salgado shamelessly abused the Colombian Constitution so she could travel to Cartagena and do the National Pageant! Puh-leeze! And I'll never forget the judge. He deserves punishment, too.

In the neighborhood, a country is sinking rapidly in a hole of blackouts and water rationings. A country soaked in oil, but it has to import energy from countries with less energy potential! The simple solution: a call for war against the neighbors!

This week, South Park simply S-U-C-K-E-D. If you've been watching the show for years, you should know a couple of things about its creators. Its ideology is far from liberal. They aren't conservatives, either. They are somewhat libertarian. But "Dances With Smurfs" is plain laziness. You even laugh watching the episode. You know they like to shock, and more than once they prefer to be funny instead of being fair. This time is the former, beacause they mocked the legitimate concerns of a popular movement. They are not helping anybody but the people that spent the entire summer trivialising and mocking the movement while burning trillions of dollars in yet-to-be-seen stimulus.

Oh, and Britney Spears Twitter account has been hacked.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Sorry Mr. Penn, but you are so wrong...

maybe you deal with him a lot, but there is a lot of people living in the Chávez' neighborhood (and inside Venezuela), that strongly disagrees with you. Many people outside Latin America is getting the wrong picture with him, unfortunately. Because there is no "benevolent dictator", and he sure isn't. Besides, he is getting closer and closer to become an all-powerful dictator. The constitution, and the state of Venezuela, is completely tailored to suit his needs, all in the name of democracy!

Sure you would be infuriated if Mr. Obama closed the NBC network because it was not nice to him. Chávez just did that in Venezuela with a local TV network. For sure you would not be happy if your home were taken by force by someone alleging you have two or three more, no matter you bought them by fair means, as it happens in Venezuela. You sure don't like when a government, no matter its ideology, frames the opposition with bogus charges and threatens with prison, just because they are the opposition. The list could go on, but the final point is that the liberties and rights you surely cherish are not available in Venezuela. At least, not for the people that disagree and dissent.

Chávez uses his power, if you allow me the metaphor, like a big stick. And hides behind it to avoid any responsibility. I think there is a word to describe this behavior...
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