Proverbial

Guilherme Fiuza wrote a great book on the FHC administration and how much we owe them, and has been one of my favorite Brazilian conservative pundits for quite a while. Lately, though, he seems to have joined ranks with the most reactionary right-wing bloggers in just being against anything the government proposes or the society [...]

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Diplomacy, when used as a means of resolving political conflicts, is “a pointed humiliation“. And a congresswoman who opposes the President’s political views should never engage in public conversations with someone said President disagrees with and has decided not to talk to.
Yeah, the whole problem with the US these days is really that there [...]

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If I got this right, Tokyo’s election comission is asking Youtube to delete political advertising videos related to the local governor’s race. Their claim, it seems, is that one of the candidates’ video was too popular, receiving much more views than his competitors, which would go against the “fairness” demanded in the country’s legislation.
What I [...]

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For the ongoing “where would you rather be” discussion:
A city with a high Quality of Living index is a safe and stable one, but it may be lacking the dynamic je ne sais quoi that makes people want to live in world-renowned cities such as Paris, Tokyo, London or New York. Sometimes you need a [...]

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Heh:
Seven months after a conclave of scientists downgraded the distant heavenly body to a “dwarf planet,” a state representative in New Mexico aims to give the snubbed world back some of its respect. State lawmakers will vote Tuesday on a bill that proposes “as Pluto passes overhead through New Mexico’s excellent night skies, it be [...]

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Brazil, March 8, 2007:
Riot police fired tear gas at protesters in Sao Paulo after more than 6,000 people held a largely peaceful march, sending hundreds of demonstrators fleeing and ducking into businesses to avoid the gas.
(…)
And in the southern city of Porto Alegre, more than 500 people yelled “Get out, imperialist!” as they marched to [...]

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An allegedly Greek user uploads a video to YouTube making fun of Mustafa Atatürk, and the next thing you know a Turkish court bans access to the site. Meanwhile, offended Turks flood YouTube with “response” videos.
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Mustafa Hulusi, a British artist of Turkish-Cypriot origin that was in Rio [...]

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Ever wondered why so many people say it’s a bad thing to let the government decide who is or isn’t a journalist? Look no further than - where else? - France:
The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The [...]

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I remember thinking, years ago, how the whole ECHELON conspiracy theory could be nothing but bullshit, since there would be no way for whoever ran the thing to analyze all the data it captured. The last couple of years made me rethink that notion, though, since not a day seems to go by without someone [...]

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SLOG reports on the Netherlands’ debate over whether or not something should be done against “age play” in Second Life. While they wonder about the legal implications of such actions, I can’t help but think that the whole reasoning behind the idea is ass-backwards.
For starters, the idea that “virtually having sex with children [that [...]

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