Archive for September, 2008


US Presidential Debate in Madrid

By: psr, 2008-09-27

Yesterday’s presidential debate between McCain and Obama was screened today at Casa de América in Madrid. Following the screening, another debate took place between representatives in Spain of the Republican party, Mr. James Levy and Mr. Edward Ruf, and Democrats Abroad Spain president Alana Moceri and vice president Gil Carbajal. It was moderated by Spanish TV anchor Lorenzo Milá.

The screening and debate was organized by Democrats Abroad Spain, and it showed, because when it came to the Q&A session, the occasion turned into a republican bashing event. There were few questions but lots of comments calling McCain a warmonger, or disqualifying him as president because of his past and his family’s possessions. We saw no real questions, and no discussion about political agendas. The …

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2008-09-27 | Spain - World | Trackback | 2 Comments »

ETA again; rule of law paralysed

By: psr, 2008-09-22

Criminal band ETA has killed again one person this weekend, injured several others, and caused major destruction with three car bombs. ETA saw their political brands, ANV (EAE) and PCTV (EHAK), declared illegal just a few days ago, and the obvious reaction of these assassins is to cause death and destruction.

In the mean time, and in light of such clear willingness of ETA to stop killing, the Spanish Government of Rodríguez Zapatero continues to keep in force a parliamentary resolution, initiated by himself a few years ago, that allows the Government to talk and negotiate with ETA, should they demonstrate their willingness to lay their weapons down.

Far from seeing any remorse from ETA, what we see is a Government unwilling to take further action to strangle the power …

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2008-09-22 | Spain | Trackback | No Comments »

More proof of the crappy Spanish justice system

By: psr, 2008-09-10

As the city mayor in a Spanish city once very correctly said, justice in Spain is a joke. A genuine joke. They prove it every once in a while, both on the part of the criminal law, designed to care for and protect criminals rather than protecting society, and on the part of judges pronouncing sentences.

Today, the joke is demonstrated by the fine imposed on judge Rafael Tirado, who failed execute the imprisonment sentence of a known pedophile.

On this occasion, the joke is four-fold:

  1. The investigation on that judge (and about the mistakes that kept the criminal free) has only been done as a result of a death caused by the criminal while he was irregularly free. Had he not committed any other crimes, most likely the judge …
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2008-09-10 | Rights - Spain | Trackback | No Comments »

Spain’s fake unemployment rates

By: psr, 2008-09-07

The recent unemployment rate hike in Spain in the last month of August led the Minister of Labour to announce that Spain would end the recruitment of foreigners, to have jobs filled with Spanish manpower, and thus reduce unemployment.

The solution proposed by the Minister is action on jobs demand. In order to reduce unemployment, it is necessary to reduce the number of job seekers (act on the demand) or stimulate economic activity to generate more jobs (acting on jobs supply), although of course it is normal to act on both the demand and the supply.

Regarding demand, there are ways of acting on it. The proposal of the Minister is not preposterous, but it ignores a key factor influencing demand: unemployment benefits. This allowance is an incentive not to …

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