One of my friends celebrated his 33rd birthday last night at the Fiesta Casino Restaurant and not only was your humble proprietor invited to attend, he was also seated at Balbina Herrera's table -- two seats away. Yes, Martin Torrijos's Minister Of Health, chosen candidate of the titular head of the PRD (Partido Revolucionario Democratico), the current favorite to win the 2009 Panamanian presidential election. There was nothing formal, however, about this evening. A Panamanian rock band called "Blackjack" was the entertainment and Herrera knew all the words. The best analogy I can draw is Hillary Clinton going to the birthday dinner of one of the New York State Democratic Party regulars featuring The Ramones, The Dead Boys or maybe Twisted Sister and her knowing all the words. This woman is just dead fucking cool. End of story.
And why did I get that place at the table? It wasn't because of my charming personality or the novelty of my being the only American in the place. No, it was not because of some Obama-esque "social experiment" in "community organizing." It was because I paid for the printing of flyers for some of her delegates and a kids' party in San Miguelito in support of the successful by-election of two of her favored candidates. And why did I do that other than to help a friend? Because it's better to have a seat at the table than not to.
And because -- other than with the MSM and McCain and Obama -- no one gives you power; you take it. Obama and McCain both support the UIGEA, that awful, needless, useless law that brought me here. One's a "progressive" and the other's a "maverick," eh? I'd like both to explain all that to Kelso, Jr., someday, Obama because I'm "supposed" to support him and McCain because he was the driving force behind the law. Or some night when Kelso Jr's got insomnia because he misses his Dad. "Progressive" and "Maverick" my grannie's left tit. A prissy fucking scold and Dr. Strangelove. They really do deserve to dance this fall. They're perfect together.
I'd like Clinton, a UIGEA opponent, to be President Of The United States and I'd like Minister Herrera to follow Torrijos as President Of The Republic Of Panama. The truth is there's nothing I can do for Clinton other than to keep advocating for her because in yet another example of how the Wingnuts fuck us normal people, Wyoming has more delegates and super-delegates (we have none) and more electors than we ExPats do, despite outnumbering the citizens of that absurd state many times over. I think I'm going to pass. While I can't yet vote for Herrera, I've already done way more for her effort than I could ever do for Clinton. All I can be is the White Progressive Guy who isn't ashamed to think Clinton would be the best president of this bunch. There really is no limit to what I can do to further the Herrera effort.
Oh, in case anyone's interested, one of the victors in that by-election, Representative Roberto "Campa" Butcher, has much, much darker skin and much more left-wing politics than America's Official Agent Of Change, the Yes-We-Can-Transformative-Man. Unlike Obama, Butcher is a descendant of American-held slaves. Gee whiz, Balbina Herrera has darker skin than Obama has yet like him is not a descendant of slaves. Go figure. Oh, that's right. Butcher and Herrera don't count. They're LATINOS, not African-Americans. But wait a second. What would that make Butcher, exactly? Unless I miss my guess, Representative Butcher is not only an African-American, he's also a LATINO.
I guess Obama can explain it all to these funny ingnorant brown people here. I know he's very much in favor of the Bush/McCain "indentured servitude" immigration plan. That's mighty white of him. Uh-oh. What does that make me? My "skin" is "White" but I suppose I'm acting kind of ignorant and brown these days, I guess.
Oh, my God. I'm so confused with all of these agents of change. Gee whizzums, fuck me sideways. Butcher's not an "agent of change." He's an elected Representative of the PRD. Politics as usual, right? Make that "tired old partisan politics of yesterday." I sure don't see Butcher making overtures to the U.P. or the P.P., to get past any partisan divides. Butcher likes belonging to the PRD and having left-wing views. And what am I to make of Herrera, viewing this through an American lens? She's a woman and she has darker skin than Obama has and she's a LATINA but she's also a PRD partisan.
HELP!!!!!
I don't really need help figuring any of this out, do I? All it takes to understand it is to realize that this is the rule pretty much everywhere else in the developed world and the United States Of Embarrassment are the exception.
Much better. Phew!
Kelso's Nuts love you
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14 comments:
I didn't know what brought you there, but the crap going on here is probably going to keep you there.
Once again, I'm going to tell you from the ground that most "normal" people aren't paying any attention. My wife puts CNN and MSNBC on for all of her waking hours and reads 3 newspapers a day to keep up with all of the bullshit. When we talk with others about anything going on in the world, we find that most of them are completely ignorant.
Sad as I am to write this, HM, because I was born there, after all, outside the US we really see your country as a circus freak show: funny and grotesque to be sure, but very dangerous when out of control.
And I'm sure my sarcasm wasn't lost on you. In South America, Europe and the rest of the developed world these issues of skin color and gender in politics is TOTAL FUCKING BULLSHIT AND NOBODY CARES.
Balbina Herrera's a perfect example. Sure, she claims San Miguelito ("the 'hood") as home base but do your think the Jewish financiers, the Arab traders in "The Free Zone" or even the artistocratic White Christians at the Union Club care a damn about her skin color or social class? They care about HOW HER ECONOMIC POLICIES AFFECT THEM AND THE COUNTRY. Do the wealthy here accept that a strong social safety net and a minimum wage and collective bargaining are part of a modern economy? You bet your life.
You all have to take a deep look inside and question everything you're told.
Kelso, I think you are over-generalizing relative to a lack of racism in Europe as well as Latin America. There are studies out that show that racism is growing in Latin America. In Europe, the 2005 race riots against the Muslims are quite well known, in Spain, there is antagonism against immigrants from Northern African countries such as Morocco and in Greece the ethnic Albanians are barely tolerated.
When you refer to places such as "your country" it seems very odd since you really haven't been living outside of the U.S. for all that long. I think there are things that happen in Latin American and European nations that we can easily refer to as "circus freak shows" as well as "funny and grotesque." And while other countries may have elected female heads of state, many of them have come from aristrocratic backgrounds (case in point Benazir Bhutto). Gender inequality is considered by many to being one of the THE most important factors preventing many under-developed nations from moving into the modern world.
Do you consider yourself an American or a Panamanian? Or do you flip sides as is your wont so you can trash "us" and still say you are still part of the family. You try to have it both ways, as you continually admit. I think it's disingenuous to constantly be dancing on both sides of the fence, particularly given your disdain for our freakish society.
AXN: You play your edge where you can in this life. But, no, I don't think I'd be running to the US Embassy if shit went pear.
Furthermore, AXN, no, I'm not part of your family anymore. When you've had the experience of watching 5 Representatives, 5 US Senators, the head of the FBI, the Attorney General and the head of the DHS TESTIFY that YOU, a law-abiding citizen, are the equivalent of an Al-Qaida sympathizer, you tend to view things a little differently because you've realized at that point that despite all the taxes you've paid, despite your education and everything else YOU HAVE JUST BECOME DISPOSIBLE.
And another thing. Nobody's fully answered my question: Whom did I hurt with an HP-12C calculator?
But, ultimately, AXN, you know me too well to take me for an innocent. Let's say a fluke happens and the UP or PP win the Presidency. One of my attorneys is a sitting judge and was the attorney general during the last UP administration!
The president of the previous administration was a center-woman, Mireya Moscoso and I'd certainly support Herrera's PRD primary opponent "Toro" Perez-Balladares over Moscoso, for example. I know all about Thatcher, Bhutto, even Merkel and Royal for that matter not to mention the train wreck that is Winnie Mandela.
You really think I'm that innocent, huh?
And if under a McCain admisitration, Panama were to become gringo central once again, do you think it would be HARD for me to become someone else entirely from here or from some other land? Please. Now you're being the innocent one.
Personally, I prefer the PRD because I think -- this will sound really weird to Americans -- they are both more progressive and more pro-business than the UP or PP. But if you think I'm not hedged, think again.
It doesn't matter if I was born here or arrived last week. I AM WELCOME HERE AND HAVE JUICE HERE. Back there, I am not allowed to do my job! So, which country am I supposed to prefer?
I understand your situation, Kelso. And I truly think it's extremely unfair and terribly unfortunate for you and your family. It sucks. Pure and simple. And I'm really happy for you that you've at least landed in a place where you can work, where you feel at home on any number of levels. It could have been worse. It's not good, but it's not as bad as it could have been to be sure. And that's a relief to me because you are my friend.
My point had more to do with my taking exception to some of your statements about Latin America and Europe being somehow free of some of the uglier problems facing us here in the U.S., primarily racism but gender inequalilty as well. Sometimes it seems as if you may be looking through too rosy eyes at the rest of the world and bashing the U.S. because of your particular situation. I don't believe ANY country is, or to be honest CAN be post-racial. We are living in a time of globally diminishing resources, heightened fears over "outsiders" and a number of looming timebombs. People are afraid and they are always, as they have historically, going to look for scapegoats.
Europe IS NOT free of racism and from what I read neither is Latin America. We struggle with these issues as much as any other country in the world.
I understand your need to lash out. That is only to be expected. I personally expect that when the political winds change with a new administration, your situation will be different. Or at least I hope so. But again, if they don't, you're a smart guy with a lot of skills and connections and financial resources. I personally wonder why you wouldn't consider a change in career.
As a woman in an almost entirely male-dominated field, I have had the door closed in my face so many times you can't imagine, I've been told I can't do what I do because I'm a woman. I'm probably the BEST at what I do but I couldn't get hired by ANY of the big firms like my male peers (ones who were younger and less experienced and far less educated may I add) so I had to go off on my own. I didn't want that. I had no choice because I had to survive. I still hate working for myself. And now that I'm older the chances of being hired are even less.
Maybe as a while male that kind of disappointment, the closing of doors and the rejection based on arbitrariness is not something you bargained for. But, sorry Kelso, many of us have had it every day of our personal and professional lives.
Buck up, dude.
Consider me "bucked." But you miss my point. I knew all this was coming 4 years before it did. I was prepared. Quite the contrary to what you say, my situation IS good. And maybe there's race prejudice American-style in Veracruz or in Lima or in Tegucigalpa, but I sure as shit don't see it here.
I get your point about sexism and how it has retarded your career. It's not my area of finance so I'm no expert but from what you've shown me your work is rigorous and robust. I have no doubt it's top-flight.
Sadly, if anything, I'm making the point that a White male with the right attitude and a little finesse and some money can sort shit out ANYWHERE.
Being apart from my son is weird. That's for sure. But that's hardly uncommon. I'm not complaining about anything. I'm lashing out because I ENJOY lashing out. It's therapeutic. Even if it weren't it would still be a lot of fun.
in all honesty kelso, given the current state of affairs here in the states, and if obama or mccain is elected, i'd leave in a minute. you're actually very lucky in that you CAN take your skills and practice them in another country.
in fact, i have one friend whose mother and father were both born in italy. he seems to have found out that, given that, he can obtain dual citizenship will most probably be doing so. i have another friend whose parents are both dutch, he's doing the same thing. unfortunately, both my parents were born in the u.s. and i don't know any my relatives from 'the old country.' plus, i have no idea what i'd do to make a living outside of my little northeast region. "if only" i had barrels of cash (or euros) i'd probably be out of here in a "ny minute."
Anita, you made some excellent points. I've also seen quite a lot of coverage regarding racism and sexism in both Latin America and Europe. Particularly Europe. Massive immigration from the Middle East and Africa have challenged urban and even suburban areas of Europe. And that's on top of the more traditional racism and xenophobia. When I was in Prague and Budapest in late 2006, I witnessed first-hand the extreme prejudice and vitriol aimed at "gypsies" and, to a lesser extent, even Jews. Look at the nationalistic racism and violence that's rising in Russia. In Germany and Belgium there have been huge backlash movements against African immigrants and even 2nd or 3rd generation blacks. The growing Muslim population throughout Europe continues to be an enormous problem in terms of segregation, hate crimes, cultural isolation, etc. Race is one the biggest challenges that Europe faces as it continues to become more interdependent through the EU.
Anyway... Kelso, I like how you responded to Anita and you make some excellent points yourself. You both are so impressively intelligent that I think I'll just shut up now except to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your back and forth.
P.S. Anita, I really hope you'll start up your blog again soon. I know it's a challenge, but I really enjoy reading your comments and never had the opportunity to read our blog.
Sorry, obviously I meant to type "your" blog!
AXN: I love that you're coming by a lot and commenting. You know how I feel about you, your intellectual gifts, and your writing ability. You are, in short, one of the few people who could tell me that my mother sucks cocks in hell and not only would I always be your friend but also I'd consider it a compliment and get a good laugh to boot!
Your points by the way about Europe (I was thinking about Turks in Germany and Scandinavia) are well-taken. Leaving the "dirty wars" of the 70s-80s aside, I'd say contemporary "first world" Latin bigotry is more of a class-based interior-city/coast thing, almost like the USA's red-state/blue-state paradigm.
SuziRiot:
AnitzXanaxNow is one of my closest friends as you can tell. I also think that she is probably the most intelligent person and broadest polymath I've ever met. There's no animus here at all.
Obviously, given the latter part of my this pass-note to her here, I agree with YOU as well on the European question. Moreover, as AXN will tell you, there's "race" prejudice between the 3rd generation Black Caribbean Americans and garden-variety African-Americans even as we type up in Brooklyn! I'll always love that JJ Walker joke about prejudice "Northern Ireland shows that people can always IMPROVISE!"
thanks guys.
but kelso, i've said many things, i'm not entirely sure i said THAT about your mother !!!
but if i did ... hmmmm ... i think it was because i had probably had one too martini's ... !!!!!
;)
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