Brazilian Elections: Lula's Legacy

From the Amazonian state of Acre all the way down to the German settlements in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil is a nation of contradictions and paradoxes. 


The world's fifth largest nation in terms of both geography and population, Brazil has been a wonderment for those around the world, with images of Ipanema Beach and Carnival.  But there is more to this sprawling country that takes up more than two thirds of South America than meets the eye.


Brazil is currently in the midst of it's national elections and looking for a new face to continue to lead the country in the direction that current President Lula ( Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva) managed to put it in during his eight year term. Lula, as he is affectionally called, is so loved that if it were constitutionally possible, Brazilians would reelect him for a third term.


Within his two terms, Lula helped bolster a bourgeoning middle class as well as tackle his country's several challenges. Before his presidency, Brazil was a country with an enormous disparity between the rich and the poor which prevented it's economic growth. In just this decade, thanks to Lula, 27 million Brazilians managed to "move on up" in the social ladder to the middle class. 


The country was also able to narrowly escape the world financial crisis and even see it's economy grow by six percent. Education became a primary concern for Lula's administration with the Bolsa Familia being enacted to encourage poor families to send their children to school for monthly monetary cheques from the government.


All of Lula's work has paid off, Brazil's Gini coefficient on inequality has dropped dramatically in the last decade, making Brazil a success story.


So now that Lula's time is sadly drawing to a close, who will be his best successor?


Three main candidates have come to the forefront but no one has seemed to resonate with the public as well as the current president initially did. Perhaps, it has something to do with his extremely humble beginnings in the Brazilian Nord-Este state of Pernambuco. 


In tomorrow's post, I will explore the candidates that have been drawing the most attention and comparing their backgrounds and their presidential promises. 


I haven't seen or heard anything convincing as yet from the candidates, but I could be biased because as far as I'm concerned, whoever is going to replace Lula has some big shoes to fill.


V.K.L

Economics According to Rachida Dati: To Inflate or To Fellate?

Keep up with world news, France just continues to pop up on my radar recently, hence this little mishap surely would not go unnoticed. 

Ex-justice minister turned European Minister of Parliament, Rachida Dati is no stranger to the press, but the gaffe she made on French television network Canal Plus has thrust her back into the limelight for an embarrassing fifteen seconds. 

Dati, known for her lavish living, was talking strictly business in an interview with Canal Plus this past weekend when she accidentally used "fellatio" instead of "inflation"  in a sentence discussing French economics,

"When I see some of them looking for returns of 20 or 25 percent, at a time when fellatio is close to zero, and in particular in a slump, that means we are destroying businesses," Dati said. 

The saving grace for Dati is that, according to Agence France Presse, the word for "fellatio" in French is "fellation", which can easily be confused with "inflation."

Dati has laughed off the situation, claiming she spoke too quickly.

I, on the other hand, am convinced that French politics and economics could not be any sexier. 


V.K.L

Lapsus: Dati confond "inflation" et... "fellation"
Uploaded by LePostfr. - News videos hot off the press.

The Sarkozy's: The Sexed Up, Less Amicable Version of the Obamas

Roma expatriation. Retirement age strikes. These ongoing issues in France are likely to occasionally flash across your television screen, granted you are watching the BBC or in your newspaper, if you're reading Financial Times or Wall Street Journal.

France always seems to have some of the hardest news stories to come out of Europe, and I find myself addicted to them. Yet, I can't help but notice that more and more, it's not necessarily the political and social news that North Americans are being informed of from the "Hexagon" but rather, the inside life of the Sarkozy's. 

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, supermodel/singer turned First Lady to the often and rightfully so, vilified president Nicolas Sarkozy , always seems to be in the news. During the spring, she and her husband were rumoured to be having extramarital affairs. Last week, she was reported to have said in her new biography that Michelle Obama called life in the White House "hell". Now, she is being slammed in Germany for attempting to use her celebrity status as a "charity plea" to the Bundestag. Never mind the fact that she is obviously going to come out with a new CD at some point. 

Her huband, Nicolas. on the other hand, is apparently losing allies within his own government. Just this week, French prime minister Francois Fillon claimed Sarkozy was never his "mentor" and that their relationship is a political alliance while allegedly "distancing" himself from the president  This coincidentally comes at the time that Sarkozy's government is seeing it's approval rating decrease to 49 percent in August, with Roma deportations and the plan to raise the national retirement age to 62 as obvious concerns. 

I'd like to parallel the image of Nicolas and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy with that of the Obama's. While Sarkozy's presidental campaign and entrance to the Palais d'Elysee was not a red carpet walk like it was for Obama, he still has received rock-star like press coverage, from quickly divorcing his former wife at the beginning of his term to his union to Carla. The only difference is Sarkozy never had as many people as Obama in his camp to begin with, and now, right at the same time of Tea Partiers and Republican rhetoric, he is starting to look like a single term president. 

All Eyes on Toronto for G8 and G20 Summit: Typical Canadian Overkill?

When I first found out that Toronto would hold the G20 summit in June, I was ecstatic. I thought, "this will be a great way to put the city back in the public eye." Now, with the summit already under way, I'm beginning to revoke what I had said weeks and months before hand.

G8 and G20 summits always tend to be very chaotic events, particularly on the outside, with protestors hurling insults, stones, garbage and pretty much anything else that can inflict damage at police and those in authority. Having seen the pandemonium that ensues with protestors from past news coverage of summits in years gone by, I can understand some of the fears that Toronto has over security issues.

A relatively "peaceful" city, Toronto is  looking to protect it's citizens as well as these world leaders that will be here to draft up future decisions that ultimately decide the fate of the world. But this has become just too much for me. Although I'm based out of New York, I keep updated on Canadian news at all times- particularly now through Twitter. "National Post" and CBC have their own Twitter accounts and they have perfectly captured the ridiculousness of this G20 overkill that is taking place.

Upon reading on CBC's website about the removal small trees from the downtown core so that protestors could not use the branches as weapons, I had to laugh. Canadians, always portraying themselves as ardent "environmentalists" and preaching all things "green", now removing trees? I'm not downplaying what could escalate into serious violence, but that seemed a bit outlandish and contradictory.

Canadians, particularly Torontonians, have also found their civil rights imposed upon, thanks to the G20 summit. According to the New York Times, anyone who went within 16 feet of the security fences set up all throughout downtown Toronto would be forced to provide identification and if they could not, they could would be issued a $500 fine or two months in jail. What lovely choices.

This "law" which Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair says is not "secret", is apparently just new regulations added to a 1939 law that was created in the infancy of World War II. These regulations should expire by Monday, however.

I, for one, am grateful to be away from the contrived calamity that has beset itself upon the city for the last month. Even my Toronto based employment, as far back as in May, was issuing statements to its' employees to avoid coming into the city at all costs for that weekend. People were even being encouraged to not come into work, if they could help it.

So far, according to CBC, tent cities have already been erected downtown by protestors and on Friday, more than 2,000 protestors took to the streets of Toronto. Some how that amount seems to pale in comparison to what I'm sure was a larger number in London in April 2009. Could all these fears be typical Canadian over-excitement?

I wonder if past G20 summit cities such as London and Pittsburgh went through such strenuous and impractical efforts to protect their citizens' security as Toronto is doing this time around. Knowing how nothing is fool-proof if it's Canadian, it won't be a surprise if something does go off at the summit. Then the event planners and security would have a real event on their hands.

Apolo Ohno, Greatest American Winter Olympian, Whatever the Outcome

He might not have given the results that many Americans were looking for, like a gold medal, but one thing Apolo Ohno did do was make himself the Michael Phelps of the Winter Olympics.

Saturday night, the Seattle-born 27 year old speedskater skated to his seventh Olympic medal and while it may have been a bronze, he surpassed long track speedskater Bonnie Blair as the most decorated American winter Olympic athlete. Taking the backseat to two Koreans, Lee Jung-Su and Lee Ho-Suk and coming in before Canada's Hamelin brothers in the 1,000 metres, Ohno did not look entirely settled.

In a quick interview with NBC after the skate, Ohno said that he would do the race again if he could. What he probably would do over was the footing "mistake" he made which caused him to appear to trail the pack for a few gruelling seconds and lose his momentum.

Ohno has a silver from this Olympics already, in the 1,500 metre where another American, 19 year old J.R Celski capture a bronze. And this was not the last event for the soul-patch sporting speedskater. Ohno fans do not fret - he still has two more events coming up, the 500 metre and the 5,000 metre final relay.

Having been an Ohno fan since he hit the Olympic scene in 2002, I would be thrilled to see him bring home the gold in his two final events.

Seven's a lucky number, we'll see what fate has in store for him.

V.K.L

'Super Sunday', the day Canada stands still...

Oh I do pity the Canadian men's Olympic hockey team.


I, just like the rest of Canadians, no matter where we are to be found, are expecting our boys to draw blood on the ice Sunday and show no mercy to the opposing American team. 

Apparently, the Vancouver locals have dubbed Sunday "Super Sunday", making the day seem like a Canadian version of the Super Bowl, substituting the sport with ice and a little black puck. This is the day that  "Newfies" as far east as St. John's, Newfoundland will be united with those cosmopolitan, tree-hugging Vancouverites for a few hours in the pursuit of a national victory.

The headlining event is compared to the 2002 Salt Lake City upset where Canada bashed the U.S to win the gold, even though it didn't do so much as cause a flinch to Americans' egos to lose as it would have hurt Canadians had they been the losers. I only pray that we don't get our own upset on home soil when the whole country is only concerned with one thing - can Sid the Kid, Brodeur and the rest of the gang knock the Americans out of their way in their pursuit of gold?

The Canadians have shown their dominance on the ice in the last two preliminary games where they beat the Norwegians 8 to 0 and the Swiss 3 to 0, although the Swiss put up a bit more of a fight. Of course, they lead their pool. The Americans have made themselves convincing contenders as well, beating the Swiss 3 to 1 and those poor, helpless Norwegians 6 to 1. 

Sunday's game will prove to be more than a war of the two neighbours, it will be a war of NHL teams. Between the two national teams, there are ten different NHL teams being represented among the players. It must be a bit disorienting to play against your regular teammate - I can only imagine. But there's no time to get sentimental and emotional now, especially for the Canadians. Not when a country's pride and identity seems to be at stake.

All niceness should be pushed aside Sunday at 4:30 Pacific Standard Time and the war face should be put on in what has been the most anticipated event for Canadians at the Vancouver Games. 

Let the better country win.

V.K.L

Cold War on Ice?

One can only imagine the agony that Evan Lysacek went through in 2006, falling ill to a bacterial infection and placing 10th at the Torino Games.

Well, Tuesday night he got his vindication four years later at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum. In an almost flawless short program performance , the feathered figure skater from Illinois, skated his heart out with an emotional end where he could not stop the tears from falling.

Always the quieter one between himself and rival AmericanJohnny Weir, Lysacek scored an amazing 90.30, second to Evgeny Plushenko's 90.85, with almost a Cinderella like ending.

I'm tempted to root solely for him during the upcoming free skate, but Patrick Chan being on home soil and the underdog tugs at my heart strings and so once again, I'M ON THE FENCE!

V.K.L

Men's Figure Skating: Divas on Ice

Oh the drama that is men's figure skating.

The roster for Tuesday night's short program is looking mighty full; jam packed with enough ego and "diva power" to fill the seats of an Aretha Franklin concert.

Two of the medal contenders, Evgeny Plushenko and Stephane Lambiel, have come out of retirement for this last quest at gold and Plushenko has already had some choice words for international skating judges.

Plushenko, the gold medallist at Torino in 2006, retired in 2006 and came back on the international skating scene in March 2009. He has recently criticized the International Skating Union and it's judges for what has appeared to be overt criticism of his style of skating. His alleged comments have appeared in an email that was circulated by international judged Joe Inman and been the centre of attention in the days leading up to the Games.

Plushenko was not speaking to the media until after his short program Tuesday night, where he was the first to skate and garnered a record shattering 90.85 score.

Stephane Lambiel, the silver medalist from Torino, skated to a disappointing score of 84.63 while my fellow Torontonian Patrick Chan is currently clinging to sixth place with a score of 81.12 after not ending with the music and a few minute mistakes.

The battle of the Americans is on between our favourite little diva Johnny Weir and his less flamboyant rival Evan Lysacek. Call it the feather-filled 2010 reprisal of the "Battle of the Brians." Weir's short program skate left him in fifth place ahead of Patrick Chan with a score of 82.10 while Lysacek has not skated as yet.

Weir, always known for his quirky and cute comments and sexual ambiguity, is rooming with Lysacek's ex-girlfriend ice dancer Tanith Belbin in the Olympic Village after he decided to forgo his posh hotel accomodations for something more "spartan." Who knows what secrets Belbin may share with him.

It's these drama-filled moments why I love the Olympics.

V.K.L

Ohhh the Bureaucracy of Television Rights...

Poor little ol' me, I've been down here in Syracuse, ferociously searching for a way to watch live stream of Olympic coverage on CTV online.

Well, looks like I'd better get used to Bob Costas as my familiar face during these Games. It turns out that NBC, which owns the U.S rights to Vancouver Olympics, has blocked computers with U.S I.P addresses from watching live streams on the Canadian national network's wesbite.

I guess I'll just be seeing more coverage on Lindsey Vonn's ankle and Bode Miller. It can't be THAT bad, can it?

Uh-Oh Canada, One Too Many Mistakes

Why oh why can't we get this right?

If it's not a faulty track that leads to the untimely death of a luger, it's the failure to properly light the Olympic cauldron. Now, it's ice issues that delayed the men's 500 m speed skating event at the Richmond Olympic Oval on Monday.

The two ice resurfacing machines at the venue ran into several functioning problems forcing a machine without an Olympic logo to be sent out to clean the ice. That machine was no good either.
It took one hour for the ice to be resurfaced properly, pushing back the event times. Team coaches were upset, reprimanding officials while the participants' psyches' were obviously affected.

U.S hopefuls' Tucker Fredricks and Shani Davis will not be making it to the finals after their heats, placing 15th and 18th respectively. Davis admitted the ice issue was a factor in his placing.
As the Olympics wear on, I find myself starting to get a bit weary as well. I want to see these Olympics culminate successfully, but too much is going wrong. It is acceptable to have a few glitches here and there, but when even shuttle buses carrying Olympic athletes to and from venues are breaking down, there is just no excuse.

Just as presenters on NBC Olympic Prime-Time noted, these Olympic athletes have trained for years for these single moments and are there on time and waiting, therefore the facilities should be running efficiently.

I'm holding my breathe until the next glitch happens. I have a feeling I'll be inhaling very soon.

Day 3, Canada Breaks the Curse

After the Canadian upset last night in Women's Mogul with Montreal native Jenn Heil falling short of a gold meal to American Hannah Kearney, Canada had the chance to redeem themselves again Sunday.
Alexandre Bilodeau broke the "curse", giving Canada it's first gold medal on home soil during an Olympic Games. Bilodeau, 22, came first in men's dual moguls, beating out Canadian ex-patriat, Dale Begg-Smith, who represented Australia, with a score of 26.75.
This should come as a boost of inspiration and encouragement to the Canadian team to continue to "Own the Podium".
More good news for Team Canada came out of Vancouver on Sunday in women's long track speed skating. Ottawa-born Kristina Groves won a bronze medal in the 3,000 meter event behind the Czech, Martina Sablikova, who finished first, and Stephanie Beckert of Germany who took the silver.
Two time medalist and Canadian flag bearer, Clara Hughes, placed fifth and in an even more suprising finish, Cindy Klassen rounded out the event in 14th place.

V.K.L

Vancouver Opening Ceremony: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Watching the XXI Olympiad Games' Opening Ceremony from the comfort of my fellow Canadian friend's apartment last night, gave me the freedom and comfort to pick out what I thought was amazing and what I found to be downright horrific.

The Good:
The cultural expo during the Ceremonies was perhaps the best part of the evening. In what seemed to be a tourism coy for British Columbia, Quebec and the Prairies (yes, Ontario and the Maritimes, you were obviously excluded), viewers were captivated by the use of edgy technology. Lights flickering in the clouds made to resemble Aurora Borealis were cool and the imitation whales moving along gracefully through the ocean were breathtaking. K.D Lang was resurrected and though looking a bit like Johnny Cash, gave an amazing rendition of legendary Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen's "Hallejuah". The opinions on "We are More" by Shane Koyzcan vary and though spoken word was a bit of an odd choice, he still got the message across about our country's apparent identity crisis and the fact is "zed" not "zee." Also, was proud of the minute of silence for Norad Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger, who passed away early Friday afternoon.

The Bad:
Where to start? The obvious lip synching of Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado's "Bang the Drum" might be a good place. I am a big Bryan Adams fan and appreciate Nelly Furtado's music but what happened there? Miss Furtado wore a dress which was way too tight for her and almost borderline inappropriate for what should be a classy event. Sarah McLachlan's performance was average, her song choice was a bit odd as well, just as was most of the night's soundtrack. An extremely embarrassing situation was the abomination of "O Canada", performed by sixteen year old Liz Yanofsky. That was suppose to be the moment where all of BC Place chimed in to sing the national anthem. It wasn't possible. Also - was Michaelle Jean sleeping at one point?

The Ugly:
Well, it should be labelled "The Obvious". The malfunction and error laden lighting of the Olympic Flame is all I am going to say. However, reference should be made to the faces of grimace, anger and confusion that was apparent of Steve Nash and Wayne Gretzky's faces. It only got more bizarre once "The Great One" was driven through downtown Vancouver, with the torch in hand(in the rain), in the back of a pickup truck. Classy. Now Canadians really look like small-town lumber jacks in front of the world.

Yes, the Opening Ceremonies were a bit stereotypical at certain points and awfully embarrassing in others. John Furlong, the head of the Vancouver Olympic Committee, gave a rather unexciting and mundane speech, which reenforced us as being "boring". But if you were Canadian, you know you couldn't help but feel your heart strings tug at certain parts. I know I did.

V.K.L

A Damper on the Olympics Before It Begins

The XXI Olympiad Games have not quite gotten underway as yet, but breaking news has already come from out of Vancouver.
Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died Friday afternoon during a training run on a Whistler track after crashing into a pole by the finish line.
The President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, announced there will an investigation into the luger's death.
There is also the possibility of the Georgian Olympic Team completely pulling out of the Olympics altogether, dampening the mood of the Games before they have even begun.

From Smalltown to Big-Screen: Vancouver 2010

We are down to a few hours until the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and as I sit back and reminisce, I think of all of Canada's past Olympic successes and failures.
A New York Times article from 9 February 2010 triggered my thoughts. While the author did raise some valid points, I couldn't help but note the not-so subtle cynicism in the words. Yes, the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal may not have been the best thing for the city , considering the debt it was left with and it's scramble to finish venues in time. Calgary '88 was successful, however. Being a Torontonian, I recalled our 2008 Summer Olympics pursuit in the early part of the 00's, it was a disaster. But who says Vancouver won't raise out of the ashes like a phoenix and put on one of the best games in Winter Olympics history?
I put my trust in the "Own the Podium" organization that I saw plastered all over advertisements while I was home during Christmas. It has been coming up with various technological advancements for Team Canada athletes, from their clothing gear to equipment and their venues.
The New York Times pointed out that the $118 million that the organization invested in transforming Team Canada was 'chumchange' compared to the funds allocated to Australian and American teams by their countries. But it's better than no investment at all. One thing that Canadians always complain of is the lack of money put back into our country's sports and our athletes, which often results in poor performance on the international scene. So, with that in mind, I was quite excited to see that much had been invested at all.
'Canadian' and 'modest' should be synonyms, but that does not mean that we should be poked fun at and trampled over. Winning is important to us, we just have learned not to expect it so much and our overall competitiveness at times is rather low. However, the Times went a bit too far. A snippet in the article referred to the country as:

" a vast country that in many ways is run like a small town, with small-town values, and it has a highly developed culture of modesty, if not a collective inferiority complex." As insulting as I find that phrase, I am sure that is how most people view Canada, but I have hope that once the games begin, those preconceived ideas will disappear."

As I count down to the beginnings of these Olympiad Games, I'm left with only one question: Who on earth is going to be our torch bearer? Why is this so top secret?

My best friend and I have some suggestions:
a) the obvious - Wayne Gretzky (it would be no surprise)
b) Jean Chretien (I would hope)
c) Michaelle Jean (highly unlikely)
d) Elvis Stojko (it seemed plausible)

For the link to the article from 9 February, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/sports/olympics/10podium.html?scp=2&sq=Canada&st=cse

Happy New Year from Canada, with a side of increased living costs...

I know, I know. I've been away from this blog for such a long time, so my new years resolution, which I don't can't keep, is to make sure I keep it up and running. I've left London, England and have returned to Canada, therefore my blog name was a bit unnecessary at this point. But having returned to Canada, my home country has lost it's dazzle and sparkle and I'm beginning to see things in a grittier sense.

When I tell people I'm from Canada, they always say to me, " Canada is an expensive country" and I always scoffed at it with naive excuses like, "well all the taxes go towards health care and a good social welfare system." Boy, are we stupid to believe that.

There is a tax for every damn thing in this country, I swear even just to flush your toilet, that's not too far from now. According to a June article by the Winnipeg Free Press, "Average Canadian to pay $37,700 in taxes this year," Canadians in 2009, gave 42.6 percent of their income to taxes. When you think of all the types of taxes there are; property, alcohol, goods and services, provincial, social security and the list goes on, it all just seems mind boggling.

I used to listen to my parents moan about the amount that was being deducted from their paycheck after two weeks and I completely ignored it. Everything I wanted was still being paid for. But just the other day, after slaving through the Christmas holidays as a receptionist at a cancer hospital in downtown Toronto, I picked up my pay stub to see the amount and when I saw nearly $200 was deducted for my pay for all sorts of nonsense I could imagine, my blood boiled. Yes, we need a social welfare system, it's what Canada is known for. But when I'm paying for 16 year old girls in deprived areas of Toronto and their babies' accommodations in co-operative, government housing where they live for almost next to no cost, it angers me. Those girls and other strong, healthy-bodied people will often enough, live off of the generous welfare system which is funded by Canadian tax payers that are not too much better off than they are. As I grow older, I realize, everything in Canada is SO DAMN EXPENSIVE.

I love my country, always have, always will. But how can people not live from hand to mouth or from paycheck to paycheck when they are being taxed out of their ears and the cost of living is so high. I go into the grocery store just to look at some basic items. Eight dollars for soap at a drug store? Nine dollars for two meager filets of TILAPIA? And then living in Toronto, I have a bone to pick with the TTC. It seems since the Toronto Transit Commission won't give us Torontonians a break. Every time I return to Toronto, there's a fare increase. Throughout much of 2009, it was $2.75 which seemed already ridiculous to TTC users, but the fare crossed the line into the realm of ludicrousness with the incease to $3.00. That means for me, who lives outside of the city limits and has to pay a double fare to go to work downtown, it costs $12.00 a day for me to commute. Let's not even get into the absurd cost of a monthly pass, because I'd still have to pay extra on it, living outside of the city. Canadians, we're generally docile people, but enough is enough. Every year, prices go up but people's salaries stay relatively the same.

The U.K was expensive but when I am paying $40.00 at a clothing store and then they tell me that the total is $45.00 and I ask why and my response is, "taxes", that little isle across the pond is starting to seem like paradise...

V.K.L