Happy MLK, jr Day

Well, it's not a holiday here in Bogota. We're still waiting for a Colombian MLK. Someone who can step up say enough is enough with the corruption, violence, and deceit. Then again, maybe they've had hundreds of those over the years and they've all be killed off before they became to big.

Speaking of Bogota, I'm a bit peeved at Blogger because my displayed profile says "Bogota, CO" instead of Colombia. As far as I can tell, there's no way I can resolve this error. Only the godless masters at Google can. It's annoying because it's important that the random reader realize that I live in Colombia, not Colorado. Although, there isn't a Bogota, Colorado. According to mapquest.com, there is a Bogota, NJ, Bogota, IL, and Bogota, TN.

Anyway, I got to watch some playoff games over the weekend and that was nice. Of course, all things being even, I prefer the Spanish broadcast. They might say stupid stuff (although mostly they just call the game), but they don't even fall within seven circles of the Hell that is Dan Dierdof, et al. What I don't get is why the announcing is so consistently bad in the US. A lot of people have written on the subject, the fans are almost universally laughing their asses off or cringing every time one of these fools butchers the English language, and it's clearly an overall net negative. Yet, some braintrust keeps employing the same fools, year in, year out. Lovely.

I have to say, the Ravens-Colts game shocked me. Absolutely shocked me. The Colts are looking like a team of destiny. The Patriots win didn't shock me, but it was disappointing. I guess I just forgot about the Martyball factor. Worst playoff coach.

For next weekend, I like the Saints and Colts. Well, part of me does. For my Bears loving friends sake, I hope Chicago makes it to the Super Bowl. But the true sports fan in me knows that the Bears just aren't that good. I'd rather watch the Saints every time. And, if both teams play like they did last weekend, well, the Saints will win by 30.

In the AFC, I'm rooting for the Colts for two reasons. One, I'm tired of the Belichek is a genius and Brady is unstoppable hype. Dude's a football coach. A good one and a smart one. But let's save the genius label for the Stephen Hawking types. Plus, I'm just tired of the Patriots. It was cute when they won once, but now after three championships, I just want them to go away.

But more than that, the Peyton Manning storyline ("can't win the big one") has got to die off. There's nothing more boring in sports than a non-story that gets made into a story and refuses to die. The only thing that kills the Manning legacy story is if he wins the Super Bowl. Do it already and maybe we can move on to something else.

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In this space, I often talk about Iraq and politics. I do this because the politics of the Bush administration are flagrantly in violation of sensibility and because international politics are my primary interests. That being said, I don't want to get overly focused on some of these things because I know for some of the reading audience it's a bit boring, but also because the more I read about the politics of the Bush administration, the more depressed I get.

Wherever you stand politically, the current state of our nation was not the vision of Jefferson and Franklin. I feel that the American experiment has gone terribly wrong. Part of that is the result of crazy bastards who build "biblically correct history museums" and part of it is a result of a public that is too often uninformed or uncaring about the actions of their money and power hungry leaders. We need truth in politics laws, election reform, and a public that will stand up and demand changes from our leadership when they engage in torture, trash the bill of rights, and launch expensive and dangerous foreign wars for their own gratification. Sadly, we're not there and I'm not sure if we will get there in my lifetime.

In that element, I wanted to post three articles today. First, is an excellent article that basically shreds the President's "story" of how things are going in Iraq by reporting, shockingly, that the Bush admin is intentionally leaving out a variety of facts that, if not distort the truth, totally reshape the truth into what one can only call a lie. This report is important because for so long the mainstream media has just passively accepted so much of the BS emanating out of the White House and their crew. Hopefully, from now on, it won't just be the international press reporting the actual situation on the ground.

Second is an article from the Guardian that helps to show just how complicated the situation is in Iraq. This is not a simple insurgency (if there is such a thing). This article is shocking and leaves one with the impression that not only does our leadership not have the foggiest idea, but also that even if they did, it wouldn't matter. I see things getting much, much worse in Iraq, no matter what the US does.

The last bit is a very interesting comparison to the Vietnam war by a Washington Post reporter who covered the Vietnam war in 1969-1970. It's a good read because it shows the similarities between the US political leadership in a very detailed fashion. It's frightening to think that the arrogance of power could be replicated so identically 30 years later.