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Saturday, October 28, 2017

The Cataluña Crisis



I am a guest resident of Spain and as such I view the current crisis in Cataluña as an observer from the fringe. I do have an opinion, as does every single adult in Spain as this is a very serious problem which will result in days of horror to come, including the deaths of people before it is sorted out.

Mainly I'm concerned because of the attitudes of many British people who are expressing their opinions in a manner in which they feel they are right, when in fact they have completely misunderstood the situation.

Spain is a country as presently constituted and there is no provision whatsoever to allow for any of its parts to breakaway and go it alone. Those people in Pais Vasco, (The Basque Country) or Euskadi as it is known discovered this after a long and bloody campaign that took a terrible toll and was designed to gain independence through brute force. It didn't work! Those in Cataluña who are pro-independence have learned nothing from the struggles of Euskadi.

The reason why they feel the need to break away is best known to themselves. As a foreigner I can not even hope to understand, but once the fever for freedom takes hold it becomes an obsession and takes over completely. That part I do get and all common sense goes out the window. I am so glad that my family and I live outside the boundaries of Cataluña for as a foreigner we would be completely powerless and a captive to a situation that we can never have any input.

British reportage has a certain slant that seems to feel that the Spanish government are denying the region their democratic right to express their wishes through the ballot box. Well, here's the point: There is no provision to legally vote in a referendum for an integral part to break away, whether you are for or against. The "referendum" that was organised on October 1, 2017 was completely illegal and the police were instructed to interrupt any proceedings, and anyone who stood in the way was committing civil disobedience as were those who participated.

The fact that the police spanked those who were being disobedient was what they were supposed to do, as well as to arrest those they felt appropriate. It is no good to break the law and then complain that the police spanked them too hard.

This entire campaign was doomed from the start and was begun by people who knew they were making mischief and who played on the emotions of soft-headed persons who thought that because Cataluña was such an economic powerhouse they could stand alone. The result of their actions so far has been to scare away the very companies that made the economic miracle possible, and instead of being independent they have lost the autonomy they had. What's more the leaders, including half the parliament will spend the next thirty years in jail.

There are British people who voted in a referendum to leave the EU Common market and they think that the people of Cataluña should have had the right to vote in a legal opinion poll as to whether to stay or go as part of Spain. What those same British people don't seem to realise is that if their same region of Somerset or Dorset or Leeds, etc., wished to hold a breakaway referendum in England it could not happen there either.

Maybe countries that are part of the United Kingdom have the right to decide whether they wish to remain or leave that circle, but parts of those countries cannot have any say as to stay or go as part of the country itself.

The irony is that for Cataluña to become independent is not even a practical option. Had the Spanish government agreed to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence the first thing that would have happened is that it would not have had any money as the Euro would have ceased being a currency of value in that region.

Madrid has now taken over full control of all institutions involved in the management of the region and now pain will be imposed to get people back in line with the law. That will be such a shame as the lives of a significant number of Catalonians have been shattered who were intelligent enough to know that independence was a non-starter.

All bad ideas are started by one person, as are good ideas but when they bring along great throngs of people and involve them to the point where they suffer injury and pain in support of a bad idea there really is no punishment sufficient to put the leaders through.

However, thirty years in jail is a good start!

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

Saturday, October 21, 2017

The Harvey Weinstein Tale - A Horror Story



This is a story that cannot be ignored. It's too quintessentially Hollywood. While HW has been busy bringing the world blockbuster after blockbuster he has also (allegedly) been writing, directing, producing and acting in a personal horror story to end all horror stories.

It could have been called "Scary Movie" or "Scream" or  "Halloween," but those names have been taken. What about "Sex, Lies and Videotape," that would cover just about all the accusations that have come flowing from so many outraged women who claim to have been at least sexually harassed, sexually assaulted and outright raped; and we are still awaiting tales from "The Others."

Who is Harvey Weinstein? In the field of movie entertainment the man is a giant, responsible for such mega-hits as "Pulp Fiction," "Kill Bill," 1,2,and 3;  The Scream Movies, "Gangs of New York," and a very long list of other brilliant productions.

He is being systematically kicked out of the business and being told he will never work again in this town. For we movie lovers this is a great tragedy as his undeniable talent will be lost and we will be left to wonder at what might have been.

So far more than forty women have come forward to present what they say are their experiences with him and to condemn him as a vile monster of a man, and the stories keep coming. They go beyond the usual Casting Couch scene with allegations that the man visited the homes of actresses, and in one case actually raped one of them in her hallway. This would have been about power not sex.

In 2011 a film was released titled "Unauthorized -The Harvey Weinstein Project" written and directed by Barry Avrich. Most people assumed it would deliver the dirt on HW but it ended up in praising his book of work, although his style of management is abrasive in many people's eyes. Clearly this work will have to be re-visited as I'm sure that is underway

As a man I suffer terrible embarrassment when confronted with stories of such behaviour from celebrities like Bill Cosby and others, but with the revelations now surfacing about this titan of Hollywood I just want to cringe and go hide.  As he worked to make the women famous it seems he was also working on making knotches on his bed post just to say I shagged a whole list of rich and famous names. For all we know he might have been able to achieve the same thing by simply asking nicely.

It should be said that while perhaps not denying he engaged in sexual encounters he insists they were all consensual. The women, who insist they are his victims would likely have a suggested title for the movie that is bound to follow this scandal, and indeed he would no doubt recommend it as well. The name they will likely unanimously agree on would be " Sicko!"

Stay tuned!

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Shock, Anger and Dismay! Why?






On October 1st, 2017 a psychopath killer raised the bar to at least 58 killed and more than 500 injured in one event. In the field of mass killings the next one will have to be creative to be able to top that. The chilling thing is we know that right now, someone is thinking in just such terms.

Now authorities are searching for a motive. Here are two reasons why he did what he did, no matter what other reasons might turn up. He committed this unspeakable act because, simply put, he could. He was able to afford to buy the 47 guns he owned and all the ammunition, and because he could afford to rent the suite at the hotel. This may not sound like a motive, but it just might be the only reason he did it.  It is difficult to understand why a millionaire white American man would actually want to kill his fellow Americans with such total abandon, but he could do it, so perhaps he did it to make the name for himself as the darkest killer of all time on American soil.

He also knew that the nation would be shocked, angered and dismayed by his actions and they would all know his name because his co-conspirators, the police and the media would see to that. However, Fareed Zakaria, the noted CNN broadcaster devoted a full hour’s programme to the LA shootings and steadfastly refused to mention the name of the shooter because he would not cooperate with the man’s expectation to have his name publicised. Hooray! Fareed, you got it! Hopefully this is the thin edge of the wedge and the rest of the media and the police will follow your lead.

We, the public do not need to know the name of the perpetrator. To us it is not important but to him it might be the most important reason for committing the act in the first place as being his 15 minutes of fame.

This man committed an act of terror that was no different than if he was a so-called ISIS fighter, and he deliberately thought his actions through with very meticulous planning. We really have to correct the saying that “not all Islamists are terrorists, but all terrorists are Islamists.” That was never correct, not since the Texas tower shootings way back in the mid-‘60s. The man who brought down the Oklahoma City building was as American as apple pie.

The irony is that it is reasonable to assume that a lot of the Country music fans that were either killed or injured were likely gun lovers as well. How tragic to be caught in a killing field where the rain was deadly fire from the guns you dearly loved.

The real problem I have with this incident, and all the other mass shootings that evoke the same shock, anger and dismay is that after the Sandy Hook shootings, by an American white boy that took the lives of so many very young children, absolutely nothing was done against gun ownership, so in my way of thinking that rules out shock, anger and dismay for all future acts of gun violence.

A gun is manufactured for one reason. That is to turn something living into something that no longer lives. The proper use of a gun is to do just that. In a comparison with Japan in 2015, there was one act, only one person died from gun violence compared with about 4000 in the U.S.  Clearly this is a matter of mindset.  Gun ownership and gun use in Japan is unpopular. In the United States the very opposite is the case. Not only are the 3% of Americans who own most of the guns in America largely accepting of ownership they also seem to have a pre-disposition to use them against other Americans. That is where change has to start, in the hearts and minds of those who are so crazy about their guns.

There is a school of thought that holds that if everybody owned and carried a gun no one would start shooting. No-one, that is, except somebody who would like to start an all-out massacre just for the fun of it. I hope there is nobody who thinks this could not happen.

You have met the enemy America, and the enemy is you! In the first 265 days of this year there were 263 acts of mass murder committed in the country.

You have the problem and you have the solution. Now it is up to you. Please don’t tell me that you will be shocked, angry and dismayed when the next bigger event comes along.



Copyright © 2017

Eugene Carmichael