What Cops Should Look Like

I once wrote about how Spain seems to have better looking women working in government or doing non-traditional jobs such as security guards, mail carriers, etc. - and was roundly criticized for my trouble in the comment section as being "desperate". Well - no comment on the desperate part - but take a look at that friendly officer and I rest my case.

I'm just saying that L.A. lady cops do not look like that, but maybe they are just hiding their attributes behind bullet proof vests.

End of the Bullfight?

Here is one part of globalization that I don't think the Americans can be blamed for. There are real live Spanish people who want the Bullfight to end and I'm sure the powers that be in the European Union would like to see it gone too.

I personally would still like Spain to be "different" - as the old tourism ad campaign once said. But I recognize that the Bullfight's days are numbered.

I See a Movie Coming Out of This One

Two sixty year old woman partying on a luxury cruise, throwing money around and picking up old guys (or young) - all the while packing 27 kilos of cocaine.

There have to be millions of great plot lines to follow in this scenario for some talented (or hack) writer from Hollywood or Madrid.

I'm telling you there's a bad movie in there somewhere.

Personal Story

Okay, so I was asked by my lawyer if I would let his son have a vacation in Piso Madrid for a coupla weeks. The son was living somewhere in France and was ending his stay there. My lawyer wanted to give the son and his fiancé a vacation in Madrid. What am I going to do? I don’t really like to let people stay in Piso Madrid but gotta keep the lawyer happy, I may need him.

I don't really like having anyone over who I don't know - well. But I have to get over it, so I said, "Sure". I know this does not sound like a big deal, but I stressed out about it. There are several things that could go wrong (in my mind at least). I imagined the worse case scenarios, like the calefaccion breaking down and everyone dying from carbon monoxide poisoning. I realize this is ridiculous and paranoid, but there it is.

So, they came and went - and I guess they liked it (although not much was said about if they enjoyed it, etc.) The fact is they can't really appreciate 20 years of planning and work - culminating in the stupid Piso in the center of Madrid. They hung out and went to Semana Santa processions and then they returned back to the states – or France or where ever. But what pissed me off is the keys. Namely, they were mailed back to me in a flimsy “airmail” envelope. The really thin kind to save weight. Now let me explain Piso Madrid keys to the uninitiated. I have a “puerta blindada” and the key to this kind of door is a major-league, big-ass key, along with the key to the door to the street. You can’t put those keys in flimsy "airmail" envelope and expect them to arrive in one piece. Well, they did not arrive. I got a very nice envelope - empty - ripped open - and no keys.

Sorry, but that pisses me off. I’ll get over it. End of personal story. Now I have to send my friend Fernando over there to make sure the water in the tub was not left running.

Earthquakes in the News

As I wrote before, earthquakes and the way they build in Italy and Spain don't mix too well.

Spain Picking a Fight with 800 Pound Gorilla

Baltasar Garzon, the most famous Spanish judge (which I think is more like a special prosecutor in the U.S.) has decided to go after the Yanquis for crimes allegedly committed at Guantanamo. He says there are six Americans from the attorney general on down who put together the whole legal basis for Guantanamo / possible torture. Why he isn't going after Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld - I don't know. Perhaps those fish are too big for him.

I wonder how Baltasar chooses which crimes to prosecute? Haven't heard anything about genocide in Darfur for example, or an arrest warrant for Osama Bin Laden.

I can imagine what would happen if we started looking into a few issues in Spain, there would be some very loud yelling going on if we did. Let’s see, we could investigate atrocities committed on both sides in the Spanish civil war, or perhaps Felipe Gonzalez’s alleged involvement in some nasty assassinations of Basques in the GAL incident. Actually, I personally would like to look into the wonton destruction of the Spanish coastline by real estate speculators with help from corrupt government officials – I think that is a crime against the international community.

I guess Garzon has nothing left to do in Spain. All is well and in order. It also seems he is not interested in anything else that could be going on over on that particular island. Fidel Castro’s jails must be real nice with everyone drinking rum and dancing salsa.

Update: It doesn't look like they are going to pick that fight. Garzon's Boss says no.

Update#2: Now Obama says he's open to the idea of prosecuting - Ouch!

U.S. - Spanish Relations Already Strained

Nice unilateral decision! I wonder where I've heard that complaint many, many times before?

Carme Chacon, Spain's current defense minister and former housing minister, made a quick phone call to NATO to say she is bailing on Kosovo (leaving) - then announced it publicly right afterward. Apparently this is not the way these things are done in NATO so everyone else is annoyed - even Barack Obama, and he doesn't annoy easily. This move could threaten Zapatero's invitations to the White House - or at least make them "uncomfortable".

Spain is not crazy about Kosovo's indepence goals, since they really are not crazy about some of their own region's independence goals. This seems to be the main reason they want out. However I am unclear on why Spain can not disagree with Kosovo becoming an independent state but still fulfill their obligations to NATO?

I also read in another account that Carme uttered that infamous phrase "Mission Accomplished" to her troops. Others seem to disagree with her since everyone else's troops have to stay. I guess Spain has a different interpretation of the "In Together - Out Together" philosophy that started the mission.

One side note, for some reason it annoys me that newspaper articles like this one (and not only El Pais) never remind the readers that the "ethnic Albanians" in Kosovo are Muslims, and it was the U.S. who intervened on their behalf. It was the U.S. and NATO who forced the Christian Serbians to stop the ethnic cleansing of Muslims (by bombing the crap out of them), and all this without a U.N. security council resolution. I don't know why that annoys me...