Author Topic: National news. (Read 205733 times)

Loke · « **on:** March 12, 2007, 06:16:54 am »

Well, as we come from the most diverse corners of the globe, it good be nice to know a little bit what is happenning out there (i think hehe) so, let's keep us inform with the newest news in our cities of residence shall we...

well in mexico city this the thingy right now...

Mexican President Felipe Calderon's government wants to decriminalize first-time possession of small amounts of drugs in a move likely to draw criticism from U.S. anti-narcotics officials. ADVERTISEMENT

Under the proposed legislation, users found for the first time with 2 grams (0.07 ounces) or less of marijuana and small amounts of other drugs ranging from cocaine to methamphetamine would not be prosecuted.

The bill passing through Mexico's Senate on its way to Congress is a toned down version of legislation Calderon's predecessor,
Vicente Fox, pushed through last year but later vetoed after angry objections from Washington.

While the legally punishable amounts of drugs found on a first-time user are smaller than under last year's bill, the legislation appears to contrast with the tough stance Calderon has taken against drug-trafficking.

Since taking office on December 1, he has sent thousands of troops to smuggling and production areas wracked by violence that killed 2,000 people last year and has extradited top drug lords to the United States for trial.

Ruling National Action Party Sen. Alejandro Gonzalez, who heads the Senate's justice commission and supports the bill, said on Monday that decriminalizing possession of small quantities of drugs and taking some pressure off addicts would free up resources needed to pursue dealers.

"This isn't legalization," he said. "We're going to go much harder against drug dealers.

yo yo yo

Markus · « **Reply #1 on:** March 12, 2007, 10:47:05 am »

Hi there,

an excellent idea, Loke! Regarding your drug discussion: In Germany it has been practiced for years now that owners of small amounts of Marijuana or Hashish do not have to be prosecuted.

Besides the climate protection, the biggest topic in Germany these days is family politics. Our family minister has suggested to increase the number of places in nursery schools dramatically. This ignited a big discussion... some say that children will get psychic damages when they grow up in nursery schools. Others refer to the GDR where nursery schools were very common since 90% of all women worked. Some of these say "Do we want to raise our children like the communists did?" while others say "Calm down. Think of communism what you may, but nursery schools will help us solve some of our problems." There's a very heated discussion going on about whether nusery schools are acceptable in general and if so, how to pay the additional places.

Cheers!

Markus

Aluqak · « **Reply #2 on:** March 12, 2007, 10:23:12 pm »

My turn now... and it's going to be a douple turn

George W. was visiting my homecountry yesterday. This visit (his third in five years

) has monopolized the Colombian media for almost a week. At the end of the day, either him or the Colombian president (Alvaro Uribe) said anything new: more money for the war, no dialogue with the guerrillas, etc, etc. On the sad side, I'd like to recall the passing of Octavio Mesa, one of the bigest folkloric artists of my homecountry. He was the inspiration source of the infamous "Camisa Negra" sang by Juanes. However, do not be fooled by that, his music was really cool and perfect for drinking and saying obsenities with your friends

. He died early this morning of heart failure at the age of 77. On the happy side: My team is on top of the Colombian football championship

Here in the mapleleaf country, the headlines are mostly related to the Québec's provincial elections. They are going to take place in two weeks, and tomorrow, we will have a debate on t.v.. And well, it's all about the same old discussion of independence from Canada and all that stuff. I have to say, that this is the third time I witness a provincial election here in Québec, and this is by far the most intelectually poor and devoid of clear ideas I've ever seen

. The worst past of it, is that these elections are probably going to be followed by federal elections during the summer :yawns:.

Oh! one side comment on loke's post: We had the "courage" to decriminalize the possesion of small amount of drugs in Colombia, and it basically changed.... nothing

. Our main problem is with traffic ("exportation") not with consumption. So probably, the results are going to be the same in Mexico. Well, obviously, the cops are going to have more time to pursue the big fish, and that could be good.

Markus · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2007, 12:50:03 am »

Seriously, Aluqak: What is good about pursuing big fish?

Our news today were dominated by the recent terror threats against Germany.

Cheers, anyway!

Markus

Loke · « **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2007, 04:36:32 am »

Quote from: Aluqak on March 12, 2007, 10:23:12 pm

Oh! one side comment on loke's post: We had the "courage" to decriminalize the possesion of small amount of drugs in Colombia, and it basically changed.... nothing . Our main problem is with traffic ("exportation") not with consumption. So probably, the results are going to be the same in Mexico. Well, obviously, the cops are going to have more time to pursue the big fish, and that could be good.

Well, it's about cultural aspects aswell, left wing mexicans will take this as an oportunity to say, "we told you , now he wants to legalize drugs our candidate was the good one" and such, but i think that decriminalization is also a good path to beging our way into the first world, or atleast into the second...hehe

yo yo yo

efrem

Tzar-0 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 13, 2007, 10:09:50 pm »

Hi,
All this is very interesting...

Well I'll tell you what is happening in my very little country....

First the media are focusing on this mother who killed her 5 children without any reasons some weeks ago after, she tryed to commit suicide

( that's frightening and it touch me even more since I know that they were all from the school I used to go...even if I didn't know them) The story looks quite complex and we still don't know why she did that...

And Elections will be held soon too. So We will hear a lot about the racist party "Vlaams Belang" or "le Front National" ....because the Vlaams Belang will probably win again a lot of votes. This will rise questions like "Should we give more power to the regions etc" and general questions about federalism. and then after that I can predict that the french speaking politicians and the flemish ones will fight for stupid uninteresting things.

Except that , periodically they talk about all the illegal things the socialist party (french speaking party) has done for some years...
Or maybe about the funny drunk socialist Michel Daerden...There are funny videos about him on youtube, here are my favourites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dguKikz7Ec on this one, he comments his victory after the communal elections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaWNLqRpOms here again at a local TV with his son (also drunk)

Loke · « **Reply #6 on:** March 13, 2007, 10:54:23 pm »

Quote from: Tzar-0 on March 13, 2007, 10:09:50 pm

Hi,
All this is very interesting...

Well I'll tell you what is happening in my very little country....

First the media are focusing on this mother who killed her 5 children without any reasons some weeks ago after, she tryed to commit suicide ( that's frightening and it touch me even more since I know that they were all from the school I used to go...even if I didn't know them) The story looks quite complex and we still don't know why she did that...

And Elections will be held soon too. So We will hear a lot about the racist party "Vlaams Belang" or "le Front National" ....because the Vlaams Belang will probably win again a lot of votes. This will rise questions like "Should we give more power to the regions etc" and general questions about federalism. and then after that I can predict that the french speaking politicians and the flemish ones will fight for stupid uninteresting things.

Except that , periodically they talk about all the illegal things the socialist party (french speaking party) has done for some years...
Or maybe about the funny drunk socialist Michel Daerden...There are funny videos about him on youtube, here are my favourites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dguKikz7Ec on this one, he comments his victory after the communal elections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaWNLqRpOms here again at a local TV with his son (also drunk)

And his little country his... *drums*

yo yo yo

Tzar-0 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 13, 2007, 11:17:09 pm »

And his little country his... *drums*

=> profile

but if you're too lazy...I'm from Belgium

Loke · « **Reply #8 on:** March 14, 2007, 03:29:07 pm »

Well, G W Bush is here in mexico so i think it would be interesting to post something about it ...

President Bush sought to soothe strained ties with Mexico on Tuesday by promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough U.S. immigration policies. But Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized U.S. plans for a 700-mile border fence and said Bush must do more to curb American drug appetites.

'We need the collaboration and the active participation of our neighbor,' Calderon said.

Bush and Calderon _ both pro-business conservatives _ acknowledged their differences and vowed to work together.

Calderon said it was time for a fresh start to 'direct our relationship toward a path of mutual prosperity.'

'Geography has made our countries neighbors, but the choice we've made for each other is a choice for freedom,' said Bush. 'And that choice has made us friends.'

'In the debate on migration, I remind my fellow citizens that family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River, that there are decent, hardworking honorable citizens of Mexico who want to make a living for their families,' Bush said as he stood beside Calderon. 'And so, Mr. President, my pledge to you and your government _ but, more importantly, the people of Mexico _ is I will work as hard as I possibly can to pass comprehensive immigration reform.'

There... bolloks if you ask me hehe.

yo yo yo

Markus · « **Reply #9 on:** March 14, 2007, 08:53:02 pm »

Hi there,

the main topic in Germany today is the electricity market. The four biggest companies have been accused of manipulating the prices.

Cheers!

Markus

Aluqak · « **Reply #10 on:** March 14, 2007, 09:24:28 pm »

Hi there,
Well, the debate of the three principal candidates to be next Québec's PM was yesterday. It was mostly low profile and the media (and the people) here cannot agree in a clear winner. Minority goverment ahead?

In Colombia, there has been some misleading informations about the preliminary peace talks that the government is trying to start with one of the guerrillas (ELN). Today the vice-president said that the guerrilla wanted to quit the talks, and a few hours latter the offical speaker of the ELN said that the vice-president was misinformed... longlife to the "dialogues"

Oh! and about this:

Quote from: Markus on March 13, 2007, 12:50:03 am

Seriously, Aluqak: What is good about pursuing big fish?

Well, my dear Markus, big fish always have more flesh

... Man, now I'm hungry (again!)

Markus · « **Reply #11 on:** March 15, 2007, 04:29:40 pm »

Hi there,

one of the main topics in Germany today is the climate change again. An institute for economy research published a study on how much the consequences of the climate change will cost - protection for buildings, damages due to floods and storms, misharvests, additional health costs due to heat waves and the like... Does anyone have 800 billion Euro at hand? That's how much we'll need until 2050 alone...

Cheers, anyway!

Markus

Lucy · « **Reply #12 on:** March 15, 2007, 06:41:52 pm »

Hard day of today. Read it here, I don't want to talk about it.

Nighthawk · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2007, 05:46:41 pm »

Quote from: Markus on March 15, 2007, 04:29:40 pm

one of the main topics in Germany today is the climate change again. An institute for economy research published a study on how much the consequences of the climate change will cost - protection for buildings, damages due to floods and storms, misharvests, additional health costs due to heat waves and the like... Does anyone have 800 billion Euro at hand? That's how much we'll need until 2050 alone...

Somehow, Roland of Gilead comes to mind. The world has moved on. The world seems to be moving on, ignoring us in the process. Rightly so, might I add.

Quote

Some of these say "Do we want to raise our children like the communists did?" while others say "Calm down. Think of communism what you may, but nursery schools will help us solve some of our problems."

Do we want to raise our children so they grow up to be humane or human? Pick one. I'm not sure you can have both.

Communism isn't bad nor is it evil. Bolshevism, human interpretation of basically good ideas... now that's what we need to fear. I feel communism is, in essence, being seen as the opposite of the American Dream - while the latter is idealized as the epitome of freedom, the former is seen as the product of Satan's crotch. Both have destroyed lives, countries and small-scale grocery shops.

Here, where communism had an awkward relationship with capitalism from the 50es to the 80es and where the neighboring, erm, fractions took advantage of everyone they could on a daily basis, everyone shuns all things lefty. Even Serbs, who were dominant in Yugoslavia, are mostly right-winged. (Won't even start with Croats...)

Sad, really.

Personally, I'm politically naive and, as a result, am a liberal.

I'm a lefty. Marx has some shiny ideas, but collectivism isn't really my cup of tea - I'm pro-individualism. Eh, and pro-creation.

...

Oooh, these subtle puns of mine really make me shiver

What was my point? Oh, yeah. Thinking about something in terms of historical human interpretation is, in my opinion, extremely pointless. If someone else didn't get it right, who's to say we won't?

That being said, when thinking about your children's future, I'd suggest you go with the best available option, not the most politically acceptable.

This is probably offtopic. If it is, I apologize. Felt the urge to comment and then got carried away.

Markus · « **Reply #14 on:** March 18, 2007, 07:02:52 pm »

Thank you for the comments, Nighthawk!

In fact I think that getting an outside view is one of the goals of this thread, so no comment will be off-topic (even thouig hlonger discussions should get their own thread).

I consider that argument "Nah, that's communism!" extremely stupid. Even if the GDR was wrong in many, many points, the backward conclusion ("Everything they did was crap") is illogical.

Cheers!

Markus

Loke · « **Reply #15 on:** March 19, 2007, 09:43:08 am »

Un-bloody-believable...

MEXICO CITY — Authorities confiscated more than $200 million in U.S. currency from methamphetamine producers in one of this city's ritziest neighborhoods, they said Friday, calling it the largest drug cash seizure in history.

The seizure reflected the vast scope of an illegal drug trade linking Asia, Mexico and the United States, officials said. Two of the seven people arrested Thursday at a faux Mediterranean villa in the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood were Chinese nationals.

Cash man, damn the 200 million were cash :O

yo yo yo

Nighthawk · « **Reply #16 on:** March 19, 2007, 12:43:28 pm »

Quote from: Markus on March 18, 2007, 07:02:52 pm

I consider that argument "Nah, that's communism!" extremely stupid. Even if the GDR was wrong in many, many points, the backward conclusion ("Everything they did was crap") is illogical.

Agreed. Whole-heartedly.

Quote from: Loke on March 19, 2007, 09:43:08 am

MEXICO CITY — Authorities confiscated more than $200 million in U.S. currency from methamphetamine producers in one of this city's ritziest neighborhoods, they said Friday, calling it the largest drug cash seizure in history.

The seizure reflected the vast scope of an illegal drug trade linking Asia, Mexico and the United States, officials said. Two of the seven people arrested Thursday at a faux Mediterranean villa in the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood were Chinese nationals.

Y'know, this sounds like a freaky trip. Drugs, drug raids, Mediterranean villas, Chinese nationals... and ninjas.

I'm sure there were ninjas. There just had to be. Hunting the Chinese nationals, perhaps.

...

The ninjas did the drug raid, didn't they?

*bright eyes*

I knew it!

Loke · « **Reply #17 on:** March 26, 2007, 08:58:58 pm »

Please dont come to mexico is unsafe! Bolloks!

Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez has said a US state department warning to Americans travelling along the Mexican border is "exaggerated".

His comments came after US ambassador Tony Garza said he was concerned that drug-related violence in the border area could affect trade and tourism.

The state department said US citizens should be aware of the risks involved.

But Mr Derbez said Mexico had proved it was successfully fighting violence and drug-trafficking in the region.

He said the US had made an "erroneous" assessment that was "outside the scope of reality".

The state department alert, issued on Wednesday, said there had been an escalation of fighting among drug cartels along Mexico's border with the US.

Mr Garza, the US ambassador in Mexico City, also raised the issue in a letter to Mr Derbez and the country's attorney-general.

"Although Americans do not appear to be the specific targets of the crimes, the elevated level of violence generally has resulted in greater risks to the thousands of American citizens visiting and passing through the border region every day," he wrote.

"Increased numbers of murdered and kidnapped Americans in recent months bear this out."

Armed Mexican police have been patrolling the border cities of Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, in an effort to crack down on the drug gangs.

The authorities' escalating battle with the drug traffickers has spread to some of the country's biggest prisons, where convicted traffickers have allegedly continued to run their illegal businesses from their cells with the help of corrupt warders.

Last week, Mexico's three top-security jails were placed on maximum alert after the murder of six prison officers at the Matamoros penitentiary.

yo yo yo :O

Markus · « **Reply #18 on:** March 26, 2007, 11:55:06 pm »

Hey there,

the biggest topic in Germany today were trhe celebrations of 50 years of the Treaties of Rome, and the discussion about how to proceed with the European Union.

Cheers!

Markus

VladH · « **Reply #19 on:** March 27, 2007, 10:00:46 am »

Same thing should be here but we have strange governement. Try to imagine combination of Chavez and Putin and duplicate it into twins - you will have Poland

If they will read it I'm lost

Damn I'm lost now cause I'm nature protection specialist - they don't like us very much - thanks to industrialisation lobbies....

News:

Author Topic: National news. (Read 205733 times)