After the first terrifying images from Haiti started to fill the news programs, the first ones to volunteer into assisting the Haitians were the 'Mole Men'.

Los Topos, A Mexican group of experts specializing in the rescue of victims trapped amid the rubble of collapsed structures, has its origin in 1985. That year, after the great earthquake that levelled many buildings in Mexico city, a lot of desperate neighbors had a terrible realization: the authorities were completely overwhelmed by the tragedy, and didn't show the expected leadership needed to undertake the rescue operations.

So, the neighbors decided to do things themselves.

Risking their own lives and with no tools but their bare hands, hundreds of men and women struggled to freed those trapped between a devilish maze of concrete and steel. At first they were trying to save their family members —wives, husbands, parents and children— but eventually they continued their efforts to help complete strangers.

If someone heard screams beneath the ruins, everybody laid a hand; they gave a second birth to the living, and they rescued the dead from their unholy graves.

The reasons were simple: there was no one else to do it.

A short while after that, the need to have a group of trained specialists who would be able to coordinate rescue parties after a major earthquake became more than evident —specially in a city built on top of a such seismically-active area! Thus, Los Topos were formed, with the very same brave civilians that risked life & limb during the Mexican catastrophe; trained by experts from Israel & France, they have been dispatched to 'ground-zero' areas all over the world since then.

To some lucky few, the sound of a Mole Man becomes the most beautiful thing in the world; their voice calming them and encouraging them to hang on becomes the voice of God himself.

These people are not paid for their efforts, mind you. They ask nothing in return; they leave their daily jobs whenever their help is needed.

Why do they keep doing it? I suspect that for the same reason Mother Teresa chose to devote her life to help the poorest among the poor. It is a mystery that to me suggests the human condition trascends the boundaries of visible matter.

So: now we go back to January of 2010. On the 14th, along with a shipment of supplies, the Mole Men were dispatched to Port-au-Prince. To do what they do best, and help as much people as they could.

...And after just 72 hours into the rescue mission, they are ordered to suspend all rescue operations.

The order came from the UN. Not only did they think it was unlikely to find any more survivors, but they also feared the rising escalation of vandalism and pillaging unleashed by the frantic survivors —it is for this reason that all rescue efforts had to be suspended after night-fall. They lacked enough soldiers to guarantee the protection of the brigades.

But in reality, the order uncovers an uglier truth: a complete lack of leadership & control in the chain of command; as usual, the UN is not up to the task.

Once again, the Mole Men were left alone. But this time, they have to follow orders, much to their regret.

In an interview given to Reforma on Jan 18th, Carlos Morales, chief of the group —the Top Mole, as it were— disclosed his frustration:

"There is no control whatsoever, there's an awful lack of organization, we already took out 6 live persons from the University & now they are ordering us to return to base over a few gun shots."

"Right now we were in the process of rescuing the father of the First Lady. We left him serum to survive, but they forced us to pull back" he regrets.

The veteran rescuer of 60-something years old (working alongside his 24-year-old daughter, courage seems to run in the family) showed his disagreement with the UN's concern over the welfare of the rescuers:

"The people protect you because they know we're here to help them, but the Un is blocking the rescues."

"You have to be among the ruins to understand what the vicim is going through, let's imagine a person hears our rescuing machinery. The person gets excited. And what happens next if they stop hearing them?"

Indeed, what would go through the mind of such a victim. Maybe to them, noticing the rescuers leave might be as is God himself is turning away. What they have already gone through would be nothing compared to the Hell of feeling you're left alone —the most lonely person in the Universe.

On today's paper, Reforma informed the rescue brigades are beginning to return to Mexico. Though some of them will remain in Haiti, they will now focus mainly on the distribution of food rations & medicines.

Were the UN too hasty in calling off the rescue operations? True, after a whole week, the odds of finding live survivors are very slim.

And yet, miracles can happen. In the earthquake of 1985, 16 babies were rescued from the ruins of a hospital. They were nicknamed "the children of the quake"; they were rescued after 7 days of the event, and they became a symbol of hope for the Mexican people.

Some people were even rescued after 12 days.

Yes, miracles can happen; But NOT when you chop off the wings of guardian angels.

Question:

Has anyone read or heard on TV of any country offering to receive refugees from Haiti, after the catastrophic earthquake that claimed the lives of thousands, and will claim even more after the corpses lying on the street start to rot and become a serious health hazard?

Neither have I :(

The reason for this is obvious: Any country willing to open their borders to receive Haitian refugees, would later have a really hard time trying to force those people to return home. Those poor people would struggle & beg to be granted asylum; and frankly, who could blame them??

In 2008, they were already resorting to mud cookies because there was no food to be found, after the tropical storms that hit the island that year.

And after the international humanitarian help stops, God only knows how they will manage to survive.

Last year many news pundits were using the term "failed nation" when referring to my country, Mexico. Well, turns out Mexico is a haven of order and stability compared to our brothers in the Antilles.

But not even that will convince the other nations of the continent to grant asylum to them.

I fear this is just a little preview of the things we will face when more countries suffer the consequences of Climate Change.

The poor are ALWAYS the ones who suffer first.

PS: not only that, but there's also people claiming Haitians are to blame for their suffering, because they made a pact with the devil!! I need to go take a few shots of Tequila to pass that out. BRB >_<

If you read last Friday's news briefs, you probably came across this particular story —which is very fitting for this time of year— about the uproar caused by a billboard erected in New Zealand, showing a dejected Joseph sharing a bed with his 'wife' Mary. This billboard caused some interesting comments:

"What we're trying to do is to get people to think more about what Christmas is all about," he told the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA).

"Is it about a spiritual male God sending down sperm so a child would be born, or is it about the power of love in our midst as seen in Jesus?"

Unsurprisingly, the Catholic reaction was thus:

"Our Christian tradition of 2,000 years is that Mary remains a virgin and that Jesus is the son of God, not Joseph," she told the New Zealand Herald. "Such a poster is inappropriate and disrespectful."

Jesus, the son of God; and Mary, the forever virgin... & what about Joseph?

Instead of entering into the usual debate of whether Mary had more children apart from his first-born Jesus —something believed by the Protestand faiths and even manifested in some Apocryphal gospels— I would like to write a few things on behalf of poor Joseph, strictly from the 'canonical' side of things.

If you look at any classical painting depicting the 'holy family' you will usually find Joseph relegated to a secondary position, with the center upfront reserved to Mary and her child. This was a popular formula to help manifest to the viewer that Jesus was not related to Joseph in the blood —although today I laughed with the comment of a journalist, who questioned whether the real reason Joseph is always hiding in the back, is out of shame for not having followed his wife's sage advise: "See now how we have to stay in stable? I TOLD you to book us a room beforehand!" ;)

But anyway, the canonical gospels tell us little of Joseph, aside from informing us he's a descendant of the house of David; but all the time we see poor Joe obeying commands sent by the 'real' father of the boy during his dreams: "what's this about a divorce?! accept your wife because the child is MINE"; "take the child and flee to Egypt! who cares about your carpentry business?"; "So you like the pyramids after all, huh? well, tough luck! return to Israel".

And every time poor faithful Joe obeyed as asked, without hesitation —and without asking for any child support to the 'biological' dad either!— and what did he get in return?

A secondary role in every painting of his family.

Well, if there's something I've learned of living 36 years in this planet, is this: 'Father' is NOT the guy who engenders the child, but the guy who raises that child —isn't that what we keep telling young boys everytime we put a condom on their hands?— Father is the man who educates the child, and that through his example turns the child into a proper adult.

So maybe a dove came down from heaven & planted some celestial seed into a young hebrew girl. To me, a bigger miracle is that of a man who raises a child who is not of his blood, and loves him as if it were his own.

A miracle that can still occur to this very day, everytime an orphan is adopted.

So, this Xmas eve, be sure to make a toast on behalf of Joseph: the carpenter who raised the son of a God, and helped turn him into the son of Man :)

I believe that my stance on Global Warming should be pretty clear to anyone who might bother to read my comments spread all over TDG —namely, that I join the ranks of those who think our world is at a great peril, due to the climate changes brought (in a significant way) by our reckless administration of this planet's resources.

I might also add that I'm the kind of person you *don't* want near during the mornings; and that's because one of my favorite rituals is to yell in anger whenever I read some scandalous article in the newspaper.

So this morning I'm pretty sure all my neighbors in a very wide radius around my home noticed my gutural reaction to this tiny article I read on Reforma, commenting on another article by The Daily Telegraph of Dec. 5, in which I learned of all the limousines being chartered by the international delegations during the Copenhagen summit:

Ms Jorgensen [managing director of Copenhagen's biggest limousine company] reckons that between her and her rivals the total number of limos in Copenhagen next week has already broken the 1,200 barrier. The French alone rang up on Thursday and ordered another 42. "We haven't got enough limos in the country to fulfil the demand," she says. "We're having to drive them in hundreds of miles from Germany and Sweden."

Jesus, Mary & Josephine! I mean, it's not that I was expecting the leaders of the nations to swim all the way to Denmark, in order to save all those tonnes of carbon released during their airplane flights. And I realize that expecting them to move around Copenhaguen on a bike might be a bit too demanding for some of the more senior attendants... but COME ON!! 42 limos, France? Srsly?? You need all those wheels in order to haul Sarkozy's ego?

And the total number of electric cars or hybrids among that number? "Five," says Ms Jorgensen. "The government has some alternative fuel cars but the rest will be petrol or diesel. We don't have any hybrids in Denmark, unfortunately, due to the extreme taxes on those cars. It makes no sense at all, but it's very Danish."

And then politicians wonder why they don't manage to convince the common people to accept their proposals. My personal definition of politician is: "A human being completely devoid of congruence."

An alternative one might be "Bipedal oxymoron." I'll let you choose your favorite or suggest other ones.

IMO, it's precisely actions like these, that sabotage the Enviromental movement much more than any old hacked e-mail released into the web for whatever obscure intentions. It's because it belittles the honest work & commitment of the people that are trying to change things for the better. It's a symbol of why we're having to deal with this pickle in the first place.

It was the same with that other important summit where the leaders of the world gathered to discuss global hunger: making speeches about how children in Africa & Asia starve to death while making toasts with champagne & gobbling truffles & caviar.

Now I realize why it was so fitting to choose Copenhagen to host this summit. With these kind of "leaders", the only viable plan we might have to survive Climate change and the inevitable rise of the oceans, would be if we follow the suggestions of the local artists :-/

[UPDATE/Dec 27th]: Checking past episodes of The Daily Show, I found out that Jon Stewart commented on the limo fiasco (on Dec 14th) in his own incomparable style. Enjoy!

A nice synchronistic moment happened to me last Friday. An episode concerning UFOs & Alchemy, and their possible correlation with the human perception of reality.

It involved the quote I used last Thursday on the news briefs. As I explained, the quote was a translation to one of the many 'alien writings' that the famous Betty Andreasson has received over the course of her long-spanning experience of abductions and other-worldly encounters. The man who came up with the translation was Dr. Mario Pazzaglini, a psychologist who was also a student and practicioner of several esoteric disciplines —a true heir to Carl Jung's unorthodoxal approach to the mystery of the human mind, methinks— and who was the subject of Greg Bishop's essay 'The Magus of Delaware', which was included in the Darklore 3 anthology.

In "The Magus of Delaware", Greg writes:

So the resulting sentence read: "If you want to make light solid, show it to the moon." So cryptic and ambiguous that, according to Greg, "Mario (and anyone he shared it with) was never able to make any quantum leap in decoding its significance."

I was reading this on Wednesday, and for some reason this idea that the phrase was never able to be explained stuck with me. So, I decided to use the phrase as the 'quote of the day', to promote a discussion of possible solutions among the TDG community —sadly, no one commented on it.

Fast-forward to last Friday: I was at the office, working on some architectural plans, so I decided to download a podcast that I could hear with my earphones while drawing with AutoCAD. I discovered with delight that Greg had already posted the Radio Misterioso interview he had with Micah Hanks on Sunday the 16th. Micah is the man behind the Gralien Report, and the interview is a must-hear because it was really amazing how they were able to jump back and forth so many interesting subjects; Micah excused himself for saying he suffers from diarrhea of the mouth, but the fact is that it's clear this young man's mind is racing at 100 mph when he discusses Fortean topics, and that's a true sign of passion. I also appreciate the fact that he —like Greg himself, along with Nick Redfern and Mac Tonnies— is not afraid to have a broader view of all these phenomena, instead of desperately trying to keep them separate and compartmentalized.

During the interview, after they both mentioned Art Bell's iconic C2C radio show and why that particular program was best suited for the wee hours before dawn —when only the owls are busy with their different chores— they start discussing the concept of the "Witching Hour", and how all sort of strange electromagnetic phenomena are more common during the night, because they might be inhibited by solar radiation. At about 48 minutes into the interview, Micah then said:

You get these terms as "The Witching Hour", you know, or "Dark Thirty", or things like that, you know. Or "Midnight Oil", or "Burning the Midnight Oil" I think that-s the actual term.

Um, and it seems to be that paranormal phenomena in general is often linked (sic) night-time occurrences. And it's funny how with, like you're talking about, Greg, geomagnetic fields is (sic) less inhibited by solar activity —flares and whatnot and solar radiation in general— when you're on the side of the Earth farthest from the Sun [...] So it's funny because it makes sense in terms that there are always electromagnetic anomalies, that seem to be correlated to ghost manifestations, sometimes UFO activity[...]

AND at that very moment, Pazzaglini's alchemical translation popped in my head.

Was the sentence a cyptic reference to the effect of the sun's activity on geomagnetism and EM phenomena?

Viewed in that perspective, it kind of began to make some sense:

"If you want to make light—electomagnetic radiation—solid —manifest in a more 'tangible' way?— show it to the moon —night time.

Was this the answer that had eluded Pazzaglini? Was it an indication that the answer to all these phenomena is intertwined with how we humans are affected by electromagnetic fields?

The Radio Misterioso interview went on with Micah discussing how there might be a connection between sensitivity to EM fields and endogenous DMT that could trigger a momentanous experience of an alternate dimension. He mentions one of Lovecraft's most famous stories, "From Beyond", and how in that tale a scientist is able to create a machine that excites the brain's pineal gland, which he discovers is the most important perceptory organ of all. With the machine, both the narrator and the crazy scientist are able to "see" the hideous ethereal creatures that coexist with us, but that we'e not able to perceive under normal conditions —the implications of endogenous DMT and occult practices was also brilliantly discussed by Blair Mackenzie Blake in his essay 'DMT & Magick', which was part of the 2nd installment of Darklore.

Was Mario's research an indication that Micah's focus on paranormal phenomena is on the right track? I confess I don't know. As usual in this game —and what is this, if not a wonderful game?— any possible new solution opens up more questions.

I would like to share with you this incredible video, from the TV show Ukraine's Got Talent, where a young and talented artist —Kseniya Simonova— captivated the audience not with her voice, or dance skills; but by using sand paintings to tell a story about the German invasion to Ukraine on WWII.

To think that the scenes were made in real time, using the simplest of tools, effectively telling a sequential story, is mind-boggling. And the expression on the audience's faces are clear sign that they were all deeply moved by the fleeting images.

The girl won, by the way :)

From the Washington Examiner:

"If there's a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half price for the thing that's going to make you well?" -- President Obama

*Sigh*

So sad...

Obama turned out to be another agent, instead of The One :(

[H/T to Susan]

It's failrly late and I'm about to go to bed; but before I do, I just wanted to share with you a very weird experience that happened to me just minutes ago.

During the afternoon today I listened to 2 podcasts where the subject was John Keel and his recent departure from this level of Reality. The first one was a tribute made by the Paracast, who managed to gather a most impressive panel of Fortean researchers: Loren Coleman, Tim Beckley, Jerome Clark, Jim Moseley, Brad Steiger and Curt Sutherly. You can download the entire program here. I strongely urge you to listen to it, because these guys manage to give a very sincere —perhaps too sincere!— portrayal of this wonderful researcher and the experiences each of them had with him; none of them shied away from expressing the things they didn't find agreeable about Keel, both personally and professionally —which might not be the standard thing to do during a "tribute", but one has to admit that approach is more honest when you compare it to the over-the-top Memorial death-fest in honor of Michael Jackson recently broadcast by every form of media in the planet.

The other one was a broadcast by PsiOp Radio 81, with with host S. Miles Lewis, who had Loren as guest again. You can go listen to it here. This one wasn't so good, but that's because Keel was discussed only on the last hour of the show; nevertheless Loren did another great job in discussing the sad circumstances of his late friend and colleague's demise —how he deliberately distanced himself from his circle of friends and family, probably more as a result of him suffering from Dementia, than from his usual excentric personality.

So anyway, after finishing hearing these two podcasts I left the office, and while I was walking to my car I was thinking of going to the gym, although I felt kind of tired. But after going to a gas station it started to rain, really REALLY hard, and that convinced me to go to the gym —which is close to my office— and do some work out while the storm passed.

After I finished doing a very lame cardiovascular session —blogging is oil & physical fitness is water: they don't mix together well— I went to the showers area and entered the sauna; there was nobody so I sat and tried to relax. The time was approx 10:30 pm, and the gym would close down in another half an hour; so I had plenty of time to have a nice long sauna before taking a bath.

The boiler at the sauna was releasing strong and quick bursts of steam —that lasted about two seconds— every 10-15 seconds. The temperature was particularly high tonight, something I actually prefer, since I've always thought they set the temp too low; and although the whizzing sound the boiler makes when it releases the vapor is somewhat annoyingly loud —I have complained about it to no avail— I was really enjoying the experience.

Being alone I started thinking about what I heard on the podcasts, and about Keel & Mothman —Loren said something really interesting in both of them: he thinks that "The Mothman Prophecies" is Forteana's "In Cold Blood", which is a way to praise the impact the book had, but it was also meant to emphasize that Keel embellished and made up some of the things he wrote in the book.

After 10 minutes inside the Sauna I felt I was ready to hit the showers, so I got out of the Sauna room. However —and this is where I get to the whole point of this post— after cooling myself with the water of the shower, I decided to return to the Sauna again and take advantage of the fact that I still had the room for myself, and the temperature was unusually strong.

So once again I sat there alone, but after a minute or two something really weird happened...

As I explained earlier, the boiler was loudly expelling 2-second bursts of vapor every 15 seconds of so —for obvious reasons, i wasn't carrying a watch!— but then suddently and completely out of the blue the boiler bursted vapor, but the burst kept going, and going, and going, and going! All this time I was waiting for the boiler to stop while the hot vapor kept climbing my body in a rather uncomfortable way, and the buzz was beginning to hurt my ears.

I didn't understand what was happening, but at first I thought "I can handle this". But after 40 or 45 seconds the heat and the noise became quite unbearable; the vapor was burning my ears and what was supposed to be a relaxing experience was beginning to feel like a torment. I decided to leave, although "fleeing" might be a more adequate word!

I got up and took a few steps, and as is usual when you find yourself in a Sauna filled with very hot vapor, moving makes you more vulnerable to the heat. I knew I had to leave, because even breathing was becoming difficult! I took a breath and the vapor burned my lungs; this room is actually not very big (it must be approx 8mx3m in legnth, and I was sitting in the middle of it), and there were no more than a couple of steps between me and the door, but I admit it: for a fraction of a second I felt panic.

And still the boiler kept going!

Finally I reached the door, and then, at what seems like the exact same moment my hand grabbed the door handle... the boiler stopped.

And there was silence.

I didn't stay to figure things out. I immediately went to the shower to "put the fire" out; but I was very confused.

What happened? Was the boiler entering some kind of automated mode before shutting down before the baths closed down? After I finished bathing I took a last look to the Sauna room —without entering!— and things appeared to have returned to normal, with the usual quick bursts of vapor and noise coming in intervals.

Weird!

At that moment, and even right now, I began wondering if this unexplainable incident —to me at least is unexplainable— was somehow related to the fact that I was thinking of Keel & Mothman while I was in the Sauna. All the weird things Keel claimed to have experienced, the strange phone calls, the static sounds, all the high strangeness...

In her contribution to Darklore #2, Regan Lee discusses some weird synchronicity events that she experienced when researching about Mothman; something that has also been reported by other researchers and students of Fortean phenomena.

So, if this Sauna event was also another example of high strangeness... what did it mean?

Was it a warning? Like I said, I've always enjoyed Sauna sessions, and I feel I can endure vapor of higher temperature better than most people —it's something I've done since I was a child— But this event defeated me.

Was there someone telling me that, if I want to enter the hot mist of Fortean phenomena, that I must make sure I'm ready to take the heat?

Maybe it is true what they say: that if you start to notice the weird aspects of life, the weird notices you back...

Damn... another night in which I'll have to leave the lights on :(

I promise I'll be writing about the election's outcome in the next post. But at the moment, I want to write something more casual and fun.

A blog I follow was tagged into writing this "A, B, Cs" meme. I liked the responses so I'm gonna give it a go too :)

• A – Age: Twenty-Fifteen —Hey, back off! I'm Mexican & therefore entitled to use the Mayan numerical system; I even have an elongated head similar to them.
• B – Bed Size: Well, big enough to accommodate me. I've always been tall, and when I was a teenager my feet used to dangle out of the bed; wasn't much of a problem though, since I have always favored the foetal position —which is the position most of us assume, out of the Matrix I mean ;-)
• C – Chore you hate: Everything that is not work-related is by definition a chore, and therefore a pain in the ass. Cooking or heating food? Taking it out of the fridge is already too much work!
• D – Dog’s name: I would like to have a Dogue de Bordeaux or a bulldog —or a boxer— which I could call Bismarck. I had a chocolate Labrador I named Anakin; alas, as his name indicates, he eventually was lured by the dark side, so he had to go :(
• E – Essential start your day item: A glass of juice & the newspaper. Which in retrospect is not a good combination, since I'm always getting angry with the news, and the acid of the juice must be contributing into giving me a nasty ulcer in the near future.
• F – Favorite colour: Take a wild guess :-P Although that's actually not entirely true. I like blue and use if often in my designs; I also have a blue car, but that's because my Dad insisted that I should not buy a red one —something to do with statistics showing red cars suffer more accidents? I'm skeptical about it, though... so red & blue, and purple too! I like the contrast of opposites, one of the reasons I might have ended up here ;-)
• G – Gold or Silver: Silver. Although I rather have stainless steel; love to include it in furniture.
• H – Height: 193 cm, which is 6'4" —People doubt the nutritional value of Mexican food? Utter rubbish :-P
• I – Instruments you play(ed): Acoustic guitar; not only I had a guitar class during High-school, but I also had private lessons for a while; I was part of a group of 3-4 people who took classes with a guy who was part of a Trio of musicians —there's a genre of Mexican music called boleros that is traditionally interpreted by a trio of guitarists. I liked the lessons, but it was tough on me that I was the only man of the group on top of the youngest; and when the teacher wanted us to have a recital, well... that was my queue to leave.
• J – Job title: Ha! Whenever someone ask me that on the phone, I tell I'm the Design Manager. But the sad true is that I'm nothing but my boss' lackey. That wouldn't look to good printed on a business card, though...
• K – Kid(s): Dozens of them! Every design project is like a child that was spawned from my mind, and bringing them to completion takes more love, patience & effort than what most "biological" parents would be willing to dedicate! But if we're talking about the usual meat-and-blood progeny, then No —I'm doing all of you a favor by keeping myself out of the species' gene pool.
• L – Living arrangements: Not very spacious, but quite comfortable, specially because of the padded walls! you can bounce all around like a ball, or pretend you're a coin living inside a big sofa —oh, nurse's here with my pills. BRB.
• M – Mom’s name: Her name is María de los Angeles (Mary of the Angels), and since my dad's name is Miguel Angel (like Michelangelo I guess) then obviously they named my big sister Angélica; but when it was my turn, my father decided it was high time to end the hypocrisy, and he eschewed the "Angel" part —I suspect that deep down, he suspected something about me :-P
• N – Nicknames: Ugh! When I was in Junior High some idiot started calling me Gizmo —it's kind of complicated to explain why, suffice it say it had to do with my obesity— and sadly it stuck. But when I was a senior the boys changed it for Masto —short of Mastodon, which made me miss the old nickname! In fact, when I was in college I used my old Gizmo nickname as my alias for the political cartoons I published on the school's newspaper —cartoons that, as you might suspect, got me in quite a bit of trouble!— there were no nicknames in college, aside from the occasional Miguelón (Big Mike).
• O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: When I was very little I ingested some chemical used to disinfect vegetables. Mom tells me that she tried to keep me awake while she rushed me to the hospital; I think I went into a coma? I'm not sure, to tell the truth I have a terrible memory when it comes to my life experiences. Anyway, that was it —and No, I don't think there was any NDE in case you were wondering.
• P – Pet Peeve: Oh man, I have to choose only one?? Well, how about inconsiderate bastards that park their cars in the areas designated for the handicapped? That is sure to make my blood boil; in fact I've been thinking about creating a website focused entirely on posting photos of people doing that sort of things.
• Q – Quote from a movie: "The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." That and every other Matrix quote you can think of.
• R – Right or left handed: I was born a lefty, but I was forced to use my right hand at school. Does that explain all the aberrations that came after? I don't know.
• S – Sports: For a brief time I played basketball —even if you have ZERO coordination, if you're the tallest kid in the school you'll get picked— but in my late twenties I busted my left knee, so that was the end of it. My favorite sport now? Horde session in Gears of War :)
• T – Time you wake up: Veeery late. My boss doesn't give a shit @ what time I arrive to the office. But of course I compensate by staying until at least 9:30-10:00 pm. It kind of sucks, but it's better than struggling with rush hour here in this city.
• U- Underwear: Boxers.
• V – Vegetable you dislike: Beets. Cool color, terrible taste.
• W – Ways you run late: I need to work on a system that helps me get out of bed. But aside of that, here in Mexico things have gotten so bad that it's actually considered impolite to arrive to any given appointment on time.
• X – X-rays you’ve had: On my knee, as I explained. Also on my spinal column —I suffer from scoliosis. Here's a bit of an advise for any would-be parent out there: if you're going to do something, for Heaven sakes, DO IT RIGHT! Is it too much to ask? a little pride in your craftsmanship, people!
• Y – Yummy food you make: Pasta; also, I can cook a mean egg-plant dish —sautee.
• Z – Zoo favorite: Hmmm... I guess elephants. They can prompt all sort of funny incidents, like that time when my sister asked my mom about that elephant that had two trunks instead of one :-P

Hey, I'm done! This was fun, too. So, if you've read and commented on this blog, considered yourself tagged, and maybe you'll like to make a list of your own. Until then, Hasta luego :-D

[Warning: some links contain images of strong graphic content]

I've intended to write this post for quite a while now; I tried during this time to find a way to encapsulate my thoughts in an elegant and intelligible manner, that would do justice to the subject at hand. Alas, I must accept my limitations, and just write what's on my head.

This next Sunday —July the 5th— Mexico will celebrate the elections to select the members of Congress, as well as the members of the states' local congress and the municipal presidents.

Usually, these sort of elections don't bring too much attention —not like the presidential elections, anyway. But now things have changed: a new interesting development has surfaced that has spawned quite a bit of controversy.

This new development is a call to annul the vote. And it was quickly disseminated and promoted thanks to the most powerful political instrument the world has ever known: the Internet.

Several blogs and Youtube videos quickly appeared and were sent to e-mail accounts, calling the citizens to either leave their ballots empty, to strike the entire ballot with a big cross, or to write the name of a fictional candidate —someone like Withered Hope, for example (more on that later).

Soon enough, the newspapers and the TV networks began to talk about this new movement. Who were these people calling for a boycott of the electoral process? What did they want? What party or secret organization was supporting it under the table and to what end?

The answer was both simple and startling: the 'annulist', as they were now being called, were no one but simple good-natured citizens that were tired and fed-up with the way the political class conducted their business. They were angry to see that the politicians were completely incapable of reaching agreements with other parties, except when it involved calling for a raise in their salaries and economic benefits. They were annoyed of the constant bombardment of stupid political ads attacking from every front —the streets, newspapers, radio & TV— that cost millions of dollars (yes, DOLLARS) and yet say nothing but empty promises and silly jingles. They were disappointed that, after 9 years of the so-called "new Democracy" in which the country was now living, nothing fundamental had really changed; from the old days when we were governed by the "Revolutionary family" (the PRI) and the government functioned under the premise of an absolutist Presidentialism, to the new savage multi-party olligarchy, the only palpable change was that there were more hands eager to grab a slice of the pie... nothing more.

Not surprisingly, the representatives of the parties began to decry and ridicule the call to annul the votes. They launched attacks and counter attacks: the parties from the left denounced the ruling party from the right of being behind the movement, and the right-side parties accused the left of the same thing; they warned the citizens that a blank or annulled vote didn't carry any particular weight in the election's outcome, according to the current laws; that the message they intended to send would not be clear enough; and lastly, that a vote annulled would be like giving a blank check to the old PRI, that would surely used their old dirty tricks to buy enough votes to reclaim the power they —seemingly— lost after they lost the Presidency in 2000.

Even the Catholic church began to condemn the movement! So you see, when you have ALL the members of the top hyerarchy scared, then you know you must be on the right track...

On Friday June 5th —exactly one month before the day of the election— a letter I wrote was published on the Reforma newspaper, and included on the special section of the first pages. To my disappointment though, it was heavily edited; so here I'm including the translation of the uncensored version of my letter (the text in bold marks the edited paragraphs):

A Second PRI?

Several political & social actors are raising their voice against those citizen movements promoting the annulled or blank vote.

Some of them are warning us that an annulled vote is automatically translated into a vote supporting the PRI, which still relies on its old methods of the "hard" or corporative vote.

Recently our First Lady, Doña Margarita Zavala, invited us all to vote for the PAN so it could achieve a majority in Congress, which would enable it —they say— to finally unblock the political, fiscal & energetic reforms that our nation so desperately needs .

So, the ruling party (PAN) acknowledges that the only way to overcome the lack of consensus and the poor disposition to reach agreements in the echelons of power, is through an absolute control that overshadows any attempt to block the decisions made by the Executive branch.

But then again; doesn't this sound exactly like the way the PRI used to operate before the power switch of 2000?

Is it just that the only way to finally defeat the PRI is... with A SECOND PRI?

Sorry, but I just don't buy it anymore. And since I am sick & tired of the multi-party olligarchy making us believe that they are the undisputable owners of the game board —since they are the ones that have ruled illegal the candidacy of independent citizens— and therefore we have no choice but to play by THEIR rules, I join those who say "No", and for the moment my candidate in the next elections will be Withered Hope.

It is very likely that annulling our vote next July will be nothing more than a symbolic act. But in the history of the world, all great changes always begin in such a manner; and it is always the people —not the rulers— the ones who infuse POWER to symbols.

Miguel Romero

...Yes, I admit it: I was in a Fawkes-like state of mind at the time ;-)

That very same day I read an awesome editorial written by Jacobo Zabludowsky —Zabludowsky is arguably the most important Mexican newsman of the last decades; if we were to compare him with someone, think Walter Cronkite, and this is NOT and exxageration— supporting the annullist movement. Here's a brief excerpt from that article:

Let it be observed that [the annulled vote] is not the same as an abstention. It is a form, a legal way —because it's not forbidden— to cast a vote. It is a vote that express a will to inffluence in order to change. They [the government] will declare it null. That's the point. This declaration will become the birth certificate of a manifestation that, no matter how small, no one will be able to ignore. It will be registered in the acts. We are voting. We are the ones of the annulled vote. We have no shepherd for we are not sheep. We are the neighbors of September 19th, 1985

Not only that, but the next weekend my sister informed me that she had heard the radio program of Don Jacobo that last Friday, and he mentioned and praised my printed letter! Ho cool is that?? :-D

You guys might be wondering, what's with that date Sept 19 1985? Well, it happens to be a very important date in the modern history of Mexico; for that is the date when we suffered the big one: a 8.1 monster earthquake that toppled dozens of buildings, and decimated the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. And the relevance of that date is not because of the natural catastrophe, but because of what the catastrophe provoked: while the government was still confused and still trying to find their dicks inside their pants, it was the citizens that got organized and conducted most of the rescue operations; volunteers that bravely donated their time and even risked their lives in the desperate effort to liberate the few survivors trapped among the rubble, that toiled fr hours without rest, sweating, crying and laughing when they worked the miracle of giving a fellow human a second birth from the bowels of the earth.

It is my opinion that two events determined the social transition that ensued the arrival of Democracy in Mexico: 1 was the massacre at Tlatelolco in 1968, because it showed just how far the ruling class was willing to go in order to preserve their grip on the nation. The other was the earthquake on 1985, because it showed us that we can show solidarity and accomplish great things without the supervision of the government —it showed us just how useless they really are.

It is my hope and belief that a third event is coming. And it will begin next Sunday, when a small but significant portion of the citizens cast their vote as a sign of protest and a demand for true change.

We do not kid ourselves; we know that this is but the first of many steps, but to let things as they are is to concede defeat. We know that we desserve better.

I cannot end this post without mentioning a very interesting link between Art & the real world in this story. I'm talking about a book written by the Nobel laureate José Saramago in 2004, Ensaio sobre a Lucidez (Essay about Lucidity); a novel that deals with a nameless city in which most of the citizens cast a blank vote in the elections, provoking the fear & indignation in the highest spheres of the government, unable to comprehend the nature of such an unexpected behavior.

Are the events developing in the real world (Mexico) somehow influenced by this work of fiction? Is it possible that this next election can be used as an experiment in human consciousness?

Perhaps what I wrote turns out to be accurate, and the symbol of the blank vote will be infused with enough power to provoke a much needed social change, somehow bringing a world that only lives as an idea into our normal reality. If that is the case... are we not talking about a magical ritual?

This IS a ritual. We are killing our vote, offering it as sacrifice, so that out nation can have a brighter future. Better than to use the old methods of spilling blood, if you ask me...

I wish I could tell you how the book ends, but I'm afraid I haven't finished it yet. I also do not know what will happen in 4 days. I guess we'll have to wait and see :)