Fernando Valente's weblog

“True friends are like starts, you don’t see them, but you know they are there.”, unknown author

I still remember that day. I was a 7 years old that just got out of school and heard the news. I didn’t even know what the World Trade Center was. In fact, I didn’t know how big that terrorist attack was and its effects.

So, after almost ten years, the responsible for that shit was killed. And he was the winner. Yes, he did. He died, but he did. He wanted fear, US decadence and a lot other stuff. And he got it.

* if the president had dictator-like powers and could bypass congress.

Monday: Morning coffee. Get ready for a crazy week. Declare economic state of emergency, or whatever other excuse will let a president do whatever he deems necessary for a week.

Start with taxes. Abolish progressive taxes. Set fixed-rate income tax at 35% on any income above $30,000. (10% goes to states.)

Tuesday: Declare immediate retreat from all wars and “police actions” in the Middle East. Cut defense spending by 80%.

Reinstate NASA space program, and reallocate ample funding. Pledge $500B to the construction of a high-speed rail network to cover the entire continental US. Work to be completed over 5 years by the private sector, with no union labor.

Wednesday: Abolish Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—to be phased out by the end of the year. Announce new legislation to 1) force private insurers to offer a basic health plan with minimum benefits at a fixed rate, and 2) make health insurance mandatory.

Announce immigration reform. Lower requirements and processing times of work visas, and instate new entrepreneurship visa program. Announce a one-time amnesty on illegal immigration, and announce legislation with severe consequences for future infractions.

Thursday: Abolish oil subsidies, let oil spike to $8/gallon. Order cities over 100,000 inhabitants to develop high-quality public transportation networks. Slash all street parking, and impose a parking tax to discourage car commute.

Pledge $500B in state-owned nuclear and alternative energy developments.

Friday: Announce plan to subsidize employment in creative industries. Subsidize people working as artisans, journalists, artists in order to put to good use people who have been rendered obsolete by advances in technology.

Drastically cut corporate income tax to 13%, in order incentivize corporations to remain headquartered in the US and keep employing US citizens.

Sigh. Enjoy the cool breeze on the White House balcony, sip on a glass of single malt scotch, and get ready to take a much-deserved weekend rest.

Reblogged from Kenneth Ballenegger’s blog.

Let’s get back in the time. In the 90s, Apple almost closed its doors. A man called Steve Jobs got back to the company and saved it. The iMac was the greatest idea it could have in the 90s. In the 90s, Brazil was totally broke. An absurd inflation plus many other factors fucked this country up. Brazil also had its savior, and he is called Fernando Henrique Cardoso, or FHC, whatever you prefer. When he was a minister, he fixed the country’s economy by creating a new currency. The Real was a big hit. Prices got stable, people started to be able to buy stuff and the economy was finally fixed. This man became the president one year after he created the Real. Real was Brazil’s iMac.

Before these Steve Jobs and FHC,  there were many people trying to fix the problems in their organizations. People like Gil Amelio and John Sculley tried to save Apple, and they failed miserable. In Brazil, people like Fernando Collor and José Sarney tried to fix the economy, and they failed miserably.

Brazil finally seemed to be going to succeed. When FHC left and Lula assumed the presidency, it couldn’t be worse. Inflation is getting back, Brazil is getting broke again. The national debit is getting higher than high, it’s getting colossal. And we can’t even blame the international crisis at all. While it’s one of the factors which is destroying the economy, it’s not the only one. When Lula was the president, he spent too much money. That moron decided to pay the external debit. He got a lot of loans from Brazilian banks and organizations to pay the external debit. Instead of paying the internal one, something that would generate jobs and progress, that idiot paid the external one. He sent money to other countries instead of investing it here. Not to mention the fact that the interest rate in Brazil is higher than in many other countries.

So let’s talk about how Apple is screwing up again. In the 2000s, Apple was doing fine. Great and cheap products. Developers were treated with love and consideration. It was in the right way.  In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone. In 2008, the App Store was introduced. Apple started to become evil. Developers were treated like crap. Apple started to sue other people just like Microsoft used to do. In 2010, something very evil was introduced. It’s called the iPad. And now Apple wants to discontinue the Mac and sell the iPad as a computer. WTF!? It’s not a computer, it won’t replace a computer. Why, Apple? Why are you screwing up!? The best computer ever invented, the Macintosh, will be discontinued.

Solution for both things: find an alternative to them. I can just move away from Brazil(which I’d probably do anyway). And what about the Mac? I don’t see anything that could replace it. The solution will be to create my own OS. In a few years, I hope you guys will see the “Chiaro OS” available for purchase on the stores.

People often ask me why I want to get the hell out of this country. The problem is that this country is a bad joke. Here is one more episode of this Brazil’s history. What happens when a clown wants to be a Federal Legislator? Well, you tell me.

Despite being an analphabet, he was the candidate that got most votes in the past election. He got exactly 1.348.295 votes. Yes, 1.348.295 voted for a guy who doesn’t even know what a Federal Legislator does. The Brazilian legislation doesn’t allow analphabets to in politics, but he’s considered a “functional analphabet”, which is accepted by the law. Lula, the ex-president of Brazil was also a “functional analphabet”.

Functional analphabet is someone who has a notion of how to read and write, but she doesn’t do it very well. Say a functional analphabet reads the word “word”, she would understand “whole” or something like that. Seriously, I didn’t know what a functional analphabet was. The first time I’ve ever heard this term was when I was talking about politics.

Seriously, I do not take this country seriously, nor I consider it civilized. When I think it can’t get worse, it gets. And I really think those 1.348.295 idiots who voted for him deserve being tortured for the eternity.

Today is January 29 2011. I must move away from this country in exactly one year, otherwise I will be forced to join military. As I said on the previous post, in Brazil, when you turn 18, you must join the military. My birthday is in March, however we must go to the army’s office to join it in January 30 of the year we turn 18.

In Brazil, laws aren’t respected unless you have good intentions(like kill a serial killer to defend yourself). The civil laws don’t apply to military. This mix makes it perfect for them! It means they may do whatever they want to you. Here are 2 things that happened a few years ago in the military police:

-New people who joined them were tortured;
-2 guys got arrested(and I believe they are still in jail) because they are gay;

There are many other bizarre stuff, but I really don’t wanna join the army. Too bad I was born in this piece of crap.