Americans, Stop the Hypocrysy and Start Acting!

I'm so sick of all this American drama and hypocrisy!!! Take the tv show called "America's Got Talent", add in a soldier who's just returned from Iraq, spice it up with regular singing skills and what do you get? A whole new level of screaming in awe, appreciation and national pride. I'm pretty sure this guy wouldn't have gone through to the next level had he not been wearing that military uniform. The judges were in tears, and they even called his wife to join him on stage, while the audience were waving their hands as if they were attending a friggin' Michael Jackson concert or something. Not to mention the hero's exit ("hero" being one of the few terms I don't use lightly here), covered by Mariah Carey's song... ta-da-da!!! Hero, obviously.
My dearest Americans (although I should say "United Staters", since "Americans" refers to the people living all over the three American continents), if you appreciate your troops that much, why do you keep on voting for that amazing President of yours, Bush, who cares about nothing else than money and oil? If you cherish your army men so much, why do you support the war in Iraq and swallow all the bs that the Government is feeding you? Or are you in such a need for heroes that you'd rather send young people to war zones and get them wounded, or even dead, instead of letting them stay home and enjoy life together with their families, just like the rest of you? I guess the U.S. of A. are nothing without all that fake appreciation and crocodile tears. Maybe you don't feel like you have enough to be proud of, so you need to create your own plastic reasons by sending people to die for utopic rights and liberties. No matter what your reasons are, at least stop pretending to care after the harm has been done and learn to accept your guilt.

Not Such a "MERRY"-go-round!

As I was looking over some of the photos we took in Spain last year, I discovered one taken at the amusement park in Logroño. It's the picture of what could look at first like a regular merry-go-round, but after a second it turns out to be a "live" merry-go-round. Indeed, those ponies are real, and I can still remember the shock we had when discovering that people had thought of using ponies in such way. Where were the Human Rights activists, what were the police doing? The only ones "protesting" against this kind of abuse were the park's patrons themselves, who simply refused to ride or to let their kids use such a carousel.
They even had name tags! And this happened in Spain, a modern, Western European country, in the year 2007!

"He Only Hits Me When He's Drunk"

As I was walking past the police station close to my house, a young lady stopped me and asked for a light. Without looking too much at her, I said "of course" and started looking for a lighter in my purse. I handed her the lighter while zipping my purse and she said "thank you." That's when I finally looked into her eyes and smiled... for a second. She had beautiful eyes, but she had been crying; she had mascara almost down to her chin. And... "My boyfriend just got arrested". I told her I was very sorry to hear that and asked if she was ok and whether she needed any help (not that I could think of much that I'd be able to do). "No, I'm not... he got drunk and beat me". Only then I noticed the bruise under her left eye, pretty well hidden underneath the foundation and the smeared mascara. "Then I'm not sorry that he got arrested, as harsh as this might sound. He doesn't have the right to touch you and... well, I can't tell you what I think, because I don't know you and it's none of my business", I replied in a tone that cannot be captured by these written words. "But he only hits me when he's drunk". I told her that this was no excuse, but didn't allow myself to add anything else. I wished her a better new year and left... that seemed so wrong at the moment, but I didn't know what else to say.
I've heard these words too many times: "He only hits me when he's drunk". HE SHOULD NEVER HIT YOU! There are many beliefs of mine that I'm willing to accept arguments against and even change, but this is surely not one of them. There is no argument to support the cowardice and bestiality of a man who uses his strength to hit a woman and thus prove... what? That he's the head of the household, that the woman has to listen to him and that he does whatever he wants? NO! He's only proving that he's a jerk who doesn't deserve to be called a "man" and who should disappear from your life.
He hits you once, he'll also hit you the second time... and the third... and so on. He only hits you when he's drunk? And he comes home drunk every day, or every two days? That means he hits you all the time. And even if he got drunk once a year and only hit you then, I can still find no excuse for such behaviour... which will not stop, in most cases, despite all the promisses uttered in the few moments he spends awake, when he realizes he might lose you.