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 Resorting to the biblical parable on the Valley of Tears is off limits to describe the weeping that's shaking right now all crannies and nooks of Brasília's Praça dos Três Poderes (Three Powers Square). Built on a plateau, our capital does not meet the topographical conditions to retain anything.
Moreover, the very low level of humidity dries up in a few seconds any liquid inadvertently spilt. Due to this double condition, let's call it geophysical, you may say that in Brasília it's easy to pour, impossible to accumulate. Draining and overflowing are inevitable. Above all the hypocrisy. It's hard to give details of the situation without mentioning their protagonists and it's impossible to cut them out without invoking imperiously scornful adjectives. You are left with some nouns or pleasant qualifications. For example, Justice Minister Márcio Thomas Bastos has the country's best wardrobe and it's a pity that he's going to deprive us of those spotless suits and shirts, besides intense ties which are nonetheless fitting. He will stop shining at the political pages, but he certainly will keep on shining in the tribunals or forensic circuses defending indefensible illicit acts. House speaker Aldo Rebelo has everything to win the Oscar as the planet's best actor: he can control every muscle of his face, his voice is inalterable, his eyes never blink, the soul seems made of steel, it's hard to believe that our movie producers haven't yet picked him up to interpret the role of a sexton in a film set in Rasputin's (do not confuse with Putin) time Moscow . Brasília's pantheon is immense, suggestive, generous. As much as the lachrymal sediments of its illustrious visitors. In order to get in touch with all the country's corners, tears are the way out. Despite Carnaval and that kind of celebrating mood, Brazilians tend to become melancholy as Paulo Prado observed in his essay on Brazilian sadness, "Portrait of Brazil" (1928). President Lula also paraded on Brasília's easy emotions' catwalk with a few tears according to protocol during his installation ceremony before the TSE (National Election Board) on Thursday. But the man is inflexible: he wasn't moved by the news of the incredible heist against the treasury perpetrated by the Legislative. which doubled their own salaries. He also didn't show remorse over the indictment against whom he had cursed as "nut cases." He resisted bravely as well upon discovering that the 5% growth briefly forecasted for 2007 has already been ruled out. His voice only choked, the face only became a little redder and the improvisation only stopped when he thanked the humble people who without middlemen (the emphasis is from the columnist) said that they wanted to keep him in the presidency. He who should cry are those worried about details, those who get attached to casual words and, due to vice, can't forget old sentences. When re-elected, president Lula declared that he had defeated the "opinion shapers". He meant to say that he won all by himself, even without his party's help. Now, he kicks out the middlemen to a corner and presents himself as the popular will's sole negotiator. He didn't talk about direct democracy, or about the shortcomings of the representative system - it would be irksome, it would chill emotions -, but he left registered and with a great deal of precision the new information concerning his political doctrines and, evidently, the size of his ego. With a Legislative that demoralized itself by increasing their wages by 92%, with parties being self immolated in the race for advantages, with the Left publicly disqualified as retrograde and the media as shy or intimidated, Lula, in a subtle but coherent way, anticipates some "hits" of his coming repertoire. Two weeks before the president's inauguration the current marathon of tears and cynicism has the knack of reassuring the restless: we will miss the middlemen. Alberto Dines, the author, is a journalist, founder and researcher at LABJOR - Laboratório de Estudos Avançados em Jornalismo (Laboratory for Advanced Studies in Journalism) at UNICAMP (University of Campinas) and editor of the Observatório da Imprensa. You can reach him by email at obsimp@ig.com.br. This article appeared originally in Último Segundo. Translated from the Portuguese by Arlindo Silva.
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With such a hard work, dont they deserve to earn for themselves....over 10 % of the
Federal Budget, one way or the other ???????
Of course they do ! You even applaud them....and agree with what they do.....when you
re-elect them.
Thus.....why do you complain ????
Dont cry Brazilians, you got exactly what you voted for : a shameful country !