Some might call it purely symbolic, but if you’re a newly elected president, or even one who’s been sitting around for a few years, and you claim you’re going to change things and reduce corruption and injustice, in my eyes a great start is if you cut your own pay. And that’s just what Bolivia’s new president has done: 50% pay cut for him and all members of his movement to socialism party which made huge gains when he swept into office last month. That means his salary will actually be 1800 american dollars per month! I hereby REALLY like this man.
Plus he has called himself a “nightmare for the United States,” and you know how Im a sucker for that kind of rhetoric. I love picturing Georgie Bush sucking his thumb in bed at night tossing and turning because most of Latin America is tired of eating his shit and staying quiet while the US government dictates how things are going to work down there. Sure they still live under the economic thumb of the US, but electing leaders like this sends a message. Economic intiatives that focus on Latin American unity and self-reliance, like MERCOSUR also stike me as a strong statement. Maybe the Willing Warrior is on to something and we expats should consider floating over to Bolvia, Chile, or Brasil. I know my friend Ditta is certainly enjoying life close to the equator.
Speaking of the developing world, the Lounge Chicken is still recovering from a nasty leg injury, and even on painkillers, his accounts of the domestic wildlife in Malawi are very entertaining and informative.
It was snowing in Amsterdam all day. Film at 11.