Hope and Shame
If you are in Brazil, you know what this is about. In case you are not and still care enough to read: this lovely man on the left is the president of the Senate, who was being accused, among other things, of using money from a lobbyist to pay for the child support of his illegitimate child (and the mother of that child made this public, and broke all hell loose in the political world. And then, what did she do? Pose for Playboy magazine, of course).There is evidence corroborating this arrangement between them, and also evidence of 3 or 4 other wrongdoings of his. He refused to resign from his position, overseeing the entire process being built against him, and still in command of the Senators who judged him today. He cried and said he was being mistreated, and made up the most absurd stories to show that he had the money to pay her (he was suddenly a cow breeder, selling meat to inexistent people at an exorbitant price, with checks and receipts that had been made up in the wrong date - "I just got the date wrong while filling it in! It doesn't mean it is a fraud!!"). And well, there is a lot more, but let's just say it doesn't really get better.
Today he was judged by his peers - his subordinates, in fact - on whether he would lose his mandate or remain as president of the Senate. And, against my tiny string of hope, he was absolved. He is still the president of the Senate, of the institution that represents the people of this country (although the vote was secret, so we can't really know if the Senator who represents us voted for or against him, in another lovely detail of the case). 
And it is moments like these that make me ashamed of living in this country. Not just that the people who make our laws are hitting themselves in the hallway of the Senate. But nothing works, no one cares, no one bothers to even appear to be honest or to be doing the right thing. They don't even pretend anymore. The "Brazilian way" of getting things done will drown us all. 
Sorry for the long, "complainy" and political post. but I'm just... "so sick, so sick of it all". Maybe I should just let go of that tiny string of hope that always follows me around.....
Para os que podem, leiam o artigo do Hélio Schwartsman na Folha online, muito mais eloqüente do que eu:
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/pensata/helioschwartsman/ult510u327912.shtml
posted by Julia Moreira Leite @ 2:23 AM
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