Brazzil

It was then that I read in the newspaper that this had happened! The president and the governors of different political parties had united and made a pact around a project that will take seven years, nearly enough time for a complete generation to finish their basic education.

I was reading your article and when I came to this particular paragraph, I thought I had missed this important news in the Brazilian media and I was so happy that your dream finally came true!

Until you wrote:

But it was a project to host the 2014 World Cup.

!!

That was a good one Senator! You did manage to maintain the suspense till the end of your story!!!

Cristovam Buarque and his honorable texts ...

Education is all fine and dandy but there are thousands of educated Brazilians who can't find meaningful work in their profession or enough to survive on. They have gone to to university for years and done all that is asked of them...much more than we North Americans do at their studies.
Who needs education when you are priviledged by the money you have inherited, the political influence you have or the power of the corporation? If everyone was educated in Brazil it still would not change the inherit greed of the 1% who control 90% of the wealth. Wake up from your dream.
Instead do this. Put a gun to each Brazilian's head that makes more than 10000 Reais per month to have them contribute to a fund for all the poor. That would produce better results.

Unfortunately things doesn't work this way my friend. People have the right to do with their money whatever they wish to do. The only really effective way is through a progressive democracy, but that means people being responsible for it, it means people being educated about it, people accountable for it, which is how the world should develop, with its own legs. Greed relates to emotional education which is as important as formal education; emotional educatin should be called 'progressive education'.

They have gone to to university for years and done all that is asked of them...much more than we North Americans do at their studies.

Romadinho, are you really a North American? If so, please stay out of the internal affairs of we the South Americans. If we have gone to the universities for years and done all that was asked of them, we are a bunch of "burros" and it is not the fault of our government. It is high time we learn 't not to study ,but to watch Novelas dutifully during the prime time to get the drift our culture.

Also Romodinho, please re read the article of Senator.Buarque. We will be hosting the World Cup in 2014 and it is a huge opportunity for the next 7 years to keep ourselves entertained and also to learn new techniques in "Soccer Club Management"

Instead do this. Put a gun to each Brazilian's head that makes more than 10000 Reais per month to have them contribute to a fund for all the poor. That would produce better results.

This is a very radical suggestion on your part and I fully disagree from your point of view which is preaching unnecessary violence.Why should the ones making over 10 k reais have to contribute to any fund, when the ones who make much less are doing a good job paying their taxes including CPMF? It is easy for you to sit in North America and dictate policy as which Brazilian head to blow, but who will pay indenização for the families of the selected targets.

BTW,does your family call you "Romodinho"?

(but may or may not be playing from the opposing side of the hall from JDS) "That was a good one Senator!" Baroque!!

How marvelous. Such beautiful music to hear but alas, at then end, when the last echo has faded out, tis time to rise and return to what is next in the real world outside this concert hall.

What think you could be done with the 1.2B / 2B profits from the Bandidos do Brasil? The strike their lowly employees made a while back caused great misery for many and garnered little for themselves and yet records are broken. Shouldn't the peoples via their elected rulers have a right to 10% right out front and have it invested / spent in their best long term interests with everything for what is done and where the money goes openly visible and documented for all to see?

(but may or may not be playing from the opposing side of the hall from JDS) "That was a good one Senator!" Baroque!!

I think the good Senator is as pissed off as we are and the brighter side is that he is learning to be sarcastic and humorous-thanks to our coaching

Seriously speaking, he is not a dumb guy.

Baroque music is one of my favorites as I used to play the French Horn. Old Catholic churches usually offered the best positional arrangements and acoustics for this. As to what the good Senator expresses - It is what it is, what is is, and I agree my distinguished and fine serious fellow that Buarque is not just Sum Dum Guy. Based on epitaths of prior publishings of his, my surmise is that the choir is only curious as to how we might go about instilling potency. Not to say that sarcasm, humor and couching are bad.

I am a North American; we have the same problems in America.
The big money is spent on Baseball, Football, and basketball. Our Children are graduating High School with a reading level of Fourth Graders. Our College Text Books are written at a Sixth Grade reading level. Sports are more important than Education. I have no Idea how we will ever change that in our Country. I taught my own children till they went to College, where they were honor Students. We must do what we can. Those who can, DO those who can’t, talk (imange).

I taught my own children till they went to College, where they were honor Students. We must do what we can.

I salute you for that. Some day they will be thanking you for having done so.I call this responsible parenthood.

As to what the good Senator expresses - It is what it is, what is is, and I agree my distinguished and fine serious fellow that Buarque is not just Sum Dum Guy.

I think the good Senator is in a losing fight, taking into consideration the facts that you and Jay Glenn mentioned. My view was reinforced by two additional facts: 1) Last year some newspaper here conducted an opinion poll among the Brasilians to list their order of priorities. Education was the 7th! 2) Last night I was watching the TV and one of the news items was about the students of Federal University of Bahia occupying the President's office for days and finally the administration had to get a judicial order to bring in the armed cops to evict them. The cops had to use repressive measures to chase them out (not before the students damaged many properties of the Federal University). The students looked more like the disciples of Che Guevara than the ones who got into the university really to study. The entire scene was pathetic.

Nobody is interested in getting education and that is the reason why I think that Senator.Buarque is fighting a losing battle (and lost his bid to become the President last year).

"Nobody is interested in getting education and that is the reason why I think that Senator.Buarque is fighting a losing battle (and lost his bid to become the President last year)."

I have to agree with you here, but I do not think the battle is lost as yet. I think it is time for the Senator to change his media outlet and enlist the aid of novelas. He is not getting his message across via the published media so it is time to change tactics.

The post above.

If only dreams could ALL become true !
Well...it ALL depends of those YOU elected, either at the municipal, state or federal levels !!!!

"the road would open to transforming the imagined into reality."
Start doing it instead of just talking.
Same promise time and again, mayors after mayors, governors after governors Presidents after Presidents, decade after decade.

YOUR DREAMS WERE NO DIFFERENT....50 YEARS AGO !

Wake up now :
- 10 % paved roads, 90 %...still unpaved.
- One of the world highest crime rate
- Despite 17 or so interests rates cuts, still the world highest rates....after inflation ?
- Corruption increasing instead of decreasing
- More people registered at schools but not all go to school.
- And of those getting education, as per Jornal Hodje own tests, Brazil ranked last within 32 countries tested. Education Yesss, but what
quality of education ? Very poor, by definition, as per Jornal Hodje....ranking !
- Minimum wage US$ 200.- but tens of millions DONT earn this "minimum". And Us$ 200.- because the US$ went down by 50 %
- Enough food for exports but tens of millions Brazilian citizens stay....UNDER NOURRISHED !!!
- Exports growing at a fast pace, but only by using a depreciating foreign currency. Quite easy. You could have the world record export growth rate by a wide margin if you figure that against your cousin's currency : The Venezuelian currency !
But it would be another story if you would figure your export growth rate in YOUR OWN currency.
- You reduced your rate of slavery, because by now, the sugarcane workers are no longer considered slaves in your filthy stats. Strange, since they have to produce far more cane on a daily basis than 200 years ago but by using the same hand tools. The sad reality is that based upon the productivity required, your sugarcane workers were not slaves 200 years ago, but today THEY ARE SLAVES !!!!
Dont be so proud, because for the last several decades, mechanical harvesters EXIST, but not so 50 OR 200 years ago.
It is like accepting TODAY, that your grains should be planted and harvested MANUALLY....instead of MECHANICALLY !!!!

And of course ALL these mechanical harvesters came from foreign R&D and investments, none from you in need of them to improve the quality of living of your own workers !

Yessssss....dreams cost NOTHING ! Realizing them is VERY COSTLY ! And using technology made by others, will never ever put Brazil in the camp of the developed nations.
Believing otherwise is pure heresy.

Excellent article !!!!!

Finally you came to recognize that our Senator can write such article.I loved the last sentence, though. Think about it: He needs some right thinking folks like us, offering free consultation!! CB is not a bad guy,Ch.c and put it in your dumb head. He is as sarcastic as we are.

If I want any s**t out of you I'll squeeze your head!

You are a fine example that egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.

Your truly

As a North American commenting here, I hope my words are clear for my brothers to the south.
I see Brazil as a very prosperous nation that is rich in resources, cultures, and peoples from every
corner of Earth who find peace, serenity, and beauty in Brazil culture. There are many things
in Brazil that are imported from Western societies, but the worst is economic slavery. The practice
of subjugation by financial destitution is nothing to be applauded. The practice of privatizing national
resources into the hands of greedy aristocrats and foreigners, without setting standards for lifting the
society from the chains of poverty and neglect, is criminal robbery.

Consider, the recent oil find in the Atlantic, which should propel Brazil into the club of oil-exporting nations.
Why cannot this treasure be shared by all Brazilians? Why should those in the favelas wait for handouts from
Petrobas? Is this oil not the inheritance of all, rich and poor? Is the Amazon not the inheritance of all, especially
the indigenous peoples? There is a place for capitalists among the diversity of society, but there is no place for
those who use money as a means to enslave peoples and steal their inheritance. You know what I am saying to
be truth.

I specially applaud Presidente Lula for the Programme FomeZero, but if there are hungry children still running the
streets like animals, only to become ferocious criminals as adults, then progress cannot be made. Jails are only a
temporary band-aid for the the disease that will afflict Brazil. The bigger the jail, the bigger the band-aid, until
the patient is near death, which is still profitable for the greedy.

God bless all who would treat their neighbor as themselves. In this, Brazil must return to its place as a place of beauty
and bounty. We, your brothers to the north, know something of this subject. We have lived in it for too many years
and do not wish to see the same things repeated.

Brilliantly said Loyd !!
Would like to see people like you running for the white house!!!

Beautiful words, Loyd. So true.

Greetings from Rio.