Brazzil

Why is an "Acting President" needed ?. Does that mean Lula is not President when he is out of the country ?. Does that mean there are 2 Presidents when he is out of the country ? .My Brasilian friends, me thinks this is weird ... Do you know any other countries which do this ?

Hey, here in the US the way it happens is exactly the same. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the second on the successory line. If W. and Cheney are out by any reason, Pelosi will become the President of the United States, until they are able to get back to the White House. So, this is not "weird" Brazilian democracy, is just the way the rules of the game are set. And she is a hard-line democrat, while they are both way-too-much-hard-liners GOP...

...this is just the same as in Brazil and the U.S.A !

But what is unique with Lula government is the age of many of his Ministers !

As said in the article, Alencar is 75 years and has a feeble health already for years, and Pires your Defense Minister who is 80 years old ! Could be that others are that old too !

No doubt that in the Planalto....there should be a room full of.....Pampers.....just in case !
And that some of these grand-grandfathers already receive several high pensions from their previous jobs....on top of their high actual salaries...to do nothing ! I also imagine many offices in the Planalto with.....spittoons !

thix confusion amazing, the Brasilian article says the guy in Brasil IS the President while Lula is out of the country. In the US, no one is President while Bush i sout of thh country except Bush. The line of succession has nothing to do with it unles Bush resigns, is impeached or othewise remvoed from office. The US dose not make Cheney or Nancy or anyone else Pressident while Bush is away, Brasil apparently does, that is what I see as weird, again I ask hwo can you have 2 Presidents at the same time, which oen has the power in Brasil when Lula is away ?

My city in midwestern United States had a person become acting mayor. He was not elected to that highest office of the city. Hence I'm attempting to understand how the author of the article finds Sao Paulo's situation so strange? I can only conclude it stems from the authors confusion over what democracy is. Is democracy soley the concept of a republic as it finds its expression in the political structure of the United States? Or can democracy be political structures accepted and given power by the people (as opposed to the concept of divine right of kings or dictatorship) for which they believe best rules their society?

That roughly 600 of the world's coporations controls half the worlds entire wealth (if memory serves me correct) and de facto much of the worlds poltical offices... what "pure democracy" is any where in the world including the United States egs the question.

I would also point out that the midwest region of the United States has had a strong solcialist history. Both my town and the city of Chicago (an international city) have had socialist mayors in office before.

To my mind the strength of a democracy is not found in the exclusion of political affiliations poltical prejuidice of the time harbors. Be that as viewing labor unions as unpatriotic or women's suffrage as an attack on the rational strenght of the republic.

You a*****e. Why dont you go and live somewhere else? If Brazil is your problem, you better also realise that you are not wanted here too. People do realise what their problems are around them. But here is a way to put it across, which probably your mother did not teach you back in the states (some dirty shanty town). You aint making any sense by just putting more s**t on what is already s**tty. Neither is your own country having saints in the white house, not soccer players as presidents. What you have is worlds most notorious gangsters, and sexoholics, and terroists leading your country. Why Bill felt the need to screw Monica? Why bush wants to sell neuclear beans? Why your dirty UASSA does not want to reduce oil consumption, and reduce pollution?. Insects like you should be crushed under the dirtiest shoes.

I assume that Aldo Rebelo was elected to be chairman of the Brazilian House of Representatives by that body. Why shouldn't he be in the line of succession if Lula dies or otherwise is removed from office? Why shouldn't Nancy Pelosi be in the line of succession in the U.S.? Isn't that what a Republican form of government usually does?

The person who writes as "ch.c" is _NOT_ an American. I think that he is probably Swiss. So please stop writing responses to him as if he's an American.

Don't even get me started on how the responses are all screwed up too.

I'll put on my sombrero and dance the La Cucaracha on your testicles if you don't shut the f**k up.

Enough with the empty threats. Get a life, and maybe a brain transplant would help open that closed mind of yours.

Don't get the idea that I'm defending "ch.c". I love Brazil, and I think that his repeated attacks are unwarranted. I'm just saying that he's not an American, so your insults against him as an American are misplaced and ineffective.

Costinha is finally revealed as a Mexican masquerading as a Brazilian and insulting the US, trying to insult a Swiss who is masquerading as an American and insulting Brazil. Does anyone else see the irony in this? The two most out-of-control, bigoted posters an this site?

Yes, There is along legal line of succession in the us govt, my point was the article about brasil implied that the guy in Brasil was president when Lula was away . in the US, no one else is President regardless of where Bush is, when Bush is away, HE is president period, The succession only happens if he is found guilty after being impeached, resigns or is declared incompetent or dies, THEN another person based on the pre-defined line of succession becomes Preseident, but again when he is traveling he is President, the article seem to imply that Lula, is not President when he is away, if so, then what he he ? . I just pointing out that the article is porbably wrong or maybe it not, but is NOT that way in the US, teh law prevents it, in fact is an amendment to the constitution, lesson over, thx

Mexicana e a vaca da tua mae, seu entupidor de privada. Vai tomar no seu (.....o.....) !

Enfia o dedo no cu e cheira!
(hint: your s**t smells the same as anyone else's)

Sertanejo! Tudo bom cara? Rapaz o Ch.c. e realmente americano casado com brasilera foi pro Brasil pensando que iria ser o manda chuva e se deu mal... e hoje totalmente revoltado contra tudo e todos no brasil. A Amanda que de vez enquando escreve aqui conhece este imbecil e disse que a mulher dele ja deixou ele e voltou pro brasil com a filha.

Aldo Revelo is a communist and has made some stupid legislative proposals (like the one to prohibit English loan words in Portuguese, or to mandate a mininum percentage of mandioca flour in bread), but he has shown himself to be fair to all sides as head of the Congress, something you wouldn't expect from a person of the extreme left. He handled the CPIs as well as could be expected and has generally shown himself to be a level-headed politician. I think everyone would admit that he is a million times better than Severino, his predecessor.

It wasn't clear from the article what happens when the Brazilian VP leaves office in the middle of his term. In the US the president appoints a successor who must be approved by Congress (e.g. Gerald Ford by Nixon, and, later, Rockefeller by Ford). A US congressional leader once said that the vice presidency wasn't worth a "warm bucket s*it", and I have the impression that in Brazil the same thing is true. As far as Alencar goes, he is a protectionist and crazy ideas abot how to lower interest rates, but, even if he didn't have all those millions, he seems like he would be a great guy to have as a grandpa!

I think that the law forcing office holders to resign (or is it temporarily leave office?) when they campaign for another post is probably not such a good one. The supposed evils of having, for example, Alkmin as both governor of São Paulo and a candidate for president, or Serra as both mayor and candidate for governor, are probably outweighed the situation we just experienced of having unprepared leaders like Lembo in office during the PCC crisis (although Alkmin and Serra ought to
answer for how the PCC got to be so strong in the first place!).

By the way, in the US you can run for two offices at once. Lloyd Bentsen was the Democratic VP candidate in 1988. Although the Dems lost, Bentsen was simultaneously re-elected as Texas Senator.

Actually is was Calvin Coolidge (then Vice-President) who said "The Vice-Presidency isn't worth a warm bucket of spit." Spittoons were a common at that time, and the word "s**t" was rarely used then, even in private.

well well, its not only Brazil that has a weird sense of democracy but most places I am led to believe. without regurgitation much of what has been said above, democracy is only the curtains that hide who is really running the roost and/or waiting to gain power.....

I THINK YOU ARE CONFUSED.....
THE FACT OF MR.REBELO BEING PROVISORY PRESIDENT IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER EXAMPLE THAT YOU HAVE MENTIONED......AND YOU ARE CONFUSING YOUR PUBLIC TOO......
THE PRESIDENT IS ONLY ONE , HOWEVER WHEN HE IS OVERSEAS SOMEONE HAVE TO SIGN STUFFS , THE COUNTRY CANT STOP , ITS SUCH A BUROCRATIC THING , i SEE NO REASON IN MAKING A PARELEL WITH THE OTHER CASES ....