are two things not very far from each other.
The nationalist thinks that his nation is better than other nations.
The racist thinks that his race is better than other races.
I have the luck to have 2 countries that is not extreme, about neither:
Sweden and Brazil.
Hitler thought that he was superior, both in nation (Germany) and race (Aryan) and in other aspects.
And the truth was, that he was neither German nor Aryan and very neurotic.
When he got to power, he tried to erase many races and countries.
And make a new ¨Reich¨ that should last for 1000 years.
A racist can call someone a monkey, in a football match.
And when a soldier gets his gun, he believes that his enemy deserves to die.
The person who needs nationalism or racism to feel good, are poor people.
Some hundred thousands years ago all ¨people¨ lived in small groups with something like 50 – 200 people.
And sometimes had a small ¨war¨ with their neighbors.
Often because of a banal conflict, or shortage of water or food.
And some few got hurt or killed.
Now with modern weapons almost anyone can wipe out a nation or a race.
And some people, races and countries are more aggressive than other.
And will do, what Hitler almost did; destroy a part of the world.
Everybody think they have God and the truth, on their side.
And what will a nuclear power do, when they get their people killed in a conflict?
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Corruption 1
Corruption has always been a matter of interest for me.
Now I have been living about 10 years in a corrupt country: Brazil.
Coming from Sweden, a county with low corruption.
There are many countries who are worse than Brazil, who is on place 72 on the 2007 CPI list of perception of corruption.
Brazil is getting worse corruption index by time (46, 2001), and is 2007 worse than Columbia (68) but in the same group as China, India, Mexico, Morocco, Peru and Suriname.
On the last places come Somalia (179) and among the last 10 come Chad, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan and some ex Soviet states.
The least corrupt are the Scandinavian countries, New Zeeland and Singapore
USA is on place 20, Italy on 40, Greece on 56 and Thailand on 84.
So how do you know that a country is corrupt?
When the politicians and other people in power are very rich and ordinary people very poor, you can assume that the country is corrupt.
And you pay high taxes, and get almost nothing in return.
And when people with money and economical crimes, almost never go to jail.
In Brazil you pay taxes on almost everything.
And ordinary people pay about the same amount of taxes, as people in the welfare state Sweden.
During the dictatorship (< 1985), almost nobody dared to criticize the government.
But now the papers and TV criticize the government in a very direct and aggressive way.
And every week a new corruption scandal is covered in the press and TV.
But nobody seems to care.
The voting here is compulsory, and if you don’t vote, you will get lots of problems.
If voting was not compulsory I think very few would vote.
So for me the Brazilian administration is type an old Soviet state.
The laws are imported from pre war Italia.
And a new law has to be approved by a high court and it takes a long time.
So the politicians prefer a preliminary law that starts direct.
But many times you have lots of laws, saying different things about the same subject.
A SP paper told that a small company has to know about 25 new economical laws every day.
And you got to have 1 or 2 girls working full time all year around with the fiscal problems.
Compared to Switzerland where the administration of a small company only needs half a day of work a year.
Now I have been living about 10 years in a corrupt country: Brazil.
Coming from Sweden, a county with low corruption.
There are many countries who are worse than Brazil, who is on place 72 on the 2007 CPI list of perception of corruption.
Brazil is getting worse corruption index by time (46, 2001), and is 2007 worse than Columbia (68) but in the same group as China, India, Mexico, Morocco, Peru and Suriname.
On the last places come Somalia (179) and among the last 10 come Chad, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan and some ex Soviet states.
The least corrupt are the Scandinavian countries, New Zeeland and Singapore
USA is on place 20, Italy on 40, Greece on 56 and Thailand on 84.
So how do you know that a country is corrupt?
When the politicians and other people in power are very rich and ordinary people very poor, you can assume that the country is corrupt.
And you pay high taxes, and get almost nothing in return.
And when people with money and economical crimes, almost never go to jail.
In Brazil you pay taxes on almost everything.
And ordinary people pay about the same amount of taxes, as people in the welfare state Sweden.
During the dictatorship (< 1985), almost nobody dared to criticize the government.
But now the papers and TV criticize the government in a very direct and aggressive way.
And every week a new corruption scandal is covered in the press and TV.
But nobody seems to care.
The voting here is compulsory, and if you don’t vote, you will get lots of problems.
If voting was not compulsory I think very few would vote.
So for me the Brazilian administration is type an old Soviet state.
The laws are imported from pre war Italia.
And a new law has to be approved by a high court and it takes a long time.
So the politicians prefer a preliminary law that starts direct.
But many times you have lots of laws, saying different things about the same subject.
A SP paper told that a small company has to know about 25 new economical laws every day.
And you got to have 1 or 2 girls working full time all year around with the fiscal problems.
Compared to Switzerland where the administration of a small company only needs half a day of work a year.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
House in Porto das Dunas 2
The terrace from outside
Room downstairs for kids (?)
Livingroom
Kitchen
Three suites on second floor, with clean nice bathrooms
Suite 2
View from master suite, second floor
View from master suite
Terrace first floor
Garage, 2 cars
Restaurant 2 minutes from home
The delta
The path to the sea
The house
Monday, March 24, 2008
House in Porto das Dunas 1
My wife is renting houses, flats and cars.
A month ago she received a new house in Porto das Dunas.
Porto das Dunas (or just Dunas) is the praia (beach) closest to Fortaleza, outside the city.
Takes maybe 20-30 minutes with car from the airport or the city.
This house belongs to a Norwegian guy, and is one of five in a big, closed area with a ¨caseiro¨ that takes care of everything around the houses.
The other four houses are almost all the time empty, and the area is very calm.
It is best suited for a family or two.
There are beds for 9 people (170 m²) and lots of bathrooms (suites).
The house is very complete, the way a person from Scandinavia organizes things.
The house is a paradise for people who likes nature and the sea.
But it is not the right place for parties and high music (better Aquaville).
We will rent the house to persons from North Europe, and you will get more details on the house, in next posting.
The afternoon, and the moon raises over Aquaville
One hour later
Early in the morning I take a walk (15 min) to the sea.
On the right side is Aquaville and to the left is the virgin praia.
After Aquaville there are lots of bars and restaurants and condominiums.
And Beach Park, the biggest water park for children in South America (www.beachpark.com.br/).
On the left side beutiful sand dunes.
The view from the praia towards the house. Here is a delta for a river.
The Atlantic Ocean all the way to Africa.
Click for a bigger photo. 
And lots of birds (like collibri) and interesting animals.
View from the terrace, in front of the house.
A month ago she received a new house in Porto das Dunas.
Porto das Dunas (or just Dunas) is the praia (beach) closest to Fortaleza, outside the city.
Takes maybe 20-30 minutes with car from the airport or the city.
This house belongs to a Norwegian guy, and is one of five in a big, closed area with a ¨caseiro¨ that takes care of everything around the houses.
The other four houses are almost all the time empty, and the area is very calm.
It is best suited for a family or two.
There are beds for 9 people (170 m²) and lots of bathrooms (suites).
The house is very complete, the way a person from Scandinavia organizes things.
The house is a paradise for people who likes nature and the sea.
But it is not the right place for parties and high music (better Aquaville).
We will rent the house to persons from North Europe, and you will get more details on the house, in next posting.
The afternoon, and the moon raises over Aquaville
One hour later
Early in the morning I take a walk (15 min) to the sea.
On the right side is Aquaville and to the left is the virgin praia.
After Aquaville there are lots of bars and restaurants and condominiums.
And Beach Park, the biggest water park for children in South America (www.beachpark.com.br/).
On the left side beutiful sand dunes.
The view from the praia towards the house. Here is a delta for a river.
The Atlantic Ocean all the way to Africa.
Click for a bigger photo.
And lots of birds (like collibri) and interesting animals.
View from the terrace, in front of the house.
There is one more terrace on the first floor.
A big swimmingpool and a beatiful garden belongs to the area.
More about the house in the next chapter ...
Friday, March 21, 2008
Canoa Quebrada 2
We stay two nights and three days in Canoa.
On the lower level are the barracks and the sea.
I wake up early (5 AM) and take a walk by myself.
The fishing is still important
On Saturday night the party on the upper level stops at
about 3 o’clock then most people go to the barracks at sea.
At daylight the music stops, and people start to go home.
The sea level fluctuates about 1.5 m and when the ocean is "angry" it takes some barracks.
So some barracks are some meters up in the air.
The sun and the clouds fight, early in the morning and the sun almost always win.
And a hippy and his dogs make some jogging.
And in the middle of the praia is a small pond with a boat.
And a car in the middle of nowhere.
Some bars or restaurants 
And a stairway to the upper level (the town)
The Freedom bar.
And later ordinary people come and play
and the fishermen will use their boats.
Stop on the way to Fortaleza.
On the lower level are the barracks and the sea.
I wake up early (5 AM) and take a walk by myself.
The fishing is still important
On Saturday night the party on the upper level stops at
about 3 o’clock then most people go to the barracks at sea.
At daylight the music stops, and people start to go home.
The sea level fluctuates about 1.5 m and when the ocean is "angry" it takes some barracks.
So some barracks are some meters up in the air.
The sun and the clouds fight, early in the morning and the sun almost always win.
And a hippy and his dogs make some jogging.
And in the middle of the praia is a small pond with a boat.
And a car in the middle of nowhere.
Some bars or restaurants
And a stairway to the upper level (the town)
The Freedom bar.
And later ordinary people come and play
and the fishermen will use their boats.
Stop on the way to Fortaleza.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Canoa Quebrada 1
Two months ago we had our norwegian friend Egil and his beautiful daughter Camilla here.
For Camilla it was the first time, and we agreed to go to Canoa Quebrada together.
Camilla
Egil
Restaurant Cabana
Visit from outer space
And Camilla wanted to sing, and sings very nice
And a Danish (?) guy is playing the guitar
And Toby likes the music
Most people come from Norway
A very nice pizzeria, with pictures from Dahli (and others)
Toby´s from below
The native Canoa
Camilla and my wife
Night two, meat at Toby´s
Music again
And food
For Camilla it was the first time, and we agreed to go to Canoa Quebrada together.
Camilla
Egil
Restaurant Cabana
Visit from outer space
The danish pousada Toby´s, was filled with people from Norway
And Camilla wanted to sing, and sings very nice
And a Danish (?) guy is playing the guitar
And Toby likes the music
Most people come from Norway
A very nice pizzeria, with pictures from Dahli (and others)
Toby´s from below
The native Canoa
Camilla and my wife
Night two, meat at Toby´s
Music again
And food
More to come ...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)