Chilean Cardinal: Pinochet good, Madonna bad

Hmm, let me get this straight. According to the Associated Press, a prominent retired cardinal in Chile paused a tribute to the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, in order to offer his thoughts on Madonna's first tour to the country, which started Wednesday:

"This woman comes here and in an incredibly shameless manner, she provokes a crazy enthusiasm, an enthusiasm of lust, lustful thoughts, impure thoughts," said Medina, the cardinal who was chosen to announce the election of Pope Benedict XV.

But it's OK to hold a mass in honor of a brutal dictator whose 17-year regime saw the deaths of some 3,200 people?

To make it worse, per the AP report, Medina thinks those who are seeking justice for Pinochet's human rights violations are simply seeking revenge! I know that Pinochet still divides the hearts of many Chileans (my host family included, I suspect) who sanctify him for saving the country from communism, but there's no doubt that his economic successes came hand in hand with brutal repression.

Which also seems to go hand in hand with religion--much of Pinochet's base was Chile's large conservative Catholic population. So don't expect to hear anything about Chile's human rights from the Pope. It's not like this is some rogue, washed-up old priest. As the AP said, he was the one selected to announce Benedict's election!

Luckily, when all is said and done, Chileans, albeit a tenuous majority, still favor democracy.

Madame Secretary?

Now that the election is over, we political junkies have turned to Cabinet post predictions to get our speculative fix. And the biggest names being bandied about have been in regards to the position of Secretary of State--with Gov. Bill Richardson and Sens. John Kerry and Chuck Hagel coming up the most, each having shown loyalty by either endorsing Obama early (in Richardson's and Kerry's cases) or not endorsing their party's nominee (in the case of Hagel, whose foreign policy I tend to like). But now, lo and behold, a bigger name has emerged--one Sen. Hillary Clinton, or so the reports would have us believe:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is among the candidates that President-elect Barack Obama is considering for secretary of state, according to two Democratic officials in close contact with the Obama transition team.

First, I have to believe this is true. For one, the Obama team has been very particular about their leaks so far during the transition. I don't think they'd let this leak out unintentionally--especially because they wouldn't want to risk pissing off the Hillary fans once more.

Second, were this to really happen, it could be a genius move on the part of the Democrats. Let's not forget that the Secretary of State position--not Vice President--used to be the stepping stone for the presidency back in the day (ok, this may have been way back in the day, but still) Those Clinton supporters still seething that Hillary was left off the ticket (if there are any, let's not forget Obama did pretty well last week) should be soothed. This would be a much better gig for Hillary than the Supreme Court (that would not be a pretty nomination fight, even if the Dems have a comfortable lead in the Senate) and we all know she really wants to be president anyway. So now, she can have a high profile gig at state for four or eight years and then run as the successor to Obama (Biden, like Cheney in 08, will not be a viable candidate in 2016. Or, another option--and one I suspected before this SoS rumor popped up--would be to sub in Hillary as veep in 2012. Biden's experience would no longer be necessary, and it would be another way to set up Hillary as successor. A lot could happen between now and then, but I wouldn't put it past Clinton and Obama to have this planned out...

For more, as always, Marc Ambinder has the details.

Back

Well, I'm back from Europe and while I never got around to blogging across the Atlantic (was on the go too much, and didn't bring my laptop) I hope to start writing more here soon. I've got the writing itch, and have some time to kill before heading off for Costa Rica in January. And, of course, I'll be blogging to keep you posted on my exploits and explorations during my four months down there.

GOP's last action hero?

With all the talk about who will rise up to lead the Republican Party out of the desert, there's been one large figure conspicuously absent. Yes, he's constitutionally forbidden to run for president (that can be changed) and yes, he was on CNN last night talking about how he never envisioned himself as a party leader. But I'm somewhat surprised that I haven't heard Arnold Schwarzenegger's name bandied about at all as a potential GOP standard bearer.

The biggest reason, I think, is that the GOP's coalition of Wal Mart social conservatives and country club fiscal conservatives fell apart this election. And, with the economy in the tank for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't come back together again any time soon. Sarah Palin could represent the Wal Mart Republicans, and, should the economy continue to slide, could make a move if consensus grows for more economic populism. Someone like Mitt Romney, on the other hand (while still claiming the mantle of social conservatism) would have a tough time with his background as a strict, although competent, capitalist.

So where does that leave Arnold, and other moderates like McCain (well, he used to be moderate) and former Republican Michael Bloomberg? It depends how much a leftward swing the country has really taken. In states like California and New York, moderates like Arnold and Bloomberg were the only non-Democrats that stood a chance. But nationally, the country is still much more conservative. There's a tough choice facing Obama and the Democrats: should they try to co-opt moderates like Schwarzenegger and bring them into the fold? Or should they empower them as a palatable opposition, a much better choice to a radical conservative foe?

If the Republicans are smart, they'd recognize the country's centrist turn and look to someone like Schwarzenegger to sell the GOP brand. I'd much rather see a push for a constitutional amendment to allow a foreign-born citizen to run for president, instead of something divisive like banning gay marriage or abortion. After all, how could Democrats, with their president with the foreign-sounding name, say no? Then again, I wouldn't hold my breath for Republicans to do the smart thing.

Del the not so Funky Homosapien

Speaking of One Big Trip, I was just listening to Hiero's Hydra from the One Big Trip soundtrack. Del's verse is classic, where he rhymes about blowing up ducks, and rummaging through trash cans.

Which got me wondering: What happened to the good ol' fun loving Del? At Hiero's show last Thursday at the Fillmore, Del showed up on stage about three minutes after the rest of the crew made their appearance. It would have been better had he not showed up at all. He only did about two or three of his verses, preferring to "freestyle"--and I apply the term very liberally here--or worse, lecture the audience about their loyalty. Or maybe it was the state of the industry. I'm not very sure. It sure didn't make sense.

But it looked bad. Ranting as the rest of the crew left stage, A-Plus had to come back and pull him away. The rest of Hiero looked embarrassed, really. I guess he's mad that his album, which took years to finally come out, isn't performing well. But that's because it's, well, simply not that great. I'm listening to "Same Old Thing" right now, and Del, you forgot what you were all about back in 1991 (which people be having memory loss now?). Maybe I'm overly nostalgic for a hip-hop era long gone, but Del's newest record just wasn't that fun.

And Del, you can't have Funky without fun. Maybe there is truly No Need For Alarm. There are rumors of a Del-Doom collaboration out there, and maybe even another Deltron (3031, anyone?). But after last week's antics, and the amount of time it took for the 11th Hour to come out (maybe 13th Hour would have been more appropriate?), I'm pessimistic.

Back

I've decided to resurrect this blog, as we're only weeks away from another big trip (to Europe, I'll be posting more about that soon). I also got the blogging itch again, just a couple weeks after finishing my stint at Foreign Policy. Hopefully I'll get this back up and running with at least one post a day. And hopefully someone out there will be reading. Onward.

We're Famous Now?

Apparently a Chilean blogger who keeps a page dedicated to the cafe we visited in Omue has postedpictures from the night we were there

You may remember my brief post on Olmue, a sleepy town that served as our launching pad for the La Campana hike. I talked mostly about being tired after the hike and frustrated about the lack of busses, but we actually had a pretty interesting experience the night before, too.

Our hostel owner recommended the cafe for dinner, and it turned out to be the only place open in the town that night anyway. When we got in there, they had a TV blaring American songs and music videos from the 90s. It was a blast of welcome nostalgia, as we ended up singing along for most of the dinner. Sad to say, we were slightly disappointed when they turned off the TV and a live Chilean began a set. So much for enjoying the local culture.

In any case, at some point or another this guy starts randomly taking pictures of us. At the time, we assumed it was because Kelsey was a blonde (who are few and far between in Chile). Turns out, he just wanted pictures for his blog! Who woulda' thunk?

If you read the captions and the blurb underneath the photos, somehow they got the (mis) information that we were all from Boston, and were visiting Olmue prior to beginning our studies at the Catholic University in Valparaiso. Not sure where that came from.

Oh, Chile. I'll miss you.