Tiririca

BRAZILIAN CLOWN’S POLL WIN THREATENED BY ILLITERACY CLAIMtir01

Associated Press (October 2006)

By subjecting Francisco Oliveira to a literacy exam, Brazil’s National Congress only enriched the metaphor. Then, instead of a clown in congress, they had a semiliterate clown in congress[1]. For a medley of ads from Oliveira’s electoral campaign, go to:

watch?v=HK4p35wYgXI

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The Scandinavian Wit

KILLING HOPEkill

Blum, William (Common Courage Press, updated edition October 2008, ISBN 978-1567512526)

In 2009, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” [1]

Many thought the prize undeserved – on the grounds that Obama appeared too much the enemy of peace. Had he won it, they asked, for prosecuting a war in Afghanistan? Or instead for his proposal to expand the United States military? Or for his plan to send “at least” two additional American combat brigades to Afghanistan? Continue reading

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      SNOW Orhan Pamuk (trans. Maureen Freely) Faber and Faber (2004) ISBN 978-0-571-25823-9 Of Orhan Pamuk’s many gifts as a Nobel-awarded writer, one of the most fascinating is his ability to blur the lines between real life and fiction.  Though the people he creates in his novels can speak and behave … Continue reading