Desideria has left 8370 comments

Desideria (Moderator) comments on An Announcement: I'm Taking A Break

BMP

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Mr Chvez and Mr Evo politics and the good Democracy

Sorry I have to make this public. Jack_jason is not taking my messages and is blocking me. Would somebody who is his friend please convey him the message I've left on his profile?

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

No, they didn't. But since we're speculating the use those few dollars were put to....perhaps they should have earmarked them for humanitarian purposes. Would the FARC have respected their requested destination for the money?....Nah.....

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

I prefer to think that they bought food to keep the hostages alive with the money. Or medicines for leischmaniasis...or paludismo.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on

Perhaps it should be just unattractive women who were allowed to post their pics. As for not to ruin your day. But I must confess I was a little surprised to see a female lawyer pose in a bathing suit and advertizing her professional services. Reminded me of the Russian nuclear physisists posing in a bikini in buy-a-wife catalogues.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Chocó 7 dias...The Director of Fiduagraria in Cahoots with the Paras and African Palm Growers

bump

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Perception of the white-looking foreign female or "gringa" en Colombia

:) I was ALWAYS escorted to the front seats in Cali. When flying I was escorted to the co-pilot seat so i could appreciate the beauty of the Colombian Andes. They really spoiled me rotten there.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

I, unlike some other people here, always show my true colours. I wasn't really defending these kids at all, just pointing out that the incidence is basically of no consecuence, except for themselves who got some jail time. It was blown out of proportion by media, the kids still don't believe the FARCS are terrorists but see them as freedom fighters, but justice has been done and everybody happy. So what have they accomplished? What was it...2000 dollars to the FARC? Convince people that the FARCS are fighting a legitimate war against a corrupt government? I seriously doubt anybody out here has changed their minds about the FARC or the Colombian government for that matter. Few people pay attention at an obscure low-intensity armed conflict ina far-away Third World country. FARC is not really a household word in Scandinavian countries, we're more familiar with problems closer home. No, I don't think there is any hope for me, but then again, I don't believe theres any hope for you either.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on why'd you come to colombia???

Ohhh no I understand these feelings Kat1 is having for a certain French poster....

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Colombia will launch sattelites

I certainly agree with the last two paragraphs of your comment, Rowdy Yates.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Perception of the white-looking foreign female or "gringa" en Colombia

Yes, all the young females of my family that have been in Colombia have received plenty of attention and with the exception of my daughter who is definitely a pretty girl, all of them have been rather average-looking. White complexion, blond hair, blue/green/grey eyes and especially freckles attract the eye of a Colombian male. And not just guys, my female relatives have been approached by sales clerks, stopped at the street by curious old ladies, just about anybody to ask where they are from and to say nice things about their looks. It's extremely good for a girl's ego to take a trip to Colombia.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Perception of the white-looking foreign female or "gringa" en Colombia

Depends...if you're young or old. If you're young (I assume you are) the guys will be paying a LOT of attention at you, you'll have to fight them off. The women will usually be friendly and curious, but only if you don't attract the attention of anybody they like; then they turn catty and malicious. If you're traveling alone in the back of the bus in rural Cauca people will think that you're looking for trouble, to get yourself invited to a jungle safari for no less than 5 years. Some people will be thinking "y esa gringa...que se le habrá perdido aquí...." but fortunately they are not so many. If you're past 35 they'll start figuring out how to make you pay for breathing their air.... or perhaps you could be useful as friend. Whichever way, after a month you'd probably learned a lot about Colombia; been invited to bed 158 times, proposed to marry by 23 men (some of them already married), asked help to live in your country 48 times... ah, what do I know, I'm out of touch. Cheers, Desi "white female woman, been young and gringa and alone in Colombia"

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Colombian music

Otro bonito tema de Andrés Cepeda, parece que está filmado en la Guajira.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

"The last thing Colombia needs right now is a bunch of meddling from socialist Euro trash" La_Huella I thought the last thing Colombia needed was arrogant, meddling Canadian musicians.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Do-It-Yourself: Short Film

A long version was filmed sometime in late sixties I think by Costa-Gavras :"State of Siege". My world-view was profoundly changed by it.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Colombia will launch sattelites

My first thought was something in the line of....from semisubs to satellites...one little step in technology a huge leap for the mankind....

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Colombian music

I love Carlos Vives...Tierra del Olvido is one of the loveliest videos I've seen done on Colombianmusic....but you kind of ruin it with your "dedication".

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Novita in the Choco region

I was done first...but I just had to come back and ask you Philly WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??? (respect) When you walk by? Am I supposed to drop a curtsy or what? Respect goes both ways. I have NEVER talked in a condescending way about the black people of Colombia.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Colombian music

"where they mixes Colombian rhythm with electronica, jazz..." There's Marta Gómez. and Andrés Cepeda

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Novita in the Choco region

Stop quoting old Bob to me. I familiar with his production and line of thinking; after reading the autobiography I came to realize that there was almost no true conviction of anything there except of how to make money and NOT be responsible for the things people believed he stood for. I still listen to him, though, just because the songs are good. I'm not even talking about racism; that would be another discussion and another thread. About offensive (borderline): I find your position borderline offensive in its arrogance and condescension. (And it's not 12 years of exposure of the Americas; it's17 years altogether if you count my time in USA; just makes me dumber for not having grasped it after all that time) I'm talking about the evolution of the society on Colombia: they do not need to borrow trouble as it is rather complicated right now. Don't kid yourself: the blacks of Colombia know the shape and size of the beast they have to fight against and Malcolm X posters on the campus are going to make any difference. (Back in the seventies there were a bunch a gringos who went to the Amazonia representing something called Insituto Linguistico de Verano; in fact they were evangelizing native tribes because they felt they had so much to teach these poor savages. I laughed when they got their asses kicked out. I just don't like that blatant cultural interference some activists from USA and Europe feel that they are obligated to conduct in third world countries. And no, the US and Colombia have NEVER had similar economicsal and cultural developments.And yes, the PREMISES were the same but how it then took off and developed was a totally different story. A drop of African blood in a mestizo does not make him or her black in Colombia...that's why the percentage of African descendents in Colombia is reported so low in the statistics. It's just because the society as a whole are not as gung-ho about races at all. But no, you're right. This exchange is not going to conduct to any understanding from either side.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Novita in the Choco region

Philly, that thread is about if it's ok or not to use "those words" in ads. As far as I have understood the n-word is ok when used by a black person excuse me African-something but not by others. Is it ok to say that I 'm proud white person who does not really give damn about the colour of anybody's face? I'm well aware that there are Colombian blacks, especially in the younger generation, the Uni crowd etc. that have taken up the Gringo terminology "African-Colombian" and the word has been used more often in the Press, but in Colombia it's still mainly NEGRO, like it or not. I don't find it derogatory at all. I don't find "white" derogatory either, or "pink" or "yellow". It's a liittle bit like the word "gringo", To your face you're called "estadounidense", that's the PC term. Behind your back you're called gringo, but more often than not without heat, without malice, just as shorthand for "estadounidense". "African_Colombian" sounds borrowed, like a fad, not really Colombian, but to your face yes, that's what you want to hear. Perhaps in 50 years or so, it'll be the most common term, to describe people of African descendence, but it's not it yet.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on uribe at the white house......while we speak

" I'd count the silverware after he's gone." That was cold, Tinto.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Pastuso accent online

MaFe, he knows what he's doing. But you're right....I speak four languages, all of them with an accent, including my own. Feliz Dia de La Amistad, Cheers, desi

Desideria (Moderator) comments on I don't receive Personal Messages. Por que?

Ok, I'll send you a message asap.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Pastuso accent online

I just LOVE those changes of pitch and intonation....like when the guy in the clip is asking about the price for pasado judicial. Do her sons really talk like that?

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Pastuso accent online

GS, I think the pastuso accent is delightful!

Desideria (Moderator) comments on National Hispanic Heritage Month???

Yes, I saw that too, but the Mexican flag is totally redundant. Unless you refer to the Mexican heritage in a historical sense, not language-wise.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on National Hispanic Heritage Month???

DON'T get him started now....him or Monpirri. But I do find it prettyignorant to put up a Mexican flag on Spanish language slot. And it's all about EDUCATION! No wonder the country scores so low on international education surveys.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Pastuso accent online

MaFe, they have different accents in every country and in every language. The Swedish has at least a dozen recognized regional dialects with skånska (sounds like Danish) would be our "pastuso". No, MaFe, I was not being harsh with Monpirri. His comment was intended to imply that I was making fun of pastuso accent and lately it looks like a witch hunt he has been conducting on me; he finds something wrong with everything I say. I know Monpirri quite well, we're old friends, I can "read" him.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Pastuso accent online

Monpirri, did you read the OP? This is about Pasto and Pastuso accent. Not about me and the way people speak in my country.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

No, the truth sets you free. It's LIBEL that hurts. I travel to Colombia, I have a home there, I have family and friends there. I'm not exactly secretive about my identity. I cannot be falsely accused of being a guerrilla supporter, first of all because it's NOT TRUE and secondly because bad labels tend to stick, so I'm stopping it RIGHT HERE.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

"I`d like to know if those "kids" would be selling the same T-shirts, had FARC detonated bombs around their corners..." (jorgediaz) Probably not. Juli, what does the Danish kids selling t-shirts have to with being or not "in touch" with Colombia? No, I'm not looking out of a window in a Medellín high-rise, but I may have a wider experience over a much longer span of time on Colombia as a whole than you yourself. Perhaps the distance I'm keeping right now does not make me as nearsighted. But whatever, you're entitled to your own opinion.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Pastuso accent online

This clip is not good quality but the talk is 100% "Past Tense!" (Pastuso accent)

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Pastuso accent online

A little Pastuso music to brighten up this Saturday morning....

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

Billyb, that would have been an excellent punishment for them. A true learning experience.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

I've got no idea, perhaps you're right. I still see them as misguided, idealistic youngsters, possibly with wealthy parents and never had to struggle for living. They're no hard-core criminals, no bloodthirsty terrorists.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on I don't receive Personal Messages. Por que?

I've sent you a pm if you get it respond.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

"It's just that I see these kids around, just bored, looking for "noble causes" to do something with their little lives." I've got a "noble cause" for them, get a FOKIN job. (Billy) I wish it could be that simple. We have lots and lots of young people who spend their days playing video/pc games, There aren't enough jobs and with the automatization and computarization of everything the jobs are less and less every day. Too much free time is not good. PBHjon, I believe you're basically very, very mistaken. There's nothing wrong with these kids' ability to think. There's a reason for FARC, for Sendero and the rest of them, they don't exist in a vaccuum. It's just not YOUR reason. (NOT mine either, but the reason exists).

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Where have all these intelligent PBHers gone?

Pow wow is not his original handle.I can't even remember what it was. He's been Londonmale, Male Orange, American, Pow wow, Pow wow1, 2 3 4,5 and now he's simon. We keep him around for a while until we get too many complaints and he gets too obnoxious and then it's time for him to take a break. He doesn¨t bother me.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

The Sendero is finished and the idealistic Peruvian youths will have to look for something else for inspiration. I believe those misguided youths in Denmark are only dangerous to themselves.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Novita in the Choco region

Yes, I know it's the word the Portuguese used and it's the same word in Spanish which is just descriptive. The descriptive tradition was carried on a long time in the official apparatus like the governación that issued passports. The clerk would just look at the person and write down what he/she saw. Thus, my blonde, blue-eyed, Scandinavian white babies were classified as "trigueño" in their passports....I guess they were a little tanned because we had a swimming pool at home. That's fine, I have no problem with things like that. I was described as "blanca rosada" in my Colombian cedula de extranjería...I thought it was funny...I tend to get flushed when I have do business with obnoxious bureaucrats. The point I'm trying to make is that "negro" is just descriptive in Spanish, it's not loaded with a lot of hidden meanings.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

Step down from your high horse, I'm not defending anybody. It's just that I see these kids around, just bored, looking for "noble causes" to do something with their little lives. These are the same kind of kids as the Dutch girl who joined the Farcs because she believed they were fightig for social justice and equality and peace and all in Colombia. They don't know what's going down in Colombia and they are going to jail for it. Their crime is of minor importance and can be chalked off as juvenile prank, a uni thingie. Their lives won't be ruined for that. They got their punishment because it was technically a crime, since the EU had listed the FARC as a terrorist organisation. There are lots of people here, however, who even if they don't approve the methods the FARCS are using think that there's a lot of room for improvement in Colombia.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Where have all these intelligent PBHers gone?

Quit it pow wow you're killing me!

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Jail for Danish 'terror T-shirts'

These are just a bunch of kids....the incident is blown totally out of proportion. The few dollars they have been able to make is less than a drop in the ocean compared with the money the FARCs are making with their drug trafficking. It makes absolutely no difference to anybody. A bunch of idealistic, misinformed kids...we do have those in every country. Until they grow up and turn to something more damaging for the society...like corporate bosses.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Novita in the Choco region

It's jungle-law capitalism: the person hiring a new employee has got instructions from the management to select people who are "representative" (meaning right age, looks and manners) of the image the company wishes to portray or to which social groups it caters. There may or may not be a racist element in it ( too often there is, but not necessarily; discrimination by age, sex or social class is just as grievous to me) Oh, I'm sure I have already told this, but I must've been in my senior yearin high school when I forst saw a live black person...I think he was part of a traveling troupee of artists or performers or part of a traveling circus. I had seen black people on TV before, of course, but never live. Thus, no prejudice.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Novita in the Choco region

To me that is NOT racism. That's classism, elitism, market economy, unbridled jungle-law capitalism mixed with ignorance and corruption. Race is just one more ingredient in the big picture. My apologies to the OP too. I find these issues quite interesting and get carried away easily.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Satan causing youth suicides in eastern Colombia

Albatross did you edit your comment? I swear I read something very funny you wrote earlier today but can't find it any longer....(it was funny and outrageous, one-liner and I thought...this is vintage PBH, but I had no time to comment onit)

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Novita in the Choco region

I'm talking about my home country, Finland. No, we received nothing, we had to pay war debt instead, for being attacked and having to defend ourselves against YOUR ally, the Russkies. (Finland was THE ONLY COUNTRY that paid in FULL it's war debts to the allies) Here's a little list of what our non-existent industry had to accomplish to send to the Mighty Bear across the border in a short time: Here is a partial list of manufactured goods (US$300,000,000 - actual value was close to US$570,000,0000 - discrepancy due to pricing basis used) sent to the Soviet Union: ITEM Narrow gauge locomotives by Tampella and Locomo 300 ton schooners with 225 hp diesels by Valmet - 800 hp deep sea trollers - 3200 ton freighters - 2000 ton steel barges or tankers - 1000 ton barges - 150 hp river tug boats - Tampella TS 7 metal lathes - Paper machinery - Cardboard machines - Miscellaneous industrial electric motors - Modular houses (USD) - Lumber handling vehicles - Wire Cable (Tons) - Miscellaneous e.g.. Cranes by Kone oy The rich and beautiful province of Karelia The Karelian Culture QUANTITY 589 91 10 9 25 200 50 220 4 5 27 431 7 000 000 200 21 087 That's just an example how people or nations that start at a very disadvantaged position can pull themselves out of poverty. By not looking back. Thanks to that post-war effort, our industry was invigorated and the benefits were soon to be noticed. I've had a lot of exposure to Colombia and I'm not young any longer; it's a lifetime of exposure with 12 years of continuous residence in Cali plus a dozen shorter stays from 2 weeks to four months, I still have a home in Cali. In the New World two parallell cultures developed, starting att the same time (even though Spaniards were there first), both originated in Europe but in two nations that had little in common except their ambition and dreams of power and riches. (I have read Latin American history at a college in USA too and really, there is no better textbook on Latin American history than Galeanos "The Open Veins of Latin America", it should be REQUIRED READING for anybody who wanted to live in Latin America). I KNOW about the slave trade, everybody does. I also know that Africans were fighting each others all the time at that time (and ever after that) and selling their prisoners to slavery either to other tribes or to Arabs (their part in the slave trade can never be ignored). That Europeans discovered the already existing slave trade and profited from it was not something inherently evil; at that point of history it was the norm. (Like in biblical times slavery was a norm too, that's why there's no prohibition against slavery in the Bible, just rules about how to handle different situations regarding slaves). I'm pretty sure there are already existing laws in Colombia that prohibit racial discrimination, but ....this is Colombia where few laws are strictly enforced, and those of employment are the hardest ones with the rate of unemployment and under-employment that rule the offer and the demand. Thus, you don't get a job if you're over 35, ugly, fat, black, indio, don't have a primo or a cousin in a high position, female, male, short, tall, live in a wrong barrio, didn't go to right school, don't know right people. There are a LOT of problems in Colombia and social injustice is perhaps one of the very root problems, but racism is NOT one of them.

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Feria de Cali & Feria de Manizales

I think the program might be from 2007. I don't think the program for 2008 is out yet. You get a picture anyway what happens in Cali during your typical feria. There may not be a horse parade "silllycones on horseback" this year, though, there has been too much drunken animal abuse generating aversion and protests. Check with http://www.caliescali.com/html/sitio/index.php when the pages stops blinking and flashing there's usually some good info there about the "rumba" in Cali

Desideria (Moderator) comments on Where have all these intelligent PBHers gone?

I think he might be show up....