N°84 speaks...(with PODCASTS!)

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)

My tiquecito says,

Nro. T. 00000084
Fecha 30/05/08 Hora 10:11:24

...probably somewhat of a collectible, along with my complimentary laminated bill of fare autographed by one of the honcho types that were standing around in a huddle near our table.

The boss types were in a good mood; crispy "coffee weather" had descended on the city about a day ago and some people were saying that the temp had actually hit 0° this morning! The suits were smackin' their chops over what would have been a lovely spring day in Chicago but was actually about the coldest day we will see all year! Gods being Gods, however, the corporate ones from Seattle got the sun turned up to 11. You couldn't have asked for a better opening day.

When I got there at 10am, Longhorn Dave was just sitting down with a big paper cup with the logo of with The Lady of the Lost Nipples. Brave Dave had been out late with a bunch of us the night before drinking liberally and we were both in the mood for some coffee while we awaited the arrival of photographer Cate who had also closed the joint with us last night.

I thought that the line was enormous (little did I know) and I needed caffeine so bad that I couldn't face the wait. I sat down next to Dave actually hoping that someone, anyone would just BRING ME SOME COFFEE. At the moment, I hadn't realized how porteño that was! I was simply in no mood to stand in line for anything. Then lo and beehold, a lovely woman came through with a tray of teensy paper cups of drip coffee! Ain't God good to the Yanq! It was tiny but caffeine based and hot. Just that little bit made my brain start to purr like my ol' Cadillac 501 after a long St. Paul warm-up.

The men in black were consulted by Dave (no doubt inspired by the sheer, quiet joy of my encounter with the lady with the tray ...and the blood now rushing from my eyeballs back to my cheeks) about the local predilection toward having coffee brought to you by bow-tied mozos with towel and tray. We were informed that there would be no bending of the "model" in Argentina; folks would either line-up or they wouldn't git any.

Feeling better, I looked at my watch and saw that it was exactly 10am... there was yet no Cate ...and I decided that I had the requisite blood pressure to brave the line. I entered the building.

Not really. The line extended a bit outside the door of what looked to be a dauntingly cavernous Starbucks jammed with humanity (actually, I think it's the old Häagen-Dazs next to the T.G.I. Friday's and not too terribly big.) I stood behind a group of 3 or 4 local high school girls who had had the "experience" abroad but were here for the opening day taste. I asked them if it was worth standing in such a line for coffee. They shrugged ...but after taking another look at the line, they appeared to wonder for a moment if this was really a well expended effort. But only for a moment ...the resemblance to a rock concert swelled over them again and they slipped back into the festival groove.

Along side of me, a middle aged man poked his head into the building to take a reading on how long this cola actually was. He blinked his eyes a bit, shook his head, then split... probably for more familiar territory. Dave had told me that it had taken him half an hour to get his jolt.

Behind me were two local graduate students that has also done the Starbucks thang overseas and seemed to be very quietly, seriously pleased to be taking their place deep into this first-world happening.

The green-aproned minions came out about then and started to pre-take our orders, leaving us with little brown tickets entitled "Quiero" with a description of our particular sought concoction. I decided to go with an old favorite that was very SB but had no resemblance to anything available here in this fine coffee town: a 4 shot grande vanilla latte: 16 ounces of steamed whole milk with 4 (instead of the usual 1) shots of espresso and some vanilla syrup. The order-taker nodded in approval at the unusual request and told me that he was going to try it himself sometime.

As I reached the counter to surrender my little order ticket, Dave sidled up to me and asked me to order a regular latte for him, as well. At that point all hell began to break loose.

Everyone was tremendously polite and showed quite a bit of grace under pressure ...however, the old saw of "no battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy" started to achieve new currency. My little ticket was clearly written but just too weird to be executed correctly. The fact that I wanted to order an extra drink for Dave compounded the confusion. I moved to the end of the bar and waited in the classic position for my beverage.

I got a 4 shot latte with no vanilla ...oh, well ...but nothing for Dave who had duly laid some efectivo on me in plenty of time to conduct the transaction and was no doubt waiting for his fix. After an decent interval, I intoned "falta un latte" along with showing my reciept. You could see the cascade over what must have been 7 people trying to keep up.

Suddenly, a 3 shot vanilla latte appeared with the name "MIKE" written on the cup. That was OK, Dave could have the 4 shot plain and I would be happy with the 3 shot vanilla.

I was told that I couldn't have the 3 shot vanilla. Mine was coming.

Looking around for anyone named Mike that wanted a 3 shot vanilla ...I noticed nobody came forward.

Suddenly, a 1 shot vanilla was produced with my name and was handed to me.

That was all cool, but the closest thing that I wanted was sitting up on the tarmack ready for take-off and I had been told it wasn't mine. Screw it. I took it anyway.

Man! The barristas were really paying attention to the thermometers during the chaos, I suddenly noticed that I was navigating through the quilombo with 3 pints of the hottest coffee beverage in town. As I hit a major paro near the door which reduced me to hollering "¡CALIENTE!" in order to get a bunch of people that had resigned themselves to a half-hour of limbo to suddenly wake up and make a hole for me.

My fingers about to abandon ship at any second, I reached the table and landed all 3 safely. Caitlin walked up 2 seconds later and that third hot latte was stuffed into her mitt along with all the usual hearty greetings. I looked at my watch; it only took 20 minutes!

Ahh... The 3 of us settled into our seats in the tremendous sunshine and started to slurp. Cate was already digging through a trove of mysterious lenses for her camera. Dave was briefing her on the goings-on. And I settled down into the clickety-clack of the newly laid Seattle-Buenos Aires Caffeine Railway.

A strange and familiar sense of well-being seemed to sweep over me as the calming effects of hot espresso and milk and vanilla on a spectacular day in this spectacular town began to course through my veins. I admitted my, at least former, addiction to Dave.

All through this experience, we were regularly serenaded by a 4 man doo-wop band of African Americans that Dave kept suggesting should make me feel like I was right back in Chicago. I wasn't ready to go that far but I did have to concede that they did not look like South Americans. Their appearance was very del norte and the beard, knitcap, and old army field jacket of one of the singers really did give some snow-belt cred ...at least to a Texan. In fact, had they been warming their hands over the warmth of a 55 gallon barrel it would have lended the touch they needed. They sound much better on playback (mp3). As the tones of "Blue Moon" drifted through the ever extending crowd, I decided to peruse Mr. Schultz's menu with an eye toward prices.

With the dollar weakening a bit today, the prices on Starbucks Staples are as follows:
Our grande lattes: $11.25 x $0.32 = $3.63
An extra shot: $2.00 x $0.32 = $0.65
Some vanilla syrup $1.25 x $0.32 = $0.40
Some whipped cream $1.50 x $0.32 =$0.48
Drip coffee of the day $6.50 x $0.32 =$2.10
Un cafecito $5.50 x $0.32 = $1.78
Una medialuna $2.00 x $0.32 = $0.65
A brownie $9.00 x $0.32 = $2.90
A frappuccino $10.75 x $0.32 = $3.47
Top-priced drinks $16.00 x $0.32 = $5.16

To me, those are pretty much US prices (mp.3) even though the company's costs must be much lower here (...my call to my brother in Indianapolis to verify local prices has not yet been returned.)

Porteños, being great travelers, tended to agree (mp.3) that the cost seemed to be familiar in the OTHER currency.

As we sat watching the line grow longer and longer, Dave and I remarked as to how young the crowd was. I saw maybe one couple over 40 in the whole building. There was no one that old in the line.

We said our goodbyes a bit before noon, each of us having something to attend to. I had to admit to a queasy feeling. I probably hadn't had a grande latte in something like 5 years. That giant hot milk with sugary syrup went down good but didn't sit very well. Everybody's wondering about how the new resident of Häagen-Dazs will fare here.

THUMP 'EM!

One of our favorite blogs here, The Argentine Post, has a link to "a fun little video game" in which you can kick all the Niggers out of Harlem! No, wait a minute, um ...I think it's drive all the Indians out of Patagonia! Or... well, I haven't played it but I'm sure it's all in good fun!

Chillin' down on the Farm

On a lighter note, I had to do some shopping today.

The old homestead needs a new stove. The old, cast iron, cocina economica had finally burned through. It takes a lot of burning to burn through cast iron ...but sure enough, the old baby was not going to serve another winter. As it is quite a bit colder in the campo than here in Retiro, I needed to get on it right away... the kitchen is the only heated room in the entire house! And guess what is the source of that only source of heat!

It made me kinda sad, tho. The old stove was alread firmly ensconced in the place when el Abuelo, Don Aurelio (Yep, they really called him "Don") extended his holdings by buying our particular spread back in 1922. The house, already considered something of a relic, came with the land and no one in the family ever lived there; it was used as a summer place sometimes.

But no one is very sure of how old the joint is ...and therefore no one knows how old is the stove.

That neck of the woods (hee hee, there were no woods on the pampas) was uninhabitable if your skin was white until about 1840. The Río Salado was the DMZ between whites in the north and Indians in the south. Our place is firmly south of the river. You can also see traces near the existing house where a previous one had its foundation.

That's actually the technical definition of "pioneer" as opposed to the definition of "settler": settlers get houses that stand for years; pioneers get traces of foundation after a Querandí bon voyage party.

So the house was built sometime after the Indian Wars of 1840 and legend has it that it was built during the time of Rosas (deposed 1852.)

The stove might have been installed when the house was new.

So the idea of replacing that great old woodburner with some ugly modern monstrosity was bummin' me out.
Ah, Argentina! Ah, the internet. Lo and behold, the Instilart factory of Tres Arroyos is still in bidness and take a gander at "Cocina N°2". Down to the last detail, it's the same stove.

"Prestigio, Tradición, y Calidad desde 1898"

So another clue as to the age of the ol' casco ...and definitely a clue as to how old is the stove. Some fun archeology for me and I didn't even have to leave my keyboard.

¡Chau, Chicago!

"American Airlines said Tuesday that it will discontinue its Chicago-Buenos Aires service Sept. 3 and its Chicago-Honolulu service Jan. 5, 2009, as part of a first round of flight schedule reductions in the wake of skyrocketing fuel costs."

Memorial Day

It used to be called Decoration Day, a day to decorate the graves of soldiers who died for The North (Yankees) during the US Civil War. After WWI, it became a day of remembrance for any US soldier, sailor, marine or airman who died during any war.

One of the things that anyone who wants to understand the United States of America needs to know ...is how the US Civil War distorted our political development.

Everywhere else on earth, other than the US, people tended to group together according to their shared interests ...then they would act politically to make sure that those interests got represented in their governments. Not so in the US.

Anywhere else on earth, if you were a person of property ...you grouped together with other persons of property and made sure that your government represented you well. The same with industrialists (people of not much property but with techno-knowledge that could bring much to their nations.) The same with workers (people with no property and not much chance to acquire it but who brought strong backs to do a job and could insist on a fair wage and fair treatment.)

Not so in the US.

After our civil war, we split along Union and Confederate lines, North and South ...and that split survives to an amazing extent even to this day ...and is one of the reasons that we yanquis are "different" from others.

Whenever planters in the North and South would begin to find common interest, whenever industrialists in both the North and South would begin to develop an agenda that would further their common goals, whenever wage-earning workers on one part of the Mason-Dixon line would begin to dialogue with their counterparts on the other side about how they could unite in common cause...

...something would always happen in US politics

...they would "wave the bloody shirt."

When the natural progression of people with interests that spread across North and South lines would begin to develop, a Northern politician would pick up a stick and place the bloodied shirt of a dead Union veteran on it and wave it to the crowd and say something along the lines of, "Are you going to dishonor the sacrifice of this brave Yankee soldier by making filthy commerce with those who put him in his grave?!?"

Southern politicians were just as skilled at the game. Instead of a blue shirt, a gray one was waved to incite the crowd "to vote the way you shot!"

Industry remained divided. However, commercial interests could (and can still!) be conducted without drawing too much attention to themselves. Still, the South remained largely outside the economic development experienced by the post-civil war North until more than a century later.

The common interests of workers became perverted. Labor organization, largely centered in the industrial North, was thwarted in the South, and later, even in the West.

Men and, later, women throughout the US, institutionalized the practice of voting against their interests ...no matter how essential they were to their prosperity and even their survival. It cut across class lines and still to this day affects the way we behave with each other.

Even the internal progress of the 20th century was an accident of "centrist" Republicans and "Dixiecrat" Democrats that gave the illusion of a broad center of political consensus. Ultimately, we could not reach across the divide caused by our civil war.

Eventually, the lines blurred so much that there became little economic difference between Birmingham and Indianapolis, Atlanta and Chicago, New Orleans and Detroit.

But the grand US tradition of siding along artificial political lines, instead of the sort of lines that unite groups everywhere else in the world, still exists to a great degree ...and knowing that is essential to anyone's understanding of why the US does not behave politically like Latin America or Europe or anywhere else in the world.

La INDEC yanqui!

I always tell Argentines about this ...but I always have the feeling that they don't believe me. From Bill Bonner:

Last month, the price of gasoline went down 2%, says the Labor Department.

Wait a minute. Do you remember gasoline prices going down in April? We don’t. As we recall, oil prices were soaring…and so was the price of gasoline. We’re beginning to sniff something funny in the air…a rat.

It was largely thanks to this reported drop in prices at the pump that the Consumer Price Index registered a scant 0.2% increase for the month of April. And it was largely because of this low inflation reading that the yield on the 10-year note stayed below 4%, says Gary Dorsch.

¿What is 25 de Mayo?

The Revolution of May of 1810 (with wikipedia to keep me honest.)

It happened in Buenos Aires.

It wasn't a revolution in the way you might think of the French Revolution or the American Revolution or the Mexican Revolution with all the violence those embraced ...but it was a revolution all the same. Like Cinco de Mayo, it marked the end of an American nation taking orders from a colonial power.

In the case of 25 de Mayo, it was mostly the ruling class and the commercial class of Buenos Aires that chose to no longer take orders from the Spanish Crown.

That wasn't too tough to do. The Spanish Crown had been deposed by Napoleon who installed his brother, Joe, as the new King of Spain. The king's guy in The Río de la Plata, The Viceroy, no longer had the force of his boss to justify his rule here.

The Viceroy tried to keep the news of King's fall a secret but with the arrival of a British (here they come again...) warship on the 13th of May in Montevideo harbor the word was out that something big had happened to His Majesty. So the Viceroy made up a bunch of shit and called for loyalty oaths to the King.

The Viceroy and his bunch were already not held in high regard by the owning class nor the working class of Buenos Aires. There had already been two British invasions of Buenos Aires within the space of one year (like it or not, as today, if you controlled Buenos Aires ...you control Argentina. In the case of 1810, you controlled Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.) They say that even housewives came out to beat British troops with whatever they could lay their hands on. How's THAT for a cacerolazo!

Not only did Buenos Aires beat back the two British invasions ...but they did it with none of the promised support of the Spanish King. So already, there was some talk about His Majesty being good for nothin' on this side of the pond.

On the 18th, Rodríguez Peña and a couple of buddies asked for permission to have what Yankees (not yanquis!) would call a town meeting (you had to ask, in those days.) The whole situation was shit for birds to the folks that had to make a living here. They decided that they were gonna call a few shots, themselves.

The Viceroy was not hip in the least to allow this open meeting. He called a bunch of the top military to his digs in The Fort (you can still see a piece of the old fort in back of the Casa Rosada.)

Cornelio Saavedra, (lots of street names in this story, eh!) chief of the Patricios Regiment (those are the guys we still see in the parks every now and then with the cool old 18th century uniforms!) was in attendance. When the Viceroy asked for his support, Saavedra replied that he should resign, as the Junta which had appointed him no longer existed.

Ya see, everybody down this way derived his authority and position from the King... 'ceptin' that there weren't exactly no King no more ...and the King never was much good for the Río de la Plata even back in the good ol' days of Empire.

Saavedra offered some kind advice, "Hey 'Roy, maybe youse oughta just pack it in and go back to Spain." Viceroy Cisneros did just that. He made it back to the Old Country and held a few big jobs like admiral ...and actually came back 10 years later to try to take back Argentina by force. That's about all that history has to say about ol' 'Roy.

On the 25th, about 500 of the top citizens in town (pretty big town, even back then!) met in the Cabildo (you know, the one they chopped off in order to make Avenida de Mayo head straight to Plaza de Mayo) and kicked 'Roy out and formed the "First Congress", better known as the "Primera Junta" (Hey! That's a subte stop!) 'Roy tried to hang in there for a few hours as the President of the Primera Junta but that went over like a lead balloon.

Napoleon didn't exactly cause the whole thing but he threw the last grenade that made it all possible. For years and years, the Spanish Crown was happy to suck the sweet, juicy center out of Latin America ...but never had any interest in infrastructure. There is an old saying that when the day came that even the slaves in the silver mines of Potosí wore loincloths of British-made cloth... the whole thing was over. (Peak Silver?)

So that's your 25 de Mayo. It was really a week or a month but the 25th was when the whole thing shook-out and a "new order of the ages" (a novus ordo seclorum, if you like) was formed here in the Americas of the South.

It's really something that every son and daughter of liberty can celebrate heartily ...not unlike Bastille Day. Hard to believe that all the bars here are closed!

It's also a cautionary tale for ALL empires.

¡Feliz 25 de Mayo!
¡Libertad, libertad, libertad!

not fun being a yanqui right now... part 3

No doubt some will find this to be good news for the US economy...

LONDON (Reuters) - Belgian brewer InBev , the world's second-biggest by volume, is working on a $46 billion bid for Anheuser Busch , a Financial Times report said, boosting the U.S. brewer's stock price.

At 10:26 a.m. EDT (1426 GMT), Anheuser Busch shares were up about 6 percent at $55.80. InBev was down 0.6 percent at 50.00 euros, having earlier fallen more than 4 percent after the report.

In the report on its Alphaville blog on the newspaper's website, the FT cited sources as saying the approach was expected to be pitched at $65 a share but while extensive work was being carried out InBev was "not about to push the button."

The report also said a financing package of $50 billion had been provisionally arranged through JPMorgan and Santander and that the bid had been discussed at an InBev board meeting on April 28 and at a meeting on Thursday.

InBev said it would not comment on the report. Anheuser-Busch was not immediately available but has a policy of not declining market rumors.

A JPMorgan spokeswoman declined to comment.

There have been recurrent rumors over a possible bid from InBev for its U.S. rival.

"Anheuser-Busch shares and options have been active throughout the week due to rumors of a takeover," said William Lefkowitz, options strategist at brokerage firm vFinance Investments in New York.

Jan Meijer, a beverage sector analyst with Theodoor Gilissen in Amsterdam said the deal made sense.

"There is a clear takeover rationale and we've been waiting for this to happen," he said.

"InBev has had some problems in the United States and if there was a takeover they would be able to rely on the network of Anheuser-Busch. It would fit in nicely with their exposure to emerging markets too."

InBev has a distribution deal with Anheuser-Bush for its beers in the United States.

InBev was overtaken as the world's largest brewer by SAB Miller last year. Rivals Heineken and Carlsberg have also increased their size with their joint purchase of Scottish and Newcastle .

I'm beginning to think that...

...that I will not survive this.

Get your flu shots, don' be like Mike.

Drinking Liberally is a Hit

I don't really want to promote this Drinking Liberally thing. Seriously, I don't.

I would rather it develop on its own path with its own adherents and attendees ...without any sort of leadership or membership (there is NO leadership NOR membership, btw!) and let things sort of gel the way things should among adults whose hearts are on the side the Good Lord intended they should be.

However! This has been a bonafide success ever since the first one, auspiciously held on May Day, and every one since!

Ladies and germs, this is the real deal. It's what you've been looking for ...if you been looking for a way comfy place in which you can talk the talk with folks that walk your walk.

I've hesitated to publish a list of people that stopped by for the evening ...and the people that only popped in for a few moments and ended up staying 'til closing ...and I'm not gonna start now.

Why "name names"? It'd be pretty antithetical to why we come together in the first place, wouldn't it?

It's enough to say, I think, without exaggeration, that sooner or later, every liberal in Buenos Aires will pass through this space we've created; it's got a lovely vibe.

The drinks are cheap ...and unlike some expat vulture operations ...the house gets it all.

Drinking Liberally does not get a "cut of the vig" that we bring to the establishment (a time-honored tradition here in town.) In return, we are welcomed ...we get good service in very comfy surroundings ...and I really think that they have intentionally UNDER charged us every time. When's the last time THAT ever happened to you in Buenos Aires?

Man. People talk! ...and nobody gets ignored. Yep, people listen. Buena onda.

In case you missed it: open to all liberals no matter what your political party or nationality, always on Thursday, always at 7pm, always at Sir Will's Pub... San Martín 678 in Microcentro ...easy access by all forms of transport from everywhere.

That's all I'm gonna tell you! You want more? Stop by and I'll buy your first one.

(I will, however, post some transit maps!)

Starbucks comes to Buenos Aires

"Después de varias idas y venidas y todo tipo de rumores, la inauguración del primer local de Starbucks ya está confirmada para el próximo miércoles en el shopping Alto Palermo."

Yep, it should be fun to watch.

Porteños, being the great travelers that they are, know what Starbucks is, to a great degree. So there won't be any show there.

The real fun will be watching the expats gettin' what might be their first jolt in a long time from the Nipple-less, Navel-less Nerida of the North.

I'm reminded of something Maya Frost once wrote about a trip back to Yanquilandia after an extended period here. She was looking forward to some of the old country delicacies and Starbucks was way up on the list ...but the experience was not what she and her husband expected.

"How barbaric," I think was the way she put it, "to stand in line for coffee!" "Where's my waiter in his little uniform with his towel and tray?" "Where's my tiny agua-con-gas?" "¿Donde estan mis MASITAS, por el amor de Dios?"

When US soldiers returned from the first big yanqui involvement in Europe, after WWI, the popular question was "How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paris?"

I hope to be there in Alto Palermo on opening day to get some reactions from extranjeros that have been taking their coffee here for quite sometime, in the lap of a luxury that is all but prohibitively expensive for the 21st century US market...

...and maybe some reflections on what it's like for them to be again herded into a queue in order to get their jolt in a paper cup with a plastic lid.

Should make for an interesting story.

...just can't shake it.

Man, oh Manischevitz. Just when I think I'm over it... I'm right back in the sack with the hot water bottle, the aspirins, various broths heavily laced with hot pepper, and a wee dram as analgesic and general disinfectant.

It's been this way since ...ferchrissakes! Since the 9th! That's almost 2 weeks!

It couldn't have come at a worse time, either. Being chosen as the blogger to represent Democrats Abroad from the convention floor with better credentials than CNN has brought a lot of attention to our little rag here ...and a dearth of posts that could justify my selection.

I finally broke down and went to the doctor today ...but they're swamped with flu-boys like me! They put me on stand-by for 3pm and I went to the café on the corner in hopes of swaddling me sore tonsils in a little Irish coffee. So I sits down, I does, an' peruses the front page of La Nacion and what does I see?

"Because of Flu Epidemic, the House-call System could Collapse."

Yep, that's something you have to know about Buenos Aires if you don't already... doctors make house-calls. Real doctors. Real houses (yours!) and real calls. They come out with little black bags just like in black and white movies.

Well, I was proud of myself for not adding anymore strain to that fine system but I was surprised that there was any kind of epidemic goin' on. As far as I knew, it wasn't even flu season! No one that I know has the flu. Maybe everybody got their shots except for me. Next year, I'll be right there in line with my sleeve rolled-up waiting for mine. BOSTASHA, dis is shit fer birds. Here endeth the lesson.

Anyway, I'm now trying to juggle a phonecall from my "handler" in DC and my newly scheduled squeeze-in with my medico. Looks like I'll pull it off just fine. But with my head right now, I wouldn't trust my judgment on anything.

Depending on how things shake-out, I might drop youse a line regarding the outcome of my visit to the ol' Doc, today. I intend to make my case for some cough syrup... with a major codeine componente, che. I think I was prescribed that once before here. It was effective.

Despite what you may hear from the occasional traveler through these parts, Argentina is NOT a place where you can find OTC medications that would require a prescription in the US.

Quite the contrary, Argentina is very restrictive about prescribing anything that could vaguely be described as a narcotic (clonazepam, notwithstanding.)

In fact, dentists in Argentina are not even licensed to prescribe codeine. Imagine that in the US!

100 days

Look whose comin' up off the farm.

Sure. The Yanq has gotta agenda that's very urban ...but I've have my rural perspective to take care of too!

One hundred days from now, I will be reporting to you from what just might be the most interesting US political convention since '68.

It's not too soon to hear from all y'all out here in the "exterior".

I've been warned already that I am an "embed". That is quite true. But I am not a professional journalist ...unlike the Iraqi allusion. And despite holding a position with Democrats Abroad, I feel that I'm nowhere near as "beholding" to the powers that be than the established media. And I guarantee you that if I have something to say from the floor, I will say it. Furthermore, if youse yanquis outside the US need to know or say something ...help me a little.

What do you want from your blogger?

Man oh man...

Whadda week. Whadda week of nothing! Except for some lunch in Chinatown (I thought I was over it!) with a couple of the nicest expats you'd ever wanna meet... I've been in bed with some kinda low-grade flu crud.

But it's time to rejoin the living!

First up: Come on down and hoist a cold one at Drinking Liberally Buenos Aires, Sir Will's Pub, San Martín 678, in microcentro, near Retiro, almost at the corner of Córdoba.

Drinking Liberally is a great concept:
It's always every Thursday ...so you never have to wonder when the next one is.
It's always at 7:00pm ...so you never have to wonder what time it kicks-off.
It's always at Sir Will's Pub ...so you never have to wonder where it is.

Not only that! There's no members, there's no leadership, there's no dues, there's no nuthin'! Just liberals of every color and flavor and stripe and persuasion and nationality. Very fun, very casual, very easy. See you there tonight and every Thursday at 7:00pm.

...in other news:

Buenos Aires (YMnewswire) Democratic National Committee Chairman, Howard Dean announced yesterday that Yanqui Mike Buenos Aires (www.yanquimike.com.ar) has been selected to participate in the DemConvention State Blogger Corps during the four-day event in August. Governor Dean notified Yanqui Mike and the other blogs selected via an online video message available at www.DemConvention.com .

"Similar to the record-breaking voter turnout our Party has seen during the primary season, the demand for these coveted blogger positions is yet another indicator of the tremendous interest in this historic Convention," said Governor Dean. "The Internet has played a critical role in connecting Americans to elected officials and candidates seeking office. The DemConvention State Blogger Corps will continue to foster this dialogue - in all 50 of our states and our territories too - as we head towards this year's historic election and elect a Democrat to the White House."

Yup. Your faithful scribe is going to political blogger heaven. The position of "State Blogger" at the convention is so new and weird and never-before ...that it is hard to describe. I actually declined the invitation 3 times before it sunk into my thick skull that this thing is BIG.

I won't just be part of the press corps... although there will be plenty of bloggers at the convention that will be part of the press that is covering the convention.

The gig that I picked up yesterday will allow me not only the access that a credentialed reporter will have ...but also the same access as an actual delegate to the convention. In fact, I will actually be seated with the "state" delegation from Democrats Abroad. This should allow me, at least the opportunity, to report to you and the world better than anyone in the press and/or the blogging world.

I'm "tickled pink and proud as punch" as Hubert Humphrey used to say, and the magnitude of the position and the magnitude of being chosen from among every yanqui blogger in the world that applied ...still hasn't sunk in.

(propers to my blogfather, Steve Gilliard, RIP)

recipe for a classic casserole

...it's all in the wrist!

In case you don't know...

I'm DYING to write about what you want me to write about.

...not fun being a yanqui right now, part 2

As it happens...

So let's recap the scene: the US military and its Iraqi "allies" are laying siege to a sprawling neighborhood in Baghdad housing roughly 2.5 million Iraqis, launching air strikes, artillery attacks, tank shells and other assorted ordnance, shutting down hospitals and bombing others, cutting off the supply of food and walling off entire sectors of the embattled region, causing a refugee crisis by their actions - and now actually pursuing a policy with the intent of creating a larger refugee crisis!

...not fun being a yanqui right now

Chinese businessmen go to US to open factories, "Liu spent about $500,000 for seven acres in Spartanburg -- less than one-fourth what it would cost to buy the same amount of land in Dongguan, a city in southeast China where he runs three plants. U.S. electricity rates are about 75% lower, and in South Carolina, Liu doesn't have to put up with frequent blackouts."

I expect some comments about how that such a GOOD thing!

...off to drink with the Liberals!

Now that Buenos Aires has its own chapter of that fine international society, Drinking Liberally ...expect me to take advantage of it!

Great concept; open to liberals of any colors or flavors or nationalities.

Always at the same time and place. Every Thursday, always at 7pm, at Sir Will 678 San Martín.

Update!: Last night was wildly successful! Sir Will is very centrally located and has a generous smoking section inside a really cavernous bar. Whadda great crowd.

Chau, Penny!

As long as they're destroying the currency ...guess who's first? Except that I think even dirt will become too valuable. One of the suspected reasons for the "small change" shortages that occur in Buenos Aires is the supposed "melt" value of the coins here. That's one theory behind the bi-metal Argentine Peso coin: combining the two metals makes the resultant melt less valuable than its component parts.

Why not plastic? Being petroleum-based, it would actually leave a certain "ring" to it.

I like the steel idea, though. It brings to mind a time when we actually fought the fascists...

...just people who refuse to feel the fear.

What a disaster! What a tremendous success!

Due to the holiday, Sir Will at 678 San Martín, was closed this evening. NO MATTER! Sticky notes led us a block away to the hotel bar of the Hotel Claridge that hosted the event for this time only.

Whadda great group! Liberals ALL ...but not all Democrats!

There's NO membership, there's NO leadership. There's only people who like to talk to each other. Just people who refuse to feel the fear.

Great input and discussion and just great company... especially from Fred, a longtime Libertarian who still works and lives in the US but bought an apartment in town about 4 years ago and plans to move here very soon.

Man! Did we ever chew the fat. Friendly, informed, casual conversation that covered a truly (insert your favorite superlative here!) range of subjects from living in BsAs to the strike in the campo to medical care to the state of the free press on planet Earth to US politics to... to... to LOTS of other things that people like to know and talk about.

Just about perfect. I haven't attended an evening devoted to such high-quality gab in a long time.

You really owe it to yourself to drop in ANY Thursday, ALWAYS at 7pm, ALWAYS at Sir Will/San Martín 678 in Microcentro.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how friendly it was and how informal and, still ...how just plain intelligent and even useful the conversation was (immigration/marriage issues and experiences were top-notch factual instead of the hearsay that you usually get everywhere!) ...so intelligent and such a great exchange.

You could call it a brain-trust ...except that it was just a bunch of people sitting around having some drinks and talking about anything they felt like. And such a diversity of opinions.

Drinking Liberally is gonna take this town by storm, if you ask me. And nobody asked me! And nobody ever will!

We were all too busy getting to know each other and getting our turn to "hold forth" in the grand tradition of tavern politics that makes democracy a great thing.

Speaking of democracy, Drinking Liberally is in no way associated with the Democratic Party or Democrats Abroad.

You know how much I like both of those above things ...but it's so nice to have something informal and open to other viewpoints and nationalities!

Don't get me wrong... Democrats were well represented, of course, but not everybody.

I can't wait for the next one... when it's not a holiday evening like tonight.

And the BEST thing about Drinking Liberally is their concept of having the event at the SAME place at the SAME time on the SAME day EVERY week.

If you miss one ...or even a bunch ...of gatherings, you never have to wonder when or where the next one will be held.

They are ALWAYS at Sir Will at 678 San Martín, ALWAYS on Thursday, ALWAYS at 7pm.

That makes it easy. I hope I see you at the next one... you already know when and where!