News Trio

News Item #1: Let's start with the whiff of corruption We've all come to know: FBI searches office of Puerto Rico senator.

Sigh. That the target is Jorge "Won't Somebody Put Me Out of My Misery!" De Castro Font is just icing on the cowflop.  The usual off-key song and spastic dance will occur: Calls for "Mr. Misery" to resign, lamentations of what this does to Our image, "Mr. Misery" refusing to resign to "prove" he's innocent, dumb people rallying around "Mr. Misery" and so on...

I'll take the moment to point out a long-standing phenomenon of local politics: Commonwealthers who switch to the statehood (emphasis on hood) party are immediately taken in as LEADERS (yes, in capital letters and everything), whereas statehooders (emphasis you-know-where) who switch to the commonwealth party are treated as lepers in remission, i.e. "Good to see you, but don't mingle with the clean folks."

Jorge De Castro is the most recent of a modest line of commonwealth party Fools, including Roberto Rexach and Sergio Peña, where they were second-rank lunkheads at best, who jumped to the other side and instantly became LEADERS. The hood (hahaha) couldn't get enough of these power-grubbers, for that is what they are and that is all they are. They are not idealists, they are not visionaries, they are not public servants: Their only--ONLY--criteria for switching sides was to preserve their little pigsty platform of political power. Nothing more, nothing less. 

It seems evident that the statehood party has long lacked intellectuals, but then again, intellectuals can't stand idiotic positions.

News Item #2: Puerto Rican middle class flocks to S. Florida; recession cited.

The Jenius has been all over the "brain drain" issue, just as We have been discussing it since the early 70s. But is the exodus a boon "over there"? El Nuevo Día closed its Orlando edition citing high costs and reduced revenue. Sure, the overall malaise that newspapers wallow in could be a factor, as is the general downturn of the economy. But wouldn't the estimated 300,000+ "Floricans" in Central and Southern Florida sustain a newspaper, even a fish-wrapper specimen like El Nuevo Día?

Apparently not.  Could it be that those leaving Puerto Rico don't want to or don't care to keep up with its happenings anymore? Could it be that those leaving embody the "Me? Read? No!" dynamic so prevalent on Our Island?  Or is it that those leaving are simply not identifying as closely with Puerto Rico as those who stay? 

Or could it be that El Nuevo Día is simply too pathetic a newspaper to make a go of it?

News Item #3: A bright spot in the Caribbean , but with a big price tag.

Makes it seem like We're for sale, but no: The article is about the high cost of energy in Puerto Rico. In typical Caribbean Business style, it drops names and the ball with equal skill, giving the impression that Puerto Rico is on the cutting edge of solving its energy problem while simultaneously undercutting current efforts.

Let's get a couple of things straight: Puerto Rico is maxing out its energy infrastructure almost daily, depends on oil for almost 100% of its energy production (yes, almost 100%; don't get Me started down this road...too late) and the Power Authority diddles itself and screws the citizenry trying to protect itself from what should be the solution: Privatization and competition.

The Power Authority refuses to honor buy-back agreements, a fact proven by the latest Incentives Law that forces the Power Authority to come up with an energy buy-back plan 11 years after they first started on one. "Fuel adjustment costs" are rising at a 40% clip, a rate that matches the cost of 100% oil-based energy production. If We're using less oil to produce energy, why are We paying as if We weren't?

Maybe the problem isn't the Power Authority. Maybe they are powerless when it comes to determining how badly they rook Us. But that would place the blame squarely on the government. Now, really, would that argument hold water?

Like a sponge... (Strangely enough, the topic of My next post...)

The Jenius Has Spoken.