În ţara-n care m-am născut

Un cantec dedicat romanilor din toate colturile lumii care au venit pe 10 august la Bucuresti sa protesteze impotriva modului cum este condusa tara in care s-au nascut.






Si melodia originala a lui Jean Moscopol scrisa pe cand era in exil. Din pacate acesta nu a mai apucat sa-si revada tara in care s-a nascut...

Imperiul Fricii

Trebuie neaparat sa rupem acest cerc vicios si sa iesim in Imperiul Fricii. Urmariti acest interviu cutremurator:

Libiamo!

De 15 ani de zile Mazare distruge Constanta, orasul in care am crescut: a retrocedat fraudulos o gramada de teren prin toate cotloanele din oras, apoi a dat cele mai aberante autorizatii de constructie. Blocuri noi inghesuite pe peticele de spatiu verde dintre blocurile existente, mall construit in singurul parc adevarat din oras (inca se mai vad cioturile copacilor taiati in parcarea acelui mall) si toate constructiile de pe zona verde dintre lac si sosea din Mamaia. Plus lasarea in ruina a monumentelor istorice din oras, Cazinoul fiind doar cel mai cunoscut dintre ele. Alte cladiri declarate monument au fost lasate pur si simplu sa se prabuseasca pentru ca nu avea dreptul legal sa le demoleze si sa construiasca altceva acolo. Iar mai nou a inceput sa distruga si plajele din oras cu a lui fantasmagorica sosea de coasta. Si in timpul asta omul a furat de a rupt, probabil sute de milioane de euro.

Asa ca dintre toti politicienii anchetati de DNA (are 3 dosare pana acum) el este cel pe care vreau cel mai mult sa il vad in puscarie. Cand a fost retinut acum cateva saptamani am baut un pahar de rom pentru asta si o sa beau inca unul astazi caci a primit mandat de arestare pentru 30 de zile (vezi aici stirea). Si o sa mai beau inca unul cand o sa fie condamnat in prima instanta si inca unul cand va fi condamnat definitiv si tot asa. Si nu beau orice pentru asta, ci un rom din cel mai fin, Takamaka Bay din Seychelles, pentru ca el nu o sa mai mearga prin Madagascar si Brazilia mult timp de acum incolo, iar eu o sa ma plimb pe unde vreau :)

Update: ca sa fie si cu cantec o sa pun si o interpretare a ariei Libiamo din opera Traviata care da titlul acestui post :)

Bring Them Down

"Pune-i la pamant" (Bring Them Down) is a song by La Familia (The Family - a Romanian hip-hop band) which was released in 2005, the same year when the DNA (National Anti-corruption Directorate) was created by Monica Macovei and Daniel Morar was named the chief of this agency. They immediately started investigating important corruption cases (not small fishes like the former anti-corruption agency used to do). I remember listening to this song in my car, together with the news of corruption investigations by DNA. I was wondering at that time if they would manage to finalize those cases and get some big fishes in jail. Ten years after it turns out they just did that big time: 13 former ministers (including one former prime-minister), countless members of the parliament, mayors (from all political parties), judges, prosecutors, police and army officers, university professors, physicians, media moguls, soccer referees and business men that got rich from deals with the government, all of them convicted for corruption and serving time in jail. Probably they didn't totally destroy the "mafia" system that took over Romania after the fall of communism, but DNA (one of the most trusted institutions in Romania today) scared them badly for sure. And they will continue to do so for the next years as they now target also confiscating the wealth that cannot be proven to come from licit activities. So, let's listen this song again, from a new perspective :)

UPDATE: two articles appeared in the international press today covering the activity of National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) from Romania. Here is the one on BBC and here the one on The Economist. I'm not sure if they read this post before, I don't see any reference to hip-hop there :)

Global Warming and the One Percent Doctrine

You know how the weather goes: sometimes is sunny, sometimes it rains and sometimes you have extreme weather like heat waves or snow storms. What puzzles me is that even educated people (who understand what statistics means) keep saying that global warming is a hoax and they give as examples a cold snap or a rainy week in Bucharest. Well, a few days ago NASA published their annual report about global temperatures which states that 2014 was the warmest year on record.
In the book I read recently "That Used to Be U.S." (see my earlier post) the author talks about the 1% doctrine elaborated by Dick Cheney, the former vice-president of the United States. This was in the context of preventing terrorist activities in the aftermath of 9/11 and is sounds like this: "Even if there's just a 1 percent chance of the unimaginable coming due, act as if it is a certainty. It's not about 'our analysis,' as Cheney said. It's about 'our response.' … Justified or not, fact-based or not, 'our response' is what matters. As to 'evidence,' the bar was set so low that the word itself almost didn't apply."
It is debatable if this is a reasonable way to act when arresting or killing people, but the analogy that Thomas Friedman makes is that we should apply this doctrine when dealing with global warming and climate change: if there is even a 1% probability that climate change will drastically affect our life and society then we should act as if this is a certainty. This is what all naysayers on this subject should understand. This will make much easier our collective action.

Why me?

De ce eu? (Why me?) is a movie based on a real story from 14 years ago. A young prosecutor dares to investigate a judge and a member of the Parliament and he is pushed to suicide by the pressure of his boss and peers. That was the state of the judicial system in Romania at that time. But in the last 10 years it changed a lot: hundreds of members of the "system" (a former prime minister, members of the parliament, judges and other prosecutors, police officers, army officers) were prosecuted and convicted for corruption. The impunity of the ruling class is over and this is just the beginning. I hope that in the next years the level of corruption will continue to decrease in Romania to the benefit of all people. That's what I voted for in 2004, 2009 and 2014: not economic or social policies were my main concern, but the rule of law and the fight against corruption.
The movie will be in cinemas in a few months, but you can see the trailer below:

Timisoara

It all started here on this day 25 year ago. In less than a week the communist regime in Romania would collapse. Watch this video of the shootings in front of the cathedral from Timisoara to understand what a dictatorship looks like. Rulers ordering the army to shoot their own people:




And a song of Phoenix, a famous Romanian rock band originating in Timisoara. Their members fled the communist Romania and wrote this song when they returned to their home city after many years:

Mein Herz Brennt

I've been very light on blogging in the last few months due to the electoral campaign for presidential elections in Romania which sucked all my spare time. But it was worth, as we've seen the biggest surprise I've ever seen in an election. To come back from a million deficit of votes and be a million votes ahead (out of a total of around twelve million votes) in the second round is some achievement. And since Romanians elected as their president a member of the German minority let's listen a song in German today, from Rammstein: Mein Herz Brennt.



P.S. No English translation for you, start learning some German :)

Un raspuns lui Turambar

Mirel Palada a scris azi o postare pe blogul lui despre generatia lui si echipa lui Ponta. Cum comentariul meu a fost blocat, ii raspund public aici.

Mirele, imi pare rau, dar nu suntem la fel. Da, ne uitam la aceleasi filme, ascultam aceeasi muzica, calatorim in aceleasi locuri (am fost si eu 3 ani in State), dar totusi nu suntem la fel.
Am discutat cu tine mult timp pe Facebook desi stiam ca ai pareri politice diferite de ale mele. Am comentat articole din The Economist sau chestiuni legate de sistemul de invatamant. Dar in momentul in care ai intrat in echipa lui Ponta si eu am pus un comentariu critic (nu injurios) la un post de-al tau m-ai banat de pe pagina ta de Facebook, nici macar nu imi mai apare la cautare pe Facebook.
Apoi a venit campania PSD-ul de la aceste alegeri, care este de un jeg total (cum bine s-a exprimat Vlad Petreanu aici) si la care presupun ca ai contribuit activ cu idei. Acuzatii de trafic de copii scoase din burta, faza cu ortodoxia si coruperea preotilor (bani dati din buget bisericii, transfer de active imobiliare) pentru a-l sustine pe Ponta sunt doar doua exemple, dar mai sunt multe altele. Imi vorbesti de echipa Ponta, dar din echipa asta face parte si Firea (am vazut-o in poze cum ii dadea ultimele indicatii inainte de a intra in direct la B1). Iar Firea a fost pionul care a vehiculat cele mai abjecte acuzatii la adresa lui Iohannis. Nici nu mai e cazul de scuze aici, se impunea direct o demisie de onoare, stii tu oare ce e aia?

Indiferent cine va castiga duminica, sa te uiti la rezultatul pe urban si acolo vei vedea o imagine mai clara a Romaniei de azi. Nu a celor dusi la vot cu japca, nu a celor cateva sute de primari racolati prin acea ordonanta de urgenta de neimaginat intr-o tara normala.

A vota sau a nu vota?

Iar se apropie alegerile si spre deosebire de alte dati am vazut in ultimul timp mai multe apeluri de boicotare a votului. Argumentul adus este ca toti sunt la fel si ca partidele existente nu ne reprezinta. Insa acest argument este fals dupa parerea mea. Chiar daca nu vorbim despre masurile economice propuse de diferite partide, eu am un criteriu foarte simplu dupa care clasific partidele in momentul de fata: atitudinea lor fata de membrii de partid cercetati sau condamnati penal. DNA a anchetat foarte multi politicieni din toate partidele in ultimii ani. Sunt unele partide care in aceasta situatie au organizat mitinguri de sustinere (cazuri recente sunt presedintele consiliului judetean la Ages, primarii din Navodari sau Constanta, toti de la PSD) sau chiar au promovat in functii guvernamentale oameni trimisi in judecata (cum a fost Fenechiu de la PNL). Ori acest lucru este inacceptabil din punctul meu de vedere. Un minim standard de etica in politica ar fi demisia dintr-o functie publica in care ai fost ales sau numit in momentul in care esti cercetat pentru fapte penale. Cum putem avea incredere in cineva sa ne administreze banii publici in momentul in care este suspectat de furt sau coruptie?

In concluzie voi merge la vot si voi vota unul din partide care respecta aceste minime standarde etice. Si ii incurajez si pe cunoscutii mei sa mearga la vot, caci e important ce rezultatele sa fie determinate cat mai mult de optiunile unor oameni independenti decat de a celor dependenti de ajutorul autoritatilor si care sunt incolonati la vot de primari sau alti functionari.

P.S. 1. Asta nu inseamna ca nu sunt de acord cu propunerile celor de la Uniti Salvam: legea partidelor si cele electorale trebuie schimbate pentru a permite mai usor intrarea unor actori noi pe scena politica. Dar aceste schimbari trebuie facute de parlament si solutia este sa punem presiune pe parlamentari sa faca aceste schimbari, nu sa nu mai venim la vot.

2. Tot astazi au loc alegeri in Ucraina, iar in unele zone oamenii nu vor putea vota din cauza amenintarilor separatistilor pro-rusi. Noi macar putem de aproape 25 de ani sa votam liber si fara alte amenintari.

3. Priviti acest clip de mai jos. E vorba despre niste puscariasi care vrajesc oamenii cu vorbele lor. Acolo e doar o metafora, dar asta se intampla chiar in realitate la noi din pacate...

Cand ai scoala, dar nu ai rusine

La doua zile dupa scandalul legat de modificarile codului penal Varujan Pambuccian continua sofismele pe facebook legat de definitia functionarului public din Codul Penal. Dupa exegeze privind dictatura lui Hitler si imunitatea parlamentarilor, afirma urmatoarele aici:

"Ceea ce am votat ieri se referă la faptul că parlamentarii și funcționarii publici sunt lucruri diferite. Dealtfel, legislația care se referă la cele două categorii este complet diferită și disjunctă. Singurul loc în care lucrurile s-au amestecat este cel al codurilor. Cele două coduri (penal și civil) au fost modificate repede și pe picior anul trecut. Există o grămadă de lucruri contradictorii în ele, și din ce în ce mai multe ies la lumină odată ce judecătorii le sesizează (de cele mai multe ori la cursurile pentru aplicarea lor). Unul dintre ele este și cel legat de asimilarea celor două categorii.

Hai să vedem câteva aberații care ar reieși din asimilare:
1. Funcționarii publici sunt numiți. Parlamentarii sunt aleși. Cum ar fi să ne alegem funcționarii publici sau să numim parlamentarii.
2. Funcționarii publici sunt inamovibili. Parlamentarii au mandat de 4 ani. Cum ar fi să avem parlamentari inamovibili sau să schimbăm funcționarii publici din 4 în 4 ani.
3. Funcționarii publici sunt salarizați (ceea ce presupune un anumit tip de raporturi de muncă). Parlamentarii primesc o indemnizație, tocmai pentru că (în conformitate cu Constituția), mandatul nu este imperativ.
4. Funcționarii emit acte administrative. Parlamentarii nu emit niciodată acte administrative, ci legi. Chestia cu trasul la răspundere pentru actele administrative, subiect extrem de dezbătut în presă. nu are obiect. Sau poate are, dacă de mâine cineva decide că legile sunt acte administrative. Tot printr-o asimilare de-asta. Constituția discerne clar și aici, dar atunci când statul de drept este doar o vorbă în spatele căruia se construiesc instrumentele unei dictaturi, se poate și asta. Și exemplele pot continua."

Domnul Pambuccian esta absolvent de matematica si stie prea bine ce este aceea o definitie si de asemenea stie ca orice text cat de cat organizat (articol stiintific, carte, lege) are o sectiune in care se definesc termenii cu care opereaza in continuare. Iar articolul 147 din codul penal exact asta face: defineste o categorie de cetateni care activeaza in domeniul public si pentru care apoi sunt definite diverse infractiuni. Asta nu are de-a face cu legea functionarilor publici, statutul parlamentarilor, mandate imperative sau orice alte aberatii care sunt vehiculate zilele acestea. Daca parlamentarii au o problema cu titulatura de functionar public atunci pot sa schimbele numele in ce vor ei, categoria X sau Y. Dar este inadmisibil sa vrei sa spui ca unora din cei care au functii publice nu li se aplica conflictele de interese (acest lucru este explicat foarte clar si aici). Iar afirmatia de la punctul 4 de mai sus este falsa, caci parlamentarii emit acte administrative cand semneaza contracte de munca pentru angajatii cabinetelor parlamentare. Exact pentru asta sunt cercetati unii parlamentari (nu pentru votul lor sau opinia exprimata in parlament), pentru ca si-au angajat rudele la cabinetele parlamentare. Si tocmai aceste fapte vor sa le dezincrimineze. Multe cabinete parlamentare au zero activitate, uneori nu au nici macar un sediu declarat, insa banii alocati luna de luna fiecarui parlamentar pentru acest lucru se scurg catre angajatii acestora.

De asemenea domnul Pambuccian, alaturi de ceilalti parlamentari (aproape toti de la USL, UDMR, PPDD, minoritati si 2 de la PDL) au votat urmatoarele:
- modificarea articolului 74: daca esti prins ca ai furat pana in 100.000 de euro si dai banii inapoi nu patesti nimic, daca e pana in 500.000 de euro iei o amenda; deci practic poti sa furi linistit!
- modificarea articolului 253: conflictul de interese se va aplica doar celor care au un contract de munca; adica primarii, presedintii de consilii judetene, consilierii locali sau judeteni, parlamentarii pot da contracte rudelor, firmelor personale fara a pati nimic;
- modificarea articolul 156: daca unei persoane dintr-un grup infractional i se aplica prescriptia, atunci tuturor celor care au participat la acea fapta beneficiaza de prescriptie;

Acum sa va spun cateva cuvinte despre domnul Pambuccian. Dansul este reprezentantul minoritatii armene in parlament, o minoritate mica in zilele noastre. Pentru a fi reprezentantul unei minoritati ai nevoie de un numar de voturi (vreo 2-3000 parca) care sa ateste ca acea minoritate mai exista in Ro. Cum armenii sunt din ce in ce mai putini, domnul Pambuccian si-a construit o nisa electorala: prietenul IT-istilor. Este adevarat ca de-a lungul timpului a sustinut multe initiative legate de IT, iar lumea din domeniu l-a apreciat pentru asta. Cunosc oameni care in mod constant l-au votat la Camera Deputatilor la mai multe randuri de alegeri. Chiar eu i-am indemnat uneori pe cei scarbiti de politica sa-l voteze pe el in loc sa-si anuleze votul sau sa stea acasa. Dar aici drumurile noastre se despart. Caci prietenul inamicilor mei nu poate fi prietenul meu, iar domnul Pambuccian a dovedit prin acest vot (si prin insistenta de a-l apara in plin scandal mediatic) ca este prietenul penalilor. Problema cu IT-istii este ca inteleg destul de usor ce este o definitie, ce sens are modificarea ei si ca pot comunica foarte usor intre ei in ziua de azi. Asa ca am sa fac tot posibilul ca aceste randuri sa ajunga la cat mai multi dintre ei cu urmatorul mesaj:

Nu il mai votati niciodata pe domnul Pambuccian, caci este un prieten al penalilor!

P.S. Am atasat o captura a comentariului de pe Facebook in caz ca va fi sters mai tarziu

 

A candidate to vote for

Another round of elections is approaching in Romania and I am among the fewer and fewer people that will go to vote again. Most of the people complain that all politicians are the same and none of them cares about their problems, but only to get rich. This is a dangerous point of view in my opinion, because the consequence is to ask why do we bother to organize elections if all politicians are the same? Since after each elections we end up with different laws and policies, there must be some difference between those who vote for one law or against it, isn't it?

Since 2008 we have a uni-nominal voting system and you actually vote for a person, not a party list. So, like four years ago, I decided to endorse a candidate that represents me best in these elections. His name is Gabriel Biris and he is a lawyer specialized in the tax code. What he promised in this campaign is not just something for his electoral college, but for the whole country: to push for a change in how labor is taxed. The truth is that labor is heavily taxed in Romania and this leads to people trying to declare their income in any other possible way than payroll in order to pay smaller taxes. Or not to declare it at wall and work on the black market. So only a small part of the population appears in the statistics as being an employee. This is unfair in two ways: first for the people who honestly declare their employment contract because they end up paying far more taxes then other people and secondly for the people that are forced on the black market due to these taxes because their are cut from social benefits in the future (like retirement benefits).
As a professional in this area Mr. Biris understands very well these problems and he wants to improve the tax code so that these huge discrepancies can be closed. Also, he is already rich and not from businesses involving the public sector, so probably he didn't enter politics just to get richer. His campaign also has a fresh style, including many town-hall meetings with the citizens from his electoral college, not just for shaking hands, but also for discussing their problems.

So if you have your residence in D3 electoral college from Bucharest I recommend you to look at this candidate and vote for him. If you are not in these college I still encourage you to take a look at the candidates in yours (you can easily find that here), see who is the best for you and the country from your point of view and go to vote. I have a strong opinion about an alliance that should not win in these elections, but even if you don't share my view, I think that informed and active citizens will lead in the end to better politics and policies.

Electoral debates

Here we are again with elections looming both in U.S. and Romania this fall. I guess most of you are bored and scared of what politicians can say or do (it's better than being like Inna anyway :) ), but in an interesting twist this year George Washington University organized a debate not between the two presidential candidates or their running mates, but between two media presenters that consistently side with one of the two main U.S. parties. The "republican" Bill O'Reilly from Fox News and the "democrat" John Stewart, the host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central. Here you can watch their debate and I can assure you that it's more lively than any official electoral debate you will ever watch. Because they don't have to lie to you or hide specific facts for fear of antagonizing a specific electoral category and the like.



Wouldn't be funny to have in Romania as well a debate between let's say Mihai Gadea and Robert Turcescu? :)

UPDATE: That video with Inna where she says "I'm scary" and "I'm boring" is no longar available on YouTube, but you can see a transcript here.

A intrat in folclor

Sunt sigur ca ati auzit de expresia "a intra in folclor". Ei bine, iata ca Ponta a reusit lucrul acesta intr-un timp record. Deci se poate, tovarasi :)

Would the real good people please stand up?

This is a song called The Streets from a Romanian TV series Good Boys about mafia boys (the good ones) and the police (the bad boys):



Here is an approximate translation of some of the lyrics:

This is a place where you wouldn't dare to go
You may possibly win, but you will probably loose
So many slicks like here you can see only in Vegas
And you wouldn't believe how some turn into whores
This is Romania's capital, this is Bucharest...

Now don't get sacred, that was just a movie and Bucharest is a peaceful place, but it still has its problems (like corrupt and populist politicians), so this is my question (inspired by Eminem) for you for the coming elections: would the real good people please stand up?

Another communist secret service (aka securitatea) story unfolds

It's 1974, the year when Ceausescu grabbed all the executive powers in Romania by proclaiming himself ("being elected") chief of the state (until then he was just the chief of the communist party). A high-school student (Stelian Mihalas) wanted to protest against this and distributed a questionnaire among his classmates asking who would they choose for president and about how the country was run. Stelian and his classmates were immediately investigated by the secret police and he was expelled from school although he a was a brilliant student in mathematics. Meanwhile a young student (William Totok - who was in the same circle of friends with Hertha Muller) heard about this story and tried to gather some more details in order to pass the information outside the country. He asked a colleague of Stelian for information, but this guy (Ovidiu Tender) went to the secret police (via his father who was the chief of border police) to tell them about the people interested in this story. William got arrested eventually, spent some time in prison and later on emigrated in Germany (like Herthe Muller he belonged to the German minority living in Romania). Stelian finished his studies in another school, graduated in mathematics, got a Ph.D. in US after the revolution and returned to teach mathematics at Faculty of Mathematics from Timisoara. And, of course, Ovidiu Tender became one of the most wealthy people in Romania, very well connected in ex-communist political circles. (see the full story here and here)

Those were the days of our lives...

Where is our mind?

There is an election coming in Romania and the winner is uncertain yet. The electoral campaign was an hysterical one with accusations flying around and a lot of negative campaigning. I made up my mind a long time ago (I will vote again for the current president Traian Basescu), but I cannot stop wondering: where is our mind? Why is everybody hitting at their opponents, why can't they debate on principles and solutions?



Is this country a fight club?

Prostanac

Go to www.google.ro type in "prostanac" and press "Ma simt norocos" ("I'm feeling lucky").
Mr. Geoana, you were (Google) bombed :))

Somebody to vote for

The elections for the parliament are approaching here in Bucharest. It is the first time when people will vote a person, not a party list. In fact, it is a mixed system (and also very flawed), but I think it is still better than the previous one. Unfortunately this new voting system didn't bring many new faces on the political scene, and even among the new faces there are few that one can trust. Still, in this "black sea" of Romanian politicians there is one name that I would like to recommend: Theodor Paleologu, the son of Alexandru Paleologu. Read his blog and his resume and see for yourselves. Since I cannot vote directly for him, I wish him good luck in the electoral college #9 from Bucharest. And I encourage everyone from that electoral college to go and vote for him.

Coming to an election near you

If an election is coming to your place then watch this video. And then send it to 5 of your friends.