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That is tough question to answer.

I have just gotten fresh information about the successor of Palhocci (the man who multiplies) and immediately reached for my passport. Unfortunately (or fortunately), my visa to enter the United States was expired. I feel like the main character of the romance the title of which is THE 25th HOUR*.

Adapted from the novel by C. Virgil Gheorghiu, this satirical concentration-camp drama from Turkish-born French director Henri Verneuil stars Anthony Quinn as Johann Moritz, a Romanian peasant who experiences the horrors of World War II when the Nazis invade his country. Because local police chief Dobresco (Gregoire Aslan) is anamorous towards Moritz's wife Suzanna (Virna Lisi), he has the lowly fieldhand falsely labeled a Jew and sent to a work camp. Moritz's troubles continue to mount, as his wife is threatened with losing their property unless she divorces him. Also starring Michael Redgrave, La Vingt-cinquieme heure (1967) is also known as The 25th Hour, though it should not be confused with and bears no resemblance to the 2002 Spike Lee film of the same name.

At a certain point of the plot, Johann Moritz, played by Anthony Quinn, started looking like, in the eyes of the Nazi authorities, the archetype of an Arian (member of an alleged superior race from India, the symbol of which was an inverted swastika).
At the end of the war, our Romanian peasant did not have where to go. If he reached for the Americans, he risked being considered a member of the Nazi Party. If he reached for the commies, he would certainly be hanged before any trials because, for the commies, he was a Jew. His personal tragedy was that he was neither an Arian, nor a Jew. He was a common Romanian peasant. That was his 25th hour: he did not have where to go.

If we wanted to flee from the pornographic Brazilian political system, where could we go? If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Would you like to live under the rule of Néstor’s widow? I certainly wouldn’t. I love Uruguay, but its president is an ex-terrorist (is there such a thing as an ex-terrorist or an ex-torturer or perhaps an ex-murderer? – I don’t think so) and it is such a small country. Uruguay is like Mexico: so close to the devil and so far from God. How about Bolivia? You could always follow the example of Evo and become a “cocalero”, but this is not my style. The other options in South America are all very dangerous, except for Chile. The Caribbean would be a nice place to move, but not while Raul and Fidel are alive and ruling their Cuban Empire with iron hand.
One place to considerer would be Europe. Take a look at the members of the EU:

Member states of the EU:

• Austria – SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT.
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Cyprus - SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT.
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece - Guess what kind of government produced their crisis.
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal has just elected a rightist government.
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia - SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT.
• Spain
• Sweden
• United Kingdom has just ousted a leftist government.

The EU, in 2000 had 13 members with socialist administrations. After all the mess that they made during the first decade of the 21st century, in 2011, there remained only Slovenia, Greece, Spain, Austria and Cyprus. Even Portugal has already realized that socialist governments are doomed to fail, sooner or later. Only in Latin America, people haven’t realized how mistaken they are when they continuously elect socialist governments. Unfortunately, Brazil is part of Latin America and, as a well behaved cow, follows the socialist herd.

As I asked in the beginning of this article, how can we deal with the astonishing amount of information that we get every day through the internet?

I must be honest: I don’t know. Corruption is everywhere.

Unfortunately, corruption does not seem to be a big problem for Brazilian electors (have you heard about the latest scandal in the Ministry of Transportation? The son of its Chief Corruptor/Corrupted Officer (CCO) managed to increase his assets in 86,500% in just two years. Take a look at one of the headlines of July 6, 2011 edition of O GLOBO NEWSLETTER:

Estela já sonda o PR para o caso de demitir o ministro dos Transportes

Situação de Alfredo Nascimento ficou insustentável após denúncia de que patrimônio do filho dele aumentou 86.500% em dois anos.

What a talent! I am amazed at the capacity of the son of the above-mentioned Minister to multiply his assets. Nevertheless, I think that this is a lack of respect to Mr. M. (the man who multiplies, also known as Palhocci, the wizard).

Because the weather in Europe is very cold in winter, I will stay in Brazil, at least for the time being.
Next class we will continue discussing the length of an English course. I would like to say hello to my readers in Pelotas, my hometown, and especially to Dr. Aloysio Gomes.

Have an excellent weekend.

Roberto Henry Ebelt é professor, escritor, produz uma coluna semanal para o Jornal do Comércio de Porto Alegre deste 2001 e é diretor do curso HENRY'S BUSINESS ENGLISH desde 1971.

Seu mais recente livro, O QUE VOCÊ DEVE SABER ANTES DE ESTUDAR INGLÊS, pode ser encontrado nas livrarias Disal, Cultura e SBS ou à rua Hoffmann, 728 em Porto Alegre.

E-mail: roberto@henrys.com.br
Fone (51) 3222-3144
www.henrys.com.br