Saturday, May 30, 2009

The jittery touch of caffeine

Today I found this nifty link about chewing gums with caffeine.
While I know the effects that caffeine can have on kids, when I read things like this, all those people from the other side of the pond that I see jumping around at the café and looking like they haven't slept in ages start to make sense... and the faces they make when they see people asking for two expressos in the range of an hour makes even more sense.
You see, our cousins at the other side of the pond, consider that coffee is a mix of a weird black powder that they mix into used dish washing water in the proportions of: one tea spoon of powder for 10 liters of water.
And they call this: coffee...
Now, where I come from, an expresso coffee (the most common) is served in a tiny cup that holds no more than 3 small gulps of coffee and in order to make ONE expresso, we use the equivalent to around 1 and 1/2 soup spoon of coffee.
You probably will tell me how our cousins usually drink that balloon machine coffee... I'll tell you that the coffee proportions we use on those machines, are the same as for an expresso.
This means that our cousins don't drink coffee... or at least, not real coffee. They drink a crappy mix that is tasteless and looks like used up dish washing water.
When our cousins get to my country and are given a decent expresso coffee, they panic and start climbing walls, allegedly because the caffeine is oh so high .
In the meantime, us, the locals, take on our second or 3rd expresso of the day (depending on time of the day), look at them with weird looks and shake our heads in contempt for the poor sods that can't even take a tiny cup of coffee without having their nervous system wired up to the martian radios and acting like they're in venus.
If they were to drink one of our "killer strong" expressons, in which the foam is so thick that it can hold the whole 8gr of sugar from the pack, on top, or hold the spoon straight, what would they do? Probably collapse and end up in the hospital with cardio problems or some such and then try to sue for attempted murder (laugh).
The problem is, that kind of expresso is drunk on a daily basis here and no one is required to place warnings around cafés with suggestive titles like: "warning: expresso caffee can kill you", so... sue for what? For drinking an expresso by their own volition? Trying to sue for something like that in my country, will only get you booted out of the court with the judge calling you "raving mad" and the audience laughing their brains out while pointing to you and calling you "retarded".

So, if you're a cousin from the other side of the pond and you visit Portugal, I suggest you keep away from our expressos, unless you want to find yourself at the end of what is for you, a caffeine poisoning. We drink strong coffee, not the wuss stuff that is drank across the pond.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Alexandra - They say they're going... will they?

In a tidbit of news that just got delivered, it seems that due to all the scandal revolving around Alexandra, Russia is going to send some delegates to see how the child is living and how the family is. An interesting theather move by them. We all know how our dear soviets are and when it comes to being actors, they're just as good as the chinese government.
We all know how this inquiry will end: the family is ok, the child is "adapting slowly" and who cares about the rest.
Perhaps it's time that all of those who are religious, start praying for a miracle...

Alexandra - Of lies and half truths

The soap opera continues and the information is starting to be digged out and poured down on the glasses of the avid drinkers.
A judge that admits his errors and tried to pass as a victim but at the same time admits he didn't take into account that the little girl had already been complaining of being beaten by the wicked witch mother, the failing to talk to witnesses that are unanimous in one cry: Zarubina has mental problems.
Amidst a lazy bum that seeks state financial help instead of trying to find a job, a bunch of slobs as a family, vodka bottles as toys and smoke to inhale to her heart's contempt, Alexandra is left to wither and be traumatized.
Our dear soviets are complaining that the news are too provocative and we should give time for the child to get used to Russia. In other words: shut up and leave us alone, the foster family won't get any Visa to get to Russia and even if the kid dies, we the Russians, in our incredible state of totalitarianism/fascism with a guise of pseudo-democracy, will cover it, hide it well or just say they both died and the families are mourning. This, while they are taken somewhere else for the cycle to start all over again.
The Portuguese judge is facing punishment for his decision and for failing to comply to several factors that would have ultimately meant that Alexandra would be given to the foster family.
More and more news come up from Russia, claiming that the child has no conditions, that the family drinks, the house is dirty... the child sleeps on top of an oven, all her possessions left in Portugal in her own room where she slept and played until a butcher threw her into the hands of a mad woman.
The Russians say it will be almost impossible to get Alexandra out of Russia but they forget that International Courts don't really care about what Russia "says". If they decide the child is to be given back, Zerubina will have to give it back or face kidnapping charges.
Let's hope that the foster family goes to the international courts and fights for the right of this child to have a decent life, not a life of misery, surrounded by drunkards, slobs, filth and smoke.

A new petition is online and has over 17.000 signatures already: http://www.gopetition.com/online/28077.html

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Alexandra - Trying to save a child

The incredible scandal revolving around little Alexandra and the decision to send her to Russia continues. Amidst the usual Russian "convenient red tape" and their denial of visas for the foster parents to participate in a Russian TV program and the "tears" of a now "repentant" judge, we watch this grotesque soap opera invade our news flashes and news papers much like a mini pandemic that is affecting mostly 2 countries.
A petition for the return of Alexandra has been started here but with a traffic of hundreds of users per hour, most of the time the page is overloaded and crashes. As far as it is known, over 8000 people have already signed the petition and probably would be already as much as double of that if the page wasn't constantly down due to overload.
And while the page crashes, the cries of indignation about Russia's lack of help in this matter are rising. Some, accuse Russia from wanting to prevent the foster parents from setting foot altogether in Russia.. and given past example of how they "work", who would be surprised? After all, it's a victory over the occidental "garbage".
The Russian Embassy in Portugal dared to say "we didn't know about anything" which is doubtful, unless no one there reads newspapers, hears/watches the news or plugs the ears to avoid the typical chatter at lunch time.
In other words, do they think we're blind or stupid?
The problem for Russian politics is that right now, even the Russians consider the judge's decision to be utter garbage and the fact that the Russian Authorities are posing difficulties, isn't making things look much better.
The Portuguese judge has come forward, crying tears of repentance and wails of forgiveness for his mistakes. What he got in return were sticks and stones. The judge then said "the child was already complaining of being beaten but that isn't enough to separate her from the mother" and this was when the guillotine of public opinion beheaded him. link to the Portuguese Newspaper
Your Excellency... beating children in Portugal is a crime. May I suggest that Your Excellency goes back to law school and learn again? Perhaps it will avoid future "mishaps"...

Certainly more to come in this bizarre mix of a circus, soap opera and something out of a Danielle Steel book...

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Children or Cattle?

A new scandal has broke out about children's rights. Recently in Portugal, a child that was given to foster care for almost 5 years was given back to a mother that never cared about the child or has any conditions to take care of the child.
Indignation and revolt are emerging from both Portugal and Russia as a video made by a popular russian TV showed the child being beaten by the mother, vodka bottles on the floor, cigarette buts in a can and more.

The story so far:

Alexandra was born and raised in Portugal by a Portuguese foster family. Her mother, a Russian emigrant, didn't have conditions to take care of the child and gave her up to said foster family. Throughout the years, the mother didn't care much about the child and according to information, all she earned would go to alcohol or other vices. It is also suspected that Alexandra's biological mother engaged in prostitution.
Alexandra lived happily with her foster family, receiving love and education until the moment her biological mother, having let her visa expire (and done nothing to renew it...) was ordered to be deported. At this moment, a battle for the custody of the child began and it ended with Alexandra being given to an alcoholic mother and send to a family that looks anything but normal.

The russian newspaper, "Komsomolskaia Pravda", wrote:

"Alexandra's mother shows the return of her daughter to Russia as a victory against the Portuguese Law System. However, this "victory" doesn't shine as much as she would have liked it to.
An old house, cigarette butts inside a food can, tobacco smoke filling the house and drunkard or hangover parents and family are the surroundings of Alexandra's 'new childhood'. The mommy gets artistically (read - fakes) sensitized by a small bouquet of flowers that the child gives her while at the same time, she doesn't forget to hit the child repeatedly because of her 'Portuguese education'."

According to the grandfather,
Serguei Nikolaevitch, it's more likely for them to learn Portuguese than it is for Alexandra to learn Russian:

"The child doesn't speak Russian. We'll learn Portuguese faster than she'll learn the great and powerful national language. In September she's supposed to go to the kindergarden but we don't know how she'll interact with other children. Right now she only plays with her cousin."

The reporters also noted that Alexandra doesn't have her own room and she has to share a room with her mother and grandmother. According to the same reporters, this case is having deep repercussions in the public opinion of Russia.

When we read about this, we have to wonder just what do judges think when they recklessly throw a child into the biologic parents' care. Just because it's a biological parent, it doesn't mean it can take better care of the child. In fact, if that were to be true, we wouldn't have so many children up for adoption or in foster homes.
Alexandra is another case of incompetent fools that treat children as cattle, throwing them around without any consideration for the child's well being or the psychological effects such drastic changes may have in this child's mind.
Alexandra was taken from a clean, healthy environment into a place of filth, alcohol and tobacco where she is beaten for the simple fact of wanting to go to her step-sister. Her mother clearly resents the child as well as her upbringing and education and makes sure to show it.
The mother has gone as far as accusing the Portuguese family that took care of Alexandra for all those years of wanting to sell her organs or throw her in a prostitution house because for Alexandra's mother (according to her own words), it's unconceivable that the foster family may like the child in any way.
This "mother" has nothing in her that allows one to call her as such. She drinks, smokes, is violent to her daughter, clearly doesn't like her and all she wants is to try to suck up money from the Portuguese family. They want to sue the Portuguese family for slander while at the same time she slanders the Portuguese family by accusing them of wanting to sell Alexandra's organs.
The video shows a house full of filth and decay, with too many people living there, smoke clogging it up, etc. The backyard is dirty, full of trash and debris and who knows what else. It's in this sickly environment that Alexandra's dog was tied to a 1 meter long chain, attached to a dog house that is falling apart.
This situation is starting an incredible uproar both in Portugal and in Russia, with both sides claiming for the returning of the child to the foster parents in Portugal. The Russians themselves have claimed that the child has no conditions to live in that hole and should be returned. When you have the prideful Russian people claiming that one of their own should be sent back to the foster parents instead of fighting for the child to stay, you have to start wondering if the judge that rules this decision had any brains in his/her head.