There is no privacy in Brazil, you have to put your fingerprints in a database for having an ID card or driver license issued. Biometric access is being enforced for voting and a lot of other trivial citizenship exercises.
There is no doubt that the PT party ("workers party" in Portuguese) has a leftist doctrine that is a mix of "Chavismo" and ancient "soviet" crap that is out of fashion even in Russia. The only reason Brazil is not as trashed as Venezuela is that Brazilian press and other civilian institutions are a little stronger.
Lula (the former president) and Dilma (his puppet and actual president) endorse some of the worst dictatorships governments in the world. Lula even endorsed nut jobs like Ahmadinejad from Iran.
The EUA gives these clowns as a "friendly government" label for lack of a better term. Brazil is not a democracy, it is a dumbocracy.
GP may read as a political rant, but I'm focusing in the first sentence; Brazil restricts a lot of privacy and, for my dismay, people seems to accept it. For example, I have to give up my name and ID number every time I board an interstate bus (yes, buses, not planes), law enforcement officers can stop you anytime and ask for your papers without justification (there is no "probable cause" here), and, beginning the next year, all cars will have to carry a RFID tag for tracking (gov justifies this as a way to "improve the traffic", but it will not happen -- also, a lot of countries with civilized roads never used them, so why we'll need?).
The worst part is that people grown used to it and do not notice how outrageous our privacy issues are.
It didn't read like a rant to me, what did you read from scardine's comment that made you feel it could be perceived as a rant? Perhaps it was some venting, but that's all.
I know I should not respond to ad hominem, but here we go.
When I was young I used to blame "the right" for every real or imaginary problem in the world. I dreamed of revolution. When you are 20, if you are not socialist you don't have a heart, but if you are still socialist at 30 you don't have a brain.
I have a book for you (seriously): "Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot". This book cured me from "Open Veins of Latin America" and all the leftist crap around here.
Rabid? Sure I'm pissed off with myself for being so naive (even voted for Lula in his first term, just to see the most corrupt government since the end of the military dictatorship) - but not nearly as rabid as the left wing criminal organizations like the MST:
(watch from 0:22s) when they destroyed 7,000 orange trees and got along with it. They damaged heavy machinery, burned down computers, looted employees houses and stole fuel. And got along with it.
These terrorists are funded using my tax payer money by my own schizophrenic government. Everybody that dares to scream "the king is nude" is labeled as a rabid right wing zealot.
There is no doubt that the PT party ("workers party" in Portuguese) has a leftist doctrine that is a mix of "Chavismo" and ancient "soviet" crap that is out of fashion even in Russia. The only reason Brazil is not as trashed as Venezuela is that Brazilian press and other civilian institutions are a little stronger.
Lula (the former president) and Dilma (his puppet and actual president) endorse some of the worst dictatorships governments in the world. Lula even endorsed nut jobs like Ahmadinejad from Iran.
The EUA gives these clowns as a "friendly government" label for lack of a better term. Brazil is not a democracy, it is a dumbocracy.