A Catalan went to Nantucket
Nobody knew him so fuck it
His body was stout
He spoke with a pout
They drowned him in the next bucket.
Artur Mas, or as his government calls him More President, is presently in Massachusetts. Some months ago, on the last congress of his CDC party, he already elevated Massachusetts to the example to follow.
(Do not google only CDC and Massachusetts, the result will be much opposed to what the Catalan CDC is, and does.)
In the same congress, Mr Mas spoke also prominently of Ithaka (search "Ithaca" in the last link) as the desired final national destination. Ithaka has some history here since national-Catalan singer-songwriter Lluís Llach made a poem by K.P. Kavafis (here's a nice version with Sean Connery and Vangelis) into a song. Anyway, we all know the story of Odysseus. Ithaka is now the long-lost home to Catalan nationalists, in short independence. And all enemies end up dead. Yay.
Ithaka is in Greece, a place today many avoid to be associated with. President Mas has never been there. He went to Massachusetts instead, he found his heaven there. Or his haven: Massachusetts has its own very well known island called Nantucket.
From Nantucket once sailed the Pequod on Captain Ahab's quest to kill the beast named Moby Dick. It is easy to imagine that Moby Dick represents Spain...
"I spit my last breath at thee, oh damned whale!"
You already know where this is going.
I now will make one of my very rare predictions: Artur Mas has nothing in common with the Cunning One. He is obsessed with himself and bitterly will he end like Captain Ahab. His harpoons will not be Odysseus's arrows, he'll get tied up in the web he is spinning, and the last time we'll see him it will be as if his dead hand was waving goodbye.
"He's dead, but he beckons."
Nobody knew him. So fuck it.
Don't call me Ishmael. I'll jump ship just in time.
Aww, let's have it have a happy ending:
ReplyDeleteA Catalan who such a luck had
Was left for dead in Nantucket
Could not get his head out
His hands were full of gout
So he put two holes in the bucket.
We love you Lord Farquaad! Good night everybody. Drive safely.
Coda:
DeleteA ship took to sea from Nantucket
With a broad-chinned bucket who sucked
He was all alone
His bravado was gone
When he came home the mob howled: "És aquest!"
They went for the man from Nantucket
Who had his head in a bucket
As if it was glued
And our man rued
That he ever dreamt of Nantucket.
Lord Farquaad has left the building.
We had fun. Now let's do some serious stuff. Mas is still in Mass.
ReplyDeleteThe Mass. Governor Deval Patrick earns some 140,000 dollars per annum. I could not find the newest figure, so here's data from last year.
That's roughly 110,000 euros. Artur Mas makes 144,030 of those. I've been criticising this many times as lack of leadership in times of crisis.
Mr Patrick's predecessor Mitt Romney actually passed up on his entire salary.
Von Massachusetts lernen heisst siegen lernen!
Just to prevent the usual BS arguments: Mass. has a population of 6.5 million, Catalonia has 7.5 million, that's some 15% more. Mr Mas earns some 31% more than Mr Patrick.
ReplyDeleteWe can also compare by GDP. Here's a nice listing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_subdivisions_by_GDP_over_100_billion_US_dollars
Alguna pregunta més?
El cap d'estat d'Espanya, per tant, de Catalunya, rep uns 8,4 mil·lions d'euros l'any, d'una població d'uns 40 mil·lions. Amb un 5,3 més de població, rep 58 vegades més de sou. Amb el que s'endú la casa reial podríem pagar 58 presidents de Catalunya. I ens evitariem la cacera indiscriminada d'elefants.
DeleteCert. La monarquia espanyola és una vergonya i un dispendi per a tots els contribuents.
DeletePerò això no treu que Mas faci el ridícul. Ni que cobri massa per fer-ho.
Que cobra massa, segons amb què ho comparem. Per exemple, un simple conseller del Banc d'Espanya cobra força més, dels 200.000 cap amunt, i ja veus el que fan.
DeleteL'estem comparant amb polítics que tenen responsabilitats equivalents a les seves.
DeleteThe king himself actually receives less than Mas. And no, I won't be bothered to surf the net again and find the exact number.
DeleteYou, anon, have mixed the allocation for one person with the whole Casa Real budget.
Estrany, segurament, però un simple conseller hauria de cobrar força menys que un president. No oblidis que un treballador del Banc d'Espanya és un càrrec públic, pagat amb els teus diners i els meus. Per altra banda, la majoria de consellers del Banc d'Espanya són alhora polítics. De fet la majoria de polítics espanyols quan deixen la política es coloquen i es dediquen a saquejar les empreses espanyoles (moltes controlades per la legislació i pels propis partits), i per culpa d'aquests polítics molta gent s'està quedant sense feina. En general un consejero delegado d'alguna d'aquestes multinacionals espanyoles que fan negoci per sudamèrica, acostuma a cobrar uns 3 mil·lions d'euros, i la tropa de col·laboradors el seu mil·lionet corresponent. No és que no m'agradi la crítica a en Mas, el problema és que si és per diners, teniu moltíssim més a criticar abans.
DeleteCandide, 8,4 és el que rep la cas reial entre estipendis i despeses. Per un senyor que a sobre cobra comissions aprofitant fent negocis a les cimeres internacionals, és una exageració.
Anonymous, estic d'acord en casi tot el que dius. Però la crítica a Mas no és gratuïta: prové dels seus comentaris pretenciosos sobre Catalunya i Massachusetts. La teoria de que si no critiques totes les coses dolentes del món no en pots criticar una de sola no em sembla vàlida.
DeleteSad and nameless anon, I have compared the comparable. You compare the uncomparable. Please give your real name, because the kind of defense you seem to be making for the national Catalan cause must be upsetting even your next door neighbour.
DeleteIt's all bollocks.
Noiet, tu no dones el teu nom real, per tant ets tan anònim com un servidor. Pel que veig mantens discussions amb persones conegudes que escriuen amb el seu nom real a la xarxa, i en canvi tu escrius de forma anònima, així que no donguis lliçons.
DeleteI was ironically making a point, which actually needs no explanation. Anyone is fine to use a nick.
DeleteEstrany, em sembla que l'apunt no és una crítica al Molt Honorable, si no, més aviat un escarni de força mal gust. Si hi veiés una crítica n'estaria encantat, però no és el cas.
DeleteDerision is what a frivolous politicians deserves. Whether it is here applied with bad taste, as you say, is now open for debate. Anybody else want to chime in?
DeleteIt semms that CNN is going to inteview President More in English and in........"SPANISH"......Gosh, I guess he will probably answer in Catalan, After all, it's a 1.000 years old language, and it's also very international, specially after all the millions they've spent in promotions, or maybe the newspaper is wrong and the interview will be in English and catalonian, There's nothing money can't fix, and president More has lots of it for this kind of misunderstandings.
ReplyDeleteAh, you're so wrong. Mr Mas speaks many foreign languages. "La llengua del país al costat" too.
DeleteThe most usual expression is "el país veí". Com si només n'hi hagués un, per cert.
DeleteYup, I messed that up a bit.
DeleteMas in Mass. doesn't get his head out of the bucket.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20120621/54314890444/mas-eeuu-catalunya-biotecnologia-innovacion.html
In a press conference he said yesterday: "We are the Holland of the south of Europe, the difference is that Holland has Germany as a neighbour and we have Spain, and that's not exactly the same."
There is no time in the world to describe on how many levels this is so wrong and ridiculous. For one, he also maintains that "Catalans are the Germans of Spain". So they can keep their bicycles after all.
Go Artur!
Anna Frank, for one, would be thrilled to hear that.
DeleteOops. Godwin. Sorry.
Sometimes I wonder what we would think if the Gov. of Mass. would come to Spain (lets say Madrid) and started complaining about how much the U.S. Gov. slows them down on their economic growth, and how unfriendly they are, and how much they steal from Mass, and Bla Bla Bla..., I guess that apart from trying to find out how to benefit from that situation, the people in that conference would also think that the speaker is an Idiot.
ReplyDeleteOh, things being as they are, I guess that there'd be pretty many Europeans who'd like to see the US slide into another civil war.
DeleteThe point is: We will never see a Governor Complain outside the U.S. about their relationship with the Federal Goverment, Thats a sign of weakness, and they aren't Idiots.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of lightyears comes to mind.
Delete