The last 15 rhinos in Mozambique have been killed for their horns.

Very sad. The last 15 rhinos in Mozambique have been killed for their horns. 

Ignorant people believe that the rhino horn has "Special" "Magic" qualities. 

The rhino horn is made from a protein called keratin. This is the same protein that is used to make your toenails and hair. Why don't they just use ground toenails in their magic potions, since it's identical under the microscope?

Most right minded people regard homeopathy or traditional medicine as harmless bullshit. It wasn't harmless for the last rhinos. Challenge bullshit whenever you encounter it.  Tiger bones are also used in "traditional" eastern medicine.

I have a recipe for a "magic potion" that I hope will save tigers and rhinos from extinction.

There is only one ingredient.

The recipe requires all the brains of all the practicing "traditional" quack doctors.

Method:

Blended the ingredients to a fine soup and then say a little prayer for the last tigers and rhinos as you pour the potion into a drain.

Spain has reached 27.2% unemployment. 6M people looking for work.

Spain has reached 27.2% unemployment. 6M people looking for work. That's the same as the population the whole of Ireland (not including the leprechauns).

I think the Euro membership is largely to blame. The property bubble is a massive factor, but the property bubble was also largely the fault of the Euro. Spain was in budget surplus (paying off debt) before going into the Euro. The artftifical economic sugar high of Zapatero's socialist spending spree made things worse.

Spain can make and sell things people want to buy. If it wasn't strapped to such a weight it would devalue and export its way out of this mess.

Jose Baroso and Herman van Rumpoy have twice this week announced they need greater euro integration. Bollocks. Spain needs the opposite. Jose Baroso and Herman van Rumpoy are putting the Euro project before peoples welfare. Given they are architects of the scheme, they're not about to admit their mistakes and false assumptions.

There are those that say the crash is a NWO master plan. It isn't. Don't assign to conspiracy what stupidity alone can explain.

Power to the central european elite is undemocratic and will cause huge upheavel trying to repatriate such powers when people final realise that the current path doesn't lead to the land of milk and honey, but dust and broken bones.

Here is my plan to save Spain from the abyss, please feel free to comment, point out flaws in the plan and abuse me if you disagree (try and be classy).

1. Spain should leave the euro. It will be painful, but it's entirely necessary. Bring back the Peseta and denominate external debt into pesetas. Pay the debt in pesetas. There is only one place you will be able to spend pesetas, Spain. Massive currency devaluation will occur, but this will drive exports and bring growth.
2.  Cut red tape. Starting a new business is still ridiculously complicated and expensive here. People avoid setting up businesses in Spain becasue of this. The starting capital required just to get through the red tape puts off many would-be entrepreneurs.
3. A VAT (IVA) threshold of 25k and social security as a percentage of income at 7%. Let's water the green shoots not set them on fire. 
4. Social security as a percentage of income. The 250 euro a month social security tax stops people from starting businesses or pushes them to the black market.
5. Cut business set up costs. Starting a limited company in Spain costs 3000€ upwards and takes months. By contrast setting up a limited company in the UK can be done online in a few hours for less than 100 €.
6. Take immigration seriously. Are those people currently coming to Spain bringing needed skills and/or money ? There certainly isn't a labour shortage at the moment. Spain is a great place to live, it's not unreasonable to put a price tag on that. See Australia's immigration point system policy for more details.
7.  Castrate the unions. They are full of self serving useless pricks who hamper change and damage industry. Loss making Iberia went on strike. Fuckwits. I can't stand the union leaders Candido Mendez and Ignacio Toxo, Mendacious and Toxic. They deliberately mislead people. Do you know how much a Spanish air traffic contoller gets paid? Google it and remember it next time the selfish arseholes go on strike. These people should be held responsible for loses incured for each tourist left stranded. Tourism is Spain's bread and butter. Every waiter, barman, taxi driver depends on the tourists. Replace the air traffic controllers with computers.
8. In Spain we should assume that politicians are corrupt and on the take. It's not an unfair assumption, check out the map of corruption cases (zoom in). We need a framework which enforces sufficient transparency and swift justice to correct this. I am sick of seeing corruption cases every morning on the news.
9. Iñaki Urdangarin and the Infanta (princess) Cristina. are royal millionaires accused of defrauding childrens charities. Priviledge should be no barrier to justice. Faith in the justice system has been eroded. Oriol Pujol, you're on the list too. Let's be toughest on those who should be an example.
10. Change the mortgage law so that if you have a mortage you can't pay and you hand the keys back to the bank, the debt is cancelled. The property is the collateral for the loan. If that means banks fail. Let them fail. No public money for bank rescues. If a business goes bankrupt because bad investment decisions were made, better business and investment models will rise from the ashes. It's called "evolution" and is essential in a healthy marketplace.
11. Drop taxes on tourism, Spain's number one export. Airport departure taxes for example. These taxes cost the Spanish economy many times more than the revenue they bring in. They are completely idiotic.
12.  Sort out the mess of property law abuses. Confidence in the property market is rock bottom. Start with Len and Ann Prior, the most high profile case. Compensate them. The whole saga has caused billions in lost revenue because Spain has dragged its heals in not sorting this injustice out. The worst kind of PR imaginable.
13. Clamp down on black money, cash transactions and illegal employment. Refer to item 5. Make it easier for employers and businesses obeying the law and paying taxes. Punish those who are dodging the taxes.
14. Cut tax avoidance. If multinationals (i.e. Google, Vodafone for example)  are making huge profits in Spain but not paying their share of tax, tell them to pay up or fuck off. Remove operating licences. I appreciate that would be hard to do, but we need to find a way. I suggest a large knight in Toledo armour go into the national head offices of these companies and come out with either a large cheque or a collection of intimate trophies.
15. Drop the"job for life" contracts that funcionarios (goverment / townhall employees) enjoy. Jobs worths that generally don't have any get up and go, unproductive. These people still use fax machines and typewriters. Too many young people think this is a golden career. There is little understanding of the difference between work and productivity. A bit like pricks that drop litter and say it creates employment because someone is paid to sweep it up.
16. Technology. Spain is definitely not as advanced as it should be when it comes to the web. Relatively few businesses are online. People hold up there hands and take pride in their ignorance. Let the young show you the way. Teaching programming not religion in schools.
17.  Tax the church. Church employees have been proved to be child abusing, baby stealing, gay bashing,  ignorance promoting, sexist, self agrandising bastards.  Do what Jesus would have done, help the poor directly, not the church.  The church should pay tax on their racket and real estate.What are they selling anyway? Eternal life and forgiveness. Me too! Send me just 1€ and I'll send you an email promising you life after death and forgiveness*

    *Forgiveness for promoting ignorance, sexism and gay bashing is more expensive. Please pay your 1€ and ask for a quote. Forgiveness for baby stealing and child abuse isn't possible, send all your money then go and donate all your blood.

Madrid to fine bin divers 750 Euros

Madrid town hall (Ayuntamiento) have passed a law to fine bin divers 750 Euros.

Increasing numbers of people are now taking part in this victimless crime. A "crime" which is now openly committed, frequently and in broad daylight in Spain's cities and towns.


Unemployment is over 26% (Youth unemployment at 55%) and  many people are no longer receiving any support from the state. Rather than turning to more conventional forms of crime to feed themselves, thousands now scour the bins to find food.

Legislators who live in expensive neighbourhoods, offended by the site of poor people going through bins clearly thought "Something must be done" and then had a collective brain fart. Perhaps it would be better to tackle the root cause of the "crime" of bin diving: poverty and hunger?

Freelance Recycling agent, Iñaki Divenda Basura, was quoted as saying, "¿Piensan que si tuviera 750 euros, estaría buscando comida en la basura? Idiotas!!".

Translation: "Do they think if I had 750 Euros,  I would be looking for food in the dustbin? Idiots!!"

A large supermarket chain has taken to contaminating (poisoning) their bins or locking them to discourage bin divers. Do Supermarket directors think it's in their commercial interest, if edible food goes to landfill to rot, rather than feed the desperate poor? People who don't have the money to purchase food form their stores. I'm not saying supermarkets have a responsibility to feed the poor, but going out of your way to kick them in the balls is wrong.

If finding food in bins is discouraged sufficiently, Iñaki and his fellow bin divers might want to consider what stupid legislators and supermarket directors taste like.

Perhaps it's time for Spain to leave the euro, default and devalue. The EU's policy of "Internal devaluation" is looking pretty disastrous at the moment.

If you live in Spain and have seen the plight of bin divers in your area please leave a comment below.