Comments by Jean Baptiste

The Quebec Liberal government is highly unpopular, mostly because of the non stop corruption scandals that are every day news in the province. Not only billions of tax money goes into corrupt schemes, at all levels of government, but taxes keep on going up. Not a single week goes by with out news of a corrupt Quebec politician acused of links to the mafia or to many other illegal schemes, from the City of Montreal, the most corrupt of all cities, to even the smallest village. Corruption runs rampant in Quebec, along with the highest taxes in North America!

I think Lexington is talking about some recent trends. Latin America has made tremendous progress in the last decades, both politically and economically, while the US is seen more in the opposite direction. Note the present impasse between the Reps and the Dems.

I don't know if you have noticed, but some of the most interesting action is happening outside the US. We might see it sooner than latter.

This conversation about North-South, illegal immigration, etc. is getting a bit outdated. Hopefully, one day we will all be allow to live and work wherever we want. I find that people who have lived in different cultures and countries, to be far more open, cultured, interesting, educated, curious, entrepreneurial, smart, etc. than those who have spent their life knowing only their familiar surroundings.

No matter how you put it, its definitely wrong for these millionaires and billionaires to pay less taxes that their secretaries. Period.

The same can be said when asked for your race in US forms. Latin means what? you could be from Chinese, Japanese, Libanese, German, Italian, Greek, French, Spanish, mixed, Indian or any other origin.

Just to clarify, no one in Latin America refers to citizens from the US, americans, as we all consider ourselves Americans. They are simply called 'gringos' and it's a prejorative term, refering to the ignorant, overweight, culturally challenged, simplistic and over-materialistic neighbors from the North.

I am only guessing, but I suspect that part of the 'status quo' Amercian policy towards Cuba has more to do with Cuba being a small, poor country with limited importance for US economic interests. If Cuba were a big, rich country with a lot of potential, I bet the US would have a very open policy towards them.
NB. Some writers utilize any means to attack Obama (muslim Obama...) even if it's out of the subject. Too bad those people don't appreciate the intelligent, caring and classy Mr. Obama.

Hillary Clinton is an amazing woman who has lead by example. She is such an accomplished, hard working person. An example for woman everywhere.

A Jesuit priest, a Catholic priest dedicating his life to the service of others, like so many thousands of Catholics around the world...Now, where are all those Catholic haters?? if it were regular news about the Church, you will have hundreds of hate letters being submitted. Since it's an inspiring story, only a few comments!

I think FIAT should capitalize on its own Alfa Romeo brand and bring it up to a premium luxury brand. It has all the components: the name, the legacy, history, etc. and most importantly, a huge number of fans worldwide. I would trade Alfa against BMW anytime, if they would make comparable models.

The main ingredients for a beautiful, liveable city are the scale, location and arquitecture. Guidelines help control and manage these variables. Too much rigidity leads to a boring, uninspiring city, while too lax rules leands to mess and ugliness. Striking the righ balance is not always easy, specially with the scale and needs of modern cities. What are needed are leaders with vision, sensible planning and specially understanding and knowing good architecture. All the guidelines and rules in the world would not make a set of ordinary buildings into a beautiful city.

I will take Santorum 100 times over Romney. He seems to be a principled person, unlike Romney, who would do anything/say anythink in order to get elected

It's pretty obvious that you hate the Catholic church, but there is no reason for you to use this article to attack it. Your claim that all countries which are Catholic are the defaulting nations is just plain ridiculous. In the US, its probably the predominant religion, is it not? FYI, there are more than 1 billion catholics worldwide and we are present in all countries on Earth, and will be, per omnia sæcula sæculorum.

Being rich does not necesarely make you more virtuos or better, but it does provide more stability. They are probably more greedy, consume more drugs and alcohol, are infaithful, cheat, etc. etc. but because they are rich, they keep appearances. And think they are morally superior to others.

While I agree that shopping hours are a puzzle in Europe, I think its part of their culture, which allows for family time, enjoy food and respect for holidays.

I don't think the West or the US should stay in Afghanistan any longer than needed. There is no clear concensus of what they will achieve. The Afghans probably seen them more like occupying forces, and the rest of the Arab world likewise. OBL is dead, and now is up to the Afghan people to decide their future, with or without the Taliban. The US/West should probably concentrate their efforts now on supporting and encouraging democratic forces in the Arab world and leave war behind.

Yes man. Barbarians all the way!

What a lot of crap! Start by making education more affordable, since education is the foundation of economic development and well being.

You can write all you want, but It's not fair for millionaires and billionaires to pay a much lower tax rate than their secretaries. The rest is rethoric.