Chávez & Perón

Carmen makes an important observation in her comment on my essay below, "Chávez & the chavistas." The parallels between Hugo Chávez's "Movimiento de la V República" (MVR) and Juan Domingo Perón's "Justicialismo" are striking, including the complicated problem each movement has created for intellectuals on the left (me included). Each movement is a mix of progressive and authoritarian-militaristic impulses.

By the way, I also have a book on Argentina, where I attempt to comprehend Perón's relationship to his movement; did Perón create Peronism, or was it the other way around? I hope to come back to this subject. Meanwhile, if you're interested, check out The Land and People of Argentina. Though written for young readers, it may also be a handy starting point for intelligent adults to understand that country's politics. (Photo of Perón is from the Instituto de Formación y Capacitación Política "GRAL. JUAN DOMINGO PERON", who are true believers.)

Some more of those babies

Aren't they beautiful? And can you believe that rooftop forest our neighbors are growing? It's a whole 'nother city up here.

The view from my window

It's a beautiful day. This is from the 8th floor of our building on 4th St., between Broadway & Lafayette, looking north. The tall glass tower at the right is the new Gwathmey-Siegal building on Astor Place. The railing on the rooftop at left goes around a swimming pool where celebs sometimes hold parties and fashion photographers often take their models. But mainly this is a photo about water tanks. If I look a little to the right of this photo, I can see at least eight more on various roofs. Each is beautiful, individually weathered, and seeing them clustered makes me feel well accompanied. I took this with our new Fuji FinePix E550.