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In last week’s Newsweek cover story, “Spanking Goes Mainstream,” author Katie Roiphe set the blogosphere atwitter with her commentary on the cultural trend of bright young women willingly engaged in BDSM relationships: 50 Shades of Grey, Lena Dunham’s HBO series Girls –even the wedding night of teen heart throbs Bella and Edward in the third Twilight movie. Roiphe pointed to the paradox that our postmodern freedoms are leading to an embrace of sexual subordination. Because Roiphe’s modernist assertions of individual responsibility often clash with postmodern feminists’ more nuanced understanding of how cultural and social forces shape us, her analysis was largely dismissed as just another of her potshots against contemporary feminism. But she’s picking up something about female agency that I’ve had on my radar for a while, something women need to think about deeply: Why, when the women’s movement aimed to liberate us from being sexually objectified and degraded in a male-dominant culture, are so many women objectifying and degrading themselves?

Feminists get their knickers in a twist, as they say in the UK, whenever anyone dares to question a women’s right to choose whatever she wants to choose — particularly in the bedroom. Culturally mandated chastity, modesty and marriage were the means of controlling women’s reproductive lives and their sexuality between the 17th and early 20th centuries. The “Sexual Revolution” of the 1960s and the second wave of the women’s movement were deeply intertwined, and for complex reasons, sexual freedom became the sine qua non of women’s liberation. I show how free I am by flaunting the taboos that cloistered women’s sexuality for hundreds of years. The funny thing is that this form of sexual-transgression-as-liberation has been going on now for fifty years, with each upcoming generation feeling that they have discovered something new. Choice is, of course, the expression of human agency; and it’s only right that women choose their own path to sexual pleasure. But at this point, I would argue that our continued focus on sexual agency is a distraction.

Choice is a most precious capacity. It makes us human. It’s not simply about preferences — soup or salad, flats or heels, top or bottom. Human agency, expressed through our creative engagement with choice, is how we expand the measure of freedom that we have as human beings. Through it, we can define new potentials and pathways in culture. The capacity for creative agency through choice is what has enabled human beings to thrive and will be the only thing that will enable life to develop further here on Earth. Expressing sexual agency — doing whatever the f— we want to do — has little to do with stretching our capacities toward anything new or significant. It should be a given, exercised in our personal lives, rather than some badge of courage. There’s nothing new there.

That’s the trouble with the ways that so many women are expressing their agency: It’s still wrapped up in the old roles of subordination and support. Sure Where to buy windows 7 key, we can if we want to — but talk about shades of grey! We may be able to wrench a few hollow laughs or cheap thrills out of those old Server 2008 Key, um, positions. But what about living in color? Wouldn’t you think, after all that women have fought for, we should begin a bigger conversation about how to exercise creative agency to change our lives and the world around us? Aren’t there more exciting, vivid and meaningful roles for us to play than the sub to some twisted guy?

Self-objectification isn’t a powerful choice to make, but the effect of trying to be seen and get attention in a mediated and pornified culture. A Ms. Magazine article by Dr. Caroline Heldman a few years back noted that psychologists were beginning to see extreme cases of self-objectification in young women in ways that impaired their motor skills. In other words, young women are so self-consciously watching themselves and managing their appearance that they don’t have enough free attention to drive a car! In the film Miss Representation Windows XP Key, Heldman explains that young women who are high self-objectifiers have little to no political agency. They are not engaged in the political process. We become Other to ourselves, constantly orienting to an Other’s intrusive gaze. Of course this is the effect of media culture — but we aren’t simply pawns to it, victims to a world of images that increasingly portrays women as porn stars or unworthy. As Ashley Judd wrote recently in a powerful essay against a media attack on her appearance:

I do not want to give my power, my self-esteem, or my autonomy, to any person, place, or thing outside myself. I thus abstain from all media about myself. The only thing that matters is how I feel about myself, my personal integrity, and my relationship with my Creator. Of course, it’s wonderful to be held in esteem and fond regard by family, friends, and community, but a central part of my spiritual practice is letting go of otheration.

Letting go of otheration is a choice of creative agency that holds the potential to liberate us in ways we cannot now imagine.

Likewise, the move to self-degradation is not a powerful, liberated choice, but another enactment of our subordination. Whether the gross out scenes in the otherwise funny Bridesmaids or the sexual humiliation in Girls, there is nothing really new or fabulously transgressive about women willingly degrading themselves for laughs or the vain hope for attention. Think: Gracie Allen or Lucille Ball. But this cuts deeper than the bubblehead or ambitious ditz. Girls is simultaneously heralded for being an inventive black comedy and for its honesty. So what does that mean about the lives of the young women that it fictionalizes? We’ve gone from grey to black — and neither is an option worth staking one’s life on. We’re looking for laughs and thrills inside the subordination that women have always inhabited — but now we women are making our beds there instead of being forced by some powerful perp.

Liberating our agency from the deep grooves cut in our consciousness from the thousands of years in which women have been attuned to the needs and desire of the dominant sex isn’t easy. But it’s possible — there are beginning to be more and more examples. We’re going to have to want to be different, to aspire to a different narrative than the sex and service that are beneath the glossy covers of the romance story. The feminist movement brought us to the point where we are free to make choices at all levels of our lives — but hasn’t yet destroyed the dominant narrative and dynamics of culture-as-it-has-been. But now, through that choice, a deeper liberation of our creative agency and autonomy is possible. Exercising our capacity for choice beyond who we have known ourselves to be as women is how we will be able to leave behind the “fifty shades of grey” in the landscape of objectification and subordination and take on the real task of building the foundation of a new culture.

Check out Dr. Elizabeth Debold in EnlightenNext’s upcoming virtual workshop, May 19 & 20, “Sex, Power, and Leadership for Women.”

News Desk: The UPA government may face heat once again from the opposition as it has given a nod to decontrol diesel prices. The government on Tuesday revealed its proposal on deregulation of diesel prices.

Informing the Parliament on Tuesday replica watches, the government said that the decision to deregulate the diesel prices has been taken in principle. However, there is no proposal at present to deregulate cooking gas LPG price in India.

Giving a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena added that the retail selling prices would be moderated to insulate the common men.

While petrol prices are determined by the oil companies replica watches, the prices for LPG replica watches, kerosene and diesel are fixed by the government, which results in high expenditure on subsidies, the minister said.

“In order to insulate the common man from the impact of rise in international oil prices and the domestic inflationary conditions, the government continues to modulate the retail selling price of diesel,” Meena added.

The decision was taken two days after the government’s chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu said that the country would witness few reforms in next six months including on subsidies, partial decontrol of diesel and FDI in retail.

SAN FRANCISCO Tattoo Guns Kits, Apr. 24, 2012 (Reuters) — Apple Inc on Tuesday reported quarterly revenue that handily beat Wall Street estimates, driven by strong demand for its iPhones and iPads Tattoo Machine Prices, sending its shares 3.5 percent higher. The company’s logo is seen on the Apple store in Washington October 6 Tattoo Kits Wholesale, 2011.REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

The consumer electronics giant said its fiscal second-quarter revenue rose to $39.2 billion, better than the average analyst estimate of $36.8 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting By Poornima Gupta; Editing by Richard Chang)

When I first moved to Calgary at 18 to pursue my Olympic dreams I had little need for a car. I had a bike and a small circle of destinations that made it relatively easy to get around. I was also student-athlete poor and had no money for an extravagant thing like a car. But as I got older and Calgary got bigger my desire to be able to go where I pleased on a moment’s notice grew. The mountains beckoned, as did shopping malls and interesting places to go.

So when my grandfather passed away and I found myself with a small sum to spend on whatever I wanted, I set out to find a good, small, reliable, used car.

I settled on a light blue 1985 Toyota Tercel hatchback. It cost me $1,350. At the time the price of gas was 44 cents per liter, and I could fill it up for $17. The tank would last me a month. Grocery shopping was a dream; I could go hiking in the mountains or toss my bike on the roof and ride wherever I wanted. I still rode my bike a lot and didn’t rely on my car too much, but just having it was akin to freedom.

I became rather attached to that little car — Herman, as my friend Dave named him. We took to calling him “The Herm” for short. He was cute, practical and would dutifully start, unplugged, with just one turn of the key on frigid winter mornings in Calgary. He seemed to have some personality, and in some odd way I felt like he reflected mine — practical, efficient, understated, humble, and at the time, frugal. He also represented my becoming an adult and reaching the threshold of making my own responsible decisions about what I wanted in my life.

I kept the car in good shape, although it rarely needed work. When it did I would take it to a local high school where I knew the automotive teacher and they would fix it up for a dime. I ran out of gas a couple of times Tattoos Ink, got a couple of flat tires and once broke the windshield wipers after a heavy snowfall, but year after year he just kept on going, doing his job of keeping me mobile.

I drove that car for almost nine years. Near the end there were a few issues that made it somewhat unsafe Tattoo Carbon Paper, like the driver’s side door no longer worked and I had to get in and out of the car on the passenger side (I did this for nearly a year), and it got to the point where a) my Dad didn’t want me driving it anymore and b) I’d saved up enough money to replace it with something better.

There was a tinge of sadness in my heart as I said goodbye to The Herm. I dropped him off at the junkyard for scraps and in return received a voucher for $300 toward a new bike. This eventually became my touring bike, which I christened The Herm Reincarnate.

That spring of 2006 I went to a car dealership and bought a brand new Honda Fit. I once swore I would never buy a new car, but I easily broke that rule by justifying to myself that I would do it once and drive the car until the end of time.

I tried to think of a name for it but nothing ever came to me. This car had zero personality. And while it had a nice stereo, with FM radio no less, air conditioning and power steering, it felt boring and utilitarian. Meanwhile, Calgary continued to expand at a blistering pace, and sitting in traffic was increasingly common.

Six years went by before I topped the 35,000 kilometer mark on the odometer. My boyfriend and I had moved in together, and both of our cars were sitting in the parking lot 95 percent of the time. We started biking more and discovered the benefits of public transit. Increasingly Tattoo Kits On Sale, the justification for keeping my car weakened.

I no longer felt that this car reflected who I was, that instead it represented all of the things I didn’t want in my life. It drained my hard-earned dollars and left me feeling like a caged animal stuck in the now-routine Calgary traffic jams. It was the opposite of what I wanted — it was stifling, expensive, inefficient, and unnecessary.

After some contemplation, like nearly a year’s worth, I finally made the decision to sell the car that had no name. I got about half of what I paid for it six years ago, and I put every penny into a huge lump sum mortgage payment. I will save $90 a month in insurance and $45 in gas. That adds up to saving $1620 a year.

This time there was no tinge of sadness as I watched the new owner drive away with my car. I will admit to a few moments of panic when I irrationally suspected that the bank draft he gave me was forged (it wasn’t) — but no sadness. It was more a feeling of relief, like my life had just become simpler.

The best part about having one car less is that in many instances it eliminates choice. I can no longer choose between bike and car, my only option is bike. It’s no longer possible to cop out and resort to the “easier, faster” option (although that is mostly a fallacy) of driving. It’s odd how I feel the same sense of freedom now that I did 15 years ago when I bought that first car.

While we are not car-free we are one car less. It will require some creative planning from time to time, but for the most part I don’t think we’ll notice the difference. Unless you count less time sitting in traffic, more time outside on our bikes and more money in the bank. We might notice that.

For more by Kristina Groves, click here.

For more on mindfulness, click here.

As President Obama’s support for gay marriage reverberates around the world, the country’s top elected Republican made clear that he still believes marriage should be limited to one man and one woman.

“I have always believed that marriage was between a man and a woman,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio DKNY Clothing sale, told Fox Business in an interview this afternoon.

The speaker suggested the reignited debate over gay marriage is a distraction to other legislative business on Capitol Hill, especially considering the state of the economy.

“Republicans here on Capitol Hill are focused in on the economy Herve Leger sale,” he said. “The American people are still asking the question, ‘Where are the jobs?’ and our focus is going to continue to be on the economy like it has been for the last year and a half.”

Asked whether he would support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, Boehner punted, explaining that Republicans continue to focus “on the economy and getting the American people back to work.”

“I haven’t really seen this proposal [on a constitutional amendment],” Boehner answered. “All I know is that this is a very controversial issue in our country, but most people believe that marriage is a union of a man and a woman.”

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Kia Pop Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

When the Paris Motor Show opens up next month, Kia will roll out a new battery powered commuter concept.

Thus far, Kia has only released a few details about its door-stop-shaped Pop Concept, including its sub-10-foot length and its three-seat layout. Interestingly, Kia has gone with a bench with the driver on the left rather than a central driver layout like the Gordon Murray-designed T.25. For a tiny car like this, it would seem like putting the driver in the middle would be more space efficient, allowing the driver to be shifted forward between the front wheels for better legroom. Perhaps Kia is going for a more traditional motoring experience Tattoo Supplies, however, or they may have some other spacial tricks up their sleeves.

Either way Tattoo Supplies, it’s too early to tell if the Pop EV concept is a precursor of Kia’s future styling, but this is certainly a different look. Check out the images in our high-res gallery below and visit the jump for the Korean automaker’s official press release.

Related GalleryParis 2010: Kia Pop concept
[Source: Kia]

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Hyundai won several awards for its 2009 marketing efforts Buy Marc Jacobs Dresses, in large part on the basis of its Hyundai Assurance program. The program began as a way to get reluctant customers back into showrooms to at least consider buying a new car in spite of the fact that many people were justifiably terrified of losing their jobs. By promising to take back a car if a customer lost their income Marc Jacobs Dresses sale, they managed to keep sales going while other companies were tanking.

That program has been extended to at least the end of 2010 and Hyundai is now adding free roadside assistance to the mix. The Korean automaker has already been offering a fully transferable five year full vehicle warranty and will now offer help to customers who can’t make it back to the dealership. The program offers the usual suite of assistance that you would get from AAA including lockout aid Herve Leger sale, flat tire replacement Buy DKNY Clothes, towing Chloe Dresses sale, jump starts and bringing you some gas if you run out. The roadside assistance is free for five years.

Related Gallery2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
[Source: Hyundai]

2011 Chevrolet Captiva – Click above for high-res image gallery

General Motors has announced that it will be pulling back the sheets on a refreshed version of its high-riding Chevrolet Captiva at the upcoming Paris Motor Show. The crossover will wear a new look for the first time since it was introduced in 2006, complete with the Bowtie’s corporate grille and headlight design. Behind the fresh face are a total of four new engine options Cheap Bandage dresses, including a direct-injection 3.0-liter V6 with 258 horsepower, two 2.0-liter turbo-diesel mills and a 171-horsepower Discount Christian Audigier Clothes, 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. All of those will be bolted to either a six-speed automatic or manual transmission.

The 2011 Captiva will also feature a few other safety-oriented niceties Cheap DKNY Clothing, including hill-start assist Discount White Herve leger, electronic stability control Replica Missoni Dresses, traction control and braking assist Christian Audigier Clothes sale, all as standard equipment.

GM says that it will be unveiling a total of four new or refreshed models at the Paris Motor Show, including the showcar version of the 2011 Chevrolet Aveo. The Paris Motor Show gets underway starting on October 2 and we’ll be there to give you the fully skinny. Hit the jump for the full press release on the 2011 Chevrolet Captiva.

Related Gallery2011 Chevrolet Captiva
[Source: General Motors]

Slate’s chief political correspondent, John Dickerson, is reporting from Iowa this week, three weeks before the caucuses on Jan. 3. In addition to his stories, he’ll be filing Twitter updates and dispatches about life on the road. You can also follow his travels on the map below.Also, check out all the candidates’ whereabouts on Map the Candidates.

Twitter Updates follow me on Twitter

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Dec. 14, 2007

Des Moines, Iowa, airport: 6:30 a.m. CT. Do flight attendants play good cop, bad cop? I’ve found in my travels recently that on each plane there’s one Nice One and one Mean One. Unlike air marshals, they are easy to identify. The Nice One has all of the warm impulses we recognize from the books about manners that we read to our children. The Mean One has a heart like the in-flight snacks—dry Buy White Herve leger, shriveled, and overly salted.

Today Discount Herve Leger gown, while leaving Iowa for a couple of days, I ran afoul of the Mean One as I scrambled on to the plane right before they closed the door. I was filing a story about the last Democratic debate and sent it just as Northwest officials were issuing the second page over the loudspeaker. (They probably could have guessed that the frantic guy typing was the joker they were paging, but they paged anyway.) In another forum, I would like someone to explain to me how I can harness the efficiency, initiative, and passion airline personnel deploy when insisting passengers rush to the jetway (so we can stand in line for 10 minutes) and have them apply all of that competence toward baggage handling and customer service.

When I got into the plane, a couple of people stood in line at the doorway. So, I was not late, let’s be clear about that. I was, however, a hurried mess Replica Herve Leger gown, trailing my scarf, newspapers, and headphones. I was hugging my coat rather than carrying it. This was a moment to take pity on me. If I were on a sidewalk, someone would have given me a coupon for the mission. Yet Mean One did no such thing. She charged me with holding up the departure Cheap Bandage dresses, offered no assistance with my blossoming chaos, and ordered me to zip up my backpack.

I searched the overhead bins while I waited for the other passengers to find their seats. They were all full. Because Mean One was pressing her case Replica Bandage dresses, and because I’m a pleaser, I dove into my seat with everything. Then we sat for 10 minutes at the gate. We didn’t move. The captain was filling out paperwork. I couldn’t move if I wanted to because I had accomplished some kind of record fitting myself, my papers, and my computer into what airlines euphemistically call a seat.

Then along came the Nice One. She took my coat and my blazer, offered meaningless but pleasing chitchat, and generally spread her cheer throughout the land. She is my candidate for president. (permalink)

Dec. 13, 2007

Johnston, Iowa, 3:00 p.m. CT. “We’ve got to make a path for spin,” says the woman in the lime-green sweater set after the Democratic debate. She’s pushing back the throng of reporters, photographers, and cameramen with her arms and lower back as if she’s trying to get a rebound under the boards. It’s not working, particularly because the Asian and French press are so pushy. (Qu’est-ce que c’est ce path de spin?!)

The PBS station has not enlarged the space for the spin room, and today there are more press and more spinners than during the GOP debate. Once the lane is cleared, no one wants to go first for the cameras. Joe Trippi, working for John Edwards, stands just at the trailhead of the path but won’t go in. Then the spinners for the other campaigns start piling up on each other. The Clinton folks are pushing what they say was Obama’s weak answer on a question about the farm bill. The Obama people are happy to answer question after question after question about remarks made by one of Clinton’s supporters in New Hampshire about Obama’s drug use, because they know Clinton takes the hit for being a negative campaigner more than Obama does for his drug use.

 I lean over to a top adviser for one of the front-runner campaigns and ask, “Did anything change at all today because of this debate?” He whispers back, “Absolutely not.” My view, too. Now, let’s see if I can come up with 500 words about a debate that changed nothing. I’ve just gotten word it’s not being promoted on Slate’s home page Discount Herve Leger gown, which suddenly makes me thankful for loony Alan Keyes, who turned yesterday’s similarly sedate GOP debate into enough of a freak show that it gave the story a little zest. (permalink)

Johnston, Iowa, 1 p.m. CT. Yesterday Alan Keyes was lighting his hair on fire, and today it’s the supporters for the Democratic candidates who are going completely bonkers. Hillary’s team has raised a mechanical platform high above the crowd. The Obama forces appear to have turned out in slightly greater numbers. People are banging thunder sticks and pushing and shoving, and amplified music blares. A gargantuan “JOE” sign has been erected. It could be seen from a rescue plane.

Yesterday’s debate was the most panned debate in the history of presidential debates. We’ll see if today’s is any better. (permalink)

Dec. 12, 2007

West Des Moines, Iowa, 5 p.m. CT. Mike Huckabee has just concluded a thoughtful 45-minute presentation on health care in America. At its center was an intellectual tour through three generational public-policy campaigns against litter, in favor of seat belts, and against smoking. As he explained the oddity of asking a mechanic to install a seat belt in a car in Arkansas in the 1960s, he put on the accent of a car mechanic and suddenly he turned into Cooter. (Who, by the way, is supporting John Edwards.)

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Afterward, at a press conference, he turned into Shecky Hucklebee, the quipping jokester. (I would call him Shecklebee, but it’s the kind of thing a wise editor would strip from the piece; since I’m not being edited [clearly] I’m pulling my punches.)

Q: “Why are you rising in Iowa?” (asked a foreign reporter)

A: “Because the voters of Iowa are very smart.”

Q: “Were you expecting to get attacked at the debate?”

A: “We had a full paramedic kit backstage.” (permalink)

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Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos came well-prepared for the job: Previously, he had served as his country’s finance minister, foreign trade minister, and, most recently, defense minister under his predecessor, Álvaro Uribe. But while Uribe centered Colombia’s foreign policy around an alliance with the United States Where to buy Replica Breitling Watches, Santos has maintained good relations with Washington yet also kept some distance Replica Titoni Watches for sale, becoming more of an independent player in Latin America. Santos, who has been in office slightly more than a year and who enjoys a strong domestic approval rating at 71 percent, sat down last week with Washington Post senior associate editor Lally Weymouth in Bogota. Excerpts of their conversation:

L.W.: It is said that you are repositioning Colombia, that President Uribe focused only on America and that you are repositioning your country and making it much more [of] a force in your own hemisphere. Is that so?

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J.M.S.: Yes, it is a correct analysis but I want to be very clear: It is with the U.S. I personally have always been a good friend of the U.S. I am and will continue to be. I was educated there and for me, having strategic good relations with the U.S. is of the utmost importance. But I think they are not mutually exclusive, to have good relations with your neighbors and with the U.S.

L.W.: You have warmed up relations with Venezuela Buy Cheap Replica Chopard Watches, which were almost at an end under President Uribe.

J.M.S.:  Yes, they were not almost at an end—they were at an end. We had no diplomatic relations, no trade. The only discussions we had were through the media, and we were talking about war, which is inconceivable. So I decided to have cordial and cooperative relations not just with Venezuela, but also with Ecuador, a country with which we also had no relations. What we decided is that it is in our interest to have a region that is not on the verge of war.

L.W.: Venezuela was Colombia’s No. 2 trading partner before relations broke off, but that trade level hasn’t been restored, correct?

J.M.S.:  No, it will never go back with the regime that we have in Venezuela. They don’t believe in free trade; it’s as simple as that. I negotiated the free-trade agreement 20 years ago with Venezuela. The trade went from $300 million to $7 billion, and then it went back to zero, because we had no trade. We are restoring it, but on a different basis, because they don’t trade freely.

L.W.: There have been allegations that under President Uribe, the Department of Administrative Services was wiretapping Supreme Court members Replica Tonino Lamborghini Watches, reporters, and union leaders. What did you know about the DAS when you were minister of defense under Uribe?

J.M.S.:  My answer is very clear and very simple: I had no knowledge about the DAS making illegal tapping, and I never received from President Uribe even a suggestion [of] our intelligence [being] used for political purposes like the ones that the DAS was allegedly making.

L.W.: The Washington Post reported this week that some U.S. assistance to Colombia may haven been diverted from fighting the FARC to conducting this wiretapping.

When I heard for the first time about this scandal … I was in Washington about two years ago at the CIA. My point here is that never did U.S. officials or U.S. intelligence agencies ever have any participation in this illegal tapping that I know of. I am sure that if they had known that, they would have denounced it. That was my experience with U.S. officials and U.S. intelligence agencies.

They were involved with the DAS in the sense that the CIA has always helped the DAS, but that does not mean they have helped them to do illegal things. The intelligence agencies in the U.S. have helped all our intelligence services, but that in no way means that they are accomplices in anything illegal.

L.W.: The Post storyindicated that because Colombia received U.S. intelligence resources, they were able to do the tapping more effectively.

Then the sense of the story is completely different. Because we were trained by the U.S. and some of the people decided to use that knowledge to tap illegally Replica Dolce & Gabbana Watches for sale, you cannot conclude that the U.S. aid has been used for illegal purposes.

With all due respect to the Washington Post, which I admire very much, I think this story is not an objective story. To say that the aid instead of going to the FARC went to illegal tapping is a tremendous injustice and not true.

L.W.: Is President Uribe under investigation?

J.M.S.:  No. He is not under investigation.

L.W.: How is the financial crisis in the U.S. and in Europe affecting your country?

J.M.S.:  Fortunately, the financial crisis of 2008 did not hit us as hard as other countries. Since 10 years ago—when we had our big crisis—we started to develop ways to protect ourselves from the international financial crises. Our financial system was very strong in 2008 and today is even stronger. We are protecting ourselves with monetary measures and by strengthening our financial system and by starting to speak to the region to see how we can confront this crisis multilaterally.

L.W.: And what have you decided?

J.M.S.:  The ministers of finance of the region got together and decided to strengthen the regional financial institutions, like the Corporación Andina de Fomento [the Andean Development Corporation ]. They also decided to strengthen the regional reserve funds and to start talking to each other and the central banks to see what type of additional measures could be taken to protect the region, which is growing—in contrast to the U.S. and Europe. We are exploring if we can increase intraregional trade, because we are afraid that demand from the traditional consuming countries, like Europe and the U.S. Replica Ebel Watches, might come down.

I hope we don’t have a double dip.

L.W.: Do you think you will?

J.M.S.:  I hope we don’t. And I certainly hope that politics does not interfere in the rational decisions that the U.S. and Europe should take in order to get out of this situation.

L.W.: So you are talking about the EU financial crisis and the recent U.S. debt-ceiling crisis? And Republicans and Democrats fighting?

J.M.S.:  Yes, this is something that is contributing to the uncertainty of the financial centers and markets. In many ways, it is more than an economic crisis—it is a political crisis. The polarization that the world has seen in the U.S. Congress is causing a lot of uncertainty.

L.W.: What will your growth rate be this year?

J.M.S.:  If the outside situation doesn’t worsen this year, we should grow over 5 percent.

L.W.: How do you see your future with China?

J.M.S.:  Right now it is our No. 2 trading partner. But we don’t want to depend too much on China.

L.W.: The U.S. is your No. 1 trading partner?

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