Sorry we've been away for a few days here. A combination of computer problems, family responsibilities over the weekend, and lack of any desire to go find an Internet cafe and leave my comfortable home made it difficult to post. Don't worry, nothing really important happened.

The Socialist Party is right. I'll bet you've never heard me say this before, and you'll probably never hear me say it again, but the PP is completely nuts on the subject of the March 11, 2004 bombings. I understand perfectly well why the PP jumped to the conclusion that ETA was behind the bombings; I did, too. I also believe that the PP's error was an honest mistake. But we were wrong. It was Al Qaeda. There are enormous mountains of evidence proving so, including the mass suicide in the apartment in Leganes. What the PP is looking for, though, is some evidence of some kind of conspiracy between Al Qaeda and ETA, and they're clutching at anything that seems slightly suspicious and trying to blow it up into a big deal. The PP is trying to prove it was right about ETA being behind the bombings after all, and I have seen no credible evidence that ETA was in any way involved.

See, two years later, they still haven't accepted that the Socialists beat them fair and square according to the democratic rules previously decided upon and accepted by all. No, if not for the bombings Zapatero would not have been elected. Yes, the conduct of the PSOE and its pet media, including El Pais, Radio Ser, and TV3, was scandalous in the aftermath of the bombings. No, none of that invalidates the result of the March 14, 2004 election.

Look, people, in any major plot like this one there are going to be little things that don't quite add up. The investigation is never going to be perfect. Now, I see nothing at all wrong with continuing to investigate and trying to tie up the remaining loose ends. But there is something wrong with assuming that every unresolved loose end shows bad faith on the part of the Socialists or, even worse, the police and the legal system.

Have you seen the new Equality Act that the Zapatero administration is trying to run through? First, it's going to establish an undemocratic quota system within government institutions, requiring a minimum 40% participation by women on electoral lists and in top administration posts. No, that's wrong, a political party should be able to decide who it wants on its lists with no interference from the state. In addition, measures will be taken to guarantee "equality" in the civil service. I think that means quotas will be established, and those who do the best on the civil service exam will not necessarily get the job. Goodbye meritocracy, which is supposed to be the basis for public employment.  And, get this, that 40% quota will also apply to corporate boards of directors. Here's the state intervening in the business of private companies telling them who they can put in charge. Schools will be required to teach about equality, along with the Alliance of Civilizations, condom placement technique, peace studies, radical environmentalism, and doctrinaire anti-Semitism, at least here in Barcelona according to a textbook supplied by the city government comparing the Israeli wall with the Nazi death camps. Maybe they'll have some time left over for math, science, and geography, though here in Catalonia they won't get much training in Spanish.

Here in Spain they call this "positive discrimination."

Some guy named Magi Camps wrote a piece in La Vanguardia last week a few days after our Sex Fabregas comment. I'm not saying the two were similar or anything. I'm just saying, where's my check?

George Clooney has been getting an enormous amount of press over here because of his brave political stances. Let's see, he did a movie against Joe McCarthy and a movie against the Iraq War. Is there anything less courageous? Everybody in America thinks Joe McCarthy was scum. Nobody but Ann Coulter will speak in his favor, and everybody, including me, thinks she's a bit nutty on the subject. And everybody who is bienpensant is against the Iraq War. Clooney is taking absolutely no risks at all. He's getting praise all around the US and the world. He hasn't offended a single one of his friends. Sure, the audience isn't interested in these movies, but they're prestige products that build up his reputation among the critics and get them ready to squirm in gushing pleasure over his next big-budget blockbuster. Yet he's lauded over here for going against the system. You dopes, Clooney himself is the system.

By the way, the Spanish press was full of conspiracy theories saying that Crash had won the best picture Oscar because Hollywood was still too conservative to give a gay movie best picture. Uh, remember Philadelphia? Wasn't that like twelve years ago? Besides, guys, you're falling for the Hollywood publicity machine, which loves to gin up controversies like this because all publicity is good publicity in the movie business. The Academy Awards are simply an industry promotional gimmick, with no more significance than the Eurovision Song Contest, and the Spanish press is just giving Hollywood free advertising with its speculations over who won what and why.

Suggested Spanish national soccer team for the World Cup: Goalie Casillas (R. Madrid), defenders Oleguer (Barcelona), Ramos (R. Madrid), Puyol (Barcelona), Del Horno (Chelsea), midfielders Xavi (Barcelona), Cesc (Arsenal), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), forwards Luis Garcia (Liverpool), Reyes (Arsenal), Villa (Valencia).

This is a very young lineup. So much the better. I prefer young players. They're fitter and hungrier than older guys. It's also an attacking lineup. Look, if we want to make the final four, we're going to have to score some goals. I think you have to choose players on the list of top twenty richest club teams in the world, since those guys have proven day in and day out that they can win a job on a major team. Guys playing for, say, Betis won't quite cut it. They don't feel the same regular competition for a slot that guys playing for Madrid or Barça or Chelsea or Arsenal do. That pressure makes players on top clubs much better performers. As substitutes, I'd use a lot of Valencia players, like Marchena, Baraja, Vicente, and Albelda.