A mentira tem perna curta

Brasilians have a proverb, "A mentira tem perna curta," meaning literally, "A lie has short legs," and rather than trying to prejudice short people, I think it is putting out the notion that with short legs a lie won't get far - optimistic I would say, but nevermind

before watching these videos of his speech, which is a barn-burner in my opinion, it might be useful to know that after Lula took power in 2003 some people changed the proverb to "A mentira tem perna curta, língua presa, barba branca e um dedo a menos," literally, "A lie has short legs, speaks with a lisp, has a white beard, and is missing a finger," which is not a bad description of Lula

anyway, here are two videos of his speech on December 18 in Copenhagen, less than 10 minutes each, with english sub-titles,
part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQzVjDp5WA8.
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGx8Ku08L_c.

here is the original at the COP15 site: http://www1.cop15.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop15/templ/play.php?id_kongressmain=1&theme=cop15&id_kongresssession=2720, and I have laid it out in parallel translation here: http://whoami-whoareyou.blogspot.com/2009/12/and-his-name-shall-be-called-wonderful.html.

this seems to me to be the nut of it right here, "Eu não sei ... Se a gente não conseguiu fazer até agora esse documento, eu não sei se algum anjo ou algum sábio descerá neste plenário e irá colocar na nossa cabeça a inteligência que nos faltou até a hora de agora. Não sei. Eu acredito, como eu acredito em Deus, eu acredito em milagre, ele pode acontecer, e quero fazer parte dele." / "I don't know ... If we have not succeeded in creating this document until now, I don't know if some angel or some wise man will descend into this meeting room and will put into our heads the intelligence that we have been missing until this very hour. I do not know. I believe, as I believe in God, I believe in miracles, it could happen, and I want to be a part of it."

in the news today I noticed that he has passed the law, but with three pieces of it removed - not a good sign but I am still trying to understand exactly what these excised pieces may mean ...

also to remember that the 38% reduction he talks about is based on 2005 not 1990 levels, so it is weasel talk from the outset to some extent, on the other hand Brasil's emissions have not grown at quite the rate of say, Canada's, since 1990 either, so his ambitions are about twice those of the Canadians

in the end all I know is that listening to this speech, more than a few times, gives me a tiny measure of hope, it makes me weep, maybe it just reminds me of the happy times I had in Brasil years past, but also, these words seem to me to be coming from a guy who is probably no worse than me - I believe in God too, and in miracles, we sure need some miracles, one miracle, whatever

be well, David.