Now you see it, Now you don't (Ken)

Finishing up the backlog here--got behind while Charlie was in town.

A while back, El Presidente Jorge W Bush, was in the neighborhood and -- well let's just say Argentina and the Kirchners were not in his travel plans. His Latin-America-thorn-in-the-side, Hugo Chavez, shadowed Bush throughout the region holding protest rallies. These were only moderately-attended affairs and, I reluctantly have to say Bush may have left the region scoring more points than were scored against him. Evidence of this is the grafitti that appeared near my apartment was removed within 48 hours of its appearance. Other grafitti on other topics remains all over the city, but the anti-Bush stuff, it was scrubbed clean. In Recoleta, anyway, Now-you-see-it-now-you-don't.

Vonage is in a bit of bind and that is making many expats nervous who rely on this service to transact business in the USA while living in Buenos Aires. Vonage allows them to have a USA local phone number that rings right here in Buenos Aires. It is local call for their customer, and the customer is none-the-wiser that he is doing business with someone in Argentina--or the rest of the world for that matter. However, all that may be coming to an end as a federal judge issued an order for the company to cease this service under patent infringement law. Vonage stock dropped. After having a 52 week high of 0ver $17 it fell to under $3 on the news. It's not looking good for all those expat Vonage users. Now-you-see-it-now-you-don't.


Finally, my lifeline to the English-speaking world was severed this week when my cable provider unceremoniously deleted from its lineup CNN International and BBC World News--my only two English language TV news sources. All I have left now is the Internet and the Buenos Aires Herald. It's not the same.
Where I am I going get my up-to-the-minute Cricket scores now?

Now-you-see-it-now-you-don't.



Damn, now I'll never find out what happens to Anna Nicole's baby !