Here's a look at today's news and some interesting tidbits.
Honduras.
It seems what Mrs. O'Grady at the Wall Street Journal calls the "Constitutional Government" is now appointing notorious Human Rights offenders to the government. In this case, a death squad commander.
You mean the bad guys really ARE bad? Who'd a thunk it?
Here also is a video with Greg Grandin, noted Latin American scholar.
Elsewhere... in Colombia.
Finding every other country in the region fairly intransigent, the US is leaning heavily on Colombia to support its drug war. Coincidentally, Colombia is still the world's leading producer of cocaine. Maybe it has something to do with their president having worked for Pablo Escobar? Ya think?
Here's an update on Obama's approach to Colombia... pretty much the same as before.
Moving along... for a chance to win absolutely nothing, can anyone guess which Latin American country is posting the highest GDP growth?
Anyone?
Here's a hint.
Thanks to Bolivia's first brown president the country is completely paid off to the IMF and no longer requesting loans for the first time in.... I think ever.
This group of smart, dorky hotties is led by their commander in yum... Adriana F. Gascoigne
Adriana is the Director of Global Communications for SGN. She makes games people.
And I love her.
I have always been a strong proponent of girl dorkiness. Thankfully my efforts are not in vain as it seems a tide of estrogen infused dorkiness is begining to sweep its way over the net.
Like these girls right here. This clips starts off a little boring but eventually becomes one of the coolest things you've ever seen.
First off, it seems that yet another agent of the nefarious Goldman-Sachs group has infiltrated our government. This time it's Goldman-Sachs Vice Chairman Robert Hormats who is to be the State Department's undersecretary for economic, energy and agricultural affairs. Not only do they get bail outs but they get sweet government jobs?
Government Of the Greedy... By the Greedy... For the Greedy.
Full story here at the good ole Wall Street Journal.
And Lastly, in our international spotlight... Poland.
It seems that not all of Europe is as progressive as they would like the world to think, despite their fancy berets and unshaven legs. Poland it seems is still a deeply catholic nation. A recent survey found that when it comes to Gay adoption some 87% of the population is opposed.
Today I would like to take a little time to look over the crusty Donkey Dick that passes for Journalism being shoved up the asses of the American people.
Due to the deaths of a few famous people, articles and coverage over important things seems to be lacking. I say this referring to the amount of coverage and not the quality of it as it is generally atrocious regardless.
The big news item that has been on my reading list has been the military coup in Honduras. In case you are unfamiliar with coups it’s basically when a bunch of shitty bastards decide they don’t like their government leader and take it upon themselves to oust that leader and replace them with someone of their choosing. In Honduras, it is the removal of a democratically elected leader in favor of an appointed one. In other words, it is the destruction of a democracy.
In Spanish it is referred to as a “Golpe de Estado,” a “blow against the state.” Those who carry it out are called “Golpistas” or if you prefer. “Those that blow.”
Latin America is no stranger to military coups. From 1960 to 1973 alone thirteen Latin American countries had constitutional governments overthrown and replaced by military juntas. A look back at these coups and their resulting governments yields a pretty obvious pattern. The new governments are repressive. They restrict rights, crackdown on dissent with varying levels of violence and generally ban elections and other forms of popular participation. In Argentina the military junta went so far as to arrest as many history professors and teachers as they could find. Often, these people were never heard from again.
The long and the short of it is that coups… are fucking awful.
This is the lesson that can be drawn from recent history. And it is a very obvious lesson at that.
With today’s impressive technology and media coverage surely we will get a good picture of what’s going on in Honduras right?
A quality news outlet like the Wall Street Journal is bound to have some insightful knowledge on the matter.
Here’s an opinion piece by one Mary O’Grady at The Wall Street Journal, a stellar example of what the major media outlets have to offer.
Mmmm… delicious. Just from the title you can tell that this is going to have little to do with Honduras and more with attacking people that miss O’Grady doesn’t care for. But also consider the title...”Honduras defends its democracy!”… implying that it is in fact the people of Honduras who have ousted their own democratically elected President.
But anyways… let’s see what Hacksaw O’Grady has to say… (with commentary from me of course)
Line 1
“Hugo Chávez's coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation's constitution.”....
Hugo Chavez? I thought this was about Honduras?
Moving on…
“It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking.
But Honduras is not out of the Venezuelan woods yet. Yesterday the Central American country was being pressured to restore the authoritarian Mr. Zelaya by the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Hillary Clinton and, of course, Hugo himself. The Organization of American States, having ignored Mr. Zelaya's abuses, also wants him back in power. It will be a miracle if Honduran patriots can hold their ground.”
At this point I realized that the article was worthless. This is not news, this is propaganda. It’s the Kool-Aid they want you to drink. To put it another way, it is a deliberate attempt to misinform the public. You can tell as much by what is being said, as by what is being left out.
What O’Grady is failing to mention is that NOT A SINGLE COUNTRY IN THE WORLD has expressed approval of the coup. The situation in Honduras has been denounced by everyone. EVERYONE! The European Union has withdrawn its ambassadors. The World Bank has suspended its loans to Honduras. The OAS has suspended Honduras’ membership in the Organization, with overwhelming support of leaders like Lula Da Silva in Brazil and Michelle Bachelet in Chile as well as even the staunch right leader’s of Mexico and Colombia. Fucking Alvaro Uribe (Colombia) is denouncing the coup.
But telling you the truth is not what this article is about. What’s important for O’Grady is that you know that Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez want President Zelaya reinstated. In propaganda terms, it’s an attempt to vilify someone by association.
So what was Zelaya’s crime exactly?
“That Mr. Zelaya acted as if he were above the law, there is no doubt. While Honduran law allows for a constitutional rewrite, the power to open that door does not lie with the president. A constituent assembly can only be called through a national referendum approved by its Congress.
But Mr. Zelaya declared the vote on his own and had Mr. Chávez ship him the necessary ballots from Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do.”
You know what… why even listen to this bitch? Let’s see if we can’t find out for ourselves shall we?
(Rummage… rummage… rummage…)
Here it is!
The actual legal document detailing the Honduran Supreme Court’s decision. (in Spanish)
Now I’ll be honest… I did not read most of this. Frankly… legal documents are horribly tedious and nightmarish to read. But I did read some of it, enough to better understand what nonsense is going on.
The situation as I understand it is thus…
Zelaya wanted to run for re-election. The law (constitution) says that he can’t. Zelaya then decides he wants to have a vote to amend the constitution to allow for re-election. Again the Supreme Court says “No,” only Congress can call a vote to amend the Constitution. Also stated explicitly in the document is that such a referendum called by the President would have no legal standing regardless of the vote. Either way Zelaya decided that he was going to have a vote anyways and started getting ballots to hand out to the common folk.
Just to be clear, what is illegal is not the vote itself. It is the calling of a referendum on the matter that is unconstitutional. Also, there is the matter of the ballots themselves. The “vote” would have no legal standing. It would basically just end up as a survey of sorts. One can only assume that Pres. Zelaya must have figured that the people would support him.
Turns out… they kinda did. (Gasp!)
So what does any good patriot do in the face of the popular will? CRUSH IT!!!
You’re out Zelaya!!!
So in the face of these circumstances, the Supreme court of Honduras ordered the removal of Zelaya from office. Which consequently… is unconstitutional. But nevermind that. As O’Grady puts it…
“Honduras is fighting back by strictly following the constitution.”
Strictly following the constitution is it?
Humf!
How’s this for an idea… (from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs)
“If Honduras is to grow peacefully out of the morass it now finds itself in and become a stronger nation in the process, the relevant actors must stand down from their calcified positions, letting the law do what it must and do away with the de facto Potemkin democracy. Manuel Zelaya must return to the office he was elected to serve, Micheletti’s Interim Government must be dismantled, and the Armed Forces should guarantee the safety of all, with many of its senior commanders required to retire. Immediately afterward, the Honduran courts ought to protect justice by enforcing the law and impeaching some of their colleagues for breaking it. When Manuel Zelaya is adjudged, he must be given a fair and transparent hearing for the alleged 18 crimes he committed prior to June 28.. But so too should the architects of the coup. Compromise and dialogue are necessities at this point, and they must take place so that the Republic of Honduras can come out of these trying times as a coherent and lawful state and make it to the November 29 elections in one piece.”
That actually seems reasonable doesn’t it?
Truth is… Zelaya was absolutely trying to strong-arm a referendum. If he hadn’t broken the law he was sure bending it. But in the interest of fairness, what he wanted was to give people a vote on something that the Law said they couldn’t vote on. There are certainly worse things in the world than giving people a vote. While it is unclear in the documents that he sought to allow for re-election, I’m pretty sure he would have. Either way, the problem isn’t the Court’s objection to Zelaya’s actions, it’s the method they used to deal with it. They ousted him, unconstitutionally, and replaced him with an unelected leader.
The right course of action is as was stated above … if he did something illegal, then you bring charges against him and have a trial
THAT is the rule of law
Also omitted in O’Grady’s rendition of the truth…
…school’s across Honduras have been shut down since the coup do to what amounts to a general strike by the teachers of Honduras until Zelaya is returned to office
… military imposed curfews
… censorship of television and radio stations like CNN and telesur (essentially blocked)
… arresting of reporters
… suspension of constitutional rights of assembly
… suspension of Habeus Corpus
… suspension of other constitutional rights including free passage.
… violent crackdowns on protestors
… removal from office of not just the president but his entire cabinet as well as various municipal leaders around the country. i.e. political purges....
Basically, the standard grab bag of oppressive activities favored by coup plotters.
If it walks like a duck….....
Unfortunately, journalistic integrity suffered yet another blow as O’Grady was not quite done. She has it in her a second opinion, even less useful than the first.....
Honduras at the Tipping Point: Why is the U.S. not supporting the rule of law?
God I hate her.
I hate her so much.
This article, or op-ed, is quite frankly an exercise in depravity wherein O’Grady proceeds to spin, obfuscate and outright lie about loads of things she knows nothing about.....
She begins… by pointing out that hundreds of Hondurans sent her emails thanking her for her article.....
Again she is ignoring the fact that Zelaya in fact has substantial support in Honduras. Then again, that support comes from the poor… who probably aren’t reading the Wall Street Journal online as they DON’T FUCKING SPEAK ENGLISH!!!! And certainly aren’t perusing the online columns of the Wall Street Journal are their non-existent internet connection!!!....
The rest of the article is about all the reasons that Mary “Hacksaw” O’Grady hates Chavez and how Chavez is basically the mastermind behind everything in Latin America.....
Again, she goes into her spin calling into question the legitimacy of Chavez’ rule and the 2004 election. ....
“Venezuelan patriots begged for help from the outside world. Instead, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, Roger Noriega, and the OAS blessed the charade.”....
Never mind that every poll done on Venezuela shows that Chavez enjoys massive support in his home country. Never mind that the election of 2004 in Venezuela was arguably the most well observed election in memory or that Venezuelans are routinely shown to be one of the only peoples who express satisfaction with their government. Never mind that not a single international agency discredited the fucking election!!!
No. No. Chavez is a dictator. And we “appeased” him by not overthrowing him in 2004.
Can you be anymore contemptuous of democracy?
The very idea that Democracy should be destroyed in the name of Democracy is absurd to the point of obscenity.
Does no one ever think that it might be a good idea, as a journalist, to go and fucking ask people in the country what they think? You know… asking Latin Americans about Latin America?
Here’s a blog from Honduras (in Spanish) that is very unflattering of the new regime.
http://hondurasresistencia.blogspot.com/
(That’s “Honduras resistance” fyi)
Here is another blog where the opinions of the Hondurans have been translated into English.....
http://hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com/
Here’s the page to the Council on Hemispheric affairs, with opinions by people who’s job it is to study these things.....
How about asking Venezuelans about Venezuela? What is Chavez like from their prospective?
(I urge all of you to watch this video as it illustrates just how nefarious the media can be and how striking the difference is between what is reported and what is actually true. If you get nothing else from this blog... watch the video.)
I mean with all the access that these fuckers have you’d think that the least they could do is check their facts? Are we really to believe that these are just honest mistakes?....
Just who the fuck is this Mary O’Grady person? (…aside from someone who lacks any shred of decency or moral fiber that is.)....
Mary Anastasia O'Grady is a member of The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board and editor of the "Americas," a weekly column that appears every Monday in the Journal and deals with politics, economics and business in Latin America and Canada.
Ms. O'Grady joined the paper in August 1995 and became a senior editorial page writer in December 1999. She became a member of the Editorial Board in 2005. She previously worked as an options strategist, first for Advest Inc. and then for Thomson McKinnon Securities in 1983. She moved to Merrill Lynch & Co. in 1984 as an options strategist and was also a product manager and a sales manager for Merrill Lynch Canada and Merrill Lynch International during her 10 years with the company.
In 1997 Ms. O'Grady won the Inter American Press Association's Daily Gleaner Award for editorial commentary, and in 1999 she received an honorable mention in IAPA's opinion award category. In 2005 she won the Bastiat Prize for journalism, which honors writers who promote the institutions of a free society.
Ms. O'Grady, who was born in Bryn Mawr, Pa., received a bachelor's degree in English from Assumption College and an M.B.A. in financial management from Pace University.
Holy crap this bitch got an award!!!!
Ridiculous.
So what’s her qualification exactly?
She has a degree in English and an MBA in financial Management. She has spent her life working for Advest, inc (subsidiary of Merril Lynch) and then Merrill Lynch.
Clearly, this makes her an expert on Latin American affairs. Kinda like how my background in historical research qualifies me to give expert opinions on the worthiness of rocket fuel efficiency used by the space shuttle.
Moreover, how is it that all these people in the investment and securities business keep popping up as “Journalists” or “Advisors” or even Secretary of the Treasury?
And notice how it’s always Op-Ed journalism? This is why I don’t like to read Op-Ed pieces. There is absolutely no requisite whatsoever to make any attempt to be honest or even have any clue whatsoever about what you’re talking about. Fuckin Wikipedia is a better source than this.
These fuckers are Trojan horses for the interests of the wicked. If ya wanna have fun investigating, go have a look see at what kind of holdings Merril Lynch and its subsidiaries have in Latin America and how leaders like Zelaya affect those assets.
If you REALLY want to get good information… my advice is to spread out your sources. Never take one source as gospel. And DON’T read big media Op-Ed pieces!!! If ya want an opinion, look for people who actually specialize in the topic you’re interested in.
Articles like ones written by Mrs. O’Grady are not news… they are deliberate attempts to spread misinformation.
Frankly, I can’t wait for all these papers like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times to go out of business.
Good bye! And good riddance!
And because this is news and boobs... here is yet another Latin American Hottie.
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