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1. 4 July 2009
   at 7:48 a.m.

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   just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

   From an article by Jonathan Hari—

   http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/…

   “The ghost of the other, deadlier 9/11 (the US-backed coup against Allende in Chile in 1973) has returned to stalk Latin America. On Sunday morning, a battalion of soldiers rammed their way into the Presidential Palace in Honduras. They surrounded the bed where the democratically elected President, Manuel Zelaya, was sleeping, and jabbed their machine guns to his chest. They ordered him to get up and marched him on to a military plane. They dumped him in his pyjamas on a landing strip in Costa Rica and told him never to return to the country that freely chose him as their head of state.

   Back home, the generals locked down the phone networks, the internet and international TV channels, and announced their people were in charge now. Only sweet, empty music plays on the radio. Government ministers have been arrested and beaten. If you leave your home after 9pm, the population have been told, you risk being shot. Tanks and tear gas are ranged against the protesters who have thronged on to the streets.”

   “Yet the military-business nexus have invented a propaganda-excuse that is being eagerly repeated by dupes across the Western world. The generals claim they have toppled the democratically elected leader and arrested his ministers to save democracy.

   Here's how it happened. Honduras has a constitution that was drawn up in 1982, by the oligarchy, under supervision from the outgoing military dictatorship. It states that the President can only serve only one term, while the military remains permanent and “independent” – in order to ensure they remain the real power in the land.

   Zelaya believed this was a block on democracy, and proposed a referendum to see if the people wanted to elect a constituent assembly to draw up a new constitution. It could curtail the power of the military, and perhaps allow the President to run for re-election. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that it is unconstitutional to hold a binding referendum within a year of a presidential election. So Zelaya proposed holding a non-binding referendum instead, just to gauge public opinion. This was perfectly legal. The military – terrified of the verdict of the people – then marched in with their guns.”

2. 4 July 2009
   at 8:16 a.m.

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   Informed (Anonymous) says…

   Since copy & paste seems to be the order of the day, this balances out the crap that bozo pAsted.

   http://blog.getliberty.org/default.as…

   “By William Warren
   In an ordinary news week, a story about a brewing military coup in one of America’s closest neighboring countries would have garnered more attention. However, from Argentinean mistresses to Metro tragedies to pop-star deaths, the past seven days have been anything but an ordinary news week.

   While it may have been a chaotic news week in the United States, however in Honduras the week was not merely chaotic, it was historic. And by the time it reached its denouncement, the brave people of that tiny nation had put a Marxist dictator out to pasture – and Barack Obama and his minions shame.

   It all started when President Manuel Zelaya, Honduras’ resident Marxist leader, decided that now was the perfect time to consolidate his authority. Taking notes from Cuba’s Castro, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales, Zelaya announced plans to hold a referendum to eliminate presidential term limits and pave the way towards installing himself as “President for Life.” Mr. Obama, for his part, stood idly by, smiling broadly.

   Zelaya’s move to gut the Constitution and seize power, however, upset some people—including the nation’s military leaders, the Supreme Court, the Legislature, his own Attorney General, and his entire political party. To name a few.

   After the top commander of the military said the nation’s armed forces would never support such a brazen power grab, Zelaya simply fired him. In response, the chiefs of the army, navy, and air force promptly resigned to show their solidarity for their ousted commanding officer – not to mention their esteem for the Honduran Constitution, which explicitly forbids toying with term limits.

   The Supreme Court then voiced its ire over Zelaya’s move by reinstating the ousted General, and the Attorney General followed suit by calling for Zelaya’s removal from office. Meanwhile, hundreds of troops were deployed in the capital city of Tegucigalpa to “prevent disturbances by supporters of Zelaya.”

   Finally, on Sunday, when the strong arm dictator still refused to budge, the people of Honduras and their military took action to uphold the Constitution and Zelaya was arrested. He is now living in exile in Costa Rica (where he can presumably live for as long a term as he likes), and the Honduran Supreme Court has duly sworn in a new leader.

   Even though Zelaya was gutting the constitution and consolidating dictatorial power, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (much like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro) have condemned the move by the Honduran people to remove their corrupt President. And this leaves more than a few pundits conjecturing as to whether such callousness betrays the Obama Administration’s deep-seated feelings towards individual freedom and constitutional checks and balances…”
   — cont'd —

3. 4 July 2009
   at 8:17 a.m.

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   Informed (Anonymous) says…

   — continued from previous post —

   “The sad fact is, gutting constitutions and consolidating power has been a hallmark among all leftwing regimes, especially in Latin America. And in each case – whether in Nicaragua, Bolivia, or Venezuela – Barack Obama has shamelessly sided with the Marxist dictators.

   Manuel Zelaya is merely the latest in a long line of leftist leaders embracing this power-hungry modus-operandi, and if the question of whether or not he becomes Honduras’ Hugo Chavez—i.e., Leader for Life—is still up in the air, it is only because of the Obama Administration’s refusal to support the deposed dictators legitimate replacement.

   Perhaps what makes the Obama Administration support of Latin American dictators so decidedly chilling is that those he coddles seem so closely aligned to his own megalomaniacal socialistic proclivities. With recent moves to make the Federal Reserve the master over all the private banks, to socialized health care, and to creating a “cap and tax” system whereby the government claims ownership of pollution and sells it back to the companies, it is easy to see why the Obama Administration shows such an affinity for those who pursue similar policies south of the border.

   While it may look different from Zelaya’s bid to be “Leader-for-Life”, the end result is the same: consolidation of power. As the power-grabbing extraordinaire himself, Hugo Chavez, said of Obama earlier this month:

   “Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right.”

   Chavez’s words prove anew the old saw: “Many a truth is said in jest.” Barack Obama is a leader unlike any other in American history—one whose actions incite the very jealousy of Latin America’s most leftwing autocrats.

   Simply put, leftwing politics is intrinsically linked to power consolidation. And one is left to wonder: could it be that Latin America’s Marx Brothers — Manuel Zelaya, Hugo Chavez, and Fidel Castro — have finally found a fourth?

   William Warren is a Contributing Editor of ALG News Bureau.”

4. 4 July 2009
   at 8:22 a.m.

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   just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

   Interestingly, and tellingly, what I posted is completely factual, while yours is nothing but hysterical distortions and outright falsehoods.

   It's pretty simple, informed— a military dictatorship does not a “democracy” make, and none of your 1984-speak will change that.

5. 4 July 2009
   at 8:23 a.m.

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   Informed (Anonymous) says…

   Or perhaps you'd like some more, bozo?

   http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/

   Just so you know, Mick, I won't be responding to anything else today. I'm going to be out enjoying the holiday with friends, while I at least still have that freedom.

6. 4 July 2009
   at 8:26 a.m.

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   just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

   I'm sure you'll be goose-stepping up a storm, informed.

7. 4 July 2009
   at 8:27 a.m.

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   Informed (Anonymous) says…

   OK, since I haven't turned off the computer yet, one last…

   Completely factual? On the Opinion page? And you know this how? Look at what is posted on lagringas, and then tell me that it's “nothing but hysterical distortions and outright falsehoods.” Oh, that's right, you can't.

8. 4 July 2009
   at 8:32 a.m.

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   just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

   Yep, hysterical justifications for a return to military dictatorship, all in the name of “democracy.”

   If what you're attempting to argue weren't so insanely sick, it'd be surreally comical.

9. 4 July 2009
   at 11:15 a.m.

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   just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

   http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009…

   “When José David Ellner Romero heard the soldiers breaking down the door of the Globo radio station on the evening of the June 28 coup, he had a flashback. His mind conjured up the terrible images from the 1980s, when he was arrested by the military, thrown into an underground prison and tortured. “I couldn't stand the thought of going through that hell again, so I got out on the ledge of the windowsill and jumped,” Elner told our delegation. His fractured shoulder, ribs and bruises were minor given that he jumped from the third floor.

   The owner of the station, Alejandro Villatoro, was thrown to the ground by soldiers who put their guns to his head and demanded to know where the transmitter was. Villatoro also happens to be a deputy in the National Assembly from the governing Liberal Party, but that didn't afford him special treatment. While Villatoro was not a fan of deposed President Mel Zelaya, he believes in free speech and always guaranteed his employees that freedom. After the military invaded and censored his station, he now supports Zelaya's return. “If this new government says it's for democracy, then why is it censoring the press? This is the 21st century,” he told us. “We shouldn't have coups and censorship and thugs running the country.”

   Radio Globo is now back on the air, but one of its most critical programs, Hable como habla, is still banned and the host of the show, Eduardo Maldonado, is in hiding. And every now and then, like when they broadcast an interview with the deposed president, their signal is suddenly blocked.”