Sunday shoes, a dilemma, and a Carnival

I was at Palmer Square yesterday and noticed that the Nine West store is having a sale. As regular readers of this blog probably have noticed by now, to me the combination of "shoes" and "sale" is essentially irresistible.

Nine West is carrying these,

They are marked down from $79.00, to $49.00

The plastic Nine Wests are made in China and do not make the feet or your legs look attractive. Ugly shoes never do. I tried on a pair and the rough rims of the shoe will cause a blister on your tender skin.

This particular style is an atrociously poor knock-off of the classic Ferragamo Vara style:

The Ferragamos retail for $290.00 at Neiman Marcus and at the Ferragamo flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York.

The leather Vara is handmade in Italy.

I've had this style of Ferragamos (in black leather, not patent leather) for nearly twenty years. It is the kind of classic shoe that speaks of class, quality and conservative discernment. I believe I paid $120 or so back then, and they have been worth every penny. If there's a woman's shoe that spells "solid respectability", it is the Ferragamo Vara.

More importantly, there are two other advantages: the Vara is a most flattering shoe, and a shoe that can be worn all day.

But there's a greater issue: the issue of slave labor.

The Manolo quotes The Plumcake,

It is the mantra of the Manolo Blogs that instead of buying cheap footwear made with deplorable lack of attention to detail by whatever 8-year old Bangladeshi child was cuffed to that particular table, one must save up for the superfantastic shoes, lovingly made by handsome gruff men named Aldo who drive cool Italian scooters and get 90 minute lunch breaks.

Having had - when I was in Italy - too too many unwelcome encounters with handsome gruff men named Aldo who simply could not believe all I wanted to do was read the newspaper, eat my lunch and have my jolt of expresso by myself when I obviously could have been enjoying a blissful (at least for him) 90 minutes with scooting Aldo instead, The Plumcake has nearly talked me out of buying Italian shoes for the rest of my days.

But that's not the issue. The issue is slave labor and child labor.

We have a dilemma when it comes to child labor: The Bangladeshi economy can not distribute what it doesn't have (wealth), and in order to create wealth it must become a producing economy. At the same time, it is attempting to become a producing economy on a lowest-price-producer basis, and the cheapest labor of all is child labor.

(Please spare me the emails asking me why am I picking on Bangladesh. I am only using that country for the purpose of expedience. The same situation occurs in whatever third-world military regime and/or dictatorship you want to bring up.)

I have no illusions as to whether those children would have better lives if they were not doing factory work. They would not be in school. They would be enslaved in other ways.

At the same time, directly transferring moneys from the developed countries leads to even more corruption and exploitation. The only way for underdeveloped countries to move forward is through economic development. In developed countries child labor was not erradicated until there was a rise in the standard of living brought on by the Industrial Revolution and families could afford to send their children to school.

So I present the question to my visitors: What to do?

Would the answer lie on an emphasis on primary school education? And, if so, where to start?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Today Dr. Sanity has An Ahmadinejadpalooza of a Carnival!



Technorati: Ferragamo
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Saturday night Tom and Janis

Saturday night Fire and Rain

For all the friends I thought I'd see one more time again,

Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can't remember who to send it to

I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Won't you look down upon me, Jesus
You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things
to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you, baby, one more time again, now

Thought I'd see you one more time again
There's just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you fire and rain, now.

This comes as no surprise

BBC's Newsround fed youngsters Al Qaeda propaganda, claims ex-spy chief

Newsround is aimed at viewers aged between six and 12.

On its website it answered the question concerning 9/11, "Why did they do it" by saying: "The way America has got involved in conflicts in regions like the Middle East has made some people very angry, including a group called al Qaeda - who are widely thought to have been behind the attacks."

After the public complained, the text was amended.

It now reads: "Al Qaeda is unhappy with America and other countries getting involved in places like the Middle East.

"People linked to al Qaeda have used violence to make this point in the U.S.A, and in other countries."

Now take a look at that statement:

People linked to al Qaeda have used violence to make this point in the U.S.A, and in other countries

In the Beeb's fevered mind it's OK to tell young children that the murder of 3,000 innocent people is justified because "Al Qaeda is unhappy".

I agree with Dame Pauline,

Dame Pauline, who headed the Government's Joint Intelligence Committee and is described as the most formidable female diplomat Britain has produced, said the new version was even worse.

"It still says it's all America's fault, and now for daring to be involved in the Middle East at all," she said.

"It wasn't 'people linked to' al Qaeda who killed 3,000 people that day, it was al Qaeda itself.

"Osama bin Laden even boasted of the attacks. Is the BBC really saying that if you're 'unhappy' it's quite normal behaviour to murder people?

"Is the BBC so naive as to take al Qaeda's propaganda at face value? Or is there something more sinister at work here?"

Dame Pauline knows what she's talking about: she is Britain's former spy chief and a former BBC governor.

Biased BBC has been following the story since June.



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Why should terrorists' privacy be protected...

when our lives are on the line for every moment wasted?

Sen. McCain's bloggers' call

Sen. John McCain had another of his series of bloggers' conference calls today, and I had the honor of taking part. Captain Ed has the details.

The most important part of the calls, aside from obviously the PR aspect, is that the Senator is one of the few Republican candidates engaging the bloggers. It really shows Sen. McCain's commitment to keeping the electorate informed while at the same time hearing out our questions.

My article is up at Pajamas Media

Learning To Live With The Iranian Bomb?

Click on the post title and read it.

Background here.

Update, Saturday 29 September
More at Gates of Vienna.

Ahmadinejad goes to Bolivia and Venezuela; Spacey goes to Venezuela and Cuba

Continuing his triumphal grand tour, after leaving the US and being celebrated by fellational journalists and others, 'Jad went to Bolivia.

Ahmadinejad bolsters Iranian ties with Bolivia and Nicaragua. I have no idea why the IHT headline mentions Nicaragua and not Venezuela, but here's the text of the article (emphasis added):

On a trip to strengthen ties with leftists in Latin America and roll back U.S. influence, the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has pledged to invest $1 billion in Bolivia and reaffirmed relations with the Venezuelan president with a declaration that "no one can defeat us."

Promises, promises.

'Jad and Evo go back a long time:


But the promises don't come for free:

The investment in Bolivia, to be made over the next five years, would help the country tap its vast natural gas reserves, extract minerals, generate more electricity and finance agricultural and construction projects.

After La Paz, 'Jad flew up to Caracas, where the love flowed:

Chavez greeted the Iranian leader warmly on a red carpet in front of the presidential palace, where they both stood before microphones and let loose with rhetoric challenging Washington.

The BBC states, "The Iranian and Venezuelan leaders see themselves as brothers, with similar political aims."

You know things are screwed up in Venezuela that pro-democracy students are asking Ahmadinejad to serve as intermediary with Chavez so Hugo will grant them the right to ask questions regarding Venezuelan-Iranian relations.
---------------------------------------------------------
In other Latin American celebrity travel news, Actor Kevin Spacey met with Chavez looking for oil money to produce movies, since Hugo Chavez Funds State-Run Film Studio and already gave Danny Glover a few million $$$.

I wonder if Hugo and Kevin were pondering another sequel to The Karate Kid, but maybe it was just a regular dinner-and-a-movie kind of date:

Neither Spacey _ who has won Academy Awards for roles in "The Usual Suspects" and "American Beauty" _ nor Chavez spoke to the press after the nearly three-hour encounter in the presidential palace in Caracas. They shook hands warmly on the red carpet as Spacey left after a dinner with Chavez.

We'll never know for sure.

The AP story claims that "Details were not released about the rest of Spacey's itinerary." Maybe the AP reporter should have spent some time watching Venezuela's government-controlled TV newscasts, because in this video (via Jeremayakovka) the reporter (in Spanish) says that after Caracas Kevin was heading to Cuba.

Chalk it up to Associated Press Deficit Disorder, because Kevin indeed went to Cuba after leaving Venezuela.

Marc Masferrer links to the article, El actor estadounidense Kevin Spacey se pasea de incógnito en Cuba (American Actor Kevin Spacey Travels Incognito Through Cuba).

Other recent visitors to Cuba listed in the article include Michael Moore, Benicio del Toro, Steven Soderberg, Sean Penn, Joseph and Ralph Fiennes, Gael García Bernal and Fernando Trueba.

I don't believe any of them asked about Martha Beatriz Roque, Elizardo Sanchez, or much anyone else who is not a celebrity.

Update: GM follows up.
---------------------------------------------------------
Update 2:
Totten's turn;


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Roundup for a Friday morning:

Afghanistan: A Quiet Triumph May be Brewing

Iraq: Counterinsurgency in al Qaeda's last bastion in Baghdad by Bill Roggio.
-------------------------------------------------------
Marta Beatriz Roque was arrested in Cuba yesterday.

But don't worry: it's Friday, so the Cuban propaganda machine will surely come up with another Fidel rumor. It keeps the media distracted from what's going on.
-------------------------------------------------------
Gerard VanderLeun doesn't need boxing gloves to pack a punch: take a look. Gerard was my podcast guest last July, and he's great. You can listen to him here (I woke him up early and before he came on Siggy & I talked about men's shirts).
-------------------------------------------------------
What is it with the Clintons, Money, China, and Satellites?
-------------------------------------------------------
US State Department "No Jews Allowed" Program-Miriam's Story
-------------------------------------------------------
10 Ways Online Terrorism is Affecting the Markets
-------------------------------------------------------
A Blumen idiot
-------------------------------------------------------
Six inconvenient truths about the U.S. and slavery vs An Argument He Can’t Possibly Win
-------------------------------------------------------
One from Maria: Back to the pomegranate
Before the juice, before the liqueur, there was the fruit. And it was fabulous.
-------------------------------------------------------
Special thanks to Larwyn for the links.

Flopping flicks of no integrity

David Kahane (who in real life is a Hollywood screenwriter) writes about Antiwar Falling: Hollywood's bad investment, and lists the year's flops:

Shoot 'Em Up
In the Valley of Elah
Redacted
Grace Is Gone

And last year's flops:

A Mighty Heart
Syriana
Shooter

Of this list, I've only seen Shoot 'Em Up.

SEU - a videogame plot about a sharpshooter who hires a lactating prostitute and can continue to shoot the bad guys while engaging in intercourse, skydiving or delivering a baby, all the while yielding the organic carrots of death - is so bad (how bad is it? you ask) that I am now cured of seeing Clive Owen movies.

Clive, dude, you gotta get back to being an actor. You are exactly my ideal guy when it comes to looks but this fan needs more than looks to like a guy.

But I digress.

Robert J. Avrech, also a screenwriter, who blogs at Seraphic Secret points out the propaganda value of these films (emphasis added),

The per theater average of Elah indicates that only the earnest, dopey Sundance fanatics turned out for the first weekend—all 85 of them. The film is a stench of red ink, a jihadist enabling loop of anti-American sedition.

However, Elah will do a very brisk business in the black market souks in Gaza, Judea and Samaria.

You think I'm kidding?

I wish.

There are consequences in the Arab/Muslim world to producing such movies. Jihadists use them as recruiting tools; they are proof that we infidels are so corrupt, so decadent that we don't even bother to defend our own values. These movies show the jihadists that Islam is fated to rule over the infidels.

I saw Shoot 'Em Up at the duplex Garden Theater theater in downtown Princeton, where Sicko played for five weeks last Summer. Before SEU started, they showed previews for The Kingdom, Lions for Lambs, and Rendition. Avrech and Kahane predict that these three films will also flop.

Surprisingly, the Garden Theater was playing 3:10 to Yuma last week (they're now playing In The Valley of Elah). When I saw 3:10 to Yuma the only other two people in the theater were two young men (I assume they are Princeton University students). They loved it.

3:10 to Yuma is an excellent movie marred by excessive violence and by a script that unfortunately has the good guys make a huge stategic mistake in order to allow the three central characters to reach a final conclusion.

Writing about 3;10 to Yuma Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, however, finds a parable about integrity:

This nation was created by those for whom responsibility, accountability, honor and decency were more than just words that are entries in a dictionary. Those words were lived by and held in great esteem. The merits of those qualities were taught in schools and preached from both religious and secular pulpits. An individuals politics were always secondary to hard earned integrity and credibility. Our founding fathers may not have been perfect, to be sure, but this nation grew and matured as we learned the lessons and values they embraced.

ShrinkWrapped explains,

In 3:10 to Yuma, Christina Bale's Dan Evans is a troubled, failing, and literally and figuratively crippled man, who is uncertain of his ability to actually function as a man. He fears failing his wife and perhaps even more significantly, failing his son. Russell Crowe's Ben Wade is a failed man, whose failings can be reasonably inferred to stem from the failure of his parents to raise him from being a boy to a man. Men contain and control their aggression and devote themselves to caring for those who are less able to take care of themselves. Watching Russel Crowe/Ben Wade and Christian Bale/Dan Evans in their interplay as one helps the other become something he could never become on his own is exhilarating. Watching as Dan's maturation as a father enables Logan Lerman, playing Dan's 14 year old son William, to become a man before our eyes is equally moving. At the end, Dan, or perhaps William, has become Will Kane.

I predict that until Hollywood films go back to recognizing integrity as a core value of our nation, the flops will continue to hit the screens.

Special thanks to Jeremayakovka for the links.

Here's the 3:10 to Yuma trailer:



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Editor & Publisher gets lost in Aznar-Bush translation

Editor and Publisher looks at a machine translation of a transcript of a conversation and jumps to conclusions.

The transcript was published by El Pais this week.

The conversation took place on February 22, 2003, at President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. President Bush, Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar, and Condoleezza Rice were discussing Saddam Hussein.

Let me point out that from the looks of it, the transcript, then, is a transcript of a conversation that took place in English. I realize that President Bush speaks Spanish, but the transcript has him speaking with the vosotros form (Quizá os sirva.), which is used in Spain. While Pres. Bush is fluent in Spanish, I have never heard him use the vosotros form in his speech. I expect that the conversation took place with Bush & Rice speaking in English, Aznar in Spanish.

On top of that, Editor and Publisher used an atrocious machine translation to write their article. Think Progress and others have picked up the story based on E&P's article.

Barcepundit, who is fully bilingual (and I can attest to that, because I talk to him daily), has read the transcript and reached different conclusions from E&P's:

If anything, the transcript proves precisely the opposing point that critics want to make. The conversation shows both Bush and Aznar trying to avoid war; that they were concerned of its human toll, and that Saddam wanted to flee with money... and WMD information. I guess all the people who are trumpeting this will stop sying now that Bush lied and mislead us on the WMD issue. Won't hold my breath, though.

Barcepundit is working on a full translation but for the time being, read his post.

Update: Jules Crittenden:

What the leaked memo doesn't do is indicate bloodthirsty lust for war at all costs. What it does do is underscore that Bush believed, quite correctly, that Saddam posed a threat to the world. That Bush believed, naively, as it turned out, that Iraq was ready to embrace democracy. That Bush preferred to see Saddam go quietly, but understood that there was no chance he would go, or set aside his ambitions, in the absence of a credible and imminent threat of force. It also indicates that Bush, then a year and a half into war, did not relish having to inform mothers and fathers of the deaths of their sons and daughters in battle, or the strain on the American exchequer that war would create. But he did not want to go down in history as someone who flinched, avoided his responsibilities and allowed a murderous dictator to pursue his dreams of domination of the world's primary oil reserves.

Update 2: Michael Goldfarb raises a good point:

This begs the question: why would Saddam attach so much importance to information on Iraq's WMD program? The mainstream media, the Democratic party, and many others have accepted that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction, and that there is no reason to think that Iraq's program posed a threat to anyone at the time of the US invasion. Small caches of WMD and evidence that Saddam intended to reconstitute the program at some point in the future have been downplayed in light of the failure to find the stockpiles of weapons that most intelligence agencies believed to exist.

Yet if the dominant narrative is correct--that Iraq posed no WMD threat--then why did Saddam stake his life on concealing information about the program? After all, he had to think that if he did not leave Iraq, there was every chance that he would be killed during or after the invasion. Why would it have been so important to hide evidence that merely confirmed the lack of any threat?

The only logical reason for making this a condition of his agreement to exile was that he believed the program was more advanced than it really was, or that he intended to augment it. In either case, it further bolsters the case that Saddam remained a threat to the region (at least), and that it was wise to depose him.

Welcome, Weekly Standard readers! Please visit often.



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Fox/Yahoo headlines on Kyl-Lieberman

Fox: Senate Approves Symbolic Rebuke of Iran

Yahoo: Senate Neocons Provoke Iran

The amendment, which calls on the State Department to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as "a foreign terrorist organization", passed 76-22.

That's a lot of neocons.

Funding Evil, and libel tourism tonight at 9PM Eastern

You can listen to the archived podcast here

In tonight's podcast my guests, along with Siggy,
are Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil, Updated: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It.
The book the Saudis don't want you to read

and Cinnamon Stillwell, who has been reporting on libel tourism

At question is the publication of books and other writings
that seek to shed light on the financing of Islamic terrorism. Increasingly, American authors who dare enter this territory are finding themselves at risk of being sued for libel in the much more plaintiff-friendly British court system in what amounts to an attempt to censor their work on an international level.

What is at stake is not only the war on terrorists, but also the First Ammendment rights at the core of our nation.

Join us tonight for this podcast at 9PM Eastern.

Further reading
From Cinnamon Stillwell
http://cinnamonstillwell.blogspot.com/2007/09/discussing-libel-tourism-tonight-on.html
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2007/08/29/cstillwell.DTL

American Center for Democracy
http://www.acdemocracy.org/article/invent_index.php?ac=show_cat&cat=9

Deborah Lipidstadt
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2007/08/29/cstillwell.DTL

Library Journal
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6471402.html

Duncan Currie at the Weekly Standard
http://www.theweeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/987ankei.asp

Office for Intellectual Freedom
http://blogs.ala.org/oif.php?title=can_they_do_that&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Publius Pundit
http://publiuspundit.com/2007/09/announcements.php
http://publiuspundit.com/articles/2007/09/putin_or_ahmadinejad_who_is_th.php



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Luke, I am your father

Deep-voiced men have more kids, study shows.

A bunch of Harvard/Mc Master/Fla. State scientists figured a nifty way to go on a junket to Tanzania: Go looking for "one of the last true hunter-gatherer cultures", record the guys saying "Hujambo" (Hello), and then check out who has the most offspring. The deep-voiced guys do, at least in that neck of the woods (savanna?).

From there the researchers jumped to a conclusion that every Patrick Stewart fan already knew: Women prefer men with deep voices.

In case you didn't know already, yes, I certainly do.

"In previous studies, they have shown that women find deeper male voices to be more attractive, judging them to be more dominant, older, healthier and more masculine sounding."

Spend thousands of dollars, travel across the world, bother the natives, and reach that conclusion. Sweet.

I thought everybody knew that men with deeper voices are more masculine sounding.

But then, you know what they say about men with deep voices.

The researchers would have saved the airfare to Africa if they had called The Anchoress and me. We would have told them that

baritones won out over tenors.

One particular baritone comes to mind.

On the downside, the researchers also claim that

Men, on the other hand, find higher-pitch voices in women more attractive, subordinate, feminine, healthier and younger sounding.

That probably means two things,

• Hillary's screeching may not be putting people off
• I probably need to raise my pitch to get more podcast listeners

On the other hand, when it comes to the podcasts, Siggy's on the baritone range.

But in more serious matters, Patrick Stewart's playing Macbeth in London. I think he looks better without a mustache, but I'm hoping the production moves to Broadway. Patrick Stewart is a force of nature on stage.

And for a bald guy in his sixties, he's hot. Very.

It's all in the voice, isn't it?


Technorati: Patrick Stewart, Bryn Terfel
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Two girls, the Saudi Religious Police, a mobile phone and a can of pepper spray

Jules Crittenden and Blue Star Chronicles have it:
Saudi Religious Police Attacked by Girls (emphasis added)

Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat- Members of Khobar's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were the victims of an attack by two Saudi females, Asharq Al-Awsat can reveal.

According to the head of the commission in Khobar, two girls pepper sprayed members of the commission after they had tried to offer them advice.

Head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the Eastern province Dr. Mohamed bin Marshood al-Marshood, told Asharq Al Awsat that two of the Commission's employees were verbally insulted and attacked by two inappropriately-dressed females, in the old market in Prince Bandar street, an area usually crowded with shoppers during the month of Ramadan.

Notice how the crowd didn't take the Religious Police's side, either.

According to Dr. Al-Marshood, the two commission members approached the girls in order to "politely" advice and guide them regarding their inappropriate clothing.

It gets better:

Consequently, the two girls started verbally abusing the commission members, which then lead to one of the girls pepper-spraying them in the face as the other girl filmed the incident on her mobile phone, while continuing to hurl insults at them.

YouTube, please.

The Eastern Province's head of the commission also revealed that with the help of the police his two employees were able to control the situation.

The two females were then escorted to the police station where they apologized for the attack, were cautioned and then released.

Way to go, girls!

I predict that demand for pepper spray and video phones will continue to increase among Saudi females.

And then there's the handy-dandy Taser C2, especially designed "for independent, self-reliant women", available in four designer colors for $299.95. I wonder if they ship to Saudi.

Five years ago Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped 15 schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building, and stopped men who tried to help the girls and warned "it is sinful to approach them".

Things are changing.
----------------------------------------------------------
TOMORROW at 9PM Eastern
Cinnamon Stillwell and Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It will discuss libel tourism with Siggy and I

Join us!


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"France is bankrupt", but not when it comes to Iran

French PM Fillon tells farmers 'France is broke'

France is bankrupt and can no longer afford to pay its workers generous salaries and subsidies, its prime minister has declared.

Francois Fillon made the undiplomatic outburst during a trip to the French island of Corsica, where farmers were demanding more government money.

"I am at the head of a state that is in a position of bankruptcy," he said.

The head of the European Central Bank agrees, and

has attacked France for being Europe's "number one spender".
Mr Trichet warned that in comparison to its GDP, the country was well on the way to spending much more than its European neighbours during 2007.

Sarko is pushing for deficit reform, which puts him at odds with the EU guidelines,

The French leader wants to cut taxes, a move that means France will breach a rule set by the EU on public deficits.

Mr Sarkozy argues France needs to cut taxes by 11bn euros (£7.5bn) to tackle its spiralling unemployment problem.

But Baron Bodissey notices a pattern here:

French politics seem to be much like American politics: as soon as anyone points out the damage done by excessive government spending, the Left is quick to cite the most recent tax cut as the source of the problem.

It’s the first commandment of Socialism: Thou shalt never, ever cut taxes.

In this case, it was a "centrist" who decried the tax cuts, but that only proves how much of the European "center" has been occupied by the Left.

In not unrelated news, Sarko is in New York this week, but before leaving Paris he an interview to the NYT/IHT, making himself absolutely clear:

For Mr. Sarkozy, the most burning issue is Iran's nuclear program. France’s position, he said, is clear: "No nuclear weapon for Iran, an arsenal of sanctions to convince them, negotiations, discussions, firmness. And I don't want to hear anything else that would not contribute usefully to the discussion today."

And he's not playing the Iranians' game:

He equally refused to choose between a nuclear-armed Iran and the use of force, saying, "It is exactly what the Iranian leaders want. I am not obliged to fall into this trap."

From the looks of this, Sarko's not going to issue empty threats. He's just going to do.

On a postscript,

The brusque demeanor and nonstop movement during the interview vanished during a brief photo session afterward in his office. At one point, he posed for a photograph with the two women who interviewed him, gripping his arms around their shoulders. "I have a good job," he said.

I wonder if he allows interviews by women bloggers...
----------------------------------------------------
In the no-news news, Schroeder, Chirac and Putin are in bed together.

Captain Ed is getting Iranian spam.



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Early Monday post,

BBC Newsflash! "Evil" avian flu seeks "world domination!". Michael Fumento has the details.

Columbia university would want this.

I'm working on a roundup on Mahmoud's Manhattan moment for Pajamas Media. More blogging later.

Iranian President scoffs at West's nuclear bomb fear

The three stooges

The UN, Columbia, and the National Press Club

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got a really big send-off before his trip to NYC

In the parade, some of the trucks carrying Iranian missiles were painted with popular slogans: "Down with the U.S." and "Down with Israel."

Later today I'll be posting about the three stooges that will be entertaining 'Jad once he gets to the US.
As I mentioned Thursday, Iran is

intent on wiping Israel off the map,
financing Hezbolla,
arming Shiia terrorists in Iraq,
and swearing to develop nuclear weapons

For this, Ahmadinejad gets rewarded and feasted by the three stooges:
Curly/The UN,
Larry/Columbia University,
and Moe/the National Press Club.

Curly:
The UN invites him as a speaker. That is hardly surprising, since the UN has distinguished itself as a cesspool of tyrants. The UN is officially a platfrom from which tyrants can harange againt the USA. We have witnessed this time and time again.

Larry:
Columbia University, however, has shown it true colors. While the Minutemen and the ROTC are not allowed to speak, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the anti-Semite terrorost-in-chief, who believes in the Mahdi but not in the Holocaust, is featured Monday as part of its series entitled "World Leaders Forum". As The Oxford Medievalist explains,

Apparently, Columbia University feels they should provide Ahmadinejad with a forum to further air his prima facie absurd and hateful rhetoric, so long as he's willing to debate. I didn't know his rhetoric needed to be debated, let alone given yet another platform; I thought the conclusion was plainly known: Mahmoud is an apocalyptic madman Jew-hating president of a regime bent on spreading its Islamist revolution throughout the Middle East and, eventually, the world.

But you see, Columbia is so open-minded that they would "invite Hitler to engage in debate by Columbia's students and faculty."

Additionally, The Columbia Coalition Against the War doesn't want progressives to demonstrate against 'Jad because they are worried about publicity:

A rally where each speaker denounces Ahmadinejad's reactionary policies and just a few call explicitly for military action will still be perceived, on campus and around the U.S., as pro-war.

Mind you, the Coalition is echoing Iran's top diplomat in Argentina, who has said that criticizing Iran means supporting war against Iran (h/t Harry's Place).

The Coalition has not given one moment's thought to the fact that Ahmadinejad's entire trip is already being touted as a propaganda victory for the murderous Iranian regime.

Moe:
The National Press Club's innagurates its first-ever videoconference luncheon by having Ahmadinejad speaking and taking questions. Rest assured that 'Jad's replies will be spun and respun as propaganda soundbites all across the Islamic world.

Not that coddling tyrants is new at the NPC. Earlier this summer the National Press Club cancelled a "newsmaker" event on press freedom organized by Venezuelan students, at the request of the Venezuelan Embassy.

The bottom line on Ahmadinejad is, if he can demonstrate that he is treated abroad as a respected leader, he will be better able to counter his critics at home.

'Jad belongs in Gitmo.

And for the record, I like Ike.

In the meantime, Dr Sanity has The Carnival of the Insanities.


[Clarification and apology:
I am using the Stooges as a metaphor for clownish behavior. My apologies to the descendants of the Three Stooges - Larry Fine (Larry), Joe deRita (CurlyJoe), and the Howard brothers, Curly, Moe and Shemp - whose parents and grandparents have brought so much enjoyment togenerations of Americans and who supported the war effort during World War II.]



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Saturday night Horatio

How Herodotus discovered marijuana

As I normally do every semester, I'm auditing a class at Princeton University. Of course, I'm doing the assigned reading, and last week's homework was Herodotus's Histories, as translated by Aubrey de Selincourt.

The book is also available on line, translated by George Rawlinson. For the purposes of this post I'll be quoting from Rawlinson.

The Histories is a most interesting and at times very amusing read.

Interesting, because Herodotus brought to us the history of the 300. The Histories deals with great detail on the long-ranging war the Greeks battled against their Persian invader, Xerxes, and his immensely cruel army.

Books 7-9 are called the 'Xerxiad' which looks at Xerxes's Greek campaigns at Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis and Mycale. These three books are dedicated to 'Polumnia' the muse of hymns, 'Urania' the muse of astronomy, and 'Calliope' the muse of epic poetry. Herodotus merges these three themes of the stars, hymns and epics to bring alive an event that took place thousands of years ago.

Thermopylae means "the hot gates", and indeed the Spartans were fighting in hell.

On the 300, Herodotus writes,

[7.220] It is said that Leonidas himself sent away the troops who departed, because he tendered their safety, but thought it unseemly that either he or his Spartans should quit the post which they had been especially sent to guard. For my own part, I incline to think that Leonidas gave the order, because he perceived the allies to be out of heart and unwilling to encounter the danger to which his own mind was made up. He therefore commanded them to retreat, but said that he himself could not draw back with honour; knowing that, if he stayed, glory awaited him, and that Sparta in that case would not lose her prosperity. For when the Spartans, at the very beginning of the war, sent to consult the oracle concerning it, the answer which they received from the Pythoness was "that either Sparta must be overthrown by the barbarians, or one of her kings must perish." The prophecy was delivered in hexameter verse, and ran thus:-

O ye men who dwell in the streets of broad Lacedaemon!
Either your glorious town shall be sacked by the children of Perseus,
Or, in exchange, must all through the whole Laconian country
Mourn for the loss of a king, descendant of great Heracles.
He cannot be withstood by the courage of bulls nor of lions,
Strive as they may; he is mighty as Jove; there is nought that shall stay him,
Till he have got for his prey your king, or your glorious city.

The remembrance of this answer, I think, and the wish to secure the whole glory for the Spartans, caused Leonidas to send the allies away. This is more likely than that they quarrelled with him, and took their departure in such unruly fashion.

As we all know, Leonidas and his men perished, but not before killing thousands of Persians and two of Xerxes's brothers. Leonidas and his men continue to inspire us, as Herodotus preserves their names,

[7.226] Thus nobly did the whole body of Lacedaemonians and Thespians behave; but nevertheless one man is said to have distinguished himself above all the rest, to wit, Dieneces the Spartan. A speech which he made before the Greeks engaged the Medes, remains on record. One of the Trachinians told him, "Such was the number of the barbarians, that when they shot forth their arrows the sun would be darkened by their multitude." Dieneces, not at all frightened at these words, but making light of the Median numbers, answered "Our Trachinian friend brings us excellent tidings. If the Medes darken the sun, we shall have our fight in the shade." Other sayings too of a like nature are reported to have been left on record by this same person.

[7.227] Next to him two brothers, Lacedaemonians, are reputed to have made themselves conspicuous: they were named Alpheus and Maro, and were the sons of Orsiphantus. There was also a Thespian who gained greater glory than any of his countrymen: he was a man called Dithyrambus, the son of Harmatidas.

[7.228] The slain were buried where they fell; and in their honour, nor less in honour of those who died before Leonidas sent the allies away, an inscription was set up, which said:-

Here did four thousand men from Pelops' land
Against three hundred myriads bravely stand.

This was in honour of all. Another was for the Spartans alone:-

Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell
That here, obeying her behests, we fell.

I mentioned that the Histories is also amusing. As it turns out Herodotus was a dude who had come across marijuana in the good old days when the hippies didn't wash, either. In Herodotus's time they weren't called hippies, they were called Scythians (emphasis added),

[4.74] Hemp grows in Scythia: it is very like flax; only that it is a much coarser and taller plant: some grows wild about the country, some is produced by cultivation: the Thracians make garments of it which closely resemble linen; so much so, indeed, that if a person has never seen hemp he is sure to think they are linen, and if he has, unless he is very experienced in such matters, he will not know of which material they are.

[4.75] The Scythians, as I said, take some of this hemp-seed, and, creeping under the felt coverings, throw it upon the red-hot stones; immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapour as no Grecian vapour-bath can exceed; the Scyths, delighted, shout for joy, and this vapour serves them instead of a water-bath; for they never by any chance wash their bodies with water.

Herodotus doesn't say whether the hippies Scythians got the munchies after all their shouting for joy. Considering the Scythians' eating habits, he was probably wise not to ask.

For those interested in a spa treatment there was the 24-hour hemp facial, too:

Their women make a mixture of cypress, cedar, and frankincense wood, which they pound into a paste upon a rough piece of stone, adding a little water to it. With this substance, which is of a thick consistency, they plaster their faces all over, and indeed their whole bodies. A sweet odour is thereby imparted to them, and when they take off the plaster on the day following, their skin is clean and glossy.

Considering the "spa weekend" trend, I see business possibilities. Of course, it would depend on the customer. No way I'd spend 24 hours wrapped in wood chip paste.

The Scythians were also into piercing even when they weren't amenable to a "peace and love" attitude, so maybe they were more of a punk mindset than a hippie mindset.

But fret not, we have the modern-day equivalent of the Scythian beauty treatment,


Read the Histories, and learn from this immortal tale how little things change.

Victor Davis Hanson has an excellent essay on the 300. You might also want to watch the movie, which has been banned in Iran, as VDH points out,

The film has actually been banned in Iran as hurtful American propaganda, as the theocracy suddenly is reclaiming its "infidel" ancient past.

Read Herodotus, watch 300.

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It's Friday, so Castro's not yet dead

Sure as rain, every Friday there's a rumor or denial concerning the not-dead-yet dictator of the island-prison:
BOOK: CASTRO'S SON SAYS DAD DYING; BUT CUBAN LEADER DETERMINED TO OUTLIVE BUSH PRESIDENCY

Tell ya what: "Castro" is determined to outlive all American presidencies because he is a dictator.

And of course, Fidel's Mini-Me pipes in: Cuba's Castro nearly died but is OK now: Chavez

UPDATE: Oh, look, he's even wearing wearing the Adidas jogging suit, and looking healthy again. The BBC has a video report here.

Prior jogging-suit photo-ops here and here



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Nilofar, Lars, Mahmoud, and immigration, all in the podcast

Siggy, Dymphna, Baron Bodissey and I discussed four different topics last Wednesday night:

I opened by mentioning Nilofar Bakhtiar, whose France2 interview aired right before the podcast started. Ms Bakhtiar went skydiving in France last April and has a fatwa on her head because she hugged her male skydiving instructor. Following the scandal, she offered to resign but the Pakistani Prime Minister refused her resignation.

During the France2 interview, Ms Bakhtiar calmly discussed that

In February a female provincial minister was shot dead by a man who, police said, did not think women should be in politics.

Mrs. Bakhtiar is unveiled, her daughter is unveiled, her two sons are proud of their mom, and her husband in firmly on her side.

They all live under 24-hr armed custody.

Mrs. Bakhtiar's situation illustrates "the two Pakistans", the way Ahmadinejad illustrates "the two Irans", so we went on to talk about Ahmadinejad's upcoming visit to New York next week. I'm sure you won't be surprised that we all agree with Mitt Romney's position that the UN indict Ahmadinejad under the Genocide Convention.

The latest on 'Jad is that he won't be visiting Ground Zero but Columbia University said it does not plan to call off his upcoming speech. As Roger (who was not in the podcast) asks,

I have a question for the Columbia crowd, since Holocaust deniers are welcome, would you allow a speaker in favor of a return to black slavery?

Certainly Columbia can't be hosting 'Jad for his scholarship or for his legitimacy as a world leader.

'Jad update: The New York Times editorial board will host Ahmadinejad for lunch at the Four Seasons hotel on Monday.

Back to the podcast: From there we talked about how Lars Vilks's artwork earned him a fatwa, and a $100,000 bounty on his head, with an additional $50,000 if he's decapitated. Gates of Vienna has been following the story from the start, and the latest is that the chairman the Muslim Association of Sweden wants "a clear law to protect the Muslim minority in this country."

Siggy refers to Wednesday's as Podcast As Slugfest, because we got into the subject of the DREAM act. I am totally against providing in-state tuition breaks to illegal aliens if the dependents of the taxpayers of that state can not get the same in-state (lower) fees, but Siggy is equally adamant that we should educate them at tax payer expense - even when the taxpayers don't get the same break.

Yesterday I heard from the friend that I mentioned in my post. She was hoppin' mad, because, aside from being the taxpayer I mentioned in the podcast, the DREAM act
1. denies in-state tuition to legal aliens with student visas
and
2. repeals a 1966 Federal law that requires that states offer all US citizens in-state tuition if it's to provide it to illegals.

She was ready for a slugfest, but turned down my offer to come on the podcast to discuss it.

If this podcast was a slugest, I'd say it's a couth, gentle, slugfest, but you must listen and tell me, was it a slugfest?



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Take your wreath and shove it, Mahmoud

I did a roundup for Pajamas Media first thing this morning and then had to attend to other matters. (Yes, that You talking to me? was my idea.)

As I posted this morning at PJM, early this morning the story was,

On the same day that the Iranian air force commander announced that Iran has drawn plans to bomb Israel, NY Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly revealed that the Bloomberg administration was in discussions to escort Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Ground Zero. Mahmoud won't get there , but he will speak at Columbia University after addressing the UN on Monday.

The multi-culti Columbia U is dignifying a criminal, as Power Line explains,

Columbia and President Bollinger are a disgrace. They welcome to their campus a man who is a ringleader in the seizure of American hostages, a terrorist, the president of a terrorist regime, and the representative of a regime responsible at present for the deaths of American soldiers on the field of battle.

But that's not all; Imagine my surprise when I look again a few minutes ago and read,

UPDATE: The Iranian leader plans to go to Ground Zero on Monday at 10 AM with a Secret Service escort - over NYPD objections. (WABC-TV)

Ahmadinejad and the regime he represents hold the same radical, murderous philosophy that lead to the assasination of 3,000 on September 11, 2001. He will be laying a wreath for the murderous terrorists, not the victims.

I want to know, why are we even having this character touch American soil to begin with?

Because he's a head of state?

Well, then, if that is the reason, let's treat him like a head of state: Let's have Ahmadinejad indicted under the Genocide Convention, as Mitt Romney (pdf file) requested from the UN last Monday.

Iran is

intent on wiping Israel off the map,
financing Hezbolla,
arming Shiia terrorist in Iraq,
and swearing to develop nuclear weapons.

It doesn't take much more to recognize that we are at war with Iran.

I consistenly strive to keep a certain tone in this blog, but Michelle said it best,



Pamela has info on the rally.



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Post on last night's podcast coming up later this AM

We had a great podcast last evening and I'll be posting about it later this morning. We talked about the skydiving fatwa, the Modoggie cartoon, Romney's letter to the UN, and immigration.

Thank you for your patience.

Tonight at 9PM: The Modoggie Cartoons

In tonight's prime-time Blog Talk Radio podcast, our monthly roundtable with Siggy of Sigmund, Carl and Alfred and Dymphna and Baron Bodissey of Gates of Vienna will discuss al-Qaeda's $150,000 bounty on Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks.

Please join us!

DREAM: Amnesty through the back door

Larwyn sent a link to an article at the Heritage Foundation: A Sleeper Amnesty: Time to Wake Up from the DREAM Act

Just three months after the Senate immigration bill met its well-deserved end, amnesty advocates in the U.S. Congress resumed their efforts. Recently, Senator Richard Durbin (D–IL) announced on the Senate floor his intention to offer the Development, Relief, and Edu­cation for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act as an amend­ment to the defense authorization bill.

The DREAM Act (S. 774) is a nightmare. It is a mas­sive amnesty that extends to the millions of illegal aliens who entered the United States before the age of 16. The illegal alien who applies for this amnesty is immediately rewarded with "conditional" lawful per­manent resident (green card) status, which can be converted to a non-conditional green card in short order. The alien can then use his newly acquired status to seek green cards for the parents who brought him in illegally in the first place. In this way, it is also a back­door amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens who brought their children with them to the United States.

This means that you wouldn't even have to be born in the USA in order to become an "anchor baby."

Then there's the matter of in-state tuition rates at public universities:

What is less well known about the DREAM Act is that it also allows illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition rates at public universities, discriminating against U.S. citizens from out of state and law-abiding foreign students. It repeals a 1996 federal law that pro­hibits any state from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens unless the state also offers in-state tuition rates to all U.S. citizens.

But it doesn't end there,

The DREAM Act also makes the illegal aliens eli­gible for federal student loans and federal work-study programs—another benefit that law-abiding foreign students cannot receive—all at taxpayer expense. A consistent theme emerges: Illegal aliens are treated much more favorably than aliens who fol­low the law. There is no penalty for illegal behavior.

My friend, a naturalized American citizen originally from South America (who was driven out of New Jersey because of high taxes which pay for NJ colleges) who lives in Pennsylvania but works in New Jersey and whose daughter (also a naturalized citizen) goes to college in NJ, is incensed about this:
Here she is, having gone (along with her family) through the lengthy citizenship process,
having paid NJ real estate taxes for decades,
still paying NJ income taxes,
and paying out-of-state tuition at a NJ university,
and now illegal aliens would be getting in-state tuition.

As a law-abiding American citizen, I'm angry, too.

From Illich Ramirez to Osama Bin Laden

I just received an interesting article, and decided to translate it. Mind you, I can not vouch for its accuracy, but it brings up a serious issue,
De Ilich Ramírez a Osama Bin Laden
(my translation, emphasis added)
From Illich Ramirez to Osama Bin Laden
by Jose Brechner

Pakistanis? Afghans? No, indigenous Venezuelans

Before Osama Bin Laden, the world's best-known terrorist was Venezuelan Illich Ramirez Sanchez, alias "Carlos the Jackal", who was captured in 1994 and is serving a life sentence at the Clair-vaux prison in Northeastern France, from where he sporadically corresponds with Hugo Chavez, who calls him a "distinguished compatriot" and referred to him as a "friend" during an OPEC conference in Caracas.

Carlos worked for Muammar Gadafi of Libya, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Hafiz-al-Assad of Syria, George Habash of the FPLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) , the Italian Red Brigades, the Colombian M-19 Movement, the German Baader-Meinhof, and any other socialists and communists that would pay him. The name Illich is no coincidence, since his father was a millionaire leader of the Venezuelan Communist Party that named his three sons after his heroes, Vladimir, Illich, and Lenin. Carlos joined the party as a child, received a Communist education in Cuba, and traveled to Jordan where he became a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Islamic group. After that, he traveled freely throughout the Middle East with official passports granted by the governments of the region.

In prison, Carlos embraced Islam as a religion, as many other Communists do, not because they believe in Allah, but because they feel kinship with Muslims in their hatred of the USA. Aristotle said, "Evil unites men." In a recent interview, The Jackal laughed remorselessly when asked about his murders, and criticized Al Qaeda by saying, "They are not professional. They are not organized. They don't even know how to make explosives or detonators well." When asked how many did he kill, he replied, "I can’t count, less than 100 anyway." French police has documented 83 murders. And what did he achieve from that? "Our example has been followed not only by Communists, but also by Jihadists."

In a nearer and more dangerous scenario, which also has Venezuela as a starting point, Hezbollah in Latin America, also called Hezbollah Venezuela, converts to Islam any indigenous Chavista it can, because they are the ones that least understand what is going on. Evangelical missionaries have disappeared from the jungle because according to Chavez they are genocidal spies. Evo Morales in Bolivia repeats Chavez's same words.

Chavez has invited Iranian Shiite "missionaries" to convert the Guajiros and other indigenous peoples in Amazonia. The entire Wayuu tribe is now Muslim, women wear veils while men go to Kalashnikov shooting practice. Some have themselves photographed wearing suicide vests loaded with bombs, and the Venezuelan government distributes the photos, publicizing its friendship with Ahmadinejad and Middle East terrorist groups.

Hezbollah Venezuela refers to Jose Miguel Rojas Espinosa - the mastermind of the terrorist attack against the American Embassy in Caracas - as "the first mujeheddin, an example of strength and dignity in Allah's cause, the first prisoner of war of the Revolutionary Islamic Movement in Venezuela." The group is linked to Argentinian socialist-terrorist Norberto Rafael Ceresole, who is allegedly linked to the AMIA (Argentine Israelite Mutual Association) attack in 1994, and who is the acting ideologue for Chavez and Morales's regimes of Socialism for the 21st Century.

In Bolivia - South America's most indigenous country - conversion to Islam didn't start visibly, but it is an important part of the Islamist-Leftist scheme towards a conquest of America, imposing totalitarianism under Morales's whip, with Chavez and Ahmadinejad at the helm. Converting Quechuas and Aimaras will not be as quick or as easy as converting the Venezuelan tribes because the indigenous Bolivian population is in the millions, but the goal of the Muslims is precisely to convert millions.

As I said, I can not vouch for its accuracy, but this is worth keeping an eye on.

More:
The Shi'ite Indians of Venezuela, via A colombo-americana's perspective.



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Latin America this week: Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Colombia, and Brazil

Cuba:
Even The Economist has theories on the "announcement":

So just before October 10th, the date of Cuba's declaration of independence from Spain in 1868, expect another wave of rumours in Miami that Mr Castro has passed away.

I won't believe any rumors until the Cuban government produces
a. a corpse,
and b. DNA for corroboration.
As far as I'm concerned, it ain't over until Horatio sings.

Babalu blog has links to John Stossel's 20/20 entire program on healthcare.

------------------------------------------------------------
Mexico:

On September 10th six explosions ripped through gas pipelines in the state of Veracruz, disrupting oil and natural-gas supplies, shutting down factories and forcing thousands from their homes. It was the third such attack in the past three months, and the most severe. Left-wing rebels claimed responsibility. Pemex, the state oil company, says it hopes to restore a full service within the next few days.

Who was behind the explosions?

Group that attacked pipeline in Mexico is financed by Chavez

The subversive group Revolutionary Popular Army (EPR, left), that attributed yesterday the attacks against six gasoductos of state Mexican Petroleums (PEMEX), is financed by the government of Hugo Chavez, according to a report of press based on the Mexican intelligence service.

Yesterday Mary Anastasia O'Grady wrote about Calderon's misguided economic reforms,

Having one win under his belt, Mr. Calderon moved this summer to introduce a fiscal reform designed to close revenue shortfalls. A better course of action, with oil topping $80 a barrel, would have been opening the oil market to private investment. But this would have challenged the theology that says that the inefficient state-owned oil monopoly Pemex is sacred. Mr. Calderon apparently has decided, for now, against questioning that taboo.

Instead, he chose to go after the productive private sector of the economy, where at least some large companies are known to take advantage of a complex, exemption-ridden regime to dodge tax payments. The choice has not been fruitful.

As I reported in my July 2 column, Hacienda Minister (Treasury Secretary) Agustin Carstens, formerly of the International Monetary Fund, chose not to seek growth through lower corporate tax rates and simplification. Instead, he crafted a plan to create a corporate alternative minimum tax. The proposal raised the cost of labor on some part of the work force and complicated the code.

This has the rancid odor of a tax hike, not that of a flat tax, and as such it will not lead to growth and prosperity.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Colombia:
Also at The Economist, an article on Uribe's move to involve Chavez in the FARC negotiations,

The bigger risk is that by bringing in Mr Chávez, Mr Uribe has granted the FARC an avenue to international legitimacy. If that were the prelude to serious peace talks, so much the better. But Mr Chavez, an elected president but one who has ridden roughshod over his country's institutions, is hardly best placed to persuade the FARC to accept the rules of democracy.

Uribe has accepted a European proposal on a safe haven, and Sarko is also pressing for a hostage accord, since French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, has become a cause celebre in France, even when in Colombia she's another high-profile hostage among many.

Quite frankly, adding Chavez to this equation strikes me a insane.

Venezuela News and Views has an excellent post on this "very confusing situation where everyone involved is at least playing a double game."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Argentina:
Guess who's meddling in the elections?

There is a divide among governments in Latin America and the left is making a comeback, with a backlash against free-market reforms and US policies. The "responsible" camp is led by two socialists who have become very pragmatic. In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has followed moderate macroeconomic policies, with some innovative initiatives on hunger, land reform and energy. In Chile, President Michelle Bachelet has successfully led a coalition with the Christian Democrats and achieved strong growth and reductions in poverty. Felipe Calderon, Mexico's conservative president, is following a similar course.

The "irresponsible" camp is led by Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, seeking to spread his "21st-century socialism" across Latin America with populist, nationalistic policies fuelled by the country's rising oil revenues. He has nationalised private assets, forced the departure of US companies, cracked down on the media and other opposition outlets and funded his own corps of leftist candidates throughout Latin America. He has proposed a "Bank of the South" to replace the US-backed International Monetary Fund and recommended a change in the constitution that would allow him to serve for life. On Mr Chavez's side are Bolivia, Ecuador and, of course, Cuba.

Argentina has been teetering on the brink of the Chavez camp and the signals from Ms Fernandez are not promising. Since Argentina's economic collapse in 2001, its government has repudiated billions of dollars in debts to foreign lenders, accepted billions more of Venezuela's petrodollars and flirted with Mr Chavez's anti-American policies. Mr Kirchner accepted an offer from Mr Chavez for nearly $4bn to pay off International Monetary Fund debt. In exchange, he lent his support to Venezuela's bid to join Mercosur, the regional trade bloc, and to Mr Chavez's proposed Bank of the South. Brazil has thrown cold water on the bank proposal and Mr Chavez has been forced to put off his bond sales, reputedly for lack of buyers.

Ms Fernandez has an opportunity to shift course and join the responsible camp. The country is back on its feet with about $44bn in foreign reserves from the boom in commodity prices. In 2006 it recorded a fiscal surplus equal to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product. It is time the country moved away from Venezuela and joined Brazil, Chile and Mexico. There are several steps Ms Fernandez should take. First, Argentina should take no more Venezuelan funds. Second, it should drop its support for a Bank of the South. Third, it should clean up its investment climate so it can re-enter international capital markets.

Let's hope they do.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Guatemala:
The NYT has recently started to run insightful articles on Latin America. Last week Marc Lacey explored the reasons behind Rigoberta Menchu's defeat in Guatemala. The article is under Times Select, but you can read it at the HACER website,

She was not from around here. That was obvious to anyone who scrutinized the details of the embroidery on the traditional Mayan clothes she wore to campaign. She is a Quiche Mayan, from the midwestern highlands. Her indigenous language is different, unintelligible to a local Tz'utujil speaker. Nineteen other Mayan groups live in Guatemala, each linguistically distinct. Because of the rivalries and conflicts among Mayans, Ms. Menchú had to win over Mayan voters just like any other outsider.

Read the rest.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Bolivia;
Simon Romero, also at the NYT, says that Evo Morales is bringing stability to Bolivia.

Unfortunately Evo's vision for Bolivia involves totalitarianism, reliance on oil and gas (and coca) instead of economic development and wealth creation, and closer ties with Iran,

On the political front, critics say Mr. Morales is tilting toward authoritarianism, with rough verbal treatment of opponents and a proposal by supporters to be re-elected indefinitely. And some policies seem erratic and inspired by President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, like his moves this month to establish diplomatic ties with Iran while announcing visa requirements for American visitors.

“Chávez sees the creation of a great Latin American fatherland, a vision that I share,” said Mr. Morales, defending his aid from Venezuela, while criticizing foreign assistance that requires conditions like coca eradication. He remains the leader of the Federacion del Tropico, saying he would return to growing coca when his presidency ends.

Meanwhile, last month the parliamentarians came to blows over corruption. It won't be the last time.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Brazil:
Aside from becoming a propaganda vehilce, I see no benefit to the government opening a government-run TV station in a country with 600 TV channels.

Special thanks to Eneas of Hispanic American Center for Economic Research for the links.


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Venezuela: And now it's the private schools

UPDATED
When Hugo Chavez declared a socialist republic las January, I predicted that Venezuela's private economy will disappear as we know it.

Chavez's latest target? Private schools (h/t Pamela):
Venezuela's Chavez Warns Private Schools (emphasis added)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Monday to close or take over any private school that refuses to submit to the oversight of his socialist government as it develops a new curriculum and textbooks.
"Society cannot allow the private sector to do whatever it wants," said Chavez, speaking on the first day of classes.

All schools, public and private, must admit state inspectors and submit to the government's new educational system, or be closed and nationalized, with the state taking responsibility for the education of their children, Chavez said.

Those who can leave, are leaving:

Teachers and academics may see the measure as an attempt to politicize the classroom, speeding up a brain drain that has been underway for years as educated, skilled workers move abroad to escape Chavez's "Bolivarian" revolution, said Ercilia Vasquez, director of the school of education at the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello in Caracas.

Of course, there's a new curriculum to indoctrinate the "new citizens", while

the education minister said the aim is to develop "critical thinking," not to impose a single way of thought.

And who is the education minister, you ask?

Hugo's brother, Adan Chavez.



On related news, A colombo-americana's perspective has a report on religious freedom in Venezuela.

Update, Tuesday 19 September:
If you need it spelled out, here's why private schools will be taken over,

"If they attack us because we're indoctrinating, well yes, we're doing it, because those capitalist ideas that our young people have — and that have done so much damage to our people — must be eliminated," Campos said.

Any questions?

The salami tactics of Hugo Chavez

This is a serious slice, and there is a lot here: the submission of the private to the public, a leader speaking for "society," a new (re-)educational system, propaganda, threats of nationalization and state control, the concept of a "new citizen," nepotism. This could be 1984. There may not yet be any killing fields — none that we know of — but the rest is beginning to look a lot like the tyrannies, the totalitarian tyrannies, of the last century. Pol Pot, meet Hugo Chavez.

(h/t Captain Ed)


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