ALA misspells my name

May 25 article at the American Libraries On Line website (emphasis added): Library Film Festival Riles Anti-Castro Community

The Princeton (N.J.) Public Library came under fire in mid-May over the inclusion of two documentaries about Cuba among 14 films in its 2007 Princeton Human Rights Film Festival. The controversy resulted in a shouting match at the May 12 screening of ¡Salud! What Puts Cuba on the Map in the Quest for Global Health, as well as accusations in the conservative blogosphere that the library was disseminating pro-Castro propaganda.

PPL Director and ALA President Leslie Burger told American Libraries that the purpose of the festival, now in its third year, is to highlight "what we think are human rights issues like the right to clean water or the right to a safe environment or the right to clean air." Emphasizing that the 2 1/2 day event is "not about the human rights records of countries around the world," Burger said that the film-selection committee chose ¡Salud! to spark discussion about what constitutes a quality public health system.

Which Cuba doesn't have.

Click on the photo.

But area resident Faustia Wertz blogged May 8 that she saw PPL's choice of ¡Salud! as well as The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. as indicative of the library's indifference to Castro's human rights record. "People started organizing letter-writing campaigns," Burger explained, "pressuring us to remove the films from the screening list, which we refused to do." She said the library also refused to "uninvite" Ellen Bernstein of Pastors for Peace, who is a frequent traveler to Cuba, as a speaker after the ¡Salud! screening.

"The thing about the two films is not that they're being shown. I have no objection to that. The facts on Cuba are not the facts that were shown," Wertz told the May 18 Princeton Packet.

A couple of things here:
That's Mrs. Wertz to you. Mrs. Fausta Wertz, while you're at it.

At no time did I ask that Ellen Bernstein be disinvited.

And I'm not an "area resident", I am a taxpayer in Princeton Township, whose taxes support the Festival.

"To have a film festival that doesn't address the blatant and egregious human rights violations in Cuba seems really unbalanced," agreed Maria C. Werlau of Summit, New Jersey, and executive director of Cuba Archive.

"If we want to have a discussion about people having public health care, we have to choose a film that allows us to have that discussion," Burger asserted. "Unfortunately because Cuba appeared in the title of that film, we never had that discussion." She added that PPL would continue holding the Human Rights Film Festival, "broadening our community involvement in it. We're willing to take the heat."

One suggestion, if the Princeton Public Library is calling its film festival the Princeton Human Rights Film Festival, it might be a good idea not to ignore the human rights abuses in the systems it defends, such as the medical apartheid system prevalent in Cuba, when three eye-witnesses in the audience wanted to talk about it.

The Princeton Packet at least emailed me before quoting me, and managed to spell my name correctly.

You can read my account of the PHRFF here.

Chavez underestimated the other media

Daniel posts about how Chavez didn't forsee the effect of modern technology in his attempt to silence all media in his quest for "informational hegemony" and insisting on a news blackout.

Take a look at the photos, for instance.

Here's yesterday's demonstration:


Access to information is limited all over the country, as opposition leader is detained in Caracas He was released, while many protesters are still in the clink: Calls to release Venezuelan protesters

A top opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has demanded the release of jailed protesters as university students poured into the streets for a third day to protest the removal of a leading opposition TV station from the air.

Alvaro Vargas Llosa calls Marcel Granier Venezuela's Cool Hero

Leaving aside the obvious argument that the judgment over a broadcast network's journalistic content should be left to the viewers, and that Chavez's track record makes him an unsuitable custodian of any country's morals, there is a deeper reason why the case of RCTV is worthy of universal attention. It has to do with the role that, in the absence of checks and balances in the steady march toward totalitarianism in Venezuela, this network was forced to play.

Forced by circumstances, RCTV had become in recent years something of a surrogate National Assembly, a surrogate Supreme Court, and a surrogate electoral authority. "We are not politicians," Granier told me a few days ago, "but in a situation like this you cannot avoid being perceived as part of the political struggle by those who lack effective representation or democratic safeguards, and by those responsible for doing away with both. Simply by providing information to a society starved for information we were placed in that position."

The Economist has a mediocre article about the RCTV closing. Earlier this week the WaPo had a better article, Chávez Raises Volume Of Government's Voice, with the money quote:

Outlets, particularly television stations, that were once aggressively anti-government have grown docile under threat of sanctions, say press freedom and human rights groups, while the government has used a windfall in oil revenue to start up newspapers and broadcast networks.

Well, cry me a river: After three days of demonstrators being tear-gassed, drenched with water cannons and shot at with rubber bullets, friend of dictators Jimmy Carter has finally deigned to issue a press release Carter Center concerned about possible violence in Venezuela. Jimmy, who gave the blessing to a fraudulent electon, wants dialogue. Words fail me, but only because I strive to maintain a certain level of discourse in this blog.

One thing is clear: The left cannot stand competition in the arena of ideas

Here are my Pajamas Media article, Chavenezuela, and the podcast on Venezuela.

Will update this post later today.

4:30PM Adam Housely reports that

Yesterday, the crowds were at their largest and the clashes were at a minimum. At one point, thousands of protesters marched through the streets headed for a neighborhood loyal to President Chavez. Their aim is to deliver letters to a Chavez official, urging the release of 180 people arrested for opposing the view of the president. As the masses approached, the street was blocked by more than 1,000 police officers and National Guard troops. They are shoulder to shoulder, and four to six deep.

For once, both sides showed incredible restraint.

Iberian Notes:

Venezuela note: The closing down of Radio Caracas Television has finally brought the entire Spanish press out against the Chávez regime. The protests got good coverage. Now he's threatening to close down the country's other major channel, Globovisión, and CNN. It takes a threat to the media's status, power, and influence to really get it pissed off.

The Economist survey: U.S. as peaceful as Iran, Venezuela, but more than Iraq

I've been subscribing to The Economist since I was a college student, but the quality of their material has been declining for years. About the only worthwhile sections left are science business, so The Husband requested that I renew the subscription. Stuff like this tempts me to cancel:

Magazine suggests U.S. as peaceful as Iran, Venezuela, but more than Iraq

The United States and Iran finished in a virtual dead heat, and way down the list, in a magazine's assessment of the peacefulness of 121 countries.

The United States placed 96th and Iran came in 97th on the global index released Wednesday by the Economist magazine.
The data were drawn from the United Nations, the World Bank, peace groups and the magazine researchers' own assessments, Williamson said.

"We are just mechanics and technicians behind the index," he said. "We are not making judgments about foreign policy."

People without judgment can't make judgements, after all.

Norway was rated as the country most at peace, followed by New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland and Japan. Iraq was in last place, with Sudan and Israel just above.

Some two-dozen indicators were used, including wars fought in the past five years, arms sales, prison populations and incidence of crime.

"The United States arguably has kept the peace since 1945, but with a high level of defense spending," Leo Abruzzese, an editorial director for the magazine's intelligence unit, said at a news conference.

That's how the US won the Cold War.

Leo works at The Economist's intelligence unit. Hmmm.

Western Europe was rated the world's most peaceful region,...

Peaceful, alright.

...although France was ranked 34th and the United Kingdom 49th.

This is what peace looks like in France.

Let's take a look at Iran and Venezuela:

Iran:


Venezuela:


Peaceful, alright.

A Jacksonian was looking at The Economist a couple of months ago.

Update: Gateway Pundit looks at the list.

Update, Friday 1 June: Taranto:

Another example of the survey's absurd bias: Israel places No. 119, ahead of only Sudan and Iraq. But of course most Israelis would like nothing more than to live in peace, as would their leaders. They are forced into frequent wars because they are surrounded by enemy states, almost all of which The Economist reckons as more "peaceful"--including Iran, which comes 22 places above Israel despite its pursuit of nuclear weapons and its president's vow to "wipe Israel off the map." Syria, at No. 77, actually places well ahead of the U.S., despite its support for terrorists in Iraq, Lebanon and Israel. The Palestinian Arabs aren't even mentioned in the survey, which covers only nations.

An embarrassing excercise, indeed.

Did you listen yet? and today's items

I'll post more about Venezuela later today, but here's the morning round-up:

Did you listen yet?

Last Monday my guests were Dymphna and Baron Bodissey of Gates of Vienna and Siggy co-hosted. Listen to a most enjoyable podcast, and tell your friends. If you listened already, go back and listen again.

Soldier's Family Needs Immediate Help

Victor Davis Hanson writes about The Global Immigration Problem

The moment illegal immigrants arrive, a sort of race begins: Can these newcomers become legal, speak the host language and get educated before they age, get hurt or lose their job? If so, then they assimilate and their children are held up as models of diversity. If not, the end of the story can be welfare or jail.
...
Governments in countries such as Mexico and Morocco usually care far more about their emigrants once they are long gone. Then these poor are no longer volatile proof of their own failures, but victims of some wealthy foreign government's indifference. And these pawns usually send cash home.

Don't miss also The Legal Visa Crunch: The Senate bill is worse than current law for skilled immigrants.

And Now...British Academia

Investor's Business Daily continues its series on Jimmy Carter, Friend of dictators

Via Red State, Sen. Byrd: "Allowing the public to actually see earmark requests...isn't a good idea"


We beat global warming, and "Al's the guy!"

Via Larwin, Ace posts that Jon Corzine didn't think of wearing a seat belt, and zoomed down the turnpike going 90 miles an hour, but he's going to keep you from getting fat. Maybe Corzine should call Michael Moore for diet tips.

Mitt gets heckled in New Hampshire for being a Mormon. Harry Reid better stay away.

Also from Ace, some fool at Newsweek thinks wussy men are hot. Where is Pullo when we need him?
Here's a short list of other non-wussies. And the ever-popular Swiss.

Speaking of wusses, Betsy has The humbug that is John Edwards, who, by the way, may have some trouble getting some of the treasure money as Spain sues over shipwreck bonanza

Harry Potter theme park planned in Orlando. It'll take real magic to duplicate the terrain and the weather, for sure.

And last, but not least, The Studied Linguist (a poem)

British Faculty Association Votes to Boycott 2 Israeli Universities, and today's round-up

UK lecturers support Israel boycott call British Faculty Association Votes to Boycott 2 Israeli Universities

Today's round-up:
Malasia's highest court denies a woman the right to convert from Islam (h/t 762 justice)

"My carbon footprint's a lot bigger than yours" - way bigger!

Is this picture from Atlanta? North Carolina's reseach triangle? Someplace in Florida?

News The Husband probably won't want to hear: the new Saks 5th Ave shoe department will be so big it'll have its own zip code, and a VIP room, too. Ferragamo's right across the street, also ready and waiting.

Run, Fred, run!

A group of Cuban doctors working in Namibia who sought asylum in the US had to go into hiding... oh, wait, but let's keep an open mind!

Janet-my-personal-trainer has nothing to fear.

What an Anchoress does

1986 Redux: Proposed Senate Immigration Reform Repeats Past Failure

Robbing Rector
Does the WSJ read before they editorialize?

Bush Finally Fires Up the Base

Chavenezuela

Updated throughout the day

Chavenezuela, my latest article, is up at Pajamas Media, with videos.

Please also listen to my Blog Talk Radio podcast with guests Thor Halvorssen, President and CEO of the Human Rights Foundation, award-winning bloggers Daniel Duquenal of Venezuela News and Views and Miguel Octavio of The Devil's Excrement, and oil industry expert Gustavo Coronel, and please also visit their blogs and websites.

Miguel Octavio will be P.V. Radio's podcast guest tonight at 9PM EDT.

The protesting Venezuelan students have a website (in Spanish) Resistencia Estudiantil Por La Libertad with live radio feed.

This is what the Avenida Francisco de Miranda, one of Caracas's main thoroughfares, looked like last night:


I'll update this post with the latest developments througout the day.

Morning round-up:
Demonstrations were reported in some 100 different municipalities across the country
Chavez declares Globovision an enemy of the state, an "enemy of the homeland".
Venezuela's Totalitarian Turn
Chile defends freedom of expression in Venezuela TV row but the Brazilian government is keeping quiet. At least the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) refused in a meeting held last week in Asuncion a request from the Venezuelan government to back its closing of RCTV.
An Overwhelming Momentum
Another Cow Put Out To Pasture: Cindy Sheehan's Last Dance
Gustavo Coronel writes A letter to Danny

Noon update:
Adam Housely is back, reporting from the streets of Caracas,
Students from two more universities join in the protests.
Cato Institute: Chavez's Actions Eroding Venezuela's Credibility, Economy
More video, via Oliver

Daniel Duquenal was on a Radio Five Live podcast

3PM update
Gustavo Coronel was interviewed in today's Cato's Daily Podcast
College students in Chacaito filed a civil complaint and are demonstrating (link in Spanish, via Mora.
Pelosi Calls on Venezuela's Chavez to Reconsider TV Shutdown. How do you spell t-o-o l-a-t-e, Nancy?
Venezuelan Revolt

The ruling Chavistas are in a panic. They do not know what to do. Chavez himself mocked the protestors Tuesday and implied they were CIA agents - but Venezuelans noticed that he spoke from the naval airport near Caracas, a place from where dictators are known to flee the country. Venezuelans wondered if he was really that scared because it was an odd location. Meanwhile, other Chavistas have bared their fangs at other TV stations, vowing to shut them - Globovision, the last Venezuelan dissident station, a very tiny one that takes subscriptions and commands only a 5% market share, and CNN, whose fearless Kitty Pilgrim and others have done award-worthy reporting exposing the reality of Chavez's Venezuela for the past few years. Chavez has loudly cursed that reporting.

Venezuelans think that those stations will be shut soon. They don't want any more coverage of the protests that are engulfing Caracas. In their minds, shutting the stations will make information much harder to get. But there's too much momentum to really stop it - Caracas will just become a city of added tropical intrigue with people acting on rumors.

Venezuela Local Debt Plunge Amid Fifth Day of Street Protests
Overreaching Autocrat
Chavez abolishes freedom of the press to stop the spread of soap operas

5PM update
Monkey see, monkey do: now Correa in Ecuador and Morales in Bolivia want to do as Hugo Protests in Venezuela; One Hundred High School Students Arrested; Attacks on Media Continue; Bolivian and Ecuadorian Governments Announce Media Crackdown

Adam Housley at Fox News

Hitchens on Kurchner

When Hitchens is bad, he's awful, but when he's good, he's really good. And he's really good writing about The French Correction
The principled new foreign minister shows how much France has changed of late (h/t The Anchoress):

The single best symbol of the change in France is the appointment of Bernard Kouchner to the post of foreign minister. Had the Socialist Party won the election, it is highly unlikely that such a distinguished socialist would ever have been allowed through the doors of the Quai d'Orsay. (Yes, comrades, history actually is dialectical and paradoxical.) In the present climate of the United States, a man like Kouchner would be regarded as a neoconservative. He was a prominent figure in the leftist rebellion of 1968, before breaking with some of his earlier illusions and opposing the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan—the true and original source of many of our woes in the Islamic world. The group he co-founded—Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières—was a pioneer in the highly necessary proclamation that left politics should always be anti-totalitarian. (His former counterpart, Joschka Fischer of Germany, also took a version of this view before Schröder's smirking Realpolitik became too much, and too popular in Germany, for him to withstand.)

His principles led Kouchner to defend two oppressed Muslim peoples—those of Yugoslavia and Iraqi Kurdistan—who were faced with extermination at the hands of two parties daring to call themselves socialist. The Serbian Socialist Party of Slobodan Milosevic and the Arab Baath Socialist Party of Saddam Hussein are at last receding into history, leaving behind them a legacy of utter stagnation, hysterical aggression, and mass graves. I personally find it satisfying that a French socialist was identified with both these victories. Kouchner was instrumental in altering French policy in Bosnia-Herzegovina and later in filling the position—between 1999 and 2001—of U.N. representative in liberated Kosovo. Prior even to that, he had been extremely active in calling attention to the genocidal policy of Saddam in Kurdistan and in helping to introduce Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the then-president of France, to the exemplary role that she played in opposing it. A few years ago, he wrote the introduction to the French edition of The Black Book of Saddam Hussein, a vitally important volume that educates readers in the pornographic nature of that regime: a nightmare government that is now widely considered by liberals to have been framed up by the Bush administration.

Erik Svane and I discussed Kurchner in last week's podcast. Erik stated,

"The world did really well in getting Sarkozy as President and Kouchner as Foreign Minister."

Speaking of Erik, he's back from Cannes and he's blogging, but not before getting General Leonardo in the right hands.

In a lighter mode,
Here's the picture of Erik again, for all of you who wrote saying you like it,

Compare and contrast:

It sure didn't take long...

UPDATED
with more videos
Yesterday the BBC correspondent was in Caracas (emphasis added)

I was caught up in this, broadcasting from just outside the studios. It seems when a group of Chavez supporters got within a few blocks of the station, the police took action.

Over the eerie air raid sirens, shots were fired in the air and people ran for cover. It was not clear who was firing at who, but a few minutes later, more shots rang out.

The atmosphere had become nasty. People ran as fast as they could down the narrow streets to get away from the clashes. We ran with them.

He finished his report with this,

The government says that the station violated broadcast laws and transmitted violent and morally degrading programmes.

However,

The decision to renew the licences of other broadcasters, ministers say, shows that Venezuela is democratic and pluralistic.

In our conversation after last Saturday's podcast, one of my guests said that Globovision was next. Well, it sure didn't take long:
Second Venezuela TV is under fire

Venezuela's government has accused a TV station of inciting a murder attempt on President Hugo Chavez, hours after taking another network off the air.

It said footage shown on Globovision implicitly called for Mr Chavez to be killed. The station denies the claim.
...
Globovision was the only TV station to air footage of a large demonstration against the government's growing control over the media.

This time the government has sued. Foreign news servides are also in the crosshairs:

Chavez eyes CNN
The government was also suing the US station CNN for allegedly linking Mr Chavez to al-Qaeda, Mr Lara said.

"CNN broadcast a lie which linked President Chavez to violence and murder," he said.

In a statement, CNN said they "strongly deny" being "engaged in a campaign to discredit or attack Venezuela".

This is what got CNN in trouble.

Now all the US cable networks are finally reporting on the protests.

Fox video was there.

The Anchoress posts on the media spin and choosing liberty. Little Green Footballs and Jawa Report look at the Left.

Investor's Business Daily: Freedom: Caracas blackout

More later.

Update
Venezuela's Bonds Fall After Shutdown of RCTV Triggers Clashes
Miguel Octavio will be the guest of Political Vindication's PV Radio podcasttomorrow, Wednesday at 9PM EDT.

Update, 12:20 PM: CNN International's showing more protests right now.

Update, 5:20 OM: Adam Housley of Fox News reported that Chavez had asked his supporters to come down from the mountains and fight the demonstrators, while the police continued to fire rubber bullets and tear gas on demonstrators.
Chavez is asking the opposition if they're prepared to die to defend their beliefs.

And a YouTube for Siggy (risking that he might do a compare and contrast),

Chavez TV
Chavez shooting his own people

6:35PM Housley's wearing goggles - from being hosed down by the water cannon.

More
More threats from Hugo


Chavez shoots students, also at Gateway Pundit:

Here's a video of one of today's demonstrations: At least the RCTV trucks haven't been impounded yet:

Venezuela once again on the edge

The protesting students have a blog: Resistencia Estudiantil Por La Libertad, with lots of photos, via Oliver

Others blogging
Venezuelans Fight Loss of Free Press.
One Man, One Vote, One Time

Special thanks to Larwyn for the links.

Today on Blog Talk Radio: Gates of Vienna and Sigmund, Carl and Alfred

On today's podcast: Dymphna and Baron Bodissey of Gates of Vienna join my co-host Siggy and I today at noon, EDT.

What does this have to do with Memorial Day? Tune in to find out!

Update You can listen to the archived podcast here
Dymphna and Baron Bodissey talked about The Center for Vigilant Freedom. I'm adding the link to my blogroll.

RCTV is off the air

UPDATED:
Troops Fire Upon Protesters in Venezuela
Venezuela moves against second opposition TV channel
Amid protests, Venezuela's TV station goes off the air

Despite protests by democracy activists, Venezuela's oldest television network went off the air at midnight Sunday, victim of a fresh push by President Hugo Chavez to tighten his grip over the nation's media

As my podcast guests explained, now everything depends on the leader and what he wants done:

"The decision was mine" to close RCTV, Chavez said Saturday

As my guests stated in Saturday's podcast, RCTV's license renewal was denied by Chavez's decree, not by due process of law.

You can listen to the podcast here

Daniel Duquenal, one of my podcast guests has an excellent essay on the closing: Antes que anochezca: waiting for the night in Venezuela

But more importantly, and a consolation of sorts for me, is the intensity of the international response to the closing of RCTV. Anyone who is anybody in the world has either condemned Chavez or at least remained silent, and definitely refused to support Chavez. Only a few, a surprisingly very few, have come out to support Chavez and they have no credit anyway. You can see it everywhere, from the desperate and ridiculous accusations of Minister Lara today to comment sections at Publius Pundit from pro Chavez Anglos losing their grip on things. Indeed, one from that side should be pissed off: 6 months of intense propaganda and you get editorials such as the one from Le Monde. Millions of dollars in paid services gone to waste, thousands of hours of "grass root" working for naught. The world is unto Chavez, and them, and they know it.

Yes, it is a small consolation but it is an important one. Chavez has lost any respectability he might still have had, and there is nothing he can do to recover it. When, say, Mugabe or Fujimori did this sort of things, they stopped been received where it mattered. Their regime started to unravel as they started losing the respect of their people even if those for a variety of reasons kept voting for them at first. And we know all that Chavez pins for international stages. Many will be denied him now.

You must read the whole essay.

Miguel Octavio, also my guest on Saturday's podcast, posts on Hugo Chavez' fake democracy. He also translated Venezuelan daily's El Nacional editorial, Power without limits, front-page editorial in El Nacional.

Miguel also reports that last night a representative of the "Board for Social Responsibility" of the Ministry of Communications threatened the media with shutting them down for up to three days by broadcasting the Inter-american Press Society (SIP) press conference.

Last night: Caracas police halt TV shutdown protest

Police broke up an opposition protest using a water cannon and tear gas after hundreds took to the streets on Sunday condemning a decision by President Hugo Chavez to force Venezuela's most widely watched channel off the air.

Soaked protesters scattered while the stream of water swept the street, then sang the national anthem as they returned to face a column of riot police outside the state telecommunications commission.

Via Instapundit, Boing-boing has videos of the Venezuelan media crackdown: TV anchors sign off, mouths shut, including this one,

The BBC has a video of the protests.

But that wasn't all: Hugo Chavez Silences the Opposition- Sends Tanks In!

Rule of law, private property rights, and freedom of press are all now absent under the Chavez regime.

The Jungle Hut has photos and eyewitness accounts of the protests.

Aleksander Boyd is back posting,

However sincere the resolutions and letters condemning the act, on Monday morning, when RCTV's right to broadcast is illegally terminated, Chavez will still be the ultimate icon of the world's resented imbeciles and those concerned about the loss of another democratic right in Venezuela will carry on with the business of il dolce far niente at taxpayers' expense. Toothless multilateral bodies have, as Chavez, lost all legitimacy. Its condemnations mean jackshit in the real world. The future looks bleak in Venezuela, that much is certain and has, at last, been properly understood by democrats around the globe, whom are seen in the side of reason, in the side of rule of law.

And where are the American cable news channels?
While the BBC, Forbes, the NYT, the Guardian (also here), Reuters ( Venezuela TV station says troops seized equipment) and countless others are covering the story, I have yet to see any reporting at all at CNN, or NBC. Fox News just carried a brief news item.

History is being made and they all are celebrity-watching.

Also don't miss
Mora's excellent report and round-up at Publius Pundit.

Update
Associated Press: Chavez Launches New Venezuela TV Station
update 2 Troops Fire Upon Protesters in Venezuela

National Guard troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday into a crowd of protesters angry over a decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced a critical television station off the air.

This time it was rubber bullets; in 2004 gunmen fired on Thor Halvessen's mother during a peaceful demonstration.
Univision's showing live coverage of the ongoing demonstrations. I'll try to get video to post.

Students protest as Minister charges Globovision, CNN and Venezueladigital with promoting the killing of Chavez
Venezuela Police Repel Protests Over TV Network’s Closing

Maria Alejandra Diaz, the social responsibility director at the Communications Ministry, cited recent legislation in Venezuela that enabled the government to shut down media groups for 72 hours if their coverage incited people to engage in violent protests. Ms. Díaz asked news organizations to refrain from reporting on the association's statement, since it could allow viewers, readers or listeners to think Mr. Chavez's government was "tyrannical."

Because that would show it for what it is.
Gateway Pundit has more round-up and commentary.

6PM Update Venezuela moves against second opposition TV channel

Hours after President Hugo Chavez shut down Venezuela's main opposition broadcaster, his government demanded an investigation of news network Globovision on Monday for allegedly inciting an assassination attempt on the leftist leader.

Previous posts:
Saturday's podcast with Thor Halvorssen, President and CEO of the Human Rights Foundation, award-winning bloggers Daniel Duquenal of Venezuela News and Views and Miguel Octavio of The Devil's Excrement, and oil industry expert Gustavo Coronel.

Last night's podcast on the closing of Venezuela's RCTV

Venezuelan Supreme Court confiscates RCTV

Last night's podcast on the closing of Venezuela's RCTV

UPDATED
My guests were Thor Halvorssen, President and CEO of the Human Rights Foundation, award-winning bloggers Daniel Duquenal of Venezuela News and Views and Miguel Octavio of The Devil's Excrement, and oil industry expert Gustavo Coronel. You can listen to the archived podcast here. All of their blogs continue covering this story, please visit them for updates.

Thor made an excellent point,

"It's important that we underline that, although we are constantly referring to the president of Venezuela, it's not because he happens to be the cause of all this. It's because he has chosen that the center of the government is him, nothing is above him. The separation of powers does not exist in Venezuela: the judiciary is subservient to the executive power, the National Assembly was elected with less than 15% of the votes cast, meaning that there was a huge abstention rate. So, for the interest of your listeners, Venezuela is about as self-centered in terms of government power as North Korea, or Cuba, is: Everything depends on the leader and what he wants done.

Here are the facts on the closing of the TV station:

• RCTV is the oldest TV station in the country, with the largest share of the audience.
• Globovision is the only other major opposition-aligned channel, and it is not seen in all parts of the country. Two other channels that used to be staunchly anti-Chavez, Venevision and Televen, have recently toned down their coverage.
• Chile, the European Parliament, the US Senate (including senators Kennedy, Lugar, Dodd, Clinton and Obama), and Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, The Human Rights Foundation, and Amnesty International have passed resolutions condemming the closing

You can read more about it at Free RCTV

Venezuela is well on the way of becoming a totalitarian state.

I wrote an article for Pajamas Media last February on the Enabling Law. Chavez is legally able to rule by decree, and, as Miguel stated, is pushing for a constitutional reform that would allow him to be re-elected indefinitely.

Additionally, there's the Maisanta database

The government has built a detailed list - the Maisanta database - that documents the political leanings of 12.4 million Venezuelan registered voters. The list is routinely used to deny opposition supporters access to public jobs and government social programs.

Gustavo explained that the database is also used for denying identity documents like passports and ID cards they need to get around, like the [South African] apartheid system. Miguel also stated that the Maisanta database was distributed prior to the recall referendum and you can look up people by their identity number but also by name, and it will give information as to whether he signed against Chavez or not, whether he voted or not, whether he's enrolled in any government programs.

Why does the closing of the TV station matter?
As Mora explains

It will get uglier. And there will be no media to cover it. The food shortages, the riots, the violence, the rage in the streets, the Chavista corruption - there will be no one to check it. The broad unity of the people and their big television station will be broken, and again, all that will be left is chavismo, the chavista monolith. This is a real beginning of the end for Venezuela.

And we may hear very little about it because the free press is fading fast.

The protests continued today, and RCTV vows to stay on,

but Venezuelan Social Television is to begin broadcasting at midnight, using the same frequency occupied by Radio Caracas Television

The RCTV closing: the teachings on Venezuelan society

Update
WaPo: Venezuela TV station says troops seized equipment
Miami Herald: TV station going dark at midnight
Le Monde: Censure à la Chavez, translated by Daniel, who's doing The countdown to RCTV closing.
ABC, Madrid: Dictatorship shows its face in Venezuela
Please vote for all these posts at Real Clear Politics
Forbes: Police broke up an opposition protest using a water cannon and tear gas

Follow-up post: RCTV is off the air.

Jimmy, the worst president ever, and today's items

Investor's Business Daily has Profiles in Incompetence: a 10-part series on the worst president in American history
Part one: Look who's talking
Go and read all of them.

Monica Showalter, editorial writer for IBD, was one of my podcast guests. You can listen to the podcast here
--------------------------------------------------
Who's feeding Cuba, you ask?
The US:

Cuba expects to sign deals worth $150 million with American food producers at talks starting on Monday that point to sustained U.S. interest in the Cuban market despite political hurdles.
...
One U.S. farm state delegation after another has gone to Havana this year to pitch sales of wheat, corn, beans, peas, lentils, chicken and other products needed by communist Cuba to feed its people.
...
U.S. sales to Cuba are allowed on a cash-only basis under an exception to the embargo enforced against Castro's leftist government since 1962. Despite the hostility between Washington and Havana, [US] exports have totaled $1.55 billion since 2001.

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Sigmund, Carl and Alfred has an excellent post on Memorial Day And The Mirror Of Hope,

Americans talk about freedom so passionately because we are passionate about that great ideal.

Freedom is the foundation of our beliefs. Because of freedom we free to choose the things we believe in, without fear of violence or repercussion. Freedom is the only ideology that wants to make the world a better place, a place where each and every one of us can author our own destiny- and do so without without stripping others of their rights. In a free society, we are free to exercise free will. We can choose to believe in God or we can exercise that free will and choose not to believe in God. In a free society, God takes care of His affairs. In a society that isn't free, the tyranny du jour takes it upon itself to handle God's affairs for Him.

The fight for freedom has not been easy. It never is. There are those that see the cost of freedom and want us to abandon the citizens of nations that so desperately need liberation from tyranny. It is tempting indeed to walk away, in the myopic and absurd belief that we would be forever extricating ourselves from a problem.

You must read the rest. You can also vote for it at Real Clear Politics

Siggy has been my podcast guest three times and tomorrow he'll co-host with me as we welcome Gates of Vienna's Dymphna and Baron Bodissey.

If you didn't listen to Siggy's reading of School Daze, go back and listen. This was my inagural podcast and it certainly was "starting with the right foot".
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Barcepundit (who was also my podcast guest - is there a pattern here?) has a this hypothetical letter from a newspaper editor to a cartoonist.
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My neighbor TigerHawk has Operation Hero Miles: Donate your frequent flier miles to injured soldiers and their families. Here's how.
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The Carnival's not up yet, but here's the link all the same up - go check it out:


I'll be posting about last night's podcast later today.

SPECIAL PODCAST 7PM tonight: Venezuela's RCTV

As I posted yesterday, Hugo Chavez pulled the plug on RCTV, Venezuela's most popular TV station, and his Supreme Court confiscated the station's property.

Tonight at 7PM my guests will be Thor Halvorssen, President and CEO of the Human Rights Foundation, Daniel Duquenal of Venezuela News and Views, Miguel Octavio, of The Devil's Excrement, and oil industry expert Gustavo Coronel. We'll be discussing Venezuela.

Join us for a most interesting hour discussion tonight at Blog Talk Radio tonight at 7 EDT


Update You can listen to the archived podcast here. I'll post about it tomorrow.

cross-posted at Heading Right

Princeton's Memorial Day Parade

It's a busy Saturday here in The Principality, but here are a few pictures of the Memorial Day parade
Before the parade, there's the pancake breakfast


The crowd started to gather just as the parade starts,


And the band played on,



I'm not sure what group the little kids in tricycles belong to, but they were adorable:

Venezuelan Supreme Court confiscates RCTV

Chavez Pulls Plug on Venezuela's Favorite Television Network.

The Devil's Excrement has the story:
Studens protest, the regime threatens and the Supreme Court confiscates RCTV's property

Meanwhile, as people begin checking the newssites on the Internet, Noticiero Digital, Megaresistenciaand RCTV websites are taken down by denial of service attacks, the effects of which are still being felt hours later. This is compounded by problems with the CANTV network which take down some other news sites in what may be unrelated to the denial of serivce attacks, since all the others are hosted abroad.

The Free RCTV website shows that the closing was scheduled for next Monday.

Earlier today Venezuela News and Views posted, Those exquisite revolutionary moments: RCTV as the "me, my, mine" moment of the autocrat with the tearing apart of a country, but don't miss also Marcel Granier and Hugo Chavez.

Gustavo Coronel has Letter to Senator Richard Lugar.

Thor Halvorssen of The Human Rights Foundation emailed with RCTV Shutdown Condemned By European Parliament; Senators Clinton, Obama, and Kennedy. Let's hope the distinguished senators remember it the next time they talk about President Chavez.

Update, Saturday 26 May Listen to Daniel, Miguel, Gustavo and Thor have to say in tonight's special podcast. Notes on the podcast

Friday evening Pythons: Fetchez la vache!

Related post.

Secure borders: a priority

Paxety Pages and Former Spook have been posting on Todd Bensman report at the San Antonio Express-News, Part one - Breaching America: War refugees or threats? (emphasis added)

Because all but a tiny fraction of those arrested crossing the southern border are Mexican or Central American, issues of border security get framed accordingly and cast in the image of America's neighbors to the south. Right or wrong, in this country the public face of illegal immigration has Latino features.

But there are others coming across the Rio Grande, and many are in Boles' image.

People from 43 so-called "countries of interest" in the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa are sneaking into the United States, many by way of Texas, forming a human pipeline that exists largely outside the public consciousness but that has worried counterterrorism authorities since 9-11.

These immigrants are known as "special-interest aliens." When caught, they can be subjected to FBI interrogation, detention holds that can last for months and, in rare instances, federal prison terms.

The perceived danger is that they can evade being screened through terror-watch lists.

The 43 countries of interest are singled out because terrorist groups operate there. Special-interest immigrants are coming all the time, from countries where U.S. military personnel are battling radical Islamist movements, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and the Philippines. They come from countries where organized Islamic extremists have bombed U.S. interests, such as Kenya, Tanzania and Lebanon. They come from U.S.-designated state sponsors of terror, such as Iran, Syria and Sudan.

And they come from Saudi Arabia, the nation that spawned most of the 9-11 hijackers.
...
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehension numbers, agents along both borders have caught more than 5,700 special-interest immigrants since 2001. But as many as 20,000 to 60,000 others are presumed to have slipped through, based on rule-of-thumb estimates typically used by homeland security agencies.

And here's the Latin American connection:

The U.S. Justice Department has prosecuted nearly a dozen major smuggling rings that specialized in moving Middle Eastern clients since 9-11.

The majority of the smugglers planned to bring their clientele into South American countries, such as Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, and Guatemala, to prepare them for the final trip north.

Smugglers could simply buy visas outright from corrupt consular or embassy officials, according to these court records. For example, before U.S. and Mexican authorities shut his organization down, Salim Boughader-Mucharrafille, a Mexican national of Lebanese descent, smuggled hundreds of fellow countrymen from Tijuana into California. The scheme involved bribing Mexican consular officials.

Venezuela is another jumping-off point to the American border, according to court records of smuggling cases.

Because of its antagonistic relationship with the United States, Venezuela does not cooperate on counterterrorism measures, according to the U.S. government, and shows no concerns about issuing visas to special-interest migrants.

One day recently, the Venezuelan Embassy in Damascus, its walls bedecked with large portraits of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, was packed with Syrians seeking one of nine types of visas offered.

The U.S. State Department has complained in recent years about Venezuela's cozy relationship with Syria and Iran. Earlier this year, the first nonstop flights began from Tehran, Iran, to Caracas, Venezuela — a development that some U.S. counterterrorism specialists say opens a new avenue for potential terrorists to the American border.

Some of the government's most senior Homeland Security officials have spoken of yet another source of terrorist infiltrators: the area where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet, known as the "Tri-Border" region.

Tens of thousands of Arab immigrants there have been under scrutiny by American intelligence services since 9-11. The U.S. Treasury Department in December named people and organizations that "provided financial and logistical support to the Hezbollah terrorist organization."

And then there's Cuba,

Cuba's consul in Damascus said in an interview that his country happily grants visas to any Middle Easterner who asks "because America doesn't give anyone the opportunity to take refuge, especially after 9-11."

"But we work another way," said Armando Perez Suarez. "We put conditions on American people who are making war with everyone. The Arab people are the peaceful ones. We give visas to anybody who wants to visit our country."

Suarez said he is well aware that Cuba, with its economic problems and poverty, is not anyone's idea of a final destination.

"After that, if he wants to travel to any other country, the U.S., or Central America, this is not our problem," Suarez said. "It's not our burden."

Michelle Malkin, who interviewed Todd Bensman, points out that there will be no border fence in Texas until 2008.

What Will The Jihadists Do? Apply For Their 601(h) Probationary Status, Of Course

Here's the transcript of Hugh Hewitt's interview of Todd Bensman.

Rob Bluey sent links to The Heritage Foundation's 6 essntial requirements for immigration reform. The first priority: national security. Item:

Target federal support at the border. To secure the border, immigration reform legislation should allocate about $400 million per year over the next three years out of the projected spending on homeland security grants. Congress must resist the temptation to turn these grants into ear­marked pork-barrel programs and instead insist that federal support for border security policing be strategically employed as a short-term bridg­ing program to secure the border immediately.

Rob also sent this article on the 10 worst provisions in the amnesty title of the bill Rewarding Illegal Aliens: Senate Bill Undermines The Rule of Law

The first priority should be to secure the borders. The rest is talk.

The sky may not be falling, after all

Victor Davis Hanson:

our rivals are weaker and America is far stronger than many think.

Take oil. With oil prices at nearly $70 a barrel, Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez seem invincible as they rally anti-American feeling.

But if we find alternate energy sources, or reduce slightly our oil hunger, we can defang all three rather quickly. None of their countries have a middle class or a culture of entrepreneurship to discover and disseminate new knowledge.

Russia and Europe are shrinking. China is an aging nation of only children. The only thing the hard-working Chinese fear more than their bankrupt communist dictatorship is getting rid of it.

True, the economies of China and India have made amazing progress. But both have rocky rendezvous ahead with all the social and cultural problems that we long ago addressed in the 20th century.

And European elites can't blame their problems - a bullying Russia, Islamic terrorists, unassimilated minorities and high unemployment - all on George Bush's swagger and accent. The recent elections of Angela Merkel in Germany and Nicolas Sarkozy in France suggest that Europe's cheap anti-Americanism may be ending, and that our practices of more open markets, lower taxes and less state control are preferrable to the European status quo.

In truth, a never-stronger America is being tested as never before. The world is watching whether we win or lose in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Middle East is either going to reform or remain an oil-rich tribal mess that endangers the entire world.

Read it all.

And there is no evidence for Global Warming in the Southern Hemisphere. Just ask the South Africans.
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Mary Katherine has the Great Cinematic Moments of the Comprehensive Immigration Bill
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John Edwards proves that there is no "War on Terror" (h/t Larwyn).
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From Janette, Gene Simmons gave an interview

Q: I'm guessing you're not in favor of the Iraq troop withdrawal bills being proposed right now in Congress.

GS: It's not the policies and the bills; it's how we treat our military. It's how we treat our young men or women who go out there, at 18 years old, and risk their lives. There's no fame, they're certainly not getting rich, and a lot of them are dying, simply for something they believe. By the way, it's a volunteer army, all volunteer. The fact that anybody would have a fucking thing to say about that is astonishing. And the VA hospital that Sophie and I went to, it's about an hour and a half down the road from Malibu. These morons can't get up off their asses and out of their $10 million homes, get into their SUVs, and drive down to the VA hospital just to say, "Hey, what you do matters." Doesn't matter what they think of President Bush. It matters that 18-year-olds are getting out there and risking their lives. I didn't see a single person there. That's the most embarrassing thing. I'm furious at Hollywood.

Go read the rest.

More blogging later.

Sarko: No amnesty, and France will pay immigrants to return home

A friend just IM'd this link from LGF:
France to Pay Immigrants to Return Home

Immigration is one of the key problems of our times. Sarko's under pressure to carry through his campaign promises because of the upcoming legislative elections of June 10 and June 17, so this is one key issue where he has to take immediate action, and he has.

The article reads,

New French President Nicolas Sarkozy made immigration a central issue of his campaign. Now, his new minister for immigration and national identity says its time to start paying immigrants to leave the country.
...
New immigration minister, Brice Hortefeux, confirmed on Wednesday that the government is planning to offer incentives to more immigrants to return home voluntarily. "We must increase this measure to help voluntary return. I am very clearly committed to doing that," Hortefeux said in an interview with RFI radio.

Under the scheme, Paris will provide each family with a nest egg of €6,000 ($8,000) for when they go back to their country of origin. A similar scheme, which was introduced in 2005 and 2006, was taken up by around 3,000 families.
...
The new minister voiced concern that the majority of legal immigration into France was that of existing immigrants bringing in relatives, while only a small proportion were granted visas due to their professional skills.

As I interpret this, it would mean that families who are legallyin France would be given an incentive to return to their countries of origin to be reunited with their families instead of trying to bring more unskilled relatives to France, many of which end on welfare.

Additionally, the article states that plan provides individuals with money, instead of wasting it on foreign aid which so frequently ends in the pockets of corrupt politicians.

This is a creative and interesting solution.

While last year he had suggested that illegal aliens who were long-term residents may be allowed to vote in local elections, Sarko's position was that there would be no amnesty, and his new minister insists,

Hortefeux is also talking tough when it comes to dealing with illegal immigration, insisting that there are no plans for a mass legalization of the estimated 200,000 to 400,000 illegals in France.

They're also considering a new language skills test.

A couple of days ago I was saying

The Republican candidate that manages to do a campaign running against the Bush administration, strong against illegal immigration and strong on winning in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be the winner in all of this. It can be done, and I suggest that the candidate considering this course of action call Sarkozy's campaign manager. He did it.

Francois Fillon's going to be busy in his new job as Prime Minister but maybe he'll take calls in his spare time.

Meanwhile, over at the EU...

Three botched surgeries, a foreign specialist and imported medications later, Fidel says he's "better"

Updated with a sneak preview of Sicko
Obi's Sister sent me the link to the AP story: Castro Says He's Better, Weight Stable

Fidel Castro's recovery from intestinal surgery 10 months ago was delayed because the first of several operations he had went badly, the communist leader said in a statement that gave the most detailed account of his health since August.

Castro, 80, said in the Wednesday statement that he is now eating solid food and improving after "many months" of intravenous feeding. It was the most information released about Castro's condition since his Aug. 13 birthday, when he asked Cubans to be optimistic but not rule out possible "adverse news."

Notice how it's a statement, not a personal appearance, a press conference, a phone call, or anything such.

The WaPo has a picture of Fidel reading the newspaper, which, as they notice, is undated.

Michael Moore, who's at the Cannes Film Festival and

praises the Socialized healthcare system that let 15,000 die from heat in 2003 (many waiting for ice water in hospital hallways).

(and who has a vested interest in not having to pay for his lifestyle choices) would be shocked to hear that El Comandante was at death's door because the excellent Cuban healthcare system (the same excellent Cuban healthcare system that could not treat Gabriel Garcia Marquez's cancer so he had to go to LA for chemo and radiation) botched up not once, or twice, but three times, or maybe more,

A January story in the Spanish newspaper El Pais described Castro as being in "very grave" condition after at least three failed operations for diverticular disease. The Cuban government denied that report.

After which, the excellent Cuban healthcare system had to be set aside and they called cancer specialist Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, and Castro required medications that were paid by the Spanish taxpayers.

But hey, it's free healthcare!

Obvoiously all of this stress is getting to him - the previously uniformed Fidel's letting himself go, perhaps inspired by Michael,

"I don't have time now for films and photos that require me to constantly cut my hair, beard and mustache, and get spruced up every day," he said, evidently referring to the preparation required for some of the official images.

Here's a picture of Michael. Apparently Fidel can't let go of the newspaper.

Meanwhile, Fidel Castro Appeals for Investment in Health Rather Than in Arms, or more specifically, invest in his tripe.

Update: Via Manuel, LiveLeak has a segment from Sicko, where Michael More is in an NHS hospital and says, "In British hospitals, instead of money going in to the cashier's window, money comes out!"


Update, Friday 25 May


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In other, more relevant Latin American news, Congress should approve a free trade agreement with Colombia, and Investor's Business Daily explains why:
Colombia Warning

Americans might not realize it, but Colombia has shown great friendship with the U.S, at a high cost to itself.

- It's lost 2,658 of its own troops in the drug war since 2002, but cut coca cultivation 9%, the United Nations found. Next door, the Venezuela that Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., praises is doing little about soaring trafficking.

- Colombia also has doubled oil production on the year, moving to become a top-15 U.S. supplier at a time when Venezuela is destroying its own energy industry.

- It has provided rare know-how to the U.S. in Afghanistan. Sending its own security forces into harm's way, Colombia's taken a top role in helping Afghanistan defeat the illegal drug cultivation that is a new threat to its stability.

- Do any Democrats remember that Colombia was first on the scene to offer swamp and jungle rescue teams, to help to the victims of the New Orleans disaster?

If Colombia is denied a free trade pact by Congress, its future will be severely hurt. To treat any ally in this way is unconscionable. But in the case of Colombia, it also is self-defeating.

Gift from the sea, and today's items

John Edwards continues to find out about poverty: John Edwards Stakes Claim on Pirate Booty

Gifts from the sea, alright.
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Irrational Exuberance — Version 2.0
I'd say that right now would be a good time to take some profits...
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Donald Luskin aks WHAT'S THE ULTIMATE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE OF ECONOMIC MICRO-MANAGEMENT?
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If China sharply revalued the yuan, as American politicians are demanding, it could actually hurt the United States and help China, says The Economist.
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Via Irwin, Midwest Lutherans Largely Reject Violence
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Via Maria Blanco, TV Liberty has a video tribute to Communism,
Warning: disturbing images

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In the animal kingdom,
The Artic Monkeys are hot, and here are some apes gone wild

More pubescent apes gone wild (h/t Siggy
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Happy anniversary to bRight&Early Blog. He celebrated with a bright and early podcast.

Cherchez la vache!

My son and I were watching the France2 newscast right now, when they showed a report from China titled, Zoo en Chine : animaux vivants livrés aux fauves which in plain English means, Chinese zoo: live animals fed to the beasts, and they sure do.

The report shows a video filmed by an animal rights organization from Scotland at the Peking Zoo, where they load up the tourists in buses and give them a tour of the hungry tigers being fed, get a hold of this, A LIVE COWand a few live ducks.

The tourists can join in the fun by tossing live chickens down a vent to the eagerly awaiting tigers.

Apparently the Chinese government's going to suspend these shows during the Olympic Games. Let's hope they don't start catapulting the cows into the tiger cage.

As my son said, Come see the violence inherent in the system..

Yes, he gave me the title for this post, too.

Pres. Bush's speech at the US Coastguard Academy

Updated with video. Please scroll down
Today President Bush delivers the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT. I took part in a bloggers's conference call with the White House this morning regarding the points Pres. Bush made during his speech, as follows,

Osama bin Laden sent Iraqi-born terrorist Abd Al-Hadi Al-Iraqi to Iraq:
- According to our intelligence community, Abd al-Hadi had been a senior advisor to bin Laden and served as his top commander in Afghanistan. Abd Al-Hadi never made it to Iraq. He was captured late last year, and he was recently transferred to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.

In January 2005, Osama Bin Laden tasked terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi with forming a cell to conduct terrorist attacks outside Iraq:
- Bin Laden emphasized that America should be Zarqawi's number one priority in terms of foreign attacks, and Zarqawi welcomed this direction and claimed that he had already come up with some good proposals.

- Bin Laden then tasked one of his top terrorist operatives, Hamza Rabia to send Zarqawi a briefing on al Qaeda's external operations, including information about operations against the American homeland.

- Our intelligence community reports that a senior al Qaeda leader, Abu Faraj al-Libi went further and suggested that bin Laden actually send Rabia to Iraq to help plan external operations. Abu Faraj later speculated that if this effort proved successful, al Qaeda might one day prepare the majority of its external operations from Iraq.

- In May 2005, Abu Faraj was captured and taken into CIA custody. Several months later, in December 2005, Rabia was killed in Pakistan. And several months after that, in June of 2006, the terrorist Zarqawi was killed by American forces in Iraq. Successes like these are blows to al Qaeda and a testament to steps we have taken to strengthen our intelligence, work closely with partners overseas, and keep the pressure on the enemy by staying on the offense.

As Lawrence Wright said, al-Qaeda's happy if the US stays in Iraq because the civil war's serves their purposes; al-Qaeda's happy if the US withdraws and leaves a likely genocide, spreading to other countries.

Death is what al-Qaeda is selling; and defeat them we must.

The speech is being broadcast live right now on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.

Update: Video:


Update: And Now, Al-Qaida In Lebanon