Deep thought of the day

Elizabeth Warren says she prefers Coors Light to iced tea.

Iced tea will get you drunk quicker.

The linked article is worth reading. Warren is the one person of the Obama team I outright like.

Honduras Coup, Act V, Day 30

Free and Fair Elections, State Department Style

From Quotha.

Light posting today.

Channel 36: Micheletti takes a vacation from Nov. 25-Dec. 2 in the hope that this will legitimize the election.

Guess What? Kyoto Works.

It’s doing what it was designed to do –cut carbon emissions rather dramatically:

According to new data from the European Environment Agency (EEA), all of the EU-15 members except Austria are now on track to exceed their Kyoto obligations. In fact, the group as a whole will likely slash emissions more than 13 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

And guess what? The signatories aren’t in the economic toilet as a result. (Or if they are in the economic toilet, it’s not because of Kyoto.)

Your good news dose for the day.

Way to go, A.C.E.: NOLA Plaintiffs Win Katrina Case

Mark Schleifstein, New Orleans Times-Picayune

In a groundbreaking decision, a federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the Army Corps of Engineers’ mismanagement of maintenance at the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet was directly responsible for flood damage in St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward after Hurricane Katrina.

“The failure of the Corps to recognize the destruction that the MRGO had caused and the potential hazard that it created is clearly negligent on the part of the Corps,” said U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. in his ruling. “Furthermore, the Corps not only knew, but admitted by 1988, that the MRGO threatened human life … and yet it did not act in time to prevent the catastrophic disaster that ensued with the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina.”

“The Corps’ lassitude and failure to fulfill its duties resulted in a catastrophic loss of human life and property in unprecedented proportions,” Duval wrote….

Duval’s 156-page decision could result in the federal government paying $700,000 in damages to three people and a business in those areas, but also sets the stage for judgments worth billions of dollars against the government for damages suffered by as many as 100,000 other residents, businesses and local governments in those areas who filed claims with the corps after Katrina.

Duval ruled, however, that WDSU-TV anchor Norman Robinson and his wife were not entitled to damages because the corps’ dredging of the MR-GO did not affect the levee system that protects eastern New Orleans from hurricane storm surge.

Deep thought for the day

“Is there really such a thing as cat addiction…?”
–Deborah Huso, writing on AOL Health

Honduras, Act V, Day 29

Light posting.

Tiempo doesn’t have a statement about why it was down, so I’ll assume it was software rather than goonware. I can’t get Channel 36, and Radio Globo has been dicey.

Adrienne has two must read articles: A letter, transmitted by Jan Schakowsky to Barack Obama, from 300 Honduran candidates who declare the elections illegal and explain why. The writing is crisp and to the point. And, Rodolfo Pastor Faquelle on the causes of the coup. One excerpt:

Maybe one has to have been in the belly of the monster, of The Honduran Levianthan to fully grasp its inner workings, and that is the reason most foreigners and even most Honduran citizens, who are in fact excluded, have such great difficulty understanding it. I have been there. For in the last twenty years, I have been a candidate in the primaries in the Liberal Party, (despite my opponents and due to inherited privilege) to congress, to the vice presidency and to the presidency on different occasions, and though unfortunate at polling booths controlled by adversaries with a refined culture of fraud, as a result, I have served two terms as a minister and as cabinet coordinator. I have dealt, as a candidate, with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and Party Commissions and I have served in the Central Committee of my Party, founded at the end of the 19th century & the largest in the isthmus till now.

I know this system well and I have witnessed how rotten it is and have written about it. It is an astute creature, but it is no democracy. Or rather, it is a sham democracy, a racket.

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Update: The “education congressman” Mario Barahona is driving a Mercedes-Benz G-Class G55 AMG 4WD 2009 valued at about $100,000. Dick Emanuelsson says that the State Dept.’s Craig Kelly wants to utilize Zelaya as a useful idiot in voting against Iran at the UN… for violating human rights. Juan Almendares says that Congressman Antonio Fuentes plans to seize Garifuna communal lands. Brother John noticed a piece by Daniel Altschuler in Americas Quarterly (by some strange coincidence, I happened to read it last night). Altshuler sounds as if he may be getting a little less stupid than he seemed when last I read him: he reports that Micheletti has suspended distribution of block grants to cities where candidates have withdrawn from the race. Since the cities are heavily dependent on the money for basic services and infrastructure and are forbidden to raise funds by taxation, the net effect is that Micheletti has clubbed the poor to retaliate for defiance by political opponents. Brother John also mentioned this NYT article by Steven Greenhouse about the victory of the ant-sweatshop movement in getting Russell Athletic (a subsidiary of Fruit of the Loom) to re-hire Honduras workers it fired when they unionized.

Channel 36 is showing film of soldiers on the orders of Miguel Angel Rodas of Conatel ransacking Radio Globo, going through the desk of Alejandro Villatoro.
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The State Department briefing is starting to drift into self-parody:

QUESTION: Ian, on Honduras, the parliament seems to have put off until after the election a decision on whether Zelaya will be restored. What does that do for the possible credibility of these elections?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, let me give you kind of an update of where we are. Craig Kelly, of course, has been in Tegucigalpa. He’s been down there to help support the implementation of the accord. He held a series of meetings down there to support the OAS efforts to have it fully implemented. He’s met with President Zelaya and he met with the de facto leader Mr. Micheletti. He told us that these were very frank and open talks.

Regarding the reports on the Honduran lawmakers will not decide on whether or not to restore Zelaya until after the elections, according to the accord, the – it called for the national congress to issue a pronouncement on the restoration of a democratically elected authority, Mr. Zelaya. As you know, it never stipulated a timetable for the congressional action. All along, we’ve called on the congress to act expeditiously in the spirit of the accord. We believe that steady steps towards the implementation of the accord will enhance the prospects for transparent, free, and open elections that will ultimately resolve this crisis and allow Honduras to rejoin the international community of nations.

Another one of these important steps towards the implementation of the accord and resolving this crisis is the formation of the – of a government of national unity. So that’s also an important component to this.

But since the accord never actually gave any kind of deadline by – to have this vote by the national congress, scheduling the vote on December 2nd doesn’t necessarily – isn’t necessarily inconsistent with the accord.

QUESTION: What – I’m sorry. That’s – you’ve just opened your – this is – they’re going to have a field day with this. So it’s okay with you if five years from now, they go and come back and say, all right, yeah, Zelaya can go – he’s restored, when you can’t – you can’t be restored after you’re voted out of office if you’re not – he’s not even running

MR. KELLY: That’s right. .I mean, he – his term ends the end of January.

Wednesday Morning News Roundup

– Obama’s plans for Afghanistan include an “end game”. In other words, it sounds like he’s not buying the arguments of McChrystal or McChrystal’s Australian guru, Dr. David Kilcullen, that we need to stay in Afghanistan for fifty or a hundred years.

– Frank Schaeffer discusses with Rachel Maddow how all those “Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8″ are actually calls for him to be murdered — “trawling for assassins” is how he puts it. As the Christian Science Monitor explains:

The psalm reads, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.”

Presidential criticism through witty slogans is nothing new. Bumper stickers, t-shirts, and hats with “1/20/09″ commemorated President Bush’s last day in office.

But the verse immediately following the psalm referenced is a bit more ominous: “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.”

As a commenter on Daily Kos mentions in a diary on this subject:

It’s important to note that in Hebrew poetic language (of which the Psalms is a part) repetition was a major form. A writer would say something and repeat it once or more times with slightly different wording to bring out a fully-fledged meaning. So it is not only possible that Psalm 109:9 makes 109:8 seem more ominous, 109:9 clearly shows that the author wants someone dead in order that their office will come to someone else. There is no other good interpretation. So don’t let anyone get away with some “that’s out of context” non-sense.

– Speaking of conservative efforts to misuse religion, the conservatives in the Catholic Church are not happy to hear this news that preliminary phase of the $2 million study commissioned by the bishops at the height of the Church’s sexual abuse scandal has so far found no connection between sexual orientation and abuse of children by clergy.

Honduras Coup, Act V, Day 28

Tiempo remains down. Channel 36 is back, and Radio Globo remains up. [Later: Tiempo back up, but editorial section has vanished.]

According to Vos el Soberano, Father Tamayo has left the Brazilian embassy in the company of the Salvadoran ambassador, desiring to go to El Salvador. In violation of international law, Tamayo was deprived of his Honduran citizenship and he has been threatened with arrest.

Marvin Palacios of Defensores en Linea (Online Defenders) also says on Vos that the regime is photographing people on a massive scale.
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Update: Via RAJ, Freddy Cuevas of the Associated Press, congressional president Jose Alfredo Saavedra says the Congress will not meet to consider the reinstatement of Zelaya until after the election. RAJ notes that Cuevas’s reporting seems to express the viewpoint of Honduran coup supporters and says:

Curiously, Cuevas’ report misstates what President Zelaya said in his letter to US President Obama, which was that he will not accept restoral because it will legitimate the elections. Instead, Cuevas says Zelaya said he would not accept restoration if it comes after the elections.

At MercRising, we only consider it curious if AP tells it straight.

In Tiempo (based on AFP reporting), Zelaya says the US is attempting to whitewash the coup. He says that the maneuver is to have Micheletti resign this Friday, and form a unity government cabinet, but with the coupistas having veto power. Zelaya made it clear again that he will not participate in this sort of sham.

Also in Tiempo, Pretend-Procurator Rosa América Miranda de Galo submitted a legal brief to the Congress in general terms explaining the legal situation. This is an interesting angle: why not demand prosecution, if the charges are so serious?

Honduras Coup, Act V, Day 27

Update: Tiempo is down. This is highly abnormal and I would guess probably represents coup suppression of the media. Cholusatsur went down (12:20 PM Eastern) and is still down at 12:40 PM. Radio Globo is up, but is broadcasting music.

The Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubí will pursue anyone who interferes with the elections… but not anyone who commits human rights violations (Image from El Libertador)

If you need some comic relief, check BoRev on how Hugo Chavez’s comment that conserving water is a good idea, and that he only needs three minutes for a shower, has been variously interpreted proof that Venezuelan socialism is on its last legs or that Hugo Chavez has banned singing in either the shower or in Caracas entirely, depending on whether you are from the insane right or insaner right (caution, probably not worksafe, especially for Brother John).
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Today’s diary will be brief.

The State Dept briefing for today illustrates how duplicitous State has been and that the press is actually challenging them:

QUESTION: On Honduras, Senator Kerry’s – one of his spokespersons recently said that when Thomas Shannon said that the U.S. would recognize the winner of the November 29th elections, even if Zelaya was not to be put back into power beforehand, that that was undermining the deal that had been reached? Can you respond to that?

MR. KELLY: Well, on Honduras, we, of course, are continuing to call on both sides to begin implementing the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord. One of the key parts of that is setting up a government of unity and reconciliation, and we feel that once that is set up and the other elements of the accord are implemented, that it will be easier for the international community to recognize the elections. And I think that’s the point that Tom Shannon was trying to stress in his remarks that are referred to there.

QUESTION: But doesn’t it sort of allow Micheletti to – kind of a backseat way, to still be part of the process when the U.S. has been pretty explicit that it recognizes Zelaya as the president?

MR. KELLY: We have been very explicit that we recognize the – Zelaya as the democratically elected leader of Honduras. We think that there is a good way forward that the two sides agreed to in principle, and that right now, we need to concentrate on implementing it. It establishes a solid foundation not only for a way forward with the elections on November 29, but it establishes a foundation for a reconciliation in Honduras between the two sides.

And so that’s – that is what our energies and efforts are focused on. We continue to remain in daily contact with the two sides, both through our Ambassador in Tegucigalpa, and I know that Craig Kelly is – and also in constant telephone contact with the two sides. And we just remain committed to the implementation of this accord, and we’re sticking to that.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Why do you think that Zelaya doesn’t understand this? He sent a letter to President Obama. It seems to me, or it seems that he – he’s waiting for, from the U.S. – U.S., like a message or a solution of the problem. He doesn’t understand that maybe the problem is in Honduras. How do you feel on that? Is there any sensation of the U.S. Government with this why he continues to – not to solve the problem inside instead of waiting and sending a letter to Obama?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, I’m not going to try and interpret why President Zelaya sent this letter. I’ll just say that we all along have been committed to this reconciliation process, to the restoration of the democratically and constitutionally elected leadership. And we have put a lot of effort into restoring democracy to Honduras. And we condemn the June 28 coup. We supported strong UN and OAS resolutions. We implemented tough measures, including suspension of economic and military assistance. And we have been very actively and very directly involved in a negotiated solution. So, I mean, we have been committed from the very start to this process. There hasn’t been any –

QUESTION: So the U.S. –

MR. KELLY: — hasn’t been any change of policy.

QUESTION: The U.S. feels like the OAS secretary, that there is not much to do on the way forward with elections?

MR. KELLY: I’m not sure what you’re referring to.

QUESTION: The secretary of the Organization of American States, in his last speech on the extraordinary meeting of the session, he said that there is not much things that we can do until – wait for the elections.

MR. KELLY: Well, I’m not sure –

QUESTION: That was Insulza (inaudible).

MR. KELLY: Yeah. I haven’t seen those comments, but we – I mean, we are – we continue to be involved. We think there still is something to be done. But our efforts are on trying to get the two sides to do it, to try and get the Hondurans themselves to do it.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: No, no, no. Did Zelaya ever get a response to the letter he sent to the Secretary?

MR. KELLY: We have not sent a formal response back to President Zelaya.

QUESTION: So you just – so what is – well, what is he supposed to think? I mean, you guys are – you’re ignoring him now.

MR. KELLY: No, we’re not ignoring him. In fact –

QUESTION: Yeah, you are. He sent —

MR. KELLY: No, we’re not ignoring him.

QUESTION: He sent a letter to Secretary Clinton asking what the U.S. position was and you just said – and that was like, two weeks ago.

MR. KELLY: Yeah. That doesn’t mean we’re ignoring him, though.

QUESTION: And he has not gotten a response.

MR. KELLY: I mean, we do talk to him. I know that senior American officials do talk to him. Just because we haven’t sent a formal response yet doesn’t mean we’re ignoring him.

QUESTION: Well, it seems – well, you know, talk is one thing, but something put down on paper is quite another. And it just seems to me that you’re kind of still floundering around for a policy here –

MR. KELLY: Well –

QUESTION: — and you’re not willing to put anything down on paper.

MR. KELLY: I don’t agree.

QUESTION: You don’t?

MR. KELLY: I don’t agree we’re floundering. I mean, we haven’t changed our policy. We have senior officials still involved in trying to get the two sides to – not to agree, but to implement something they’ve already agreed to, all right? I think we’re very – we remain very much involved in the process.

QUESTION: Can you explain why you have not replied to a letter from someone you consider to be the democratic —

MR. KELLY: I don’t think I have to. I don’t think I have to respond, Matt. We haven’t respond –

QUESTION: Well, I guess you don’t, because your silence to him says it all.

On Channel 36, there isn’t any silence. They are (very politely) savaging the hypocrites and liars running our government. A note for Phoenix Woman: as much as a weenie as Kerry may have seemed during 2004, it is basic acts of decency like calling out the State Department here that made me believe he was qualified to be president. Is there any other senator doing anything except dialing for dollars?

Zelaya responds to the press briefing: “The United States has to have a reliable word.” Esdras Amado Lopez says that the coup fired live ammunition at Choluteca [presumably an attack on their radio facility]. Zelaya says that the Congress can do whatever it want, but their crimes will not be forgotten. A special commission has met with Llorens, because the US has not said the final word.

Thanks to Brother John for drawing attention to the following report:

“It was a pleasure to announce that the congress of the International Liberal organization, two weeks ago, chose Roberto Micheletti as one of the vice-presidents”, said Hans Van Baalen president of the Liberal International after a meeting with Micheletti who last June was named Honduran caretaker president following the ousting of elected president Manuel Zelaya.

Now maybe Micheletti and van Baalen can get thrown out of Honduras together.

Tom Hayden at The Nation recognizes that the big loser in this, aside from international law and the Honduran people, is Obama, whose nice face has been used for filthy purposes. An excerpt from this article goes to the question of what the real casualty count is:

Sara Aguilar, formerly of the Honduran public defenders’ office, estimated 113 deaths from the police repression thus far, many of them victims followed and killed in their own homes, while no police officers have been brought to account. In some cases, lawyers have been beaten when seeing their clients in jail. Aguilar has taken leave from her public defender job to coordinate the new Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ).

The labor movement understands that what is done to Honduras can be done to them. From the AFL-CIO blog:

The continued repression of trade unionists by the regime set up in Honduras after a June 28 coup makes it impossible to hold free and fair elections, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a Nov. 13 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Death can’t take a holiday

Eli has de mostest of de bestest here.