Blogging the democratic revolution
Peter Mork at Economics with a Face has some intelligent observations about ongoing efforts in certain European cities to eliminate all – repeat ALL – traffic rules in the name of fewer traffic accidents, an idea that scares the heck out anyone who first hears about it. But it turns out, it’s not that crazy an idea at all. Rule-free traffic, seen in some third-world cities, where no one thought to set any rules, turns out to work very nicely. Now Europe’s working on it the concept. Someone apparently went and looked at how well things worked on this matter…
OK, it was a ratbag of a bill. It lumped in everything that possibly could be lumped in, good with bad. Excellent, friendly deserving nations, like Vietnam, Colombia and Peru, (in short, our equals), got much of what they needed. Nations ruled by disgusting, undeserving, ungrateful governments, like Ecuador and Bolivia got plenty too. Messes like Haiti got the golden goose handed to them. Offshore drilling passed. Everyone got something, in what was kind of the last congressional pinata before the Roundheads (Democrats) take over. But boy it was sloppy. All told, I am happier with things this way than…
Anti-communist women from Santa Cruz are detained in Bolivia by police enforcers loyal to the leftist government of Evo Morales, which is showing growing intolerance of political dissent. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened them today for their refusal to support Morales. Source, all photos: Getty Images Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has warned the Bolivian babes of Santa Cruz that he’s coming after them. He declared them people of the ‘extreme rightwing‘ and warned that any refusal to support the oppressive greedy hand of the Evo Morales government, which is characterized by its confiscations, will be met by force – from…
Now that Hugo Chavez has been reelected president by a wide margin, Venezuela is swiftly moving toward a one-party state. I know, you think I’m just being a rightwing alarmist. I’m just making it up, it’s nothing but some ruse to make Hugo Chavez look bad. But this isn’t coming from Venezuelans, or from my imagination. It’s not even overtly coming from Chavez’s office, although he may be thinking it. Given Venezuela’s pretense of being a democracy in the eyes of members-only organizations like the OAS, Chavez may have reason to not say he’s moving to a one-party state publicly.…
Jeanne Kirkpatrick, 1926-2006 Source: Getty Images, via The New York Times The great Jeanne Kirkpatrick, who was the first to distinguish between totalitarian and authoritarian dictatorships, a key steps toward dividing and conquering the world’s tyrants and winning the Cold War, has died. She was only 80. Her work paved the way for democratic revolutions from the remains of the destroyed dictatorships and she will be forever remembered for that. She was the great President Ronald Reagan’s capable and effective ambassador at the United Nations, and her wisdom and counsel thwacked sense into the U.N.’s bureaucratic sybarites. One of her…
In the wake of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s thundrous electoral victory on Sunday, he’s back in action, legislating new taxes on Venezuela’s battered middle class. For his first move, he’s decided to tax toilet seats as an “inessential item.” I guess the Venezuelans, some of whom elected him, are now supposed to just go without. Bloomberg reports: The announcement by the government follows the Dec. 3 re- election of Chavez, who had said in September that a tax on whisky mimics a tax on ééoligarchs.” The top surcharge of 35 percent will apply to whiskey, vodka, cigars, candles and toilet…
Congress has just wrapped up a huge free trade package! They actually are allowing it to go to the floor for a vote around 4 p.m. Eastern! They darn well better pass it! Not only will Peru, Colombia and Vietnam get some kind of trade relief for the next year (it’s temporary for the first two, but this is better than nothing), pretty much everyone else who wants free trade – The Caribbean, the African states, Ecuador & Bolivia, and Haiti – will get it too! This is fine! Better everyone in than nobody in. If that is what it…
The nominees for the 2006 Web log awards are out! These are great fun to vote for, and they introduce us all to great new blogs we have not heard of. Check out the new candidates at this site here – and when you can, make your vote. Here are my own personal endorsements below – what are yours? Best Blog Instapundit Best New Blog Blue Crab Boulevard Jules Crittenden Best Individual Blog Dr. Sanity Riehl World View Best Humor Blog ScrappleFace Best Comic Strip (no opinion) Best Online Community Free Republic Best Liberal Blog (no opinion) Best Conservative Blog…
Patriotic Australians, perhaps like this recent Miss Universe, will march for democracy in their bikinis Saturday to demonstrate their opposition to Sexy Saudi Swimwear Source: PubTV Enraged at the local mullahs’ medieval declaration that unveiled women are ‘uncovered meat,’ thousands of angry Australians will march on their mullah mosque Saturday to protest that declaration … in their bikinis. Somehow, you can’t get more Australian than that. They’re patriots. Aussies live for the beach, party like sailors, and some of them probably don’t ever wear anything else except bikinis. Mullahs, of course, are not pleased, so they’re coupling up with their…
On September 8, 1999, several hundred pounds of explosive detonated on the ground floor of a nine-story apartment building in the southwestern Moscow neighborhood of Pechatniki. 94 people were killed and 150 wounded. Five days later, a second building was leveled, this time on Kashirskoye Highway, again in the southern region of the city. In the collapse of the eight-story structure, 118 people were killed and 200 wounded. Almost immediately, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia would undertake a second massive military assault on the breakaway province of Chechnya, even though the Chechen rebels did not take responsibility for…
Voting around Caracas on Sunday. These photos were taken by a pool of 38 citizen journalists who documented the electoral process. Their fascinating slideshow can be found at this Flickr site, here. Hat tip: Venezuela Today Venezuelans went to the polls today to decide who their new president would be. The polls are closed, except that the army is said to be re-opening some by force, to bus in Chavista voters from the hillside slums. One exit poll, from a government-linked polling firms, the San Francisco Bay Area leftist one called Evans-McDonough, is dutifully leaking out, saying Chavez easily leads,…
Based on who I’ve talked to, here is the latest reading of what is believed to be likely to happen Sunday. It pretty much makes sense – on Monday, we can see how it stacks to reality. 1. Markets went hog wild Friday and one source tells me it’s because the markets are pricing in a Manuel Rosales victory over Hugo Chavez. Internal polls put Rosales five to 10 points ahead of Chavez. None show him behind and there is very high optimism in the Rosales camp. (I remember the high optimism pre-recall referendum so I am cautious about that.…
Venezuela is staring down D-Day, the great final election of a year full of Latin American elections, beginning this Sunday. At stake: Will Hugo Chavez be thrown out of power by his own people? Right now, the polls are mixed, with Chavista polls saying Chavez has a wide lead, and Opposition polls saying Manuel Rosales, his challenger, has a small lead. Besides that, there were the vast avalanchas, showing tremendous commitment from the opposition. The fate of the entire hemisphere – and whether we will have Iran-style nuclear issues directed at the states, from Iran’s ally, Hugo Chavez – hinges…
Final Thoughts Before the Elections By Alex Beech Political marches induce hope in the best cases, and hysteria in the worst. During the referendum, I noticed how a march can beintoxicating – to see all those people in one place, to feel the energy. But at the end of the day, millions stay home, and you never know how those millions are going to vote in the privacy of their voting booths. There is a reality Venezuelans who oppose Chavez need to face if we’re going to move forward as a nation, and that is that Chavez may win on…
In his memoirs, Ernest Hemingway wrote: “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” The Russian variant would be just a bit different: ???????If you are lucky enough to have survived living in Moscow as a young woman, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Moscow is a moveable famine.??????? In Russia, at least two dozen women are murdered by their husbands every single day. Women…
Scenes from Mexico’s Congress Source: El Universal, via StJacques at Free Republic Mexican Congress has opened, and supporters of failed presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the ridiculous little man who could not take defeat like and man, and instead inaugurated himself president last week, are determined to not allow real electoral winner, Felipe Calderon, take office. It’s actually a constitutional requirement that he take office physically and these clowns and bozos – who are defying the will of 44 million Mexican voters – are determined to physically prevent that from happening. They want the second-place finisher to take office…
Amid the recrudescence of Cold War murder from Russia, the specter of strife in Lebanon, and the shadow of tyranny darkening over the defiantly hope-filled streets of Venezuela, there also is great suffering among the people in Iraq, where the recent attacks have been the war’s most violent. Of course it is a civil war. There have been news reports that both sides can sustain their battle and both Sunni and Shia have old grudges to settle. This item here really explains the dynamic from the strategic perspective. But amid all this, the people of Baghdad, day after day, are…
Rafael Correa, 43, an avowed leftist “economist” educated at the University of Illinois, has won the presidential election in Ecuador. He’s a good friend of Hugo Chavez and has campaigned on promises to de-dollarize Ecuador, default on the sovereign debt, and nationalize private oil companies, chasing out every last penny of foreign investment. He’s one of the biggest Idiots in the hemisphere. Some economist. The guy doesn’t even know arithmetic, let alone human nature. The only consolation is that he’s likely to be thrown out before his term is up, and he does not have a congress whose parties he…
Now I know what you are thinking. This being Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, getting stoned means he was caught smoking the holy leaf. Particularly since this was Santa Cruz, home of granola, Angela Davis, Surf City, leftists up the wazoo and the banana slugs volleyball team. Who could be surprised if Evo was stoned in Santa Cruz? Isn’t that what one does when one finds oneself in Santa Cruz? Particularly if it’s him? But it’s all wrong. No holy leaf, no sun and surf, south of the equator, all of these words mean something far more primal. Evo Morales…
The Manuel Rosales presidential election rally in Caracas Saturday Source: Aleksander Boyd at VCrisis The size and depth of the crowd at the Rosales rally in Caracas Saturday Source: Daniel Duquenal at Venezuela News & Views Venezuelan flags at the Rosales presidential rally in Caracas Saturday Source: Anonymous, via Venezuela Today The babe count was high in Caracas on Saturday Source: Miguel Oser at 11 Abril (whose album shows many babes) Note the ‘duh’ look on Chavez’s face, probably his real expression over this Source: Martha Colmenares, citing Globovision More Venezuelan babes at the rally in Caracas Saturday Source: AP,…
Poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko on his deathbead Source: Kim Zigfeld, at La Russophobe In his defiant last statement, poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko said, “The bastards got me. But they won’t get everybody.” Incredibly brave words for a man going down in lingering pain from a now-unknown poison. Less than a week ago, Alexander Litvinenko was in perfect health, doggedly trying to find out the truth behind the murder of another Russian journalist in London. In a scene reminiscent of Daniel Pearl’s kidnap, he apparently got too close to people too dirty, and then hit on some nerve too…
Relatives of assasinated Lebanon minister Pierre Gemayel mourn Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! News Following the assassination of Lebanon’s Pierre Gemayel in a hail of gunfire by Syrian agents this week, the funeral in Beirut has rapidly turned into a gigantic anti-Syria demonstration. Lebanon’s leaders have lashed out at the Syrian tyrants who are attempting to suborn democracy through murder. Victor Davis Hanson has pointed out that this assasination could be the spark that sets off a world war. Hugh Hewitt describes why it is an anschluss. It’s begun with a huge funeral that is rapidly building toward another Cedar Revolution,…
This time, avalancha in Barquisimeto, Venezuela Source: Aleksander Boyd, VCrisis How does one explain this? The huge ‘avalancha’ crowds of Venezuelans from end to end of the vast South American nation the size of three Texases, all seeking an end to Chavismo is the rainbow swirling edge of pure democratic revolution. The photos – and there are a ton of them in Alek’s new photo album from several cities here signal that people are tired of tyranny, they are tired perpetual warfare, they are tired of hostility to free trade, they are tired of economic horror shows. They want peace,…
After putting Mexico through a summer of turmoil and protests over a presidential electoral defeat he could not bring himself to accept, all I can say is: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Source: AP, via VOA Look …. at that …. ridiculous … little … man. He’s like the little man on the wedding cake! Yesterday, failed Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador inaugurated himself “president” in a bid to be seen as Mexico’s legitimate elected president. He lost, of course, and this grandiose gesture is nothing more than his own personal fantasy. He looks like Gilligan up there, in…
Cuba’s immensely wealthy Castro family, which Forbes magazine pegs for just under a billion provable dollars, is beginning to look outward for asylum with their money. That’s why the Chilean press yesterday reported that Mrs. Castro, the second or third wife of the Cuban dictator, has just bought a parcel of land straddling the Chile-Argentina border. That way, if something goes wrong on an extradition or truth commission subpoena, she can step over the boundary and remain on the estancia. It’s an amazingly shameless effort to launder out the ill-gotten Castro fortune into potential palaces of exile. In Cuba, the…