Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

Archives for 2008

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Jeff Jarvis, “rightblogger”?

Reading through this list at the Village Voice’s Runnin’ Scared, The Top 10 Rightblogger Stories of 2008, this little item came up as a surprise:

BuzzMachine’s Jeff Jarvis discovered a media conspiracy against Clinton.

Particularly surprising since Runnin’ Scared starts by saying

#5: Rightwing Hillary Love. As her star started to fade, Hillary Clinton won the applause of rightbloggers theretofore committed to her destruction.

I’ve been reading Jeff’s blog nearly every day for years and never once would have surmised from his writing that Jeff is/has been “committed to [Hillary’s] destruction,” particularly when you read Jeff’s post in its entirety (for some reason Runnin’ Scared’s links to the comments section instead of the main section of the post):

What does the Times have against Hillary?

I was amazed that on today’s New York Times front page, I couldn’t find a mention of Hillary Clinton’s victory in Florida — not even a reefer (jargon for a promo box), not a by-the-way paragraph inserted into the Republican story, not a news peg added into a story about 527 groups advertising on behalf of Obama (a positive story for him, nonetheless, since they say he’s working hard to repudiate them while they say Clinton is not). It’s the same story online: other than a line in the chart of results, there’s a mention of Clinton’s win only below the fold (that is, the first screen), in smaller type, under the label “more politics.”

I went to the Times Square newstand to look at the Washington Post. Clinton’s victory is right at the top of the page aside McCain’s. I would call that proper news judgment.

Yes, it’s true that Clinton officially won no delegates because the Democratic Party is punishing Florida. But that, itself, is a story: There’s a huge turnout in Florida for votes that supposedly don’t count. Where’s the outrage about disenfranchising these voters; it’s an undemocratic, unDemocratic, unconstitutional, and — considering Florida’s importance in November — just plain politically dumb move by the party. But the Times relegated the story to the bottom of page A16.

If I were a communications student, I’d be doing an analysis of the Times’ coverage of Clinton. There is a pattern here.

(Disclosure: I’ve said before and will repeat that I’m planning to vote for Clinton on SuperTuesday.) [emphasis added]

Runnin’ Scared and grasping at straws too fast to read what they link to.

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Today at 11AM: Hugo {Hearts} Hamas

Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America: Hugo {Hearts} Hamas.

Never to miss an opportunity to blame the USA while at the same time siding against Israel, Hugo Chavez has issued a statement condemning Israel’s attack against Hamas, even as Hamas continues their rocket attacks (6,000 rockets and counting). My post at Real Clear World.

Chat’s open at 10:45AM and the call in number is 646 652-2639. Please also subscribe to the podcast feed and listen to the podcast any time of day!

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Dave Barry on Castro

I’m still trying to catch up on things after spending the last four days sick in bed, but for now, here’s Dave Barry

Abroad, Fidel Castro steps down after 49 years as president of Cuba, explaining that he wants to spend more time decomposing. In selecting his successor, the Cuban National Assembly, after conducting an exhaustive nationwide search, selects Fidel’s brother, Raúl, who narrowly edges out Dennis Kucinich.

Go read his year in review.

(h/t the Baron).

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Panarin’s Fantasyland

So I’m sitting at the DMV on Route 1 in Lawrenceville reading the paper when I come across this, which is a Russian “expert’s” scenario for the USA:

As if Things Weren’t Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S.
In Moscow, Igor Panarin’s Forecasts Are All the Rage; America ‘Disintegrates’ in 2010

Yes, you read it right. In two years New Jersey will be part of the Atlantic America and possibly part of the European Union. Which means that I’ll have to be back in line at the DMV for a new license.

The guy who came up with this is Igor Panarin,

Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.

Panarin’s Fantasyland will have Alaska going back to Russian ownership, which means Tina Fey will really be seeing Alaska from her back yard.

California will be part of China while Mexico will take over the Texas Republic, expanding the culinary possibilities.

Armed with a Powerpoint presentation in his laptop, Panarin’s become quite the rage:

“When I pushed the button on my computer and the map of the United States disintegrated, hundreds of people cried out in surprise,” he remembers. He says most in the audience were skeptical. “They didn’t believe me.”

We’ll be here when 2010 rolls along. In the meantime, here’s my music theme suggestion for Mr. Panarin’s slide show

Back in 1981 someone was predicting that New York City would become a maximum security prison by 1997, only that back then it was a Hollywood screenwriter, not a Russian expert. While I’m writing this post, my son reminds me that in the 1999 Wild Wild West Dr. Loveless was going to split the US, return the various parts to their “original” owners, and keep a bit for himself. Kind of like Panarin’s Fantasyland.

Maybe when they make a movie about Panarin, Kenneth Brannagh will play him; he’s even learned his lines before:

We may have lost the war, but we haven’t lost our sense of humor. Even when we lose a lung, a spleen, a bladder, thirty-five feet of small intestine, two legs, and our ability to reproduce all in the name of the south, do we EVER LOSE OUR SENSE OF HUMOR?

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Hugo, Fidel, Evo and… Michael Jackson?

In one of those weird stories that unfortunately (or perhaps luckily?) reinforce the image of Latin American magical realism or buffoonery, depending on how you look at it, Peruvian shamans have driven the evil spirits away from Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Cuba’s Fidel Castro (wherever he may be), Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, and pop’s Michael Jackson through a spiritual “cleansing” .

The shamans also focused their attention on Barack Obama and “invoked the best luck” on his term in the White House.

I’m not sure why Michael Jackson was included among the heads of state, but I’m all for a positive thinking and prayer.

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Please note there will be no podcast today, since I’m still recovering from the ear infection and laryngitis. Podcasting will resume once I can talk for an entire podcast without breaking into a cough. Thank you for your patience.

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Palin for “2008 Man of the Year”

David Warren and Gerard Vander Leun name her; I second that motion.

Warrren’s citation reads,

“For a politician of real accomplishment and promise, who has somehow managed, for the first time since Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, to cut through the verbiage and posturing of an election campaign, and look an electorate in the eye; a politician whose policy instincts are sound, whose wits are sharp, and whose moral vision is unclouded — who drives all the right people crazy, across party lines.”

And believe me, if it weren’t for Palin the Republican National Convention would have been a funeral. Warren adds,

She has a remarkable natural gift, her “star quality”: the ability not only to instill hope and confidence in an electorate, but hope and confidence in the right things. She is the best thing that happened in politics all year.

We need more Palins.

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Ramos and Compean: Why they should NOT be pardoned.

Last Tuesday I posted saying that Pres. Bush should pardon Ramos and Compean. I have now decided I was wrong in asking that. Here’s why:

Last Tuesday Pat Patterson commented,

I couldn’t disagree more, both lied about the fight and the struggle, one returned and buried the casings a 1/4 mile away, both claimed that they were being supervised on the radio yet most of the reinforcements were anywhere from 8 to 12 miles away.

They both lied about whether Aldarte was shot even though trackers follwed his blood trail across the border the next morning and they did not file the required discharge of firearm report and they couldn’t convince a jury of their innocence and have since lost every appeal. A jury of locals who returned a verdict of guilty within an hour of being sequestered.

They beat Aldarte, one shot Aldarte they both lied in their sworn statements and lied under oath and most importantly no one in the Border Patrol has complained about the conviction.

Pat emailed yesterday and he explains the reasons why Ramos and Compean should not be pardoned:

Since a few months after 9/2005 there has been a steady drumbeat of pleadings from most notably Lou Dobbs of CNN, TJ Bonner of the union representing the Border Patrol agents and Jerome Corsi, of Unfit for Command, who are pushing the idea that Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were innocent of shooting an unarmed drug smuggler named Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila near Fabens Texas on the Rio Grande River. This is much like the Left’s undying fascination in probing for the littlest of contradiction in evidence or testimony and basically ignoring the facts of the case against Mumia Al-Jabar. The case of Ramos and Compean is generally repeated over and over by many that have never read any of the articles written at the time or any of the factual reconstructions of the shooting.

The best recounting of the trial is from an article by Pamela Coloff in the Texas Monthly of 9/2007 that provides a narrative of the shooting and the subsequent glossing over of the facts of the case.

Badges of Dishonor (available with free registration).

Then there is also a point by point refutation, of the wilder pro Ramos and Compean arguments, by the US Attorney for the Western District of Texas and lead prosecutor Johnny Sutton. His response came in a DOJ press release in April of 2007 after the first appeal and when at least 2 pardon bills had introduced in Congress. Which were subsequently tabled this year when Congress decided to spend Christmas at home. The last attempt is a petition that demands commutation of the sentences by the outgoing president. But considering the fate of Isaac Toussie’s pardon it would not be wise to hold one’s breath waiting for a commutation of the nearly ten year sentences.

United States Attorney Johnny Sutton Sets the Record Straight Regarding the Prosecution of Ramos and Compean

The last link is from an article from the online magazine Salon by Alex Koppelman, 9/2007, who after a brief recounting of the shooting investigates the characters who have taken advantage of the press’s laziness and the faith many have in the accuracy of the blogs the regularly read.

The ballad of Ramos and Compean
How the anti-immigration right — and Lou Dobbs — turned two rogue Border Patrol agents into heroes and got Congress on their side.

But to me the most damning thing of all is the utter depravity of ex-agent Ignacio Ramos when complaining about his sentence remarked, ” If anything , Compean and I should have gotten an administrative punishment–if that. As for Aldrete-Davila, you know what? …He got what he deserved?”

Fausta-I hope this is what you can use. If you need to make changes go ahead or I’ll rewrite if necessary.

I urge all my visitors to read these articles, especially the US Attorney’s office document. In view of this information, I was wrong in asking that they be pardoned. They shouldn’t be.

Special thanks to Pat for his reply.

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