Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

Archives for September 2012

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Hugo calls in sick?

The photo above shows Hugo Chaves campaigning in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas on Monday, but, as it turns out, it was not a success and he cut it short,

Chavez went to his traditional stronghold of Catia in Western Caracas in his Chavezmobile, but once he arrived at where he was supposed to give his speech, it was cancelled and the live transmission on the Government’s TV channel wa suspended. . Some said that Chavez was mad at the low attendance, with former Mayor of the Libertador Ditsrict Freddy Bernal justifying the low attendance by saying that the most important mobilization will be on October 7th. But a second version also said that Chavez showed his discomfort throughout the short 2 Km. ride. In any case, Chavez could surely not escape thinking that Capriles walked through Catia a month ago, with huge crowds following among a route which was larger than Chavez yesterday.

In the past few days, Chavez failed to show up in Los Teques and suspended his visit to Portuguesa State.

As we all know, Hugo’s been battling the cancer that dare not speak its name (with apologies to Oscar Wilde), and, after claiming he’s fully cured and cancer-free, resorted to histrionics and tearfully said he can’t walk,

What if he loses? Or, what if he wins and is unable to rule?

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Argentina’s meltdown

Instapundit:

WHAT AN ECONOMIC MELTDOWN LOOKS LIKE: In Argentina, PayPal Users Can No Longer Make Domestic Transactions. “Last year the Argentine government announced restrictions on the purchase of U.S. dollars. It has led to an increase in currency sales on the black market — but Paypal’s exchange rates are better. Locals were setting up two accounts under different email addresses and transferring money between the two, exchanging local currency pesos for dollars in the process.” Currency controls are pretty much always stupid, but government caught in the web of their own stupidity can’t seem to resist them.

Bloomberg News:
IMF to Put Argentina on Path to Censure Over Inflation Data (h/t Clark)

Argentina is on track to be the first country ever censured by the International Monetary Fund for not sharing accurate data about inflation and the economy.

The IMF’s board of directors, meeting yesterday in Washington, gave the country until Dec. 17 to respond to concerns about the quality of its official data, it said today in an e-mailed statement. If the deadline is missed, the board can issue a declaration of censure, a warning that has never been used and which means sanctions may be applied if the concerns aren’t addressed.

Argentina Bonds Slide On Moody’s Rating Warning

Late Monday, Moody’s lowered its outlook on Argentina to negative from stable, citing a continued haphazard policy environment, concerns about the country’s official-data reporting and the lack of resolution of debt arrears.

Moody’s rates Argentina at B3, six levels into junk territory.

Moody’s once again focused on Argentina’s highly-suspect official statistics. The firm said Argentina’s continued underreporting of inflation leads to underpayment on more than 20% of the country’s government debt that is indexed to inflation.

The government has been persecuting economists for quite a while, which obviously didn’t work.


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What if Chavez loses?

IBD asks the question,
Is Hugo Chavez Man Enough To Accept Defeat At The Polls?

All this points to the real possibility that Chavez will lose the upcoming election. He’s unlikely to go gracefully, so the big question is what will he do if he loses?

So many special interests have a stake in the 13-year reign of incompetence and fear — from those in government who live off Venezuela’s oil earnings to the terrorists and drug dealers who make Venezuela their home.

And there is the huge civil servant class that Chavez has hired — tripling the count at least — in his bid to turn Venezuela into a socialist state. There are also those whose loyalty to Chavez is premised on his handouts — poor and not so poor.

Perhaps the biggest special interest is Cuba, whose operatives literally run Venezuela’s most sensitive departments in exchange for Chavez’s cut-rate oil that the Castro brothers have yet to pay for.

Chavez’s brother, Adan, who as governor runs Barinas state as his own feudal barony, has declared that Chavez will not go out without a fight.

Considering how Hugo has been arming a militia, one has to expect that things will turn ugly.

I hope I’m wrong.

Venezuela’s general election is scheduled for October 7.

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Catch Spring Fever

Andrew McCarthy‘s new book, Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy is out today,

Every human heart does not yearn for freedom. In the Islam of the Middle East, “freedom” means something very nearly the opposite of what the concept connotes to Westerners – it is the freedom that lies in total submission to Allah and His law. That law, sharia, is diametrically opposed to core components of freedom as understood in the West – beginning with the very idea that man is free to make law for himself, irrespective of what Allah has ordained. It is thus delusional to believe, as the West’s Arab Spring fable insists, that the region teems with Jamal al-Madisons holding aloft the lamp of liberty. Do such revolutionary reformers exist? Of course they do . . . but in numbers barely enough to weave a fictional cover story. When push came to shove – and worse – the reformers were overwhelmed, swept away by a tide of Islamic supremacism, the dynamic, consequential mass movement that beckons endless winter.

In it,

…foremost, I did not try to write a history of the “Arab Spring.” Spring Fever is, instead, an attempt to give the reader an alternative way to understand what is happening in the Middle East, an antidote to the delirious “Arab Spring” narrative. Mine is based on understanding that Islam, a culture and civilization distinct from and hostile to the West, is the most significant fact about the region; that far from being a fringe ideology, Islamic supremacism is the dominant interpretation of Islam of the Middle East; and that the most salient precedent for the current revolt, Turkey, is a model for Islamization not democratization.

You can buy the book at Andrew McCarthy‘s website, or through Amazon.

Post re-edited to include omitted paragraph.
Cross-posted in The Green Room.

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Insane: “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel Rahman to be sent to Egypt?? UPDATED

Yes, the mastermind of the first attack (in 1993) on the World Trade Center; that Blind Sheik.


I sincerely hope this is not true:
Mastermind of World Trade Center bombing to be “transferred” to Egypt?

Roger Kimball posts:

I thought a line had been crossed when sheriffs showed up at midnight to bundle away a man who had made an anti-Islamic  movie that embarrassed the President. Then there was the murder of our Ambassador and three other Americans in Libya: the administration’ response: blame Romney, apologize for the “hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.”

Will there ever be a last straw for the MSM that is acting as Obama’s press corps? Is there anything Obama could do that would make them say “Enough!” and stand up for America? What would it take?  How about this: the announcement that the Obama administration is considering transferring the “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel Rahman, mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing, to Egypt “for humanitarian and health reasons.” Incredulous?  Then you underestimate the Islamophilc nature of the Obama administration.

The Blaze has the breaking story: “The U.S. State Department is currently in negotiations with the Egyptian government for the transfer of custody of Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as “the Blind Sheikh,” for humanitarian and health reasons, a source close to the the Obama administration toldThe Blaze.”

This isn’t a “release, the Department of Justice told The Blaze,Oh, no: merely a transfer the the Muslim Brotherhood controlled country where the Sheikh is regarded as a hero.

Here’s more:

 The Blind Sheikh is currently serving a life sentence in American prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but the newly-elected Islamist government in Egypt has been actively petitioning his release.  Many have pinpointed a cause of last week‘s unrest in in the country to be protests over the Blind Sheikh’s release – not an anti-Islam YouTube video.

Andrew McCarthy was the Blind Sheik’s prosecutor. It took years and millions of dollars to put the Blind Sheik behind bars. Read about it in Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad.

If the Obama administration releases the Blind Sheik, they must be counting on the electorate’s ignorance, and, as Roger Kimball’s commenter Jeff P put it,

If this is true, then it means that Obama is so confident of victory in November that nothing, not even brazen appeasement, will change the result.

Related:
Today’s the 225th anniversary of the signing of the US Constitution. Obama’s DOJ Can’t Say Criticizing Religion Will Remain Legal. Watch:

UPDATE:
Dan Riehlhas more,

In neighboring Egypt, birthplace of the ‘Blind Sheikh’ of aforementioned “Brigades of the Imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman” fame, similar recent calls for violence on his behalf were the calling card to the storming of the American embassy in Cairo as well. The ‘dots,’ again courtesy of the Washington Times.

  • “There had been a sit-in in support of the “Blind Sheikh” outside the embassy for 18 months.”
  • “On July 27, the sheikh’s son Abdallah Abdel Rahman threatened to organize a blockade of the embassy and to detain the Americans inside unless his father was released.”
  • “Two days later, then-president-elect Mohammed Morsi vowed publicly to work to free the sheikh, and it will be at the top of his agenda in future meetings with President Obama.” (WSJ)
  • “On Aug. 30, Jamaa Islamiya, the terrorist group formerly led by the Blind Sheikh, announced that the embassy sit-in was being turned into an active protest.” (USA Today via Gateway Pundit)
  • “On Sept. 4, the Egyptian General Intelligence Service warned all Egyptian securityagencies of planned attacks against the embassy by a group called Global Jihad, which has been active in the Sinai.” (Jerusalem Post)
  • “On Sept. 7, an Islamist named Nasser Al-Qaeda posted a statement on the Jihadi chat group Shumoukh Al-Islam that the U.S. embassy in Cairo should be burned down and everyone inside killed or taken hostage in order to bring pressure to bear to release the Blind Sheikh.” (MEMRI)
  • “On the day before the embassy assault, several other jihadist groups with ties to al Qaeda – including Islamic Jihad, the Sunni Group and Jamaa Islamiya – echoed this threat and called for the release of the Blind Sheikh and all detainees in all U.S. detention facilities including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.” (PJ Media)

Linked by Phinneas. Thanks!

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The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerARGENTINA
More Havana than Havanna

Les Argentins ressortent les casseroles contre Cristina Kirchner

COLOMBIA
Colombia Gambles on Talks With the FARC
President Manuel Santos seeks an end to five decades of terrorist violence. The question is, at what price? Meanwhile, FARC Rebels Step up Attacks on Colombia Energy Targets

Colombian Navy Seizes Ton of Cocaine

Pacific Rubiales’ capture of Colombian mass media continues

Bitter grounds
The woes of coffee farmers

CUBA
Suddenly, His Holiness seems to care about certain things he ignored in Castrolandia

Indecision time
Never rapid, Raúl Castro’s reforms seem to be stalling. You don’t say!

MEXICO
Scathing Fast & Furious IG Report Imminent?

Mexico Nabs Gulf Cartel Boss
The Latest Coup by the Country’s Navy Is Likely to Intensify the Turf War With Rival Zeta Cartel; Map: Drug crime in Mexico.

Middle-class Mexicans snap up more products ‘Made in USA’ (h/t Instapundit)

The Great Egg Crisis hits Mexico

PERU
Peru won’t negotiate with rebels like Colombia – Humala

Talisman in Peru (or not)

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rican Woman Charged with Embezzling Funds

VENEZUELA
Bolivarian Mango Peel

Venezuela: Profligacy puts Chávez’s dream at risk

Tiempos de Dictadura: A great Venezuelan documentary

A Horrifying Video About Crime And Violence In Venezuela

The week’s posts:
EPA glorifies mass murderer Che on “Hispanic Heritage Month”

Mexico Extradites to USA San Jose Mosque Imam connected to Hezbollah

Venezuela Frees U.S. Ship And Crew


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Julia Child makes boeuf bourguignon


It’s been a very hard week, even when I had a wonderful birthday, so the other day, after a friend mentioned the movie, I took some time to watch Julie & Julia, which I missed when it first came out.

Yes, it’s a chick flick.

I must have been the only blogger on earth to not know that Julie Powell blogged her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking , an endeavor that brought her fame and movie rights. This is yet another thing (like coming up with Ninja Turtles action figures named after Renaissance artists) I wish I had thought of first; would blogging my way through Cocina Criolla bring me movie rights? And, if so, would J-Lo want to star in it?

But I digress.

The movie is two stories in one, Ms Powell’s, and Mrs. Child.

What a revelation it was.

While I have been known to do Julia Child’s “Bon appetit!” falsetto at times (two glasses of Malbec help), watched her on TV, and bought The Book (no way I’d cook all 524 recipes, thank you) I knew very little about Julia Child. It turns out Julia was a very strong woman who worked for the [warning: annoying audio starts when you click on the next link] Office of Strategic Services – the movie doesn’t dwell into that – during war, traveled the world, married a great guy and had a fabulous marriage, and persevered in bringing about a literary (and culinary) masterpiece.

Best of all, Julia was resilient, fun, and terrific.

Compared to larger-than-life Julia, poor Julie comes across as self-absorbed and whiney. Paul Child is interesting, strong, and supportive; Julie’s husband pales by comparison. The movie also takes a few jabs at Republicans, a distraction that has nothing to do with anything other than perhaps Paul Child‘s career in the Cold War years.

In all, you wish the movie had more Julia and Paul.

Purists will also notice that the movie’s boef bourguignons (there are at least three) have lots of carrots and celery cooking in the stew, while the recipe in The Book (volume 1, page 316) only has 1 sliced carrot. Julia’s TV recipe in the first show of The Frech Chef omitted the carrot altogether,

“Bon appetit!”

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