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American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Note to the WaPo, Obama wasn’t kicked out of Blair House

Philip Rucker and Al Kamen of the WaPo believe that Obama was “kicked out” of Blair House by John Howard:

The veil is lifted. We now know who is booked at Blair House, kicking President-elect Barack Obama and his family to the waiting list and across Lafayette Park to the Hay-Adams Hotel.

The only overnight visitor at the presidential guest manse is none other than John Howard, a former Australian prime minister and leading member of President Bush’s coalition of the willing in Iraq.

No, Al & Phil. Obama was not in Blair House and John Howard didn’t come over and booted him out of the place. Blair House is “the President’s guest house

playing host to foreign heads of state visiting the United States on official business.”

Barack Obama is president elect (not head of state yet) of the United States (not a foreign country), who will take office later this month. He is not a foreign head of state. John Howard, as former Prime Minister (head of state) of Australia (a foreign country) will be here to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (official business).

Tony Blair and Alvaro Uribe will also be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom:

Howard and his entourage will be bunking at Blair House on Jan. 12, the night before he, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe are to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bush, said Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush.

From Colombia’s point of view, this will be a nice yet symbolic gesture of support for Mr. Uribe; Nancy Pelosi’s Congress has failed miserably by denying Colombia the real support that country has requested, which is the free trade agreement.

Much to their credit, the WaPo’s editorial board supports the free trade agreement with Colombia.

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World newspapers’ reaction to the Obama victory:

UPDATE
A couple of people asked if I’ll be posting on the election results in Puerto Rico. Yes, I’m working on a post for later this afternoon

Please note that I translated all the items below that were not originally in English from their original Spanish, French, or Portuguese. If you use any of them please credit and add link to this blog. Thank you.

LATIN AMERICA:
Brazilian newspaper O Globo has a list of newspaper reactions from around the world: Principais jornais do mundo: vitória de Obama é feito histórico (Main newspapers of the world: Obama’s vitory is an historic event).

Clarin, Argentina: El Gobierno considera que la victoria de Obama es “un mensaje de esperanza” para el mundo (The [Argentinian] government considers Obama’s victory a “message of hope” for the world.) Argentinian chancellor Jorge Taiana added, “it’s the end of the cycle of neoliberalism.

El Universal, Venezuela, quotes Hugo Chavez, who never misses a chance to be inopportune,

“I truly wish (the new president of the United States) to change the imperialist vision; I wish him to suspend the blockade on Cuba (which has been effective since the 1960’s); everybody has been asking for it for a long, long time.”

Noticias 24, Venezuela: La embajada de EEUU en Caracas celebro una fiesta electoral (Election night party at the US Embassy in Caracas)

La Razon, Bolivia América Latina busca mayor atención
REACCIONES • Los gobernantes y analistas consideran que se acabará la indiferencia con la región, serán revisados los acuerdos comerciales y restablecidas las relaciones diplomáticas. (Latin America seeks more attention
REACTIONS: Leaders and analysts believe it’ll be the end of indifference towards the region, business agreements will be revised, and diplomatic relationships will be re-established.)

El Mercurio, Chile: Obama se convierte en el primer Presidente de color de EE.UU. (Obama becomes the US’s first president of color.)

Las victorias demócratas en los estados clave de Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Carolina del Norte, Nevada y Colorado le aseguraron a Obama tempranamente el triunfo, a pesar de que aún faltaba el recuento de votos en parte del territorio. (The Democrats’ victories in the key states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada and Colorado insured Obama’s early triumph, in spite of parts of the country’s vote not yet being tallied.)

El Tiempo, Colombia: Editorial Obama logro lo practicamente imposible (Obama achieved the nearly impossible)

Granma, Cuba: Obama a la Casa Blanca (Obama to the White House)

As I said in the podcast, prior to the podcast I didn’t have enough time to link to Mexican newspapers; here are two, both from Mexico City:
El Universal: Cae barrera racial
Obama primer presidente negro en Estado Unidos (Racial barrier comes down. Obama’s first black US president)
El Sol de Mexico: Récord de votantes hispanos en EU; mayoría con Obama (Record number of Hispanic voters in the US; most for Obama)

EUROPE:
El Pais, Spain: Sarkozy destaca la “victoria brillante” de Obama
Los mandatarios mundiales felicitan al líder demócrata.- Irak no espera “grandes variaciones” de la política de EE UU en su país (Sarkozy highlights Obama’s “brilliant victory”; World leaders congratulate the Democratic leader – Iraq doesn’t expect “big changes” in US politics towards their country). El Pais lists world leaders’ reactions:

France’s Sarkozy highlights the “brilliant victory”
Germany’s Merkel asks for unity between the US and the EU
The EU’s Barroso believes in the “strength through unity”
UK’s Brown is encouraged by Obama’s “progressive values”
Iraq doesn’t expect “big changes” in US politics towards their country:

“El Gobierno iraquí, que da la bienvenida y respeta la elección del pueblo estadounidense, no espera un gran cambio en la política de EEUU hacia Irak, ni que se pueda producir de la noche a la mañana”, ha destacado el ministro iraquí de Asuntos Exteriores, Hoshiar Zibari. (“The Iraqi government, which welcomes and respects the American people’s election, does not expect a big change in US policy towards Iraq, nor that it would change overnight,” Exterior Minister Hoshiar Zibari stated.

Mexican president expects a new stage in US-Mexican relations
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas asks for “accelerated efforts to find a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict”
Afghanistan “applauds” the voters’ choice
Iran believes the US should change its attitude
Moscow expects a more constructive relationship
The EU’s Solana proposes joint solutions between the EU and the US
Italy’s Berlusconi congratulates the winner
Mandela applauds the commitment to peace and security

Notice the difference between what that article said about Iraq, and that of The Guardian, UK: The world reacts to the new US presidentOverwhelming congratulations and an ‘awesome’ from Bush while Baghdad remains sceptical

Elsewhere, the vast majority of world leaders welcomed Obama’s win as a landmark moment for both the US and the wider world, while warning of the challenges the new president will face once in office.

A couple were less enthusiastic – Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, noted that the new president “will not have the same enthusiasm and momentum for this situation (in Iraq)” as did Bush – while Sudan was distinctly underwhelmed.

Additionally, El Pais did not mention Israel.

Times, UK: Analysis: Barack Obama’s victory is head-spinning stuff
Two years ago Barack Obama identified that the overwhelming sentiment in this election would be a desire for change They also have a video on Obama’s rise.

Le Monde, France: “Les Etats-Unis ont surmonté les démons du passé” (“The US has surmounted the demons of the past,” says Le Monde’s editor, Alain Frachon)

Le Figaro, France: Le monde salue la victoire
de Barack Obama (The world salutes Obama’s victory)

Pravda, Russia: A change for the better, which starts with

Only Satan would have been worse than the Bush regime.

I guess that’s their take on “thank goodness for term limits”?

MIDDLE EAST
Haaretz, Israel: Livni: Israel expects strong U.S. friendship to continue under Obama

“Israel expects the close strategic cooperation with the new administration, president and Congress will continue along with the continued strengthening of the special and unshakeable special relationship between the two countries,” she said.

In a statement, she called the Obama’s election “a mark of merit for American democracy.”

ASIA
China Daily: Commentary: We wish US president-elect Obama well

AFRICA
The Standard, Kenya: Kenya erupts in celebration as Obama wins

AUSTRALIA
The Australian, Australia: Janet Alberchstein’s blog, Is America a racist nation after all?

USA
The NY Times: The Promise
For Many Abroad, an Ideal Renewed

Wall Street Journal: Read Their Lips
And the winner is … tax cuts.

Washington Post: Obama Makes History
U.S. Decisively Elects First Black President; Democrats Expand Control of Congress

Washington Times: EDITORIAL: Why weren’t they ready?

In heavily contested battleground states like Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida, state elections officials recorded ever-expanding voter rolls month after month. But in most cases, they only marginally expanded access or upgraded their voting machines. Tuesday, the high turnouts proved they weren’t ready. Election officials need to explain why.

Post from last August: Latin American news media cover the Presidential campaign, and McCain is invisible

More on world reaction at 10AM Eastern in today’s podcast. The call-in number is 646 652-2639, and chat’s open by 9:45AM. Please join in!

You can listen to the podcast here.

Listen to Faustas blog on internet talk radio

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The wages of allowing terror

Siggy forwarded this article, Machete-wielding teens attack Australian school

A group of teenagers armed with baseball bats and machetes attacked Australian teachers and students on Monday, injuring 18 people and forcing a high school in Sydney to be locked down, police said.

Five youths barged into the morning assembly at Merrylands High School in south-west Sydney, witnesses said, grabbing students before starting to smash windows at the school.

Five punks injure eighteen people and terrify hundreds.

Siggy then posted, Terror Down Under. He explains that

When violence or threats of violence are considered legitimate forms of political or social expression, inevitably violence or threats of violence will manifest themselves.Terror has become an accepted form of political and social expression, that status granted by those who most profess to be non violent or peaceful.
…
If we allow or excuse terror elsewhere, it is only a matter of time before that terror will manifest itself on our shores. What is terror here has to be regarded as terror everywhere, no matter what one might think of the ’cause.’

Go read the rest.

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Hero of the year, the "none-of-the-above" primary, focus on Afgahnistan, and other Sunday items

Hero of the year:

Siggy has The Other “Person Of The Year”, Dr. Liviu Librescu, who saved the lives of his Virginia Tech students at the cost of his own.

Click on the photo above for more on Dr. Librescu.

As far as TIME’s kleptocrat goes, Vladimir Putin will now use Time magazine’s honor to enhance his own power, as one would expect.

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Yesterday I mentioned that Sarko was visiting Afghanistan. Well, Australia’s new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi went to Afghanistan this weekend, too:

Mr Rudd said: “We’re committed to being here for the long haul.”

He added: “Over the next several months, I would also be encouraging other friends and partners and allies in Nato to continue their commitments and where possible extend them.”

Matt Dupee at Long Wars Journal reports on Northwestern Afghanistan: Badghis province seeks security, revitalization

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The “none-of-the-above” primaries: Ed Morrissey asks, Can’t anyone play this here game?

Skip the lede of this story and check the numbers at the link. Even the best showing for the candidates, Barack Obama (-6%) and John McCain (-11%) have bigger negatives than positives among all voters. This doesn’t bode well for the 2008 campaign in either the primaries or the general election. Not only has no one really caught fire, but no one has managed to convert more voters than they’ve driven off.

At least neither party has an “annointed”.

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Michael Drida picks this week’s WSJ’s 5 best Christmas stories:

Full of make-believe and festivity, this wonderful narrative poem possesses a Mozartean lightness and wit. Luckily, several modern versions, particularly those by W.S. Merwin and Simon Armitage, deftly replicate much of the feel and rhythm of the Middle English original. On New Year’s Day an eerie Green Knight challenges a champion from King Arthur’s court to exchange ax blows. Sir Gawain duly slices through the stranger’s neck, only to see the decapitated torso pick up the head, which then speaks: Remember, the Green Knight says, to meet me in a year and a day at the Green Chapel. But where is that? The following winter, riding to what must be certain death, Gawain finds himself alone and desolate on Christmas Eve. Miraculously, a castle hoves into view. There the famous knight is welcomed by a red-bearded lord, the man’s beautiful lady and a hideous bent-backed old woman. For the next three days Gawain savors all the sumptuous delights of the Christmas season–while each morning in his bedchamber the seductive wife tempts him to surrender to more sinful pleasures. There are, however, mysteries about this castle–and they are not resolved until Gawain fearfully bows his head to receive the promised ax stroke from the Green Knight.

Sir Gawain is one of my favorite books, and you can find it on line here. I suggest you read the modern English versions, since the Middle English is particularly difficult.

The other four books are

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Christmas shoes, you ask?
Steve Madden Women’s Luvvy Pump in red patent, which I featured last month:

Let everybody else wear a red sweater!

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Pat has the CARNIVAL OF THE CHRISTMAS INSANITIES – Special Edition!

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Calderon says Australia is Mexico

State of Mexico Addressed, by Invitation Only: Calderon Delivers Speech At Ceremonial Palace (emphasis added),

The Mexican government, he said, would continue to “energetically protest unilateral actions” of the U.S. Congress on the immigration front that he said “exacerbate the persecution of undocumented Mexicans in the U.S.” He boasted that Mexican consulates in the United States have been buttressed to protect the rights of millions of Mexicans living there illegally.

“Wherever there is a Mexican,” he said, “that is Mexico.”

Going by that logic, Australia is Mexico.

Can’t wait for the Mexican government to start handing out how-to manuals on how to sneak illegally into the Land Down Under.

But then, who can blame the guy. It’s a heck of a lot easier to claim the whole world is yours to do as you please than it is to clean up the centuries-long endemic problems affecting a country you lead, isn’t it?

Flopping Aces, Hot Air, Blue Crab Boulevard, Irish Spy, and Cop the Truth also posted on this (h/t Larwyn).

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Aussie Catholics rioting over Osama-Jesus?

No, of course they aren’t.

It’s the time of year for the Blake Prize in the land down under, but it’s always season for taking potshots at us Catholics, so here we have what passes for art these days:

Artist defends Osama-as-Jesus

Priscilla Joyce Bracks’ Bearded Orientals, Making the Empire Cross is a lenticular image in which the viewer can flip between portraits of Jesus and Osama bin Laden, by shifting slightly from side to side.

Isn’t that precious: Bearded Orientals, Making the Empire Cross. Because you know, you gotta include references to empire (be it British, or whatever) and the Cross, since the image itself wasn’t laying on the offensive stuff thick enough.

Of course anyone who awards a prize for this “religious art” is morally bankrupt, and it shows: Reverend Rod Pattenden, who awarded the $15,000 prize to the competition winner says about Bearded Orientals, Making the Empire Cross that

the artist was questioning “the idea that you can have absolute good and absolute evil. Life’s a bit more complicated than that”.

Ponder that for a moment: A clergyman who does not believe in absolute good.

Completing the dhimmitude and complete moral equivalence of the bien pensant, a statue of the Virgin Mary shrouded by a Muslim burqa was also a Blake Prize entry.

If you haven’t heard of the Blake Prize, it’s a $15,000 prize awarded for religious art,

The Reverend Rod Pattenden, who awarded the $15,000 prize to the competition winner in Sydney yesterday, said his mission was to spark debate about spirituality in a world that was “cynical, degraded and in crisis”.

With competition like this, it ought to be.

As if the anti-Catholic imagery is not insulting enough, Reverend Rod manages to fling yet one more insult while he’s at it,

Mr Pattenden said he did not expect controversy to result from the exhibition at the National Art School Gallery “because the Christian community doesn’t look at art a great deal”.

With crap like this being called prize-winning “art”, why would it want to?

Meanwhile, over in Sweden, Lars Vilks is receiving death threats.

Captain Ed wants to know, When Exactly Did Art Die?

Update:
Aussie Islamic Leader: Mary in a Burqa is ‘Not At All Offensive’

Update, Friday 31 August:
Don’t take offense, shut the gate, via Janette.

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Sicko, and Friday round-up

Updated

Via Larwyn, Prepare to be Sickened by SiCKO

Literally every day, the mainstream media in the countries whose government-run medical systems Moore holds up as superior models publish stories documenting the failure of mandatory, no-opt-out, state-run medical care. The laundry list of ills, in the U.K. alone, includes patients waiting months or even years for critical drugs and treatments (sometimes becoming disabled or dying because of the delay or lack of care), people denied therapies altogether because of rationing or cost (see, for example, an article last February in The Scotsman, “Cancer patients told life-prolonging treatment is too expensive for NHS”), an explosion in the size of the medical bureaucracy, and thousands of physicians taking to the streets earlier this year to protest.

One bottom line, so to speak, is particularly telling: Moore, who is obese, would most likely be denied a number of common health care procedures and treatments in one of his favored government-controlled socialist medicine systems, the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS), because of his excessive weight. Recently, the cash-strapped NHS actually started limiting or prohibiting therapies for residents who are fat or who smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol.

In Princeton, the Public Library has been banging the drum on socialized health care for a while, inviting Paul Krugman to ignore the facts about the French healthcare system and featuring a film on Cuba’s healthcare at the Princeton Human Rights Film Festival, by which they not only managed to ignore Cuba’s huuman rights record but also Cuba’s apartheid health care system, even when three members of the audience tried to talk about it.

I expect the PPL will be showing SICKO soon.

Update: Michael Moore’s Shticko: His health care jeremiad won’t win any converts

And I won’t be surprised if Sicko has wonderful things to say about the Venezuelan healthcare; too bad Michael didn’t bring along any Norwegian reporters

Speaking of Venezuela,
Remember the fallen viaduct in Caracas?

Well, a new one’s up.

In other Venezuelan news, The constitutional changes draft has been leaked: the path to an eternal Chavez dictatorship and kiss what’s left of your private property good-bye. Update Dymphna has more on Hugo’s latest.

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Joe finds some Academic Fantasies Exploited

Abbas: Hamas Creating ‘Empire of Darkness’ unlike Fatah’s sweetness and lignt. The Guardian blames the US and Israel, of course.

Tony Blair’s going to Rome

Head-to-toe Muslim veils test tolerance of secular Britain. Indeed.

El Cafe Cubano continues the Friday fast for all political prisoners

Unlike the Brits who allowed themselves to be taken hostage, the Aussies repelled an Iranian attempt to capture a boarding party. Update: Richard North has more on the story and how it’s covered by the blogs and by the MSM.

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Via Irwin, June 20, 2007 Paul Krugman Four Years Ago Today. Krugman’s wrong on things other than French healthcare, too.
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Via Bob, Harvard Dean of Freshmen Advertises “Scintillating and Sexy” Talk, since college students don’t think of sex at all.
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George not-in-my-back-yard Clooney

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technorati: SICKO

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