This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Media

  • Washington Post; nonpartisan my pink butt

    So the House passed the same stupid defense spending bill that was vetoed by the President and sent it to the Senate AGAIN. The Washington Post didn’t bother to post the story on it’s website until nearly noon today and they entitled the piece “Senate GOP Blocks $50B War Funding Package” (Ed. Note: They changed it last night to; “Funding Bill for Iraq War Falls Short in Senate Vote”) pushing the culpability for the failure of funding off on Republicans;

    By Shailagh Murray
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Friday, November 16, 2007; 11:44 AM

    Senate Republicans blocked the latest Democratic effort to end the Iraq war, rejecting a $50 billion funding package that would require President Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. troops.

    The 53-45 vote fell seven short of the 60 votes needed for the measure to clear Republican procedural hurdles.

    But wait – what’s this:

    A GOP alternative, which would have provided $70 billion with no strings attached, failed 45-53, or 15 votes short of the 60-vote threshold.

    Oh, so the story’s title could have been “Democrat Caucus Blocks $70B War Funding Package” just as easily – or even “Senate Fails to Fund War”, but neither of those would fit the WaPo’s editorial policy.

    In another Washington Post story, Pelosi blames Congress’ low approval ratings on the Senate;

    In an interview at the U.S. Capitol, Pelosi said the Democratic takeover of Congress had raised expectations on action to end the conflict in Iraq, and that the Senate’s initial willingness to tackle immigration reform followed by its failure to do so left the American public disappointed in Congress.

    The House on Wednesday night passed spending legislation that sought to tie funding for the Iraq war to hard deadlines for beginning troop withdrawals, a proposal that has little hope of passage in the Senate.

    “People thought it was a problem that could be solved and when it didn’t happen I think it was a big disappointment,” she said. “Usually those low numbers relate to expectations and there were high expectations” on both Iraq and immigration.

    Maybe Congress’ low approval ratings are because Democrats made promises they never intended to keep. They need the war to win next year – all they have to do is keep sending legislation they know will be vetoed to play to the whacky wing of the Left. Don’t believe me? Let’s go back to the first WaPo story;

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) said he may bring the Democratic bill back to the floor in December, but he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have asserted that Bush would not receive more war funding this year unless the president accepts Democratic withdrawal terms.

    Why would they continue to send legislation that was dead on arrival if they intended to end the war? And Washington Post carries their water for them.

  • Where’s the war? (UPDATED)

    Reading the usual newspapers and wire services this morning, I was surprised to find that there’s no mention of the war in either Iraq or Afghanistan. D’ya think we’re weary of the war and that’s why the Washington Post doesn’t even have it’s usual link to the US casualties on the front webpage? Nope, I don’t think that’s the reason at all. The war is beginning to go the way it should have gone four years ago. But that doesn’t stop Democrats from yapping. From the Washington Times’ S.A. Miller and Sean Lengell;

    Top Democrats yesterday rejected reports of U.S. military progress in Iraq, saying victory remains “out of reach” as long as political divisions roil Baghdad.

    “It’s not getting better; it’s getting worse,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat. “The goal remains out of reach.”

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, said the reduced violence in Iraq wasn’t enough to win her support for the mission.

    “Certainly any time our military is engaged in military action, we want the best possible outcome for them, and they have produced that,” she said. “But their sacrifice and their courage has not been met by any action on the part of the Iraqi government.”

    Pelosi is talking through her ass, by the way. If they’d wanted “the best possible outcome” for the troops, they would have shut their stupid mouths four years ago until the job was done – then they can yap to their hearts’ content.

    So what’s it take to convince the Democrats that the war is being won? Yesterday the Iraqis took up one of their most controversial issues, the inclusion of former Ba’athists in the political process – the equivalent of Germans letting the former Nazis back into their process.

    From the Times article;

    Sen. Joe Lieberman, a hawkish Connecticut independent, said the war critics “remain emotionally invested in a narrative of retreat and defeat, even as facts on the ground show that we are advancing and winning.”

    They’re not “emotionally invested”, Joe, they’re politically invested in defeat. They have no emotions beyond their fear of being shown to be fools by Republicans.

    “Democrats can’t acknowledge the fact that our troops are winning the war against al Qaeda in Iraq without admitting that they’ve been dead wrong on the biggest national challenge of our generation at the same time,” said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.

    “Had Republicans not stood their ground and prevented Democrats from forcing a retreat — on numerous occasions, especially in the early months of the year — who knows how firmly entrenched al Qaeda in Iraq would be today and what kind of strikes they’d be planning,” he said. “It’s a scary thought that could have been a reality.”

    Make that “most Republicans” – some greasy little cowards scrambling for that “maverick” label, cough-Hagel-cough, capitulated to the Left for purely political reasons.

    The Democrats want to encourage massive US casualties in the middle east, they want to encourage Iranian and al Qaeda strikes against the US – then they can use them in the 2008 campaign. Why else would Pelosi, et al. visit Iran’s poodle, Syria? To make the Arabs think we’re a bunch of cowards and fools – to insure them that no matter what they do to us or our allies, we’ll just turn the other cheek for them.

    Why else would Harry Reid continue to say that the war is lost, that surge wasn’t working even before it started? Because they’re a bunch of traitorous cowards who’ve bet their careers against the United States ever being successful at anything. They keep their jobs as long as they can convince voters that our revolution was a fool’s errand, as long as they can convince voters that we’re all failures.

    America used to be about winning. Fausta lists the 19 terrorist attacks against the US that have been thwarted since 9-11-2001. Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard says, “The Democrats may spend their days paddling up and down denial, but the reality is that trying to lose in Iraq is not a good strategy for rebuilding America’s foreign relations.” Chickenhawk Express quotes Harry Reid’s latest trip down denial;

    Take for instance, Harry Reid’s comments today about the war in Iraq…

    “Every place you go you hear about no progress being made in Iraq,” said Senate Democratic majority leader Harry Reid. “The government is stalemated today, as it was six months ago, as it was two years ago,” Reid told reporters, warning US soldiers were caught in the middle of a civil war “It is not getting better, it is getting worse,” he said.

    Makes ya wonder, doesn’t it? Now contrast Reid’s words with these words from Michael Yon, someone actually on the ground in Iraq (h/t Wake Up, America);

    I can’t remember my last shootout: it’s been months. The nightmare is ending. Al Qaeda is being crushed. The Sunni tribes are awakening all across Iraq and foreswearing violence for negotiation. Many of the Shia are ready to stop the fighting that undermines their ability to forge and manage a new government. This is a complex and still delicate denouement, and the war may not be over yet. But the Muslims are saying it’s time to come home. And the Christians are saying it’s time to come home. They are weary, and there is much work to be done.

    Doesn’t sound like they’re talking about the same war, or even the same country, does it?

    Perhaps the media quit reporting on the war because they can’t get it right. Confederate Yankee reprints a letter that an Army LTC wrote to the Guardian to straighten out one of their reporters.

    UPDATED: The Senate failed to pass the bloated, same old stupid Democrat trick of trying to set a withdrawal date for Iraq while holding the troops hostage with defense spending – the same stupid political ploy that’s failed four times this year (link to AP/Yahoo story);

    Four Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the measure: Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.

    Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., was the lone Democrat opposing it because he said it did not go far enough to end the war.

    The Republican proposal to pay for the Iraq war with no strings attached failed by a vote of 45-53, which was 15 short of the number needed to go forward.

    Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said this week that if Congress cannot pass legislation that ties war money to troop withdrawals, they would not send President Bush a bill this year.

    Instead, they would revisit the issue upon returning in January, pushing the Pentagon to the brink of an accounting nightmare and deepening Democrats’ conflict with the White House on the war.

    In the meantime, Democrats say, the Pentagon can use some of its $471 billion annual budget without being forced to take drastic steps.

    “The days of a free lunch are over,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

    So, the party that claimed to be the party of fiscal responsibility won’t pass a defense bill in the time of war. And blithering buffoon Lil’ Chuckie Schumer – the king of free lunches – doesn’t give a tiny rat’s ass about funding the troops as long as he can run over Congressional aides to get to the cameras and say “the days of a free lunch are over” to get his stupid goofy mug on TV.

    If you stupid ass Democrats send this incompetent bunch of boobs back next year, you deserve everything they won’t give you. More on the Senate at Crotchety Old Bastard,  Michele Malkin, Blackfive and Gateway Pundit.

  • CBS NEWS Writers May Strike

    The news department has writers? Gee, wouldn’t that make that little chipmunk Couric nothing more than a fat actress? True journalists who actually report what happens rather than editorializing and spinning for the left shouldn’t have much to worry about here. Oh, wait, it is CBS News we’re talking about… nevermind.NY Post Article

  • Opposing views of Iraq’s future

    Lauren Frayer of the Washington Times reports Al-Maliki’s giddieness at the decline in violence against Iraqis;

    Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said yesterday that suicide attacks and other bombings in the Iraqi capital have dropped dramatically since last year’s high, calling it a sign of the end of sectarian violence. A top U.S. general here said he thinks the drop is sustainable, as Iraqis turn away from extremists.

    Mr. al-Maliki said “terrorist acts,” including car bombings and other spectacular, al Qaeda-style attacks, dropped 77 percent. He called it a sign that Sunni-Shi’ite violence was nearly gone from Baghdad.

    “We are all realizing now that what Baghdad was seeing every day — dead bodies in the streets and morgues — is ebbing remarkably,” Mr. al-Maliki told reporters at his office in the U.S.-guarded Green Zone.

    “This is an indication that sectarianism intended as a gate of evil and fire in Iraq is now closed,” he said.

    Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, we can’t have that, can we? So let’s go the Washington Post – we can always depend on the Post to bring us down;

    The U.S. effort to organize nearly 70,000 local fighters to solidify security gains in Iraq is facing severe political and logistical challenges as U.S.-led forces struggle to manage the recruits and the central government resists incorporating them into the Iraqi police and army, according to senior military officials.

    Gen. David H. Petraeus and other top commanders have hailed the initiative to enlist Iraqi tribes and former insurgents in the battle against extremist groups, but leaders of Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government have feared that the local fighters known as “volunteers” — more than 80 percent of whom are Sunni — could eventually mount an armed opposition, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.

    “Could eventually”. The Post is more interested in predicting doom and gloom scenarios than actually reporting news. We don’t need analysis, we need facts. Reporters are historically poor analysts.

    All of you goofballs at the Post need to learn something – we want the news, not predictions. Last year you told us that Iraq was mired in a civil war and that turned out to be wrong. The sectarian violence was based on the predictions of the US press that Democrats would prematurely withdraw troops from Iraq and leave the Iraqis high and dry. When the President decided to increase troops levels, that proved to Iraqis that we were there for the long haul despite the mewling of the Left – and they jumped on board instead of fighting for personal bits of Iraq politics. 

  • AP’s editorial shift

    I always know when a headline in the Wall Street Journal leads to an AP wire story. For example, today the blurb on the front page read “U.S.-led troops lobbed a grenade that destroyed a house and killed 15 militants as well as a civilian woman and two children in southern Afghanistan.” AP always has to mention the civilians. But I read the story anyway – because a single grenade that can kill 18 people and destroy a house is of some interest to this aging infantryman;

    A militant ambush in central Afghanistan, meanwhile, left four police officers dead and two others wounded, a police chief said.

    The troops in southern Afghanistan were raiding compounds suspected of housing bomb makers in the Garmser district of Helmand province Sunday when militants attacked them with heavy fire, the statement said. Coalition forces responded with small-arms fire, killing several militants, it added.

    “During one of the engagements, several militants barricaded themselves in a building on the compound and engaged coalition forces with a high volume of gunfire. Coalition forces used a single grenade which killed the attacking militants,” the statement said. “However, the building the militants were fighting from collapsed.”

    Of course, they say US-led coalition troops which means there were no Americans involved, except maybe an advisor – but it just sounds better to add the “US” part to rile up anger at Americans instead of blaming the poor brown people. But the amazing part of the story is yet to come;

    “When militants knowingly engage coalition forces with innocent people in the background, it only shows the extremists’ complete disregard for innocent lives,” Maj. Belcher added in a statement.

    It wasn’t possible to verify the coalition claims. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said that only three militants were killed during the battle and 15 other victims were civilians. Mr. Ahmadi’s claims aren’t always reliable.

    Whoa, Nelly! The AP has finally admitted that their Taliban sources “aren’t always reliable”? Since when? It would have been nice if they’d said that back six years ago instead of just mentioning that now. Next thing you know, they might admit that maybe all of those beheadings they’ve been reporting from Iraq were all just fantasies of al Qaeda plants in the Iraqi Police like Curt from Flopping Aces has been reporting all along.

    Maybe we’re winning the war against the media as well as the radical Islamists. But, then I’ve always been a dreamer.

  • Britain’s Daily Telegraph Pulls Staff From Pakistan

    Britain’s Daily Telegraph Newspaper has withdrawn it’s correspondents from Pakistan in fear of reprisals over a stunningly frank editorial from last week that referred to Pervez Musharraf in, well, less than flattering terms. Much less than flatering: In the old parlance, General Pervez Musharraf is “our sonofabitch”. He has failed to stamp out extremist groups and close the madrassas that inspire them. He has allowed the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to fall into the hands of assorted jihadis.and But that should not blind Britain and America to the fact that their “sonofabitch” in Pakistan is a spent force.
    I find this refreshing. It is nice to see a major newspaper avoid the parsing of words that passes for journalism in this day and age. What is so wrong with calling a spade a spade? The biggest problem I have with today’s rampant political correctness is the abject fear most people have of calling things as they see them. Facts are facts and if calling Musharraf “Our sonofobitch” is crass, it is also directly on point. What surprises me about this story is that I have yet to see widespread condemnation of the Daily Telegraph by the rest of the MSM. Let us hope against hope that this editorial sparks a change in reporting.
    Breitbart/AFP Story Daily Telegraph Editorial “Bankrupt relationship”

  • Wreath laying at Arlington’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

    Today at the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month, Vice President Cheney laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. We got there a little late, so a good samaritan took this video for me (YouTube link) from his more advantageous spot. If you’ve never been to a wreath-laying at Arlington, this is a better perspective than you get from the 10-second clips you get from the media on the nightly news. I cut down the 30-minute video to 9 minutes for YouTube upload.

    The reason we were late; I stopped by to see some old friends and I stopped at some regimental memorials like this one from my affiliated regiment the 325th Airborne Infantry of the 82d Airborne Division;

    I also took some photos after the crowd thinned out some while Mr. Cheney went in to attend the concert in the amphitheater.

    Notice the HUGE media coverage of the event – the premier Veterans’ Day event;

    There were actually two cameras during the ceremony – every other year I’ve come, the scaffolding was packed with cameramen – even the other year I came and VP Cheney did the ceremony in 2001. Love that media of ours.

    I had heard there was going to be trouble at the event and I saw some unsavory people on the subway train that got off there and that were hanging around after the ceremony outside of the Cemetary – like they were waiting for someone – but seein’s how it was pretty early in the morning, I doubt the other derelicts could bring themselves to get out of bed.

    While you’re surfing today, stop by and visit these bloggers (some of whom I picked at random from Technorati) who remembered today is Veterans’ Day;

    Crotchety Old Bastard

    Noblesse Oblige

    Hang Right Politics

    Protein Wisdom

    The Jawa Report

    Sister Toldjah

    Jammie Wearing Fool

    Danny’s Diversions

    Return of the Conservatives

    Old Controller

    Tired of all the Liberal Rhetoric out there

    Fookem and Bug

    Morewhat

    Miss Ladybug

    Rock the Truth

    Conservative Libertarian Outpost 

    Mirathon

    Rosemary’s Thoughts

    For the more cynical among us, 123beta is conducting a Veterans’ Day Leftist Blog Watch

    UPDATE: Loads of thanks to Illusion or Reality, Atlas Shrugs’ Pamela Geller, Chickenhawk Express’ Robin, Confederate Yankee, Blue Star Chronicles‘ Beth and Michele Malkin for linking me up.

  • More Bolibanana Revolution news (Updated)

     

    I borrowed that Bolibanana Revolution tag from my good friend, Kate, I hope she doesn’t mind. But while the world and the media are fixated on Pakistan, violence and protests continue in Venezuela. From the Washington Times;

    Four police officers were shot and wounded during student protests yesterday in the city of Merida in an escalation of violent demonstrations against President Hugo Chavez’s plan to scrap term limits and extend his rule indefinitely.

    Antonio Rivero, head of Venezuela’s Civil Protection agency, told the Reuters news agency by telephone that the officers were shot while trying to break up clashes between opposing student groups in the Andean city.

    Chavez is worried that movement aganst his reforms could gather steam behind the resignation of his chief military minister;

    And opposition leaders seem wary of throwing their support behind retired Gen. Raul Baduel, a former defense minister who turned his back on Chavez this week to start a campaign against the constitutional reforms. Venezuela’s opposition has rushed to support defectors before _ only to see them return to the Chavez fold once it became clear he would keep the upper hand.

    Chavez is “worried, and he’s got reasons to be worried because this could build and he’s smart enough to realize that,” said Michael Shifter at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. But he added that it’s “very unlikely that Chavez is going to lose at the ballot box because the opposition is still weak, divided and has a hard time coming up with a common strategy.”

    Chavez and his allies are comparing the political atmosphere to agitation in 2002 and 2003 that culminated with a botched military rebellion and nationwide strike. The unrest left the opposition demoralized and allowed Chavez to consolidate his power over the oil industry and the military.

    But it was Baduel who played a major role in returning Chavez to power during the 2002 coup, and his defection raised the spector of military discontent. Acknowledging Baduel’s words were like “gasoline,” Chavez gathered his military leaders this week to evaluate their possible impact.

    Dallas Blog, quoting a Financial Times story, explains that the rift in the military has been brewing for a few months;

    President Hugo Chavez created controversy earlier this year when he ordered members of Venezuela ’s armed forces to salute their superiors with the words, “Fatherland, Socialism or Death.”

    The Financial Times reports that “it fueled debate in the military over its involvement in politics and civil society – long a sensitive issue in Venezuela , not least since the failed coup five years ago against Mr. Chavez, in which factions of the military played key roles both in deposing him and reinstating him.”

    Kate translates from Venezuelan Maria Colmenares’ blog on the history of violence Chavez has used to against opponents;

    The assassinations committed by the government on 11 April 2002 constitute the permanent and systematic modus operandi of the Regime. The objective of this video –aside from providing new information on the events of 11A– is to anticipate a new massacre which is being prepared by government sympathizers, with the end of stopping the protests against the constitutional reform. It is explains to the national community “and especially to the international community” that, for the government, “the Revolution is above the life of Venezuelans,” and that each time the Regime feels threatened, it resorts to assassinations –using irregular groups– as a mechanism of repression and intimidation. To justify and cover up their crimes, the line of the government invariably alleges that it is defending itself from a “coup” orchestrated by the opposition. We count on you, pass it along, post it on your blog, here is the link:
    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3fhme_la-masacre-del-11-de-abril-fue-plan_news

    Reader Renwaa sends this link from Sultan Knish about the Shi’ite Venezuelan Deputy Justice Minister; 

    When students protesting Hugo Chavez’s plan to make himself into a dictator for life protested in Caracas chanting “Freedom”, the riot police that smashed through their ranks were under the supervision of Deputy Justice Minister Tarik or Tareck El-Aissami.

    In his early thirties Tarik El-Assimi is one of the younger men to have held such a post. His father Carlos el-Aissami headed the Venezuelan branch of the Baath Party, while his great-uncle Shibli el-Aissami was a close Saddam ally and served as assistant to the Secretary General of the Baath Party.

    Before the invasion of Iraq, Carlos El-Aissami held a press conference in which he described himself as a Taliban and called Osama Bin Laden, “the great Mujahedeen, Sheik Osama bin Laden”. The son, Tareck el-Aissimi who headed up Venezuela’s visa department and now serves as deputy justice minister, began as student union leader supervising drug dealing and a car theft ring, while intimidating his rivals. He maintained links to terrorist organizations. With the rise of Chavez, Tariq El-Aissimi’s rise began as well.

    It reminded me of the story from Jungle Mom about Hezbollah recruiting among Venezuelan indigenous population after Chavez booted the Christian missionaries out of Venezuela. All of this ties Venezuela to Iran. 

    Venezuelans are saying that the violence is inspired by the chavistas so the government can seize the universities and end the opposition;

    Higher Education Minister Luis Acuña, meanwhile, offered to send in troops to quell the violence, but university authorities quickly rejected the offer as an attempted power grab.

    “We won’t fall into the trap,” said Eleazar Narváez, rector of the Central University of Venezuela.

    Chávez’s opponents say the president has long wanted to end the autonomy of Venezuela‘s public universities, most of which are run by rectors associated with the opposition who defeated Chávez followers in campus elections.      

    Of course, Chavez’ revolution is completely funded by oil revenues, so it’s no surprise the day after Brazil announces a huge find off it’s coast, Chavez offers them membership in his club;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez invited Brazil to join his “Petroamericas‘‘ initiative that aims to strengthen a regional energy alliance on the back of surging world oil prices.

    The initiative is seen as a rival to the U.S. economic influence, and it would integrate previous oil projects Petrosur, Petrocaribe and Petroandina, under which Venezuela agreed to sell fuel to other countries in the region on preferential terms.

    Chavez has said the energy alliances will challenge U.S. domination in the region and distribute fuel directly to avoid costly intermediaries.

    Actually, Chavez is trying to expand his influence in the region. He’s offered to build refineries in many non-oil producing Latin American countries to capture their support.

    The Devil’s Excrement translates an article that points out that while Chavez plays at being a diplomat, his people are running out of staples;

    There is no milk but there is yogurt. There is no sugar, but there is Splenda. There are no eggs, nor meat, nor rice, but there is caviar, salmon and all the things to make Sushi. What type of economy is this? Who are the geniuses that play politics in the name of the poor and the result is that all that is available are the goods for the rich?

    The battle against inflation does not only consists in that article do no go up in price, it is also necessary for goods to be on the shelves. Scarcity is the hidden face of inflation. When you try to fir into a corset, not even the economy, but human nature itself, the senseless signs of communism or Bolivarian socialism begin to appear: there is no milk for the kids, but there are I ported crackers for pets The Government knows it and I suppose they must be surprised at it. But its reaction, its next economic measures will likely be even worse. The little understanding, when it is not ideological denial of the basic rules of economics will take them to make the disequilibria even more extreme.

    And the English speaking Left still carry Chavez’ water – after all it’s only brown people suffering;

    The corporate-owned media is at it again, spreading lies and distortions about the peaceful and democratic Venezuelan revolution led by the government of President Hugo Chavez. The catalyst for the international media campaign is the democratic process in Venezuela to reform the existing constitution.

    The media ignores the content of the proposed reforms, which would significantly extend democracy and social justice. Instead, by taking a tiny minority of proposed changes out of context, they are present the reforms as a move by Chavez to establish himself as a “dictator-for-life”.

    This media campaign coincides with a fresh offensive inside Venezuela from the privileged elite, who, failing to defeat pro-Chavez forces at the ballot box, have before resorted to violent campaigns to overthrow the government. Chavez has won 11 straight national election victories since 1998, most recently Chavez was re-elected president last year with the largest number of votes in Venezuelan history. 

    I found this almost comical video of Chavez singing to his dying (dead) mentor last month in Havana. I say almost “almost comical” because the reality of the two subjects of the video make it impossible to laugh.

    Speaking of Castro, Babalu Blog’s Ziva writes;

    We know that Hugo Chavez is a dictatorial thug who intends to emulate fidel castro, and rule Venezuela for life. The violence the media reports as disturbing now, is less so than the unreported government sanctioned murder of 6 thousand Venezuelans, documented in IACHR’s 2006 Annual Report. The violence we are witnessing now is less disturbing than will be the inevitable “cleansing” of dissidents that will occur if this monster is not stopped.

    Who knows the effect of dictators in Latin America better than the Cuban ex-patriots? We’ve seen it all before – so why are we so fixated on the dealings of our allies when there are much more dangerous people we should be watching?

    As usual, Bloodthirsty Liberal puts a smile on my face after all of the dreary research.

    UPDATE: Jammie Wearing Fool reports that the Spanish King finally did what most of us would like to do;

    Spain’s King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday to “shut up” during closing speeches by leaders from the Latin world that brought the Ibero-American summit to an acrimonious end.

    “Why don’t you shut up?” the king shouted at Chavez, pointing a finger at the president when he tried to interrupt a speech by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

    Proving Mel Brooks right – it’s good to be the King. Curt from Flopping Aces has the Spanish language video.