Obama Doctrine exposed: Meet America's new best friends ... Assembly president d'Escoto, a former Sandinista foreign minister in Nicaragua in the 1980s, noted that the United States had joined the list of countries that gave initial support to the draft resolution. The document was initiated by Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela. (monstersandcritics.com)
Related video: Consistency: Obama embraces anti-U.S. tyrants
Ex-Sandanista enforcer guides Zelaya through U.N. triumph ... Zelaya emerged from the GA Hall to a media scrum. In Spanish, he was asked, "What is your message for the aggressors?" He proceeded to the media briefing room. The press conference was run by d'Escoto Brockmann's spokesman Enrique Yeves, who at the previously day's ill-attended noon briefing refused to answer any questions about how d'Escoto Brockmann spends the funds given by the UN and taxpayers, and who has provided no information since. A series of generally lame or unanswered questions followed. Is he afraid? Of course not. Is he offended that he will not meet with either Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton? No, the trip was hastily put together. Zelaya says he will be flying to Tegucigalpa on Thursday, accompanied among others by... d'Escoto Brockmann, who sat motionless throughout the press conference, declining to answer the few questions directed his way. (innercitypress.com)
Hondurans defend their Constitution, rule of law against U.S. meddling ... Thousands of Hondurans have marched in support of the new government that replaced ousted leader Manuel Zelaya earlier this week. Officials have vowed to arrest Mr. Zelaya if he returns to the country. Supporters of the new government rallied in the capital Tuesday to hear a speech from interim President Roberto Micheletti and the head of the nation's armed forces. Marchers held signs and waved the blue-and-white flag of the Central American nation as they chanted slogans in support of Mr. Micheletti and the army. Some people also voiced criticism of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and his close ties to Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. The former leader of congress said the military was acting on a judicial order to remove Mr. Zelaya, who he accused of a series of offenses as president. Mr. Micheletti said the events this week should serve as an example that no person who becomes president is above the law. (voanews.com)
Obama meddles with Honduras-as-usual ... Almost by unanimity, the Honduran Congress, supported by the Supreme Court, had removed him for breaking the law and ignoring the rulings of the Electoral Tribunal. But that was a technical excuse. The deep truth is a lot more dramatic: Zelaya, obstinate and rash, intent on being reelected at any cost, heedless of all the warnings of the judiciary and the legislature, intended to drag the nation in the direction of Chávez, something that in Honduras would have been the beginning of a huge economic and social Via Crucis. Immediately, the parliamentarians elected as his substitute Roberto Micheletti, a lawyer from Zelaya's own party who, until a few hours earlier, had been president of the legislative chamber. It seems that most Hondurans, including the Christian churches, support the action. In reality, from a formal point of view, there is nothing surprising in the way Zelaya was removed. It was Congress -- in accord with the Armed Forces, after receiving a resignation letter signed under duress -- that replaced Gonzalo Sánchez de Losada in Bolivia (2003), Abdalá Bucaram (1997), Jamil Mahuad (2000) and Lucio Gutiérrez (2005) in Ecuador, and Jorge Serrano in Guatemala (1993). In those cases, however, the international community barely paid any attention to the incident. (miamiherald.com)
Obama Administration huddles with disgraced LatAm Leftist ... State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said after Zelaya speaks at the United Nations, he is expected to come to Washington for the OAS meeting, which will take place in the late afternoon. "He wants to come down to Washington and participate in the special general assembly of the Organization of American States," Kelly said. "If he does come down to Washington, and we expect he will, State Department officials plan to meet with him." White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, asked whether Zelaya might also see President Barack Obama when he travels to the U.S. capital for the OAS meeting, stopped short of saying such a meeting might be arranged. (reuters.com)
WSJ sees Obama-Chávez prevailing in Honduras ... As for the Obama Administration, it seems eager to "meddle" in Honduras in a way Mr. Obama claimed was counterproductive in Iran. Yet the stolen election in Iran was a far clearer subversion of democracy than the coup in Honduras. As a candidate, Mr. Obama often scored George W. Bush's foreign policy by saying democracy requires more than an election -- a free press, for example, civil society and the rule of law rather than rule by the mob. It's a point worth recalling before Mr. Obama hands a political victory to the forces of chavismo in Latin America. (online.wsj.com)
CNN exposes more Zelaya corruption ... The regime that ousted Manuel Zelaya in Honduras claimed Tuesday that the deposed president allowed tons of cocaine to be flown into the Central American country on its way to the United States. "Every night, three or four Venezuelan-registered planes land without the permission of appropriate authorities and bring thousands of pounds ... and packages of money that are the fruit of drug trafficking," its foreign minister, Enrique Ortez, told CNN en Espanol. "We have proof of all of this. Neighboring governments have it. The DEA has it," he added. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne in Washington said he could neither confirm nor deny a DEA investigation. (google.com)
Zelaya gets a Leftwing escort to prison ... The showdown was building to a climax as Argentina President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Ecuador President Rafael Correa signed on to accompany Zelaya and other figures on a flight to Honduras on Thursday. Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi said Zelaya would be seized "as soon as he sets foot on Honduran soil" and face 20 years in prison. With no international support but a significant following at home, the new Honduran leadership called thousands of flag-waving people into a downtown plaza in the capital, Tegucigalpa. (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
NY Times hearts global New Prog thugs ... Nowhere in the Times story do these two reporters ever explain that Honduras President Manuel Zelaya was aiming to overturn the country’s constitutional language that allows presidents only a single term in office. If President Bush had moved to assemble a constitutional convention to get himself elected to a third term, the Times wouldn’t have focused on sympathetic details like his "bedclothes." (media.nationalreview.com)
Obama extends favoritism to deadbeat LatAm Leftist dictator ... President Barack Obama will extend long-time U.S. trade benefits for Ecuador, one of the poorest countries in South America, despite concerns by U.S. business groups over the leftist government's policies. "Ecuador will continue to receive duty-free treatment under ATPA (Andean Trade Preference Act) until the end of the year, when the program is currently slated to expire," a White House official told Reuters on Tuesday. U.S. business groups this month urged the Obama administration to consider ending the trade benefits for Ecuador, which they accuse of failing to adequately protect foreign investment. (reuters.com)
Cuba woos Belarus ... The Communist Party of Belarus and the Communist Party of Cuba will promote the cooperation between the two countries in political, trade and economic areas, BelTA learnt from Igor Karpenko, deputy chairman of the permanent commission for international affairs and ties with CIS of the House of Representatives, second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, head of the working group for cooperation with the Cuban Parliament. During a meeting of Igor Karpenko and Julio Garmendia Pena, head of the European and CIS sector of the international department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, the sides confirmed the intentions of the two countries to strengthen the contacts at the interstate level. (law.by/Work/EnglPortal.nsf)
Communists advance in China ... China's Communist Party membership totaled 75.93 million people at the end of last year, official figures said. The number is 17 times the figure in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded, the country's official Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the organization department of the party's Central Committee. Of the new members recruited last year, Xinhua said 80.8 percent are less than 35. In response to a question whether some college students joined the party as a way to find jobs, Li Zhongjie, an official studying the party's history, said most applicants' motivation was to play their roles in building the nation and the society. (upi.com)
U.S. Collectivism
Corrupt union initiates Air War to demand ObamaCare tax break ... Television commercials urging Montanans to contact United States Senator Max Baucus in opposition to a new health care plan have begun airing. Laborers' International Union of North America, known as LiUNA, started airing the ads today in protest of a healthcare plan that they say will tax healthcare benefits and raise premiums. The 30-second ad is the start of a campaign in Montana and North Dakota and has already begun to air on broadcast and cable stations. Jacob Hay, a spokesperson for LiUNA, says the ads have already prompted thousands of calls and e-mails to Senator Baucus. The ads will run today but will be suspended Wednesday and Thursday at the request of Senator Baucus who plans to meet with the union's top officials this week to discuss the healthcare plan. (montanasnewsstation.com)
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Meet U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-ACORN ... After the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously rejected his lawsuit today, Republican Norm Coleman graciously conceded the bitterly disputed contest over the second U.S. Senate seat for Minnesota. None of this changes the fact that as a senator Al Franken is not legitimate. The election was stolen at the precinct level, during the recount, and during the post-election litigation. Never forget the role that ACORN played in this. As ACORN-aligned Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a former community organizer, presided over the vote-counting process, Coleman's original lead dwindled. The morning after the election, Coleman led Franken by 725 votes. Over the next five days, Coleman's lead had dwindled to just 221. Election officials claimed they had to correct typos on vote tally sheets and that these corrections gave Franken 435 votes and took 69 away from Coleman. There were mountains of other irregularities which I'm not going to bother detailing here and somehow in the end Franken came out on top. Ritchie was elected Minnesota secretary of state in part because of outside help. He defeated two-term incumbent Republican Mary Kiffmeyer in 2006 after receiving an endorsement and financial assistance for his run from a below-the-radar non-federal "527" group called the Secretary of State Project. The entity can accept unlimited financial contributions and doesn't have to disclose them publicly until well after the election. (spectator.org)
Union-backed, tax-funded leftwing fraud group under attack ... A district judge who held another ACORN worker for trial Monday on election law violations urged prosecutors to go after the real culprit, the organization that employed him. "Somebody has to go after ACORN," Senior District Judge Richard H. Zoller said about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. "It's happening all over the country. All you have to do is turn on the television," he said, referring to voter registration fraud charges brought recently against ACORN and its workers in Nevada. "We will," Allegheny County Detective Robert F. Keenan promised as he wrapped up his testimony. (pittsburghlive.com)
Shame on Conyers, 'the powers that be' ... Regarding "Probe of ACORN stopped," a story from The Washington Times that was on the front page of the June 26 Trib: By whom? Someone higher up than House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers? It was "the powers that be," according to Conyers. Who might that be? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? How about President Obama? They are the only ones above Conyers possessing such power. Since when is a congressional investigation into allegations of voter fraud by an organization accused by former members of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act stopped? Where are the national media in what should be the biggest scandal since Watergate? Let's see. Obama was an ACORN organizer. What would happen if this investigation involved any other organization accused of voter fraud and RICO violations? Would "the powers that be" kill such an investigation? The very idea is absurd; it would never happen. If "the powers that be" are allowed to get away with this, we will have lost any pretense of having an honest electoral system. It appears "the powers that be" have captured the "whitewash" market. The Obama presidency marks the beginning of the imperial presidency unrestricted by the Constitution and now, possibly, even criminal law. Shame on us for tolerating this. (pittsburghlive.com)
Feds mistake legitimate union business expenses for embezzlement ... Shawn Clark justified his use of a union charge card at strip clubs as business expenses. Federal prosecutors have a different word for it: embezzlement. Clark, formerly business representative for both the New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters and Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 455 in Somerville, N.J., was arrested on Thursday morning, June 18 after a federal grand jury handed down a 16-count indictment alleging he'd embezzled more than $85,000 by making unauthorized charges on his union's American Express card. Roughly $65,000 of this sum represented 450 transactions at 14 area gentlemen's clubs. Clark's attorney, John Fahy, says his client, released on a $100,000 bond, plans to plead not guilty to all counts. Guilty or not, Clark's days as a union official are over. He was fired from the New Jersey Carpenters regional council in June 2008 and Local 455 this past January. But one has to wonder how ordering several rounds of drinks at Double D's promotes the interests of dues-paying workers.(nlpc.org)
Catholic Health Care workers thrown under the union bus ... For more than a decade, Catholic health care workers have been the targeted for unionization by some of the country’s most powerful, radically anti-life union bosses, efforts that have included slick television advertising campaigns that demonize Catholic hospitals as a public health risk. For the unions, unionization of Catholic health care workers would be the goose that never stopped laying golden eggs until it died a horrible death from exhaustion. With 600,000 health care workers in 600 Catholic hospitals, the annual money flow into union coffers could easily reach $ 500 million per year, an awfully large amount of money to push the radical, left-wing agenda the union bosses have embraced over the past few decades, an agenda which has put abortion and homosexual rights at the top, the elimination of conscience clauses for health care workers, and the cutting out of employees in any discussions between union bosses and corporate management. (pewsitter.com)
Anti-business Labor Secretary hearts unions ... After a lifetime in politics, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has honed the fine art of dodging controversial questions, but here's one issue where she doesn't pull her punches: the 9.4 percent unemployment rate. The June figures will be released tomorrow, and she's braced for more bad news. "I know that there will probably be a continued increase," Solis said in an interview. "This is a 26-year high. ... It's unprecedented." Solis, 51, a former member of Congress, is the first Latina to head a major federal agency. She grew up in California, the third of seven children born to immigrants with deep union ties. The business community was not happy with her appointment. (concordmonitor.com)
Rank-and-file Dems brew trouble for leaders ... All of a sudden, Congress is paying close attention to Ron Paul. The feisty congressman from Texas, whose insurgent "Ron Paul Revolution" presidential campaign rankled Republican leaders last year, now has the GOP House leadership on his side -- backing a measure that generated paltry support when he first introduced it 26 years ago. Paul, as of Tuesday, has won 245 co-sponsors to a bill that would require a full-fledged audit of the Federal Reserve by the end of 2010. (foxnews.com)