Here, you are urged and encouraged to run your mouths about something important.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

HONDURAS UPDATE: ZELAYA REMAINS A PESKY PEST

Like a fly that just won't buzz off, ousted Honduras president Manual Zelaya continues to buzz around Honduras. His actions, however, may actually have the effect of further demonstrating who really holds power in Honduras - and it isn't Zelaya.

After attempting a foolish act of childish defiance by ever so slightly (and quickly) walking across the Nicaraguan border into Honduras and back again, Zelaya has now set up camp in Las Manos, which is a Nicaraguan town that borders Honduras. Replete with a megaphone and his white cowboy hat, Zelaya is coming across as a caricature of the man portrayed by the now sitting government of Honduras, led by Roberto Micheletti.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Zelaya's walking-into-Honduras stunt "reckless". On Saturday, he did more to exacerbate the problem by setting up shop on the Nicaraguan side of the border than he did to patch up the political damage he'd done.

What's truly amazing here is Zelaya's curious lack of patience. He has the U.N., the OAS, and the United States all willing to do the legwork for him and he insists on putting himself on the front lines. It'd be akin to General Patton getting on a horse and leading a battalion of tanks because he can't sufficiently scratch the itchy trigger finger while staying back to let things play out.

There are various consequences of these antics and they are all bad for Zelaya. First, he appears sophomoric and comes across as an indignant child who was pushed out of a sandbox. Secondly, he continues to make Micheletti's case for him. The sitting government insists that Zelaya is a would-be tyrant who is so hell bent on acquiring power that he would do anything, including trashing the Constitution, to get it. Apparently, this also includes the childish act of walking into Honduras to make a statement, which is about as effective as sticking his tongue out at Micheletti. Literally.

The next consequence of Zelaya's actions may be the most deleterious. Namely, the erosion of world support.

The world is run by political forces that make decisions based on political events and sentiment. In politics, when the perception that you are taking the side of a fruitcake becomes reality, you begin to either fold up your tent or change sides.

Zelaya is a fruitcake and he is doing some extremely boneheaded things when one considers the forces that have decided to get behind him.

Currently, the Micheletti-led government of Honduras is on an island, alienated by the UN, the OAS, and the United States. Zelaya seems to be somewhat envious of that alienation (why, I have no idea). There's no other reason I can think of for his behavior.

As for Micheletti, I encourage him to take a certain Napolean quote to heart.

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake"


h/t to the Wall Street Journal

VIDEO: HENRY LOUIS GATES A RACIST IN 1996?

Remember, just prior to Barack Obama saying the Cambridge police acted "stupidly" in arresting Henry Louis Gates, he said he considered Gates to be a "friend" and that he was "biased" as a result. Let that sink in. Yet another friend of Obama who seems to be obsessed with and fixated on race and hatred.

If the police report is even the slightest bit accurate, what cannot be denied about Gates' arrest is that he (Gates) jumped to conclusions about the police officer's intentions. This is what we call living in a manufactured reality that is all too easily entered into at the drop of a hat. When a reality is manufactured, it needs reinforced by exploiting events and circumstances with MELODRAMA when opportunities arise.

Interesting takeaways from this video of Gates in 1996 (other than his accusations that Clarence Thomas has turned his back on blacks and Newt Gingrich had racist motivations when he led the 'contract with America') include Gates' use of the phrase, "your mama" (a phrase officer Crowley quoted Gates as using in the police report from July 16th) and the "N" word.



h/t to NewsBusters

MICHAEL SAVAGE: NEW INFORMATION ON HIS BAN FROM GREAT BRITAIN

If true, a quintessential example of how the "fair and balanced" paradigm, if taken to extreme, can lead to absurdity. The London Daily Mail is reporting that emails written by British Home Office officials may indicate that putting Savage on the banned list may have been a calculated attempt not to show bias toward the Muslim community.
Emails written by Home Office officials privately acknowledged the ban on Mr Savage would provide 'balance' to a list dominated by Muslims - and linked the decision to Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Check out the entire article here.
One message, sent by an unidentified Home Office official on November 27 last year, said that 'with (Savage), I can understand that disclosure of the decision would help provide a balance of types of exclusion cases'.
If there is any truth whatsoever to this, it speaks volumes with respect to the lack of courage on the part of British leadership. This line of logic is akin to racial quotas in prisons instead of incarceration based on the rule of law.
A further email confirmed the decision was approved at the highest level of Government, saying: 'HO [Home Office] intend to include (Savage) in their quarterly stats... Both the FS [Foreign Secretary] and PM [Prime Minister] are firmly behind listing and naming such people.'
Prime Minister? That would be the Obama sycophant, Gordon Brown, would it not?

Western society seems to be going through an inordinate amount of infighting and polarization these days. This kind of thing can be the manifestation of an unwillingness to muster the courage necessary to confront an actual enemy. Radical Islamists are the enemy of western civilization right now despite our insistence on not offending them by declaring war on a tactic (terror), which has apparently ALSO become too incendiary. Fear of standing up to the real threat is something that can't be admitted. The cowardly lion had more courage than western leaders. At least he had the courage to admit his cowardice.

Leaders in the west (and in this case, Great Britain), won't do that. Instead, they attempt to justify cowardly positions and decisions in the name of fairness and political correctness. The real irony here is that by targeting people like Michael Savage, they are further helping the unnamed enemy that insists on destroying them. World Net Daily quotes Savage of putting it this way: "The name Dreyfus comes to mind. They have attempted to destroy my reputation to avoid offending those Muslims who want to destroy them! The Warsaw ghetto comes to mind, where some Jews threw other Jews into gestapo hands to live another day." Hard to argue that one if the motives of the Home Office are what they are alleged to be.

h/t to World Net Daily

As a refresher, here's a link to the entire "Banned List" released by the Home Office.

40% NOW STRONGLY DISAPPROVE OF OBAMA'S PERFORMANCE

Here we go again. For the second day in a row, Obama sets a new high for himself with the percentage of people who strongly DISAPPROVE of his performance. The Daily Presidential Approval Index takes the number of people who strongly approve of Obama's performance and subtracts from it the percentage who strongly disapprove.

Translation? Negative numbers, unlike golf, are very bad for a president. Not only has Obama hit a 40% Strongly Disapprove number for the first time, he has now achieved a double digit index number for the first time as well (-11). Rasmussen has more information on it.

Rasmussen might consider starting a new index that measures the percentage of people who approve of Obama's performance at all vs. those who strongly DISAPPROVE.

Currently.....
THOSE WHO APPROVE: 49%
THOSE WHO STRONGLY DISAPPROVE: 40%

OUCH! Even that gap is closing in on him at a +9

VIDEO: HILLARY CALLS ZELAYA RECKLESS

Yet more evidence that the longer the sitting government of Honduras (led by Roberto Micheletti) stands its ground and insists Zelaya not return, the more ground they gain in the truth arena. Zelaya is beginning to do desperate things and the foolish things he did before leaving power are being revealed. The latter reality is likely playing a huge role in the desperate behavior.

If Zelaya's recent actions weren't so potentially disastrous, you'd have to say they were childish.

Knowing that the sitting government has forbidden his return to Honduras unless such a return was for him to be arrested, Zelaya decided to stick his tongue out at Micheletti by stepping across the Honduran border. It was a symbolic gesture more than anything else but it also demonstrated an aspect of Zelaya's character and is another in a long line of developments that point to his ouster being warranted.

You see another strain of this in the corporate world too. The guy who thinks he deserves the promotion is scorned and turns bitter when he doesn't get it. He then engages in manipulation and usurpation tactics to harm the person that was given the job, thereby proving that he DIDN'T deserve the promotion in the first place.

The leader of a country is supposed to put the country and its people above himself. Yeah, I know that's naive-sounding but what Zelaya did was so blatantly converse to that, it should be obvious he doesn't deserve to be president.

Fox News reports:
International leaders had urged Zelaya not to go home without an agreement out of fear it would lead to bloodshed. Zelaya had said he had no choice after U.S.-backed talks with his ousters failed to reinstate him.
Zelaya obviously considered it worthwhile to stick his tongue out at Micheletti by taking a few steps into Honduras despite the potential consequences of bloodshed.



At first blush, you find yourself saying, "Did it really take you this long to figure out Zelaya is the bad guy, Mrs. Clinton?" Then you realize Zelaya's behavior doesn't really matter because the Obama administration is still backing him and teaching Micheletti all about the Chicago way.

Reuters reports via the Montreal Gazette:
...the United States and Latin American leaders are insisting that Zelaya be reinstated.

The crisis is seen as a diplomatic test for U.S. President Barack Obama as he seeks to improve relations with Latin America, where a growing bloc of leftist leaders that includes Zelaya has challenged Washington's influence in recent years.

Obama's administration has condemned the coup, cut $16.5 million in military aid and threatened to slash economic aid.
Full speed ahead, right Mr. Obama?

Zelaya can't help but show who he really is the longer this standoff continues and it appears the same applies to Obama.

h/t to Hot Air and Gateway Pundit
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