HONDURAS: ELECTIONS HELD AND TURNOUT BAD FOR ZELAYA

Since Hugo Chavez lackey Manuel Zelaya was removed from the presidency forcibly on June 28th, the international community - including the Obama administration - has aligned and done virtually all it could to reinstate Zelaya. Interim president Roberto Micheletti has stood his ground and by all accounts, it's paying off. The Wall Street Journal reported that voter turnout for the elections held today has been very strong. That doesn't seem to bode well for Zelaya since he called for people to boycott the elections.

Voter turnout was seen as a crucial factor in persuading more countries to back the poll. Although it started out light, it appeared to pick up considerably, and Honduran election officials said it was high enough to keep the polls open for an additional hour. High turnout could represent another setback for Mr. Zelaya, who had urged supporters to boycott the poll.

Mr. Zelaya's removal at gunpoint in June caused a stir in Honduras and abroad, where the global community condemned the ouster as a coup. Honduras's political institutions, including its congress and supreme court, backed the ouster as the legal removal of a president who they said was illegally trying to get himself re-elected -- charges Mr. Zelaya denies.

Interestingly, both Zelaya and Micheletti are from Honduras' liberal party but the turnout and early returns indicate that a conservative candidate is going to win.

Neither of the two men claiming to be president during the past five months -- Mr. Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti -- was on the ballot. Instead, Hondurans chose between Mr. Lobo of the conservative National Party and Elvin Santos of the Liberal Party -- to which both Mr. Zelaya and Mr. Micheletti belong.

The vote, seen as punishing the Liberal Party for the crisis, hands power to Mr. Lobo, a conservative rancher who was narrowly beat by Mr. Zelaya four years ago. "It's going to be Pepe this time," said Higenio Garcia Ponce, 74, an agricultural laborer who said he had just voted for Mr. Lobo. "There was a rupture in the Liberal Party over what happened with Zelaya."

Frankly, Micheletti is probably rooting for Lobo based on what he's had to deal with since assuming power - power he appears to be all too willing to relinquish (unlike Zelaya).

Micheletti should be considered a hero of Honduras. He has stood on principle and he has stood against the world. While he hasn't crossed the finish line yet, he appears to have won. The United States has already indicated that it will recognize the winner of this election.

Only the U.S., Costa Rica and Panama have said they will accept the winner, though other countries, including Mexico and Canada, appear to be leaning that way as well. The government is betting that U.S. recognition will lead other nations to back down from earlier positions. "They may not recognize the elections Sunday itself, but I believe they will at some point in the future," Mr. Lobo said Saturday.

If the results of this election come out the way it looks like they might, Micheletti will have been far more victorious than Lobo. What Micheletti will have accomplished with the election of a conservative and a smooth transition of power with the world against him is nothing short of Churchillian.

Well done, Roberto.

Read the ENTIRE WSJ piece.

VIDEO: NYT PAUL KRUGMAN SHOWS AGAIN WHY HE'S SCUM

Folks, it truly pains me to have to go to this level of discourse but the egregiousness of people like Paul Krugman cannot be pooh poohed or dismissed. Krugman was outed as a liar when it came to the public option some time ago. He was busted on tape and hasn't been sufficiently called on it by the media.

You can see the video of that for yourself right HERE.

Today, Krugman appeared on This Week with George Stephanopolous and dismissed the Climategate emails by saying there was "no smoking gun".

NOTE: Whenever you see someone say, "What they really meant when they said that was......" 9 times out of 10 it means that there was NOTHING taken out of context in the first place.

Newsbusters has the VIDEO. Be sure to watch the second video clip on the Newsbusters site and note how nervous Krugman looks toward the end when George Will is confronting him. Krugman goes for the mug of water more out of what appears to be nervousness than actual thirst.

SCUM

FORT HOOD: HASAN CLASSMATE SAYS HE WAS OUTSPOKEN JIHADIST

Robert Spencer over at Jihad Watch was contacted recently by one of Nidal Malik Hasan's classmates. As Spencer points out, the preponderance of evidence almost makes this claim uneventful but in light of the cowardly rhetoric of the head of the Army, George Casey, it serves as validation for those of us who know the truth and continue to embarrass the likes of Casey with it. Here is the quote from a Doctor and former classmate of Hasan:

He was an outspoken jihadist. He stated publicly that Shariah Law came before the Constitution that he swore an oath to uphold. He did off topic presentations in public health classes on how the War on Terror was a war on Islam. Other courses, he justified suicide bombing.

We complained to faculty, but the PC climate in the military prevented any action that might have been taken against him. Now there are 13 people dead and scores more wounded.

h/t to JW

VIDEO: PLAYERS IN CLIMATEGATE EXPLAINED

Since the over 1000 emails from East Anglia University's Climate Research Unit were released to the internet on November 19th, there has been a whirlwind of activity surrounding what the emails say and who's involved. Thanks to this video, the latter is handled quite well. The players are many and when you factor in the definition of "conspiracy", it appears that's exactly what we've got here.

con⋅spir⋅a⋅cy  [kuhn-spir-uh-see] Show IPA
–noun, plural -cies.
1. the act of conspiring.
2. an evil, unlawful, treacherous, or surreptitious plan formulated in secret by two or more persons; plot.
3. a combination of persons for a secret, unlawful, or evil purpose: He joined the conspiracy to overthrow the government.
4. Law. an agreement by two or more persons to commit a crime, fraud, or other wrongful act.
5. any concurrence in action; combination in bringing about a given result.

Video courtesy of WUWT



h/t to DOUG ROSS