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If you are
expecting to hear something about the
latest development in the never ending
saga of the self-proclaimed “King of
Pop,” Michael Jackson, you’re going to
be disappointed. While most of the
media, particularly the TV news
channels, were devoting most, if not
all, of their time to the untimely
demise of Jacko, there were other things
of much more importance going on in the
world. The event I want to talk about is
the overthrow and ouster of the
President in Honduras and the reaction
of the Obama administration.
While it
took the administration over a week to
say something about the protests and
murder of protesters by Iranian
government thugs over an obviously
rigged presidential election; there was
an almost immediate reaction to the
overthrow of Honduran President Manuel
Zelaya. President Obama joined with Hugo
Chavez of
Venezuela, Daniel Ortega of
Nicaragua and the freedom loving
brothers Castro of Cuba in denouncing
the ouster and demanding that Zelaya be
restored to power.
One
wonders who is advising Obama on foreign
matters because it appears that they
have no idea as to what is going on or
why.
Zelaya is
a wealthy rancher and agribusiness
executive. He was elected to a four year
term in 2005. The Honduras constitution
limits the president to one four year
term. Zelaya wanted to change the
constitution to allow himself to follow
his anti-American buddies, Hugo Chavez
and Daniel Ortega.
As Lt.
Colonel Oliver North explained recently,
“Late last year, as the Honduran economy
tanked and unemployment grew to nearly
28 percent, Zelaya forced Elvin Santos,
the country's elected vice president, to
resign and began holding conversations
with Chavez and Ortega on how to hold on
to power. In lengthy Chavez-like
populist speeches, he denounced the U.S.
and wealthy landowners and linked
himself with leftists in the Honduran
labor movement. On March 23, he issued
an executive decree directing a national
referendum on a Venezuela-style
constituent assembly to rewrite the
country's constitution in time for
presidential and legislative elections
in November. The Obama-Clinton State
Department was mute about all of this.
Unfortunately for Zelaya's aspirations,
the Honduran Constitution requires that
amendments be passed by a two-thirds
vote of the country's unicameral
Congress during two consecutive
sessions. By late May, the Honduran
Congress, the Honduran Supreme Court,
the commissioner for human rights, and
the Honduran electoral tribunal all had
overwhelmingly declared the referendum
unconstitutional. Zelaya ignored the
people's representatives, had ballots
printed in Venezuela, and announced that
the vote would take place June 28.
Again, the O-Team was silent.
In keeping
with the rule of law, Honduran Attorney
General Luis Alberto Rubi took the case
to court. The Honduran Supreme Court
ruled the referendum to be illegal and
ordered the ballots to be confiscated.
Late on June 23, Zelaya countermanded
the court order and directed the army to
distribute the ballots. Gen. Romeo
Vasquez, the chief of staff of the
Honduran military, sought legal opinions
and decided not to distribute them. The
following day, Zelaya accepted the
resignation of the minister of defense,
Edmundo Orellana, and fired Vasquez…
On Sunday,
just hours before the referendum was to
begin, the Honduran army, acting on a
warrant issued by the Honduran Supreme
Court, arrested Zelaya and sent him, in
his pajamas, into exile in Costa Rica.”
It’s clear
that Zelaya was kicked out because he
was attempting to subvert the law and
proclaim himself president for life. The
Honduras authorities were acting within
the law of the land when they sent
Zelaya away.
What I
don’t understand is why the State
Department, with it’s thousands of
experts, working under the “leadership”
of Hillary Clinton; and the president
who walks on water, were so quick to
join with the well-known Anti-democratic
anti-American dictators in Latin America
to demand that Zelaya be restored to
power.
Yesterday the airport was closed in
Tegucigalpa when Zelaya tried to return
to the country and his plane was not
allowed to land. This is a time when the
US should be supporting our ally and the
rule of law in Honduras, not threatening
to cut off aid as the State Department
is presently doing. This is just one
more thing that makes people wonder if
this administration has any idea what
it’s doing.
This just in—Michael Jackson is still
dead.
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