Alvaro’s big oopsie

Looks like the president of Marching Powder Land has some serious splainin’ to do. Like, for example, how his effort to sabotage Chavecito and Piedad Cordoba in their efforts to broker peace and a release of FARC hostages…ended up showing that they had succeeded anyhow:


Colombia announced today that authorities arrested three people presumed to belong to urban militias of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Bogotá late Thursday, who were found in possession of five videos and seven letters and a digital memory card with photographs demonstrating proof of life of five civilian and eleven military hostages held by the FARC, including French Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt and three US defense contractors. The videos and other documents showing proof of life were addressed to Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The son of Ingrid Betancourt, Lorenzo Betancourt, said the proof that his mother is alive is thanks to the mediation of President Chavez. However, he expressed concern over her health and asked that Chavez’s mediation be renewed to secure her release as soon as possible.

The proof of life of the hostages appears only a week after Colombian president Alvaro Uribe unilaterally terminated the mediating role of Chavez and Cordoba, who were working to secure the release of the hostages and had assured that “proof of life would arrive any minute.”

In an interview with Telesur, Codroba, who is now under investigation by the Supreme Court for “crimes of treason against the homeland and collusion,” defended her role and said that the proof of life of the hostages demonstrates that the mediation of herself and the Venezuelan president was being undertaken with complete seriousness and responsibility.

Oops.

I think someone owes two other somebodies an apology.

Ha ha. Oppos funny!

Oh, the Venezuelan opposition…they seriously think no one will catch them in a lie. That their carefully contrived media campaigns against Chavecito will go off without a hitch. But as it happens, the ever alert Mario Silva (who hosts La Hojilla, VTV’s media-whore-watch show) has caught them out in at least three big, fat whoppers:

In case you haven’t guessed, the three lies are:

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Festive Left Friday Blogging: How does Evo kick ass?

Posted in All About Evo, Festive Left Friday Blogging. Comments Off »

King eats humble pie

Who died and made Fedecamaras king?

The arrogance of these people just knows no bounds. I wonder if the reporter for the Canadian Press agency wasn’t chuckling when s/he wrote this:

Fedecamaras, which counts thousands of large and small businesses among its members, rejected Chavez’s constitutional overhaul as an “illegal act” in mid-November, and has since called on Venezuelans to oppose its passage in a Dec. 2 referendum “by every possible legal means.”

First of all, what gives THEM the authority to pronounce on the legality of a constitutional reform? Do they still think they write the law in Venezuela, and the government’s duty is to rubber-stamp it? Apparently they do. Which is why they oppose those reforms–the reforms were written by not only Chavez, but the National Assembly, and some of them directly undermine the unelected power of the business sector, which is led by Fedecamaras.

And secondly, what is “every possible legal means”? The only way the reforms can be defeated is by VOTING. Anything else is NOT legal. Empty rhetoric? Hey, no one farts it like business leaders. Empty barrel, loudest noise, blah blah.

But what really makes me giggle over all this is how the CP reported this as if Fedecamaras had any moral standing left. I wonder how hard it was to keep a straight face while noting the following:

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Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

Piedad Cordoba receives death threats; France offers protection

No good deed goes unpunished in Alvaro Uribe’s Colombia, it seems.

The government of France offered protection to Colombian opposition senator Piedad Cordoba after she received death threats for leading a move for rapprochement with FARC guerrillas and a release of prisoners.

According to sources cited by Caracol Radio, the threats against Cordoba “worsened” after the Colombian government suspended on Wednesday the peace talks Cordoba led, along with president Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, between the FARC and the Colombian government.

The sources indicated that French officials made phone calls to the parliamentarian, and offered her protection, and added that the senator asked for a meeting with Chavez, and will be travelling to Caracas to talk with him.

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Fine allies Dubya has, part umpteen

Oh, Saudi Arabia. The problem with that country isn’t the general insanity of its theocracy–it’s where to start. A few posts ago, I blogged about a rape victim getting punished for being a victim. Now, it gets even worse–the authorities have decided to heap defamation on top of abuse and humiliation, no doubt in an effort to make themselves look better.

Saudi justice officials say a woman who was sentenced to prison and flogging after she was gang-raped has now confessed to an extramarital affair.

The case of the unidentified woman, 19, drew international criticism after an appeal increased her 90-lash sentence to 200 lashes and six months’ jail.

The justice ministry statement rejected “foreign interference” in the case.

It insisted the ruling was legal and that the woman had “confessed to doing what God has forbidden”.

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One more stupid-ass glorified game show

I mean really. What else would you call this?

Fox’s president of alternative entertainment is referring to "The Moment of Truth," the network’s sure-to-be controversial game show in which contestants are asked a series of highly personal questions while connected to a polygraph machine.

The show’s international format first gained notice Stateside in August when Fox ordered a pilot. Last month, a popular Colombian version of the series (called "Nothing But the Truth") made headlines when a contestant confessed to hiring a hit-man to murder her husband (an attempt that failed). The show was, at least temporarily, taken off the air.

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How right was Clara Fraser…

…when she wrote that profit is unpaid wages?

Well, in the case of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce alone, she was right to the tune of at least $600 million. And bear in mind that when this was written, the loonie was still BEHIND the greenback.

Not no more, it’s not.

Loonie kicking sand on George Washington