Hands off Venezuela!

Now that's "Foreign Aid" !

He's from Texas. He's a Republican. He's not Ron Paul. Despite these obvious intellectual disabilities, Congressman Ted Poe makes a coherent argument against government waste:

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I agree, cutting $400 billion is really not much of a cut, especially in these times when Congress continues to spend more and more money. Maybe it's time to reconsider our foreign aid that we send to countries throughout the world.

Now, this map over here to my left shows the world, and most of it is in red. All of those countries that are in red on this map receive American taxpayer foreign aid.

We don't separate the countries one at a time and vote up or down on whether they ought to get American money. I think if we did that, most of these countries in red wouldn't be seeing any American money. With the way the rule works, we put all 150-plus countries in one package, and we vote for all of them.

...we just keep sending it and sending it and sending it, and we send it to countries that many Americans don't even understand why we send it to those countries...

But here is something that most Americans may not know about. We give money to Venezuela. Why do we give money to Chavez and Venezuela? He hates the United States. He defies our President, makes fun of our Nation. We don't need to give him any foreign aid.

Source: Congressman Ted Poe

Of course, you could nitpick.

The United States appears "in red" on the congressman's map, even though it only receives Chinese - not American - foreign aid.

As for Venezuela, Americans may not approve of George Carlin's rule over that country. But they're sure to support the reconstruction efforts taking place on Maria Corina Machado's face:

In fiscal year 2010, the Venezuela account showed $6 million. For fiscal year 2012, the administration has requested a little less for Venezuela -- $5 million.

The funding comes from the Economic Support Fund, which, according to the State Department, "promotes stability and U.S. security interests in strategic regions of the world."

Members of a local group called Súmate who had received U.S. aid for a project on electoral observance "were accused of conspiracy and betrayal. The trial against them, which was initiated in 2003, is still pending."

In a 2006 article based on Freedom of Information Act requests, the Associated Press reported that Chavez accused his opponents of taking "gringo money" to undermine his regime.

Source: PolitiFact

Of course, that's not fair.

Perhaps this money is supporting doctors, nurses, & generic drug producers looking to improve the lives of the most destitute and needy.

Or perhaps Dambisa Moyo was right all along, and all this money ends up in the hands of a corrupt cabal:

Another administration document says aid helps "strengthen the capacity of non-governmental organizations to monitor and report on government performance" -- in other words, to be a watchdog of the government, not a supporter.

Source: PolitiFact

Of course, it's a judgment call.

Sure, they could fund NGO's who support the government in dealing with crippling droughts & floods.

But then who would give the U.S. State Department's annual 'Human Rights Report' that air of impartiality?

Venezuela is a multiparty constitutional democracy with a population of approximately 28 million.

The following human rights problems were reported by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the media, and in some cases the government itself: unlawful killings, including summary executions of criminal suspects; widespread criminal kidnappings for ransom; prison violence and harsh prison conditions; inadequate juvenile detention centers; arbitrary arrests and detentions; corruption and impunity in police forces; corruption, inefficiency, and politicization in a judicial system characterized by trial delays and violations of due process; political prisoners and selective prosecution for political purposes; infringement of citizens' privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of expression; government threats to sanction or close television stations and newspapers; corruption at all levels of government; threats against domestic NGOs; violence against women; trafficking in persons; and restrictions on workers' right of association.

Source: U.S. State Department

Of course, impartiality is priceless.

Precisely because it doesn't exist:

Venezuela worse, Colombia better on rights: US

Human rights conditions worsened over the past year in Venezuela, but improved in Colombia, the US State Department said Friday in an annual review.

In Venezuela, ruled by firebrand President Hugo Chavez, the US cited a litany of abuses including "unlawful killings, including summary executions of criminal suspects; widespread criminal kidnappings for ransom; prison violence and harsh prison conditions."

In Colombia, the Santos government "made demonstrable advances in improving the human rights environment" and implemented new policies to accelerate the return of land to displaced families.

Source: Agence France Presse

Of course, Congressman Ted Poe is right.

...we just keep sending it and sending it and sending it, and we send it to countries that many Americans don't even understand why we send it to those countries...

It's time we reconsider foreign aid and save American taxpayers money. We are at war in two countries now. This debt is tremendous. We have a lot of issues in this country, and we need to start taking care of America before we start sending American money to countries throughout the world. It's a time to reconsider foreign aid.

Source: Congressman Ted Poe

Liberez Nous Des Liberaux

Canada's general election is only a few weeks away (May 2, 2011). Given our natural resources & strategic location...you're probably wondering what emerges when an oil-rich heiress straddles the worlds greasiest gigolo.

But first, an important message from Canada's intelligence agency (CSIS):

Richard Fadden, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told CBC News in an exclusive interview: "We're in fact a bit worried. We have an indication that there's some political figures who have developed quite an attachment to foreign countries."

Source: CBC

Yeah yeah, whatever.

Today, we meet the leader of the honourable opposition (Liberal Party of Canada), Michael Ignatieff:

He has been a writer, a journalist, a teacher of human rights, and a proud voice for Canada on the world stage.

He is a leader who listens. Since he was elected to Parliament, Michael has travelled to every province and territory, sharing his vision with Canadians in communities large and small.

Source: Liberal Party of Canada

If you haven't heard of him, don't worry - neither have we. Nobody saw him for 30 years, then he just showed up one day. The news told us an international superstar had arrived to lead us into globalization. I don't know...Global TV said the same thing about Kevin Newman & Dawna Friesen.

In the 30 years that writer Michael Ignatieff has lived abroad, he has sometimes heard the opinion that what happens in Canada is neither interesting nor instructive to others. "This view of my native land is painful to me," Ignatieff writes.

So why does he stay away? "It's not easy to justify even to myself," Ignatieff says.

He wanted, he says, to get his name up on "the Big Board"- publications like the New York Review Of Books and the New Yorker, to which Americans pay attention. Now that he's accomplished that, he hints that he may be ready to return.

Source: Toronto Star (2000)

There have been Conservative attack-ads claiming Michael Ignatieff "didn't come home for you" (ie. the Canadian people). If you've ever seen HBO's polygamist drama 'Big Love', you'll know that it's not easy looking after four homes.

Ignatieff says his journey "home" to the Ukraine was emotional and he hopes it shows onscreen.

Source: Toronto Star (1994)

Ignatieff sympathizes with Ukrainian linguistic and cultural aspirations, but admits "I'm also what Canadians would call a Great Russian, and there is just a trace of old Russian disdain for these 'little Russians'."

This phrase -- a well-meaning, but condescending one -- would drive most Ukrainians crazy.

Source: Ottawa Citizen (1993)

For those who deny that there is an American ideology, Michael Ignatieff has a crisp rebuttal: "Yes, we do have an ideology and, like all ideologies, it doesn't believe it is one. It just believes that it is The Truth."

It is hard not to agree with Michael Ignatieff when he says: "There is nothing more frightening than American innocence. It's a fearsome, sometimes murderous innocence. Our inability to question our own motives is truly alarming."

Source: Vancouver Sun (2003)

Maybe I shouldn't judge. After all, we're a worldly peoples. We humour third generation Canadians who add prefixes to their nationalities. We encourage trips to Paris, so the Quebecois can hear what French really sounds like. We even tolerate Albertans & their various cow-related fetishes.

It's not like Michael Ignatieff's slagged off Canadians & pledged loyalty to a foreign nation.

[Michael Ignatieff writing in the Toronto Star]

There remains in the Canadian psyche what Freud called "the narcissism of minor difference" - a stubborn insistence on the small but vital inflections that make us different from the waning imperial culture to the south.

If Canadians want a quiet life, they may have to give up on Canada altogether.

Source: Toronto Star

[Michael Ignatieff writing in the National Post]

"Don't attack me, I'm a Canadian," is a very, very strong reflex in our country and always has been. And to be blunt, it is naive narcissism.

In Washington, I live my working life in a policy environment in which Canada is a kind of well-meaning Boy Scout. We have aligned our foreign policy with that multilateral vision of the world and our neighbours to the south don't like it one little bit.

Source: National Post

Michael Ignatieff, who teaches at Harvard, concedes American misadventures...but he is most influenced by stirring words he repeats here:

"First a wartime president, then a battlefield rabbi, then a black pastor -- all reach into the same treasure house of language, at once sacred and profane, to renew the faith of the only country on earth that believes in itself in this way, the only country whose citizenship is an act of faith, the only country whose promises to itself continue to command the faith of people like me, who are not its citizens."

Source: Chicago Tribune

The Good Wife - Taking on the world's toughest energy challenges™

Either the leisure class has nothing better to do...
Or 'The Wall Street Journal' loved the psy-ops in 'The Good Wife' so much...they jizzed out an entire transcript of last nights episode:

Source: Wall Street Journal (April 13, 2011)

Former Senator Fred Thompson plays an actor turned lawyer who turns up, explaining that the Venezuelan government has nationalized Latin Star.

Chavez is changing the law so there can be no fair market assessment. He has that power whenever he sees it necessary to protect the interest of Venezuela.

“Oh my God,” says Will. “It’s like being in a Woody Allen movie.”

The judge then rules that it would be in everyone’s interest for Lockhart, Gardner to join Frank in representing Chavez in the lawsuit.

“Great,” mutters Will. “We have a dictator for a client.”

A lot of incomprehensible back and forth leads to Will getting $87 mill, the extra bucks explained as “standard surcharge for dictators.”

There was good reason to ignore Venezuela's countless internationally monitored elections, billions of dollars paid out for takeovers, & astoundingly uncharismatic lawyers.

The American government, CBS, & Exxon could not let 'The Apple Pirates' go unchallenged:

Source: CBC Radio 3 (April 12, 2011)

Watch this great bunch of kids called the Apple Pirates covering Arkells’ song “The Ballad of Hugo Chavez”.

Hahaha! Cute cover of an old song that still gets rotation up here:

Album: Arkells - Jackson Square

Song: The Ballad Of Hugo Chavez

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QUOTED FOR LIFE

New state officials
Are outside runnin' around...
They're telling the public
That I need...
To be put down

And Washington's saying...
Emphatically...
That I wasn't doing things
Democratically.

But in the...
(Pop! Pop!)
Night...
Of the sun...
(Hey! Hey! Hey!)

Let's go to Mexico!

Freeze! You're surrounded!

Tired of being associated with rogues like these:

Source: New York Daily News

Of the 30 industrialized countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, only Mexico, Turkey and the United States fail to achieve universal coverage.

Embarrassed by being singled out in lineups like these:

Source: National Geographic & What If Post

Countries with universal health care are represented by a blue line, those without universal coverage have a red line. The United States and Mexico are the only countries with red lines.

The graph compares the health care systems of developed countries in terms of cost per person, life expectancy, and number of doctors visits.

Click to enlarge

Mexico has decided to reform:

Source: Harvard Science

Seguro Popular, a Mexican health care program instituted in 2003, has already reduced crippling health care costs among poorer households, according to an evaluation conducted by researchers at Harvard University in collaboration with researchers in Mexico.

Among participating households, those suffering catastrophic health expenses were reduced by almost 60 percent, contributing to a 30 percent reduction in catastrophic health expenses across treatment communities.

Reinforcing their side of the border:

Source: Xinhua

Universal health care in Mexico is expected to be achieved next year, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said Friday.

The Northern state of Coahuila will be Mexico's first state covered with universal health care next week, and five more states with a population of 32.75 million or more will be under the same system in four months, Cordova told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

The five states, which will be covered by universal health care, are Sonora, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas, Guanajuato as well as Mexico state, the most populous state with more than 15 million people.

Monopoly man! You are surrounded by socialized medicine!
Release your hostages & come out with your hands up!

UPDATE! Mexican authorities are reporting a spike in border activity. The illegal migrants claim they are fleeing a devastated homeland & only seek coverage:

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Be a menace to Cuba cuz the only thing they'll charge you for in Texas is your juice

Texas executions: Strictly reserved for the radical chic

In a controlled environment, randomly selected jurors were presented with evidence most would consider "damning":

Source: Associated Press (March 15, 2011)

A New York Times reporter who interviewed a shadowy ex-CIA operative about masterminding bombings that rocked hotels, nightclubs and an iconic eatery in Cuba in 1997 is set to testify at his perjury trial Wednesday after long resisting taking the stand.

Transcripts of the interview included in court files have Posada saying, "in the hotels, we put small explosives because we don't want to hurt anybody. Just make a big scandal."

Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo was killed by an explosion in the lobby bar of Havana's Hotel Copacabana, and about a dozen others were injured in the wave of blasts between April and September 1997. A Cuban medical examiner testified earlier in the trial that di Celmo's throat was cut when the explosion blew apart an ashtray, sending shrapnel flying. Asked about di Celmo's death, Posada said, "It's sad because it's not intentional."

Bardach said she recorded only five or six hours of the 13 she spent talking with Posada. "He was damning on tape, but he was much more damning when it was turned off," she said.

Posada has since recanted statements he made to Bardach, saying they were in English, which he doesn't really speak. However, Posada lived and worked in Ohio, and also served as a translator while helping the U.S. support Contra rebels.

The New York Times gave The Associated Press additional excerpts. Those include a part where Posada says he understands English and declares he has a clear conscience, saying "I sleep like a baby."

Not surprisingly, the all-Texan jury confirmed what researchers have long suspected - offspring of the inbred possess significantly damaged frontal lobes (part of the brain responsible for language, planning, & judgment):

Source: McClatchy (April 8, 2011)

EL PASO, Texas -- After deliberating for three hours, a jury of seven women and five men acquitted Luis Posada Carriles on Friday on all 11 charges of lying to immigration officials about how he entered the U.S. in 2005 and his alleged role in bombings in Cuba in 1997.

The verdict was a surprise to many observers who had expected jurors to deliberate for several days and find Posada guilty on at least some counts. No one had predicted an acquittal across the board on all perjury, fraud and obstruction charges.

"I feel happy," said Posada, beaming. "I am supremely grateful to the United States of America, to the fairness with which I've been judged, to the jury that absolved me and what happened here should serve as an example for justice in my country, Cuba, which is unfortunately in the hands of a dictator."

Before this trial, researchers only possessed anecdotal evidence:

Source: The Daily Mail

George Osborne then recounted a meeting between Boris Johnson and George W. Bush a few years previously.

Bush appeared to be enjoying himself until he spied Boris's wrist.

'Are you wearing a Che Guevara watch?' asked Bush with a confused look on his face.

'It's actually my sister's,' blushed Boris.

'I don't care about that,' smiled Bush. 'In Texas we execute people for wearing Che Guevara watches...'

Quid Pro Quo

Heee Heee! Heee! I own Al-Jeezy - and they'll never tell you how I helped kill Iraqis!

Source: Al-Jazeera's Dima Khatib

I hope Muammar Gaddafi understands that Qatar and UAE are not after his country's oil !!!!!! #libya #qatar #uae

25 Mar via web

That is only a secondary concern:

Source: Reuters (March 28, 2011) & Reuters (March 30, 2011)

A senior Libyan rebel official said on Sunday Gulf oil producer Qatar had agreed to market crude oil produced from east Libyan fields that are no longer in the control of Muammar Gaddafi.

Ali Tarhouni, a US-based academic and exile opposition figure, was designated last week by the Benghazi-based national council to steer its financial and oil policy.

"We contacted the oil company of Qatar and thankfully they agreed to take all the oil that we wish to export and market this oil for us," said Tarhouni.

A U.S. Treasury Department official said crude oil sales by rebels would not be subject to U.S. sanctions.

This is the primary concern:

Source: Wired (February 22, 2011)

Al-Jazeera is in discussions with Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, about bringing the network’s English-language channel to millions of U.S. homes, the Qatar-based news service said Tuesday.

The Comcast meeting was the first move in a new push by Al-Jazeera to get on U.S. cable systems, which have been reluctant to carry the Qatar-based news network. A Comcast spokesperson declined to comment on the talks.

It’s quite a turn of events for Al-Jazeera, which until its widely praised coverage of the unrest in Egypt was something of a pariah in the United States. During the Iraq War, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld branded the network’s reporting of civilian casualties as “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable.”

Now, the White House is watching Al-Jazeera alongside CNN.

Obama, Clinton, Comcast, & the defense department are growing increasingly pleased with the new & improved Qatar & Al-Jazeera.

How far we've come

2003: The year you couldn't fight or fuck without night-vision.

Remember the Iraq invasion in 2003? Though I was a yungin', I can still recall the sights and sounds as my TV broadcast an endless parade of overnight human rights activists, feminists, & democrats. They all agreed, other peoples children needed to act, and act now. Without Paris Hilton, the year would have lacked serious thought.

Remember 'Control Room' from 2004? The documentary introduced us to a young network called Al-Jazeera. They challenged dogma & gave voice to collateral damage. I wanted to date an Arab reporter & get her integrity to rub off on me.

Before we go any further, journalists in the northern hemisphere can relax. You're so vain, you probably think this song's about you. It isn't. Seriously, like 63% of us are proud your profession hires so many dyslexics.

No, this is about young jeezy. Actually, it's 2011 and jeezy's not young anymore. They've found their Iraq in Libya, their Saddam in Gadhafi, and their Pentagon in Qatar. As we shoot the shit, so do Qatar & NATO. To be fair, everyone knows Arab fighter jets are programmed to fly away from Israel and towards Muslims.

Throughout the day, Al-Jazeera's interview & debate segments are handed over to various Libyan exiles from the US & the UK. When a reporter appears in Benghazi, he's sure to be accompanied by helpless victims or victorious heroes. When a reporter appears in Tripoli, she's sure to be alone and highly skeptical of civilian casualties.

Al-Jazeera sent Anita McNaught to report from the parallel universe that seems to be Tripoli.

During an early report, McNaught showed off the aftermath of a NATO attack on the presidential compound. She suggested the Libyan government themselves caused the damage - as the rubble lacked sufficient smoke & fire. Within minutes, American hospitals began treating 911 truthers for debilitating erections.

In a later report, McNaught showed off pictures of dead bodies at a morgue. This time, she entertained the possibility of NATO culpability - because the bodies were sufficiently "mangled". Quickly enough, she suggested that Bin Ladin Saddam Gadhafi counted his terrorists fedayeen reserves as civilians. By the off-chance that civilians were in the bunch, she repeatedly warned the audience that the images were highly "political" in nature.

Yes. Al-Jazeera dismissed images of dead Muslims as "political".

South of the border

The United States has already apologized for launching biological attacks on Guatemala. Unfortunately, due to the delay in tort reform, victims have shamelessly launched a class action lawsuit:

Source: Christian Science Monitor

An apology is not enough for Guatemalans deliberately infected with syphilis by a US medical team in the 1940s. Five months after the American taxpayer-funded medical experiment came to light, victims have brought a class-action lawsuit against the US government seeking compensation for resulting health problems.

The court brief charges that US public health doctors hired prostitutes diagnosed with syphilis or gonorrhea to have sexual relations with soldiers, prison inmates, and psychiatric patients in Guatemala with the intention of spreading the disease. Once the unknowing subjects were diagnosed with illnesses, the US medical team tested them for potential cures, including penicillin. Orphaned Guatemalan children as young as 6 years old were used as an uninfected test group, according to the suit.

Today, an hour-long investigation by the erotic domestic affairs publication VeeeATCH! has uncovered a startling follow-up. Through confidential chronic inhalation & contacts at google search, investigative journalist P-ublic E-nemy discovered that - in 2004 - Brazilian President Lula da Silva instructed his intelligence services to avenge the attacks on Guatemala.

The revelation is surprising, as the president is considered "a harmless moderate" in the north, and "our furry little Ewok" in the south. Aides say Lula resented being depicted as a little pussy. Avenging the attacks on Guatemala would prove that he was, in fact, more like "Yoda" - 20 lbs of pure...fuck...you...up!

The effort codenamed 'Operation Tchutchuca' targeted Southern California. Its aims were to launch retaliatory biological attacks, cause mass panic, & inflict significant economic losses. As this secret document reveals, all the aims were met:

Source: Associated Press

Flush with dollars, American porn film directors swoop into Brazil for its exotic and uninhibited women, dazzling tropical backdrops and cheap production costs -- a phenomenon that has turned South America's largest country into a prime destination for adult film outsourcing.

But producers chose the country with the most people in the hemisphere with HIV or AIDS after the United States. They usually head to Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro -- home to 60 percent of the 540,000 Brazilians with HIV or AIDS, according to a recent World Bank study.

The infection of an American porn star with HIV last month after shooting unprotected sex scenes with more than a dozen Brazilian women is sending shock waves through the industry's California heartland.

Darren James, the American actor who contracted the virus, apparently in Brazil, performed with 13 actresses after returning to the United States before a blood test two weeks ago showed he was HIV-positive.

One partner, Lara Roxx, also tested HIV positive. Since then, more than 50 performers who had contact with the two or their on-screen sex partners have been barred by the American industry from performing pending new tests.

Thirty companies halted production, virtually shuttering a business based in California's San Fernando Valley that generates at least $4.4 billion annually.

Also uncovered are audio intercepts of elite funk force Furacao 2000, relaying key offensive instructions:

Album: Furacao 2000

Song: Tchutchuca Treme O Bumbum

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Al Giordano: Il duce of dumbasses

The extent of Al Giordano's gorilla training

On February 23 2011, Al Giordano decided he was a strategic genius:

Source: The Field

[Skipping the first 11 paragraphs of shameless, rambling, self-promotion...]

Somewhat less skillful, on Castro’s part, has been his ham-handed attempt to shift the attention from the atrocity underway to a hypothetical one: His statement that, “the United States is totally unconcerned about peace in Libya and will not hesitate to give NATO the order to invade that rich country, possibly in a matter of hours or a few days.”

First of all, what could NATO possibly do to the Libyan people that Gaddafi isn’t already doing?

...these events indicate that it is not NATO or foreign powers that will most quickly dispose of the despot, but the very people he has governed for 42 years.

Today is March 20 2011 & US Vice Adm. William Gortney is showing off Pentagon video of NATO's various attacks on Libya.

When asked about NATO's killing of Libyan ground troops, he responded: "If Libyan infantry are moving onto opposition forces in Libya, they are under attack."

When asked if NATO would stop rebels from attacking immobile Libyan troops, he responded: "At this point I'm not ready to step outside the messaging we've put out."

Al-Jazeera has just reported smoke arising from the Libyan presidential palace, and explosions all around the capital of Tripoli. The result of NATO aerial bombings.

We thank Al Giordano for his ham-handed attempt at out-thinking a man who's outlasted 9 American presidents.

P.S. If you think I couldn't have done any better, see what I wrote on February 22 2011 (one day before Al posted his piece). At least my self-promotion comes under 10 paragraphs, and contains truth.

Clearly, he's the least credible

Word motherfucking life.

Source: EU Military Exports (page 160) & Associated Press

European Union nations approved sales of $470 million in weapons to Gadhafi's military in 2009 alone.

The U.S. peak was $46 million in approved defense sales — up from $5 million in Libyan defense sales the year before.

Transfers included guns, ammunition, explosives, chemical/biological materials, surveillance equipment, & military vehicles.

Source: Southeast European Times

This week Turkey stood firm against military intervention and economic sanctions against the regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Turkish projects in Libya are valued at $15.3 billion, and the trade between the countries amounted to an estimated $2.4 billion in 2010. According to Ankara's export planners, Turkey's arms trade in the Middle East and North Africa has not been affected by the turmoil. Defence exports are expected to total $1.5 billion this year.

Source: Sunday Times

South Africa had a legal obligation not to trade in conventional arms with states engaged in repression, aggression or terrorism.

More than 100 sniper rifles and more than 50,000 rounds of ammunition may have been exported to Libya in late 2010. Other weapons systems sold appeared to include 40mm multiple grenade launchers, Hercules C130 aircraft, and armoured personnel carriers.

Source: Reuters

After the meeting on Venezuela's Caribbean resort island of Margarita, Chavez presented Gaddafi with a replica of a sword of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.