Festive Left Friday Blogging: Hey, where’d his legs go?

Evo played soccer outside the presidential palace in La Paz yesterday, but something is wrong with this picture:

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HE’S NOT WEARING SHORTS!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Damn.

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Posted in All About Evo, Festive Left Friday Blogging | 2 Comments

Quotable: Jean Raison on Voltaire

“Sir, ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it’ was said not by a Frenchman but by an Englishwoman; it is not a genuine quotation from Voltaire but an imaginary one claiming to express ‘his attitude’ in The Friends of Voltaire (1906) by S. G. Tallentyre, the pseudonym of E. Beatrice Hall. In fact this was not his attitude; although he took a great part in the struggle for toleration, he also took great care not to risk his liberty, let alone his life, for the cause: no wonder, considering the treatment he suffered for careless talk in his youth, and the treatment so many of his writings suffered at all times.

“It would be better not to attribute to Voltaire a rhetorical statement he never made, and to remember instead the practical things he actually said (in the Treatise on Toleration and the Philosophical Dictionary) and did (in particular cases and in the general campaign) to crush the infamy of intolerance and to make it possible for us to take the freedom of speech for granted.”

–Jean Raison, letter to the Times of London, August 8, 1981

(‘Bina’s note: Are they sure that’s an Englishwoman, and not a Frenchman whose name, in English, would be “John Reason”? In any event, what a relief not to have to defend fascist speech to the death, but rather to FIGHT it to the death in the original spirit of “écraser l’infâme”!)

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Posted in Fascism Without Swastikas, Good to Know, Quotable Notables | 4 Comments

Nice to see those music lessons paid off

A couple of FAO Schwartz employees show off their mad organ skillz:

The tune is the “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” by Johann Sebastian Bach.

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IAPA committee admits the blindingly obvious, wins prize

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ZOMG! What’s the world coming to when fascists can’t claim oppression from a supposedly commie government in Latin America anymore? Get a load of this:

The president of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), Enrique Santos of Colombia, certified on Wednesday, during a meeting with President Evo Morales in the Quemado Palace in La Paz, Bolivia, that in Bolivia there is freedom of the press.

“What we were able to determine is that in Bolivia, press freedom exists,” said Santos, who also represents the newspaper El Tiempo of Bogotá.

“From all one can see, hear and read, it can’t be said that here there is no opposition press, that there are no criticisms of the government,” said Santos.

The head of the IAPA, which brings together 1300 private media outlets of the Americas, underscored that “it is important for me to say this clearly.”

Translation mine.

Holy shit, a Colombian commercial media type says there’s no censorship, no oppression, and a loud, critical oppo media mafia? Well, we already knew THAT. Nice to see him confirm it, eh?

But wait, there’s more:

Santos and four delegates of the IAPA were invited by Morales. The president showed them a series of proofs, in audio and video, concerning the least-biased treatment of information by the IAPA’s affiliates in Bolivia.

Presidential spokesman Iván Canelas demonstrated one by one the cases, principally in newspapers and television, in which the information was “manipulated”, in order to steer public opinion against the policies of the Morales government.

Canelas laid out, among dozens of cases, an unfounded accusation which the newspaper, La Prensa, made against Morales last December, which is currently before the courts.

The Minister of the Presidency, Juan Ramón Quintana, also exposed before the commission of the IAPA the economic links between the private media and the ex-prefect, Leopoldo Fernández, in the Amazonian department of Pando. Fernández currently faces charges in the murders of 18 campesinos in September 2008.

For those who’ve been paying attention, that last one is no news. El Duderino has some good details here. But now, at least, Evo’s getting a chance to respond, and to take up his concerns with the IAPA personally–something that the oppo presstitutes themselves were not willing to grant him.

But the real shocker comes just before the end of the piece:

After the series of expositions by Canelas, Quintana and the vice-minister of the Presidency, Sacha Llorenti, the second vice-president of the IAPA, Gonzalo Marroquín, said that “the IAPA never defends acts of corruption”.

“We believe that they should be denounced” and brought to justice, Marroquín said. He also characterized as “positive” the co-operation of Morales “in the area of tolerance”.

Santos added to this a remark that “the media who lie are digging their own grave.”

Well. That was the blindingly obvious. Now here comes the prize, kiddies…

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Congratulations, IAPA bigwigs. It looks as though you’re finally coming of age as journalists: hearing both sides of the story, sorting out the lies, telling the truth, and being fair and honest to those who, no doubt, make you grit your teeth. At this rate, you might even become fit to report real news eventually!

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Does Israel get its news stories from bombproof Colombian laptops?

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Well, if Israel doesn’t, I know who does–the Dissociated Press, of course!

Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first allegation that they are involved in the development of Iran’s nuclear program, considered a strategic threat by Israel.

“There are reports that Venezuela supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program,” the Foreign Ministry document states, referring to previous Israeli intelligence conclusions. It added, “Bolivia also supplies uranium to Iran.”

The report concludes that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is trying to undermine the United States by supporting Iran.

Venezuela and Bolivia are close allies, and both regimes have a history of opposing U.S. foreign policy and Israeli actions. Venezuela expelled the Israeli ambassador during Israel’s offensive in Gaza this year, and Israel retaliated by expelling the Venezuelan envoy. Bolivia cut ties with Israel over the offensive.

There was no immediate comment from officials in Venezuela or Bolivia on the report’s allegations.

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Funny, but Bolivia DOES have something to say, and I hereby translate for the benefit of the Israelis–and their Dissociated Press pals:

The minister of the Presidency of Bolivia, Juan Ramón Quintana, called the supposed secret information that Bolivia and Venezuela are supplying uranium to the Iranian government, a “clownish farce”.

“Only a clown would let such barbarities happen. Since it’s so, it must be said that a certain Israeli agency is an agency of inepts, incompetents, and clowns,” said Quintana during a press conference at the government palace.

[…]

Quintana said that the supposed denunciation “is part of the anthology of stupidity” because if anything characterizes the politics of the Bolivian government, “it is the politics of international peace.”

“The principles which guide our constitution are set out most clearly–to promote a culture of understanding between peoples, and to improve integration. The Bolivian constitution clearly expresses our renunciation of war.”

Uh, Houston? I believe we have a bitch slap.

But wait, it gets even funnier. According to that very same Dissociated Press piece,

Bolivia has uranium deposits. Venezuela is not currently mining its own estimated 50,000 tons of untapped uranium reserves, according to an analysis published in December by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Carnegie report said, however, that recent collaboration with Iran in strategic minerals has generated speculation that Venezuela could mine uranium for Iran.

Charmed. Does this remind anyone of anything?

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Yep, kiddies, that’s right…the Carnegie Endowment thinks Venezuela and Bolivia are committing pre-crime…by NOT EVEN TAPPING their uranium deposits, much less selling any to Iran. Next up: Venezuela and Bolivia found guilty (God only knows how!) of selling some to Kim Jong Mentally Il…thereby resulting in this week’s 4.7 magnitude nuclear squib.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go disarm my head. It feels like it’s about to go up in a mushroom cloud from all this stupidity.

UPDATE: The Old Grey Whore has a “brief” from the Dissociated Press, noting that Venezuela and Bolivia have “ridiculed” the “report”. They’re only a day late, and their coverage leaves, as usual, much to be desired. Guess that bit about being a clown was so horrifying that they couldn’t reprint it. Good thing you got me, eh kiddies?

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Oh Henry!

WTF is Henry Ramos Allup (in dark leather jacket and white shirt) doing here?

Looks like the head of Acción Democrática, the discredited old Venezuelan party of the so-called centre-left (but now on the far right along with all the rest of the anti-Chávez parties) is handing out some rather sizable sums of money to some fellow Adecos. He’s counting out a wad of 50-bolivar bills. But obviously this is not a legit transaction, or he wouldn’t be doing it so furtively in an “undisclosed” location. (He was caught on video by an alert, unidentified local citizen of the La Florida neighborhood of Caracas, who recognized him.)

Mario Silva, who presented this video on his show, La Hojilla, identifies the other Adecos, along with Ramos Allup’s driver. He also uses Globovisión’s “ZOMG, something’s happening!!!!11eleventy-one!!!” terror music. And if you stick around till the end, you’ll also hear Henry rapping a few hilarious key phrases.

What I’d sure like to know, though, is what Henry Ramos Allup said to those other Adecos as he was handing out what looks like an awful lot of corruption money. He sure talks a lot with his hands…

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One more reason to despise Microsoft

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…as if we all needed one.

Microsoft, the informatic giant founded by Bill Gates, has decided suddenly to cancel its Messenger service to those countries against which the United States maintains a commercial embargo.

Among those affected are Cuba, Iran and North Korea, who have all openly rejected the policies of the US. Also included are Syria and Sudan.

Right now, all cybernauts of those countries trying to log on to the popular Windows program have begun to receive the error 810003c1, which prevents them from going online in Messenger.

“Microsoft has cut Windows Live Messenger IM for all users in countries embargoed by the United States. Microsoft will no longer be offering service for Windows Live in your country,” reads the support page in Windows live when anyone looks up the error in question.

Translation mine.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way around this: Simply change your settings so that it says you’re not in an embargoed country, such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria or Sudan. Tell them you’re a Canadian. Problem fixed–embargo lifted!

Being a Mac user, however, I prefer to just go on avoiding them and all their endless bugs-disguised-as-features…and feeling damned smug about it.

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Posted in Canadian Counterpunch, Cuba, Libre (de los Yanquis), Fascism Without Swastikas, Free Trade, My Ass!, Law-Law Land, She Blinded Me With Science, Technical Notes, The WTF? Files | 6 Comments

Music for a Sunday: When the bullet hits the bone

A paranoid classic, with a wonderful acoustic treatment.

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Wankers of the Week: Old Faceful edition

When it’s a pissing contest, remember…whoever “wins”, is still a wanker. Here are this week’s winners–or rather, wieners:

1. and 2. The two dumb wankers who peed in Old Faithful while the famously timely geyser wasn’t erupting. A pity it couldn’t have shot up and boiled their balls. Firing and fining is entirely too good for them.

3. Jim Fucking Cramer. A normal human being would admit he was wrong, apologize and stop doing it. Not Mad Money Jim. He vows revenge against Jon Stewart for showing him in his true (unflattering) colors. That’s even LESS smart than all the dumb wankery that got him the Stewart treatment in the first place.

4. Bill Fucking Keller. Congratulations, you’ve totally killed the Old Grey Whore. It’s not enough for the NYT to make “a lot, a LOT” of money from digital advertising; no, you just decided you HAD to charge by the word and scare away what little dedicated readership you had left. Well, it’s not as if the old gal was an accurate purveyor of information anyway. I imagine most people are only reading it for the crosswords nowadays, or maybe the recipe pages. If you really care about making people want to read the NYT, here’s a good place to start: FIRE SIMON ROMERO. And from there, proceed to cleanse out all the other hacks, spooks and shills. You can’t call it a newspaper if the “news” is not worth the paper–or the electrons–it’s printed on.

5. Luis Fucking Fleischman. Chavistas, a “threat”? To whom? Oh yeah, the YewEssAy. Venezuela is as big a threat as al-Qaida! But where? Only in the fever swamp of Screwy Louie’s right-wing brain. This silly piece was published at something calling itself The Cutting Edge News, but it reads like the same diarrhea we’ve been getting from all the usual unreliable sources for the last ten years. Actually, it reads like that same diarrhea, redigested and regurgitated all over the dog’s dish. Blurrrrghhhhh.

6. Christopher Fucking Sabatini. If you’re not defending the “right to private property” of those who already have more than any one person can possibly live on (or off of), who aren’t using it to produce anything, and who got it all by screwing others out of it (usually by mercenary murder or by forcing them off it to fend for themselves in the Caracas slums), then you’re violating universal human rights. No shit, he really said that. Can we possibly cry more crocodile tears for the Venezuelan oligarchy? Sorry, my lachrymal ducts are dry. And they are apt to remain that way, unless Old Faithful happens to erupt while I’m standing over it looking down.

7. Tim Fucking Graham. He styles himself “Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center”. O rly? Funny, he looks to me like a fat right-wing slob, weakly defending another fat right-wing slob (Rush Fucking Limbaugh, if you must know) by attacking, in his very first line, the manhood of progressive talk show host Ron Reagan Jr. (who is, in my not so humble estimation, much more of a man than his father was.) Only, of course, Graham isn’t man enough to do it directly, so he puts his words in the mouth of some nebulous, and probably imaginary, “they”. The only problem is, Reagan was right–the Pigman IS fair game. Need I remind you of why?

Picking on a man with a real, chronic, degenerative disease–by mimicking the signs and symptoms of that disease? Pure class, lardass.

Yeah, Tim, you picked a real winner to defend. Especially since his Viagra use is a fact.

8. Glenn Fucking Beck. In answer to the title question at the link, I’d have to go with “yes, he IS a lying sack of dog mess”. Only, of course, I wouldn’t be as polite as Whoopi Goldberg was about it. I think I’d come right out and call him a walking hemorrhoid. He’s fair game, too.

9. Manuel Fucking Rosales. Still yapping politics even under a Peruvian gag order? That should spell expulsion, but we all know that Alan Fucking García loves him a corrupto.

And finally, that damn troll who keeps spamming this blog with nonsense and gibberish and links that lead nowhere. You know who you are, asshole, and this song’s for you:

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Festive Left Friday Blogging: Guess who’s ten years old this week…

It’s Chavecito’s TV show–Aló Presidente!

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The show is the ultimate in audience participation and direct democracy. It’s also downright gonzo at times–and can go on for several hours at a stretch. When Chavecito’s in town, anyone can take up any issue with him, right there at his desk. (It used to be a phone-in show, but then it got so popular that the lines got jammed.) In between issue-taking-up and general kibitzing, it’s also often an opportunity for Chavecito to raise awareness of history, put current events in context, announce new social projects, and occasionally, give the fascist leadership of the oppos a hard time (and more than a little public humiliation, like the time he fired several of the top brass at PDVSA for corruption, incompetence and general mismanagement–and attempting to illegally privatize the state-run company).

Appropriately, he celebrated the anniversary in his home state of Barinas, where he addressed a gathering of locals, university students and the military:

“Do you want to see a student march? Do you want to see it? I’m capable of bringing together a million students in the street.”

He’s not shitting. They get up and spontaneously start chanting, cheering and waving banners for him. And, given that the majority of Venezuelans are Bolivarians, it stands to reason that a majority of students also are. And no wonder: in the last ten years, untold opportunities have opened up for them, thanks to Chavecito and all those crazy, loopy projects he announced for the first time on that crazy, loopy show of his.

Happy anniversary, Chavecito–and may you and your crazy, loopy show have many more!

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