Phoenix Woman

Minnesotans got another reminder of the damage wrought by Governor Gutshot (aka Tim Pawlenty, the man who would be president) in last Friday's paper: The state's official economist, Tom Stinson, has just said that the decades-long tax cut binge, heartily indulged in by T-Paw, has caused serious structural problems to Minnesota -- and that the only reason things aren't even worse is because of the Federal stimulus money Obama sent our way.

This, the second of a multi-part series on the Honduran coup against Manuel Zelaya, seeks to understand how it was viewed by both supporters and opponents of Zelaya, develop a clear timeline of events, and examine the legal issues, including both Honduran and international law. While conclusions are left to the final section, this analysis does make it clear that the removal of Zelaya violated the Honduran Constitution, which was the threshold event triggering international involvement.

The expulsion of President Zelaya of Honduras and the "politics of destruction" deployed against Bill Clinton both represented illegitimate attempts to remove popular progressive political leaders. In each case, a few very wealthy men employed a campaign of defamation, amplified by media under their influence or control, to weaken the Executive. The attacks were characterized by wild accusations against the Presidents of involvement in drugs, financial crimes, and lust for power, as well as by a tone of exaggerated anti-communism.

While the GOP/Media clowns were babbling about bowing, US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao were hammering out a climate-change deal in advance of the great Copenhagen climate summit. Oh, and India's in on the deal, too.

Andres Pavon, the head of CODEH, the Committee for Human Rights in Honduras and a key figure among those backing the lawfully-elected government and resisting the tyranny of the Micheletti coup, has been charged by the coup régime with “defamation of Romeo Vasquez Velasquez,” the general of the armed forces who is working for the golpistas, or coup leadership. His crime? Urging Hondurans to boycott the fake elections and warning that the golpistas were planning to stage a massacre of Honduran people and then try to make it look like resistance workers did it.

The legacy media's coverage of Obama's Asian tour has been driven by Republican talking points. As a result, the good news about climate-change agreements has been swept under the rug.

Betcha dollars to doughnuts you won't hear Dan "OMG EEEEK Obama was polite to an Asian dude" Riehl gumming Dick Cheney's ankle over what his daughter just said.

Some of the FDL gang are sympathetic to conservative commentator Ann Althouse's plight as she tries to explain to her angry horndog male readership why Sarah Palin is utterly unfit to be president.

Sane Congressional Republicans, if any still exist, would be wise to stay away from the rabidly anti-Catholic bigot Jerome Corsi. But in their rush to attack Muslims for political gain in the wake of the Ft. Hood shootings, it seems that sanity has flown out the window.

CBS News deserves kudos for their stories this evening that put today's Fort Hood shootings into a larger context by mentioning three similar incidents that have occurred there within the past eighteen years -- including one that happened this May -- as well as mentioning the similar histories of violence at other military bases. Guess what? Most of them didn't involve Muslims.