Fish and Fish Oil Linked to Diabetes Risk
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: A new Harvard study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Topic: ENVIRONMENTAL

Fish and Fish Oil Linked to Diabetes Risk

posted 8/14/09

A new Harvard study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition links fish and omega-3 oil consumption to type 2 diabetes. Following 195,204 adults for 14 to18 years, researchers found that the more fish or omega-3 fatty acids participants consumed, the higher their risk of developing diabetes. The risk increase was modest for occasional fish eaters, but rose to a 22 percent increased risk for women consuming five or more fish servings per week.

Prior studies have suggested that fat accumulation within muscle cells can lead to insulin resistance which, in turn, contributes to diabetes. People who eat no animal products have less fat in their cells and much less risk of developing diabetes. A low-fat vegan diet has been shown to improve type 2 diabetes.

Kaushik M, Mozaffarian D, Spiegelman D, Manson JE, Willett WC, Hu FB. Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, fish intake, and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jul 22. [Epub ahead of print]

Goff LM, Bell JD, So PW, Dornhorst A, Frost GS. Veganism and its relationship with insulin resistance and intramyocellular lipid. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2005;59:291-298.

Barnard ND, Cohen J, Jenkins DJ, Turner-McGrievy G, Gloede L, Green A, Ferdowsian H. A low-fat vegan diet and a conventional diabetes diet in the treatment of type 2 diabetes: a randomized, controlled, 74-week clinical trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89:1588S-1596S.

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Breaking Medical News is a service of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 5100 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20016, 202-686-2210. Join PCRM and receive the quarterly magazine, Good Medicine.

Privacy Protection and Minority Rights - (book)
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: EPIC - Minority Rights book
Topic: HUMANITY

 Z3 Readers here is a Human Rights Book Recommended by EPIC 

=======================================================================

EPIC Bookstore: "Privacy Protection and Minority Rights"

=======================================================================

"Privacy Protection and Minority Rights"

Edited by Mate Daniel Szabo

http://www.ekint.org/ekint_files/File/kiadvanyok/privacy_minority.pdf

 

The protection of a minority group in any country envisages the grant

of protection by the state and in some cases, preferential selection

in the grant of employment, education, and business from which such

group has been historically excluded. Conferring such benefits

necessarily begins with identifying members and then granting them

protections. However, according to the editor, the freedom of identity

means that the state does not have power to interfere with the decision

of an individual to affirm or conceal one's ethnic identity or force

someone to make a declaration to that effect.

This book is a collection of three essays and the compilation starts

off by educating the readers about the foundation of minority

registration in Hungarian Law. Ivan Szekely's article focuses on

affirmative action and data protection. Szekely highlights the conflict

when the realization of one fundamental right can conflict with another

- the ban on compiling registers of minority origin and identities under

data protection laws one the one hand is at cross purposes with fighting

the abuses of claiming election seats or a role in distributing state

subsidies on the other. As a solution, Szekely endorses the use of a

"central registration of aggregate data" which does not attract data

protection laws while allowing group-level realization of subsidies. The

author also suggests various other solutions like application of

unidirectional data transformation procedures, data dividing, application

of privacy enhancing technologies and then discusses consequent

advantages.

The next essay of the book addresses whether ethnic data in Hungary

should be standardized. This article also examines the relationship

between protection of sensitive data and the free flow of ethnic data

required for unimpeded provision of additional rights. At the outset,

Balazs Majtenyi and Laszlo Andras Pap point out people in need of

protection are defined differently in cases of discrimination than when

affirmative measures are at stake. The writers then review the

constitutional background and regulatory environment with regard to

data processing and make suggestions that could be implemented under

Hungarian law. Majtenyi and Pap also suggest that although a

legislative effort may rectify human rights violations, a shift in the

mindset of lawyers would be equally desirable. The authors further call

upon lawmakers and officials to have the courage to create and run a

"genuinely functional system of minority protection."

The final essay of the compilation pertains to identification checks

based on racial or ethnic stereotypes. Written by Kadar, Korner,

Moldova and Toth, this paper cites to several reports which show that

Roma - the minority community of Hungary - had a much lesser chance of

avoiding liability if caught during the commission of a crime. The

essay goes on to describe the "Strategies for Effective Police Stop and

Searches," the proportion of ID checks in relation to the population

and its effectiveness. Pointing out the ethnic disproportionality in

the "ID-checked" population, the researchers conclude that ethnic

profiling by police officers is a problem that must be acknowledged.

The authors suggest amending the Police Act, institutionalizing

relationship between local communities and the police, and the training

of police officers.

While the book pertains to privacy protection and honoring minority

rights in Hungary, it is equally applicable in a more macrocosmic

sense. Virtually every country in the world has a minority population

which are targeted by another group - be it the majority or a

state-backed authority. These groups always end up suffering some sort

of discrimination or another. Some suggestions contained in this book

would indeed be helpful to anyone looking to understand human rights

violations, offer possible remedies, and is certainly worth a read to

human rights activists and lawmakers alike.

-- Anirban Sen

Boing Drones and your Opinion
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: Boeing/Insitu and the war machine
Topic: WAR
Susan Garrett Crowley
sgcrowley@earthlink.net
PO Box 963
Hood River, OR 97031
541-386-7729
 
ANOTHER VOICE

INSITU DESERVES A HARDER LOOK

By Susan Garrett Crowley

Insitu, a local drone developer now owned by Boeing, has approached the city as a part of a public relations campaign to develop public support for its operations.  Since Boeing/Insitu has initiated this discussion, residents may want to carefully consider the true nature of what it is designed to do for the U.S. military.

Insitu drones were developed to track moving targets on the ground.  Early Insitu scientists had hoped to develop a product that would track fish schools for the kill, but found a limited market.  Instead, its drones will probably be used directly or indirectly to track humans for the kill, as well as for simple surveillance.  

Boeing/Insitu now choose to emphasize reconnaissance, not the targeting assistance, but their development history shows that both are intended.  A development report dated April 14, 2005 and then posted on Insitu’s website described testing of its drone ScanEagle at White Sands Missile Range:  The drone “ . . . provided . . . targeting support and [was] used to derive targeting information for the delivery of an ATAC missile and JDAM missile.”

 According to the website, in March and June of 2004, the ScanEagle flew with a larger Predator drone – which is not made by Insitu, but which is armed and used in assassination missions -- during tests of “hand-off strategies” with the Predator as they “prosecute targets.”  Preliminary results indicated “that ScanEagle was among the quickest for target acquisition and most accurate for target location designation.”

 Insitu drones have now been used by the U.S. Marines, Navy and Air Force and in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  The Boeing/Insitu website is no longer so frank.

From miles on high there is no way for a drone to project exactly who the human beings inside targeted buildings or vehicles might be.  Many are individuals who die tragically in a crossfire not of their making.  Inevitable targeting mistakes have already created more enemies for the U.S. in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose citizens refuse to consider their lost family members merely “collateral damage.”  

Drones facilitate arm’s-length killing with no risk to the killer.  Warfare without apparent cost can result in warfare without thought.  It makes it easy for us to think we can occupy a foreign country and then savage our opposition and assassinate inconvenient local leaders – all by manipulating a computer joystick many miles away.

Moreover, it’s now assumed that the U.S. government can execute targeted assassinations of foreign citizens without benefit of any judicial process, an idea that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago and violates norms of international law.  An official acknowledged this week that 367 people are now on the U.S. military’s kill list (New York Times, 8/10/09).  

This is all done in our name, and Boeing/Insitu has an important role in it.  Do we want to accept this with our silence?  We already pay for it with our tax dollars.

We might take the lead of Insitu founder Tad McGeer, who left the company in part out of discomfort with its growing military focus.   If Boeing/Insitu is asking for an endorsement of that kind of development in our communities, before we take their 30 pieces of silver, we might at least have an informed discussion of the role they play in forming the world our children will inherit.

 

Susan Garrett Crowley is a retired Hood River attorney and former mediator.

My cousinj Ted Westhusing
Mood:  down
Now Playing: What is the message ... What is the mission?
Topic: WAR
28 November 2005 21:23 PST | Posted by Joe Anybody

How is honor possible in a war like the one in Iraq?
"He was sick of money-grubbing contractors," the official recounted. Westhusing said that "he had not come over to Iraq for this."



.....Hey Joe!
I turn around and say....."Yaa!?"

I heard it on the grapevine (Iternet site) HERE
That your Cousin in the Iraq War, his Death is on a main thread
"me ...? joe-anybody USA cousin Dead in Iraq?
Well that could be any 2,000 or more of us ....did he mean my cousin?"


CLICK HERE

Yet this company which had contracts worth $79 million to train an elite corps of Iraqi police to conduct special operations HERE is the one that Ted was working with according to the web page I read.

HERE IS STORY
from a Nov 7 article.

Most of the letter is a wrenching account of a struggle for honor in a strange land.

[This original post from Joe Anybody was in the Zebera 3 Report from 2005] 

"I cannot support a msn (mission) that leads to corruption, human rights abuse and liars. I am sullied," it says. "I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored.
"Death before being dishonored any more."


Westhusing struggled with the idea that monetary values could outweigh moral ones in war. At least thats what a psychologist is saying?

Listen to this NPR short interview with T Christian Miller from the Los Angles Times --Right Here!

Lies & Deception regarding Bin Laden working for the US
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: The 911 officail story smells even more - Read what Sibel Edmonds is reporting
Topic: 911 TRUTH

Z3-ers here we read what we probably already had surmised. The USA covert operations of "lies & deceptions" is coming home to roost. As we have maintained here in the Z3 Report  .... the official 911 story is bullshit. So now my fellow readers, try to wrap your head around this news bombshell.... http://blacklistednews.com/?news_id=5056 Bombshell: Bin Laden worked for US until 9/11
Published on 07-31-2009
Source: Against All Enemies Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds dropped a bombshell on the Mike Malloy radio show, guest-hosted by Brad Friedman (audio, partial transcript). Sibel Edmonds on the Mike Malloy Show, hour 1 Sibel Edmonds on the Mike Malloy Show, hour 2       Former FBI translator and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, Sibel Edmonds.       In the interview, Sibel says that the US maintained ‘intimate relations’ with Bin Laden, and the Taliban, “all the way until that day of September 11.” These ‘intimate relations’ included using Bin Laden for ‘operations’ in Central Asia, including Xinjiang, China. These ‘operations’ involved using al Qaeda and the Taliban in the same manner “as we did during the Afghan and Soviet conflict,” that is, fighting ‘enemies’ via proxies. As Sibel has previously described, and as she reiterates in this latest interview, this process involved using Turkey (with assistance from ‘actors from Pakistan, and Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia’) as a proxy, which in turn used Bin Laden and the Taliban and others as a proxy terrorist army. Control of Central Asia The goals of the American ’statesmen’ directing these activities included control of Central Asia’s vast energy supplies and new markets for military products. The Americans had a problem, though. They needed to keep their fingerprints off these operations to avoid a) popular revolt in Central Asia ( Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan), and b) serious repercussions from China and Russia. They found an ingenious solution: Use their puppet-state Turkey as a proxy, and appeal to both pan-Turkic and pan-Islam sensibilities. Turkey, a NATO ally, has a lot more credibility in the region than the US and, with the history of the Ottoman Empire, could appeal to pan-Turkic dreams of a wider sphere of influence. The majority of the Central Asian population shares the same heritage, language and religion as the Turks. In turn, the Turks used the Taliban and al Qaeda, appealing to their dreams of a pan-Islamic caliphate (Presumably. Or maybe the Turks/US just paid very well.) According to Sibel: This started more than a decade-long illegal, covert operation in Central Asia by a small group in the US intent on furthering the oil industry and the Military Industrial Complex, using Turkish operatives, Saudi partners and Pakistani allies, furthering this objective in the name of Islam. Uighurs Sibel was recently asked to write about the recent situation with the Uighurs in Xinjiang, but she declined, apart from saying that “our fingerprint is all over it.” Of course, Sibel isn’t the first or only person to recognize any of this. Eric Margolis, one of the best reporters in the West on matters of Central Asia, stated that the Uighurs in the training camps in Afghanistan up to 2001: “were being trained by Bin Laden to go and fight the communist Chinese in Xinjiang, and this was not only with the knowledge, but with the support of the CIA, because they thought they might use them if war ever broke out with China.” And also that: “Afghanistan was not a hotbed of terrorism, these were commando groups, guerrilla groups, being trained for specific purposes in Central Asia.” In a separate interview, Margolis said: “That illustrates Henry Kissinger’s bon mot that the only thing more dangerous than being America’s enemy is being an ally, because these people were paid by the CIA, they were armed by the US, these Chinese Muslims from Xinjiang, the most-Western province. The CIA was going to use them in the event of a war with China, or just to raise hell there, and they were trained and supported out of Afghanistan, some of them with Osama Bin Laden’s collaboration. The Americans were up to their ears with this.” Rogues Gallery Last year, Sibel came up with a brilliant idea to expose some of the criminal activity that she is forbidden to speak about: she published eighteen photos, titled “Sibel Edmonds’ State Secrets Privilege Gallery,” of people involved the operations that she has been trying to expose. One of those people is Anwar Yusuf Turani, the so-called ‘President-in-exile’ of East Turkistan (Xinjiang). This so-called ‘government-in-exile’ was ‘established‘ on Capitol Hill in September, 2004, drawing a sharp rebuke from China. Also featured in Sibel’s Rogues Gallery was ‘former’ spook Graham Fuller, who was instrumental in the establishment of Turani’s ‘government-in-exile’ of East Turkistan. Fuller has written extensively on Xinjiang, and his “ Xinjiang Project” for Rand Corp is apparently the blueprint for Turani’s government-in-exile. Sibel has openly stated her contempt for Mr. Fuller. Susurluk The Turkish establishment has a long history of mingling matters of state with terrorism, drug trafficking and other criminal activity, best exemplified by the 1996  Susurluk incident which exposed the so-called Deep State. Sibel states that “a few main Susurluk actors also ended up in Chicago where they centered ‘certain’ aspects of their operations (Especially East Turkistan-Uighurs).”One of the main Deep State actors,  Mehmet Eymur, former  Chief of Counter-Terrorism for Turkey’s intelligence agency, the MIT, features in Sibel’s Rogues Gallery. Eymur was given exile in the US. Another member of Sibel’s gallery,  Marc Grossman was Ambassador to Turkey at the time that the Susurluk incident exposed the Deep State. He was recalled shortly after, prior to the end of his assignment, as was Grossman’s underling, Major Douglas Dickerson, who later tried to recruit Sibel into the spying ring. The modus operandi of the Susurluk gang is the same as the activities that Sibel describes as taking place in Central Asia, the only difference is that this activity was exposed in Turkey a decade ago, whereas the organs of the state in the US, including the corporate media, have successfully suppressed this story. Chechnya, Albania & Kosovo Central Asia is not the only place where American foreign policy makers have shared interests with Bin Laden. Consider the war in Chechnya. As I documented here, Richard Perle and Stephen Solarz (both in Sibel’s gallery) joined other leading neocon luminaries such as Elliott Abrams, Kenneth Adelman, Frank Gaffney, Michael Ledeen, James Woolsey, and Morton Abramowitz in a group called the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC). For his part, Bin Laden donated $25 million to the cause, as well as numerous fighters, and technical expertise, establishing training camps. US interests also converged with those of al-Qaeda in Kosovo and Albania. Of course, it is not uncommon for circumstances to arise where ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ On the other hand, in a transparent democracy, we expect a full accounting of the circumstances leading up to a tragic event like 9/11. The 9/11 Commission was supposed to provide exactly that. State Secrets Sibel has famously been dubbed the most gagged woman in America, having the State Secrets Privilege imposed on her twice. Her 3.5 hour testimony to the 9/11 Commission has been entirely suppressed, reduced to a single footnote which refers readers to her classified testimony. In the interview, she says that the information that was classified in her case specifically identifies that the US was using Bin Laden and the Taliban in Central Asia, including Xinjiang. In the interview, Sibel reiterates that when invoking the gag orders, the US government claims that it is protecting ” ’sensitive diplomatic relations,’ protecting Turkey, protecting Israel, protecting Pakistan, protecting Saudi Arabia…” This is no doubt partially true, but it is also true that they are protecting themselves too, and it is a crime in the US to use classification and secrecy to cover up crimes. As Sibel says in the interview: I have information about things that our government has lied to us about… those things can be proven as lies, very easily, based on the information they classified in my case, because we did carry very intimate relationship with these people, and it involves Central Asia, all the way up to September 11. Summary The bombshell here is obviously that certain people in the US were using Bin Laden up to September 11, 2001. It is important to understand why: the US outsourced terror operations to al Qaeda and the Taliban for many years, promoting the Islamization of Central Asia in an attempt to personally profit off military sales as well as oil and gas concessions. The silence by the US government on these matters is deafening. So, too, is the blowback.

CASCADIA TO CARACAS
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Joe Anybody fundraiser "Video's from the Front-Lines"
Topic: MEDIA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CASCADIA TO CARACAS 

Delegates from the Portland Venezuela Peace and Media delegation are hosting a fundraiser to support their upcoming trip to Venezuela. The event will feature two students from Evergreen College who just returned from a trip to Venezuela.  Also featured will be a film by Joe Anybody, Cascadia to Caracas, the first part of his two-part series.

 

The trip’s focus is part of a mission to introduce US peace activists to the variety of organizational forms and actions that the Venezuelan people have built to achieve their political objectives. By learning from these examples, anti-war activists will be better prepared to creatively respond to the challenges that lie ahead in the US. 

 

“This trip is an important connection to peace and justice activities in an area that has seen an increase in community organizing” says Joe Anybody, one of the delegation’s videographers who will be filming the delegation in action.  “ In documenting the delegation’s trip, I want to share what I learn in Venezuela with the people in Portland when I return.  I want to capture and share the organizing struggles of the people of Venezuela.  I’m excited to see firsthand what’s going on and to report back.”

 

Joe Anybody is a Portland independent media videographer who has been making films about human rights issues for over 5 years.  He films activism of groups such as Seriously Pissed-Off Grannies, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, PDXpeace, Peace and Justice Works, PPRC, Individuals For Justice, Portland Copwatch and other important human rights events in the Pacific Northwest.

 

The Portland Venezuela Peace and Media delegation is part of a larger delegation to Venezuela hosted by PCASC, the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee.  PCASC, a Portland-based nonprofit organization, has been working for peace and justice in the Portland area and in solidarity with Latin America for over 30 years, 

 

When: Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 4 PM

Where: In the Miller Gallery, Mark Bldg. – 1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, Ore., 97205

Cost: $5-10 suggested donation – nobody turned away

 

For more information please visit our website at http://www.pdxvenezuela.org

 

 

#  #  #

  info@pcasc.net503/515 5456 Contact: Shizuko Hashimoto 

Hot Dogs and getting cancer
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: the meat industry and your health
Topic: BIG MONEY PLAYERS

 Z3 Readers I quit eating hot dogs a few years ago ...after I read how Ralph Nader quit eating them, I "wised up" and did the same

Lawsuit: Hot dogs need warning label

This post comes from Jon Hood at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.

Many modern-day baseball stadiums prohibit smoking, but cancer danger apparently still lurks around the corner: An anti-meat consumer group alleges in a class-action that hot dogs pose serious health risks and need to carry warning labels.

The lawsuit was filed in Essex County, N.J., by The Cancer Project on behalf of three New Jersey residents. Among the named defendants are Nathan's Famous; Kraft Foods, which manufactures Oscar Mayer wieners; Sara Lee; ConAgra, which makes Hebrew National franks; and Marathon, manufacturer of Sabrett, "the frankfurter New Yorker's [sic] relish."

The plaintiffs envision a warning label similar to the one on cigarette packages. The wording would look something like: "Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer."

The suit notes that a two-year-old study from the American Institute for Cancer Research suggests that eating the amount of processed meat in a single hot dog -- about 2 ounces -- every day increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 21%. That study recommends limiting red meat consumption to 18 ounces per week, and avoiding processed meats altogether. Another study, released this year by the National Cancer Institute, found that people who eat large amounts of red and processed meats are more likely to die from cancer or cardiovascular disease.

Nitrites, used to keep hot dogs fresh, are the main culprit, according to the suit: They join themselves to naturally occurring amines, forming carcinogenic compounds.

The Cancer Project, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., is focused on promoting a healthy diet that decreases the risk of cancer. The group specifically recommends a diet that is "free of animal products, high in plant foods, and low in fat."

According to The Cancer Project, Americans ate 1.5 billion pounds of hot dogs in 2006 and the average person eats 32 pounds of processed meat a year.

Related reading at ConsumerAffairs.com:

FBI ..says no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to Sept 11
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: The facts speak ...but who really is paying attention
Topic: 911 TRUTH

The FBI admits: No Hard Evidence Connecting Bin Laden to 9/11

Posted by sakerfa on July 25, 2009

Joe Anybody Fundraiser is on August 15 2009
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: My fundraiser to go to Venezuela in September
Topic: SMILE SMILE SMILE

 Z3 Readers, friends, activists, and family ...

This fundraiser video will be shown on 8.15.09 

 at the Portland Art Museum

I am raising money to go to Venezuela in September

EVERYONE IS INVITED

---

More information is on my website

Here

---

Also be sure to check our delegation website

Here

 

 

 

Compromising Democracy in Honduras
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: An article by Shamus Cook from Portland Oregon
Topic: POLITICS

Z3 Readers here is an articel afriend of mine wrote this morning:

Compromising Democracy in Honduras 

by shamus cook
  

Can a solution to the crisis in Honduras — itself the result of a military coup — be “mediated,” where on one side sit coup leaders and on the other a democratically elected but ousted President? Does any “middle ground” exist? Of course not. If President Zelaya unconditionally returns to finish his term in office, democracy will be restored; anything short of that will have democracy “compromised” into its opposite.

Obama is the behind-the-scenes organizer of this negotiated farce, even though he has no legal or moral right to undermine the democratic process in Honduras. His Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, brought the parties together and chose an “objective” mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias — someone who has obviously aligned himself with the United States.

And while Arias is the “official” mediator, Obama will be the one calling the shots, using U.S. economic and military clout to bully the opposing sides into an “acceptable deal.”

 

For example, when some members of the coup leadership were still using obstinate language against a deal with ousted President Zelaya, the U.S. finally announced it would withhold $16.5 million in military assistance to the country.

 

If this announcement were made the day the coup took place — as it was legally required to under U.S. law — the coup would have been crushed. Now, the money is simply being used to cajole the coup plotters into a more pliable position at the bargaining table; a place at which they obstinately refused to sit previously. It was also announced that $165 million in aide to Honduras could be in jeopardy. That is, if the coup leaders don’t do exactly as the U.S. demands.

 

And this highlights a stark fact that many Obama supporters are refusing to see: the origins of the coup, and indeed its resolution, lie squarely on the shoulders of the U.S. When a country [the U.S.] trains and funds another nation’s military [Honduras], while also purchasing the vast majority of that country’s exports, and supplying it with enormous financial aid, there is little ground for “equal footing.”

 

In fact, all of Obama’s rhetoric about leaving South America to the South Americans is a conscious ploy at public relations. In reality, the economic and military screws continue to be tightened, and U.S. foreign policy continues as it always has.

 

After the coup first happened, the entire world reacted with horror, condemnation, and sanctions of various kinds, while everyone understood that only one country had the economic and military influence to actually reverse it…instantly.

 

Obama purposely dragged his feet. He cleverly tagged the U.S. name on U.N and O.A.S resolutions, while doing absolutely nothing in the realm of guns, trade, or aid — the places where actual power is wielded.

 

The New York Times correctly noted that “the mixed messages have emboldened Honduras’s de facto government…” (July 7, 2009).

 

Also emboldening the coup leaders is Obama’s virtual silence around the fact that Honduras has been transformed into a democracy-free zone, where anti-coup media has been silenced, a military curfew enforced, basic rights suspended, and unarmed protestors killed.

 

Ousted President Zelaya correctly noted that “if they [the U.S.] decide to live with the coup, then democracy in the Americas is over."

 

This is a bold yet correct assessment of the situation in Latin America, carrying with it enormous implications. Zelaya described in vivid detail one such consequence while talking to Hillary Clinton about his kidnapping at gunpoint. He asked her, “What have Latin American presidents learned from Honduras? To sleep with our clothes on and our bags packed.”

 

And while media outlets treated the comment as a mere joke, the truth of it will reverberate throughout Latin America. If a military coup against a democratically elected government is not completely reversed, elites in the region will be profoundly encouraged to follow the Honduran formula and return to a time where U.S.-backed military coups and mass repression were commonplace.

 

And while Obama has recently repeated that President Zelaya should be returned to finish out his presidential term, Hillary Clinton “…stopped short of calling for his reinstatement, a departure from statements by President Obama earlier Tuesday…” (New York Times July 7, 2009).

 

This good-cop-bad-cop routine isn’t by accident, but appears to be an emerging signature of Obama’s forked tongue political method: he says what he thinks people want to hear, while others close to him pursue a different course.

 

It is unclear at this time what type of rotten compromise will emerge. Zelaya will either be prevented from returning to his Presidency, or as a senior U.S. official leaked to the press, “…Zelaya would be allowed to return and serve out his remaining six months in office with limited powers…” (Associated Press, July 7, 2009).

 

Either scenario will have democracy severely eroded, so that those who previously dominated Honduran society — the local super-wealthy and rich U.S. investors — will remain all powerful.

The average, working class Honduran, however, is acting independently. A mass march of at least 100,000 congregated at the airport last week during President Zelaya’s failed attempt to re-enter the country, a fact heavily obscured or ignored by the U.S. media.

 

The country’s school teachers are also jointly striking until Zelaya is returned, while talks of a general strike continue. If such a strike were successfully carried through, all the maneuvers of Obama and the native Honduran elite will have been for naught, and the unconditional return of President Zelaya will be assured.

If that were to happen, the working class would be further forced to defend democracy, by arresting all those who conspired to overthrow the democratically elected Zelaya, including any implicated members of the military, the Honduran business elite, foreign corporation representatives, and members of Congress.