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Policy and Procedure, Caribbean Style

Honduras, South America leaps to the front page of the New York Times with the headline “Honduran President Is Ousted in Coup”, and to be fair to the NYT – the events of the last 48 hours do in fact bear all of the hallmarks of a classic coup d’état.

However, the story demands a little more investigation …

The now former President of Honduras, one Manuel Zelaya has been working towards an objective of increasing presidential term limits and if everything had gone according to plan – Sunday would have been the day of a national non-binding referendum on the subject. As things turned out, said referendum turned into the trigger for events that resulted in his removal from office and lots of news in the media on the role of the Honduras armed forces a subsequent pyjama drama in Costa Rica.

However, if we look deeper into the legal context a number of facts emerge:

  • The Supreme Court, top electoral body, and human-rights ombudsman have ruled the referendum illegal.
  • Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution, forbids any former chief executive from being re-elected President, states that any citizen (including the president) who proposes reforming this law, and any others who support such a person directly or indirectly, are to immediately “cease carrying out” any public office.
  • Article 42, Section 5 of the Constitution states that citizenship is lost for “inciting, promoting or supporting the continuation or the re-election of the President of the Republic.”
  • Both the court and the National Congress have ratified the actions of the armed forces.
  • The National Congress named and ratified Roberto Micheletti as President.

The last item in the above list is interesting in that normally the role of President would fall to the Vice President, Elvin Santos (Zelaya’s running mate). However, Santos had already resigned that position in order to run for the next Presidential Election in January 2010. Zelaya had replaced him with Arístides Mejía Carranza under the title “Vice President Commissioner” (a position barred from taking the position of President). This paved the way for the appointment by Congress of Roberto Micheletti (as President of the National Congress) to the position of Provisional President of Honduras until the end of the current term.

With all of the above information on the table – Barack Obama’s statement was telling:

I am deeply concerned by reports coming out of Honduras regarding the detention and expulsion of President Mel Zelaya. As the Organization of American States did on Friday, I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference.

No coup d’état – just policy and procedure Caribbean style.

794 replies on “Policy and Procedure, Caribbean Style”

Just a little question. Whats the point of all these tags on the righ hand side. If we aren’t even in Google? Cos’ their a bit pointless otherwise.

Chris B at 605-606

Just a little question. Whats the point of all these tags on the righ hand side. If we aren’t even in Google? Cos’ their a bit pointless otherwise.

See, they only work if your in Google.

They are useful for people here at Politic 101 – i.e. it’s not about Google. However, as it’s a birthday and all – I have a special present for you. Michael Jackson (alive and well) and Honduras in the same article. How much more into the moment and topical can you get?


Dead Celebrities Crazy People Insist Are Still Alive But in Hiding

😉

By Post Author

Happy birthday Gough.

May you get a thousand cheers,
May you drink a thousand beers,
Get plastered you good old bastard,
Happy birthday to youuuuuuu!

Happy birthday to Gough.
His dimissal was the awakening of my political awareness as a young girl –
fuck John Kerr. 😉

With a little help from their friends:

July 10 (Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is poised to report the largest profit since it set earnings records in 2007, marking the return of a business model that was the envy of Wall Street before the financial crisis devastated competitors and spurred a government bailout.

…nice work if you can get it, and they can get it without trying!

The out of work punters will be cheering in the streets (because they don’t have homes to be cheery in!).

610

Jen Says:
Is not!!

Ofcourse it’s not Jen.
It’s just……”well aged”. 😆

P.S. Hope you’re holding up OK.

Given the nature of his employer and the rag he writes for, this is a halfway decent article by Rowan Callick.

China crucible

CHINA has taken a strikingly different path towards a prosperous future than the West. This week’s dramatic events at opposite ends of the country, 5000km apart, suggest the world’s last great one-party state already may be testing the limits of its formula for success.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25762557-28737,00.html

thanks paddy – it was pretty tough.

(Cat, glad to see the gel nail career going well for you. )

Kirri- the Goldman Sachs profit seems rather, um, obscene actually. Wonder how long before thir former employees start torching the place. How TF do they serioulsy think they can get away with that??

paddy from your l nk @613
“But the message remains essentially the same: the empire is fraying.”

suspect they won’t go quietly though 🙁

Yeah, Happy birthday you beautiful, old, patricain, bastard, Gough! 🙂

Thanks for the Commonwealth Scholarship and the “free” uni education. Bit of Obi in you, there was, when you made us believe for those few magnificent years. Never forget the night you won. People danced in the streets at Coogee.
The people of Timor L’Este will no doubt be extending their best wishes as well.

Over on the ‘niacInSight: Iran Updates : July 10‘ post is this entry, a translation of post from about 12 hours ago referencing events in Tehran.

What an honorable day the 18th of Tir is. All have come. Young and old and middle aged. Not only in one street; they have learned from previous days. There are mass protests in 7-8 parts of Tehran. There is no silence. Everyone is chanting. Some say Allah-o Akbar replaced immediately by Death to Dictator and Coup d’état Government, Resign, Resign! The center of clashes is the Valiasr-Enghelab intersection, Daneshju Park. The population is concentrated and condensed and anti-riot guards attack with tear gas and batons. Faces are bloody. The people constantly move around from the streets to sidewalks and from sidewalks to streets. All cars are honking like two weeks ago. Continuous beeps. Fists and two-finger signs of victory and solidarity are in the sky again. Waves of people come from main streets toward Enghelab Square and the University. This time everyone is chanting a long slogan in the 1979 style: Traitor Mahmoud, get out/you ruined the soil of the nation/you killed the nation’s young…Death to you! Death to you…Death to you!

Tear gas is raining on people but it’s unbelievable; like everyone has got used to it. No one is getting sick. They just make a fire immediately. Some send cigarette smoke towards the person next to them. We are at the intersection Keshavarz Blvd. and Kargar Street. Special forces are coming from down the street. We run up the street while chanting. A condensed group joins us from Fatemi St., and we go back down the street chanting: Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, we are all together.

There are no shots being fired here. There’s also no news of shots in other places. So many girls! So many mothers! In the front row. Angry and cheerful and inspiring! They attack us again. This time they brought the plainclothes [security forces] too, but their numbers are less compared to previous days, and it is clear that it is because of recent revelations about the crimes of the Basij. They have dressed some of them in Revolutionary Guards (Sepah) uniform so they seem more orderly. Now they attack the crowd with large numbers and motorcycles. Several hundred enter the market next to Laleh Park, which is a dead-end, and they get stuck there. Along with a few others, we jump over the barbed wire and fence and enter the park. The destination is Amir Abad Street. They are closing the street from the corner of Fatemi so the crowd in Amir Abad doesn’t join the crowd around the park. Amir Abad is packed. A crowd is standing at the corner of the street where Neda died and is chanting Death to Dictator. An old man who says he is 80 years old happily says no one is scared anymore. They [the government] are goners. Look at the crowd – unlike 1979, no one is wearing a turban! The people will get revenge for Neda’s blood! They are right.

People understand the situation well. They understand the weakness and fragility of the regime. No one is scared anymore. Young and old are chanting. Harder and more determined than three weeks ago. A family’s car is continuously honking and moving north on Amir Abad St. The son sticks his head out and tells people: “You still want to fight peacefully! Don’t you see they have guns!” His sister joins him by chanting “Death to Dictator!” My only response is to repeat the slogan with them and raise my fist.

I get on the internet quickly and write this report. Tonight will be very hot. Chants on the roofs will create uproar! Injured and arrested are not few. It’s not dark yet. They have set up checkpoints staffed with uniformed Basijis here and there. They are supposedly intimidating people and showing them this is a state of emergency! What idiocy! It’s the thousands and thousands of people who showed the regime the situation is extraordinary with their powerful presence in the streets. We haven’t heard of other cities yet. But without a doubt Tir 18th of this year will be very influential on the current developments. Without a doubt.

By Post Author

611
Kirri
It all seems to have gone quiet about Rasputin stealin their computin.

Jen, without the taxpayer’s massive bailout of AIG, Goldman would have been another 10 billion big ones down, but there was of course even more than this.

Yep, it stinks, for all the reasons Taibbi et al have given. Wait till the punters get a whiff of it. Talk about having your nose rubbed in it!

Gaffy, I expect we’ll hear more anon.

Remember that book that Bolt and other members of the up themselves quasi-intellectual right creamed themselves over? Yep, Plimer’s lattest climate change denial tome.

For a quick list of it’s appalling scholarship:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/jul/09/george-monbiot-ian-plimer

…and thanks to Crikey for linking it.

It really makes you wonder how dullards like Bolt can’t see that it’s the deniers who are the cult, since they ignore all the peer reviewed science and accept any twaddle that says the opposite, no matter how ludicrous its assumptions.

Act Blue Turning the USA blue.
This is the main page raising funds for Democratic causes. I was following on Firedoglake the whipping members into line over public health care, which lead to Act Blue. They certainly are putting the Internet to its best use. It’s the best socialist invention ever!
http://www.actblue.com

Bashing George W. Bush still politically potent.
If anybody is not sure which direction the campaign the Democrats will run in 2010. This answers that question. After all it is only 2 years after Bush has gone. I still remember how effective the Guilty Party ads were, when they were run by Jeff Kennett 4 years after Join Cain. So 2 years is nothing. Tie in the economic disaster and the Democrats being in control now, makes for a very strong campaign in 2010.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24795.html

Tony Abbott spokesman for the Catholic Church.
Catholic Church, enabling rapists, pedophiles and murders everywhere.

If for one second you thought “bugger, what fun we’ll miss” when Sarah the Mighty Moose Slayer handed in her notice as governor of that highly subsidised state of rugged individualists, then here’s the good news…she ain’t going nowhere:

In the aftermath of her decision to drop out and cash in, Palin’s standing in the G.O.P. actually rose in the USA Today/Gallup poll. No less than 71 percent of Republicans said they would vote for her for president. That overwhelming majority isn’t just the “base” of the Republican Party that liberals and conservatives alike tend to ghettoize as a rump backwater minority. It is the party, or pretty much what remains of it in the Barack Obama era.

That’s why Palin won’t go gently into the good night, much as some Republicans in Washington might wish. She is not just the party’s biggest star and most charismatic television performer; she is its only star and charismatic performer.

(Rich, NY Times)

…oh goody goody, she’s the gift that keeps on giving! LOL

And just think what a bunch of whackos the GOP must be for 7 in 10 to say they’d elect that air head as POTUS!

Kirribilli Removals at 629

And just think what a bunch of whackos the GOP must be for 7 in 10 to say they’d elect that air head as POTUS!

Be afraid ... be VERY afraid!

By Post Author

I am worried about that moose. It ain’t even dressed!

Jen

We may get our wish yet, though i won’t hang by em waitin!

Four knowledgeable sources tell NEWSWEEK that he is now leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration’s brutal interrogation practices, something the president has been reluctant to do. While no final decision has been made, an announcement could come in a matter of weeks, say these sources, who decline to be identified discussing a sensitive law-enforcement matter.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/206300

Well Kirri
Just a couple of weeks sellin them new strawberry jam derivatives reconstituted from the pig shit and she’ll be apples in Wall Street again and some smart money to be made.
You can’t keep a good enterprising bank down.
It’s impossible to be out of bed early enough to out smart Yogi!

I have wonderful news to report to everyone! Apparently I have woken up today in a parallel universe, where the sun is shining and the birds are singing and my coffee tastes like malted orgasm. There’s something called a “Dylan Ratigan” on my teevee, asking shouty sports pundit Stephen A. Smith about auto bailouts, so it’s not like EVERYTHING makes perfect sense, but here’s the real good news! Apparently, the financial collapse in the derivatives market never happened! EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN AND WILL SUCK AGAIN, YAY!
Morgan Stanley plans to repackage a downgraded collateralized debt obligation backed by leveraged loans into new securities with AAA ratings in the first transaction of its kind, said two people familiar with the sale.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/morgan-stanley-goldman-sa_n_229454.html

Oh Gaffy, it’s just too depressing hearing all that whoopee being made over the ‘business as usual’ mob, who, by rights, should be banged up for the godawful mess they made.

One could despair.

634
Gaffy.
To paraphrase Maggie Thatcher………
Who gave those CDO’s a AAA rating???
Give me their names!!!
I want their balls on toast by 9.am Monday morning. 👿

paddy, Kirri, Gaffers Ecky and First Dog –
Halle- fucking-Luia:
we were wrong and the world is now right.
Sarah is gonna be POTUS, the GFC is a minor blip on the radar and Global warming is a left-wing loonie conspiracy theory designed to bite the hand that feeds us.
I am so goddamn relieved that the whole thing was made up just to get a Black guy in the Whitehouse. That’ll show us .
And let’s not forget to give thanks that Tony Abbott is waiting in the wings to steer us on to the right path.

FFS.

Let’s face it Jen.
Tony “papal skills” Abbott has only one genuine purpose in life.
To turn water into fine vintage wine!!!! :mrgreen:

If he can’t manage to do that by tea-time at the cricket………
It will be Tony’s testicles on toast for breakfast.
Signed Herr Singingrat. 👿

gaffers @633-
saw that too.
My hunch is Obi will keep his hands off this one and let the AG set it up, so can’t be accused of politicising the whole sordid saga.
Smart move.

Holder Torture Investigation Likely.

Contrary to White House wishes, Attorney General Eric Holder may push forward with a criminal investigation into the Bush administration’s harsh interrogation practices used on suspected terrorists.

Holder is considering whether to appoint a prosecutor and will make a final decision within the next few weeks, a Justice Department official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on a pending matter.

The Huffington Post

Here’s a map of the 2010 senate race. Giving the Democrats 7 seats with 7 tossups. Illinois will not vote Republican regardless. That will give them a 16 seat buffer in the senate. Assuming nothing else changes. Should everything keep going the Democrats way a lot more is possible. The Sotomayor nomination could bring the big Litono vote into play in Arizona. What about South Carolina. Can the sex scandal keep giving? The possibilities are endless.

http://innovation.cqpolitics.com/atlas/senate2010

Audra Shay, accused of endorsing racial slurs and hate, was elected to lead the Young Republicans yesterday. More shocking, reveals John Avlon, were the tactics: sexual innuendos, voter intimidation, near-fisticuffs.

They just keep making things easier and easier for the Democrats.
This is a good way to get the Black/Latinos votes out in 2010
The Daily Beast

First Dog has been on Insiders at least a couple of times that I can remember, and i don’t watch it every week. He has clearly usurped Tony Leonard as the funniest Footscray supporter on the planet.

Nails Chomsky and 34 of his erstwhile academic colleagues have written that nice Hillary Clinton a letter.

Each day that the illegal coup regime remains in office further
jeopardizes the capacity for Honduras to enjoy free and fair elections
in November, let alone in an earlier time frame. Elections currently
would take place under a coup regime that has suspended civil
liberties, and where the conditions for free elections do not exist.
Such an election would not have international legitimacy. Democracy
has to be restored before a legitimate election can take place. It is
also important to avoid making concessions of any kind to the coup
government, as it would create a terrible precedent, showing other
anti-democratically minded and power hungry individuals that it can be
worthwhile to carry out a military coup in order to advance their
political agendas.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405×18514

paddy!!!- bugger you
You caught me @ 3:30 pm (but it is my day off 😎 ) and there goes a glass of Pennyweight’s red – but it’s organic so it’s good for me.

Hussy – you forget that Hillary has to protect herself.
You can’t possibly expect her to face another sniper attack on a tarmac. Complete with school age children carrying posies of flowers. Be fair.
(btw- is the St in the middle a new addition – in memory of a certain ESW??)

paddy @652-
I don’t drink vinegar – if I can help it .

soy sauce however will do at a pinch 😉

659
Kirri – relieved? …
more like praisin’ the lord-
thought we were totally fucked, but apparently we were just misguided, but now I have seen the light.
Am off to shoot a moose and vote Liberal.
xx.

Jen, am rush-mailing you some autographed “Dolly” Downer posters, the one’s where he strapping on his stiletto. Fair dinkum, you’ll swoon. Mind you, as a Century 21 Liberal Aspirant you’re going to require all the inspiration you can get! 🙂

Jen, let’s do lunch, Alexander.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/newsblog/downer4.jpg
——————————————————————–
Seems Senator Al Franken has an entirely different set of “People Skills” than The Mad Monk of Warringah.

We did a walk-through of the swearing-in on Monday before the Senate opened. He (Senator Al) stopped everyone who was pushing a cart, pushing a broom—shakes hands and introduces himself. Most senators just avert their eyes and walk as quickly as they can.”

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/07/20/090720fa_fact_colapinto?printable=true

Well golly and gee whilickers Ecky- you have spoiled me for any other man, what with the possibility of all those goody gum-drops moments Zander and I could have shared-
bugger and fuck it all.
So,will justl have to go back to my boring old stayer Mr. G. Clooney.
:mrcool:

They’re running these sorts of ads earlier than expected.
That’s exactly what I like to see.
————————————————————————
Sotomayor Ads Hammer GOP Using Limbaugh “Bigot” Remarks
The Huffington Post

Now this is one of the more negative forward indicators I’ve seen for some time….

http://www.dryships.com/pages/report.asp

The message is bulk carrier charter rates are nose-diving again, after a few months of improvement. This must be treated as a warning sign for commodity exporters like Australia.

666

Blindo, forget the Baltic Dry Index, we are now watching the Baltic Wet Index! LOL

(Search on it, and use “Latvian” in the search term)

That’s classic stuff Jen: an upgrade to Goldman (!) and then a bout of short covering!

Which is, translated: Goldman steals a motza of taxpayers cash, and market players who’d punted on a massive market decline, go “oh shit” and start buying to cover their initial bet.

All typical stuff for bear markets I’m afraid.

In Japan, control of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly has been won by the left wing for the first time in 44 years.

Much bigger news is that the General Election has been called for the 30th of August in which the left wing Democratic Party of Japan is expected to win in a landslide over the Liberal Democratic Party which (apart from a brief period in which a 8-party coalition had power in 1993) has governed since 1955. (It is also possible that the Communist Party will become the third largest in the lower house.)

Yeh but Kirri -the bit I don’t get is that even one as ignorant as me knows that Goldman is on the nose – whoTF would want to invest in them?
And why???

GhostWhoVotes (a.k.a. the political tragic of our time) at 674

It is also possible that the Communist Party will become the third largest in the lower house.

Yay … political diversity!

Communist Party Propaganda

By Post Author

Indeed gaffers- he puts it so eloquently-
Sarah Palin is fucktard loser and Cheyney is a war criminal.
Only he says it so much more politiely 😉

Peter Garrett in 2007.
“I have always maintained and, indeed, committed myself to the notion that Australia should be nuclear free — that our country is as far into nuclear activities as it ever should be,” Garrett said in a debate over uranium policy at the 2007 Labor National Conference. “I have long been opposed to uranium mining, and I remain opposed to it. I am unapologetic about this. In fact, I am proud of it.” ”

😡

Jen

That is just one of those facts of life.
Garrett may well have his personal opinions but in a “membership of any club or organisation” the majority decisions are often the accepted policy that will be followed.
If 50 people are in a club and they vote 45-5 to raise the membership fees then one of the five who do not agree are quite free to tell everybody they do not agree with the fee hike, That does not mean there will be no fee hike, but if they want to remain a member and have a strong club then they must pay the new fee or get out.

I get that gaffers –
it’s just that I think Peter sold his soul to join Labor, and I like the people I vote for to stand on principle when it comes to their poitical decisions, even if that means not grabbing power. He would have won a senate seat for The Greens ( and possibly held the balance of power) and been able to fight for what he actually believes in instead of compromising his core values.
Loss of respect from this lttle green duck I’m afraid. (And I like the man)

jen,

I think that Peter Garrett and Bob Brown (for example) are two sides of the same coin. For there to be change within organisations that have power – ie, the Labor and Liberal parties – we need people like Garrett in the system. We also need people like Brown outside. Brown stretches the limits of debate. So, I have no problem with Garrett operating as part of the Labor machine.

fair enough David, I would agree with you if Garrett was able to use his influence to change the outcomes of the environmental policies of Labor to be more reflective of his own views- but instead he is simply rolled: Tamar Valley pulp mill, continued logging of old- growth forests and now uranium mining. He’s a waste of space , when he could have had a real impact if he had represented the Greens – whose policies reflect his own .

I don’t think the Greens need a rock star promoting their cause, the Labor party can incorporate an ego like that more successfully than the Greens. What the Greens need is another half a dozen Scott Ludlums in the senate, and a Jen. 🙂

Jen at 689

Things like that take time. You are not going to change Labor in the course of a term or two. But as a minister, think of all the little procedural things that Garret controls now, which he would have had no ability to control from the Greens. Sure, he has not much of an ability to sway the machine. But from within the machine there are many things that he can do that Brown cannot – just as there are many things that Brown can do from outside the machine that Garrett cannot.

I would also question what ‘real impact’ Garrett could have had on the uranium mining decision, the pulp mill decision and old growth forest decision from the Senate. Brown is there, after all, and him being there has not changed things. Why? Because even if he had the balance of power, having the balance of power does not help when Labor and Liberal combine – as they would on these issues.

David Gould – you are not allowing for the fact that there is a shift in the electorate towards wanting renewable energy and to stop some of the environmentally damaging practices such as logging, desal plants, pulp mill and so on. Lindsay Tanner’s seat in Melbourne is an obvious example. It is no longer a given that Labor and Liberals will combine on these if they are wedge issues in key electorates. IgF Garrett was with The Greens he would have pull in getting particularly younger voters on side, increasing the capacity for teh Greens to influence the outcomes. I’m not talking about next election,but rather an ongoing trend.

Jen,

That would not have helped with these particular issues. As to ongoing trends, if the Greens have to rely on a single high-profile candidate to keep that trend going, then they’re stuffed in the long term in any case.

There has been a shift in the electorate. But 80 per cent of people still put either the Liiberals or Labor as their first preference.

Climate change is the big issue, isn’t it? I’m writing a submission to the Senate on it in my spare time at the moment. Let us say that the research I’m doing on it doesn’t help me keep cheerful …

David – i am not saying that the Greens should rely on one high-profile candidate only, but as Labor is all too willing to acknowledge high profile candidates (Maxine McKew, Peter Garrett, Justin Madden, Mary Delahunty etc etc) does help win votes. If Garrett had stood for the lower house in Melb for example, Tanner would probably be history- (just a hypothetical..)
As for climate change… we’re pretty well fucked by all accounts – and Labor’s policies are not helping at all.

Just ducked over the fence and have come running straight back. The vitriol is incredible. Long Live 101!

Comments are closed.