CenterDoug's Obama Blog

It's Still There, SUE

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:00:38 EST

I'm not sure why your full blog is not coming up for you, because I can access it from the CITA site administrative function. It's still up on MyBO, Sue, including today's post announcing it had been erased.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

Happy Thanksgiving, All!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:27:31 EST

A quick note on Turkey Day, thanking everyone on this blog site for interesting, human, reasoned and delightful posts in the year since our precious Primo Prez got elected. Happy Thanksgiving!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

President Obama, For 8 Great Years!

CR Now an Administrator of CITA

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:32:47 EST

Hello, CITANS! Because both FIB and I are slightly blogged out, I've asked CR to co-administer the CITA site while we take a little blog vacation. We'll both continue reading and posting to the blog as we see fit, but I, for one, need a vacation from current events for at least the holiday season. I have a novel to write and a God to worship and Handel to sing and a State Senator candidate to drive door to door, and I just don't want contentiousness in my life at Christmas. Believe me, I'm not going away forever and neither is FIB. Congratulations and Gracias for the incredibly significant posts we've all shared in this monumental year in American politics.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

I've Been Pondering

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:38:43 EST

This Afghanistan business deeply saddens my heart because our involvement there will never achieve its goals to curb terrorism by being terrorists ourselves. Things just do not work that way now, and I believe they never have, in the long run, though our histories full of victorious battles and successful economies in the short-run aftermath of battle would lead us to believe there are winners made from wars. All of it bruises mankind's collective soul. It always has done so.

If we want to curb terrorism in Afghanistan, we need to systematically withdraw our troops, except for those many remaining to protect our nationals and the general populace, and replace them with double or triple the number of humanitarian aid workers, bringing food and clothing and education and medicine and doctors and nurses and teachers and agricultural specialists, all stamped "Made in the USA," to these beleagured people.

If I were living on the ground as an Afghani today, I think I'd understand why the jihadists always have new converts, and, thus, more human bombs. I certainly would feel oppressed by the American presence there, and be more than willing to fight the West . . . because the West has truly victimized Afghanistan for millennia, for whatever reason, whatever invader. Money and weapons and military might, as aid, in the utter corruption of Afghanistan, past and present, achieves nothing for the Afghanis. They just go from misery to misery. They must be very tired of it.

If we want to turn around this situation and "win" the War on Terror, we need to show our best 21st Century American colors to the citizens on the ground in Afghanistan (and Iraq, and everywhere else) and send to them compassion, mutuality, appropriateness, innovation, leadership and justice, not just more Westerners with their guns and money. Then, perhaps, more people in that chaotic country might say "NO!" to terrorism in the future.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Honduras Accord Fails

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:51:58 EST

Not surprisingly, the signed accord leading to a shared governance between President Zelaya and coupmonger Micheletti has failed, after a week. Both sides are claiming it is the other side's fault. The State Department is still pressing for a "unity" government until Zelaya's term runs out in January. While this strategy by State makes sense, nothing in Honduras or most of Central America makes sense: maybe it is time to be "loco."

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Victory in Honduras May Be Possible

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:17:01 EDT

WashPost reports today that an agreement between reps of Zelaya and Micheletti has been signed with the help of the US State Department:

Honduras' ousted president, government sign pact

By JUAN ZAMORANO
The Associated Press
Friday, October 30, 2009 7:19 AM

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Representatives of ousted President Manuel Zelaya finally reached an agreement with the interim government that could help end the monthslong dispute over Honduras' June 28 coup, and possibly pave the way for Zelaya's reinstatement.

The Organization of American States announced the deal late Thursday but did not release a text of the accord, in which Zelaya appears to have agreed to throw his fate into the hands of a congress that has largely supported interim President Roberto Micheletti.

"We are optimistic because Hondurans can reach agreements that are fulfilled," Zelaya told Radio Globo, an opposition station. "This signifies my return to power in the coming days, and peace for Honduras."

The agreement, if it holds, could represent a much-needed foreign policy victory for the United States, which dispatched a senior team of diplomats to coax both sides back to the table.

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called it "an historic agreement," noting "this is a big step forward for the inter-American system."

The agreement appears to soften Micheletti's previous stance that the Supreme Court - which has already rejected Zelaya's reinstatement - decide the issue. Instead, the high court would make a recommendation, but the final decision would apparently be left to a vote in Congress.

The agreement would create a power-sharing government and bind both sides to recognize the Nov. 29 presidential elections. The international community had threatened to not recognize the vote if Zelaya is not reinstated, but on Thursday, OAS Political Affairs Secretary Victor Rico told reporters that "the United States and the OAS will accompany Honduras in the elections" as a result of the accord.

Clinton said the elections would go forward and the U.S. will work with Honduras to ensure the election is legitimate.

The deal was greeted by all sides as a victory in the long-running dispute that has polarized the country and mired it in diplomatic isolation.

"Tonight I am pleased to announce that ... I authorized my negotiating team to sign a final accord that marks the beginning of the end to the political situation in the country," Micheletti said in a televised address.

The team of U.S. diplomats had worked over the last two days to coax both sides back to the table.

"This is a great moment for Honduras, and its people should be proud that Hondurans have achieved this accord," said Tom Shannon, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, who arrived with the U.S. delegation Wednesday.

Rico said "they (the negotiators) are the heroes of Honduran democracy ... and this is a great moment for Honduras." The OAS had tried for months to bring the two sides together.

Micheletti called the pact a "significant concession" on his part, and said that one point would require foreign powers to drop sanctions or aid cutoffs imposed after the coup, and send observers to the elections.

The Supreme Court has already rejected Zelaya's return, saying he was replaced as president on June 28 because he violated the Constitution by pressing for a vote on potential constitutional reforms. Zelaya's opponents accuse him of attempting to end a ban on presidential term limits - something the leftist leader denies.

Zelaya, who is holed up at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the capital, has said Congress should make the decision on his reinsatement, even though he currently enjoys the support of only about a fifth of the legislators.

Zelaya was flown out of the country by soldiers on June 28, but slipped back in Sept. 21. It was unclear if he would be allowed to leave the Brazilian Embassy under the deal.

The interim government has vowed to arrest Zelaya if he leaves the diplomatic mission, and filed a complaint Thursday at the U.N.'s highest court accusing Brazil of meddling in Honduran affairs by giving Zelaya refuge. The International Court of Justice declined to comment on whether it would hear the case, and Brazil's Foreign Ministry said the government was evaluating the complaint.

Brazil supports Zelaya's fight to return to power and has not pressured him or his supporters to leave.

Earlier on Thursday, police fired tear gas to disperse a march of about 1,000 Zelaya supporters as they neared the hotel where the talks were taking place.

ObamaDoug Notes:

I sure hope so, but I'm also not holding my breath.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

I'll Tell You What!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:46:38 EDT

I've had swine flu and am only now getting out of alternatively a) freezing to death and b) too much clammy sweating to check CITA, but this crazy blog has to be the most interesting, well-rounded, human thing going! Gracias to all!

ObamaDoug

Gender Basketball Politics: Ridiculous!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:18:21 EDT

A WashPost article today--despite the rationality of the writer--just makes me zoom ahead with angry craziness and, I'll tell you what, I am getting over-tired by the craziness of American politics and current events. To be honest, I do not know how much longer I'm willing to commit to paying attention to idiocy, especially as I have a novel in mind. I commit to being involved in the way I have been until the signing of the Healthcare Reform Bill, but, frankly, my priorities, beyond an immense respect for Primo Prez, are moving elsewhere. Of course, I will work again for his re-election. Here's the article, from the WashPost:

Obama vs. the full PC press

By Kathleen Parker
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

As if President Obama didn't have enough on his plate with health care and Afghanistan, he's now faced with the problem that can't be solved: Women.

Sorry, Mr. President, but we coulda toldja.

But no, Barack Obama courted the girls, promised them equality in all things, and now has excluded them from an all-male game of basketball.

Sorry, ladies, but we coulda toldja.

Not all women are upset, of course. Some on his estrogen-rich staff have shrugged off the faux-scandal about the now-infamous game and point to Obama's inclusion of women where it matters most.

Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett noted the several high-level female appointments, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Also, the administration boasts a 50-50 gender split among White House employees.

But a few women find the president's preference for guy company in his extracurricular life problematic. Basketball in this instance isn't only about shooting hoops; it's about access to the president. As the powder-room buzz goes, Obama may as well have tacked a sign over the clubhouse door: "No girls allowed."

Just as soon as I finish this yawn, I'm going to rustle up some righteous indignation. Here goes: How dare he!

On the other hand, how dare he otherwise? Basketball is a contact sport. Wouldn't we find a presidential body brush with a congresswoman at least equally problematic? How about the likelihood that few women in the White House or Congress could play well enough to make it fun for the president? Or should we have Obama play down for the girls? Should he simply not get to play ball as president?

Life is complicated . . . but not really. Obama likes to play basketball, and one can only amuse oneself alone with a ball and a hoop for so long. It is natural that he would summon a few guys to play with him. Must even a president's recreational time be politically correct?

Smack dab on center court is the elephant no one wants to acknowledge: that men and women are different; that sometimes even heterosexuals prefer same-sex company; and that, as a rule, women and men are unequal in matters physical. With rare exceptions, the gender-neutrality trope that drives much of the Democratic Party agenda is, was and ever shall be -- false.

Sad. Depressing. Frustrating. Maddening. Call it what you wish, but it is still true.

Obama's basketball game, thus, has become a convenient metaphor for an inconvenient truth. Generally speaking, guys prefer to play ball with other guys, just as women prefer to form book clubs with other women. That's not because women don't like men (and vice versa) but because when relaxing, women mostly want to drink wine together. And talk about men. I don't know what men do on the basketball court that is so compelling, but they apparently need it, and I don't.

That skittering sound you hear is the scurrying of a thousand stilettos as women scramble to blog their protest. Wait, wait, I feel another yawn coming on. Is there anything more exhausting than trying to explain the obvious?

None of what's true or obvious precludes rational approaches to fair practices or tweaks to make life more workable and pleasant. But, though we celebrate female athletes, absolute equality isn't likely until we alter the hormonal composition of the universe.

Or desirable?

Honest women will have to admit that they helped Obama become president not only because of the policies he promised but also because they rather fancied him. That famed jocularity he shares with men more than women may be cause for criticism in the Halls of Harrumph, but it's called nectar in the jungle. His guyness is his jump shot.

Not to suggest that men ever do or say anything right, but women peeved by the president's perceived masculine insularity might benefit from my father's advice when, as a young girl, I complained about life's unfairness. "Don't complain about the game," he said. "Learn the game and play it better." There's more than one way to score a point, in other words, and history has never suggested women are unclever.

If absolute parity of access to the president is essential to women's sense of well-being, perhaps they should create a bowling league of their own and invite the president to play. I hear he has a bowling alley in his house. And, if memory serves, women may expect to prevail.

kathleenparker@washpost.com

ObamaDoug Notes:

The fact--thank you Kathleen--that someone at WashPost needs to defend Primo Prez for choosing to play basketball with his guy friends who love to play basketball is so strange and crazy to me! The fact that Olympia Snowe's "Trigger Tactics" might eliminate the public option while seeming to support it, really demonstrates the power of women in this country in a far more important way than whether or not Barack Obama plays basketball with men! Yikes.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Evo Morales of Bolivia on Honduras

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:06:44 EDT

The rating of my personal blog has gone from 10 to 5 in two weeks, which perhaps is due to my increasingly leftist stance, but, oh, well, here is a report about a speech by Evo Morales of Bolivia on the state of Latin America today, before a meeting of ALBA, and I agree with almost all of it. It might be time for the State Department to get it, since, honestly, we really are practically in the same place, governmentally, as most of Latin America: it's just our minds that think we are not, and a ton more money: (from HONDURAS OYE)

>Morales: Social Movements Represent Change

Escrito por Ray

sábado, 17 de octubre de 2009

17 de octubre de 2009, 11:53Imagen de muestraCochabamba, Bolivia Oct 17 (Prensa Latina)

Bolivian president, Evo Morales affirmed that Latin American social movements represent the vanguard of the struggle for the liberation of the peoples. “That is why the right and empire counter attack with fury to promote the overthrowing of progressive governments in the region, “the president said during a speech in the First Summit of Social Movements of ALBA countries and leaders from about 40 countries that is being held in parallel to the 7th Forum of presidents and delegations of the integrated bloc.

Morales accompanied by his Ecuadorian counterpart, Rafael Correa pointed out that Latin American peoples have begun a deep process of economic, social and political transformation in defense of the rights of the Mother Earth (Pachamama) and all natural resources.

Referring to the proposal of a Trade Treaty of the Peoples that Bolivia presented against the US FCC he said that the pioneer of these struggles was the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

During the 1st Summit of Social Movements with 700 delegates from Latina America, United States, Europe, Asia and Africa Morales said the continent is living historical transformations such as in his country where democracy in backed by the votes of the peoples conscience.

Referring to the coup in Honduras with chancellor Patricia Rodas Morales said it was an example of capitalist and imperialist attacks and called for the immediate restitution of the constitutionally elected president, Manuel Zelaya and explained that social movements are decisive in this struggle.

He also attacked Washington for installing military bases in Colombia that represent a serious threat to peace and democracy in the region.

Morales added that the Summit of Social Movements should be a mechanism to enrich public policies of the ALBA nations.

The Ecuadorian president, for his part, warned that social movements in Bolivia must be clear about the opposition, more so during elections, since they will use all in their power to attack the government headed by Morales.

“Imperialism is no fool, the press is corrupt, social groups and even religious groups continue working against. We must not confide nor think that change is irreversible; we are watchful. The bourgeois and oligarchic press are going to attack,” he noted.

ObamaDoug Notes:

I am a capitalist with leftist leanings, obviously, and am happy that leaders in Latin Americs are speaking about human justice issues for all their countrymen, not just their elites. When does "WE" in a political speech mean "all of us" and not just the people who own everything (as in the US, where 400 families own more then the 90% of the people underneath them economically? Really! What a crazy statistic, yet true!

Time to up taxes on the very wealthy again, as in pre-Reaganomics!

Time for the US to recognize that leftist governments in Latin America are NECESSARY to our well-being and security, as countries with 70-90% poverty-level populations are currently disasters waiting to happen (and those disasters will shoot right up to us, since we depend on the work of those peoples for much of our wealth!)

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

News Discouraging from Honduras

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:56:47 EDT

According to Just Foreign Policy, the coupmongers haven't stopped being dazed and confused, probably because they're still living in a 1950's haze and never took interpersonal communications while at The School of Americas:

"A negotiator for de facto Honduran leader Micheletti said no deal was reached between the two opposed sides Wednesday, contradicting other officials, CNN reports. Ninety percent of an agreement to end the country's ongoing political crisis has been reached, Micheletti negotiator Vilma Morales said at a news conference Wednesday, but some key points remained to be worked out."

ObamaDoug Notes:

I wish they and all of us would grow more quickly into the 21st century.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Things Are Changing!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:51:24 EDT

The WashPost had an interesting article today on the prospects for passing a healthcare bill now:

Dan Balz's Take How Passing Health-Care Reform Could Change the Political Landscape

By Dan Balz
With the Senate Finance Committee vote on Tuesday, the default position for health care has flipped. From the will-it-or-won't-it-pass drama of late summer, there is now a growing presumption among Democrats and a number of leading Republicans that Congress will approve some kind of bill by the end of the year.

The path to final passage is not simple. The fragile and disparate coalition of Democratic liberals and moderates (and perhaps a Republican or two) needed to pass the legislation will be stretched to the breaking point. There will be ample opportunities for the coalition to crack apart. Nothing is yet guaranteed, given the wide gulf that still exists over some key provisions in the bill.

But failure to pass a bill now would be more of a surprise than passage. All year, White House officials have argued that failure on health care is not an option, given the debacle that followed the collapse of health care legislation in 1994. Democrats have gotten that message and are now grinding forward toward a conclusion. White House officials believe President Obama is likely to get the signing ceremony he has long hoped for.

What then are the potential political implications for the president, his party and minority Republicans if the year ends with the president hosting a big signing ceremony to herald a new era for the American health care system? A big win for the Democrats? Despair among Republicans? Not surprisingly, Democrats and Republicans have sharply different expectations for what may happen.

Democrats assume substantial political benefits, both for getting the job done and for changes that they believe the public will see as improvements in the kind of health care coverage they have. They believe the passage of a health care bill will stand with other landmark achievements that have come under Democratic presidents, such as Social Security and Medicare.

Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist, predicts that, at a minimum, there will be a huge, short-term benefit for the president and his party. "Big social problems create big political and policy challenges, but also huge political payoffs," he said.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who was in the Clinton White House when health care failed in 1994, long has argued that there is another potential benefit, which is that Democrats can prove that they are capable of governing and making Washington work.

Given control of the White House and their big majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats should be able to enact their agenda, but the public has come to expect gridlock rather than progress and this has contributed to anger at Washington. "I think that there will be a general sense of satisfaction that we got something done," White House senior adviser David Axelrod said.

Democrats also believe that Republicans' near-unanimous opposition to the bill will provide a double benefit. Not only will Democrats be seen as the responsible, governing party, they argue, but the GOP's image as a party on the sidelines, unwilling or incapable of contributing to a solution to one of the country's most long-standing problems, will be reinforced.

The president, after months of being second-guessed about his handling of the debate and questions about what he has accomplished, may see a boost in his own personal standing as well. White House officials have told Democrats for months that the more popular Obama is, the more their 2010 prospects will be enhanced -- and that a health care bill will be a major positive step toward that future.

All that assumes not only that a bill passes, but also that in its implementation, voters see changes that they like. Democrats believe that in the short term, that is likely to be true, because some of the first changes implemented are insurance reforms widely popular with the public. Provisions that may be more problematic in their impact do not take effect as quickly.

Republicans see the environment far differently. "The sugar high from a signing ceremony just might be as good as it gets for President Obama and Democrats," said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist. "It could be all downhill from there."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich believes Obama and the Democrats are heading for major problems if they add a health care bill, with all its complexities, on top of the cost of bailing out the economy. The Democrats have ignored warning signs from the public to go slower. Now, Gingrich argues, the health care bill could further harm the economy and strain health system to the breaking point.

"I think the odds are they'll pass something and I think it will be to the left of [the Finance Committee bill]," Gingrich said. "I think it's beyond trouble."

Republicans see voters potentially recoiling against legislation that would add another $800 billion or more to the federal budget. They discount Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Finance Committee bill won't blow a bigger hole in the deficit, and say the health care legislation will be cost the government hundreds of billions more in the years not covered by the 10-year window. They also argue that the final product will be more expensive, with fewer cost controls, than the Finance Committee bill.

"Even if the CBO blesses this bill, Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress will own the explosion of spending and the federal deficit at the ballot box in 2010 and 2012," Madden argued.

Other Republicans sees the potential for the Democratic coalition to fracture further as the debate nears a conclusion. Liberal and labor union opposition to the Finance Committee bill could collide with the House Blue Dogs and Senate moderates. If, in the middle of these final negotiations, Democrats lose the Virginia and New Jersey governors' races next month, the party could emerge more deeply divided.

Republicans also believe that, in the final months of the legislative debate, there will be growing criticism of the bill, particularly from some of the industry stakeholders who have generally held their fire until now. That could divide the country further and make Americans more skeptical about the implications of a new health care system.

"I'm not sure you can ever resolve that debate or discussion," Axelrod said hours after the Finance Committee vote. "At this point, I think you have to enact it and implement it well. I think people are prepared for us to enact it. I think there are elements of it that will come on line quickly on which those who supported it will be able to campaign on next fall."

Neither side can be too confident in their assumptions. The Bush White House and Republicans anticipated major benefits from passage of a prescription drug benefit for senior citizens. Initial reaction was negative. Even when opinion turned more positive, other issues proved more powerful and politically costly in Bush's final years. The same could happen next year, especially if the unemployment is high.

The fact that opponents and proponents now think passage is more likely than impasse marks another important step in the battle over health care. But it is clear that the arguments will not cease with the possible enactment of a bill. The debate will shift to a new arena, but it will not subside for some time.

ObamaDoug Notes:

Gracias, Dan Balz. It is an important time in this debate and our work is not yet done, but this sounds a note of promise. We will have a healthcare reform bill to sign in December!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

October 15th is Honduras Day

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:08:14 EDT

The world is holding its breath, while President Zelaya and the OAS have announced that the current coupmongering government of Honduras needs to reinstitute Zelaya as President of Honduras. All the blogs are holding their breath while the stupid coupmongerers tear gas the Brazillian Embassy and floodlight the place all night, tactics they probably learned in the School of the Americas. Things are extremely wierd in Tegucigalpa right now: the whole world is waiting while Micheletti is singing the same old tune. Let us see what happens. Hondurans are organizing, fomenting, and even Michie's cabinet is starting to make public statements about how Zelaya needs to be reinstituted. Hope so.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Honduras: Black and Blue from the Coup

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:16:59 EDT

I am posting the following in its entirety because it is a firsthand account of the psychological terrorism now being inflicted on the Honduran peoples by their illegitimate, coupmongering military. This search raid on a Garifuna (sorry FIB) Hospital is exactly the kind of act the generals would have learned at the defunct School of Americas in Georgia when they were colonels: inflict terror to shut up dissent of the masses.

Reminds me of what the former President's administration inflicted on us. His advisors probably taught at the school. This activity (visible and shocking show of armed strength can terrorize without actually killing anyone) is right out of the Nazi Party's tactics in its rise to power in Germany in the 30s. The complete disregard for human rights and social justice is the worst form of totalitarianism.

Read this and weep for the Hondurans (from the Quixote Center News) (underlining is mine):

Three patrols from the Honduran Army raids Garifuna Hospital

We write this in order to denounce that on October 7th at 6am three army patrols broke down the doors and stormed the first Garifuna hospital in Honduras, located on the Atlantic Coast.

Alexy Lanza of La Voz de los de Abajo interviewed Dr. Luther Castillo, a young Garifuna doctor and community organizer who is the founder and director of the hospital that is bears the name "For the Health of Our People" (Luaga Hatuadi Waduheno in the Garifuna language).

The hospital and clinic is dedicated to providing the most important health services to the indigenous communities isolated on the Atlantic Coast. After graduating from the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba in 2005, Dr. Castillo returned to the coast of Honduras and led the construction of the first "Garifuna hospital" which now serves 20,000 people in the area. The hospital opened in December 2007 and Dr. Castillo was named "Honduran Doctor of the Year for 2007 by the International Rotary Clubs of Tegucigalpa. Since the military coup on June 28, 2009, Dr. Castillo and the hospital have been subject to many threats of closure and other attacks by the military.

AL: Please tell me Dr. Luther what happened yesterday, on the morning of Wednesday October 7th?

Dr. Castillo: I am extremely worried about the situation at the hospital. As you well know, the repression, intimidation, extra-judicial executions, the fabrication of criminal charges - the grave violations of human rights against the resistance movement against the coup have been worsening. Yesterday three carloads of army troops arrived, broke down the doors to the hospital and searched everything.

AL: What time did this occur?

Dr. Castillo: It was about 6 in the morning which is the time of shift change for the doctors. The doctor who has stayed all night goes to rest and between 6-7 am the other shift arrives. The army took advantage of this to enter the hospital. The most alarming thing is that they used the pretext of a raid in search of drugs; they said that they had received information that there were narcotraficantes at the hospital.

AL: Narcotics traffic at the first hospital in service to the indigenous communities. What was that about?

Dr. Castillo: Intimidation. They want to wipe us out, they want to shut us up. We have been strongly denouncing the coup d’etat and we are a part of this people in resistance that refuse to accept a military coup. After the coup they took away our standing as a hospital and reclassified us as a medical center. We had achieved the classification of hospital due to the recognition we received for the high quality and commitment of our work. President Zelaya, through our work, advocated for us and that was how we were established as a hospital. So what is happening now is that they want to intimidate us and destoy us, but we won’t give them that pleasure.

AL: Why do you think they are doing this?

Dr. Castillo: Look, what we think is that they want to use this fabrication to hurt the reputation and all of the work that we have been doing in favor of the people. We are worried that they will come again and confiscate the medical equipment that we have been able to obtain through donations from different organizations and people from around the world. So we are denouncing this, to alert everyone who knows our work.

AL: Tell me, did they arrest anyone during the raid? What is the situation in the hospital now? Is it closed or open?

Dr. Castillo: Fortunately they did not arrest anyone, but we are in constant fear that they might come back and takeover the hospital. It is not closed but continues open and we continue to do our work as doctors taking health to our people.

This was a short interview with Dr. Luther Castillo on October 9th. The diagnosis we can make from these events is that it makes very obvious the plan of the coup government to fabricate criminal charges against the leaders of the popular organizations that are an essential part of the resistance movement against the military coup in Honduras. This is a common practice that different repressive, dictatorial and right wing governments in Latin America have practiced. - To intimidate, to silence, to repress, to fabricate charges so that later they can wipe out the resistance movement that has popular support.

We call n the national and international community to join in denouncing any act of repression that arises from this incident. This has been an act of intimidation not only against the medical team of the hospital but against all of the communities that it serves.

We ask that letters be sent to Congressional representatives and Senators expressing not only our concern and outrage but also demanding an end to the violations of human rights by the golpistas and demanding the return to constitutionality of Honduras. We demand that those guilty of all these crimes against the Honduran people related to the coup d’etat be punished.

We Demand:
The immediate return of President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales
The return to constitutionality
No to the illegal elections called by the de facto government.
Respect for the popular vote - Yes to the national constituent assembly.
Stop the violations of human rights.

Honduras belongs to all the people and no just to the oligarchy -- we will struggle to the end!

Because solidarity is the tenderness of the people. WE ARE ALL HONDURAS!

ObamaDoug Notes:

It is particularly clear from this kind of intimidation (especially of the FIRST hospital to serve the dwindling Garifuna peoples, an INDIGENOUS group which had never been offered the benefits of Honduran culture before Zelaya) that the coupmongers have no intention of relinquishing power to a more legitimate governance. In the short and long-term, the military has gone to war with its own peoples.

How alarming! Honduras is a disaster waiting to happen which could blow all of Latin America (and the whole hemisphere) into division. This hemisphere is too connected and currently too economically feeble to countenance the existence of a rogue state committing terroristic atrocities on its own citizens to stifle dissent and centralize its power through fear.

I hope our Primo Prez and SOS Clinton still have a good screwdriver or two to tighten and turn the wretched Honduran screw. Turning and tightening needs to happen right now, I'd say, to prevent civil war in that poor country, which would be disastrous for us all on the toppling ladder of the Western Hemisphere.

Ay, Chihuahua! We need to pull together in solidarity for the Honduran Democracy, for human rights, for diplomacy over forceful manipulation, and for the dignity of this hemisphere's indigenous peoples! Honduras is a nexus for both divisive disaster and the hope of greater unity among north, central and southern Americans.

Please, Lord, we need a miraculous turning around down there!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

One Step at a Time: Gracias, Primo Prez!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:07:21 EDT

The WashPost today has an excellent update on our Primo Prez's stance on Human Rights for GLBTs. I have heard so many people on the blogs bitching that our man has not fulfilled his campaign promises and I keep writing back, "How much did you accomplish in the last 8 months to change America?" He's just getting started, and he's doing it exactly the right way, by knowing his own values, by listening to others, and by knowing when the time is right to effect dramatic 21st century change. People who bitch about the time it takes to change a nation or a world of human beings are not involved in CHANGE; they're armchair-complainers who need to get off their butts, hit the streets, and knock on doors for Human Rights for All Americans! Here's the WashPost update:

As Pressure Grows, Obama Addresses Gay Rights Group
He Promises to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

By Michael D. Shear, Anne E. Kornblut and Ed O'Keefe
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 11, 2009

President Obama, struggling to keep promises he made during last year's campaign, renewed his pledge to end the military's ban on openly gay service members as he appeared at a fundraising dinner for the nation's largest gay advocacy group on Saturday night.

"I will end 'don't ask, don't tell,' " Obama said at the Human Rights Campaign dinner. Recounting the ongoing effort to bring full civil rights to gays and lesbians, the president said: "I'm here with a simple message: I'm here with you in that fight."

Obama did not offer specifics on how he would advance the cause of allowing gays to serve openly in the military, or of same-sex marriage, two areas where his inaction as president have disappointed many gay supporters.

But on the eve of a major gay rights rally in Washington, an event aimed in part at pressuring Obama and Congress, the president was met with a standing ovation and resounding cheers. Obama acknowledged the frustration of some activists, portraying himself as a forceful ally in a lengthy fight. And while he said that gay rights are only one part of his agenda, which is loaded down with domestic and international challenges, he said that would not deter him.

"My commitment to you is unwavering, even as we wrestle with these enormous problems," Obama said. "Do not doubt the direction we are headed and the destination we will reach."

Just days after winning the presidency, Obama vowed that he would be "a fierce advocate for gay and lesbian Americans."

But nine months later, many in the community say he has done little to make good on that statement. They accuse the president of putting their agenda on the back burner -- behind Wall Street regulation, health care, climate change and a series of foreign-policy issues. And although his sweeping rhetoric is appreciated, many are concerned that he has so far offered little beyond the symbolic and the incremental.

Many gay rights activists are disappointed that Obama has not moved forward on two major issues: ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, under which gay soldiers can be discharged for their sexual orientation; and his failure to work toward ending the Defense of Marriage Act.

"As someone who supported Barack Obama early on during the primaries, and raised nearly $50,000 for him during the campaign, it gives me no pleasure to burst the pink champagne bubbles of hope," John Aravosis, a gay rights activist and popular blogger, wrote in the Huffington Post. "But President Obama's track record on keeping his gay promises has been fairly abominable."

Protesters gathered outside the Washington Convention Center before the event began, some demanding that Obama take greater action on gay rights, others carrying apocalyptic warnings about the fate of the country should he do so. "America is doomed," one sign read.

But inside the $250-a-plate black-tie event, some 3,000 guests from around the country were in a festive mood. Pop singer Lady Gaga and cast members from the Fox comedy "Glee" performed at the dinner. C-SPAN broadcast Obama's portion of the event live -- one sign of the interest surrounding his first address to a big gay rights gathering as president.

To date, Obama has delayed action on gays in the military, saying his generals are reviewing the issue. And although he has said he supports an eventual repeal of the marriage act, his Justice Department has defended the statute in court, saying it is the agency's responsibility to do so until Congress changes the law.

Taken together, those things have angered many gays and lesbians, who have been among Obama's most ardent supporters. Some, in sharp contrast to pro-Obama rallies during the campaign, have begun to stage protests to demand action by the administration.

Obama's top domestic policy aides insist that the president is committed to an equality agenda for gays and lesbians. They note that he has moved quickly on smaller issues that did not require congressional approval.

The president extended some benefits to the spouses of gay federal employees in June while voicing support for a House bill that grants them other rights. The State Department now allows married gay and lesbian couples to obtain passports with their married names. And the Census Bureau has agreed to release data on same-sex marriages.

But Obama is also clearly mindful of the politics of the combustible issue. Opposition remains strong in much of the country to extending rights to gays, especially where marriage is concerned.

House Democrats introduced a bill last month that would repeal the marriage act, but polls consistently show that opponents of legalizing same-sex marriage outnumber supporters. Twenty-nine states have banned same-sex marriage.

Aides have signaled that efforts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act will have to take a back seat to other domestic priorities during the president's first term. That is an indication Obama wants to avoid the mistakes that Bill Clinton made when he attempted to allow gays to serve in the military during the first days of his presidency.

But Obama has also repeatedly dangled the promise of action in his own comments on the issues. At a White House gathering of gay and lesbian activists in the East Room in June, Obama confronted the disappointment directly but pleaded for more time to make good.

"I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps," the president said to sustained applause. "We've been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."

The White House distributed tickets to gay families to attend the annual Easter Egg Roll this year, hosted a Gay Pride Month celebration and will hold a series of public forums to help develop a national HIV/AIDS strategy. And the administration is taking steps to end a policy that prohibits HIV-positive foreigners from entering the country.

Obama also awarded the Medal of Freedom posthumously to Harvey Milk, the San Francisco supervisor and gay activist. The president picked John Berry to serve as director of the Office of Personnel Management, making him the highest-ranking openly gay official in U.S. history.

One victory that appears near is the passage of hate-crimes legislation that would broaden the definition of federal hate crimes to include attacks based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The House passed the legislation last week. Final action in the Senate is expected this week.

Similar bills languished for years under the weight of veto threats from President George W. Bush and Republican opposition in the Congress. But Obama has said he will eagerly sign the bill, which has become a centerpiece of the gay civil rights agenda.

Staff writers Ben Pershing and Jason Horowitz contributed to this report.

ObamaDoug Notes:

For the last 40 years, I spent most of my time effecting change in the classroom by turning students around, empowering them to empower themselves through education and human justice. This takes time, time, time. Our President knows this, and in his calm and deliberate, thoughtful and present way, Primo Prez, by his example and his actions and his words, is moving this country effectively, every day. Of course, many people hate change. I'd bet that doesn't stop the Obama Administration!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Michael Moore's Second Thought: GOBAMA!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:14:06 EDT

Michael Moore wrote a letter yesterday that, while congratulating our Primo Prez for the Nobel, also suggested it was time he earned it by getting us out of these devestating wars. Today, he thought twice, with the help of his wife, and wrote this:

Get Off Obama's Back ...second thoughts from Michael Moore

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

Friends,

Last night my wife asked me if I thought I was a little too hard on Obama in my letter yesterday congratulating him on his Nobel Prize. "No, I don't think so," I replied. I thought it was important to remind him he's now conducting the two wars he's inherited. "Yeah," she said, "but to tell him, 'Now earn it!'? Give the guy a break -- this is a great day for him and for all of us."

I went back and re-read what I had written. And I listened for far too long yesterday to the right wing hate machine who did what they could to crap all over Barack's big day. Did I -- and others on the left -- do the same?

We are weary, weary of war. The trillions that will have gone to these two wars have helped to bankrupt us as a nation -- financially and morally. To think of all the good we could have done with all that money! Two months of the War in Iraq would pay for all the wells that need to be dug in the Third World for drinking water! Obama is moving too slow for most of us -- but he needs to know we are with him and we stand beside him as he attempts to turn eight years of sheer madness around. Who could do that in nine months? Superman? Thor? Mitch McConnell?

Instead of waiting to see what the president is going to do, we all need to be pro-active and push the agenda that we want to see enacted. What keeps us from forming the same local groups we put together to get out the vote last November? C'mon! We're the majority now -- the majority by a significant margin! We call the shots -- and we need to tell this wimpy Congress to get busy and do what we say -- or else.

All I ask of those who voted for Obama is to not pile on him too quickly. Yes, make your voice heard (his phone number is 202-456-1414). But don't abandon the best hope we've had in our lifetime for change. And for God's sake, don't head to bummerville if he says or does something we don't like. Do you ever see Republicans behave that way? I mean, the Right had 20 years of Republican presidents and they still couldn't get prayer in the public schools, or outlaw abortion, or initiate a flat tax or put our Social Security into the stock market. They did a lot of damage, no doubt about that, but on the key issues that the Christian Right fought for, they came up nearly empty handed. No wonder they've been driven crazy lately. They'll never have it as good again as they've had it since Reagan took office.

But -- do you ever see them looking all gloomy and defeated? No! They keep on fighting! Every day. Our side? At the first sign of wavering, we just pack up our toys and go home.

So, at least for this weekend, let us celebrate what people elsewhere are celebrating -- that America now has a sane and smart man in the White House, a man who truly wants a world at peace for his two daughters.

Many, for the past couple days (yes, myself included), have grumbled, "What has he done to earn this prize?" How 'bout this:

The simple fact that he was elected was reason enough for him to be the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Because on that day the murderous actions of the Bush/Cheney years were totally and thoroughly rebuked. One man -- a man who opposed the War in Iraq from the beginning -- offered to end the insanity. The world has stood by in utter horror for the past eight years as they watched the descendants of Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson light the fuse of our own self-destruction. We flipped off the nations on this planet by abandoning Kyoto and then proceeded to melt eight more years worth of the polar ice caps. We invaded two nations that didn't attack us, failed to find the real terrorists and, in effect, ignited our own wave of terror. People all over the world wondered if we had gone mad.

And if all that wasn't enough, the outgoing Joker presided over the worst global financial collapse since the Great Depression.

So, yeah, at precisely 11:00pm ET on November 4, 2008, Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. And the 66 million people who voted for him won it, too. By the time he took the stage at midnight ET in the Grant Park Historic Hippie Battlefield in downtown Chicago, billions of people around the globe were already breathing a huge sigh of relief. It was as if, in that instant, one man did bring the promise of peace to the world -- and most were ready to go wherever he wanted to go to achieve that end. Never before had the election of one man made every other nation feel like they had won, too. When you've got billions of people ready, willing and able to join a cause like this, well, a prize in Oslo is the least that you deserve.

One other thought. The Peace Prize historically has been given to those who have worked to throw off the yoke of racial discrimination and segregation (Martin Luther King, Jr., Desmond Tutu). I think the Nobel committee, in awarding Obama the prize, was also rewarding the fact that something profound had happened in a nation that was founded on racial genocide, built on racist slavery, and held back for a hundred-plus years by vestiges of hateful bigotry (which can still be found on display at teabagger rallies and daily talk radio). The fact that this one man could cause this seismic historical event to occur -- and to do so with such grace and humility, never succumbing to the bait, but still not backing down (yes, he asked to be sworn in as "Barack Hussein Obama"!) -- is more than reason enough he should be in Oslo to meet the King on December 10. Maybe he could take us along with him. 'Cause I also suspect the Nobel committee was tipping its hat to all of us -- we, the American people, had conquered some of our racism and did the truly unexpected. After seeing searing images of our black fellow citizens left to drown in New Orleans -- and poor whites seeing their own treated no better than the black man they had been raised to hate -- we had all seen enough. It was time for change.

Thank you, Barack Obama, for giving us the opportunity to redeem ourselves. Now for the tasks ahead. We need you to do all that you promised to do. We need it. The world needs it.

My prediction for the future? You become the first *two-time* winner of the Nobel Peace Prize! Yeah!

Fred (that's Norwegian for "Peace"),
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

Gracias, Michael Moore

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Honduras Update

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:01:45 EDT

Fresh in from Just Foreign Policy, a clear picture of the smarminess of the coupmongers and their two-faced stance in Honduras:

"A recent poll in Honduras revealed that a large majority of Hondurans oppose the coup and coup leader Micheletti while favoring President Zelaya's restoration, writes Greg Grandin in the Nation. Those who carried out the coup have managed to achieve what they accuse Zelaya of trying to do: they have polarized society, delegitimized political institutions, bankrupted the treasury and empowered social movements. If the coup regime continues to allow Zelaya's return, the popular movement will demand a constitutional convention as the only solution to re-establish legitimacy. Even Costa Rican President Ocar Arias recently called the Honduran constitution the "worst in the entire world," an "invitation to coups." "This is something that will have to be resolved," he said, "and the best way to do this is, if we can't have a constitutional election, is to have certain reforms so this Honduran constitution ceases to be the worst in the entire world."

ObamaDoug Notes:

Hate to repeat myself, but the coup-inviting state of the Honduran Constitution is no accident; rather, it is "blowback" stemming from our US domination of this beleagured country in the past century, which built in the possibility of quick-change-of-government by "constitutional" coup to keep the Honduran government and Presidency under our control and the elite military we educated in charge. Now that we have an Administration seeking diplomacy over manipulation, I hope the Honduran peoples will not be further hurt by our former actions in Latin America.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Elizabethan, Now!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:53:19 EDT

How strange! I have, for sure, entered my Elizabethan Age, in Elizabeth CO (named after the sister-in-law of my ancester, John Evans (Governor of Colorado in the 1880's and founder of Evanston (Ill) and the University of Illinois)) and am still getting used to it, because I've been a Glewoodite for so many years. How many people do you know who have lived in one town for 36 years? feel like such an ancient, yet, I'm moving, to be closer to my grandkids and beloved daughter! Tell you what! It feels good, this oneness with changing, even in my old, unhealthy and poverty-stricken ancient age. Lordy, it is strange to live on half my usual income, but, surprisingly, I can, and am!

Choices!

So miserable about what is happening in the Senate with the public option ! So paid for, by the healthcare industry: so rotten, it makes me want to move to another place where public health is more valued than competition! What happened to the valuing of Human life, above all else, in this country? It's, unfortunately, way too much about money for me: I'm about to give up on all of this nutsy politics and live a happy, unconflicted life again, but I just can't leave my freind Primo Pres alone in what he's chosen to take on. What a great man this Mr. Obama is??!!!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Frankly, I Think . . . .

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:53:43 EDT

It's time for SOS Clinton and/or Primo Prez to announce that, because the de facto coupmongering government of Honduras has willingly abrogated democratic and constitutional principles of common human justice and international collaboration, the current government of Honduras WILL BE DECLARED A "TERRORIST STATE."

HA!

It certainly is more currently-terrorist than Nicaragua, for Heaven's Sake.

Wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth?!!!!

I'M PRAYING.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

The Craziness of Our Former Foreign Policy

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:16:49 EDT

OK. The current de facto coupmongers in charge of Honduras truly believed that the US Obama government would back their coup, as would many other pan-americana countries. So much for living in the 50's.

How inane!

They are so afraid of losing, they'd explode the Brazilian Embassy if they did not know that Brazil has the best Air Force in South America.

The revolution south of us can be peaceful, and will be, because NO-ONE in Central or South America wants anything to do with warfare, both the elites and the 80% campesinos. No-one.

What needs to happen: the armed services in these southern countries need to realize that they are paid, government employees rather than 1980's School of the Americas graduates.

I just can't believe those Honduran Generals could think that an Obaman Administration would countenance what 30 years of National Security Council agendas created in Honduras!

It's totally pitiful there, now, even worse than Nicaragua, and the 10% elites there apparently are willing to die to protect their ability to abuse their fellow country men with their $2.00-for-a-day-of-work slave wages; until now, sadly, America has agreed that $2.00 a day is a benefit to the campesinos, as long as the elites ran things in our interests.

Business as usual.

Times, have, gracias a Dios, changed.
Gracias, OD

PO,F8GY!

Al Giordano in HuffPost on Honduran Coup!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:41:51 EDT

Now, the coup leaders have really done it, taken away five basic liberties guaranteed by the Constitution to every citizen in the Honduran Democracy. And they claim to back the Constitution. They must be mad. I think the campesinos will rise up.

Here's Al Giordano's terrifying message, from inside Honduras:

Al Giordano
Honduras' Coup Congress Erases Five Basic Liberties

Despite the best efforts of what I call "the Oligarch Diaspora" to flood the Internet with near identical messages that the Honduran coup "is not a coup" and that was a "constitutional succession" (cough, cough) dressed in the blue-and-white flag of Honduran democracy, the coup regime bared its fangs today. And like any vampire, it's coming out at nightfall.

The same Congress that, after the military had kidnapped, beaten and dumped President Manuel Zelaya in Costa Rica, had declared one of its own, Roberto Micheletti as the coup "president" today passed an emergency law stripping Hondurans of the following rights from the country's constitution:

1. The right to protest.
2. Freedom in one's home from unwarranted search, seizure and arrest.
3. Freedom of association.
4. Guarantees of rights of due process while under arrest.
5. Freedom of transit in the country.

Tomorrow morning's papers are already out across the ocean in Europe, and correspondent Pablo Ordaz of the Madrid daily El Pais has reported from Tegucigalpa about the Coup Congress' decree:

"Minute by minute, step by step, Honduras moves farther from its freedoms..."

Read the defenders of the coup and they are united by one powerful feeling: fear. They're afraid of the growing demonstrations in the streets, like the in the capital city this afternoon captured in the video above, where despite the brutal repressions against the people, each day the opposition crowds grow larger, more emboldened, and better organized. In the defiant but smiling faces of the Hondurans opposing the coup you can see the palpable difference between their passion and the lack of it from the passive bumps on a log that attended yesterday's pro coup rally.

The Congressional decree specified that only at night may those five freedoms be disappeared. And so tonight, a new reign of terror begins.

The coup defenders are afraid, they say, of Honduras becoming another another Cuba, or Venezuela, or Nicaragua, of losing their "freedoms" and their "democracy." But today, in one fell swoop their leaders erased those very freedoms, atop all the other ones they've already burned alive - freedom of the press, freedom to elect their own president, among them - and buried democracy with it.

For democracy is not possible unless a people has freedom to protest, freedom from unwarranted invasion of their homes, freedom of association, rights of due process under law, and freedom of travel in its own country.

That's over now, and will be as long as the coup regime remains in power.

The Oligarch Diaspora will not likely blink, comforting themselves with the Kool-Aid that this attack on civil rights and freedoms is not (well, not yet) aimed at them, but, rather, at "those people," the workers, the poor, the farmers, the indigenous, the rebel students and youth, their social organizations, organizer priests, defense attorneys, human rights observers and authentic journalists, the ones that want their democracy back so much that they risk life and limb now each time they say it.

The Oligarch Diaspora will continue spamming the Internet with their hysterical claims that the rest of the world "just doesn't understand," that the coup was "legal" (attorney Alberto Valiente Thorensen made mincemeat of that claim today), that they represent a majority (unsaid is that they are afraid to let that majority vote on a non-binding referendum, revealing that even they know they are not), that "Honduras wants the coup." But if the opposition were so small would the Coup Congress really have needed to enact the State of Siege and its repeal of those five basic freedoms?

But what they don't tell you is that they don't want those freedoms for all Hondurans, just for the ones with money and property and political power and privilege: themselves. The rest must be subordinated to them and controlled, by force if necessary.

And so today, Honduras said goodbye to the following articles of its Constitution:

Article 69: "A persons liberty is inviolable and can only be restricted or suspended temporarily through process of law."

Article 71: "No person can be arrested nor kept incommunicado for more than 24 hours without being placed before a competent authority to be judged. Judicial detention during an investigation must not exceed six consecutive days from the moment that the same is ordered."

Article 78: "Freedoms of association and meeting are always guaranteed when they are not contrary to public order and good customs.

Article 79: "All persons have the right to meet with others, peacefully and without weapons, in public demonstration or transitory assembly, in relation to their common interests of any type, without necessity of notice or special permission."

Article 81: "All persons have the right to circulate freely, leave, enter, and remain in national territory. No one can be obligated to change home or residence except in special cases and with those requirements that the Law establishes."

The Oligarch Diaspora says that the democratically elected president was removed by force because he supposedly "violated the Constitution" by proposing a nonbinding referendum to ask all Hondurans if they wanted the chance to vote about whether they wanted to rewrite it through a Constitutional Convention.
But the coup leaders the Oligarch Diaspora defends just rewrote that same constitution today without any formal process of consulting the people at all.

They claim they're fighting for their constitution, but they just ripped it apart.

Gone. All gone. Everything they claim to be defending is gone now, destroyed and in tatters at the hands of the very political class that claimed it was protecting them.

And now, with the Congress' invitation to enter the people's door, the vampires begin to come out... tonight.

ObamaDoug Notes:

If this Draconian action were not enough, just knowing what all those generals learned at the CIA School of the Americas in Ft. Benning GA about effective psychological terrorism of the masses makes me shudder with shame for our past mistakes: this is blowback from the 80's, which, apparently, the Honduran Conservatives never grew up from into the new millenium. How could they be acting like a 1950's junta in 2009? Time alone will knock them flat, but I fear for the Honduran campesinos, many of whom are probably related to my Nicaraguan family.

Hope the Brazilian effort to bring this before the UN Security Council is gaining steam!

I pray for the harmony of all Hondurans today.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Honduras: Just in from Just Foreign Policy

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:03:37 EDT

New update: things are moving. Here's JFP's news brief:

2) Brazil wants an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the situation at its embassy in Honduras, where President Zelaya has taken refuge, CNN reports. The Brazilian request for a Security Council meeting came after the Honduran government isolated the embassy by cutting water, power and phone lines to the building. Brazil's foreign minister Amorim called the action a "very serious" move that violated international law.

3) Brazilian President Lula, the first world leader to address the U.N. General Assembly, called for President Zelaya to be reinstated, Reuters reports. Lula added that international political will was needed to avoid similar coups in other countries. In reporting Brazil's request for an urgent meeting of the Security Council, Reuters notes that the General Assembly demanded "the immediate and unconditional restoration" of President Zelaya, but that General Assembly resolutions, unlike those of the Security Council, are not binding.

4) The U.S. is looking "positively" at Brazil's request for a Security Council session on Honduras, according to the transcript of the daily State Department press briefing.

ObamaDoug Notes:

Yes, I should hope to shout that SOS Clinton and Primo Prez would look positively on this stellar move, putting a potentially global problem into a more global context, rather than US being the policeman. Huzzah. Hope it happens. Civil War in Honduras destabilizes the whole Western Hemisphere, and, thus, the rest of the world. These Generals need to pack their bags full of money and move to Patagonia, counting their blessings. Please, do not offer them free rides to Miami--or their visas--if they leave. I know the San Jose Accords declare a general amnesty, but, good grief, these generals have stepped over the line of common decency. This kind of ruthless filth need not knock on our door. Spit-Patooie!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Things Getting Nastier in Honduras

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:21:55 EDT

The Quixote Center just issued the following request:

Please email President Obama and Sec. of State Clinton and ask them to denounce the rampant violence and multiple violations of human rights by the Honduran military and police.

After three months in forced exile due a military coup d'état on June 28th that ousted him from power, President Zelaya returned to Honduras on Monday, September 21, 2009. He is camping out in the Brazilian embassy along with members of his cabinet. As thousands of people gathered in front of the embassy to welcome Zelaya back, the president of the coup government, Roberto Micheletti, threatened to cancel the embassy's immunity if Zelaya were not handed over to the de facto government.

The power at the Brazilian embassy as well as at anti-coup media stations was cut, and the de facto government instated a curfew. Nevertheless, people remained in the streets around the Brazilian embassy. Police and military units are on the streets to enforce the curfew, which was extended twice yesterday, and will now run to 6pm tonight.

The Quixote Center delegation currently in Honduras spent Tuesday interviewing people injured and detained by the coup government during or subsequent to the violent attack on unarmed protesters in front of the Brazilian Embassy early yesterday morning. They split into two groups, visiting human rights offices, the hospital, and Chochi Sosa Stadium where many were detained. Nearly 50 of those being detained at the stadium who had been identified as being a part of the resistance showed clear signs of physical abuse. Some appeared to have broken arms and legs. Some police in the stadium were wearing ski masks, to conceal their identities. All of this abuse is happening because people are insisting on their right to be in the streets.

There have been multiple forms of resisting this imposition, with reports from dozens of neighborhoods and towns of people in the streets. Many of these actions are being repressed by the police, and reports continue coming in of more arrests and repression.

At this critical moment, when the dictator is desperate, we need to demand that our government respond immediately with more dramatic actions, in order to save lives and prevent more people from being beaten and abused. We know many of you have already been taking the actions we requested. It is imperative that you continue making your voices heard, so that our government keeps pressure on the coup leaders.

ObamaDoug Notes:

Please, Primo Prez and SOS Clinton, tell the coup leaders they will be blacklisted from US military aid for the next 50 years! These people are atrocious, and hardly stand for democracy and the rule of law. They need to pack their bags and leave, to avoid civil war in that poorest of countries! Ay, yi, yi! Peaceably now, but firmly: the coup leaders need to go.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Al Giordano Live From Honduras

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:43:04 EDT

The link will get you to a live blog posted by Al Giordano in Honduras. The following is an excerpt from today's live-posting:

Live Blog: President Zelaya Has Returned to Honduras Posted by Al Giordano - September 21, 2009 at 11:58 am

By Al Giordano

The first to break the news in English was the Honduran Campesino blog:

Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is in Tegucigalpa…

The United Nations is protecting Mel…

TeleSur confirms the report, as does Reuters:

"I am here in Tegucigalpa. I am here for the restoration of democracy, to call for dialogue." he told Honduras' Canal 36 television network.

As occurred during the first hours of the June 28 coup d'etat, the Internet signals of Channel 36 and Radio Globo are blocked, as is cell phone service in the capital (I've yet to confirm that there is any Internet or cell phone access in Tegucigalpa at all right now - it all appears to be jammed - but we do have reporter Belén Fernández reporting right this moment from that city and the information blockade will be broken soon enough.) We can take that extreme of censorship as additional confirmation that the President has indeed returned and the illegitimate coup regime is panicking.

Developing... We'll update here as we're able to report and confirm more...

Update: 12:08 p.m. Tegucigalpa (2:08 p.m. ET): TeleSur confirms that the President is in Tegucigalpa but adds that it cannot confirm reports that he is in the United Nations building there. It anticipates a press conference from Zelaya this afternoon...

12:24 p.m. Tegucigalpa (2:24 p.m. ET): One of our correspondents just got an email message from Tegucigalpa which reports that not all cell phone service is blocked.

12:28 p.m.: Via TeleSur: The Spaniard news agency EFE reports that the President is in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.

12:29 p.m.: The US State Department confirms that Zelaya is in Honduras (via AP).

12:39 p.m.: The web page of the coup regime's "president" leads with a loud denial: "Micheletti denies the presence of 'Mel' in the country." Meanwhile AFP reports that the Brazilian government has confirmed Zelaya's presence in its Embassy in Tegucigalpa, according to TeleSur.

12:47 p.m.: TeleSur is showing images of uniformed National Police members, with billy clubs, shields, helmets and guns, surrounding the zone near the Brazilian Embassy, apparently to close access to the area, blocking anti-coup demonstrators from entering or leaving. The network is also broadcasting live images, from Channel 36, of two helicopters circling over the Embassy.

12:51 p.m.: TeleSur reporter Adriana Sívori is now inside the Brazilian Embassy and confirms President Zelaya's physical presence there.

1:57 p.m.: We now have phone contact with Narco News correspondent Belén Fernández, who in Tegucigalpa this morning walked into the Radio Globo headquarters just as the news broke that Zelaya had returned. She's going to have one hell of a story for us later today.

2:04 p.m.: Connecting the dots... The return of Zelaya has all the markings of a very well coordinated operation by the Honduran civil resistance and the member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS). The choice of Brazil's embassy - the Latin American country with the largest Air Force - pretty much guarantees that the coup regime can't possibly think it can violate the sovereignty of that space. That the US State Department confirmed, this morning, that Zelaya is in Honduras while the coup regime denied it strongly suggests it had advance knowledge that this would happen today (if not active participation).

This is a textbook example of what we've referred to before as "dilemma actions." It puts the coup regime on the horns of a dilemma, in which it has no good options. It can leave Zelaya to put together his government again from the Brazilian embassy with the active support of so many sectors of Honduran civil society, or it can try to arrest the President, provoking a nonviolent insurrection from the people of the kind that has toppled many a regime throughout history. Minute by minute, hour by hour, and, soon, day by day, the coup regime is losing its grip. At some point it will have to choose either to unleash a terrible violent wave of state terrorism upon the country's own people - which will provoke all out insurrection in response (guaranteed by Article 3 of the Honduran Constitution) - or Micheletti and his Simian Council can start packing their bags and seeking asylum someplace like Panama. Meanwhile, the people are coming down from the hills to meet their elected president. This, kind readers, is immediate history.

2:24 p.m.: Some other consequences of today's breaking development: President Zelaya today erases any of the talk or speculation that he did not have the courage to put himself at risk in this struggle, which will also have an emboldening effect on every single individual among the hundreds of thousands in the civil resistance. The effect is causing all to think: If he's willing to risk all, then so am I.

This move also makes a laughing stock out of Micheletti and his security forces. Remember our reports about how airfields throughout the country were blocked by buses and other vehicles, so paranoid was the regime about Zelaya's potential return? That Zelaya slipped through the security net demonstrates that the coup regime does not have the control it claims to have. Micheletti - the usurper dictator - has also helped elevate his status as a national buffoon with his early claims today that Zelaya hadn't really returned. He accused the media that reported his return of lying and of "media terrorism." Well, now the same pro-coup newspapers that reported his tantrum have this photo, taken today, of President Zelaya and his cabinet members inside the Brazilian Embassy:

There you have it. Countdown to complete mental breakdown by Micheletti and his dwindling core of supporters (and, yes, that includes a grouplet of US expats that have been blogging constant disinformation from Honduras - their self-delusion and dishonesty to all is now crashing on the rocks of reality, too).

2:56 p.m.: Ivan Marovic - who as a young man played a major role in strategizing the civil resistance that toppled the Serbian dictator Milosevic, and who spent a few days in Honduras this summer at the invitation of the civil resistance - and I just had a chat online about our observations of what is happening and how it changes everything in Honduras.

With his permission, I'll share with you an excerpt:

me: So, let's put ourselves in Micheletti's shoes. What options does he have at this point?

Ivan: It's a tough one. He can arrest Zelaya, but Zelaya said he's here to call for dialogue. That would be bad. Micheletti can enter a dialogue, but then he's screwed.

me: Well, I don't think he can send troops into the Brazilian Embassy, which is sovereign territory. Brazil has the biggest air force in Latin America. Brazil is the coordinating nation of the UN security forces in Haiti...

Ivan: This is important, because with Zelaya in the country, the momentum has shifted. Stalling doesn't work anymore.

me: It's a textbook "dilemma action."

Ivan: Yes.

me: The regime can either leave him there to reassemble his government with broad popular support, or it can unleash a wave of violence and terror, which would provoke all out insurrection. Now that Zelaya has demonstrated he is willing to risk his own freedom and safety, that becomes contagious to hundreds of thousands that will decide to do the same.

Ivan: Yes, this has a big symbolic value. That's why no regime is afraid of the government in exile. But in the country, that's a different thing.

It's a game changer, folks.

3:05 p.m.: Here's transcript from today's US State Department briefing in Washington DC with spokesman Ian Kelly and reporters:

QUESTION: Do we know if President Zelaya has come home? And what does it signal?

MR. KELLY: Well, you know, literally, as I was about to come down, I saw the news report and I was able to talk to my colleagues in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. It does seem to be true that he has returned to Honduras. And the Embassy is still seeking details about what he hopes to achieve and what his next steps are.

I think that at this point, really, all I can say is reiterate our almost daily call on both sides to exercise restraint and refrain from any kind of action that would have any possible outcome in violence, refrain from activities that would – could provoke violence.

QUESTION: How did he come in, and where is he? What --

MR. KELLY: Don’t know.

QUESTION: When did it happen?

MR. KELLY: Like I say, the Embassy is trying to find out these details. But I do know that we have confirmed that he’s in Honduras. Where exactly he is, I don’t know. And we’re just trying to find out more details.

QUESTION: Last time we tuned in, he was under threat of arrest if he came home. Is that still what’s in play right now?

MR. KELLY: I’d have to refer you to the de facto regime in Tegucigalpa. Of course, we believe that he’s the democratic – democratically elected and constitutional leader of Honduras.

I'll ask you, kind readers, the same question I asked Ivan Marovic, above: If you are coup "president" Roberto Micheletti, what is your next move? It's hard to predict, because he's not always a rational player on the field.

3:37 p.m.: The coup regime makes its first move, declaring a military curfew in effect from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. What's not clear is whether it will be obeyed by the crowds converging around the Embassy, and what the regime's next move will be if the public disregards its curfew.

4:21 p.m.: The military curfew began 21 minutes ago, but a multitude of citizens continue to congregate in front of the Brazilian embassy, making and listening to speeches against the coup regime. In other words: What if they called a curfew and nobody stayed home?

4:31 p.m.: Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim says that he doubts very much that the Honduran coup regime would commit "a flagrant violation of International Law" by invading his country's embassy in Tegucigalpa.

4:56 p.m.: The regime is trying everything. Cell phone service is being screwed with again for the past hour. Channel 36 has gone off the air. Radio Globo's Internet site is down. Here is an alternate link to Radio Globo's live stream. Keep storming the gates of the information blockade.

5:06 p.m.: Radio Globo reports that a caravan of more than 2,000 vehicles filled with coup opponents is en route from the state of El Paraiso to the national capital. Also reports massive traffic jams in Tegucigalpa now, an hour after curfew took effect.

5:21 p.m.: Coup "president" Micheletti just spoke on a "cadena nacional" (in which all TV, radio and cable stations are required to broadcast his message). He confirmed that Zelaya is in the country, insisted that the June 28 coup was "legal," said Zelaya will have to face charges against him, insisted that the country is in complete calm (if so, then why the military curfew?), attacked the government of Brazil for protecting Zelaya in its Embassy, and told everyone that the National Police and the National Army are behind him. He ended with shouts of "Viva Honduras" to a small group of coup functionaries. He sounds frightened, but is digging in his heels.

Upon the termination of his broadcast, a woman on Radio Globo mocked him mercilessly, saying "no one owes obedience to an order by a de facto regime," and noted that the curfew was called just ten minutes before it took effect, leaving millions of Hondurans to have to get home from work but without enough time to do it. "Nobody is obeying the order," she said. "Nor should they."

5:30 p.m.: I'll be live on Flashpoints radio (available at the KPFA website), hosted by Dennis Bernstein, at the top of the hour (8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT) to talk about the situation in Honduras. There will also be a report from Tim Russo - professor at the upcoming Narco News School of Authentic Journalism - who was in front of the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa today when President Zelaya appeared from the balcony to greet the crowd, and took audiotape of the moment.

5:42 p.m.: Leaders of the Liberal Party bloc that turned against the coup have now signed a public letter calling on party members "in all the popular barrios" of Tegucigalpa and throughout the country to converge on the Brazilian Embassy to protect President Zelaya. Radio Globo just read the letter live on the air.

5:50 p.m.: The coup regime has just cut electricity to entire neighborhoods surrounding the Brazilian Embassy and Channel 36 TV. How long do you think it will take the people to install a generator in each place? The same will happen when the regime cuts the water, the next likely step coming from that form of logic. And the people will usher in water trucks to refill the tanks. Hell, they'll bring it cup by cup if they have to! This is a losing gambit by the Micheletti regime because it does not have control of the street.

6:52 p.m.: As predicted in the previous update, the regime's attempt to cut electricity to the Brazilian Embassy is already an epic fail. Tim Russo just reported live on that Flashpoints radio show from inside the Embassy as the electric power went back on! A discussion about a half hour prior, on Radio Globo, included a call for generators and a pledge by the head of the electrical workers union to send technicians to set them up. A half hour later, there was light. An organized people can never be beat. That is the lesson of Honduras.

8:17 p.m.: The coup regime has just extended the military curfew until 6 p.m. tomorrow evening, which means nobody goes to work on Tuesday, not even during daylight hours, and all stores will be closed. (Schools were already out as the teachers unions called a national strike and for their members to come to the Brazilian embassy.) Meanwhile, the US State Department has recommended that US citizens avoid all non-essential travel to Honduras. It's as if there's a general strike without it even being called for!

State Department Confirms Zelaya Status

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:27:11 EDT

The Associated Press reports that Zelaya's presence in Tegucigalpa has been confirmed by our State Department: The blog world is buzzing! Check this link to hit Borev, streaming live from Honduras. Here's the AP report!

US confirms ousted president back in Honduras

By FREDDY CUEVAS (AP) – 19 hours ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The U.S. State Department confirms that deposed President Manuel Zelaya has returned home to Honduras to reclaim his presidency.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly says in Washington that U.S. officials have confirmed that Zelaya is in Honduras. But Kelly adds: "Where exactly he is, I don't know, and we're just trying to find out more details."

Officials of the interim government that ousted Zelaya earlier denied his claims that he had returned to Tegucigalpa. And a U.N. official denied that he was at the United Nations office he said he was speaking from in an interview with a local television station.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Deposed President Manuel Zelaya told a local television station Monday that he has returned home to Honduras to reclaim his presidency, defying threats of arrest.

"I cannot give details, but I'm here," Zelaya told the local TV Channel 36. His voice, but not his image, were transmitted. He said he was at the United Nation's headquarters in his homeland.

But a spokeswoman at the United Nation's offices in Tegucigalpa told The Associated Press he wasn't in the offices.

"I have no idea where that story came from," said spokeswoman Ana Elsy Mendoza.

Interim government officials who have held power for three months also denied that Zelaya was in the country, calling the reports a lie.

Zelaya, who said he would hold a news conference Monday afternoon in Tegucigalpa, was forced out of the country at gunpoint on June 28. Interim leader Roberto Micheletti has repeatedly said a jail cell awaits Zelaya if he comes back.

Since then most international leaders have condemned Micheletti, terminating aid and demanding Zelaya's return. Micheletti has said he will step aside after presidential elections are held as scheduled in November.

Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also insisted on Monday that his ally Zelaya had indeed returned.

"President Manuel Zelaya, along with four companions, traveled for two days overland, crossing mountains and rivers, risking their lives. They have made it to Honduras," Chavez said.

And Elisabeth Sierra, a spokeswoman for the Honduran Embassy in Nicaragua, where Zelaya had been exiled, reiterated that the ousted president returned to his country Monday and was at U.N. offices in Tegucigalpa.

"He is in Honduras and calling the resistance to gather in front of the United Nations and protect the constitutional president of Honduras," she said.

If the current administration attempts to imprison Zelaya, protesters who have demonstrated against his ouster could turn violent, said Vicki Gass at the Washington Office on Latin America.

"There's a saying about Honduras that people can argue in the morning and have dinner in the evening, but I'm not sure this will happen in this case," said Gass. "It's been 86 days since the coup. Something had to break and this might be it."

ObamaDoug Notes:

Will wonders never cease?!!! SOS Clinton calls for peaceful reinstatement! I wonder why the WashPost did not report this? There's so much gossip surrounding this situation, it's hard to get to the truth. Local Honduran bloggers say Zelaya is there, at the Brazillian Embassy, now surrounded by his supporters.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Zelaya in Tegucigalpa!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:31:17 EDT

Quick News: President Zelaya has returned to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, at the head of UN Peacekeeping Forces, and is now housed at the UN Headquarters in Tegucigalpa!!!!!! Michiletti is no where to be seen. No statements have come from the military coup leaders, as yet. Hoohah!

GOBAMA!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Update on Honduras: Quixote Center for Peace

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:36:17 EDT

There are two bills coming up in DC now, one in support of the coup regime in Honduras, the other calling for the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya. The first, of course, demonstrates our former hypocritical stance in Central America, the "business as usual" model which exports "democracy" only to the elites while economically and politically enslaving the rest of the starving populations. The second is far more 21st century in its support for the rule of law and the voice of all the people of Honduras. It deserves our support: here's The Quixote Center statement:

Thanks to all of you - almost 700! - who sent emails to the IMF asking for a public declaration stating that the IMF will not make funds to the Honduran coup regime. The IMF tells us that your messages have been received and the issue is being discussed. We are still waiting for a stronger response. We will ask you for additional help if a statement is not forthcoming soon.

We have recently been alerted that Rep. Mack has initiated a Pro-Coup resolution on Honduras and has 46 cosponsors. We need you to call your representative and ask her/him to support the Delahunt-McGovern House Resolution on Honduras! The Delahunt-McGovern resolution (HRes 630) calls for the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya as President of Honduras and for international observation of the November elections. Although it is outdated, in calling for international observers for an election which needs to be cancelled or postponed, it is important that we demand that the Congress take a stand against the coup. It currently has 44 cosponsors.

To see a text of the House Resolution and a list of the current co-sponsors go to thomas.loc.gov, select search by bill number, and search for "HRes 630".

Please act today! The Honduran people continue to stand firm against the coup, and need us to demand that our government oppose the disruption of constitutional order in Honduras.

Call the Capitol switchboard, 202.224.3121 and ask to speak to your representative's foreign policy aide.

The Message:

I urge Representative ______________ to join in co-sponsoring the resolution introduced by Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) calling for Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to be returned to office, and welcoming the mediation efforts of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. It is important to your constituents in ______________ that the U.S. Congress be loud and clear in condemning this military coup and supporting democracy in Honduras--and the Latin American region.

ObamaDoug Notes:

It has been the pattern in the past for the State Department to engineer coups when a Central American government begins to sound too "leftist" for DC's taste, even though we support strong "progressivism" within our own borders. While the current coup in Honduras does not seem to be the handiwork of our State Department, this time, anyway, we cannot "speak out of both sides of our mouths" by supporting a military coup in Honduras when we'd all give our lives to keep such a thing from happening here! The 21st century attitude demands equivalence of values to all nations, not only those politically aligned with our "hawks" and multinational corporations.

Send a message to your Congressman today, por favor!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Clean Water Protection Act

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:22:07 EDT

Protecting our environment is a part of HealthCare Reform, too. Just as cigarette smoking contributes hugely to our healthcare costs, so, too, in the long run, does the purposeful "unprotecting" of our headwaters for short-term profit. The Clean Water Protection Act closes a loophole in the Clean Water Act that allowed a mining company near the end of the Shrub administration to pollute a feeder lake with tons of toxic slurry, killing the local ecosystem, polluting downstream. That's still happening. Urge your Congressman to protect our water. The Care2 platform for activist and the Sierra Club have a current petition.

Care 2 is a great site for Internet activists.

"Wouldn't it be loverly?" if, instead of looking for loopholes in environmental laws, our corporations in natural resources would recognize that their customers need to breathe and drink clean water in order to buy anything?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Handling "The Right Noise Machine"!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:38:32 EDT

A telling WashPost article today has this to say about Rush Limbaugh, Jeff Beck and Fox News (shudder):

As Right Jabs Continue, White House Debates a Counterpunching Strategy

By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Facing a near-daily barrage of attacks from conservative opponents, White House officials are engaged in an internal debate over how hard to hit back, even as they have grown increasingly aggressive in countering allegations they deem to be absurd.

After brushing aside criticism during the presidential campaign that they tried to keep candidate Barack Obama too far above the fray -- and with memories of the abundance of media coverage during the Clinton years -- administration officials are accelerating their efforts to anticipate and respond to the most sharp-edged charges.

The White House officials are eager to avoid the perception that the president is directly engaging critics who appear to speak only for a vocal minority, and part of their strategy involves pushing material to liberal and progressive media outlets to steer the coverage in their direction, senior advisers said.

When critics lashed out at President Obama for scheduling a speech to public school students this month, accusing him of wanting to indoctrinate children to his politics, his advisers quickly scrubbed his planned comments for potentially problematic wording. They then reached out to progressive Web sites such as the Huffington Post, liberal bloggers and Democratic pundits to make their case to a friendly audience.

The controversy escalated, but by the time it was over, White House advisers thought they had emerged with the upper hand. The speech, they said, was the most-viewed live video on any government Web site in history, and they were pleased with the media coverage of the event.

In private, Obama has developed what his advisers say is becoming a familiar response to new allegations, rolling his eyes in disbelief and asking how his staff plans to counter them. Several senior advisers said in interviews that they are more focused on getting legislation passed than trying to manage the "right-wing noise machine," convinced that voters will react most positively to measurable improvements in their lives.

But at a tactical level, administration officials are taking seriously the potential for damage and are attempting to respond forcefully. In early August, officials stepped up their efforts to link the "birther" movement -- with its contention that Obama was not born in the United States and is thus not a legitimate president -- to Republican leaders.

Later in the month, Obama advisers began pushing back against allegations that he would establish "death panels" in his health-care overhaul, calling out former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin for posting that charge on her Facebook page. Obama publicly rejected the charge that he is maintaining an "enemies list," raising the issue to dismiss it at a town hall meeting.

Officials who were interviewed said the goal is to anticipate the conservative attacks and be ready to respond the moment they threaten to balloon into a major story. They acknowledge, however, having limited success so far.

"In a world with Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and the Drudge Report and everything else that makes up the right-wing noise machine, nothing is clean and nothing is simple," a senior administration official said. "You don't stomp a story out. You ride the wave and try to steer it to safe water."

The level of hostility toward Obama in recent months has been exceptionally high for a new president. Even before Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted "You lie!" during a presidential address to Congress last week, Obama had been accused of wanting to kill people's grandparents (through health-care reform), expose their children to political re-education (through an expansion of community service programs) and use health care to make reparations for slavery (by expanding coverage).

How the Obama White House deals with the frenzy going forward will be a test of its talents, senior administration officials acknowledged.

Although Obama does not pore over the conservative attacks himself, he is not oblivious to them, advisers said. He does not watch cable television regularly, but he reads his news summary each morning, and he often follows up with staff members when he hears what he considers out-of-bounds allegations -- sometimes after learning of them in e-mails from friends outside the White House, for example, or from ordinary voters at rallies. Little of it surprises him, aides said.

"In the fall of the campaign, you could find many similar sentiments at McCain-Palin rallies and certainly at Sarah Palin rallies," communications director Anita Dunn said. "These aren't new arguments. The level of vehemence, the emotional level of it, is at a campaign peak, which is unusual to find in a non-campaign year."

Dunn played down the role that race could have in fueling the rancor. "I think that is less a part of it than some other people might think," she said. "If you look at the history of this country, you see that in times of great stress and change, there are people who are concerned, who are threatened, there are people who are scared."

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel echoed her point. "Father Coughlin called Roosevelt a socialist, the John Birch Society was created in reaction to Kennedy, Clinton had [Richard Mellon] Scaife and others who went after him," he said. "And now they've come after Obama on Socialism and other things. This has always been a creed from those voices dealing with Democratic presidents. But yes, there's an intensity, given the [rapid media] time frame we're all under, that's different."

During the Clinton administration, conservative opposition mounted to such a degree that the Clintons came to view it as a "vast right-wing conspiracy," bankrolled by wealthy conservatives and airing damning claims, such as their alleged involvement in the death of their friend Vincent W. Foster Jr., whose death was ruled a suicide. Partisan warfare became blood sport, and while President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton seemed at times to revel in it, it had a political price: Obama found success in the Democratic primaries in part by promising to move past the fighting.

Now, the challenge for Obama will be to maintain that stance without ceding ground to his most extreme critics, whom administration officials believe are trying to mount an existential threat to the president.

"There's a broader argument that is the underlying argument to all of these attacks, which is a very fundamental struggle about trying to tear this president down and delegitimize his presidency," said one senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "That is really the war. And all of these are skirmishes -- some of them flare up into battles -- but the broader war is about the fate of this presidency and the other side's attempts to delegitimize him and to make him into a failure."

ObamaDoug Notes:

Keep to the High Road and help us here on the ground to martial our strength through political action. God knows, I'm as guilty of seeing what I want to see in the media as the other side in this polarization: so far, Obama's strategy is speaking clearly to all Americans, a new trick in American politics that I appreciate."Now, let's be clear!" rings through his speeches and probably should be a sign on every desk in the West Wing.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

A Teaching Moment

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:43:36 EDT

Yes, I'm riled beyond my comprehension at Wilson's disrespect for both the Presidency and this particular President. The man must have had too much of something with his dinner.

Still, this is a perfect opportunity for our Primo Prez to demonstrate forgivenance, to "turn the other cheek," if Wilson would apologize. Such an action on the President's part might defuse the brouhaha surrounding this disrespect before it becomes another dividing factor in the movement towards real healthcare reform. It would teach to the world and this polarized country that forgiving is one of the strongest--and most absent--stances a truly great leader can take. I'd suggest a quiet breakfast with Wilson today or tomorrow, followed by a public moment of reconciliation for the two, despite their differences.

Surely, with all the flack Wilson must be getting this morning, he'd be willing to bury the hatchet, at least for a photo-op and free White House eggs.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Tough, Welcoming, Bi-Partisan and Unifying!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:56:26 EDT

Hooray, Primo Prez! I'm tired or I'd let you know, son, that you are just the best orator and father in our country I can imagine! Great Joint Session Speech! Now, get in the trenches. Go for what you want!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

10 Letters A Day!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:17:59 EDT

Up on whitehouse.gov there is a video demonstrating the extent to which our Primo Prez and his staff value our correspondence: there is an Office of Correspondence at the White House which selects, every day, ten representative letters from the hundreds of thousands which flood the WH mail and email, passes them on to the Oval Office, and Barack Obama reads them and writes a hand-written reply to each! He's made it clear from the beginning that he did not want to be isolated in the White House "Bubble" from his people. The thought that this MOST busy man takes the time every day to communicate personally with the American people THRILLS me! Hallelujah! GOBAMA!

He's left-handed, too. I never knew that.

Gracias to our WONDROUS left-handed Primo Prez!

ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Ay,Chihuahua!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:55:59 EDT

I watched that SWEET PRIMO PREZ letting me know that the economy and our nasty repression might be uplifting, and I am so glad. This guy is so forthright!

It's So Great!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:32:36 EDT

I watched, for the first time, the video up on whitehouse.gov on Michelle Obama's wondrous garden at the White House and it made me cry with joy to watch school kids and the White House Chef tending the garden together. Michelle is so beautiful, as are all the greens, and the learning the kids are getting is just the most best thing! Hooray! WATCH IT!

Gracias, ObamaDoug,

PO,F8GY!

As Did Teddy . . . But.

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:19:18 EDT

Our Primo Prez says:

Barack Obama said he would consider embracing a single-payer health-care system, beloved by liberals, as his plan for broader coverage evolves over time.

Listen up. Single-payer health care might just work. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system,” Obama told some 1,800 people at a town-hall style meeting on the economy.

A single-payer system would eliminate private insurance companies and put a Medicare-like system into place where the government pays all health-care bills with tax dollars.

Many liberals have long embraced the coverage plan, saying it would cover everyone, take the profit out of health insurance and allow for greater efficiencies. But Republicans cringe at such deep government involvement in the private sector, calling it socialized medicine. And many Democrats, including Obama and former rival Hillary Clinton, have taken a much more moderate approach.

Obama’s health-care plan aims for universal coverage by offering a new government-run marketplace where Americans could buy insurance, mostly from private plans. He would offer subsidies to individuals and to small business owners that offer their workers coverage. His plan also would require that parents get insurance for their kids. And he aims to lower health-care costs to make coverage more affordable. His plan includes one small step toward single payer. His new marketplace would create a new government-run plan, like Medicare, to compete against the private plans.

But Obama repeated that he rejects an immediate shift to a single-payer system. “Given that a lot of people work for insurance companies, a lot of people work for HMOs. You’ve got a whole system of institutions that have been set up,” he said at a roundtable discussion with women Monday morning after a voter asked, “Why not single payer?”

“People don’t have time to wait,” Obama said. “They need relief now. So my attitude is let’s build up the system we got, let’s make it more efficient, we may be over time—as we make the system more efficient and everybody’s covered—decide that there are other ways for us to provide care more effectively.”

ObamaDoug Notes:

Cute pic of Barack! HealthCare must get affordable for all!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Seems To Me . . . !

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:19:36 EDT

Seems to me that secrecy is counter-productive: it leads more to curiosity than to security.

Washpost suggests:

Administration Seeks to Keep Terror Watch-List Data Secret

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 6, 2009

The Obama administration wants to maintain the secrecy of terrorist watch-list information it routinely shares with federal, state and local agencies, a move that rights groups say would make it difficult for people who have been improperly included on such lists to challenge the government.

Intelligence officials in the administration are pressing for legislation that would exempt "terrorist identity information" from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Such information -- which includes names, aliases, fingerprints and other biometric identifiers -- is widely shared with law enforcement agencies and intelligence "fusion centers," which combine state and federal counterterrorism resources.

Still, some officials say public disclosure of watch-list data risks alerting terrorism suspects that they are being tracked and may help them evade surveillance.

Advocates for civil liberties and open government argue that the administration has not proved the secrecy is necessary and that the proposed changes could make the government less accountable for errors on watch lists. The proposed FOIA exemption has been included in pending House and Senate intelligence authorization bills at the administration's request.

"Instead of enhancing accountability, this would remove accountability one or two steps further away," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy.

When the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center disseminates data from watch lists to state and federal agencies, the information is unclassified, though marked "for official use only." Officials said that the information could be obtained under a FOIA request and that such data has been released under FOIA.

Michael G. Birmingham, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said that the intelligence community is seeking "adequate protection from disclosing terrorist identity information" to the public because "no [such] exemption currently exists under FOIA." He said the goal of the proposed exemption was to keep sensitive unclassified information from unintended recipients, including terrorism suspects.

One intelligence official said the information's disclosure creates a host of difficulties.

"Here's the problem," the official said, discussing the matter on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. "If you've got somebody, including a suspected terrorist, who can FOIA that information, you're making intelligence-gathering methods vulnerable. You're possibly making intelligence agents and law enforcement personnel vulnerable. Suspects could alter their behavior and circumvent the surveillance."

David Sobel, senior counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy group, said the government has successfully used existing FOIA exemptions to deny requests for watch-list records. He cited a court case last fall brought by the EFF in which the government, in keeping with it policy, refused to confirm or deny whether a European Parliament member's name was on the terrorist watch list. The government claimed in part an exemption that bars disclosure of law enforcement information on "techniques and procedures" for investigations. The EFF, concluding that the government would win, withdrew the case.

Rather than expanding the list of FOIA exemptions, Congress should pay more attention to improving the procedures for helping people who have been improperly included on the watch list, Sobel said. "There's a serious redress problem," he said. "That's the issue that needs to be addressed."

On Tuesday, a coalition of privacy and transparency advocates led by OpenTheGovernment.org sent a letter to the leading members of the House and Senate intelligence committees urging that the measure be dropped. "We consider this provision unnecessary, overbroad and unwise," the letter said.

A consolidated government watch list was created in 2004 and is housed at the Terrorist Screening Center. As of last September, it included about 1.1 million names and aliases corresponding to 400,000 individuals. The TSC feeds names and other data to the Transportation Security Administration's air passenger "no-fly" list, the State Department's Consular Lookout and Support System list, and the FBI's Violent Gang and Terrorist Organizations File, as well as to state and local agencies.

A person is included in the list if he or she is "known or appropriately suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism," according to the TSC Web site.

A May report by the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General found the watch-list process to be flawed, with the FBI failing to "update or remove watch list records as required." In one instance, an individual remained on the list nearly five years after the after the underlying terrorism case had been closed, the report found.

The FBI later said it had implemented measures "to resolve all of the issues disclosed in the report."

In 2007, the FBI signed a memo with federal agencies to standardize the redress process and to ensure "fair, timely and independent review" of complaints, according to a statement by the bureau.

"We're constantly working to improve our redress procedures," TSC spokesman Chad Kolton said. "We're very proud of the work we've done so far."

Kolton noted that fewer than 5 percent of the 400,000 people whose names are on the watch list are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. "The vast majority of people on the watch list are not currently in the U.S.,'' he said.

ObamaDoug Notes:

The less secrets, the better. No humans like secrets, though most of us maintain them, and none work for our betterment.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Hello

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:28:26 EDT

It feels like quite a while since I've posted, though it's only been two days. What two days! I'm between Elizabeth and Glenwood, incessantly, and I love this move.

Can't wait for Primo Prez's speech Wednesday night. I'm sure he will be as firm and clear and prescient as a President should be. I'm confident that we will weather any storm with this man at the helm.

I'm hoping the HealthCare Reform becomes the Kennedy Act in his speech. It's just so appropriate!

I'll tell you all what: the infrastructure between Glenwood and Elizabeth (CO) is a marvel of the Western Hemisphere. Ain't nothing like it in Nicaragua, that's for sure. I'm cruisin'.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

UDW Urges Sanctions Against Honduras

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:41:41 EDT

Upside Down World lets us in on continuing pressure from Human Rights organizations against totalitarian oppression and abrogation of human rights by the Honduran coup regime:

Honduran Crisis Necessitates New Sanctions Written by Jennifer Moore Thursday, 27 August 2009

Source: Latin America in Movement

Failure on the part of the Organization of American States to reach an agreement for the return of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya yesterday signals the beginning of a new stage, says Radio Progreso correspondent Félix Molina. As the diplomatic mission left Tegucigalpa on Tuesday without approval for the San José Accord from de facto leader Roberto Micheletti Bain, the Honduran journalist says new sanctions are needed “that should include trade, economic, financing, and migratory elements.”

The seven-member mission accompanied by OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza presented a declaration to the press at the conclusion of their two-day visit to the Honduran capital. It indicated that the de facto leader and his supporters are alone in withholding support. Micheletti expressed discord with the restitution of President Manuel Zelaya and the provision of a political amnesty, key aspects of the proposal made by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. Speaking defiantly to the foreign delegation, he told OAS representatives that his regime is not afraid of sanctions.

For his part, President Zelaya reiterated, in particular through declarations by First Lady Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, his decision to accept each of the twelve points in the accord even though it will truncate the process he initiated to consult Hondurans on whether or not they would like to pursue constitutional reforms.

Indicating that internal pressure could be growing in favour of the Arias proposal, President of the Association of Maquiladoras of Honduras, Jesus Canahuati, told Radio Globo yesterday morning that his group supports the agreement. The armed forces are also reportedly in discussions but have yet to make any declaration.

If a resolution is not achieved, journalist Félix Molina says the situation will become more complicated and more worrisome. He anticipates “stronger social reaction resulting in heightened police and military repression.”

Last week, a delegation from the Inter American Human Rights Commission verified thousands of arbitrary detentions, disproportionate use of state forces against opponents to the coup and serious limits on press freedom during the last two months. It resolved that “only a return to democratic order will create the conditions for effective assurance of the human rights of all residents of Honduras.”

International Federation of Human Rights also urges sanctions

“There are no democratic guarantees, nor guarantees for the freedom of expression, nor individual guarantees in Honduras,” said Secretary General of the International Federation of Human Rights in Colombia, Luis Guillermo Pérez, late Tuesday afternoon.

He described a meeting that he attended this week with independent presidential candidate Carlos H. Reyes and congressman Marvin Ponce. He noted Reyes' fractured hand and Ponce's fractured arm and ribs, injuries inflicted by national police. In this context without democratic guarantees, he said, “We are insisting that electoral results [from upcoming general elections] should not be recognized by the international community, that all manner of cooperation should be suspended for the coup leaders, and that economic sanctions should be applied against those who have supported and who sustain the coup in Honduras.”

“This is the position of the International Federation of Human Rights, of the Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and other organizations who have decided to create an international human rights observatory to monitor the situation in Honduras and about which we will send monthly reports to the OAS, the UN and the European Union.”

Rather than viewing the coup as against Manuel Zelaya who only had several months left in his presidential term, he believes that it was a coup against the majority of Hondurans. He said that the possibility of presidential re-election was never mentioned during the lead up toward a national opinion poll on June 28th that would have asked Hondurans whether or not they were in favour of including a fourth ballot box during upcoming elections to conduct a national referendum over whether or not to strike a National Constituent Assembly to reform the country's political constitution. He says they have been able to determine that 60% of Hondurans would have voted in favour.

He concluded by citing Article 45 of the Honduran constitution: “Any attempt to prohibit or limit citizen participation in the political life of the country is declared punishable.” (Original Spanish: “Se declara punible todo acto por el cual se prohíba o limite la participación del ciudadano en la vida política del país.”) He suggested that this is the real crime needing further attention.

Concrete steps

The US took a further step yesterday to pressure the de facto regime to concede to the San José Accord by adding a suspension on non-emergency and non-immigrant visas from Honduras to earlier cuts to aid. However, Canada's Peter Kent who participated in the OAS mission expressed continuing reluctance on the part of this North American nation to join the US and EU in retracting support.

When asked what sanctions Canada will apply, the Canadian Minister of State of Foreign Relations for the Americas failed to mention any concrete measures and said, “At the moment we are still pursuing agreement and buy in to the San José Accord.” Speaking with Embassy Magazine on Sunday, he explained, "any imposition of sanctions or cutting of aid is going to impact first and foremost the most innocent in this crisis and that is the civilians."

But without such pressure it is unclear how a timely agreement can be reached. Ultimately, Canada's position seriously distances this country from those calling for stronger measures to bring about a resolution to ultimately ensure greater protections for Hondurans already seriously affected by the crisis.

Jennifer Moore is an independent Canadian journalist writing from Honduras for ALAI and FEDAEPS.

ObamaDoug Notes:

Women's Rights in Honduras have gone by the wayside after a decade of progress, as well. NO MORE COUPS!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Get Real, IMF!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:12:43 EDT

This just in from Just Foreign Policy:

1) Secretary of State Clinton, responding to calls to increase pressure on the de facto Honduras government, announced the termination on Thursday of about $22 million in U.S. aid that was suspended immediately after President Zelaya was deposed, the New York Times reports. "Restoration of the terminated assistance will be predicated upon a return to democratic, constitutional governance in Honduras," said the State Department announcement. The announcement came after Clinton's meeting with Zelaya. The State Department announced it was revoking the visas of several people who had been identified as members or supporters of the coup government. Officials said that, as matters stand, the Obama administration would not recognize the upcoming Honduran presidential elections.

2) It's still not clear if the Obama administration is serious about dislodging the coup regime that it continues to support with military and economic aid, said Mark Weisbrot, in a CEPR press release. There is still quite a bit of money that is not food assistance or anything that poor people need that continues to flow to the dictatorship, said Weisbrot. Weisbrot also noted that the IMF decided just a few days ago to give Honduras more than $160 million. Since the U.S. has a veto over IMF decisions, this will be seen by the coup regime as a decision of the U.S. government.

ObamaDoug Notes:

Now, really: that IMF gift to the coup regime in Honduras, whether it stimulates the global economy or not, is a smack in the face of the rule of law and Honduran democracy! Is it to be "business as usual" instead of 21st century values, once more? Hope not! Maybe the IMF/World Bank and Hillary need to have a little breakfast prayer meeting and get on the same page?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

President Obama, For 8 Great Years!

Christian Science Monitor: America Lacks Compassion

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:19:00 EDT

Here's a link and an article which makes the case for healthcare reform as a MORAL need, rather than just an economic fix:

The real US healthcare issue: compassion deficiency The fact that many of us do not feel any urgency to revamp a system that leaves millions of our sick without care is appalling. By Gordon Marino

Northfield, Minn. - During the height of the banking and Wall Street meltdowns, Americans seemed to love clucking about corporate greed. As far as most of us were concerned, the moral debacle was purely the fault of Wall Street, not Main Street.

Yet you don't need a graduate degree to see that the character crisis is not restricted to those summering on Nantucket.

The healthcare debate has revealed that Americans suffer from a compassion deficiency. Many of us would prefer that our fellow citizens go without medical care rather than make even the slightest of sacrifices.

Over the summer, I have heard many groans along the lines of, "I don't want to pay for someone else's visits to the doctor." When pressed, some will retreat to concerns about the degradation of care. But there are plenty who will stick with, "I just don't feel as though I should have to foot someone else's medical bills."

While President Obama insists that changes in our medical system will not require middle-class tax hikes, it is plain that many fear reform will cost them. Apparently, there are a lot of folks who would choose to have young mothers with cancer go without chemotherapy, instead of giving up a bit of that disposable income that is our badge of freedom and individualism.

Those of us who abide below the money mountaintop are acquainted with hardworking people who can't afford some critical medical treatment. Though we are inured to them, I could easily reel off 10 horror stories, including a couple quite close to home.

I reside in a small town and every week there is some kind of raffle or spaghetti dinner to scrounge together the funds to meet the medical expenses of a child with leukemia or a teenager with a brain tumor. We're trying to pay for brain surgery with bake sales!

Back in the late 1980s, I lived in Denmark, where there is superb universal coverage. The rich aside, it is hard to know how anyone could come to the conclusion that Americans are better served by their doctors than the Scandinavians or, for that matter, anyone else in Western Europe. Despite widespread illusions, life expectancy (we rank 42nd) and infant mortality rates (we rank 29th) attest that our healthcare system is not even a contender for the best.

But the issue isn't about the comparative quality of care; rather it's about what we will and will not put up with as a society. As much as the Danes moan about taxes, not many of them would prefer having extra euros over the peace of mind that comes with knowing that they don't have to think of their less fortunate but sick countryman going without medical treatment.

The fact that a significant number of Americans do not feel any urgency to revamp a system that leaves millions of our sick without care is symptomatic of the fact that we must be suffering from a hardening of more than our arteries.

There was a time when highbrows were repulsed by the fact that Americans were not appalled by the levels of violence in films. For a country that loves to moralize, we ought to acknowledge that what does or does not repulse reveals a lot about who we are.

The pandemic lack of compassion for the un- and under-insured is really not that distant from the narcissistic indifference of the avaricious CEOs that we love to sneer at. Anyone who values honesty will have to admit that many of us are not appalled by children dying for lack of medical treatment.

We don't like it, we wish that it could be otherwise, but it doesn't exactly make us sick. And that is appalling.

ObamaDoug Notes:

Once again, we return to the loss in this country of the sanctity of each life as a major value. Maybe we need reminding tonight?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Tighten, Tighten, Tighten!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:02:14 EDT

The WashPost ran this article on continuing Obama Administration efforts to regularize the current political situation in Honduras:

U.S. May Not Recognize Results of Honduran Vote

By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 4, 2009

The U.S. government on Thursday toughened its stance against Honduras's coup leaders and supporters, threatening to put them "in a box" by not recognizing the winner of a presidential election set for November.

The de facto government had hoped that the election would provide an end to the crisis that has gripped the Central American country since the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28. The balloting had been scheduled well before Zelaya was detained and whisked out of the country by the military.

But U.S. officials said for the first time that they would continue to shun the country unless Honduran leaders went back to a negotiated plan that would allow the return of Zelaya with limited powers until the expiration of his term in December.

"Based on conditions as they currently exist, we cannot recognize the results of this election. So for the de facto regime, they're now in a box," said State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley. "And they will have to sign on to the San Jose accords to get out of the box." He was referring to the plan for Zelaya's return, which was negotiated in the Costa Rican capital.

The announcement amounted to a gamble that the threat would finally force the de facto government to back down. So far, that government, led by longtime congressman Roberto Micheletti, has resisted intense international pressure, both economic and political. Its members argue that Zelaya's removal was legal because he had violated the constitution by organizing a referendum that could have allowed him to evade the one-term limit for the presidency.

But the reasons for the coup supporters' vehemence go deeper: They fear that the leftist Zelaya would have introduced the socialist-style agenda promoted by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a Zelaya ally and leader of an anti-American bloc in the hemisphere.

"This is a tough call, because I think there are no white hats in this story," said Ted Piccone, a specialist in U.S.-Latin American relations at the Brookings Institution. "But there is a clear bright line around the militarily forced exile of a democratically elected president, and so that has to be addressed."

However, he and other analysts said, if the interim government does not change its stance, the decision not to recognize the election could only deepen the crisis.

The State Department's action "limits our options, a violation of the first law of diplomacy, by taking off the table the one means by which the crisis could naturally be resolved," said Eric Farnsworth, a Latin America expert at the Council of the Americas, a U.S.-based business group.

The announcement came as the State Department also formally terminated about $30 million in aid to the Honduran government that had been suspended. Authorities also said they were examining revoking more visas of Hondurans who participated in, or supported, the coup.

The announcement triggered new opposition from Republicans in Congress who have denounced the Obama administration's policy on Honduras and held up some diplomatic appointments in protest.

"The U.S. approach to friends and foes is completely backwards. While appeasing the enemies of freedom worldwide, we punish those in Honduras struggling to preserve the rule of law, fundamental liberties, and democratic values," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.) said in a statement.

The U.S. moves were applauded by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who has encouraged a negotiated settlement. "The coup regime has engaged in undemocratic practices that cast a dark shadow over elections scheduled for November. Those elections will lack legitimacy unless the regime embraces and faithfully implements the San Jose Accord," he said in a statement.

Major Latin American countries have said they would not recognize the results of the November election unless the coup is reversed.

ObamaDoug Notes:

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen's spin is so upside-down from the reality in Honduras, to me, anyway, that it underscores the nature of political debate: people see what they want to see, regardless of what is there. A Coup, by its very nature, abrogates "the rule of law, fundamental liberties, and democratic values"! I'm glad to see the Administration continuing to tighten the screw on Micheletti's "government." Whoever wins the upcoming election, it will mean an illegitimate President will take over from an illegitimate President who stole his Office from the legitimate President, Zelaya: how many levels of illegitimacy does it take to make a bastard?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

"NETWORK" Might Be Good Tonight!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:51:58 EDT

Should our Primo Prez need anymore reason to work for the individual well-being of all our citizens, I'd suggest watching "Network," with William Holden and Faye Dunaway: the loss of the value of the individual in American corporate and media structure has hardly ever been better expressed, and, unfortunately, somewhere along in this healthcare reform debate, everything else but the sanctity of the individual in America has been yelled and screamed and hollered and divided. Is there an individual power of self that makes a difference in America? I'm praying "Yes."

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

December 17, 2009

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:38:05 EDT

I'm even more sure that I'll be celebrating the passing of a "real" health care act this year. I feel it in my bones. Primo Prez continues to do the exact right thing, regardless of what anyone else says. This man has incredibly GREAT instincts! And GREAT advisors, as well, including CITA, I'd guess. We will have an excellent health care act by my birthday, the day I enter Medicare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ay, Chihuahua!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

"Prescriptive," Eh?!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:28:32 EDT

One would hope so, Primo Prez, because this whole country needs a diagnosis, for sure, and me, too. The whole country is loco, for all the wrong and right reasons, and it's all because we have yet to figure out that we are going through changes here that started during the Carter Administration. God, he got the fierce winds of change in his face, just as you are. More intense, now, but the dynamics are the same.

I await your Joint Session Address. I was so enlightened to hear that you had called for one. Not often done, therefore BOLD< BEING THE BEST< THE CHANGE FROM POLITICS TO TRUTH I KNOW YOU STAND FOR! Gracias, gracias. Oh, yes, I await! If you can, turn it all around. If it doesn't seem possible, do it anyway. What's to lose?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

So, Here We Are, Awaiting Primo Prez!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:00:33 EDT

I went through quite an angst attack when I realized that my "German/Hitler" post days ago precursed the feelers going out there these days about our former Veep, "Ol' Spin and Terror," seeking the 2012 Presidency.

My stomach churned. I half-decided to move to Nicaragua fulltime, despite the problems I endured this year, because this country under spin and terror again would be devestating to my security as an open-minded leftist in America.

I could go back into "Adolph Hitler Thoughts" and add the former Veep's name, but I see no need: probably anyone who read it before ex-Veep's feelers already knew I was feeling the horrendous shudder of anathema that comes to me when I even think of America under his unfettered regime--and I am so grateful to be living under the umbrella from the storm which I feel Obama is deeply providing. What a miraculous change in my spirit and attitude and levels of trust, to know that selfish greed is not running the WH!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Back OnLine, No Problems: Fixed Itself!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:58:49 EDT

No need for Geek Squads! I'm back online and looking forward to seeing your posts.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Server Dysfunctional

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:00:04 EDT

I'll be off MyBO, Gmail and CITA for a spell as something's not working right and I need a Geek Squad, so, no problems for ObamaDoug that can't be fixed, but I won't be posting. Keep those posts flying and I'll catch up.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

It's Really Strange . . . !

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:52:19 EDT

Does anyone on this blog know the way to further my suggestion about the Kennedy Act 2009 to our Primo Prez? I've called it in, but, . . . . It's so appropriate it knocks my socks off and I hope Obama has already thought of it. It's a perfectly American, powerfully Progressive action, and the naming opens the door to all those very upset Americans who still revere the Kennedy magic. Oh, my, graduating college with my BA during the Kennedy Administration, while walking with Dwight Eisenhower at the same time, has been a mind-altering balance trip for me, most of my life. Hooray, Doug's LIFE!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Hitler Thoughts

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:58:13 EDT

Adolph Hitler thought that Germany and the world would be better off if:

Germany was strictly for the Germans;

Germany had no more "illegal" aliens":

Germany's economy had no "foreign"--Jewish--influence;

Germany knew better than any other nation what was right for the world;

Germany could off anyone who disagreed;

Without Obama, where are we going?

To Rush Limbaugh and Fox News and Big Brother. Is that where you want to go?

CITA, Get out there! We are at a crux of civilization!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

How is It?

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:30:15 EDT

How is it that extremely decent Republican people all over this country are silent when Rush Limbaugh and other liers are taking over this country's legislative process? I can hardly believe it is happening in America! Stop. Listen! Think! Rush Limbaugh sounds so much like a Nazi, I can hardly believe it!

If there were ever a time for critical thinking, it is now.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Why 2?

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:14:35 EDT

How could anyone in this very fair country believe that America would not last? That is the scream from the antagonists of Obama, and I just have to say: silly people! God knows, it will last: no one knows what it will look like, bur Barack Obama is the best bet to keep it looking as much like the 50's and the 21st century, too, as anything else you think you have going. The point is, we are going through change. Get real. Get loving it. There is not one thing left but change, so we all might just start loving it.

Why?

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:28:51 EDT

Why is Dick Cheney, that absolutely nasty guy, still showing up everywhere, unless everywhere wants to hear him? It's Mr. "Shock and Awe" and I am tired of that attitude, though the GOP seems bent on slavoring over it. If "everywhere" does want that zombie, what am I doing questioning it, but, heck, it's venom to me. The serpent's tongue. Sting. Ouch! I'm dead!

My really heartfelt question is why the beautiful Republican people, the ones I grew up with, the stalwart independent people I cherished, have given themselves up to Rush Limbaugh and nihilism, saying "NO" to everything, including the health of us all, when the Republicans I grew up with were saying "Yes" to states rights, individual freedoms, less Federal government, healthy living, and America as a beacon of hope in the hinterland? When did Rush Limbaugh take over the Republican Party?

Kennedy HealthCare Reform Act, 2009

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:38:44 EDT

Kennedy HealthCare Reform Act, 2009 |

Hello, Primo Prez and CITA.
I have, I think, a great idea for the Health Care cause. With Vicki Kennedy's permission, it would be more than neat and 21st century for our man in DC and the World to forego what might be called "The Obama Health Care Reform Act, for honoring the late Senator and his family's three generations of inspired contributions to the American Welfare by calling the Bill you sign the Kennedy Health Care Reform Act, 2009.

I may be crazy, but that one act of naming might work Congress back toward a bipartisan Bill instead of a polarized one, as everyone wants to celebrate Ted Kennedy's 40 year fight for healthcare for all Americans.

This Act is what he now would be working toward, the successful passage through the Houses of this legislation, this year, had he not gotten sick. Who could vote down this culminating moment in his public life, the Kennedy Act? I bet he'll be pushing for it, wherever his soul resides, and, in his death, claim the miraculous closure which his life would not let him gain.

Surely, this move might restore some balance and respect for the coming historical moment when this Bill becomes law, a true-North step forward for this country. It might also bind some recent wounds of bi-partisanship, to remember the nimblefooted Teddy crossing the aisle with such finesse.

It could also, I suppose, be named the Kennedy/Hatch Health Care Reform Act, as both men deserve praise for their concerns for the health of America.

Could the Kennedy magic lift the pall over the current bickering? If he had lived more robustly since January, he would have made it happen, I'm sure. I think it would be like lighting a vigil candle in the current darkness of American debate.

Is such a thing possible? Can President's name Bills? At least he could suggest it to the Legislature as appropriate honoring for a transcendent caring model for the Great Politician and Citizen Award, 2009.

I'd be surprised if our Primo Prez hasn't thought of this already.

Gracias, ObamaDoug
President Obama, For 8 Great Years!

Latin American UNASUR Debate at Bariloche, Argentina

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:20:05 EDT

This article, from Associated Press (!) seems balanced, given the usual over-the-top, angry pronouncements about the US from the usual sources. It would be great if Latin America could transcend its anger for our past intrusions, though, Lord knows, we've earned their distrust for 100 years: "Gringo" is still a dirty word to most adult Latin Americans because norteamericanos of the Beltway variety are seen as heartless greed-and-power-heads, south of the border. Perhaps if we extend our hearts to Latin America instead of our egos, the Western Hemisphere might grow in mutuality and greater compassion.

As in all things 21st century, we must walk our talk with Latin America. We cannot help to oppress these populations economically and politically while talking freedom, liberty, democracy, opportunity and justice for all.

Here's the AP article:

Uribe stands ground on US military deal

By MICHAEL WARREN (AP) – 16 hours ago

BARILOCHE, Argentina — South America's presidents ended their debate Friday on a pending deal to expand the U.S. troop presence in Colombia, saying foreign troops should not be allowed to threaten any of the region's nations.

The leaders also instructed their foreign and defense ministers to meet next month and come up with a cooperation agreement that would enable the UNASUR group to inspect military bases in each member country to confirm that promises are being kept.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe appeared to go along with this base supervision idea, although the presidents began to leave while the summit declaration was still being drafted and there was no signing ceremony.

"There are no guarantees" in life, said Ecuador's Rafael Correa, the group's rotating president. "We hope it works, that this UNASUR defense council will be able to supervise the bases ... what more can we do?"

For hours, Uribe defended his U.S. military alliance against tough criticism, saying the United States was alone in answering his nation's call for help against drug traffickers and terrorists.

"We are not playing some political game," Uribe declared after others accused him of destabilizing the continent by giving U.S. troops more maneuvering room on Colombian bases.

Uribe provided few details about the 10-year base deal, and his rivals spent much of the summit, broadcast live across the continent, painting the U.S. as a menace to peace and security, despite the goodwill generated by President Barack Obama's election.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez read from a document in which he said Pentagon planners saw Colombia's bases as a jumping off point for "expeditionary" forces to secure whatever might be in the U.S. strategic interest in South America.

"They're mobilizing for war," Chavez charged.

"This greatly worries me, and I can't accept that a U.S. document treats us like a back porch," said Correa, who proposed an urgent meeting with Obama.

Uribe said the document was merely a proposal from a group of U.S. academics that is publicly available on the Internet. Strategic defense planning is what they do, he said, but "Colombia's focus is completely the opposite. The only focus that Colombia has is to end its internal war."

The presidents also instructed the UNASUR defense committee to analyze the document before deciding whether to press Obama to provide more explanations.

Uribe urged his neighbors to take more responsibility in the fight against "narcoterrorists" — prompting angry retorts from Bolivia's Evo Morales, among others.

Morales, who rose to power through a coca growers union, said U.S. soldiers accompanying Bolivian troops fired at his union members. "I witnessed this," Morales said.

"So now we're narcoterrorists. When they couldn't call us communists anymore, they called us subversives, and then traffickers, and since the September 11 attacks, terrorists," Morales added. "The history of Latin America repeats itself."

The ultimate responsibility for Latin America's violence lies with U.S. consumers of illegal drugs, Morales said, before answering his own rhetorical question: "If UNASUR sent troops to the United States to control consumption, would they accept it? Impossible!"

Chavez accused Colombia of hypocrisy, saying it harbors the "terrorist" Pedro Carmona, a Venezuelan business leader who briefly served as president when Chavez was ousted in an aborted 2002 coup.

Uribe countered that Venezuela has provided refuge to two leaders of Colombia's leftist FARC rebel army — Luciano Marin Arango, alias Ivan Marquez, and Rodrigo Londono, alias Timochenko. Venezuela has always denied this; Chavez had no immediate response.

U.S. and Colombian diplomats have spent weeks trying to calm fears since The Associated Press reported details of the military contract, which would let U.S. troops use space at seven Colombian bases for 10 years.

The deal, which is done and just awaits signatures, also gives the U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Colombia, and envisions millions of dollars in construction to support warplanes and other U.S. military hardware.

Latin American leaders tend to be suspicious of foreign militaries in a region where U.S.-backed dictatorships killed and tortured their own citizens only decades ago. The unresolved coup in Honduras — by a military with close U.S. ties and training — worries them as well.

Political instability tends to fuel defense spending: the 12 UNASUR nations spent about $51 billion last year on their militaries — up 30 percent from 2007, according to the Center for a New Majority, a Buenos Aires research group.

Fernando Lugo, who came to power after a long career a priest and bishop among Paraguay's poor, criticized the region's defense spending. Peru's Alan Garcia called it "shameful."

Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he also wants Obama to explain what role the U.S. will play in Latin America. "I think we have to have a good discussion with the United States."

But Silva failed to persuade his fellow leaders to find common ground.

"One person can blame another, but that doesn't solve the problem," he said, shrugging and raising both hands. "When we're together at a table like this one, we must decide beforehand if we want to build an atmosphere of peace or of war. If it's for peace, we could put an end once and for all with all those threats and differences."

At the end, Silva couldn't hide his frustration as the leaders bickered over their joint statement. Three of the presidents were gone before the official photo.

It would have been better, Silva said, to turn off the cameras.

ObamaDoug Notes:

It's important enough to repeat it: Silva: "When we're together at a table like this one, we must decide beforehand if we want to build an atmosphere of peace or of war. If it's for peace, we could put an end once and for all with all those threats and differences." While this is a call from Silva to the other Latin American leaders, it is also a call for the US to begin "building an atmosphere of peace" in Latin America, rather than filling up the countries with military toys as "aid." Everyone in Bariloche would welcome US humanitarian aid, but our aid packages are mostly about war. Let's change that as well as welcome UNASUR's call for greater communication with the Obama Administration.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

A Further Insight on Honduras

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:01:32 EDT

The military junta, all schooled in the CIA's School of America in the 80's at Ft. Benning, Georgia, were pretty quick to back-pedal on their Supreme Court's ruling calling Zelaya a constitutional criminal, once they heard the balance of 2009 US aid to Honduras might be cut if they did not let him back into the country.

Since most of the remaining aid is earmarked as military credits, allowing the Honduran military to shop our WalMart of defense toys for free, it's not surprising that they're starting to cave on their legitimacy as custodians of Honduran Democracy: every one of those elite leaders has been taking personal kickbacks to their secret bank accounts for making their purchases from our defense industries!

This country really needs to examine how our our military aid to Latin America gets spent: NO country in Latin America needs anymore airplanes or baksheesh to the generals. What they need is humanitarian aid distributed by human justice workers to all the starving masses south of us. Who, exactly, is going to attack any country in Pan-America, except us? Our military aid has been going to the elites of each country for 60 years, to support THEM against the people of their countries and to prop up our military/industrial/intelligence/financial complex. How tacky! Hardly AID.

Baksheesh is the Central American way of doing business, and, believe me, I know this is pervasive in Central American culture. Even the campesinos at the bottom of the beanstalk charge 10% baksheesh on every financial transaction I make through them. If I send $1000 to my "parents" for food in care of my sister in Jalapa, nearest to Western Union, who then taxies it to Teote to another sister, who then has other sisters in the family walk the money out to Quacamaya, about $200 goes into at least 3 families' coffers before the diminished amount gets to don Ramon and dona Eva. They accept it as the Nicaraguan way, and at least my money supports the family.

It's just a given, Nica-style, unfortunately. I've stopped sending money. I'll help my "parents" in other ways.

So, no surprise that the coup leaders are filled with anxiety that they won't be able to live in palaces anymore, while their citizens are living hand-to-mouth, if aid is cut. Perfect timing, SoS Clinton and Primo Prez! Turn that screw another iota and Zelaya will finish out his legitimate term, and, then, hopefully, get lost to history, as a more progressive, citizen-chosen candidate becomes President in January. This coup has raised the consciousness of the Honduran electorate to value its vote, rather than seeing it as a way to make money from the highest bidder. Last I heard, a Honduran vote in the provinces was going for $35, enough to feed a family for half a week.

Zelaya should run the elections, and the Devil-Take-Him if he creates fraud or steps in as a candidate. Even he is not foolish enough to try that, now.

The idea that the current cadre of CIA-trained generals could run a presidential election fairly is ludicrous, and everyone in Latin America and North America and the Beltway Bubble knows it! Hardly anyone in Honduras would vote for Michiletti or a henchman, and, yet, he'd win, wouldn't he? Hmmmmmm? Few would vote for Zelaya, either, who has shown himself to be a non-thinking puppet of Chavez, a fool among big-mouthed fools. No Honduran wants to be engined by Venezuela, even despite the cheap gasoline.

Tighten, tighten, tighten! GOBAMA!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY and Hillary, too!

Scrolling Down CITA Is Extraordinary Now!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:11:35 EDT

What a great, meaningful blogsite we have! It takes me almost as much time to scroll down CITA's blog to my last post as it used to take me to scroll the MyBO Community Blog: Thanks to all you intrepid posters! Our passion is working miracles of transformation as we communicate from our hearts with each other, and "That," believe me, "Ain't Shabby"! "Hoo-Hah," from the Cosmic Cowboy!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

More Breaking News from Honduras!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:56:59 EDT

The Quixote Center has just released the following announcement and plea for activism (underlining mine):

Since June 28th, you have joined with our friends in Honduras to help return democracy to their country. As a result, your actions are now bearing fruit.

Earlier this week, the SOA graduate-backed Honduran military coup regime refused all diplomatic options to return democracy. The U.S. State Department responded by asserting that visas to Hondurans would no longer be granted under the coup. Late yesterday State Department officials made it clear that they are considering legally defining the situation as a "military coup." This would create an automatic cut-off of all remaining aid to Honduras. The coup regime immediately responded by saying that they would allow the rightful President Zelaya to return with amnesty, but not as president. Clearly the coup leaders are caving to the pressure. We need you to act now to return democracy to Honduras. Please make two very important phone calls this morning!

1.) Call the State Department at 202-647-5171 or 1-800-877-8339 and ask for Secretary Clinton. Deliver the following message: "Legally define the de facto regime in Honduras as a military coup and cut off all aid to Honduras until President Zelaya is unconditionally reinstated."

2.) Call the White House at 202-456-1111 and repeat the same message "Legally define the de facto regime in Honduras as a military coup and cut off all aid to Honduras until President Zelaya is unconditionally reinstated."

Thanks,

The Staff of the Quixote Center

ObamaDoug Notes:

Just having these phone numbers on your speed dial helps, though leaving a message can be time-consuming. The State Department's answering mechanism is acting crazy; the White House is easier. Go for it, CITA. These calls are what we're on this blog site for, to support democracy, rule of law, and social justice for all Americans, North, Central and South! I'm excited! There was a time, you all may remember, when the United States would have been paying for the coup: not any more! No more coups!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Call SoS Clinton!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:48:23 EDT

This request just came in from Just Foreign Policy. Let's act on it, for the sake of the Honduran people, who have been deprived of the rule of law. NO MORE COUPS!

Here's the request:

Thank you for the actions you've taken to increase U.S. pressure on the coup regime in Honduras. In response to pressure from the U.S. public, Congress, and from Latin America, the Obama Administration is starting to move.

Late yesterday Reuters reported that State Department officials have recommended to Secretary of State Clinton that she formally declare what took place on June 28 in Honduras a "military coup." [1] Under U.S. law, this would cut off all remaining non-humanitarian U.S. aid to the coup regime.

Could you make a phone call today to Secretary Clinton, urging her to follow the recommendation of her staff, and formally declare that a military coup has taken place in Honduras?

Call the State Department at 202-647-5171. Deliver the following message: "Secretary Clinton, please follow the recommendation of the State Department. Legally define the de facto regime in Honduras as a military coup and cut off all non-humanitarian aid to Honduras until President Zelaya is reinstated."

Please forward this message to anyone you know who you think will take action.

Thank you for all you do for a just foreign policy,

ObamaDoug Notes:

I've just made my call. It's easy, though it took some time getting to an open "mailbox" to leave my message. It was worth it. How about you?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY (and SoS Clinton, too!)

Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine Details CIA Torture Manual

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:38:12 EDT

Anyone on CITA looking for details of CIA interrogation techniques gained through the Freedom of Information Act need look no farther than Naomi Klein's horrifying but very realistic book, The Shock Doctrine (Picador, 2007). Part 1, Chapter 1, "The Torture Lab," details the $25 million dollars the CIA paid Dr. Ewen Cameron of McGill University (Canada) to treat his patients as guinea pigs in psychological investigations centered on electrocution, overdoses of mind-altering drugs, and sensory deprivation, supposedly leading to states of brain-washing mind control. From this disgusting work, the CIA created a manual of interrogation known as KUBARK, which was used by the CIA to teach Central American National Guardsmen how to get information from leftist prisoners during the 80s. The methods so terrify me, sitting in my easy chair, that I know I'd confess to anything. I won't mention them here.

Read this book, CITA members, and you will understand why many in the world consider the United States government to be the PRIMO terrorist nation-state, using shock, awe, and personal trauma to get its way. You'll understand the Bush tactics. You'll understand Iraq and Katrina.

You'll understand, but, if you're like me, you'll hate this information. I love my country but am deeply ashamed at what has been done in the world in our names for the last 60 years. It is, however, better to know the worst in order to work for the best in the future, as Primo Prez is doing. His action to remove interrogation of prisoners from the CIA to the FBI (with government oversight) is a first step. At least the FBI attitude tends to elicit information from prisoners through kindness and better treatment, according to NPR's Amy Goodman, rather than mind/body devestation.

Maybe diehard Beltway Bubble sadists in positions of power, Limbaugh-esque talking heads in media, and CEOs of inhumane mega-corporations need some humanistic counselling prior to their hiring? When did we lose sight of the Golden Rule?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO.F8GY!

New State Recommendations: Nix Honduran Aid

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:43:48 EDT

I'm sad, but in the long run it might be best to cut current aid to the Honduran government from the US, even though it might hurt the peoples there short-term. Most of it is probably now being channeled into military gang-rapes of female protestors, anyway, rather than the campesinos. This from Just Foreign Policy, an excellent site. I appreciate that State has held off so long on nixing the Milennial Challenge aid, but, now, who knows who is monitoring that funding? From JFP:

1) State Department staff have recommended the ouster of Honduran President Zelaya be declared a "military coup," which could cut off as much as $150 million in U.S. funding, Reuters reports. An official said State Department staff had made the recommendation to Secretary of State Clinton, who has yet to make a decision on the matter although one was likely soon. Washington has suspended about $18 million aid to Honduras and this would be formally cut if the determination is made because of a U.S. law barring aid "to the government of any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree." The official said that $215 million in grant funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation to Honduras would have to end should Clinton make the determination. About $76 million has already been disbursed and a second official said this implied the remaining roughly $139 million could not be given to Honduras. Diplomats said the US had held off making the formal determination to give diplomacy a chance to yield a negotiated compromise that might allow for Zelaya's return to power. Such efforts appear to have failed for now and so the US is taking steps to raise pressure on the de facto government. "The recommendation of the building is for her to sign it," said the first U.S. official.

Obamadoug Notes:

I hope she does. Michiletti and the Honduran elites think they have a patsy in the OAS and Obama! Ha! In addition, the cutting off of visas to the States will nix the elites' desire to get their kids out of Honduras. Why on earth would they want to send them off, except that most of the elites' kids hate what their parents are supporting and might get in trouble with the military police? 139 million might be better spent funding refugee camps on all Honduran borders, because none of the bordering nations can afford refugees from political oppression in Honduras: a wave of starving people is heading out of that coup-run nation. They are sick of it, though they won't find much relief across any borders there.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY! (President Obama, For 8 Great Years!)

Knockout Site in English from Latin America

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:18:03 EDT

For those CITA members interested in Central/South America/US relations, the "Upside Down World" (UDW) blog from South of US is perfect, even its name, which reminds me of the topsy-turvy tension between North America and the rest, a tension of opposites in everything except the heartfulness of all the people on this land bridge of the Western Hemisphere. What our governments do is not who any of us are, and we all know it, though our Primo Prez's Administration is making inroads to change that, one step at a time. (Link in Comments: I'm having problems posting this, though my original essay included a great essay currently on this site about Bolivia and Islam and the US paranoia about Islamis spread in Latin America. This site is PRIMO and I wanted to get it to you all. Check out the heartfulness of the essay on Bolivia when I send the link, after this gets posted, hope, hope. Latin America and its Islamic Centers know more about what's happening than the American media or State do, because they are past that utter Limbaugh-esque drivel.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

RIP: Senator Edward Kennedy

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:25:18 EDT

Primo Prez sent this email to American Obamans this morning:

Michelle and I were heartbroken to learn this morning of the death of our dear friend, Senator Ted Kennedy. For nearly five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts. His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives -- in seniors who know new dignity; in families that know new opportunity; in children who know education's promise; and in all who can pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just, including me. In the United States Senate, I can think of no one who engendered greater respect or affection from members of both sides of the aisle. His seriousness of purpose was perpetually matched by humility, warmth and good cheer. He battled passionately on the Senate floor for the causes that he held dear, and yet still maintained warm friendships across party lines. And that's one reason he became not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy. I personally valued his wise counsel in the Senate, where, regardless of the swirl of events, he always had time for a new colleague. I cherished his confidence and momentous support in my race for the Presidency. And even as he waged a valiant struggle with a mortal illness, I've benefited as President from his encouragement and wisdom. His fight gave us the opportunity we were denied when his brothers John and Robert were taken from us: the blessing of time to say thank you and goodbye. The outpouring of love, gratitude and fond memories to which we've all borne witness is a testament to the way this singular figure in American history touched so many lives. For America, he was a defender of a dream. For his family, he was a guardian. Our hearts and prayers go out to them today -- to his wonderful wife, Vicki, his children Ted Jr., Patrick and Kara, his grandchildren and his extended family. Today, our country mourns. We say goodbye to a friend and a true leader who challenged us all to live out our noblest values. And we give thanks for his memory, which inspires us still. Sincerely, President Barack Obama

ObamaDoug Notes:

Ted Kennedy, most likely, will push buttons from beyond the grave to help our President to finally achieve Kennedy's 40 year-old-dream of America accepting the moral obligation to provide health access to all Americans (as every other developed country already does). Perhaps our values of money and power block our hearts from recognizing the mutual needs of our citizens and our culture, something Kennedy never forgot, despite his privileges.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

An Interesting Essay for CITA

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:52:02 EDT

My friend and former colleague at CMC published this essay recently and taught me something. Dr. Sara Smith teaches Spanish Language and Literature at the Roaring Fork Campus.

Adults can learn languages, too!

Sara Smith
Post Independent
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado, ¿Está Susana en casa? Sí, está en la cocina.

Does this dialogue sound familiar? Many of us learned such exchanges years ago in our first high school Spanish class. That was when language students memorized dialogues, studied grammatical rules and drilled to learn new vocabulary. Not only was this approach boring, but it was ineffective in achieving the real goal of learning a foreign language — to be able to communicate with native speakers.

If you have tried to learn a language and failed, you are not alone. If you still wish you could learn a foreign language, take heart. Times have changed. You can learn a foreign language, too. Here are a few important points to keep in mind.

First, it's a myth that children have the best shot at becoming fluent. My experience shows that adults learn languages more quickly in a classroom environment because they possess a deeper knowledge of their first language, greater interest in the world around them and greater motivation to learn.

Second, recent research in foreign-language acquisition has improved teaching methodologies. The days of endless drilling and dialogue memorization are gone, as are the days of studying grammar as an end in itself.

In most language classes today, students work in groups using their new language to communicate in real-world situations. Also, they develop the ability to understand both spoken and written language, research the cultures where the language is spoken and learn the strategies necessary to become lifelong language learners. Learning a language is a lifelong process requiring dedication and an understanding of the techniques you can use to continue learning, not the quick fix that some commercial language schools or computer programs promise.

If you are considering taking another stab at learning a language, keep in mind a few important strategies to be a successful learner:

• Don't be a perfectionist; mistakes are necessary for learning. Remember the goal is not grammatical perfection, it is communication with others. Be brave, speak up and get your message out there the best way you can.

• Get comfortable with ambiguity. There isn't always a one-to-one correspondence between words and expressions in different languages. Try to understand the context in which you hear the new expression and then start using it.

• Put your dictionary aside. You can't stop each time you hear or see a word you don't understand. Instead, make an educated guess using knowledge of your first language to guess the meaning in context. Take note of phrases and words you don't understand. You can use your dictionary or ask someone later.

• Take every opportunity to hear and read the language you are studying and to learn about the cultures associated with it. The availability of movies, radio, television shows, newspapers and the Internet in every language imaginable provides us with endless possibilities to further our foreign language skills.

ObamaDoug Notes:

It's also fun to take a Spanish class from Sara, who has been a member of CITA for six months.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Honduras Update

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:02:40 EDT

The US State Department has announced that it would severely restrict the granting of visas at its Embassy in Tegucigalpa until the fall of democracy and current military abuses has been turned around. Exceptions will be made for those whose lives are in political jeopardy during the current military repression. Michiletti's government has been soundly drubbed by Human Rights Watch, in particular, for the rape-tactics against protesting women in the last week. The US screws are being tightened by the Obama Administration as we speak, in support of the return of legitimacy and the rule of law in that beleagured nation, where 70% of the population lives below the poverty line, at the survival level of the generational peasantry, moving north with the coffee harvest and starving the rest of the year.

The BBC reported yesterday that the Honduran Supreme Court has voted to deny entrance to ousted President Zelaya, as a constitutional criminal, in support of the military coup. This despite the work of Costa Rica's President Arias and many OAS leaders calling for Zelaya's return. Its reporter observed (wording mine) that this Court move nixes any Zelayan finale as President, unless a popular uprising brought the reigning elites to their knees. This is unlikely to happen, unfortunately, because Zelaya's only support is with the peasantry. These suffering people have seen so many upheavals of government that it makes little difference who's in power; what's important is getting enough food to eat. Zelaya had only started building a social justice movement with his people, and most are not organized, educated or empowered to be political activists.

On the other hand, all hell could break loose at the OAS meeting this week in Honduras, which will still be working to bring democracy and justice back to Honduras. NO ONE IN CENTRAL OR SOUTH AMERICA OR NORTH AMERICA WANTS ANYMORE COUPS! NO MORE COUPS! One of the topics of discussion is the re-entry of Cuba to the OAS, since the State Department has conceded that "things have changed" since Cuba's expulsion, when its revolution was backed by the Soviets, now gone these 20 years. That would be an immense step forward for both Cuba and the US and the OAS, and for mutuality in the world.

Thanks for turning the screws in Honduras, Primo Prez and SoS Clinton. Thanks, Human Rights Watch and Just Foreign Policy. I hope there's not a blowout in Tegucigalpa this week; I'm hoping there's a miracle of transformation with Cuba to celebrate.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

I Hope Michelle Buries His Blackberry

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:01:05 EDT

WashPost lets us in on the Vineyard Vacation.

Seven Months in, Obama on the Vineyard for First Vacation

By Michael D. Shear

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, Aug. 23 -- Seven months after taking the oath of office, President Obama on Sunday began his first vacation, traveling to this tony hideaway for Hollywood stars, the wealthy and the occasional politician.

As the president and his family headed to Martha's Yineyard, a surprise visitor ambled through the press cabin on Air Force One: Bo, the First Dog, along for the vacation.

Bo made only a brief appearance for the short flight from Andrews Air Force Base to the Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station. Also on board were the president's sister and her family, and Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser and close friend.

Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton had a message -- almost a plea -- from the president for the press.

"He wants you to relax," Burton said, sporting sandals for the week with his boss on the island. "Have a good time, take some walks on the beaches. Nobody's looking to make any news."

The family boarded Marine One for the short hop over to the island. By 3:20, Obama and his crew had arrived at their rental home in Chilmark. Islanders waved and took pictures as the motorcade wound for 10 minutes from the airport to the 28-acre compound.

Several people held signs, including: "Aloha Obama Family" and "Hope,
Obama."

Past presidents have been queasy about what they called their time away from the White House, fearing the image of a checked-out president. Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs had no such fear last week, saying that "I don't think the American people begrudge a president taking some time with his family that's well earned and well deserved for a few days to see and spend time with them."

Obama is taking only a week off from his day job, far less than some of his predecessors. Former president George H. W. Bush often took several weeks at Kennebunkport, Maine. His son, George W. Bush, spent weeks at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Obama will spend only seven days here. Joining him are his wife and two daughters. Jarrett owns a house on the Vineyard and is already here. Longtime friend Erik Whitaker will also be along for the ride, officials said.

Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her family joined Obama during his western trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. They will also be on Martha's Vineyard during this week, officials said.

Joining Obama on the Vineyard are also the rumors: that Chelsea Clinton will be getting married here and that golf phenom Tiger Woods will be here for a round with the First Duffer.

Neither is true, officials said. Bill and Hillary Clinton have vehemently denied the rumor about their daughter. And a White House spokesman said he does not believe the president will be golfing with Woods, who plans to compete in a PGA tournament in Jersey City this week.

The president is expected to spend some time on the links, however. The rest of the time, he will be holed up at Blue Heron Farm, a 28-acre waterfront estate.

ObamaDoug Notes:

Lordy, I used to spend August at the beach in NJ with my extended family around me. We ate baloney and Velveeta sandwiches filled with sand and mustard or PB+J on Wonder Bread and thanked God when the sea breeze blew the flies inland. Usually, there was a hurricane along the New Jersey Coast in late August--big surfing waves, only for great swimmers as we were--but little damage. We used to drive to the beach club to watch the storm come in, oblivious to the danger that hurricanes carry since Katrina. We rented a huge old house inland, from the family dentist, off the shorefront but with its own dock on a tidal river; we threw fishheads on strings into the river to entice the blue crabs, and grew up surrounded by parents and uncles and aunts and grandparents and family retainers to the point that I've hungered for that extendedness for most of my life since.

God, my family was not rich--well, maybe my maternal grandpa, but he lost it before I was born--but I felt encompassed by the richness of extended living until the family just split apart in the 60's and we all went away from NJ: the Nicaraguans never let go of that and that's what I gained by adopting the 100+ Betanco family.

Now, I count my friends--and, God knows, my MyBO friends!--a brother and sister and my kids and grandkids as my extended family here--Lord, I'm a patriarch!--and am very grateful to be coming back into a family relationship by living soon in the same house as my crazy twin brother. Of course, he thinks I'm crazy for dinking away my time on the Net while he goes antique-ing.

But, it works. Most everyone thinks my bro and I will end up shooting each other--we have been notoriously the "Bickertwins"--but I know one thing: my bro will take care of me and I will take care of him. What more does anyone need, in encroaching ancient age?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Who's To Blame?

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:46:50 EDT

After years of human justice work among the poorest of the poor in Northern Nicaragua as well as other Central American nations, I know one thing that's true: people in the Western Hemisphere scapegoat another ethnic or national group of residents as THE source of nation's woes, rather than looking at themselves squarely in the mirror. Nicaraguense blame the homeless Hondurans who emigrated to Nica after Hurricane Mitch. Belizeans blame Caribbeans. Costa Ricans blame Nicaraguans for everything. Hondurans blame Guatemalans, North Americans blame Hispanics, Canadians blame us. Everything's always someone else's fault, and, sometimes, it is.

Mostly, though, for me, each of us might better work on personal growth towards maturity rather than projecting our angst out to the rest of the world. When I'm angry about something, it's usually really about something in me I don't like. For instance, I've lately been angered by the seemingly mindless lies and irrationality of opponents of healthcare reform in town hall meetings: how rude!

What I'm really angry about, though, is my sense of powerless confusion when I'm faced with such a barage of illogic and fear. Somehow, I feel rejected, and that makes me angry at me for not handling it better. I could be more courageous in the face of debate, less tongue-tied. It's far easier to blame the loudmouthed shouters than to own my occasional lack of courage in public situations. My silence in a crowd is too much like the millions of silent Germans in pre-War Deutschland, who watched the abuse of their Jewish brothers and did and said nothing, out of fear as well as ethnic scapegoating. While this comparison makes me uncomfortable, it's a next step for me to own it and to turn it around. My growth from this affects everything in my reality and leads to greater mutuality.

I can't say that I LOVE those shouters yet, but their presence in the current debate has made me stronger. In this way, I'm grateful to them for that.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Here's the Guy Who's Running OFA: Great!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:00:11 EDT

Jeremy Bird, who is the travelling head of Organizing for America, the DNC arm of the Obama Administration, had this profile written about him yesterday:

Grass-Roots Battle Tests The Obama Movement
His Supporters Play Catch-Up on Reform

By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 23, 2009

RACINE, Wis. -- The last three years had unfolded in an unrelenting series of what Jeremy Bird called Big Moments, and here began the latest on a sweltering afternoon earlier this month. Another rental car, another unfamiliar highway, another string of e-mails sent from his BlackBerry while driving 70 mph. Bird took a sip from his coffee and looked over at Dan Grandone, a co-worker riding in the passenger seat.

"I don't know about you, but I'm running on adrenaline right now," Bird said. "I love this feeling that we're on the verge of something crucial."

Bird had lived at that precipice ever since joining Barack Obama's campaign as a top organizer in 2007, but rarely had he faced a challenge so daunting as the one awaiting in Racine. As deputy director of Organizing for America, a national network of Obama supporters, Bird was scheduled to speak with a group of volunteers who had been threatened at town halls, outshouted at local rallies and weakened by a general sense of post-campaign fatigue. With one 90-minute visit, Bird hoped to leave them confident, empowered and reenergized.

"We want these people to feel like they can control almost anything that happens in government," said Bird, who had traveled from his office at Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington to spend two days visiting volunteers across Wisconsin. "They should feel like there's no barrier between the regular people out in the states and the power players in D.C."

The outcome of the health-care debate weighed partially on Bird's success, and on the effectiveness of Organizing for America (OFA) in general. When Bird was named deputy director of OFA last year, he became the vanguard of much more than 13 million e-mail addresses collected from supporters during Obama's campaign. He became one of the people most responsible for validating Obama's campaign ethos: that grass-roots support can power government and shape legislation.

It is a theory that now faces a defining test. Conservatives have waged an angry and effective battle against Obama's health-care legislation, and OFA has responded by asking its volunteers to visit congressional offices and flood town hall meetings in a massive show of support. This month, Obama sent an e-mail to OFA members: "This is the moment our movement was built for," he wrote.

When Bird arrived at a Racine coffee shop called Cup of Hope and sat down with 10 OFA volunteers, he spoke with similar urgency.

"We need to flex our muscles on this, and we need to act fast," he said. "We always said in the campaign that this was not just about one election but about a chance to make some major changes. Well, here's the chance."

Bird had a lifetime of experience thriving against long odds, and he relished the role. The son of conservative Baptists, Bird grew up in a Missouri trailer park before attending Harvard Divinity School. He organized underfunded schools in Boston, worked for Howard Dean's presidential campaign in 2004 and started a company that lobbied Wal-Mart -- his mother's former employer -- to improve its benefits and wages. On behalf of Obama, he had moved to five states, helping the candidate overcome racism in South Carolina and Islamophobia in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

When Bird arrived in Wisconsin last week, he recognized all the familiar hallmarks of an underdog fight. Gone were the 44 field offices across the state where Obama organizers had worked during the campaign; now Bird spent his visit searching for power outlets in Wisconsin coffee shops and conducting conference calls at sidewalk cafes. Gone were the 100 paid staffers who orchestrated an Obama victory in the state; now OFA employed one person in Wisconsin, Grandone, who hoped to hire two or three assistants if the budget allowed.

"Right now," Grandone said, "we are kind of building this thing as we fly it."

Around the table in Racine, Bird listened as the volunteers rattled off evidence of OFA's growing pains. Local membership was relatively stagnant because Racine residents were exhausted after volunteering during the long presidential campaign. Newspapers had focused their coverage of health-care town halls on the most vocal conservatives, even when the crowd contained more Democrats. One OFA member said he was now the target of repeated threats. "I've had a guy say to me, 'Why should I be afraid of a liberal when I have a .357?' " said Ryan Gleason, 32.

"It's starting to feel like we're always on the defensive," Gleason said.

Bird responded by citing data aimed at demonstrating OFA's impact. Since the organization sent an e-mail to its members asking for help on health care in May, more than 1.3 million have visited a phone bank, shared their personal health-care stories on the Internet or attended one of 12,000 local rallies. More than 150,000 people have given an average of $38 to OFA's health-care campaign. This month, Obama spent an hour providing OFA members with "bullet points" for the debate during an Internet video.

"Usually, when a campaign ends, everybody is exhausted and people just go their separate ways," Bird told the volunteers assembled in Racine. "But we knew from the beginning that this could be different."

Bird and other top Obama operatives had decided as much during the first days after the election, when they began conceptualizing OFA at a conference held in Chicago. They polled thousands of Obama volunteers through a sequence of surveys and conference calls and sought advice from David Plouffe, the architect of Obama's campaign. By the time of Obama's inauguration, Bird and OFA Director Mitch Stewart had settled on a basic vision: OFA would get by with limited staff by relying on volunteers who would work as many as 30 hours a week to ensure grass-roots activity in each U.S. voting precinct.

Bird and others decided that OFA would succeed almost entirely based on the enthusiasm of its volunteers. In that spirit, he asked each person at the coffee shop in Racine to share a "how-Obama-inspired-me story." There was the mother of two young children who now works as a lead community organizer for OFA, taking her children with her from one event to the next. There was a registered independent voter who had volunteered for Obama only once, on election night. There was Racine's newly elected mayor, John Dickert, who had been inspired to run for office after volunteering for Obama.

These were now the key operatives in OFA's health-care campaign. Bird's visit coincided with the launch of two OFA initiatives. The group's Web site offered artificial appointment times for volunteers to visit their congressional offices, prompting 15 or 20 OFA volunteers to pile into waiting rooms across the country. Bird also asked the supporters in Racine to attend as many congressional town hall meetings as possible in an attempt to drown out the vocal and disruptive opposition.

"Remember to stay classy, like we did during the campaign," Bird said. "We want an educated debate. We are not going to outshout them."

"Do you really think these things will have a big impact?" volunteer Glenda Alexander asked. "I guess it can't hurt to try, but the chances that this debate will be determined by one person showing up at a congressman's office -- and not even seeing the congressman -- seem pretty tiny. It's like buying a lottery ticket."

"It might seem small when it's just you, but it's big when you add up everybody who is going," Bird said.

"But right now, we're getting outshouted," Gleason said.

"We can't let that stop us," Bird said.

"We are battling these false messages every day now," Gleason continued. "It is getting to the point where some people are so angry that our safety is becoming a concern."

"We can't let that stop us either," Bird repeated. "Look, it's nasty because we are on the brink of a change and people are getting scared. If you stick with this, I'll promise you: We will get health care passed this year."

Some of the volunteers stood up and began to applaud. For a moment, at least, Bird had restored their optimism. He thanked the group, picked up his notebook and walked out. There were more volunteers to meet 45 minutes down the road at a restaurant in Milwaukee, another big moment.

"That went well," Bird said to Grandone as they climbed into the rental car. "Now we just have to do the same thing again, and again."

ObamaDoug Notes:

I met with an Obama OFA volunteer today at the Palisades Renaissance Faire outside of Grand Junction. She was dressed as a lady in waiting to the Queen of the Faire. She showed me pictures of the Obama Town Hall meeting, where she was on the stage with HIM because of her OFA volunteerism since the election. She shared with me that looking in his eyes while shaking his hand had concreted her determination to fight for Obama, whatever. The man has the most charismatic, clear eyes, as I know, from shaking his hand in Grand Junction about this time a year ago. HIS EYES CHANGED MY LIFE, from a man who never looked at current events and gave the finger to politics, into an activist.

I'll say, kudos, to Jeremy Bird!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Link to Clarification, HealthCare Reform Bills

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:29:18 EDT

Here'a a link to a WashPost columnist, Alec MacGillis, who simplifies the current confusion in the national media and TV ads. I found it palatable, unlike MOST of what I'm reading about reform these days. We'd better get our act together to pass these bills. We must have a Health Care Victory for our Primo Prez by December, to put under his Christmas Tree. YES WE CAN!

Here's the text (underlining mine):

Demystifying the health billsReforms on the table aim at two targets: the uninsured, and soaring costsBy Alec MacGillis
The Washington Post

Health care reform is not that hard to understand, and those who tell you otherwise likely have an ulterior motive.

Reform proponents exaggerate the complexity to elevate their status as people who understand it; opponents exaggerate it to make the endeavor out to be a bureaucratic monstrosity.

This gets a bit tiresome for reporters such as me who write article after article about the debate, only to have another pundit, politician or colleague dismiss the whole subject as an incomprehensible mess.

Well, health care is a mess. Our current system is a mishmash that consumes 16 percent of the economy. Fixing it could be simple: a single-payer system. To the dismay of many liberals, President Obama and congressional Democrats think it's more realistic to build on what's already there, which is why legislation overhauling it comes in the form of 1,000-page tomes.

Yet the basic outlines are emerging: What follows is an attempt to boil the health care debate down.

Let's start with the problem that Obama and the Democrats are trying to solve. It's actually two related problems. First, there are 47 million people in this country without insurance. Second, health care costs have been surging to the point where premiums are eating up more of our paychecks and where Medicare and Medicaid are badly straining the national budget.

The proposed solution to the first problem is straightforward: The legislation on the table makes Medicaid available to more people and covers others by helping them buy their own insurance, with subsidies based on income.

The venue for people to buy insurance will be an "exchange," a marketplace that would replace the uncompetitive and lightly regulated landscape that now confronts individuals and small businesses trying to buy coverage. Insurers on the exchange would have to meet basic standards and would no longer be allowed to deny coverage or price it exorbitantly because of pre-existing conditions; they'd still be able to set rates based on age, but not to the degree that they do now.

The thinking is that insurers will comply because they will want the customers coming to the exchange, notably the younger and healthier uninsured. This is one reason all the proposals would mandate that people buy insurance or risk paying a fine. (As is the case now in several successful state health care systems) This would draw younger people, who spend relatively little on health care, into the exchange, lowering the price of coverage for everyone.

At least at the outset, larger businesses and people who receive coverage from their employers probably wouldn't be able to buy on the exchange, to keep the employer-based insurance system that covers most Americans from unraveling.

Extending coverage to the uninsured will cost a lot — around $1 trillion over 10 years. But the country now spends more than twice that much on health care in a single year, and the Medicare drug benefit passed in 2003 was expected to cost more than half as much.

Obama proposes paying for most of it by squeezing money out of Medicare and Medicaid, including the subsidies that go to private Medicare Advantage plans and Medicaid funds that hospitals get to treat the uninsured. He would pay for the rest by shrinking the itemized deductions of wealthy taxpayers.

Other money-raising ideas include higher taxes on millionaires, proposed by House Democrats, and a plan being considered by the Senate Finance Committee, which is still drafting its legislation, to impose a tax on the most expensive health plans. All the proposals would charge some kind of fee to employers who don't provide coverage, with exemptions for the smallest.

The debate over helping the uninsured has gotten tangled up with the other major challenge, slowing the growth of overall health care spending. Republicans deride Obama and the Democrats by saying they claim to be saving money even as they expand coverage, an impossibility.

Reformers say this is unfair. They acknowledge the up-front expense in trying to cover the 47 million, but say their parallel attempts to "bend the curve" on spending will reduce costs over the long run for everyone. They say it makes sense to do both at the same time.

What is unclear is whether the proposals will achieve long-term savings.

Reformers tout a new federal effort to determine, with the help of computerized records, the "comparative effectiveness" of treatments.

But they say this effort will not take cost into account or issue firm guidelines on what to cover — assurances made, in part, to avoid upsetting providers and patients groups. End-of-life care eats up a huge slice of spending, but the proposals do little to address this directly. And the clause in the House bill about providing Medicare reimbursements to doctors for their counsel on end-of-life questions originated in an earlier proposal backed by Republican senators.

Similarly, the bills call for empowering a federal panel to set Medicare reimbursement rates free of pressure from providers, and for programs to test payment models that emphasize the quality of care instead of the quantity of treatments delivered. But these steps may not be enough to bring about the change that many experts urge: away from a system in which we pay for every MRI or drug infusion on a case-by-case basis and toward one in which salaried professionals are paid to help keep us healthy.

Dominating the whole debate is the question of whether to include a government-run insurance plan. Proponents say such a measure, included in the House bill and the Senate health-committee bill, would provide the uninsured with a high-quality plan, in case insurers still try to game the rules to deny coverage or payments.

A low-priced competitor, the logic goes, would drive insurers to pressure doctors to deliver the most cost-effective care. Providers would agree to do so to keep insurers in business and avoid being left with only a government plan.

Opponents of the public option fear that the government would set the rates so low that it would drive private insurers out of business.

Fact Check

The claim: President Obama seeks to repeal Medicare through health care reform

The source: Political commentator Dick Morris, who posted an article on his website titled "Obama Will Repeal Medicare." The article states "the principal impact of the Obama health care program will be to reduce sharply the medical services the elderly can use. No longer will their every medical need be met, their every medication prescribed, their every need to improve their quality of life answered."

The status: To help pay for reform, the president and legislators propose cutting Medicare payments to increase efficiency among providers. The amount of the cuts remains in flux. The New York Times wrote on Aug. 10 that "major bills in Congress would cut more than $150 billion over 10 years from federal payments to private health plans that care for more than 10 million Medicare beneficiaries."

The president's position: Last month, he told an AARP town-hall meeting: "Nobody is talking about reducing Medicare benefits. ... What we do want is to eliminate some of the waste that is being paid for out of the Medicare trust fund that could be used more effectively to cover more people and to strengthen the system."

The verdict: False, but people are nervous. The AARP writes, "It's inconceivable that any lawmaker would commit political suicide by proposing to get rid of Medicare." Politifact.com agrees that Medicare is not going away, but after consulting experts, it notes, "It's a stretch for Obama to say that Medicare patients won't see changes in their plans as a result."

Sources: The New York Times, Politifact.com, AARP and The Associated Press. Compiled by Denver Post researcher Barry Osborne.

ObamaDoug Notes:

I think it strikes a note about the absolutely incredible entitlement most Americans witness that we might as an American electorate choose to shoot down a necessary set of reforms in insurance practices in order to protect what we already have. Most of those screeching GOP townhall-busters were clearly already the beneficiaries of Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and Federal disability insurance. They were saying, "Don't Dare Take Anything Away From My "Socialized Medicine" Coverage! Just "Don't Let Anyone Else Have It!" Selfish. Greedy! Fearful! I bet they know their Fed bennies right to the bottom line: one might think they could extend their gratitude for it to the rest of the population. Don't you agree?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

A Great Way to Get Current on HealthCare Reform

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:57:49 EDT

Here's a link to highlights of our Primo Prez's national video/webcast on Healthcare Reform to 280,000 Obaman activists (there still ARE those around, Gracias a Dios!) on Friday. It links to a YouTube video of the highlights found at OFA.

For those on CITA who are not yet linked to either an OFA update via email, here's a link to stay current with the craziness and what Obama Headquarters is doing about it. You can also visit Whitehouse.gov for current Obama information, legislation, and instruments for feedback.

I am DISMAYED at the blue funk half the Obama activists have fallen into since the empowering election. While I understand that it is common practice to get hot for politics during general elections, then cool down, there' never been a more important time to TALK to our friends about the need for Healthcare Reform. We will be in even more dire straits if this legislation, including the public option, is NOT passed. These "straits" might be labelled "National Bankruptcy," except for a very few, including those with current health care insurance.

I believe Barack Obama is a man of honor and I trust him. The rest of the hullabaloo of lies out there from incredibly rich "status quo" conservatives is distinctly disturbing, but it will not deter me from being clear that we must change the way we as a nation take care of ALL our own. Our HC system produces a rank 36 nations behind the rest of the developed world. It is a disgrace of selfishness we pay for everyday, right now.

Every time anyone of you CITA great people can help get that point out to anyone else, it MAKES A DIFFERENCE! I am sending this video to my whole email contact list, because everyone needs to hear this. Watch our Primo Prez! Lordy, he is so cool under pressure!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Link to Just Foreign Policy

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:40:18 EDT

Here's the link to Just Foreign Policy.

Human Rights Watch Needs to Put Spotlight on Honduran Abuses

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:32:36 EDT

"Just Foreign Policy," an almost too activist foreign policy site, has just run the following summary of one of its latest actions:

LatAm Scholars Urge Human Rights Watch to Speak Up on Honduras Coup
On Friday nearly 100 Latin America scholars and experts sent an open letter to Human Rights Watch urging HRW to speak up about human rights violations in Honduras under the coup regime and to conduct its own investigation of these abuses. The letters' signers include Honduras experts Dana Frank and Adrienne Pine, Latin America experts Eric Hershberg, John Womack, and Greg Grandin, and noted authors Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein. The experts note that if Human Rights Watch took action to shine its spotlight on these abuses, it would be more likely that the Obama Administration would put greater pressure on the coup regime to end these abuses and restore democracy.

ObamaDoug Notes:

I agree with this and also think the time for restraint by the US in Honduras is past. Our Primo Prez and SoS Clinton need to turn up the heat on Michiletti and the coupmongers. It's time for more push for democracy and the rule of law.

I'll send a link to JFP in my next post.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Change is Constant

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:47:49 EDT

Everyone I know is reacting to the changes around us--especially the 40% hit most of us received by the recession in our net worths--with fear, insecurity and an anger that, almost inexplicably, has now centered on, unfortunately, blaming President Obama for it all.

Not exactly a catbird's seat, where everything comes easy. I'm sorry to say it, my Primo Prez and delightful readers and posters on CITA.

WE ARE GOING THROUGH CHANGE, in this country and globally; "the times, they are a-changing," and few want to let go and dance with the new. These out-and-out lies I've heard being spouted about Healthcare Reform are coming from the individual fears of people who've depended on the old ways for their security: they want no more changes, and are mad at Primo Prez because he doesn't own a magic wand, to make everything stop, overnight.

Since most of us are barely capable of working ourselves out of the paperbag we put over our heads in the 80's, Americans might want to stop pointing the finger, except at themselves, and take personal responsibility for living with change gracefully, instead.

Clearly, CITA bloggers are doing that. So is Obama; we are dancing with the changes instead of finding blame. Even our President--and, certainly, no one else-- cannot stop these destructive but perhaps realistic changes from happening. The best anyone can do, even a President of the United States, is to moderate the change to avoid as much future destruction as possible.

When things are changing, the only guarantee is as much construction as there is destruction. Possibly, the new building plan might lead to a healthier world. Thus, President Obama's push to reform Healthcare and Insurance is really a preventative measure against the bankruptcy of America, much worse than what we have now. The system's been broke, and he did not break it. His plan might save us from further harm and mitigate further change hits, with greater security and economy for us all.

At least his eyes are clear and he's taking things one multi-tasking step at a time! When opponents say "Slow down!" they're really yelling at the accelerating change clock rather than Obama, who needs to go as fast as he can to keep nose-level with the global crises in-and-out-there enough to effect even an inch of difference! He is to be commended for his swift-footedness and great intentions.

The blessing of this time of change, for me, is that we KNOW we have a nimble, graceful, heartful man at the helm against this most furiously-changing wind.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Who's Creating Reality Here?

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:53:27 EDT

According to most of the mainstream media this morning, the Obama Administration is moving away from the public option towards compromise. Maybe that's so, given some hints and wiggles from various Obama Team spokespeople and the Primo Prez's honest statement in Grand Junction that signalled possible ambivalence (or maybe not) towards a public health insurance option. I hope not, as I've stated probably too many times, because the public option would guarantee competition (and lower premiums) for the taxpayer rather than collusion at high levels of the health insurance PACS and CEOs.

What grabs me is that most of this media buzz is stating AS FACT that this is happening, when, clearly, that is a conjecture on a conjecture on a further conjecture. If it is repeated enough as fact, it will be believed. So much of our public debate seems to be created mythologically by media acting like history-makers rather than as history-reporters.

Wiggle-room may be widening from these conjectures, but I hope this option's chances get stronger in the coming days. What we really need to see on the media is reporting about the scandalously high salaries and bonuses and bennies and profits the current setup guarantees and the campaign fund bribes which mark PAC influence in Congress to squash competition for our premium dollars.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Health Care Reform Should Not Deny Women's Rights

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:52:56 EDT

According to Care 2, an activists group on many fronts which supports health care reform, some congressman are using "reform" to push denial of women's reproduction rights. If this is an issue for anyone in CITA, here's a link to an action step and petition and this text:

In the midst of an already uphill battle for health care reform, about 12 anti-choice amendments have been introduced within the category of women's health, including Senator Tom Coburn's outrageous "Office of Unborn Children's Health."

Reproductive-health care should be treated like any other healthcare service in the new system and not be singled out for exclusion on political grounds. Take a stand for women's health >>

One of the tasks of the proposed federal Office would be to publish and distribute anti-choice brochures. Is this the way we should be spending tax dollars in a tight economy, when already too many children lack even basic health insurance and many mothers-to-be go without adequate prenatal care?

I say "No!"

Anti-choice members of Congress continue to use healthcare reform as an opportunity to restrict access to abortion and other reproductive-health care. If they have their way, women could lose coverage for reproductive-health care -- even if their private health insurance already covers it!

We need your voice now. Don't let politics interfere with important healthcare reform! Tell elected officials that you oppose any attempt to ban reproductive-health services in the new healthcare system. Send a petition letter to your senator today >>

Healthcare reform is the critical issue this summer. Join me in refusing to allow the health of even one woman to be put in jeopardy because of nonsensical anti-choice healthcare reform amendments.

With gratitude,
Robyn E.
Care2 Petition Site Team
Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFOx8/zJmo/AVknJ

ObamaDoug Notes:

Push, push, push that agenda, you crazy Congress guys: it'll blowback on you, someday, probably, but personal religious opinion does not piggyback very well on legislation guaranteeing everyone's right to health access, does it?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Obama Op-Ed Piece in Times Yesterday

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:37:14 EDT

Here's our Primo Prez on Health Care Reform, link, in the New York Times (Sunday):

August 16, 2009 Op-Ed Contributor Why We Need Health Care Reform By BARACK OBAMA

OUR nation is now engaged in a great debate about the future of health care in America. And over the past few weeks, much of the media attention has been focused on the loudest voices. What we haven’t heard are the voices of the millions upon millions of Americans who quietly struggle every day with a system that often works better for the health-insurance companies than it does for them.

These are people like Lori Hitchcock, whom I met in New Hampshire last week. Lori is currently self-employed and trying to start a business, but because she has hepatitis C, she cannot find an insurance company that will cover her. Another woman testified that an insurance company would not cover illnesses related to her internal organs because of an accident she had when she was 5 years old. A man lost his health coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because the insurance company discovered that he had gallstones, which he hadn’t known about when he applied for his policy. Because his treatment was delayed, he died.

I hear more and more stories like these every single day, and it is why we are acting so urgently to pass health-insurance reform this year. I don’t have to explain to the nearly 46 million Americans who don’t have health insurance how important this is. But it’s just as important for Americans who do have health insurance.

There are four main ways the reform we’re proposing will provide more stability and security to every American.

First, if you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of high-quality, affordable coverage for yourself and your family — coverage that will stay with you whether you move, change your job or lose your job.

Second, reform will finally bring skyrocketing health care costs under control, which will mean real savings for families, businesses and our government. We’ll cut hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and in unwarranted subsidies to insurance companies that do nothing to improve care and everything to improve their profits.

Third, by making Medicare more efficient, we’ll be able to ensure that more tax dollars go directly to caring for seniors instead of enriching insurance companies. This will not only help provide today’s seniors with the benefits they’ve been promised; it will also ensure the long-term health of Medicare for tomorrow’s seniors. And our reforms will also reduce the amount our seniors pay for their prescription drugs.

Lastly, reform will provide every American with some basic consumer protections that will finally hold insurance companies accountable. A 2007 national survey actually shows that insurance companies discriminated against more than 12 million Americans in the previous three years because they had a pre-existing illness or condition. The companies either refused to cover the person, refused to cover a specific illness or condition or charged a higher premium.

We will put an end to these practices. Our reform will prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage because of your medical history. Nor will they be allowed to drop your coverage if you get sick. They will not be able to water down your coverage when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime. And we will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses. No one in America should go broke because they get sick.

Most important, we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups, preventive care and screening tests like mammograms and colonoscopies. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and prostate cancer on the front end. It makes sense, it saves lives and it can also save money.

This is what reform is about. If you don’t have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options once we pass reform. If you have health insurance, we will make sure that no insurance company or government bureaucrat gets between you and the care you need. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. You will not be waiting in any lines. This is not about putting the government in charge of your health insurance. I don’t believe anyone should be in charge of your health care decisions but you and your doctor — not government bureaucrats, not insurance companies.

The long and vigorous debate about health care that’s been taking place over the past few months is a good thing. It’s what America’s all about.

But let’s make sure that we talk with one another, and not over one another. We are bound to disagree, but let’s disagree over issues that are real, and not wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that anyone has actually proposed. This is a complicated and critical issue, and it deserves a serious debate.

Despite what we’ve seen on television, I believe that serious debate is taking place at kitchen tables all across America. In the past few years, I’ve received countless letters and questions about health care. Some people are in favor of reform, and others have concerns. But almost everyone understands that something must be done. Almost everyone knows that we must start holding insurance companies accountable and give Americans a greater sense of stability and security when it comes to their health care.

I am confident that when all is said and done, we can forge the consensus we need to achieve this goal. We are already closer to achieving health-insurance reform than we have ever been. We have the American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association on board, because our nation’s nurses and doctors know firsthand how badly we need reform. We have broad agreement in Congress on about 80 percent of what we’re trying to do. And we have an agreement from the drug companies to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. The AARP supports this policy, and agrees with us that reform must happen this year.

In the coming weeks, the cynics and the naysayers will continue to exploit fear and concerns for political gain. But for all the scare tactics out there, what’s truly scary — truly risky — is the prospect of doing nothing. If we maintain the status quo, we will continue to see 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day. Premiums will continue to skyrocket. Our deficit will continue to grow. And insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against sick people.

That is not a future I want for my children, or for yours. And that is not a future I want for the United States of America.

In the end, this isn’t about politics. This is about people’s lives and livelihoods. This is about people’s businesses. This is about America’s future, and whether we will be able to look back years from now and say that this was the moment when we made the changes we needed, and gave our children a better life. I believe we can, and I believe we will.

Barack Obama is the president of the United States.

ObamaDoug Notes:

There was a wacky letter to the editor in the Glenwood Post yesterday, calling for Obama's impeachment on the grounds that he is stealing the country's freedoms because he wants to rein in these abuses: for that writer, it is better to allow insurers the strange privilege of beating us up, over and over again, in the name of free enterprise, than to allow the government to protect its people through regulation. This guy must think spousal abuse is a husband's privilege in his home! Freedom means responsibility, sir, for self and others. How could someone read the President's letter above and want to impeach him?

It's clear the country is still deeply polarized, maybe even more so, since the election. I have to step back from my own positions often, to realize that public debate is the American Way.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Grand Junction Story and Links to Bills in House and Senate

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:58:43 EDT

Hi, CITA: this link will get you to CNN's brief today on Primo Prez's Grand Junction Town Hall Meeting, as well as links to the House and Senate Draft HealthCare Bills.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Good Morning, CITA!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 07:47:46 EDT

It's 5:22 AM on the eastern plains of Colorado, where the snow gets deep and the ponderosa pines grow more majestic every day. I've been up since 4 AM, dinking with my blogs and listening to the shrill cries of vixen running under the pines. The air is still, so the moaning of the wind through the evergreen boughs has ceased as the sun breaks the eastern horizon. It's a good day to be alive, on the move for health care reform and for my own health as well.

I've decided to throw an "Obama Event" on health care reform, another community potluck full of storytelling and website sharing up in Glenwood Springs, It will also be a "Good-Bye to Doug Party," since I'll no longer be networking and organizing on the Western Slope. It will be interesting to see how an Obaman fares out here in predominantly Republican Elbert County. There are only 60 registered Democrats! I've seen a few Obama/Biden carstickers here, but the Obama Sun is only peeking above the skyline right now. I'll see what I can do to change THAT by 2012.

Have a great, good day!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

I Agree with the Bard, But . . .

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:23:36 EDT

I'm not yet ready to play the "public option" card as the sacrifice for whatever compromise needs to be made to bring in bi-partisan support for Health (Insurance) Reform. This sacrifice would diminish the intent of the legislation, which is to usher in greater, more economic and accessible HEALTH to this country, which lags behind every other primo industrialized and developed nation in every study.

It is a national disgrace, brought about by selfish interests who couldn't give a kit-n-kaboodle about the plight of that last 4% uninsured populace at the bottom of the beanstalk in the US. They are us, too!

Their economic survival in health makes our economic survival in health much more secure. A fully insured America is a healthier America. It also frees up ERs around the country (the clogging of which shows up in poorer triage and emergency care as well as higher hospital costs and charges for those who are covered, raising health insurance costs per capita. The "public option" might spawn a whole swarm of clinics, run by fresh, conscious young doctors, in areas not currently served because no one in the area can afford to go to a doctor. Result: more professional work for the freshly graduated; benefits of health care down at the ground; and, over the long-term, a decrease in health care costs through preventative medicine and over-all better health.

The opponents of the "public option" in Congress are right to question its added costs to the Treasury and/or the national debt. I understand the vigorous complaints of those who see Government expanding forcibly into control of the economy through Bigger Bureaucracy.

It all comes down to the bucks.

Perhaps it could be paid for by adding bigger deductibles to all those bureaucrats and employees and Congressmen currently on Federal Health Insurance, a free ride now through medical/hospital/dental/vision. That might even be more expensive now than the "public option" would be in the future, and would level the rather elitist stance that what is good for a Senator need not be extended to the bottom.I'd let the Armed Services ride for free, regardless.

Frankly, all government employees (except our soldiers) should move to whatever plan the "public option" takes. This is, after all, the land of taxes, and I and we are paying for government employees to have better coverage than we have. We NEED to level that field: a by-blow would be an assurance that the public option would be a helpful plan for everyone on it.

I know I'm a rather stubborn idealist who has had the benefit of being very lucky in my life, and I'm grateful. If compromise needs to be made, make it, I'd say, to get a successful Bill passed, helping Obama politically, but don't sacrifice what's essential, the tipping point of the legislation, which, if passed into law with the "public option," would signal to the world and Americans that we have come of age as a less greedy and selfish and blind nation to a more mature nation that is the land of opportunity for all. In this crucial tip, we need to walk our talk, right now.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Whoops! Inadequate Research!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:10:31 EDT

In my last post, I suggested that the "public option" could be paid for by increasing deductibles for Federal Employees on their coveted health insurance policies. However, yesterday at PO's Montana Town Hall, our Primo Prez made clear to us that the "public option" would be paid for by premiums rather than by the taxpayers, so, once again, I have erred due to my own misconceptions. It is built into me that if there is a government program, somehow I am paying for it, having been raised by Eisenhower Republicans in the Fifties. Forgive me.

The insight at the end of the post still maintains, at least for me. If Federal employees (except the armed forces, perhaps) were enrolled in the "public option" health insurance, it would be helpful insurance for Americans to opt for and better maintained and built for the benefit of its users, I'm thinking.

Anyway, here I am way out on the Eastern Plains of Colorado in Elizabeth, under Ponderosa Pines (I'll be moving here October 1) while President Obama flies into Grand Junction CO for a town hall, on the western side of this long state, about five hours drive away. Darn, darn, darn. My sister is visiting from New Hampshire, so it was a no-brainer decision to come here even though my President is over there, but I'll miss shaking his hand and showering him with admiration. I'm sure there'll be another time. GOBAMA!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Links to Authentic Sites by Hondurans about Honduras

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:53:22 EDT

OK, I confess: I am almost completely technophobic; however, I'm growing. I've heard that my links on this blog go elsewhere, and I think I've finally discovered how to use the LINK button up here now, so we shall see. The only thing I'm certain of in these electronic processes is that you all will forgive me if I pull another "Doug No-Mind" while learning to be a blogger. So, here goes:

Inca Kola News, out of Peru, written by a righteous 21st century guy, suggests this link to Machetera

for English readers who want the best, most intelligent take on current Honduras and the world; "Machetera" which means "machete-swinging mama" in Spanish, suggests this link (Honduras OYE!) to authoritative INSIDE-Honduras material that is incisive and probably is read at the US State Department, because it is THAT good!

Anyone on the blog here at CITA can see if I've figured out how to insert a link and get the skivvy on the fight for freedom in Honduras. Bookmark these sites if you're as intrigued by the happenings and non-happenings going on in Tegucigalpa, less than 50 miles from where I live in Nicaragua. One Step at a time, everywhere, but especially now in Honduras. This link will get you to Inca Kola News .

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Update on Crackdown and Democratic Breakdown in Honduras

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:02:24 EDT

The Quixote Center of Hyattsville MD is monitoring the turmoil in Honduras because its mission is to help the peasantry in Central America. It has a delegation, now safer, in Honduras, and it does not look any better for democracy there. Here's the Quixote Center:

Attack on Peaceful Protestors Escalates
Please take action again to stop the repression!

Thank you for your calls to the U.S. State Department - please call again! The repression is escalating. Crackdowns are occurring in San Pedro Sula as well as Tegucigalpa.

Our delegation is accounted for and unharmed. They are now accompanying Honduran human rights workers and sending alarming reports.

Police and military are rounding up people and taking them to places used for torture in the 1980's. Ambulances full of people with their faces smashed in and bodies beaten are racing to hospitals - among them is Marvin Ponce, a Honduran member of Congress who just met with State Department officials in Washington to denounce to coup.

The Universidad Pedagogica and the STIBYS union hall (a private building which has served as the organizing center for the Anti-Coup resistance front) have been taken by the military and large numbers of people are reported detained. Human rights organizations fear they are being tortured.

Please call the State Department (202-647-4000) and the U.S. Ambassador Llorens in Tegucigalpa - 011-504-236-9320 ext. # 4268. Tell them that violence is escalating and that members of our International Delegation, including U.S. citizens, are currently accompanying human rights workers to locations in which people are being detained.

ObamaDoug Notes:

Thank God we have a Primo Prez who understands the US Constitution and the play of opinion that leads to change in the US. Things are getting deeply dire in Southern Honduras from lack of work, terrorism from the military, and a crashed economy created when a virtual blockade of the coup's Honduras by other Central American countries stopped neighboring trade and communication from happening. The illegal immigrants who cross the borders into Honduras to pick coffee are being sent home, especially to Nicaragua, safe harbor for the ousted President Zelaya, so people are hurting in Northern Nicaragua, too. Anything anyone can do to get the State Department off its restraint right now to stand for democratic values will help the Western Hemisphere.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

American Marchers Among Demonstrators Caught in the Coup's Terror

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:40:13 EDT

Hi, CITA: FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION, POR FAVOR!!!!!!!!

QUIXOTE CENTER ANNOUNCEMENT:

Please call the State Dept immediately at 202-647-4000 and tell them U.S. citizens are in the midst of a peaceful march in Tegucigalpa, Honduras that is under attack by the Honduran military and to instruct the Honduran military not to fire on protesters.

We have just received an urgent call that a peaceful demonstration in Honduras is being attacked by the military, and our delegation on the ground is among those who are in danger. We ask you to please call the State Department and to let them know that marchers, including US citizens, are trapped by the Honduran military in a confined area and are being attacked.

While they were eating lunch, the military enclosed an area with wire and began to fire tear gas. Some marchers began to run, along with members of our delegation, with the military in pursuit. We have reports of shots being fired.

We ask you to take action to protect Honduran citizens and our delegation

ObamaDoug Notes:

So, this COUP has been to return Honduras to democracy, huh? Call SoS Clinton and State at the above number, please. You can read this announcement (or part of it) right into the phone. Can you imagine this happening again in the US? Not since Kent State! Let's extend our relatively freedom from covert military totalitarianism to our fellow democrats in Honduras.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Stay on the High Road, Great Man!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:28:55 EDT

Hi, CITA: just a reminder to go up to www.whitehouse.gov and check out "Reality Check," the high-road way to spin misinformation and lies from the PACs and the fearful into clarity, leading toward the truth in action. Go viral for truth in a click! OOOOOOOOOOOOO! I love this idea!

I'm reproducing Primo Prez's talk at Portsmouth, NH, because his tone and high-mindedness and determination to raise this country above division is fresh, astonishing, and pure Barack! GOBAMA!

UNDERLINING IS MINE.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 11TH, 2009 AT 5:33 PM Facts, Falsehoods and the Benefits of Reform in Portsmouth Posted by Katherine Brandon The President hosted a town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on health insurance reform, telling the crowd, "I don't think government bureaucrats should be meddling, but I also don't think insurance company bureaucrats should be meddling. That's the health care system I believe in." The President was introduced by Lori, a woman who can’t find coverage because of her medical condition. We all know someone like Lori who has been discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions, and can't receive the care they need. This is a personal issue for the President, who recounted his mother's battle with insurance companies as she battled with cancer in the last months of her life.
The President outlined how his plan will end these unfair, and often deadly, practices: Under the reform we're proposing, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage because of a person's medical history. Period. (Applause.) They will not be able to drop your coverage if you get sick. (Applause.) They will not be able to water down your coverage when you need it. (Applause.) Your health insurance should be there for you when it counts -- not just when you're paying premiums, but when you actually get sick. And it will be when we pass this plan. (Applause.) Now, when we pass health insurance reform, insurance companies will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. And we will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because no one in America should go broke because they get sick. (Applause.) And finally -- this is important -- we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies -- (applause) -- because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and prostate cancer on the front end. That makes sense, it saves lives; it also saves money -- and we need to save money in this health care system. So this is what reform is about. For all the chatter and the yelling and the shouting and the noise, what you need to know is this: If you don't have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options once we pass reform. (Applause.) If you do have health insurance, we will make sure that no insurance company or government bureaucrat gets between you and the care that you need. And we will do this without adding to our deficit over the next decade, largely by cutting out the waste and insurance company giveaways in Medicare that aren't making any of our seniors healthier. (Applause.) Right. (Laughter.) You may have heard some of this "chatter" and false claims about the President's health care plan. As the President explained, this is to be expected, as proponents of the status quo fight against reform: But let's face it, now is the hard part -- because the history is clear -- every time we come close to passing health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got. They use their influence. They use their political allies to scare and mislead the American people. They start running ads. This is what they always do. We can't let them do it again. Not this time. Not now. (Applause.) Because for all the scare tactics out there, what is truly scary -- what is truly risky -- is if we do nothing. If we let this moment pass -- if we keep the system the way it is right now -- we will continue to see 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day. Your premiums will continue to skyrocket. They have gone up three times faster than your wages and they will keep on going up. Our deficit will continue to grow because Medicare and Medicaid are on an unsustainable path. Medicare is slated to go into the red in about eight to 10 years. I don't know if people are aware of that. If I was a senior citizen, the thing I'd be worried about right now is Medicare starts running out of money because we haven't done anything to make sure that we're getting a good bang for our buck when it comes to health care. And insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against people for the simple crime of being sick. Now, that's not a future I want for my children. It's not a future that I want for the United States of America. The President wrapped up the town hall by describing his ultimate goal for health insurance reform: But I want everybody to understand, though, the status quo is not working for you. (Applause.) The status quo is not working for you. And if we can set up a system, which I believe we can, that gives you options, just like members of Congress has options; that gives a little bit of help to people who currently are working hard every day but they don't have health care insurance on the job; and most importantly, if we can make sure that you, all of you who have insurance, which is probably 80 or 90 percent of you, that you are not going to be dropped because of a preexisting condition, or because you lose your job, or because you change your job -- that you're actually going to get what you paid for, that you're not going to find out when you're sick that you got cheated, that you're not going to hit a lifetime cap where you thought you were paying for insurance but after a certain amount suddenly you're paying out of pocket and bankrupting yourself and your family -- if we can set up a system that gives you some security, that's worth a lot.

OBAMADOUG NOTES:

Right On! Go for it!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Revisiting the Past?

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:30:16 EDT

Hi, CITA! I was travelling through my "CenterDoug" blog on Blogger yesterday and landed on the essay I wrote when I applied to the Obama Transition Team to be either Ambassador to Nicaragua or Obama Court Jester, and had to laugh! I am probably the least likely candidate for an HON. that I know, and, while that "least likely" has merit in a world turned upside-down, in a world where the former "mice" of the world are screaming "NO" to the Fat Cat's tainted cheese, I would be dismally unhappy strapped in a cutaway in Managua, locked behind the barbed-wire of the huge US Embassy compound, where lines of elite Nicaraguans wind their way up to the Visa Office for the rubber stamp while peasants on the other side of the street look hungrily at the well-fed lawyer's children waiting to get into America legally. I'm glad President Obama has had the first-hand experience, in his upbringing in Indonesia and travels into Pakistan as a college student, to know that the opinions of the elite minority of a developing nation IN NO WAY reflect the majority of starving people there: the fact that US foreign policy has usually dealt only with the elite view has contributed mightily to the dysfunction in the widening gap between rich and poor in the world today: this needs healing through understanding.

Anyway, I give you, perhaps again, my Ambassadorial Application (Had it been accompanied with a check for at least $250,000.00, I'm sure my chances would have been better, but, if I had been offered the job, I'd probably have said "Thanks, but 'NO'"! Where in the world was I when I wrote this?

Could Fantasy Become Reality?

I donated five bucks

this morning to the Obama Transition Team, greasing the Presidential Choo-Choo enormously, I'm sure, but since my net worth has been halved on paper this Fall, I've had to economize. As a result of the donation, though, I was asked once more to "Share My Vision for America" with the Team, and, of course, being the big-mouth I am, I did, and, in that process, came up with a rather strangely perfect job for myself in the Obama Administration, for 8 Great Years: Picture this! Doug Evans Betanco, Ambassador of the United States to Nicaragua.

Yikes, I love it! I'd look great, now I'm thinner, in a cut-away or tux and I sort-of speak the language, and the Embassy party scene in Managua is hotter than can be believed! I could truly do some good there, especially for the peasants, even if I were surrounded by a viper's nest of CIA gentleman-representatives still living as if Reagan were President. My first task would be to bring my staff into 21st Century Transformative Diplomacy. Cool, Old Man. Very cool.

Now, now, I can hear you saying, "Good God! Doug's gone off to cloud-cuckoo-land, for sure!" And, believe me, I'm really not counting on Federal work to keep me out of the breadlines, because I know I simply do not fit the mold of Beltway Bubble Believers very well, at all. I've considered my government here at least as wacked as I am for thirty years: I live on the other side of the paradigm shift that's happening. Anyway, I've probably flunked out already (See post below on applying for a position in the Obama Administration) because of my FBI dossier, which I'm sure is extensive because I created a crazy stir back in the 70's that involved a former President, sort of a secret that everyone knows. Oh, well, I've grown since then.

Gosh, I could forge such links in Latin America from that perch, and really, we'd better start forging good ones because South of the Border, my friends, is a newly-emerging dynamo of capital and development in this Hemisphere which currently is very wary of involvement with the manipulations of the Old Imperial America.

OOOOOOOOOH! I've got to start thinking about forging links in Latin America, to the mutual benefit of all the peoples involved.

So, anyway, This is the essay I send to the Obama Transition Team, today:

"My Vision for America"

My New America keeps its word, internally and externally, and walks its talk with maturity and courage as One with the rest of the world, an honorable nation among nations. Acting maturely means being peaceably responsive to the needs of all the world's peoples, not just the rich elites; honoring international law and World Court decisions, even when they go against us; and, especially, owning to our past mistakes, rectifying them when possible, and choosing in the future to forge a higher path.

My New America, for instance, would honor the World Court's decision in the case of Daniel Ortega and Nicaragua vs the USA in the 80's: the Court found for Ortega, found the US guilty of "conducting a terrorist operation" against the State of Nicaragua from 1979-88, and levied reparations in the billions against the USA. This has been ignored by the State Department for 20 years, and the whole world knows it. If we expect our fellow nations to honor that Court’s decisions, we need to honor them ourselves. When we don’t, we build support for world-wide terrorism’s ad campaign on the ground against us. Honoring this debt is in both the national interest and for the world’s security.

My New America would honor that debt by paying those reparations with interest and monitoring the funds so at least half gets into the pockets of some of the world's poorest people, the campesinos who comprise 90% of Nicaragua's citizens and who have borne the brunt of the ruinous hardships this US action catalyzed. Nicaragua’s economy is ruined, perhaps irretrievably. While the funds might technically go to the current Ortega government, they must be administered by a third party, perhaps The Carter Center, to assure that our tax money does not end up lining only the pockets of the Nica elites. The people at the bottom of the world's economic beanstalk need nourishing, if the beanstalk is not to topple out of starvation at its roots. As well, the USA needs to honor its own laws, in order to stand taller in the world.

My New American President Obama would need to re-educate the American public to understand the truth about Nicaragua: the Sandinista Insurrection of 1979 was both reasonably peaceable and justified, very much like the American Revolution in intention and inspiration, and in no way a "Communist takeover" by wild-eyed guerrillas; the only terrorists in Nicaragua were the Dictator Somoza's National Guard, trained by the US to subjugate the population; after the Triunfo of the Sandinistas, we paid the Guardsmen who had fled the country to terrorize the new and legitimate government of Nicaragua from Honduras and Costa Rica.

The New American people need to understand that the spin-dance of Old-American foreign policy vis-à-vis Latin America in the past no longer exists in the New Millennium, that we will not be lied to anymore, because our New America will no longer lie to its citizens or to the world.

My New American President Obama would travel to Nicaragua to offer both apologies for our dreadful past together and gratitude for the opportunity to make amends, so that we can move forward to stronger democratic and economic bonds. I want to accompany him on that trip because, In my New America, I would like to help build those bonds, if only by this suggestion, or, even better, in a more visible and responsible role. It would bring great honor to my "family" there and to me, here and in Nica. As I've bonded with the people of Nicaragua and lived part time there for fifteen years and spent my time both here and there forging stronger links between these two American countries, I'd just leap for joy to see brotherhood and honor reign in both. The rest of the world would fall to its knees and pray, in a thousand languages, "Thank God, the US we know and want to love is back with us today!"

Gracias, Charles Douglas Evans (aka, in Nica, Doug Evans Betanco)

It's funny, yet true, that when I returned to the States last June from a winter in Teote, I was calling myself in this blog Ambassador Evans Betanco because Teote had asked me to be its voice in Glenwood Springs. Unfortunately, the work with Nicaragua has no more buy-in here in Colorado, so that FCE focus is gone from my life. Why kick a dead horse alive? But, I really would love to be a really real "Hon." And, while I was doing all that ambassadorial stuff, I could be plowing money of my own into building my English Language Academy in Teote. Hoo-Hah!

ObamaDoug Notes:

Cloud-Cuckoo-Land, but loveable, huh?

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

In Super-Sensitive State Department, Sometimes a Rumor Needs Checking

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:27:19 EDT

Last July 15, the Washington Post published a long article debunking the current State rumor that Iran was building a "Mega-Embassy" in Managua, Nicaragua, with the blessings of that "arch terrorist" (not so) President Daniel Ortega. Now, clearly, if the Iranians were seeking to foster terrorism in Latin America as State feared, this would probably lead to increased tensions in the Western Hemisphere, but "tain't so." Here's the link to an interesting article from WashPost:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/12/AR2009071202337_3.html

Now, I'm not denying that Ortega and almost any other Nicaraguan would say "Yes" with fervor to any development money that might come from Iran or anywhere else along with an embassy, but I have yet to meet a Nicaraguan who wants to harbor foreign terrorists (including USA, to them) or international hegemony of any kind in his homeland, so I seriously doubt that Ortega would welcome it from Iran. Take the money and run? Yeah, that's more like it. Nicaragua is the most capitalistic and opportunistic place I know outside of Wall Street. Unfortunately, there's no capital to play with.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Another Fuel-Saving Idea: Cash for Clunkers II

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:54:22 EDT

My housemate Annie told me yesterday about a program in Japan which is helping to get gas-guzzlers off the road there, sooner: while we currently pay yearly auto registration fees which decrease with the age and value of our cars (so we hold on to them longer), the Japanese pay cheaper rates at first, which escalate as the car gets older (pushing people to buy newer energy-saving cars more often).

Some might say that that hurts the poor and the young with their need for cheap clunker cars, but, even older model cars are more efficient now, and soon, even cheap old cars will be smarter cars, even if the registration fee is higher. Older models do significantly more to dirty the environment and waste our precious fuel supply, adding other costs and services that those fees pay for. Get rid of them! Seems to me the great middle of American consumers would be seeking the cheaper fees by turning over less efficient cars earlier, while the strapped, while remaining strapped, could have gas savings instantly that might offset the higher fees.

Good idea, Japan!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Colorado AARP Works for Clarity

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:14:29 EDT

I received this in an email from Colorado AARP: good work!

Get the FACTS on Health Reform!

FACT #1: Medicare will not be ended, and no benefits or services will be cut. Your services will not be ended, nor will your benefits be cut. AARP's position on this could not be clearer. And we have sent this message loud and clear to Congress. While the current proposals include savings in Medicare by cutting out fraud, abuse, waste, and inefficiency, we're standing up and making sure benefits for Medicare recipients are not only fully protected, but are improved.1

FACT #2: No legislation currently in Congress would mandate the rationing of care. Period. Our staff has read all of the legislation circulating in Congress and there are no provisions in these bills that would ration care for our members. None. If any ever did, we would vigorously fight to stop that legislation.2

FACT #3: There is no provision of any piece of legislation that would promote euthanasia of any kind. The rumors out there are flat out lies. Right now Medicare does not cover counseling for end-of-life care. The portion of the bill in question would simply provide coverage for optional end-of-life consultations with doctors, so that the patient can be aware of all of the treatment options on the table. It is not mandatory and it has nothing to do with euthanasia.3

FACT #4: We have not endorsed President Obama's plan. In fact, we haven't endorsed any plan. We are supporting reform of our health care system, something that AARP has pushed for many years. We're working closely with Republican and Democratic members of Congress to lower health care costs and to ensure quality affordable coverage for older Americans -- and we want reform legislation passed and signed by the president this year.4

So what is AARP fighting for in health reform?
1. Stopping insurance companies from charging older Americans unaffordable premiums because of their age.

2. Ending the practice of excluding people from insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

3. Holding down health costs and making insurance coverage more affordable for all Americans.

4. Making prescription drugs more affordable by narrowing the Medicare doughnut hole, bringing generics to market faster, and allowing Medicare to negotiate better drug prices.

ObamaDoug Notes:

While AARP may state that it does not endorse Primo Prez's plan or any plan, it looks to me as if the intentions are the same and there is plenty of nudging room to work with. Good, clear thinking, AARP. Now, about that public option? AARP: a fully insured America is a healthier America, and that helps us all.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

LINK to FactsCheck on Honduras: Greg Grandin

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:09:24 EDT

Here's a link to a great refutation of Lanny Davis's defence of the military coup in Honduras by Greg Grandin, from a transcript of a dialogue on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman. (I posted the full thing, but that post has been picked up for monitoring by the MYBO editors for some reason. It may appear later, but usually, it's lost. Here's the link, worth reading in full:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-grandin/fact-checking-lanny-davis_b_255900.html

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Some Activist!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:00:35 EDT

My big day for HealthCare Reform turned out to be a comedy of errors yesterday, but at least my opinion on the public option will be heard. I'd signed up through OFA to visit the Grand Junction Office of Senator Michael Bennet (CO-Dem) to push the Reform Bill, set for 11 AM down there. OFA gave me phone numbers, a map, street address, talking points and a step-by-step process to follow. First on the step-by-step was to call ahead to make sure the Office was open, so I did that, but couldn't reach a person to verify, left a message to call me, and went on down, a two hour drive from Glenwood. All the way down, I expected a callback to verify, but it did not come. When I got there, I found an empty office and a locked door, even though the published hours are 9-5, M-F. I waited around until after my appointment time, then shoved my written opinion and contact information under the door and drove back home.

I also called Bennet's line again and left a message with the message system for one of his aides (the Senator's mailbox was full) supporting the public option and President Obama. At NO time in this half-day process did I talk to anyone alive. On the way back to Glenwood, I heard on Colorado NPR that Bennet had supported the public option at a town hall in Pueblo on Sunday, on the other side of the mountains, so at least that is good, but I WASTED SIX GALLONS OF GASOLINE and felt like a nincompoop!

OK, of course, I am a nincompoop, sometimes, and am pretty used to reveling in my foolishness, so that's not a problem, but you'd think a US Senator's Office messaging system could and should have Open/Closed info set daily for each office, to facilitate communications with constituents. Surely, that's possible these days?

Anyway, now I'm going to have a HealthCare Reform Potluck up here in Glenwood at the end of August, since there's NO event listed on OFA for this area. ObamaDoug steps up, after all.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Funny Story About "Reality Check"

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:10:13 EDT

I received an email announcing a Health Insurance Reform conference call with David Axelrod tomorrow night, inviting me to participate, and so, of course, I RSVP'd at once, just now. In the course of the RSVP, there's an opportunity to raise a question, so I asked if there was a "FactsCheck" setup somewhere to check out all the crazy rumors I'm hearing and clarify the Administration's take on specific elements of the Bill, then, submitted it. I then went up to CITA and, lo and behold, read CR's post on "Reality Check," answering my question. <CLICK!> Very synergistic. Gracias, CR. Tomorrow night I'll be listening to one of the sharpest minds in both Chicago and DC. Hooray!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Here's OFA's Suggestion to Counter the Crazies!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:49:56 EDT

This came over the OFA email line today, a way to voice to our Congressman that's quick, easy, effective, lined-out, and nonviolently resistant to the GOP strategies:

Charles (Doug) --

Thanks for answering the President's call to support health insurance reform.

All throughout August, our members of Congress are back in town. Insurance companies and partisan attack groups are stirring up fear with false rumors about the President's plan, and it's extremely important that folks like you speak up now.

So we've cooked up an easy, powerful way for you to make a big impression: Office Visits for Health Reform.

All this week, OFA members like you will be stopping by local congressional offices to show our support for insurance reform. You can have a quick conversation with the local staff, tell your personal story, or even just drop off a customized flyer and say that reform matters to you.

We'll provide everything you need: the address, phone number, and open hours for the office, information about how the health care crisis affects your state for you to drop off (with the option of adding your personal story), and a step-by-step guide for your visit.

According to our records, you live near Sen. Michael Bennet's office in Grand Junction, CO.

Sign up now to visit Sen. Michael Bennet's office in Grand Junction this week.

(Not your representative, or think there might be another office that's easier for you to get to? Click here to find a different office.)

As you've probably seen in the news, special interest attack groups are stirring up partisan mobs with lies about health reform, and it's getting ugly. Across the country, members of Congress who support reform are being shouted down, physically assaulted, hung in effigy, and receiving death threats. We can't let extremists hijack this debate, or confuse Congress about where the people stand.

Office Visits for Health Reform are our chance to show that the vast majority of American voters know that the cost of inaction is too high to bear, and strongly support passing health reform in 2009.

Don't worry if you've never done anything like this before. The congressional staff is there to listen, and your opinion as a constituent matters a lot. And if you bring a friend, you'll have more fun and make an even greater impact.

Click below to sign up for an Office Visit for Health Reform:

http://my.barackobama.com/OfficeVisit

Wherever you live, these visits matter: Many representatives are pushing hard toward reform, and they are taking a lot of heat from special interests. They deserve our thanks and need our support to continue the fight. But those who are still putting insurance companies and partisan point-scoring ahead of their constituents must know that voters are watching -- and that we expect better.

Earlier this week, the President wrote that "this is the moment our movement was built for" and asked us all to commit to join at least one event this month. This is the way to answer that call, and rise to the challenge of this moment together.

Thank you for going the extra mile when it matters the most,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

ObamaDoug Notes:

All you need to know is your zipcode to get talking points, protocols, map and phone number for your office visit. I'm going to Bennett's Office in Grand Junction tomorrow at 11 am. Easy as pie and just what I expect from our Primo Presidente and his staff.

You can click on the above link to schedule a visit in your own district. Go CITA for Health Insurance Reform. An Insured America is a Healthier America!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Obama's Weekly Address Adds Some HCReform Clarity

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:52:28 EDT

Here's the text from Primo Presidente's Weekly Address, with some underlining by me about the HCReform Process, from www.whitehouse.gov :

WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Calls Health Insurance Reform Key to Stronger Economy and Improvement on Status Quo

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Barack Obama called health insurance reform critical to our nation’s long-term economic strength and dispelled the outlandish rumors being promoted by those who are defending the status quo. The President has called for reform which will protect people against unfair insurance practices; provide quality, affordable insurance to every American; and bring down rising costs that are swamping families, businesses, and our budgets. Health insurance reform shouldn’t be about Washington politics. It’s about American lives, businesses and our future.

The audio and video will be available at 6:00am Saturday, August 8, 2009 at www.whitehouse.gov.

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, August 8th, 2009

On Friday, we received better news than we expected about the state of our economy. We learned that we lost 247,000 jobs in July – some 200,000 fewer jobs lost than in June, and far fewer than the nearly 700,000 a month we were losing at the beginning of the year. Of course, this is little comfort to anyone who saw their job disappear in July, and to the millions of Americans who are looking for work. And I will not rest until anyone who’s looking for work can find a job.

Still, this month’s jobs numbers are a sign that we’ve begun to put the brakes on this recession and that the worst may be behind us. But we must do more than rescue our economy from this immediate crisis; we must rebuild it stronger than before. We must lay a new foundation for future growth and prosperity, and a key pillar of a new foundation is health insurance reform – reform that we are now closer to achieving than ever before.

There are still details to be hammered out. There are still differences to be reconciled. But we are moving toward a broad consensus on reform. Four committees in Congress have produced legislation – an unprecedented level of agreement on a difficult and complex challenge. In addition to the ongoing work in Congress, providers have agreed to bring down costs. Drug companies have agreed to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. The AARP supports reform because of the better care it will offer seniors. And the American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association, which represent the millions of nurses and doctors who know our health care system best, support reform, as well.

As we draw close to finalizing – and passing – real health insurance reform, the defenders of the status quo and political point-scorers in Washington are growing fiercer in their opposition. In recent days and weeks, some have been using misleading information to defeat what they know is the best chance of reform we have ever had. That is why it is important, especially now, as Senators and Representatives head home and meet with their constituents, for you, the American people, to have all the facts.

So, let me explain what reform will mean for you. And let me start by dispelling the outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia, cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care. That’s simply not true. This isn’t about putting government in charge of your health insurance; it’s about putting you in charge of your health insurance. Under the reforms we seek, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.

And while reform is obviously essential for the 46 million Americans who don’t have health insurance, it will also provide more stability and security to the hundreds of millions who do. Right now, we have a system that works well for the insurance industry, but that doesn’t always work well for you. What we need, and what we will have when we pass health insurance reform, are consumer protections to make sure that those who have insurance are treated fairly and that insurance companies are held accountable.

We will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms, colonoscopies, or eye and foot exams for diabetics, so we can avoid chronic illnesses that cost too many lives and too much money.

We will stop insurance companies from denying coverage because of a person’s medical history. I will never forget watching my own mother, as she fought cancer in her final days, worrying about whether her insurer would claim her illness was a preexisting condition. I have met so many Americans who worry about the same thing. That’s why, under these reforms, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage because of a previous illness or injury. And insurance companies will no longer be allowed to drop or water down coverage for someone who has become seriously ill. Your health insurance ought to be there for you when it counts – and reform will make sure it is.

With reform, insurance companies will also have to limit how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses. And we will stop insurance companies from placing arbitrary caps on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime because no one in America should go broke because of illness.

In the end, the debate about health insurance reform boils down to a choice between two approaches. The first is almost guaranteed to double health costs over the next decade, make millions more Americans uninsured, leave those with insurance vulnerable to arbitrary denials of coverage, and bankrupt state and federal governments. That’s the status quo. That’s the health care system we have right now.

So, we can either continue this approach, or we can choose another one – one that will protect people against unfair insurance practices; provide quality, affordable insurance to every American; and bring down rising costs that are swamping families, businesses, and our budgets. That’s the health care system we can bring about with reform.

There are those who are focused on the so-called politics of health care; who are trying to exploit differences or concerns for political gain. That’s to be expected. That’s Washington. But let’s never forget that this isn’t about politics. This is about people’s lives. This is about people’s businesses. This is about America’s future. That’s what is at stake. That’s why health insurance reform is so important. And that’s why we must get this done – and why we will get this done – by the end of this year.

Thank you.

ObamaDoug Notes: Once again, our Primo Presidente Obama is working towards clarity as the best strategy to counter the crazies out there.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:55:38 EDT

My housemate had FOX TV on, on our shared downstairs TV with cable, so I watched Ollie North trash-talk the ways in which, supposedly, the Democrats were trying to silence the incredibly idiotic no-minds screeching at the town hall meetings around the country. Of course, he viewed that as the Democrats trying to silence the people, when, actually, it is the GOP which is trying to out-shout public discourse.

I am also disturbed to note that Move-On. org plans to develop a counter-campaign to the rednecks, which would apparently look like squads of Healthcare reformer activists filling town hall meetings where the screamers have already filled the stands, effecting a showdown. Would this really support DISCOURSE or just make it harder to have a voice?

I'm worried about both tactics.

I feel from my gut the GOP strategy will backfire like blowback, just as McCain's negative campaigning led scores of moderate Republicans over to the Obama ticket in the general election. My back is completely up because public discourse has been so emasculated by these paid demonstrators. As I've said before, I'd need restraints if those enormous, unhealthy people in Texas ever tried to keep my mouth shut at a town hall meeting in Colorado. Grrrrrrrrrr! Now, it's all over the country!

I'm thinking that moderate Republicans will ask, "Hey, wait a minute, this is America: organized partisan oppression of public discourse is, after all, the NUMBER ONE SIN IN AMERICA!" Surely, it will backfire on whoever thought that sending in the totally uninformed troops would make a difference! We are talking here about the difference between the surface of fear-mongering versus the depths of conscious critical thinking--the substance-- and, thank God, there are so many more critical thinkers who know this, as witnessed in the general election 2008. My sense is that this nasty stance will lead to a revival of American patriotism for public discourse, without the need for a counter-attack.

And that will help Health Care Reform.

To counter the current nastiness, I'd publish on the Net a bullet-point listing of what that 1000 page bill will actually do, what changes to expect. Everyone's talking about it as an expert, and NO-ONE has read it, I'd bet. We are watching people obstruct democratic discourse like Nazi stormtroopers because healthcare PACs have been fueling their fear of change: let's take a step towards clarity, Primo Presidente, as our counter offensive.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Obama's Prayer

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:18:10 EDT

Richard Wolffe, author of Renegade, quotes the "prayer slip" Obama wrote and inserted into a crack at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem during his world tour before the election last year. A yeshiva student pulled it out and gave it to the press, and, while that feels like a major intrusion into Obama's privacy, I'm grateful to have read it: "Lord--Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will."

It's clear our humble primo Presidente "got" what he prayed for! Amen!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Gracias, Obamans for Change!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:44:08 EDT

I had to have my laptop cleaned and protected for the last three days, so I've been off, but I am so happy with everyone of you Obamans for Change who are still, in this very strange time when people at a TOWN HALL MEETING can be yelled down (!!!) and denied their opinions, not giving credence to the idiot rednecks (who have a right to their opinions) who are clogging the democratic system with their Nazistic negativism. Most have NO idea how much they sound like the followers of Adolf Hitler, who built his power on the rednecks of Germany and their suppression of moderate voices. I had an occasion this week to confront one of those vocal guys who wants to shout us down, and I just told him that in a democracy, everyone's voice needs to be heard, and thank God, it worked. I was about ready to stuff a pitchfork in his vocal chords, which I would never do, at least at a Town Hall Meeting.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Listen to Bob Dylan!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:41:55 EDT

Dear President Obama: if you need anymore support for changing everything in this crazy, beautiful country, just listen to the classic "The Essential Bob Dylan" set of CDs! The man, as you will pick up, is an incredible prophet for everything you believe and for change we can believe in!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Interesting Issue Up in Colorado

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:00:23 EDT

Here's the DenverPost.com article detailing a current transgender issue over use of public bathrooms:

denver and the westState rule would allow use of restrooms consistent with gender identityBy John Ingold
The Denver PostPosted: 08/01/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
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Social conservatives and advocates for transgender rights squared off Friday over a proposed state rule that would give transgender individuals legal protection to use the public restrooms or locker rooms for the gender they identify with.

The rule is part of a larger rulemaking by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission to implement a bill the legislature passed last year extending nondiscrimination protections for sexual orientation to places of "public accommodation" — such as hotels and restaurants.

Transgender-rights advocates argued Friday before the commission that the rules provide vital protection against abuse. Kim Dower, a Denver pharmacist who has undergone gender reassignment, said her employer has limited where she can work and which restrooms she can use. She once went three days without being able to go to the bathroom at work because of remodeling in the one restroom she was allowed to use, she said.

"I felt alone, empty and fearful of what would come next," Dower told the commission. "All I wanted to do was to live my life in peace. I wasn't hurting anyone."

Social conservatives, though, expressed concerns the rule would be a loophole that sexual predators could exploit to gain access to women's restrooms.

"The fear," said Bruce Hausknecht, a policy analyst for Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family Action, "is that a sexual predator would attempt to enter the women's facilities, and the public accommodation owner would feel they have no ability to challenge that."

The proposed rule "provides that individuals should be allowed the use of gender-segregated facilities that are consistent with their gender identity."

Hausknecht proposed changing the last two words to "gender expression" so that, for instance, only people dressed as women would be able to enter a women's restroom.

Hausknecht said he has heard of instances in Colorado since the law was passed last year in which men were found in women's facilities but admitted there is no evidence connecting those instances to the law's passage.

Mindy Barton of Equal Rights Colorado said Focus on the Family's concern is overblown. Nothing in the new law or proposed rule would invalidate existing laws against indecent exposure or other crimes, she said.

"There has not been any evidence that this kind of law puts women or children at risk," Barton said.

The seven-member commission is slated to take up the rules again at its Sept. 25 meeting.

John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com

ObamaDoug Notes:

Two days ago, I mistakenly entered a Women's Rest Room at a rest stop in Kansas because the door was open wide by a custodian and I was oblivious to the sign on the door: Luckily, no one else was in there as I wondered why there were no urinals? What a shock and a laugh when I realized, due to my sharp-eyed brother Bill, that I had entered the Woman's Room!!!

To me, if a man has gone to the extreme of a gender-change operation, she/he deserves to use the woman's room to express her new status. Anything else is ridiculous! Does this mean that men who haven't changed their gender but know they are women at heart have the right to the woman's room? Probably, but, honestly, the "sex-deviate" argument seems like a smokescreen anti-GLBT initiative rather than a real issue. Any still-male guy who walked into a women's room for whatever reason would likely need psych counselling, since he's likely to get his socks knocked off him by Wolf-women in the room before he ever got to say he felt he was a woman and pulled open his fly!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Primo Presidente, Our Own Birthday Boy!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:03:30 EDT

Here's wishing an outpouring of celebration from the Nation for our man in DC and the world on his birthday, August 4. Let's all send birthday cards to the White House! I am so glad President Barack Hussein Obama was born, in Hawaii, an upstanding American citizen and global cosmopolitan, regardless of what the Talk Radio hosts are blathering about Obama's supposedly "foreign" birth. How many times does Gibbs have to wave Barack's birth certificate in front of the TV cameras? Maybe a digital copy of it needs to go viral throughout the world? The whole thing is ridiculous as well as a slap in the face of Obama's mother and grandparents! It insults our intelligence and I find it distasteful in the extreme: do these hosts really think Americans are quite so stupid?

Happy Birthday on Tuesday, Mr. President, my son and father, Barack Hussein Obama. May you have many more birthdays to come. Be grateful, hopeful, loving and clear that you are OUR Presidente Primo Extraordinaire and we LOVE you, your wondrous family and your precious stance for honor and truth in balance with reality. I have NEVER trusted an American Administration farther than I could see it, but the Obama Administration has earned my fervent trust, and THAT makes me one happy American and ecstatic global citizen!

Here's the address for all those inspiring cards. Let's show the country how much we love this great man!

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Linkage to Health Care Reform in Defense 2010 Veto

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:26:44 EDT

At least--as it may be impolitic to veto at this time what will provide local jobs, even if they are "unnecessary," and will help, perhaps, to keep the Democrats at 60 or better in 2010--at least our man in DC and the world must, I'd say, on signing the Defense Budget 2010, make it clear that he a) knows it is inflated with local earmarks; and b) that we must find a way to balance the Pacs with the public interest in persuading and creating legislation in Congress.

The electorate's voice is more listened to now than in the past, I'd say, but money talks and getting re-elected is so costly; I'd find it hard to be with both the Ethics Committee and my town hall meetings at home, if I were a legislator today. However, I wouldn't ever put myself in that predicament, because the costs to my privacy would be too severe. Primo Presidente knows how seriously he considered not running for family issues!

I'm reading Renegade, which I suggest again to all of you: I cried at the recap of the Invesco Field Acceptance Speech, once again, a fantabulous moment in my own life as well. I felt "awakened" by Barack Obama, in a way I hadn't felt for 30 years. Gracias, mi Presidente.

I'm still for sending the Defense Budget 2010 back to Congress, and here's linkage that might be more delicious to the Congress in its pursuit of re-election:

a) What was not spent at Defense could be better spent ramping up Veteran Psychological Counselling after Iraq and Afghanistan, a talking point in 2010 midterm elections;

b) What was not spent on "unnecessary" Defense purchases could be diverted into supporting the "public option," which still needs to happen, regardless of the Blue Dogs; please don't give up on the "public option," mi Presidento Primo:

Both options here are politic and timely and the electorate needs both, even if some don't know it. I know, a) is probably more palatable to Congress, something they could point to with pride instead of constantly defending themselves for PAC influence, and it strikes at the heart, to me: these Veterans have experienced more heartache in their tours than I ever have, and need to talk it through! But, for me, "the public option" is non-negotiable.

c) What was not spent in Defense Budget 2010 for earmarks could be better spent, though not politic, on increasing counselling services at Indian Health Services, which provides Reservation Health Services here and in Alaska. Alcoholism and suicide are huge issues on our NA reservations, both diseases of the hopeless. Any help there would intrinsically help all of our health-lives, though indirectly. Lordy, I know human services reps in the the 4 Corners area of CO and, believe me, the situation is dire.

Perhaps there will not be a Veto because focus on HealthCare is deemed more politic, but, Ay YiYi, Vets and IHS are great linkage for "better" spending if the Administrations feels the need for a showdown on PORK!.

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Reining in Defense Pork

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:23:01 EDT

Ten Good Reasons to Veto 2010 Defense Budget, Full of Earmarks:

1) shows POTUS's Presidential Leadership is Electorate-driven, CONSCIOUSLY-EDUCATIONAL, conscientious, tipping-point timely, and frugal, all selling points in 2012;

2) flexes Executive muscle where it counts with both Pentagon and that flagrantly-earmarking Congress (with its 62% public disapproval rating), demonstrating POTUS's ear for the ground of the NOW as well as his effective use of checks and balances to change Washington's way of doing business, for US and America rather than the cronies in the Beltway;

3) if linked to 100% insurance coverage, including a public option, and the belt-tightening we all face, individually and collectively, in this disempowering economic situation, kills about 16 birds with 1 clearly-focused Presidential and constitutionally-apt stone against this complex and disrespected Goliath while empowering the American Electorate at the same time, making the grassroots feel like Millennial Davids for a change;

4) in the face of the gargantuan M/I/I complex, creates a courageous Presidential stance for the Wii Generation to emulate: such a teaching moment!

5) allows for readjustment and belt-tightening by Pentagon and Congress before the money runs out for the Defense Budget 2010;

6) offers opportunity to Pentagon and Congress to get real or at least somewhat-more-real and more transparent than in the past, all in front of a much-more-scrutinizing-electorate sick to death about continuing collusion in high places;

7) demonstrates to our trading partners globally, especially China, that we are serious about reforming our economic wastefulness and corruption, shoring up the dollar's value by taking our own common sense advice;

8) shows electorate that earlier Obaman remarks against earmarking in Congress were true fresh air rather than political bad breath, enhancing POTUS's authenticity;

9) demonstrates that Change is possible, building HOPE;

10) establishes POTUS as the CHANGER/TRANSFORMER WE CAN BELIEVE IN!

Gracias, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!

Happy!

"Obama Doug" Evans Betanco — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:51:25 EDT

I'm happy to see that CITA is now being rated a 10/10 as an active community group on MyBO. Makes me feel like a proud and bonded Papa--or at least a favorite Uncle! Gracias for the many posts full of great and intelligent thinking, CITA guys and gals.

Thanks, ObamaDoug

PO,F8GY!