Please Freepmail me to be added to the Ollie North ping list.
Posted on 12/18/2008 9:08:56 PM PST by jazusamo
WASHINGTON -- This week, the so-called mainstream media fixated on a Baghdad shoe-throwing contest, more government bailout bucks, and the delightful prospect of having Caroline Kennedy appointed to Hillary Clinton's vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. The potentates of the press gave short shrift -- or simply ignored -- two far more important news stories: the first-ever assembly of Latin American leaders gathered to stick it to the United States and the passing of a great conservative leader who helped Ronald Reagan become one of America's greatest presidents.
Both stories deserved more attention than they received. That, however, would require journalists, news directors and editors to have some knowledge of history and current events beyond what they can collect from a quick Google search and have attention spans greater than a fruit fly's.
First, the Latin Leader Finger-in-the-Eye Stunt. They called it the "Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development." It brought all but one of the Latin American and Caribbean heads of state to Salvador da Bahia, a Brazilian resort city, for a two-day blame-America-first confab, Dec. 16 and 17. Only Colombia's Alvaro Uribe did not attend; there were disastrous floods last weekend that made nearly a quarter-million of his countrymen homeless. The talk wasn't as pretty as the scenery, and we weren't even invited.
Ostensibly, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called the summit as an effort to help resolve a number of simmering trade, economic and security disputes among countries of the region. But the real purpose was tipped by the fact that U.S. representatives were excluded and Cuban dictator Raul Castro was invited. On his first trip abroad as "president," Fidel's little brother was welcomed at the gathering as if he was the prodigal son.
Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez confirmed that the principal purpose of the gathering was to send an unequivocal message to the incoming Obama administration. On Tuesday, Chavez told reporters, "There is no doubt that a new historic era is beginning." Just to make sure everyone got the message, he added, "The presence of Cuba is a very strong signal that America is no longer the boss in Latin America."
That's an understatement. Over the course of the past two years, Venezuela has placed orders for more than $4 billion in arms from Russia. Moscow also has dispatched strategic bombers and nuclear-powered warships to the region for "joint exercises." Last summer, Iran agreed to build an ammunition plant outside Caracas.
That's just the tip of the iceberg of our security challenge in the region. In September, Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, decided not to renew a U.S. lease on a crucial air base used to launch and recover counter-drug-surveillance aircraft.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has lifted all visa restrictions on Iranians traveling to his country. Last month, he expelled all U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents from Bolivia.
Meanwhile, Communist China, which already owns facilities at both ends of the Panama Canal, is "buying in" all over the region. In October, the Chinese lent $350 million to the Inter-American Development Bank. This month, China bought a $10 billion stake in developing Brazil's new -- and apparently enormous -- oil fields.
Amazingly, none of this seems to perturb the craven cabal at the U.S. State Department. Earlier this week, Thomas Shannon, the assistant secretary of state, told Bloomberg that the U.S. "didn't ask to be invited" to the Latin American summit. He went on to say that "there's no warfare, weapons proliferation, suicide bombers or jihadists" in Latin America. This stunning comment was widely ignored by the masters of the media.
So, too, was another big story this week: the death of conservative icon Paul Weyrich, the co-founder and first president of The Heritage Foundation. By the time I first met him in 1981 at a White House briefing, he was the head of the Free Congress Foundation and already a leading figure in Washington. When President Ronald Reagan wanted support for a measure being blocked by liberals in Congress, Paul was one of a small handful of people he counted on to get the word out. And Paul did.
During a time when I was enduring my own particular hell at the hands of Congress, Paul was one of those who encouraged me: "All things work together for good for those who love God." He was right.
During the more than quarter-century I knew him, Paul was consistently principled in all that he said and wrote. An articulate spokesman for Judeo-Christian values and truly conservative ideals, he was unwavering in his belief that individual liberty requires personal responsibility and that governments at every level have to be held accountable.
He was unhesitating in offering praise when it was due, encouragement when needed, and admonition when he felt it was warranted. His widow, Joyce, and their five children will miss a husband and father. I will miss a friend.
Please Freepmail me to be added to the Ollie North ping list.
bump for Ollie
Time to invoke The Monroe Doctrine. What say you Mr. president-elect
I would be pleasantly surprised if he does but am not counting on it.
For its relentless abrasiveness, there’s value in the adversarial relationship an administration has with the media. The infatuation the media has for the next administration, however, is a serious concern — ‘Missing the Story’ may be the best of the worst to come.
Well said...If the treatment the media has given BO up to now is any indication of their treatment of him in the next four years he’ll have a free ride with whatever he sees fit to do.
Oliver North figures in Terry Reed's Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA, a fascinating look at the steps taken to defeat the vile Daniel Ortega, commie and daughter raper.**Zoilamérica Narváez his stepdaughter accused him in a 48-page deposition in 1998.
Zoilamérica NarváezHussein's commie handler Ayers was in Caracas in 2006 praising Chavez, shouting "Viva Mission Sucre! Viva Presidente Chavez! Viva La Revolucion Bolivariana! Hasta La Victoria Siempre!"
Hussein will continue to prevent us from drilling for our oil--while allowing China and Cuba to take it from us.
Hussein and Nasty Lugosi will continue to subvert our ally Colombia.
Amnesty for Mexicans is coming. Along with cap-and-trade, unilateral disarmament.
Cuba to receive Russian air defense systems.
Chavez to purchase all manner of Chinese and Russian arms.
Hussein the DoperIslamoCommieKenyan has everything backwards--he loves Che Guevara and all the murderous enemies of freedom.
The best diplomacy for our hemisphere, for the Free World, would be to eliminate the FARC-Chavez-Castro-China axis a la the Che Guevara Sanction.
Excellent post, Phil. Thanks!
It is criminal the way the RATS have treated President Uribe and Colombia already, with BHO it’ll only get worse.
I'm sure that's a rhetorical question. His answer would probably be something like "Duhh what's a Monroe Doctrine?"
Barry O's forte is not substance, it's his ability to make people think that he's saying something profound when he's actually just mouthing essentially meaningless catch words and phrases in a tone and manner that causes enthralled audiences to think that he's saying something profound.
If you have the intestinal fortitude to suffer through a video clip from one of his campaign appearances before an audience that was primarily composed of young star-struck acolytes you can easily see what I mean.
Signed book by Oliver North!!! :)
I guess Hugo was telling Obama to move to the back of the bus...
Now, is that any way to treat a fellow Socialist?
ad me to your ping list please
Let’s not forget the Ruskie fleet visiting Cuba now too. The ultimate mover in this coordinated action is Bush’s buddy Putin. Now then, if we could not count on Bush to take on that KGB hump, why the hell can we expect the Zero to do anything? As the noose gets tighter around our combined necks and the jackels get closer I expect to hear something from the sun god similar to the punch line from a Lone Ranger and Tonto joke with the indians closing in and them out of bullets: What you mean “we” white man as the commies over take us.
Our problem with South America is not that we have interfered too much, it is that we have interfered too little. Colombia is probably our last hope there and we are abandoning them. I cannot believe it.
VERY NICELY DONE.
THERE ARE MANY who deserve Che’s ignominous end.
Believe it, I do.
I believe that the US under it's new "messiah" is on it's way to eventually becoming a 2nd tier nation economically with a greatly reduced nuclear deterrent as it's only means of maintaining it's independence and the few remaining vestiges of our former liberties. That independence will be voluntarily forfeited at some point in the relatively near future when the much discussed but little understood New World Order is fully established and all nations are integrated into one big global family.
Just my HO of course. As a bible-believing Christian I look at the world's future through the lens of bible prophecy as best as I understand it, and I realize that my understanding doesn't concur with the mainline denomination's interpretation.
Maybe you should be more careful about how you refer to the Obamessiah, he may prefer being called a redistributionist rather than a socialist. His gang of fellow redistributionists doesn't yet have eyes and ears everywhere as they did in the old USSR, but they will before the end of his first term. And from there on the length of his time in office will probably be determined by his lifespan unless he fails to satisfy his behind-the-curtain handlers.
It is a country very similar in politics to Africa. It's not at “Nation” but a number of countries located on a continent. Like Africa, he who has the biggest stick wins.
Everyone has only worried about Russia and China being across the sea. Now they are going to be 90 miles from the mainland of the USA.
Chavez want to use Bolivia as a pawn in his game to gain control of Ecuador for sea access. Cuba with his Russian allies as a base for nuclear warfare from China.
I don't know how smart Obama will be, but if Socialist/Communism is ingrained in his heart the USA will become a “worldwide country” dictated by a few select leaders. In the end I think Obama will draw the short straw but look for the Clintons comeback.
JMHO
I didn’t know that Paul Weyrich had died!
Welcome, ezoeni. You’re on.
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