quote:

Honduras Defends Its Democracy

Fidel Castro and Hillary Clinton object.

Hugo Chávez's coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation's constitution. It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking.

But Honduras is not out of the Venezuelan woods yet. Yesterday the Central American country was being pressured to restore the authoritarian Mr. Zelaya by the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Hillary Clinton and, of course, Hugo himself. The Organization of American States, having ignored Mr. Zelaya's abuses, also wants him back in power. It will be a miracle if Honduran patriots can hold their ground.

That Mr. Zelaya acted as if he were above the law, there is no doubt. While Honduran law allows for a constitutional rewrite, the power to open that door does not lie with the president. A constituent assembly can only be called through a national referendum approved by its Congress.

But Mr. Zelaya declared the vote on his own and had Mr. Chávez ship him the necessary ballots from Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do.

The top military commander, Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, told the president that he would have to comply. Mr. Zelaya promptly fired him. The Supreme Court ordered him reinstated. Mr. Zelaya refused.

Calculating that some critical mass of Hondurans would take his side, the president decided he would run the referendum himself. So on Thursday he led a mob that broke into the military installation where the ballots from Venezuela were being stored and then had his supporters distribute them in defiance of the Supreme Court's order.

The attorney general had already made clear that the referendum was illegal, and he further announced that he would prosecute anyone involved in carrying it out. Yesterday, Mr. Zelaya was arrested by the military and is now in exile in Costa Rica.

Full text here

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Obama says Honduran ouster was 'not legal'

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says the weekend ouster of Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya was a "not legal" coup and that he remains the country's president.

Obama spoke to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday after meetings with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Obama said he wanted to be very clear that President Zelaya is the democratically elected president.

Obama pledged the U.S. to "stand on the side of democracy" and to work with other nations and international entities to resolve the matter peacefully.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D994I12O2&show_article=1

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sanity


When was Fidel Castro ever democratically elected? 

Hugo Chavez, right now he's doing his best to stomp out free speech in Venezuela. Are you proud of that character?

quote:

ORIGINAL: philosophy
...good grief, two posts in and you're trying to hijack your own thread. Is that a record?
The OP, as apparently you need reminding, was about Honduras...not Cuba or Venezuala.

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ORIGINAL: DomKen

Strangely I just double checked, because Sanity would never ever write anything at variance with the truth, and found that I had not been hallucinating when I heard Obama make repeated statements in support of Iranian democracy.

quote:

Obama said he would work with the Organization of American States and other international institutions to restore Zelaya to power and "see if we can resolve this in a peaceful way."

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE55S5J220090629?sp=true

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ORIGINAL: slvemike4u

Imagine a President of the United States of America who doesn't just shoot from the hip so to speak.One who weighs what the options are before weighing in with an ill advised knee jerk reaction bumper sticker quote.
One who realises the importance of getting it right rather than just getting it quick.......sometimes it is best to remain silent and let events unfold...rather than say the first thing that comes to mind.....thereby causing an indigenous protest to be tainted by the appearence of an American influence
Works for me.......

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ORIGINAL: philosophy

...let's see, the USA is part of an regional organisation that can have a peaceful influence on the problem in Honduras. So, all Obama has done there is say that he'll work through such an existing regional organisation.
The USA is not part of a regional organisation that includes Iran, so utterly unsurprisingly, he hasn't announced he'll be working with one.

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ORIGINAL: philosophySo what's next Sanity?  A drop in sales of teddy bears in San Fransisco and why that's Obamas fault? Slightly unseasonal weather in Kansas and why that's Obamas fault? Your new shoes are a bit tight and why that's Obamas fault? Celine Dion....and why that's Obamas fault?

Seriously dude......are you running for a GOP attack dog job? 'Cos i'm sure Karl Rove could use some help.......

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ORIGINAL: slvemike4u

Philo and Ken might have dificulty in answering your baseless charges.....seeing as the powers that be at CollarMe have seen fit to move this to where it should have been in the first place.....Polls and Other Random Stupidity.
That seems to say all that need be said where this thread is concerned.