Pop Quiz!!

One of these things is not like the others
One of these things does not belong

You tell me which:

Republican congressman Connie Mack has proposed a three-point plan regarding Venezuela. It involves ”the creation of institutions that will foster a free press, the freedom of speech and religion, and free and fair elections for Venezuela; a Venezuelan Security Zone that will isolate Chavez and limit his ability to destabilize Latin America; and promotion of economic development in Venezuela through free markets, privatization, and other means that will create lasting prosperity and opportunity for all Venezuelans.”

A) free press
B) freedom of speech and religion
C) free and fair elections
D) free markets and privatisation

Three guesses, kiddies!


Apparently all this new hubbub regarding Venezuela comes in response to Hugo Chavez launching (what has been called in the mainstream media) HIS OWN television station, TeleSur.
In reality, the station is a joint effort between Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay and Cuba and works to promote Latin American and Caribbean culture, producing and featuring locally made documentaries, news casts, arts broadcasting, etc.

TeleSur website claims that its purpose as a Pan-Latino station is to, for the people of the South, "difundir sus propios valores, divulgar su propia imagen, debatir sus propias ideas y transmitir sus propios contenidos, libre y equitativamente."

(Broadcast or spread our own values, create our own images of ourselves, debate our own ideas and transmit our own content, freely and equitably)

This is done, of course, in response to the fact that most Latin American television stations are saturated with largely American programming. More CSI, anyone?

This sounds harmless, in a sense. Things get problematic for the rebel station a little further down on their website's opening page, where they claim that as a station they will "Frente al discurso único sostenido por las grandes corporaciones, que deliberadamente niegan, coartan o ignoran el derecho a la información, se hace imprescindible una alternativa capaz de representar los principios fundamentales de un auténtico medio de comunicación: veracidad, justicia, respeto y solidaridad."

("Confront the discourse maintained and offered by the large corporations, which deliberatly deny, limit or ignore the peoples right to information, and become and alternative [broadcaster] capable of representing the fundamental principles of authentic media communication: truth, justice, respect and solidarity")

Why, thats practically terrorist talk!


In closing, Chavez's little media empire states that, for the people of Latin America, possibly the profit motive is not the bottom line (gasp!). In the poetic language of the conquistadors, TeleSur states that "Vernos es conocernos, reconocernos es respetarnos, respetarnos es aprender a querernos, querernos es el primer paso para integrarnos."

(To see ourselves is to know ourselves, to know ourselves is to respect ourselves, to respect ourselves is to learn to love ourselves and to love ourselves is the first step in the creation of community.)

"Si la integración es el propósito, teleSUR es el medio."
(
If community [or, unity] is the intention, TeleSUR is the means)


Uh-Oh! I think I see why the U.S. House has earmarked nine million dollars for 2006 and another nine million for 2007 to support opposition political parties, media and civil society organizations in Venezuela. (I mean, there's no one hungry in america or anything...)






All translations my own, so apologies if there are any discrepancies...

the waiting game is over...

Today, July 1st 2005, the United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor officially resigned from her seat on the Supreme Court.

Justice O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981 by President Reagan and officially became the 102nd justice and the first female member of the Supreme Court in US History. She was never a radical, never what the right likes to call an "activist judge", but she did make often surprising decisions and displayed her political independence, blazing new trails for women during her time on the Court.

Justice O'Connor was the 5th vote which saved the Roe v Wade decision during its threatened period - the Webster v Reproductive Health Services case in 1989. It was through her efforts that the pro-choice message of Roe v Wade was kept alive. She did, though, side with the majority and vote for blocking a hand recount in Florida and the much ballyhooed 2000 presidential election and was commonly decried by the left as being a poltical conservatice soft on feminist issues.

Unfortunately, it is likely that Roe v. Wade is likely to be the pivotal issue in the choosing of a new Justice by his high holiness, George W. Bush. Right-wing forces which align behind his Bushiness have already raised millions of dollars in preparation for this moment, to support whomever Bush chooses to appoint to take Justice O'Connor's place.

For instance, right-wing advocacy organisation Progress for America has raised $18 million to fight for Bush's nominees, and the Judicial Confirmation Network has raised $3 million to fight any attempts to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee. Said Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of the conservative Focus on the Family, O"Cnnor's resignation marks "the resignation of a swing-vote justice on the Supreme Court and the opportunity to change the court's direction" and Richard Land of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, declared, "For President Bush, social conservatives and the senators they helped elect, the moment of truth has arrived".


Rumour has it that on the top of Bush's list of potential nominees is Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzalez. Gonzalez was Bush's counsel when he was Governor of Texas and together the two of them executed more people during their term and had/have mre people on death row than in any other state in history ever. Gonzales' name has been linked to the "torture memos" coming out of Iraq, but apparently is pro-choice and pro-affirmative action.

According to reliable sources, these last two qualities make him a top, yet unlikely candidate. Apparently, the pro-life base of the party would never allow a pro-choice Republican to be appointed to the Supreme Court.

With that news, and last spring's roll in the proverbial hay with Terri Schiavo, the fight for women's reproductive rights in the United States is heating up again. While O'Connor's resignation does not necessarily make Roe v Wade history, it does open up the potential for further shirfts to the right and the eventual attack on women's rights to again occur. The "partial birth abortion" ban (a term which is both invented and fallacious) was recently deemed unconstitutional by a narrow margin of 5 to 4.

While O'Connor's resignation may not lead to the immediate withdrawl of abortion rights for American women, it could easily and quickly lead to greater impediments to abortion access and more restrictions.

The Feminist Majority Foundation is looking for donations to build a Save Roe Campaign and raise awareness about the seriousness of the appointment of a Supreme Court Judge and what is at stake should Bush be able to stack the Court with right -wing anti-choice justices.

For more information or to donate, click HERE