Beautiful Horizons

Leo Messi

An extraordinary finish to an extraordinary year. Congratulations!

Christmas - Love It or Leave It!

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Eloquence Epitomized

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, I can only salute your eloquence and wisdom.

Health insurance reform

Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic, who has been following the reform debates for years, explains in practical terms why the bill being passed by Congress this week is an important step forward and how it beneftis typical middle-class families. Here.

it's All in the Timing

Boz asks some good questions about Brazil and Lula:

Is it Brazil? Or is it Lula? Does Brazil get this seat because they are a rising regional and global power with real political, economic and diplomatic influence? Or does Lula sit there because he's a global rockstar, someone whose sheer personal presence seems to be a force on the international diplomatic stage?

Yes, Brazil now has real political, economic and diplomatic influence. For years Brazil has had the canniest diplomatics in Latin America, if not the entire hemisphere. The economic credibility started to come into focus when inflation was successfully tamed in the 1990's and has been generally improving since, with an occasional hiccup. The current decade has been about the best and Lula's leadership is a significant part of the reason.

The political influence has developed as a result of the improved economic influence as well as Lula's ability to deal successfully with leaders across the political spectrum.

So the short answer is probably all of the above.

Violence in Honduras

There are more credible allegations of violence against supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya:

Ulises Sarmiento, a devout and wealthy follower of ousted Honduran President Manuel ``Mel'' Zelaya, paid a heavy price for his loyalty: A few weeks ago, hit men attacked with grenade launchers and a deluge of bullets, killing his two bodyguards.

An iron door kept the assassins at bay.

``Why do they come with grenades? You could hear this from a half mile away,'' said Sarmiento, 65, an Olancho businessman and a leader of Honduras' ``Resistance Movement,'' formed after Zelaya was kicked out of the country at gunpoint in June.

``They knew the police were never coming, and, sure enough, they did not come,'' said Sarmiento, now watched by six men, one of whom stays perched beside his bullet-ridden armored Ford F-250.

As Zelaya approaches his sixth month of banishment, human-rights organizations here and abroad say Honduras has experienced a serious deterioration of civil rights in a country where death squads and extrajudicial killings already were commonplace.

Here's the takeaway from the article:

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights visited Honduras this summer and could only categorize a handful of cases as state-related.

``We have been dealing for years with violence against defenders of human rights,'' said commission member Paolo Carroza, a professor at Notre Dame University. ``My presumption is, yeah, some are politically motivated, because that has been a pattern in Honduras for a long time, not just since the coup.''

So, essentially the goal of the coup mongers was to maintain the miserable status quo. Sounds like they've accomplished their goal.

In a Word, Breathtaking

FC Barcelona has defeated Estudiantes to win the FIFA World Club Cup. This is now the sixth title that they have won in 2009:

1. Spain's La Liga Title
2. Spain's Copa del Rey
3. Spain's Supercup
4. UEFA Champion's League
5. UEFA Supercup
6. FIFA World Club Cup

Has any club ever done better in a single year? I can't think of one.

"Libertarianism" I can believe in

Matt Welch, avowed libertarian and editor of Reason magazine, shares his thoughts on health care:

For a dozen years now I’ve led a dual life, spending more than 90 percent of my time and money in the U.S. while receiving 90 percent of my health care in my wife’s native France. On a personal level the comparison is no contest: I’ll take the French experience any day. ObamaCare opponents often warn that a new system will lead to long waiting times, mountains of paperwork, and less choice among doctors. Yet on all three of those counts the French system is significantly better, not worse, than what the U.S. has now.

Gomorrah

Gomorrah

This may be one of the most extraordinary films I have seen in some time. Based on Roberto Saviano's Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System, a brave and breathtaking account of the Camorra, the Neapolitan crime organization that preys upon the citizens of Naples.

Disturbing, boldly understated, yet relentless in the violence of everyday life it paints an image of Italy that you won't find in guidebooks. Why is the Veneto and Tuscany so spotless? Because the toxic waste from that region is dumped illegally in Campania.

Don't miss it.

Reckless and Dangerous Journalism

In the past the Wall Street Journal's Mary Anastacia O'Grady screeds on Latin America have been amusing for their knee-jerk cluelessness. Now she may very well be endangering lives.

Adam Isacson has more here.

Shame on her.

Not the Way to Go

As much as I detest Silvio Berlusconi, I certainly don't condone this:

An attacker wielding a statuette of the Milan cathedral struck Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in the face following a rally in Milan on Sunday, and hospital officials said the blow fractured his nose, sliced his lip and broke two teeth.

Television images showed bodyguards helping a stunned and bloodied prime minister into a car after the attack, which came as he greeted supporters after delivering a rousing speech to a rally of his center-right People of Liberties Party in central Milan.

As it appears that the accused has a history of mental illness, it appears that this, one hopes, is an isolated incident. No one deserves this.

Goal of the Year

From Nelson Figueroa of Wigan Athletic:

Astiz in the Dock

There is probably no more horrific story from Argentina's Dirty War than that of Alfredo Astiz. Astiz was a navy captain who infiltrated the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a group of mothers of some of the disappeared who were probably the single greatest thorn in the side of the brutal junta.

Astiz's actions resulted in the torture and disappearance of several people including this particularly horrific case:

Mr. Astiz, 58, is accused of playing a central role in the kidnappings and disappearance of two French nuns, Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet; an investigative journalist, Rodolfo Walsh; and several founders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group that began gathering in the plaza outside the presidential palace shortly after the 1976 military coup to demand answers about their children’s whereabouts.

[...]

Witnesses said Sister Duquet was imprisoned at the Navy Mechanics School before her body was tossed from a plane into the Atlantic Ocean on one of many “flights of death” meant to dispose of prisoners’ bodies.

But currents pushed her body ashore, and she was buried in an unmarked grave. It was not until 2005 that Argentine forensic anthropologists identified her remains and those of another of the group’s founders, Azucena Villaflor.

What is exceptionally disturbing about his actions are these two facts:

• The Madres were neither using nor advocating violence.
• Asti'z's lawyer in the article linked above essentially tries to use the Nuremberg defense here:

Mr. Astiz denies knowing about the death flights, and his lawyer says that as a uniformed member of the military he was following orders to protect the nation from extremist violence.

He has been convicted in absentia in France for the murder of the nuns and has also been Sconvicted in absentia in Italy for killing three Italian citizens, is wanted in Sweden for the disappearance of a teenager and missed out on being convicted in Argentina as the result of an amnesty, essentially extorted by a restive military.

That amnesty has now been tossed out by Argentina's courts and Astiz at long last is facing justice. His trial started this past Friday, the day after Human Rights Day.

Jail actually may be the safest place for him:

On his way to a meeting in the tidy Palermo district here [in 1997], Jorge Oscar Ocampo suddenly began shouting and swinging at a blond, baby-faced man who passed him on the street.

''Why don't you torture me now?'' Mr. Ocampo yelled at the man, whom he recognized as Alfredo Astiz, a retired navy captain, who Mr. Ocampo said had beaten and tortured his wife and child during the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

[...]

[In 1995], Alfredo Chavez, a former prisoner at a secret detention center during the military dictatorship, pummeled Mr. Astiz after spotting him on vacation at the Andean ski resort of Bariloche in southern Argentina.

Mr. Astiz sued Mr. Chavez, a municipal worker, but the courts dismissed the case, and the Bariloche City Council declared the former navy captain persona non grata.

An Argentinean friend once told me that since that last incident took place in Bariloche, every year on the anniversary, an informal celebration takes place. Perhaps soon they'll have even more cause to celebrate.

Let the healing begin.

Amen

Why I can't take libertarians seriously...

John Stossell - formerly of ABC, now debuting a new show at FOX - and an avowed libertarian:

I think 50 years ago, Ayn Rand predicted today. It sort of sums up what I'm going to be reporting about.

Ayn Rand predicted what?

Big government, nice-sounding legislation like "The Preservation of Livelihood Law," which mandated that Hank Rearden's production must not be bigger than any other steel mill, to make it a level playing field. It's silly.

Is that a new law passed by this Congress?

No, but it's what Wesley Mouch, the evil bureaucrat in the book, passed. And what Tim Geithner and what Barney Frank might like to pass.

(Daily Beast via Steve Benen.)

The Nobel Peace Prize

President Obama's designation and acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize has been predictably controversial, especially in the light of his addition of 40,000 troops to forces in Afghanistan since he's been in office. I watched the speech early this morning and believe it was close to brilliant in dealing with the questions surrounding his being chosen for the honor,  his understanding of the world and his leadership responsibilities within it. Well worth reading in its entirety, here.

Note: It's telling that isolationist crank Pat Buchanan and Salon Editor Joan Walsh - both opponents of Obama's Afghan "surge" - were each effusive in praising Obama in post-speech cable-TV bobble-head discussion. That's got to count as a political home-run.

Rachel Maddow destroys an anti-gay "therapist" - great moments in television.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Taxi Driver

Are you talkin' to me ? The UK Guardian (via Glenn Greenwald):

An Iraqi taxi driver may have been the source of the discredited claim that Saddam Hussein could unleash weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, a Tory MP claimed today.

Adam Holloway, a defence specialist, said MI6 obtained information indirectly from a taxi driver who had overheard two Iraqi military commanders talking about Saddam's weapons.

The 45-minute claim was a key feature of the dossier about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction that was released by Tony Blair in September 2002. Blair published the information to bolster public support for war.

After the war the dossier became hugely controversial when it became clear that some of the information it contained was not true.

When You've Lost COHA . . .

Who knew? A critical and measured examination of Hugo Chavez from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. I thought this part was especially cogent:

Since appearing on the world stage in 1998, Hugo Chávez has become an international figure with his erratic personal behavior, legendary incorrect commentary, and often offensive evaluations of other leaders. Rather than comporting himself as a decorous world leader and sober national representative, he has at times behaved as what some have described as “a petulant child.” After calling former President Bush “the devil” at the UN General Meeting in 2006, leaders across the globe have cited the incidence as evidence of his “clownish” behavior and lacking political gravitas.

Chávez’s raffish style is further exemplified by his behavior at an Ibero-American Conference in 2007 in which he repeatedly interrupted the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, causing a rare outburst from the Spanish King Juan Carlos I, who told Chávez “que te calles.” Of course, to many, Chávez scored a winning response when he addressed the Spanish monarch as “Mr. King”, reminding him that he did not achieve office via election. Chávez admirers would further argue that Chávez’s derelictions are mainly a matter of style, that the Venezuelan leader is a preeminent democrat, and that his multiple shortcomings are trivial in nature.

If his admirers wish to make that argument, then they are being foolish and in my opinion, beholden to the cult of his personality. What they should applaud is a leader who stays on message and spends his time calling attention to the issues he wants to address and the problems he wants to solve rather than giving red meat to his critics.

Some, however, have uncontrollable egos, untempered by the slightest sense of humility. A little humility is an excellent trait for leaders to have.

Journamalism

Via John Cole:

I mentioned that I was in Asia on this trip thinking about the economy, when I sat down for a round of interviews. Not one of them asked me about Asia. Not one of them asked me about the economy. I was asked several times about had I read Sarah Palin’s book. (Laughter.) True. But it’s an indication of how our political debate doesn’t match up with what we need to do and where we need to go. – Barack Obama