Bolivia enters the "Against Us" Column

sounds like I'm spinning doesn't it? Well read the last sentence. The commies are coming, the commies are coming!

Morales Headed Toward Victory in Bolivia
By FIONA SMITH
Associated Press Writer
Nearly complete vote tabulations Wednesday pointed to an easy victory by leftist leader Evo Morales, showing the coca grower with more popular support than any Bolivian president since democracy was restored two decades ago.

Morales, an Aymara Indian active in street protests that drove two presidents from office since 2003, had 54.3 percent of the votes cast in Sunday's election, according to official returns based on tallies from 93 percent of polling places.

Turnout was near 85 percent, much higher than in previous elections in this poor South American nation, the electoral court said. He campaigned against Bolivia's free-market policies and vowed to be Washington's "nightmare" while criticizing the U.S.-backed campaign to eradicate the coca crop, which provides the base of cocaine.

Morales' outright majority in the eight-man race was unexpected. It is the first time since democratic rule resumed in 1982 that Bolivia's presidential election did not end inconclusively at the ballot box, leaving it to Congress to make the final choice.

The surprising strength of his victory was one reason widely held fears of post-election chaos dissipated. Fitch Ratings, an international credit rating agency, kept Bolivia's credit rating unchanged Wednesday, saying Morales' government might have a greater degree of legitimacy than its recent predecessors and therefore lead to better governance.

Conservative parties held on to many seats in Congress, but Morales' strong victory should give him leverage with Bolivia's political and business elite as he makes the transition from leader of street protests to his nation's presidents, analysts said.

"If the opposition parties are seen as not being constructive and blocking everything Morales tries to do that would not be in their own interests," said Michael Shifter, vice president for policy at Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank.

"I think that they initially would have to be pretty cooperative, recognizing that Morales has a very broad and impressive mandate."

The National Electoral Court wasn't expected to formally declare Morales the winner until all votes are counted, but his victory margin has increased as ballots arrive from his strongholds in remote areas.

His conservative rival, Jorge Quiroga, conceded defeat after finishing with just 28.6 percent, and Bolivia's caretaker president was already organizing a transition team in anticipation of Morales' inauguration Jan. 22.

Morales, 46, will be the country's first Indian president during its 180 years of independence even though Indians make up a majority of the population.

Although he is a coca farmer himself and long a critic of the anti-drug eradication campaign, Morales insists his government will fight drug trafficking, but also will preserve a legal market for coca in Bolivia. For thousands of years, people in the Andes have chewed coca to stave off hunger, made it into tea or used it as medicine.

Morales leads the Movement Toward Socialism party and counts Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez among his closest allies. But he says he will protect private property while turning over "vacant, unproductive" land to poor farmers and increasing state control of Bolivia's natural gas reserves.

He also has said he welcomes good relations with the United States, but won't accept a "relationship of submission."

In turn, U.S. diplomats have offered congratulations, but expressed caution about the victory of a man who has described himself as the "nightmare" for the United States.

Aphorisms - by John Leo

I liked this one from S. Korea's Kim Jong Il. It applies well to tyrants:

“Live for the state and the state will live for you.”

Aphorisms 2006

By John Leo

Dec 26, 2005

People no longer bother much to create new aphorisms, adages and memorable sayings. But when they do, this column boldly moves to collect them. “An aphorism is a one-line novel,” said Ukrainian author and aphorism fanatic Leonid Sukhorukov. Here are some more recent extra-short novels.

“The plural of anecdote is not data,” said Frank Kotsonis. “A journey of a thousand miles starts with an airline ticket. Unless you’re crazy,” observed aphorist Chad Carter. “We campaign in poetry; we govern in prose,” said President Jed Bartlet of TV’s “West Wing.” “Where there’s Saddam, there’s Gomorrah,” said author and blogger Stefan Kanfer of Stefan Kanfer’s Gadflights.

“Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire,” said chief justice John Roberts, talking about the properly modest role of judges. Ann Coulter, typically sharper than your average aphorist, said: “When conservative judges strike down laws, it’s because of what’s in the Constitution. When liberal judges strike down laws. It’s because of what’s in the New York Times.”

“Every liberal thinks he’s intellectually superior to conservatives; every conservative I know wants to think of himself as morally superior,” said former Clinton administration official Paul Begala. “Whichever side denounces the other for politicizing the issue is losing the argument,” said Rep. Barney Frank.

Columnist and author David Brooks wrote: “If the true thing is obvious and boring, the liberal person will go off and say something original, even if it is completely idiotic. This is how deconstructionism got started.” (Conservatives, when they stumble on a new idea, tend to keep saying it over and over, .he said at length too excessive for an aphorism.) Blogger Megan McArdle, who writes under the name “Jane Galt” at Asymmetrical Information, offered “Jane’s Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.” In the Hawks vs. Doves sweepstakes, Charles Moore wrote in the Daily Telegraph of London: “Remember that the hawk is a bird that can see things from a long way off.” A less serious reflection on hawkishness came from thriller-writer Joseph Finder: “Hawks may soar, but chipmunks don’t get sucked into jet engines.”

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il issued a sort of aphorism this month: “The Destiny of a Nation Is a Destiny of an Individual and the Latter’s Life is Guaranteed by the Former’s Life.” This needs work. Try this version, KJI: “Live for the state and the state will live for you.”

Author Tammy Bruce, writing about the cult of victimology, wrote: “When your victimhood is your empowerment, recovery is the enemy.” “Heroes don’t have to be public figures; they can be right in your family,” said Billy Crystal, referring to his mother and father. Crediting his mother, law professor and blogger Eugene Volokh of The Volokh Conspiracy write: “Other people’s children always grow up more quickly.”

“Any law named after a person is bad law,” wrote law professor and blogger Glenn Reynolds of InstaPundit. “The right to offend is far more important than any right not to be offended,” said Andrew Sullivan, “You can’t defend except by offense,” said Donald Rumsfeld, taking the offensive. “Corruption keeps us safe and warm,” says a cynical character in the movie Syriana Michael Kinsley wrote: “If hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue, piousness is virtue paying tribute to itself.” Writer Mark Steyn said, “Multiculturalism is a kind of societal Stockholm Syndrome.” In the Washington Post, Ruth Marcus wrote: “Diversity at the expense of quality is no virtue, but quality without diversity is nonetheless a vice.” Aphorist Mauro Cherubini said, “Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don’t need to be done.”

“There is nothing quite so powerful as an idea whose time has passed,” said David Frum. “Many people think the purpose of their faith is to make THEM feel good,” said aphorist Lee Frank.“Politics is kind of like sport for old guys” said Mitt Romney, governor of Massachusetts. “On a net basis, modernity is good for you,” said the late Wall Street Journal editor Robert Bartley.

The late media critic David Shaw, lamenting the number of chatterers it takes to broadcast Air America, said: “It shouldn’t take a village to raise a radio program.” Entrepreneur Bo Peabody said: “The vast majority of the press is not concerned in covering what is actually happening. They are interested in covering what they think people want to think is actually happening.” “Falsetto is the highest expression of emotion,” said press critic Jack Shafer. Chris Browne, the cartoonist of “Hagar the Horrible, “ said “Everybody has to believe in something-I believe I’ll have another drink.”

The aphorism "We campaign in poetry, we govern in prose," spoken by President Jed Bartlet on West Wing, was coined years earlier by New York Governor Mario Cuomo. The "I believe I'll have another drink" line came from W.C. Fields.

LaShawn Does not Hate Black People!!!

LaShawn Barber holds her own again as one of the most outspoken speakers of our day. As a conservative and a Christian, she is used to persecution, but today she decided to address the issue of whether she hates black people.

Her answer is "no."

Check it out Here.