Weekend Update

It's not the weekend anymore, but shouldn't everyone just get the next month off for World Cup anyway? I mean, just read this, why bother pretending to work?

• Thanks to Adriaan Alsema of Colombia Reports for responding to Maladjusted's post on the Colombian government misquoting Hillary Clinton. CR had linked to the Colombian government statement that used the misquote.
  
  
• A Wall Street Journal editorial praises Hillary Clinton's "diplomacy" as it relates to Honduras. Congrats Hillary you and the down right deranged WSJ editorial board are in agreement...at least if Hillary were the president she wouldn't be secretary of state.
  
  
• Meanwhile, the sun rose in Honduras and just as unsurprisingly there was another attack against someone opposed to the coup. Porifirio Ponce, the VP of STIBYS (large, influential union), was attacked when traveling with some family members, one of them was killed. Must be the "strong and consistent commitment to democratic governance and constitutional order," that Hillary was talking about.
  
  
• Also on Honduras, Daniel Altschuler expands on a point Maladjusted brought up a little while back on the similarities between the US' policy towards Israel following the flotilla attack and the US' policy after the coup in Honduras. Altschuler writes, "In fact, the United States predictably shielded Israel from harsher United Nations Security Council condemnation and has expressed preliminary support for Israel's internal inquiry. The United States ultimately played a similarly unhelpful role in Honduras, removing pressure at a critical moment for Zelaya's reinstatement as a condition for recognizing the November elections."
  
  
• An interesting article in the New York Times about coca cultivation in Peru. Pretty simple point, when production decreases in one place, it increases in another...might demand be the issue here? Article includes this nice graph though...and wait, which one of these countries is considered to be "failing demonstrably" in the war on drugs? Nah, it couldn't be political!
  
  
  
  
• We linked to Justin Delacour's take down of Phil Gunson awhile back, well, it seems like Gunson responded, which prompted a response, which prompted a continued debate in the comment section. Delacour gives the predominantly incoherent Gunson a thorough take down. Read the original, then read this...and make sure to check out the comments.
  
  
• Hillary Clinton, while pledging her undying love, er, "support" for Colombia, also promised a "very intensive effort to try to obtain the votes to get the free trade agreement with Colombia finally ratified”. From vowing to re-open NAFTA to an intensive effort to pass something that much of the democratic party has blocked for years because of human rights abuses....hopey and changey for real.
  
  
• I wholeheartedly support Fernando Lugo giving all public workers the afternoon off today to watch the match against Italy....I mean c'mon, nobody was going to work anyway.
  
  
• Bloomberg cites a recent Datanalisis poll on Chavez's approval rating. Maybe Democrats in the US could learn something from him, he went after the speculators and financiers and saw a 6 percent increase in his approval rating last month, up to 48 percent. [Read: go after the damn bankers dems] This means we are probably within a few days of the next Jackson Peep rant, and surely there will be plenty of commentary about his popularity crumbling because it's below 50 percent, which, ya know, means he has the exact same approval rating as Obama. Also worth pointing out that Datanalisis is about as reliable as the Colombian press secretary, and it's no secret they're not the biggest Chavez fans, and I mean even the head of the organization doesn't think their polls are accurate!
  
  
• Bloomberg also has the recent Gallup numbers from Colombia, where the all of a sudden uneventful presidential run-off election will go down next weekend. Santos is favored 66.5 to 24.7. But hey, given how far off the first round was, that's still practically in the margin of error!
  
  
• In ongoing news concerning Maladjusted's new favorite movie, The Cove, haters are censoring it in Japan. Also, an investigation by the UK's The Sunday Times, apparently shows that Japan offers up prostitutes (among other things) to get countries to vote their way at the IWC. Among the countries who had been offered such sexy treats were two Caribbean countries referenced in the documentary, St. Kitts and Nevis and Grenada.
  
  
• More importantly than anything else though, its the fuckin' World Cup! Go get something with your team's colors, make a friendly wager, drink too many beers during the day, and celebrate The World.