Saturday, August 25, 2007

MAMZ Biographical Table Proving He Was at CIA at Least One Year, Maybe Two

Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga said in a speech at the Commonwealth Club that he had spent only six months at the CIA, in 2001, leaving the CIA after the end of a six-month application process. That appears to have been a lie. To prove it, and to facilitate a community-wide investigation of inconsistencies and falsehoods that MAMZ has told the media and his followers, I offer the chronological table below, following MAMZ from his birth until the present. (Because of formatting difficulties, you have to pass over a sea of whitespace after Stu Piddy's quotation before you arrive at the table below.) According to Stu Piddy, of the MyLeftWing and Political Fleshfeast blogs,
Upon closer examination of the audio tape it appears that Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says in fact he was speaking to the CIA up until 2003 about employment and long after he started Daily Kos in May of 2002.

He states that in 2001 "I was underemployed, between jobs so I applied to the CIA" and later in reference to ANOTHER POINT IN TIME ...he made a decision to work for Howad Dean instead of working for the CIA. That decesion could only have taken place in 2003. That is when he went to work for Howard Dean. Moulitsas discloses to the Daily Kos community that he had decided to work for the Dean Campaign in June of 2003 http://www.dailykos....

I've been on the road a lot the past few months. Some of it was for my day job as a web developer. But the bulk of it was for my new political consulting firm (alongside my partner).

I spent this weekend in Burlington, VT, where we officially accepted work on behalf of presidential candidate Howard Dean. Dean joins a Senate candidate in our still small but hopefully growing roster of clients.

Here we see Moulitsas is saying his decesion to join the Dean campaign is made final and the time is June 2003, NOT ANYTIME IN 2001. In January 2003 he formed a political consulting partnership with Jerome Armstrong. Sometime later in 2003 he joined the Dean campaign.
Moulitsas says he talked to the CIA about his website. His website was begun in May of 2002.

By his own account, Marcos Moulitsas at least interviewed with the CIA AFTER he formed Daily Kos, not (only) before. It may be he began the interview process in 2001 and that it continued (or training continued) to just before June 2003. He says he went "all the way to the end". Does this mean he had compeleted training? If he started a 6 month interview process in 2001 it would have long ended by late June of 2003 when he made his decision to work for the Dean campaign. He formed his partnership as a political consultant in January 2003 with Jerome Armstrong.

In January of 2003, Markos Moulitsas joined Jerome Armstrong in a political consulting partnership called Armstrong Zuniga, before being formally dissolved in December 2004. Howard Dean hired them for a time as technical consultants in 2003.
It would be interesting to know more about Jerome Armstrong ( he was indicted for securities fraud). He went to work for Dean after forming the partnership...so it must be at THAT point that he made the decision he discusses to work not for the CIA but for Howard Dean and that occurs in June 2003. If he starts an interview process in 2001 that lasts 6 months and he is making his decesion in or around June 2003 there are at least 12 months in which his relationship with the CIA continues but is not defined. Therefore, according to his own statements, we can conclude that while Markos Moulitsas was proprietor of Daily Kos, he was also involved in at least discussions with the CIA for employment. Stu Piddy at Political Fleshfeast
Scroll Down to the MAMZ Biographical Data Table Down . . . Down . . . >>>>>
Year ActivitySource of DataQuestions Raised
September 11, 1971“Moulitsas was born in Chicago on September 11, 1971. http://www.guernicamag.com/features/172/firmly_forward/

”MAMZ is born in Chicago. (CATO)

“Nacido en 1971 en Chicago, vino a El Salvador en 1976 y regresó con su familia a Estados Unidos en 1980, cuando comenzaba el conflicto en nuestro país.” (La PrensaGráfica.Com)
September 11, 1974 > September 11, 1975 “His family moved to El Salvador, his mother’s native country, when he was three.” Guernica.com
There certainly is a discrepancy between these two dates of at least one year and maybe two. (See LaPrensaGráfica.Com article, which says he “came to El Salvador in 1976.")

1976 MAMZ family moves to El Salvador. “vino a El Salvador en 1976.” (La PrensaGráfica.Com) [“. . .came to El Salvador in 1976 . . .”]There certainly is a discrepancy between these two dates of at least one year and maybe two. (See LaPrensaGráfica.Com article, below, which has says he “came to El Salvador in 1976.)


The 1980’s MAMZ was a Reagan Republican: “It was my fealty to the notion of personal liberty that made me a Republican when I came of age in the 1980s.” Cato Unbound, publication date: October 2, 2006


1980 “civil war forced his family back to the States in 1980.” (CATO)

“regresó con su familia a Estados Unidos en 1980, cuando comenzaba el conflicto en nuestro país.” (La PrensaGráfica.Com) [ . . .returned with his family to the United States in 1980, when the conflict started in El Salvador.]

http://www.moulitsas.com/wedding/wedding.asp



1984 MAMZ starts playing piano, “Ticklin’ the ivories since 1984.” Moulitsas Online Music Album



1984 At thirteen years old, MAMZ is a precinct captain in the 1984 reelection campaign of president Ronald Reagan. After an interview with MAMZ, Guernica Magazine wrote, “( . . . ) he became a fanatical supporter of Ronald Reagan (who backed El Salvador’s government as part of his anti-Communist strategy), even working as a Republican party precinct captain in high school.”
Guernica



September 11, 1988 MAMZ turns 17, has seventeenth birthday. “A los 17 años, Markos entró a formar parte del ejército de Estados Unidos.” (LaPrensaGráfica.Com) [“At 17 years old, Markos joined the Army of the United States.”]


9/11/88 - 9/10/89 “Immediately after high school, at the age of 17, Moulitsas enrolled in the U.S. Army” (CATO) “The idea was partly to improve his self-esteem and serve his country and partly to burnish his resume for a career in politics.” SanFranciscoGate.Com

Guernica

After high school, Moulitsas, then a Reagan Republican thanks largely to the White House's support of the Salvadorean government, spent four years as an army artillery scout, mainly in Germany. WaMonthly

Could MAMZ have spent “four years” as an Army scout, based on his year of graduation and his date of entering NIU?


September 11, 1989 Immediately after high school, at the age of 17, Moulitsas enrolled in the U.S. Army. Cato Unbound MAMZ turns 18, has eighteenth birthday.


Fall 1992(?) Entered Northern Illinois University as a freshman.“enrolled at Northern Illinois University . . ." (WaMONTHLY) According to the NIU Northern Star campus newspaper, he was a “freshmen” in January 1993, when MAMZ wrote his infamous essay opposing ALL gays in the military.Northern Star

Wiki: Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga



Presidential Election, November 1992 MAMZ votes for George H.W. Bush for president. Moulitsas voted for Bush Sr. in 1992. Guernica


January 25, 1993 MAMZ publishes essay at Northern Illinois University campus newspaper, the “Northern Star,” opposing ALL gay service in the US military. Northern Illinois University "Northern Star" campus newspaper.



1996 MAMZ records music in Chicago. MAMZ's Online Music Album


1996 MAMZ graduates from Northern Illinois University. Wiki: Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga

US Congressman (NM)
1996 – 1999 “He earned a J.D. at Boston University School of Law (1996-1999).[3]” Wiki: Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga

US Congressman (NM)
September 11, 1996 > September 10, 1997 He met Elisa when he was a 25-year-old law student and she was a 19-year-old sophomore at Boston University. SanFranciscoGate.Com


1997 – 2000 MAMZ “family business” receives five million dollars in foreign investments. Salvadoran Supreme Court Library Document


Spring 1998 MAMZ proposes to Elise. "While [Elise] studying abroad in Spain, I visiter her for a week. During that time, we spent a few days in Bamberg, where I lived for nearly three years in the early 90s. That's when I popped the question." MAMZ's Online Wedding Album




1998 "( . . . ) in 1998, moved out to San Francisco to try his luck in Silicon Valley." Kos Call


1999 MAMZ says, "I had the good fortune of working with Tim Bruhns at Blink Music in Cambridge, MA." Moulitsas.Com/music

US Congressman (NM)
November 24, 2000 MAMZ gets married in El Salvador. Online Wedding Album

US Congressman (NM)
Six months during 2001(?) Can´t be! MAMZ says he interviewed with the CIA in Washington, DC for six months, where he was told that, "Man, they're going to take us to war. This isn't right."
Speech to the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, June 2, 2006.
Why would the CIA tell MAMZ about the Iraq War when the within four months after the destruction of the World Trade Center, at least two years before the war began?

If this is true, why did MAMZ keep this information secret even as the Administration was insisting that it had no immediate plans for war with Iraq?

Was there a conflict of interest between MAMZ’s role in the anti-war movement and his assumed duty not to report conversations he had had with employees of the Central Intelligence Agency? If so, how did MAMZ resolve this conflict?



May 22, 2002 “Six months before the 2002 midterm elections . . . he decided to start a blog. Guernica.Com

"Moulitsas started Daily Kos — a weblog focusing on progressive, liberal, and Democratic Party politics — on May 26, 2002" Cato Unbound

"Esta página [DailyKos] fue creada en mayo de 2002 por Markos Moulitsas Zúniga." LaPrensaGráfica.Com



November 2002 DailyKos receiving 8,000 hits per day. “By the height of the 2002 elections, the Daily Kos received about 8,000 hits per day.” Guernica


“Late 2002” Moulitsas was not yet in touch with the Dean campaign, but he made contact with the Dean camp through Jerome Armstrong in “late 2002.”

According to Guernica Magazine’s Mark Binelli, who interviewed MAMZ in 2004:

“When Moulitsas began blogging, he did so anonymously, mostly to keep his boss from finding out how he was spending his work hours. In late 2002, he began corresponding with another political blogger, Jerome Armstrong — Moulitsas’ current partner in the consulting business — whose site, mydd, inspired the Daily Kos. “We started talking about how we were both anonymous, so people really had no reason to take us seriously. But they were,” Moulitsas says. “Then we said, ‘Imagine what would happen if a candidate did this.” Around the same time, future Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi — then a senior adviser — gave an interview which Armstrong found to be idiotic, and he noted as much on his blog. “I think Trippi was googling his name, and he saw what Jerome wrote,” Moulitsas recalls. “Then he started reading mydd and the Daily Kos. Eventually, he contacted Jerome and said, ‘You think I’m an idiot. We should talk.’
“We thought the blogs would just be another tool in Dean’s toolbox — you know, this notion of talking to people directly, not filtering it through the press, humanizing the campaign,” Moulitsas continues. “But someone like Trippi, he had nothing to lose at the time, so he could be as creative as he wanted to be. They implemented the blogs in a way that was phenomenal.”
Guernica
MAMZ says he was told by CIA personnel BEFORE June 2002 and within ten months of the 9-11-2001 destruction of the WTT that the US was going to invade Iraq. This makes no sense. What DOES make sense is that he was still at the CIA in late 2002, long after he has admitted to being there in the past. He must have been at the CIA for at least a year, maybe two, even while leading an anti-war blog. Is that a conflict of interest? Isn’t one of the jobs of the CIA to keep tabs on anti-war activists? Did MAMZ help them to do so? Does he help them to do so today?


Late 2002 MAMZ contact with the CIA could not have occurred earlier than May or June 2002 if it ended after six months and BECAUSE of a competing job offer or opportunity with the Dean campaign, as alleged by MAMZ in his speech at the Commonwealth Club. Speech to the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, June 2, 2006.


February 5, 2003 Colin “Powell addressed a plenary session of the United Nations Security Council on February 5, 2003 to argue in favor of military action.” Wiki: Colin Powell


February 14, 2003 “In his report to the UN Security Council on February 14, 2003, Blix claimed that "If Iraq had provided the necessary cooperation in 1991, the phase of disarmament -- under resolution 687 -- could have been short and a decade of sanctions could have been avoided." Wiki: Hans Blix


March 2003 Moulitsas attended the California State Democratic convention in Sacramento in March, 2003 with Jerome Armstrong of MyDD. Wiki: Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga


March 20, 2003 The American Invasion of Iraq officially began.


June 9, 2003 MAMZ “officially” announces that Armstrong/Zúñiga has a consulting with Howard Dean’s presidential campaign.
“I've been on the road a lot the past few months. Some of it was for my day job as a web developer. But the bulk of it was for my new political consulting firm (alongside my partner).
I spent this weekend in Burlington, VT, where we officially accepted work on behalf of presidential candidate Howard Dean”
DailyKos Archives
MAMZ said he interviewed with the CIA in 2001, and only stopped interviewing because of the Dean campaign job offer. But, MAMZ could not have met Dean before late 2002, because that’s when Armstrong had his first contact with Dean. And MAMZ said he met Dean through Armstrong.

So, MAMZ MUST have been at the CIA until AT LEAST late 2002, or later, if he was there when the opportunity to work for Dean arose.

If MAMZ was at the CIA beyond a six month interview period, then he CERTAINLY was paid for staying on for the training period. If so, MAMZ was CERTAINLY an employee/trainee who worked for the CIA. People who go to a workplace, stay for months, take mandatory training and get paid for it are “workers” and “employees” by anyone’s definition. Did Markos Alberto Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA "Work" at the CIA During His Six Months There?”



2004 MAMZ has interview with Mark Binelli of Guernica Magazine, who later reports that “Moulitsas’ family was upper-middle-class in a country with virtually no middle class, and so had little sympathy for attempts to overthrow the corrupt ruling party. “I’m still the family communist,” he says. At the time, though, Moulitsas was politically in line with his folks. The family fled back to Chicago when Moulitsas was nine, and he became a fanatical supporter of Ronald Reagan (who backed El Salvador’s government as part of his anti-Communist strategy), even working as a Republican party precinct captain in high school.”GuernicaCompare this to what Moulitsas told the Salvadoran newspaper, LaPrensaGrafica.com: “[Translated: In the pre-Internet world, someone like me could never have had this level of success. I don’t have money. I don’t come from a famous or powerful family. I was an immigrant to the United States (…)Technology gave me the opportunity to create a publication with more than a million daily readers without having much money. The start-up costs were around $100.00.]”


June 2, 2006 MAMZ makes speech to Commonwealth Club, San Francisco Infamous June 2, 2006 MAMZ Speech to Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA.


October 2, 2006 Publication date of Cato Institute article in which MAMZ supports “States rights,” saying, “We can fondly look back to a time when Republicans spoke a good game on libertarian issues. They professed fealty to state rights, spoke of shrinking the government, preserving individual liberty, and embracing fiscal responsibility.” Cato Unbound


April 9, 2007 Story appears in LaPrensaGráfica.com in which MAMZ alleges, “En el mundo antes de internet, alguien como yo nunca hubiera tenido ese nivel de éxito. No tengo dinero. No vengo de familia famosa o poderosa. Era inmigrante en Estados Unidos (...) La tecnología me dio la oportunidad de crear una publicación con más de un millón de lectores diarios sin tener que tener mucho dinero. Los costes de lanzamiento eran cerca de $100.”

[Translated: In the pre-Internet world, someone like me could never have had this level of success. I don’t have money. I don’t come from a famous or powerful family. I was an immigrant to the United States (…)Technology gave me the opportunity to create a publication with more than a million daily readers without having much money. The start-up costs were around $100.00.]



August 4, 2007 In keynote speech at YearlyKos, MAMZ implies that he served in the Gulf War: “I served my nation, during the gulf war . . . ” MAMZ’s transcript of his speech, DailyKos Although he served in Germany, the word “Germany” does not appear a single time in this speech.

“ . . . we spent a few days in Bamberg, where I lived for nearly three years in the early 90s. That's when I popped the question.” Online Wedding album


















1 comment:

Anonymous said...

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=4804&page=0#53684
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Hey bloggit

Are you aware of the LAWS OF DEFAMATION ?

I am going to draw mr Ruddocks attention to the picture in your blog of him, with the 'CHILD MOLESTER' caption.... that is outright illegal and I hope he sues you for millions....

The only thing your blog proves is that Immigration is alive and well as a POLITICAL issue, and why would "Labor" seek to loosen up this area ? *puts thinking cap on*...aah....GOT IT... because traditionally they draw much of their vote from migrant labor ...duh.

So, given that this has been totally politicized, it is in the interests of the Coalition to 'manage' this area in the same way that Labor wishes to, but in ways which benefit the Coalition.

There is widespread ABUSE and blatant opportunism in the overseas spouse aspect of the immigration program and it is RIFE WITH RACISM where certain community elements prefer to marry their own 'race' rather than be open to marraige with Aussie girls (Of various ethnicities)

So, what you are supporting is:

1/ RACIST
2/ OPPORTUNISTIC
3/ ABUSIVE
4/ CYNICALLY POLITICAL.

I'm getting closer to the day and moment when I make immigration and the racist abuse of it a major issue in a campaign of public awareness...I've already started.

Values... compatability...these are the requirements of a sound immigration program.

We do NOT need people who's values allow them to support terrorism.
Specially those from Lebanon, or the Muslim world who are constantly told that whenEVER Muslims are under threat, THEY have to fight for them, even if they are in other countries. And by 'fight' I mean with weapons.
Have CLOSE read of the Hamas charter, it is a diabolical document of the most heinous kind, specifically referring to a total brainwashing of children in education for homicide Jihad.
All who might have a pre-disposition to support it must be BLOCKED from migrating here.
Posted by BOAZ_David, Tuesday, 22 August 2006 6:26:22 AM
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http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/mayo/juev15/19eva-i.html - Havana. May 15, 2008
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This article also at http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/CIA_Active_Venezuela.html
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The CIA is more active than ever in Venezuela

BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD —Granma International staff writer—

HER name and her accent are from the movies. Her manner of an incorrigible young girl, her humorous regard and ironic smile touch everyone. The daughter of a U.S. father and Venezuelan mother, Eva Golinger is a most unusual woman.

A lawyer trained in New York, she specialized in international human rights and left that U.S. metropolis to live in Venezuela, a country that she passionately defends.

Her book, The Chávez Code, which reveals U.S. intervention in this South American nation, was described by José Vicente Rangel, then vice president, as an "incredible record of Venezuelan experiences from 2001-2003."

Her most recent work, Bush vs. Chávez: Washington’s War on Venezuela, documents the constant escalation of imperial attacks on the Bolivarian Revolution.

She attacks without blinking, without distinction, the CIA, the Pentagon, the NED, the RSF, USAID, the Venezuelan mafia in Miami or Colombian paramilitarism, with the ardor of an attorney confronting the court with irrefutable evidence in her portfolio.

From Caracas, the Venezuelan-U.S. lawyer and researcher Eva Golinger responds to some questions from Granma International:

It has been affirmed that the coup against Chávez was CIA-made. You have studied this case closely: how has this become more evident to you?

There are distinct factors that I have been able to detect and expose through an investigation that I began more than five years ago, utilizing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to demonstrate the involvement of the CIA and other U.S. government agencies in the coup against Chávez. The most conclusive facts and evidence include a series of documents classified Top Secret by the CIA, dating from March 5, 2002 to April 17, 2002, which clearly refer to plans for a coup against Chávez: who, how, where and when, everything clear. One in particular, dated April 6, 2002; in other words, five days before the coup, emphasizes how the opposition sectors, the CTV, Fedecámaras (the country’s main business federation), dissenting soldiers, the private media and even the Catholic Church were going to march through the streets in those first weeks of April and how the coup conspirators would provoke violence with snipers in the street, causing deaths, and then the intention to arrest President Chávez and other important members of his cabinet. After that, they would install a civic-military transition government. Anyone who knows what happened that April 11-12, 2002, knows that that’s how it was, and after taking President Chávez prisoner, it was only U.S. government spokespersons who came out and recognized the coup government of Pedro Carmona, and moreover tried to put pressure on other countries to do the same.

So, those documents that clearly show knowledge of the detailed plans for the coup against Chávez, written by the CIA, are the most damning evidence confirming the role of the CIA in the coup. However, the fact that financial and advisory agencies like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the International republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) financed all the groups, NGOs, trade unions, businesspeople, political parties and the media involved in the coup, also demonstrates overwhelming evidence of the role of the CIA and the other U.S. agencies in the coup against Chávez. After the coup, those agencies even increased their funding for the coup organizers themselves, something that re-confirms their commitment and their intention to continue with efforts to overthrow Chávez.

We could also talk of the role of the Pentagon and U.S. military, which trained the coup members, equipped them with weapons and promoted their actions.

In what way is the U.S. embassy in Caracas keeping up its interference?

The U.S. embassy in Venezuela is very active. These days, its main strategy is subversion. This is manifested by USAID, NED, IRI, Freedom House, CIPE, etc. funding of opposition groups, but there is also an attempt to penetrate the pro-Chávez sectors and communities. This last tactic is one of the most dangerous and effective. In 2005, William Brownfield, then U.S. ambassador in Caracas (he is now the ambassador to Colombia), began to open what they call "American Corners" in different Venezuelan cities. Currently, they are operating in Maracay, Margarita, Barquisimeto, Maturín, Lecherías and Puerto Ordaz. They are little propaganda and conspiracy centers that function as nuclei to recruit and bring together an opposition. To date the Venezuelan government has not taken any concrete steps to eradicate this illegal initiative (in violation of the Vienna Convention given that they are consular bases established without the permission of the Ministry of Foreign Relations).

The CIA and the State Department maintain various fronts in the country, as they always do. We have Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), a U.S. corporation based in the El Rosal de Caracas sector, which functions as a money filter from USAID to the opposition sectors. Then there is the Press and Society Institute, part of the Reporters sans frontiers (RSF) network, which receives funds from the NED, USAID, the CIA etc. to execute its neoliberal, pro-U.S. policy and to attempt to accuse the Venezuelan government of being repressive and violating the rights of free expression and a free press.

Freedom House and the USAID are also financing right-wing student leaders and movements and sending them to Belgrade to train with experts in the Orange Revolution (Ukraine) and other so-called processes for "overthrowing dictators." Recently, the neoliberal right-wing Cato Institute think tank, which advises Bush and receives funding from Exxon Mobile and Philip Morris, awarded a "prize" worth $500,000 to the opposition Venezuelan student Yon Goicochea. The prize, which bears the name of Milton Friedman, who was an advisor to Nixon, Reagan and Pinochet and is the architect of the neoliberal policy and the "shock doctrine," is to finance a new, "fresh-faced" political party in Venezuela – a group of young people trained since 2005 by U.S. agencies that have had some influence over certain sectors during the last year.

They were thinking that this group could come to be a powerful political force being that it does not belong to the old corrupt politics of the country. However, we have been able to unmask the majority of them and demonstrate their relation with Washington as well as the politicos and elite that governed here before.

With the new CIA Special Mission for Venezuela and Cuba (set up in 2006), we know that the Agency is more active than ever in the country. The stronger and more popular Chávez and the revolution become, the more resources they are dedicating to neutralize it.

The residue of various Latin American dictatorships is currently to be found in Miami. The pro-Batista Cubans have dominated the city for years, but the number of so-called anti-Chavists is growing. What are your observations on this subject?

Miami isn’t an ugly city. Unfortunately, the pro-Batista Cubans took control of the city decades ago and now they have welcomed the anti-Chavist Venezuelans, many of them coup organizers, with open arms. There is talk of "Westonzuela," an area on the outskirts of Miami where the self-exiled Venezuelans live. I think that they are totally removed from reality, just like those Cubans who are still living in the 50s. They are aggressive at a distance and have conspiracy pretensions, but I don’t believe that they constitute a serious threat to our revolution.

They move about creating their ruckus over there and working with Cuban-American congress members, just like the disconnected Connie Mack, trying to demonize President Chávez and the revolution. Their latest initiative was to place Venezuela on the State Department list of terrorist countries. Despite the pressure that they brought to bear and the stories that they invented about a supposed link between the Venezuelan government and terrorist groups, they failed in their final objective: Venezuela was not classified as a state sponsoring terrorism. On the contrary, many congresspersons and members of U.S. society rejected that initiative and, to a certain extent, that coup community was left discredited.

Of course, one must never discount the possibility that they will continue conspiring and inventing new ways of destabilizing Venezuela, just as they have done with Cuba for almost 50 years. And they can count on financial support from USAID, the NED and other imperial agencies, but I don’t believe that they will affect the advances of the revolution very much. They are paper tigers.

Recently John McCain was boasting to a group of Cuban Americans in Miami, trying to show that he has always been sensitive to the situation in Cuba, that he was aboard the USS Enterprise facing the Cuban coast during the hours of the Missile Crisis. What is your perception of McCain’s stance in relation to Venezuela, Cuba and Latin America?

If he should be elected president of the United States, McCain would engage in a much more hostile and aggressive policy toward Venezuela and Cuba, and even the other ALBA countries. His discourse is already more precise toward the region and he is constantly mentioning how he would further tighten policy on what he classifies as dictatorships and threats in Venezuela and Cuba. That goes beyond simply wanting the Florida vote. McCain is a military man and an imperialist in the sense that he wouldn’t accept the United States losing its influence over and domination of its "backyard." He suffers from that same complex that the other Republicans have about Cuba and Fidel Castro, for example. They still cannot accept that Cuba has defeated imperial aggression and the 50 years of blockade and attacks. They persist in their spoilt and infantile attitudes that stop them from turning the page and accepting reality: the most powerful empire in the world could not defeat the Cuban Revolution. So, with a McCain, we will be even worse off than with a Bush and, believe me, he is a hard one to surpass.

The Democrats’ position is not always apparent. Will it be very different from McClain and his clan?

I don’t think it will be that different, perhaps in its manner, but not in its final action. The democrats love to use the NED, the USAID and the other agencies with "pretty faces" like Freedom House or the Institute for Peace to execute their interventionist policies. I think that a Democrat in the White House will not change the policy on Latin America to any great extent. Maybe there would be more dialogue, but I don’t believe that the interference will end. Moreover, all the candidates have said that President Chávez is a dictator and that their administration, if elected, will focus more on the region’s "problems."

Let’s remember that it isn’t about who occupies the chair in the Oval Office, but those who are around that person. And that doesn’t change much whether the occupant is a Democrat or a Republican. The military-industrial complex, the big bankers and the transnationals are the ones that really govern in the United States. And they are not leaving power in November.
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http://www.ajweberman.com/monicaA.htm
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From this Homepage http://www.ajweberman.com/
-------------------------
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Cato's executive vice president David Boaz has played a key role in the development of the Cato Institute and the libertarian movement. He is a provocative commentator and a leading authority on domestic issues such as education choice, drug legalization, the growth of government, and the rise of libertarianism. He is the author of Libertarianism: A Primer, described by the Los Angeles Times as "a well-researched manifesto of libertarian ideas," the editor of The Libertarian Reader, and coeditor of the Cato Handbook on Policy . Boaz is the former editor of New Guard magazine and was executive director of the Council for a Competitive Economy prior to joining Cato in 1981. His articles have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, National Review, and Slate. He is a frequent guest on national television and radio shows, and has appeared on ABC's Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, CNN's Crossfire, NPR's Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered, John McLaughlin's One on One, Fox News Channel, BBC, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other media. His latest book is The Politics of Freedom.
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AP: Venezuelan student leader who challenged Chavez wins prize
Posted by Garry on April 24, 2008, 8:12 pm


"...the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty..."



"...The Cato Institute, a nonprofit public policy research foundation that lobbies for individual liberty and free markets, says it accepts no government funding..."




Venezuelan student leader who challenged Chavez wins prize

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 24, 11:20 AM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela - The leader of a student protest movement that has emerged as a major challenge to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has won a $500,000 prize awarded by a U.S.-based think tank.

The Cato Institute announced Thursday that law student Yon Goicoechea was chosen for his leadership as an advocate for freedom and democracy.

The 23-year-old student leader organized protests last year that were widely seen as a key factor in the defeat of sweeping constitutional changes proposed by Chavez in a December referendum.

The changes would have let Chavez run for re-election indefinitely and would have granted him broad powers to reshape Venezuela into a socialist state.

"I see it as a collective prize. The prize is being given to me, but it's being given to me as a representative of something much bigger," Goicoechea told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of the formal announcement. "I hope that with this we can motivate and strengthen our movement."

The libertarian think tank, which is headquartered in Washington, said Goicoechea will receive the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty next month in New York. The prize is named after the Nobel Prize-winning economist who died in 2006.

Goicoechea "managed to effectively give voice to millions of Venezuelans who believed in democracy, tolerance and modernity, and who felt that they were being left out of politics," said Ian Vasquez, who heads the institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. "What the student movement was able to achieve in Venezuela was a huge boost for liberty, not just in Venezuela but throughout the region."

Goicoechea said he plans to use some of the money for a foundation to train young leaders across Latin America.

Goicoechea, who will soon graduate from Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas, said he is concerned about the concentration of power under Chavez and an absence of checks and balances.

"It's growing dangerously close to a totalitarian regime," he said.

There was no immediate reaction from the government. But Goicoechea was vilified on state television late Wednesday by a talk show host who portrayed him as a U.S. collaborator.

Chavez denies that his government is restricting personal freedoms and says student leaders are being manipulated by the United States. He has cited the referendum defeat as proof he is not a dictator.

Goicoechea says he often receives threats due to his activism but isn't concerned what the government might say about the award from a U.S.-based organization.

"The government already says we're financed by the CIA. It already says we're paid by the empire. So if they say it one more time, it really isn't that important," he said.

The Cato Institute, a nonprofit public policy research foundation that lobbies for individual liberty and free markets, says it accepts no government funding.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080424/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_student_leader;_ylt=AgYcTiul90jgJci7VeeycYFvaA8F
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I have another blog at http://www.jackgrantham.blogspot.com/ as well as http://nowhiteaustralia.blogspot.com/
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THE CATO INSITUTE HAS TAKEN A DISLIKE TO MY BLOG AND THEY HAVE HAD A WORD IN THE EAR OF AUSTRALIAS FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL PHILIP RUDDOCK TO GET HIM TO SUE ME FOR MILLIONS.MAYBE THEY WILL SPEND THESE MILLIONS THEY PLAN TO GET OFF ME IN DESTABALISING CENTRAL AMERICA.THE CATO INSTITUTE HATES MY BLOG.THEY THEW UP A GUTFUL OF CAVIAR AND CHAMPAGNE ON SEEING IT.