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Guess Who's an Official UN Hero?
Rev. Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, the president of the United Nations General Assembly, bestows official hero status on Bolivian President Evo Morales, the first president of Tanzania Julius Nyerere, and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. David Kopel at The Volokh Conspiracy shares the good news:
Morales is officially "the maximum exponent and paradigm of love for Mother Earth." Castro is "World Hero of Solidarity." The late Nyerere is "World Hero of Social Justice."
General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann said, "What we want to do is present these three people to the world and say that they embody virtues and values worth emulation by all of us." They indeed worthy of emulation by anyone who aspires to becoming a famous tyrant while crushing freedom and the rule of law--as does the Sandinista government of Nicargua, whom D'Escoto represents at the UN.
Warty|9.5.09 @ 12:09AM|#
Guess Who's an Official UN Hero?
Wait. Don't tell me. Is it...
...
Lonewacko?
Amakudari|9.5.09 @ 1:42AM|#
To be fair, praise for dictators is
de rigueur among polite company these days:
Murderers and dictators generally are some of the smartest
people out there -- they just use their brain power for evil
purposes.
I don't condone any of [Castro's or Hitler's] evil behavior, but
... in my opinion you can't have a low IQ and wreck [sic] that much
havoc on the world.
So remember kids, Superfriends membership goes to those who use
brainpower for evil purposes and wreck them some
havoc.
But seriously, this is probably more constructive than most UN
activities.
Anonymous|9.5.09 @ 2:11AM|#
Murderers and Communists. What's not to like?
I'm sure once the full impact of Climate Change policies are
accounted for, Al Gore can get a few million peasants under his
belt.
|9.5.09 @ 2:36AM|#
I'm sure once the full impact of Climate Change policies are
accounted for, Al Gore can get a few million peasants under his
belt.
Have you seen Al? Hell, they can probably fit under there
now...
Art-P.O.G.|9.5.09 @ 2:55AM|#
Are UNHeros anything line Unbirthdays?
That would definitely make more sense.
Art-P.O.G.|9.5.09 @ 3:09AM|#
I doubt that any of those politicians could be "Heroes", even just for one day.
BakedPenguin|9.5.09 @ 5:44AM|#
What? They left out Mugabe & Than Shwe? Haven't they killed enough people to be UN Heroes?
|9.5.09 @ 9:23AM|#
What? They left out Mugabe & Than Shwe? Haven't they
killed enough people to be UN Heroes?
Ah, this reminds me of the Than Shwean Web. If I had the
energy--which I do not--I would find links to the old Kerry Howley
thread where we went off and used Star Trek titles
pertaining to Burma.
|9.5.09 @ 10:06AM|#
If any presidential candidate* promised to resign from the UN
and evict them fron the country, they'd get my vote. I'dx ignore
any other disagreements with them and probobly send in a
donation.
* Except Huckabee.
|9.5.09 @ 10:36AM|#
They left out Mugabe and Kim Jong Il and Assad. Ladies and Gentleman, your United Nations.
|9.5.09 @ 11:23AM|#
Murderers and dictators generally are some of the smartest
people out there
If ur in govment, any govment, u is smartr then me.
Never confuse ruthlessness with intelligence. Its easy to win if
you don't play by the same rules as everyone else (i.e. you
cheat).
hmm|9.5.09 @ 11:29AM|#
Was Rev. Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, we can call him Kent Brockmann or just Kent for short, wearing a Che shirt when he gave out the accolades?
|9.5.09 @ 11:31AM|#
Nicargua? Is that in the Pacific somewhere?
I'm actually surprised that coup victim impeached
president of Honduras wasn't on the list.
J sub D,
I believe Badnarik in '04 said he'd blow up the UN building if
elected. He was unclear whether he would do it with the UN people
inside or not.
qwerty|9.5.09 @ 11:31AM|#
I guess this is what Kerry meant when he wanted a "global test" for US foreign policy.
|9.5.09 @ 11:35AM|#
Never confuse ruthlessness with intelligence. Its easy to
win if you don't play by the same rules as everyone else (i.e. you
cheat).
Ah, but you have to cheat intelligently, careful of whom you cheat
and when you do it. For every ruthless creep who rises to the level
of dictator or mob boss or whatever, there are 100 ruthless creeps
who pissed off the wrong person or made themselves dispensible
somewhere along the way and wound up going the way of their
victims.
hmm|9.5.09 @ 11:39AM|#
We need to recognize the people that passed this bill in MA as great humanitarians.
Colin|9.5.09 @ 11:39AM|#
The President of the General Assembly is a near meaningless post
in a near meaningless organization.
Brokmann spouts garbage nearly 24/7, but who cares?
alan|9.5.09 @ 11:55AM|#
Moynihan, you should check with your peers in the mainstream
press and the Washington establishment to see if it is okay this
week to criticize Castro and that 'Great Land Reformer' Nyerere.
You know you don't want to be labeled as a kook by getting the
current fashion trend wrong.
This week it is a definite faux pas to dress up like a
founding father, next week it could very well be those guys at the
gay pride parades who dress up as angels. Never know who your
friends may turn on next. Just keep on your toes if you want to
play their game.
JB|9.5.09 @ 12:18PM|#
I will never have respect for a US president until he or she
kicks the UN out of the US.
That organization needs to go. It really needs to go to hell, but
I'll settle for out of this country.
|9.5.09 @ 12:29PM|#
Also, Nyerere had a Hitler mustache(Mugabe mustache?), which is a crime against humanity in itself.
Nipplemancer|9.5.09 @ 12:33PM|#
IIRC the whole compound at turtle bay is a fire hazard as far as the NYC government is concerned, it needs something like five billion to get it up to code. adding to it's current state of disrepair and all of the vehicle security barriers around the place, if there's ever a fire it's gonna be awesome.
Suki|9.5.09 @ 12:55PM|#
Nipplemancer,
Didn't I read someplace that smoking is still allowed in that
building?
alan|9.5.09 @ 12:59PM|#
Also, Nyerere had a Hitler mustache(Mugabe mustache?), which
is a crime against humanity in itself.
True, but I think that was just how the man's stubble grew.
I once had an instructor, an undergrad, a Communist from Zimbabwe.
His parents were white American missionaries who settled there in
the sixties, so he saw a lot of what happened in the post colonial
era up close and personal.
I haven't kept up with him in well over a decade, but he was well
known academic/activist, getting arrested for protest and that sort
of thing. Story sounds familiar, his initials are D. M.
Despite his horrible politics, I liked him a lot. He was an easy
guy to get along with and debate with for hours. Nyerere, of
course, was his hero, so I've heard the pro side inside and
out.
From his stand point, the land reforms, and collectivist farms were
necessary to break up the old oligarchies that he alleges stifled
improvement in the living conditions of the people. From my
standpoint, there are much better ways to achieve both goals of
breaking up oligarchies and achieving better standards of living
than socialism. The reform was something to overcome, not build
on.
alan|9.5.09 @ 1:21PM|#
over a decade, but he was well known
academic/activist
should read: well known in North Carolina as an
academic/activist.
Unless he has gone on to bigger things, WTO protest perhaps, I
doubt if he is known outside academic circles here.
Nipplemancer|9.5.09 @ 2:07PM|#
Suki - it's only prohibited in public spaces - inside your diplomatic office you could pretty much do what you want.
Suki|9.5.09 @ 2:33PM|#
Nipplemancer,
Then the big fire is only a matter of time waiting for a careless
smoker to empty a hot ashtray into a trash can!
|9.5.09 @ 2:44PM|#
IIRC the whole compound at turtle bay is a fire hazard as
far as the NYC government is concerned, it needs something like
five billion to get it up to code. adding to it's current state of
disrepair and all of the vehicle security barriers around the
place, if there's ever a fire it's gonna be awesome.
Like
this but with a more satisfying ending?
|9.5.09 @ 3:33PM|#
Many serial killers are said to be highly intelligent too.
Dictators aren't evil, they're just intellectually and morally
exceptional.
Fluffy|9.5.09 @ 4:07PM|#
Hey, I'm perfectly happy to have them declare Nyerere a "hero of
social justice".
Nyerere represents a paragon of the "social justice" movement: his
policies were abject failures, he crushed one of the most vibrant
economies in colonial Africa, and he manufactured poverty and
desperation that continues to this day. That epitomizes social
justice advocacy so we should give him his due and applaud his new
title.
hmm|9.5.09 @ 5:06PM|#
Barby Borough, PA mayor Helen Thomas goes lolcat with, "I
has curfew."
Can we get the Rev. to toss an award her way?
Suki|9.5.09 @ 10:19PM|#
Can we get the Rev. to toss an award her way?
'ow 'bout a watery tart tossin' a sword at 'er?
|9.5.09 @ 10:50PM|#
http://minx.cc/?post=291869
"Town Hall Protester Scores a Critical Hit on Norm Dicks"
There's that unreasonable right, again.
B|9.6.09 @ 2:12AM|#
Why and the fuck are we giving this organization even one fucking dime? Castro? You have to be fucking joking me. How much more evidence do we need that the UN is a piece of shit organization that isn't worth a damn?
joe from lowell|9.6.09 @ 2:14AM|#
Castro is a democrat just like Chavez. After all, they have both been elected. As a matter of fact, Castro won with 99% of the vote last election. Therefore he must be democratic and anyone claiming otherwise is a stooge of right wing warmongers.
B|9.6.09 @ 2:14AM|#
"Dictators aren't evil, they're just intellectually and morally
exceptional."
Nietzsche, is that you?
Art-P.O.G.|9.6.09 @ 3:01AM|#
What? Brockmann didn't give a shout-out to Gen. Francisco Franco? I wonder why not. ;)
|9.6.09 @ 6:20AM|#
Yes! haha well of course not friendo, francisco is dead according to the last report (chase?) the world is in such a state that parody is where we stand, do we stand athwart history? I don't know, I really don't. This is what im listebning to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NncmILE_7mQ
Art-P.O.G.|9.6.09 @ 6:54AM|#
Well, Nyerere's dead, too, but Brockmann still gave him props. And what are ya, a Jesus Jones fan? (Youtube's blocked on this 'puter)
Campus Left-Wing Douchedrinker|9.6.09 @ 9:19AM|#
"Fluffy | September 5, 2009, 4:07pm-Nyerere represents a paragon
of the "social justice" movement: his policies were abject
failures, he crushed one of the most vibrant economies in colonial
Africa, and he manufactured poverty and desperation that continues
to this day."
Yeah, but the US had slavery until 1865, so we're worse than
everyone else. Duhhhhhh, everybody knows that.
|9.6.09 @ 10:03AM|#
Any chance one of Reason's crack writers can give us a post on what's going on in Honduras? Our state department intends to delegitimize their upcoming election and not a peep about it around here.
|9.6.09 @ 10:43AM|#
James,
What is going on with the US and Honduras is the crazy. It appears
that the US government is trying to strong arming a democratically
elected and presumably pro American government out of power in
order to replace it with a tin pot dictator alligned with our
biggest enemy in the region. It is so bad, I can't believe it. It
just can't be true. Is it really the case the Obama actually wants
Chavezism to spread in Latin America? If it is, the country is in a
lot of trouble.
|9.6.09 @ 12:24PM|#
"What is going on with the US and Honduras is the crazy. It
appears that the US government is trying to strong arming a
democratically elected and presumably pro American government out
of power in order to replace it with a tin pot dictator alligned
with our biggest enemy in the region. It is so bad, I can't believe
it. It just can't be true. Is it really the case the Obama actually
wants Chavezism to spread in Latin America? If it is, the country
is in a lot of trouble."
In a nutshell, this is what happens when you desire, and need, so
much to be loved by the world-at-large.
Satisfying unreasonable people requires unreasonable acts for the
sake of appearance.
Art-P.O.G.|9.6.09 @ 12:36PM|#
Unless our official position is to fellate any and all entrenched executive power heads of state?
|9.6.09 @ 12:49PM|#
Is this the weekend political thread?
H&R guys and gals, you really need to bring that back. You
really don't want to do the whole civil disobedience thingee.
Van
Jones resigned as the White House's environmental jobs "czar" on
Saturday, after weeks of controversy over his past comments and
affiliations had slowly escalated.
|9.6.09 @ 1:02PM|#
Unless our official position is to fellate any and all
entrenched executive power heads of state?
That may be what this is all about. You shouldn't try to
psychoanalyze politicians remotely but WTH, I'll take a shot at
it.
In Honduras what happened was the legislative and executive branch
agreed that the executive was guiltyt of unconstitutional acts and
decided to remove the president for life wannabe. They asked the
military to evict the Chavez fanboy and the military did so. The
courts and congress have remained intact and in power.
Obama and Hillary subconsciously believe executives should be all
powerful so they sided with the executive in what was an
internal constitutional crisis* that was resolved with what
essentially was an impeachment.
In the back of their minds they both fear the loss of power if
congress ever changes hands and wakes up.
* e.g. none of our, or anyone else's goddam business.
|9.6.09 @ 1:36PM|#
I don't think you're being cynical enough, J sub. If you look at every Obama policy through the prism of his desire to tear down America and rebuild it his, and Van's way, then you'll understand them better.
|9.6.09 @ 2:15PM|#
All you need to know about Arafat was that he insisted on
wearing a pistol when he addressed the UN General Assembly. And all
you need to know about the UN, I suppose, is that they let
him.
James Lileks 10-28-2004
hmm|9.6.09 @ 2:28PM|#
All you need to know about Arafat was that he insisted on wearing a pistol when he addressed the UN General Assembly. And all you need to know about the UN, I suppose, is that they let him.
I too would insist on being armed. And letting him arm himself is
probably one of the few things the UN has done right. Since the UN
prefers to disarm populations and then doesn't defend them.
TallDave|9.6.09 @ 2:29PM|#
Unless our official position is to fellate any and all
entrenched executive power heads of state?
Except Israel, I guess.
Apparently the open hand will only be extended to those who clench
their fists in rage at America.
I would also like to take this opportunity to extend the middle
finger of non-friendship to Hugo Chavez. May you soon water the
tree of liberty.
Exit question: does anyone really think if Zelaya was right-wing
and the Honduran congress and courts were left-wing the admin's
position would have been the same?
|9.6.09 @ 2:55PM|#
By U.N. standards, LeGarette Blount should be the sportsman of the year for exercising such restraint after being so viciously provoked.
Suki|9.6.09 @ 3:06PM|#
Maybe now they can declare Van Jones a world hero or
something.
Or hero of the revolution, with t-shirts and berets.
Jerry|9.6.09 @ 3:09PM|#
LGF has a nice expose on how Glenn Beck appears at truffer meetings as well. Exit Glenn?
hmm|9.6.09 @ 3:22PM|#
Did Beck sign a petition? If so then you have point. If he was
speaking at a rally that had truffers there you are making tenuous
accusations. At the risk of defending Beck the blogger is full of
shit with this comment until we find out Beck signed onto a truffer
group.
Glenn Beck's connections to Truthers are far more extensive and direct than Van Jones'.
Hell if being around truffers is a greater connection than actually
signing on to a petition floated by them I am in big trouble.
Here's the link
Suki|9.6.09 @ 3:47PM|#
Has Glenn Beck released his actual birth certificate yet? Until that happens everything else is a distraction :)
@|9.6.09 @ 4:11PM|#
Beck was hatched, so he has no birth certificate.
He does, however, have a hatch certificate.
|9.6.09 @ 4:14PM|#
Van Jones was canned for the wrong reason. The right reason to
can him is that the job he had shouldn't exist in the first
place.
-jcr
|9.6.09 @ 4:31PM|#
Glenn Beck does have a birth certificate.
The attending physician was Dr. Moreau.
|9.6.09 @ 4:43PM|#
Beck pretty much single-handedly took down Obama's 30 billion
dollar 'green jobs' commissar, and gave his enemies a great deal of
material to use in the process.
And, naturally, the circular firing squad of delegitimization
continues.
24AheadDotCom|9.6.09 @ 5:45PM|#
~~ BREAKING ~~
Heeding Keith's
call, Reason contributing editor Dave Weigel will soon be set
to report on shocking GlennBeck newsletters... Breaking...
P.S. Here's a Randroid for
you.
hmm|9.6.09 @ 5:48PM|#
HuffPo is doing a great job of martyring this tard. The non
sequiturs fly and they accuse Beck of everything except crying like
a pony-less 12 year old girl.
I love HuffPo. It's like whacky Glenn Beck, but with out the
whimsical asshatery. They get all serious and intellectual over in
them parts of the intertubes.
Beck was found under a rock with wrapped in magical underwear.
Duh.
hmm|9.6.09 @ 5:51PM|#
The eating their own mentality is setting in. Even worse than
the campaign. The progressives are going to get pissed Obama is
tossing out fellow revolutionaries instead of backing them.
Let the run to the center begin.
It's going to be one ugly run.
hmm|9.6.09 @ 7:06PM|#
I look forward to Fox going on the offensive against MSNBC
again. The truce barely lasted the summer.
Olberman is out of his league with anything short of a Paducah
anchorman. Seeing as I personally can't stand him, along with NBC,
and GE I will have to cheer for the evil Murdoch empire to curb
stomp the already dismal ratings of MSNBC. I'm sure CNN is looking
forward to less competition.
It's getting so sill even CNBC has turned into a shill
factory.
I can't think of anything funnier than Tuesday Fox announcing Beck
is going opposite Olberman in prime time. It'd be like a bum fight
over a hotdog.
hmm|9.6.09 @ 7:08PM|#
For those that didn't click whacko's link. Olberman's Tet style
offensive amidst the MSNBC/Fox truce.
Send Me Everything You Can Find About Glenn Beck
by Keith Olbermann
Digg this! Share this on Twitter - Send Me Everything You Can Find About Glenn BeckTweet this submit to reddit Share This
Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 10:14:03 AM PDT
I don't know why I've got this phrasing in my head, but: Find everything you can about Glenn Beck, Stu Burguiere, and Roger Ailes.
No, even now, I refuse to go all caps.
No, sending me links to the last two Countdowns with my own de-constructions of his biblical vision quality Communist/Fascist/Socialist/Zimbalist art at Rockefeller Center (where, curiously, he works, Comrade) doesn't count. Nor does sending me links to specious inappropriate point-underscoring prove-you're-innocent made-up rumors.
</|9.6.09 @ 7:16PM|#
It's getting so sill even CNBC has turned into a shill
factory.
CNBC has never been anything but a shill factory.
hmm|9.6.09 @ 7:18PM|#
It usually had a business perspective that rivaled the shilling. The business perspective is now more comic relief than actual content.
|9.6.09 @ 8:09PM|#
From the Huffpo link -
Jones never denied his past affiliation with the radical left. In the '90s, he was involved with the group Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), which sympathized with Maoist-inspired peasant movements throughout the world and was organized to protest police brutality.
Jones, however, left radical politics and made the decision to work within the system, rather than try to overthrow it.
Awww. Why do people dare use people's own ords and associations
against them.
Make him an ex-klansman GOPer and the writer would be shitting
bricks even if he had "left radical politics and made the decision
to work within the system".
|9.7.09 @ 12:42PM|#
Make him an ex-klansman GOPer
The only ex-KKK politician I know of these days is Robert Byrd,
D-West Virginia.
Let me also point out that historically, the KKK was the terrorist
wing of the Democratic party in the occupied southern states. The
KKK and the Demcratic party were like the IRA and Sinn Fein.
-jcr
|9.7.09 @ 8:13PM|#
So, if I read this right, the best way to become a UN hero is to
destroy your nation's economy and subjugate its citizens to the
yoke of an omnipotent State?
Hell is for heroes.
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