The "C" Words: Clintons, Corruption, Cons, Corporations, and Coups

As I've discussed on former posts, the democratically-elected President of Honduras was kidnapped from his home, beaten, flown out of his country and ordered to stay away, all carried out by an American-trained (and probably owned) military armed by the School of Americas in Georgia and beholden and obedient to the U.S. government.

While nations around the world immediately condemned the coup and called for President Zelaya to be returned to the head of the government, the United States government hemmed and hawed, said maybe it wasn't really a coup (just a spat, a tift, a minor disagreement) and has done nothing to sanction the military dictatorship that has taken control of that country.

It is apparent that the coup was directed by the U.S. and designed to send a warning to nations across Central and South America that their continued declarations of independence from the U.S. corporations will lead to their overthrow or perhaps murder. This coup has been relatively bloodless (although some protesting citizens have been shot) but the next one won't be.

So who comes onto the scene immediately to stand up in the U.S. to speak on behalf of the military dictatorship? Lanny Davis, an F-ing Lawyer. (I have a friend going through a divorce who made a comment to me the other day about his "F-ing Lawyer," then he said "excuse me" when he remembered I was an F-ing Lawyer too. I reassured him that F-ing Lawyer is now the official term, having replaced both "Counselor" and "Esquire" in common parlance, at least according to the Dictionary of Common American Phrases).

Lanny Davis who has never seen a dollar so deep in the gutter, so sticky with dog sh*t that he would not pick it up with his lips, Lanny Davis apologist for all things Clinton no matter how horrendous they are.

Lanny Davis, attorney to Bill Clinton, Clintonista-branded on his forehead, Clintonista loyalist. Corporate whore, F-ing Lawyer.

Lanny Davis is now representing the military dictatorship of Honduras, or at least the corporate sponsors of the military dictatorship.

And who is our Secretary of State? Oh that's right. It's Hillary F-ing Clinton.

So Lanny Davis, Bill Clinton's attorney, will talk to Bill's wife Hillary, and they'll agree that the military dictatorship really is good for Bill's trust fund into which he collects donations and bribes and kick-backs from the world -- I believe now approaching a billion dollars. Lucky Bill. Bill the Billion-Dollar Man. All he had to do to get the money was to sell out every single person in his own country.

Wouldn't you think that there would come a time when these F-ing Clintons would stop whoring for dollars, stop sucking the toes of military dictators. Why can't we get rid of these people. By which I mean politically-speaking only. Why don't they go back to Little Rock and bother their own people, leave the rest of us alone.

Look at this bullshit con-job Lanny Davis just gave in statements before Congress. Here's the essence of his position about the military coup, the overthrowing of a democratically-elected government, the kidnapping of the president and forcibly removing him from his country, the shutting down of the TV and news to prevent the public from knowing what was going on, the assault and murder on citizens who protested this coup: Well, we should let bygones be bygones.

Just like the Obama excuse for failing to enforce the law against the thieves and murderers of the Busy-Cheney regime and the Wall Street Criminals, we now have a new international Obama policy which is that whatever happened yesterday should be ignored. Can't we just all get along (said Rodney King after the cops beat the sh*t out of him). I wish I'd robbed a bank yesterday, then if they came to arrest me I would say: Oh, let's not dwell on the past. Call my friends Lanny and Barack, they'll explain.

Of course a minor problem with this don't-look-back theory is that all criminal law enforcement is backward looking: we prosecute people for what they did in the past, not what they might do in the future. If we're going to excuse all crimes done in "the past," then we can shut down all law enforcement in this country.

LANNY DAVIS: "My clients believe that, looking back with the wisdom of hindsight, it could have been done differently that night that the army decided to whisk him out of the country. And I’m not afraid to say that, with the wisdom of hindsight, it probably should have been done differently. As long as those of you—and I know Congressman Delahunt shares that view — are also willing to share the distaste for a president that regarded himself as above the law—in every institution in Honduran society, from the Church to civil organizations, to business organizations, to the Liberal Party, to the National Party, to the Supreme Court and the Congress, every institution found this president as putting himself above the law — if those facts are stated by my friends on the Democratic side, where I am affiliated, and my friends on the Republican side, we can then look forward, as President Obama and Secretary Clinton want us to do, and not argue about past history. Whatever the solution—cannot be imposed by the OAS, the United States, by my friends who are Democrats and my friends who are Republicans—it has to be a Honduran — "

One of the people Amy Goodman interviews on this topic at Democracy Now (link below) is Ken Silverstein, editor of Harpers, who had the following, in part, to say about what is really going on:

KEN SILVERSTEIN: "Well, just quickly, about Lanny Davis, as I had said previously, there’s very little he won’t say or do for money. ...

But look, the military—you know, I love—he says, “Oh, it might have been done differently. Oh, in retrospect, maybe it could have been done differently.” You had an elected president who was whisked out of office. He was overthrown by a military coup. He was taken away in his pajamas and put into exile. This is—you know, when you talk about who is behaving badly, who is behaving illegally, it’s the military in Honduras. So let’s be very clear on that. Davis is just lying in order to further the interest of his clients.

In terms of the other gentleman you mentioned, Ratcliff, he is another—he’s close to Davis. He also has very, very close ties to the Clinton administration. And apparently, during the negotiations in Costa Rica, he has basically scripted everything on behalf of the coup government, so that they don’t do anything without him. I mean, all their answers are canned and written by this guy, along with the help of Lanny Davis.

I think it’s also important to note, if I can just quickly, that when Davis talks about, you know, the unconstitutional behavior, the people who are at the head of this coup are a group of military and business elites who have run Honduras forever. It’s a very, very poor country. It’s as bad as it gets in Latin America. These are the people who want to get rid of the president, who have gotten rid of the president so far. And, you know, you’ve got people around the new government who are—have death squad histories. [CHENEY'S FRIENDS?] You have very, very repressive figures of historic importance in Honduras who are involved in the new government.

And I would also add here that the coup was backed by the apparel industry. [HERE COME THE CORPORATIONS -- U.S. CORPORATIONS ARE BEHIND THE COUP. PREDICTABLY.] And Davis is working on behalf of some Honduran business groups, including the apparel industry, and there are American businesses active in Honduras, like Russell, Fruit of the Loom and Hanes, who are members of the apparel trade group that are backing the coup. So it’s also important to note that you have American companies, and they say, “Oh, we can’t—we don’t want to get involved in this. We’re not political.” So they won’t take a stand on the coup. They have taken a stand. They’re supporting the coup government. And they need to be held accountable for it, as well as people like Lanny Davis."

Of course Obama could stop all of this simply by a phone call to the military dictatorship telling them to step aside and allow President Zelaya to return in peace. But Obama has not done that. Not a word from Obama, the man who apparently loves military dictatorships just as much as Bush and Cheney did.

Dictators Si, Democracia No. Maybe Obama can use that in his next election.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/15/honduras