How much danger does the federal government’s unprincipled, out-of-control body of criminal law pose to, say, the average American small-business person? Well, suppose you were a small-business owner, and for twelve years both U.S. Customs and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had been inspecting the shipments of seafood you were importing to sell to U.S. restaurant distributors. Suppose that for the entirety of those twelve years you had always packaged your shipments using plastic bags rather than cardboard boxes. Suppose that there is no U.S. law requiring you …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. As Criminal Laws Proliferate, More Are Ensnared – Gary Fields & John R. Emshwiller The Truth Comes Out in Honduras – Mary Anastasia O’Grady A Year Later, Dodd-Frank Delays Are Piling Up – Ben Protess Will Obama ever learn economics from Reagan? – Edwin Meese III & Michael Needham Obama Sets Tax Trap, GOP Takes Bait – Brian Darling Cheating fails the character test – Jennifer A. Marshall Meese Helps Social …
On May 28, former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya returned home nearly two years after the June 2009 actions that removed him from office for violations of the national constitution. Accompanied by Venezuela’s foreign minister Nicholas Maduro and delivered via Air Hugo Chavez, Zelaya was greeted by thousands of cheering admirers. He returned under a deal struck with current Honduran President Porfirio Lobo on May 22. The agreement was brokered with the assistance of the unlikely combination of democratic Colombia and authoritarian Venezuela, and it enjoys the blessing of U.S. Secretary …
Food prices are on the rise across the globe, fueling much of the political unrest that continues to rage in parts of the Middle East. Unexpectedly severe weather and soaring demand have pushed food prices to “dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people,” said World Bank President Robert Zoellick earlier this month. “Global food prices are approaching an all-time high,” agreed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her testimony before the Senate last week. If food shortages caused by the rise in prices continue, Latin America could see …
Diplomats have often been disparaged as honest men sent abroad to lie for the good of their countries. If the plethora of disloyal, dangerous attacks launched by WikiLeaks continues and if the Obama Administration cannot stanch the bleeding, foreign officials and U.S. diplomats will soon find it just as likely that they must also lie to Washington. WikiLeaks promises to release thousands of cables from U.S. embassies in the Americas, although only a few cables appear noteworthy. They reflect the states of mind of some members of our diplomatic corps, …
The cold blooded murder of 72 illegal migrants by members of Mexico’s notorious Zeta cartel in the state of Tamaulipas is another stark and gruesome reminder of the current criminal and drug-related turmoil in Mexico. According to press reports the victims came from Honduras, El Salvador, Brazil and Ecuador. The lone survivor stated the migrants were killed for failing to pay off their Mexican captors. This massacre runs against the conventional narrative that the escalating violence in Mexico primarily pits drug trafficker-against-drug trafficker. It shows the significant overlap between transnational …
On June 28, 2009, Latin America’s populist authoritarian movement led by Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez suffered a major setback. Vigilant Hondurans defended their representative institutions and Constitution by removing Manuel Zelaya from power. They did so after Zelaya attempted to alter Honduras’ strict, one-term limit on executive power and adopt the “Chavez method of destroying democratic institutions using street mobs.” The removal of Zelaya created a firestorm of diplomatic controversy. The Organization of American States (OAS) condemned Zelaya’s removal and expelled Honduras for defending its constitution. The Obama Administration first …
A seemingly uneventful transition of power will take place today in the small Central American country of Honduras as Interim president, Roberto Micheletti, hands over the keys to the presidential palace to president-elect Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo. The occasion will be marked with the usual pomp, celebration and traditions that mark any presidential inauguration. But for the people of Honduras, tomorrow’s inauguration will be nothing short of historic. Hondurans will welcome the closing of a turbulent chapter in their storied history. For months (if not years), democracy and the rule of …
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez is a man consumed by an obsession. That obsession is the United States. The United States wants to assassinate him; steal his oil; invade his country, etc. Hugo Chavez wakes up in the morning obsessing about the Empire, shorthand for the U.S. and beds down at night with the same thoughts. Most certainly he suffers nightmares about the horrors of the U.S. from dusk to dawn. The U.S. Southern Command! The Fourth Fleet! The Colombian Defense Agreement! Even the sinister designs of the hospital ship, USNS …
One year after taking office, President Obama has yet to usher in the new dawn in relations with Latin America he talked about during his campaign. It was a huge promise, given his predecessor’s visits to the region, free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama, the newly created Millennium Challenge Account directing more effective aid to countries there, the Merida Initiative for fighting drugs in Mexico, and the continuing success of the Clinton-era Plan Colombia. Thus far, the Administration’s involvement with the Americas has been more reactive than proactive, dominated …
