Meanwhile in the Free World...

I have to say that I'm impressed at Lopez Obrador's response to the recent Mexican elections.

You can read his July 16 speech at the second information assembly in Mexico City's Zocalo here: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/21/18290426.php

He is doing now what Al Gore should have done in 2000 (and, arguably, what John Kerry should have done in
'04) - he's contesting the election results and defending the sanctity of the ballot box. It's a humbling thing for the mighty United States to be shown the way by an impoverished state such as Mexico.

There's an excellent podcast discussion of the election at Here On Earth: http://wpr.org/hereonearth/archive_060724k.cfm

In this program, host Jean Feraca discusses the similarities and differences this has with the allegations of American election fraud.

+A common thread of disaster+

Kevin Sites blog entry on the Israeli assault on Tyre, Lebanon - http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs7920
- is a shocking, disturbing portrayal of war's cost. The dust covering the faces in these photos gives the
subjects a gustly pale.

It's worth reminding ourselves that this terrible mess - war crimes and misdemeanors and all - is nothing new.

Check out Goya's 19th Century documentary masterpiece, The Disasters of War - http://goya.unizar.es/infogoya/Work/Desastres.html - and Vietnam Inc. - http://www.musarium.com/stories/vietnaminc/index.html

- Steve