Reply #1: Watch out for brackets in texts that you copy & paste... [View All]

[Peace Patriot]

An important word was left out of your quote because it was in brackets in the original. You need to remove the brackets when you copy and paste and replace them with ( ).

Here's the omission:

"For example, while reporting the Bolivian opposition’s hand-wringing that it would probably lose the election, the Jan. 23 memo notes that 'the forces of inertia seem to be conspiring against (the opposition), particularly in the form of a largely uneducated rural base in the Altiplano,” or high plateau.'"

The word "opposition" is key to understanding that the U.S. was rooting for the rich rightwing, white racist minority to beat the hugely popular Evo Morales, the first Indigenous president of Bolivia (a largely Indigenous country) in the referendum on the new constitution. We know that the these white separatists--rioters and murderers--were being funded and organized right out of the U.S. embassy, in September 2008, and that the DEA was conspiring with them. Morales eventually threw the U.S. ambassador, the DEA, the Peace Corps (which was also being used for spying) and the whole of the U.S. "war on drugs" out of the country. That's why they were able to have a peaceful vote on the new constitution.

This slander against Morales' supporters (most of the people in Bolivia), implying that they are stupid peasants, was no doubt written by a Bushwhack toady to the U.S. ambassador who had been evicted from Bolivia, given the date--only a month into the Obama administration. Bolivia's Indigenous majority may have been kept in poverty and denied educational opportunities by the fuckwads who were previously running Bolivia, but that does not mean that they are STUPID. In fact, their support for Morales and the new constitution demonstrates their intelligence, as well as their savvy at grass roots organizing and getting out the vote. NO ONE has done more to improve the dignity, income, opportunity and living conditions of Bolivia's poor majority than Morales. NOTHING has improved their country and their future more than his strong actions against U.S. interference and bullying, his rejection of the failed, corrupt, murderous U.S. "war on drugs," his tough re-negotiation of Bolivia's gas contracts to DOUBLE the revenues from one million to TWO million per year--money earmarked for social programs--and his multi-lateral (as opposed to U.S. dominated) trade policy, recently netting in Japan to fund a study for development of Bolivia's lithium deposits (one of the biggest in the world, a rare mineral needed in electronics) while making no promises to Japan's companies.

Is it smart of the "uneducated" poor to vote for and support Morales? Not in the Bushwhacks' "Alice in Wonderland" world, where stupid people are much preferred.

And the kicker--pointed out by the writer of this article, David c. Knowlton, is that the flunkie writing memo is DEAD WRONG:

"Bolivia’s rural people have waged a century-long struggle for education. This has led to schools in almost every community and to institutes of higher education, including normal schools and universities that receive rural students. In my experience, the Altiplano has changed enormously over the last 30-odd years. Its people speak the national language, have formal education, and can articulate sharp and well-developed arguments. Furthermore, these often differ from those of the national elites because education has provided the rurals with the means to develop their own perspectives and positions."

He points out further than most Altaplano residents under 60 are now literate, and although he takes an unnecessary swipe at the highly regarded Cuban literacy program provided to Bolivia and other countries FOR FREE--a program that is now addressing the problem of illiteracy among the older generation--he does so in trying to stress the dedication of this rural population and its rural teachers to learning, demonstration over many decades, against great odds.

One of my concerns about the knuckleheaded stupidity of Bushwhacks in the foreign service and the diplomatic corps--and their damage to those services--is that it goes hand in hand with the most wretched, vile, stupid and disastrous foreign policy. Not that I support U.S. (multinational corporate/war profiteer) foreign policy goals, but I CAN'T STAND STUPIDITY wherever it arises. Stupidity and brutality are evil brothers. And the Bushwhacks encouraged both.