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Thank Obama!


prole

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I am not making any excuses for any dictators but the political and economic situation in Cuba reflects at 100% its being cut off from its natural trading partners. The results can clearly be seen in its sub-standard development even if they have done miracles in some areas.

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Agrarian reform in Chile (land redistribution to poor campesinos) started under Frei, i.e. before Allende. Widespread nationalizations eventually occurred under Pinochet's dictatorship.

To a much, much smaller degree. That Allende won election on his 4th (?) try with a plurality less than 40% certainly makes the case for runoffs, IMO. In any event, elected socialist leaders--and elected fascists too--have repeatedly demonstrated an unwillingness to subject themselves to the inconvenience of reelection. I'm curious if this would have been the case with Allende had he not been deposed, but history pretty much gives us the answer to this question.

Edited by Fairweather
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There was an absolute majority vote in Chile for a left wing agenda. Allende had a majority in congress because of his alliance with the Christian democrats who essentially ran on a progressive platform (agrarian reform, ..) as they had when Frei was elected to several terms.

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Russ Baker & John Perkins on the secret global empire: U.S. history has seen many presidents elected on a wave of progressive promises, only to see them compromise again and again once in office, caving to the very interests, military and corporate, that they railed against so effectively. Barack Obama is only the latest to get elected on a promise to end a war and take care of working people, only to preside over an administration stacked with Wall Street types and wind up continuing a war he wanted to wind down.

 

watch the video: http://lauraflanders.firedoglake.com/2009/11/12/russ-baker-john-perkins/

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UN investigator accuses US of shameful neglect of homeless

 

A United Nations special investigator who was blocked from visiting the US by the Bush administration has accused the American government of pouring billions of dollars into rescuing banks and big business while treating as "invisible" a deepening homeless crisis.

 

Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur for the right to adequate housing, who has just completed a seven-city tour of America, said it was shameful that a country as wealthy as the US was not spending more money on lifting its citizens out of homelessness and substandard, overcrowded housing.

 

[..]

 

The US government does not tally the numbers but interested organisations say that more than 3 million people were homeless at some point over the past year. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families with children, often single parents. On any given night in Los Angeles, about 17,000 parents and children are homeless. Most will be found a place in a shelter but many single men and women are forced to sleep on the streets.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/12/un-investigator-us-neglect-homeless

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Shall I do a search on Raquel Rolnik? I'm sure she's a fascinating read.

 

I doubt you'd get very far. She's no Joe the Plumber or Donny the Corn Syrup Truck Driver, after all.

 

Mrs. Raquel Rolnik is an architect and an urban planner, with over 30 years of experience in planning and urban land management. She has a large experience in the implementation and evaluation of housing and urban policies.

 

Based in Sao Paulo, she is a professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Sao Paolo and is the author of several books and articles on the urban issue.

 

In here career, she has held various government positions including Director of the Department of Planning of the city of São Paulo (1989-1992) and National Secretary for Urban Programs of the Brazilian Ministry of Cities (2003-2007) as well as NGO activities, such as Urbanism Coordinator of the Polis Institute (1997-2002). She has advised national and local governments on policy reform and institutional development as well as on planning and management of housing and local development programs.

 

She was appointed at the 7th session of the Human Rights Council as the second United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context. She has taken her functions of Special Rapporteur since 1 May 2008.

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Mrs. Raquel Rolnik is an architect and an urban planner, with over 30 years of experience in planning and urban land management. She has a large experience in the implementation and evaluation of housing and urban policies.

 

Based in Sao Paulo, she is a professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Sao Paolo and is the author of several books and articles on the urban issue.

 

In here career, she has held various government positions including Director of the Department of Planning of the city of São Paulo (1989-1992) and National Secretary for Urban Programs of the Brazilian Ministry of Cities (2003-2007) as well as NGO activities, such as Urbanism Coordinator of the Polis Institute (1997-2002). She has advised national and local governments on policy reform and institutional development as well as on planning and management of housing and local development programs.

 

She was appointed at the 7th session of the Human Rights Council as the second United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context. She has taken her functions of Special Rapporteur since 1 May 2008.

 

Just what I thought: She's never had a real job.

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