Zelaya would call for a vote known as the 4th Box, to change the constitution, eliminate term limits and give him greater power over the government. Deemed unconstitutional and unlawful by Congress and the Supreme Court, Zelaya ordered the ballots to be printed anyway, forcing the issue. Honduran printers refused to print the illegal ballots so Chavez offered printers in Venezuela, and for no extra charge the printers printed a “Yes” vote right in the box marked “Yes.” Zelaya then ordered Military General Romeo Vasquez to distribute the additional ballots to all the polling places. General Vasquez refused the order and was fired by Zelaya. Congress responded by saying he couldn’t be fired for following the law and refusing to obey an unlawful order. General Vasquez was promptly reinstated and the Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Zelaya for violating constitutional law. A Supreme Court judge accompanied the military in arresting Zelaya at his home so that his paid supporters could not start a riot. Zelaya was removed to prevent bloodshed and given the choice of what country to go to. He chose Costa Rica. 

Democracy defended, Dictatorship defeated… Not so fast. As with any bad sportsman, Zelaya would not go quietly and sought ways to regain power though a misinformation campaign (again funded by Chavez) saying there was a military overthrow while also paying people to create protests denouncing the government, the Church, and the military. Paid Zelayan supporters, wearing red, took to the streets and were ordered to riot and destroy businesses, stores and fast-food companies in the capitol, all with cameras rolling. Peaceful pro-government supporters, wearing blue and white, also held very large rallies all over the country in support of government action and the military, but they received very little media attention. They prayed together, thanking God for their country and the lack of bloodshed. 

Zelaya, the news reports said, tried to get back into Honduras by landing his plane in the capitol city airport, Tegucigalpa, where his paid supporters and the media were waiting to rush the gates and take back their leader. He was not allowed to land there. However, were he really interested in landing, there were three other airports he could have used but there would have been no media and supporters there and the effort would be lost.

A new election will be held in the fall where democracy will be exercised once again. Currently, President Roberto Micheletti is the Constitutional President of the Republic having been appointed by Congress. Zelaya issued an ultimatum this Monday stating that if he is not reinstated into power by the end of this week, then, “…there are other forms of actions we are already organizing for my return to the country at whatever cost.”

Supporter of Manuel Zelaya

Elvin Santos was the former Vice President, but he resigned well before any of this took place.  He would have seceded Zelaya in office.  Since they never replaced the Vice President, Micheletti was appointed. In the meantime Honduras is willing to stand alone against any sanctions placed upon her by Chavez, the US, or any other nation siding with Mel Zelaya. 

Hondurans (over 90%) are very proud of the stance their country took to preserve democracy and thwart attempts by Castro and Chavez to infect Central American nations with Communism, and we should be too. 

The Honduran people have told me again and again that what they want from the people of the United States is for us to pray for freedom and democracy … and for Honduras. 

I wonder if the US, faced with such a challenge, would rise up and defend our Constitution with the same fervor as Honduras from any attempt to change it into something else? 

May God bless Honduras and all nations that follow her brave example of steadfast loyalty to Truth, Democracy and the Rule of Law.

John Hurt in Michael Radford’s ‘1984′

The essential fact, the very heart of the matter, in George Orwell’s timeless classic is “the ability to say two plus two equals four. If than can be done, all else follows.” Yet the nightmare Big Brother regime of ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ must by necessity keep redoing the math, even as it keeps rewriting history. Those who do the correct math, and refuse to see the equation otherwise, are the greatest dangers to Big Brother’s existence and are doomed to suffer fates worse than death.

Could not the loss of Winston Smith’s very soul to Big Brother in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ not truly be worse than death? It is, in fact, a living death. At least until they fully cure Winston Smith with a bullet, an inevitable outcome that is only implied at the end of the novel.

Since that forever age long ago in 1948 when George Orwell penned his last and most important cautionary tale, the world has seen countless interpretations of Orwell’s worst fears. In fact, it has seen them in Orwellian fashion. In the year 1984 itself, the then-Soviet Union accused America of being Orwell’s Big Brother. It was rather difficult for Russians of the time to interpret that analogy, as the book was banned throughout the Soviet Union. Most Orwellian indeed.

But there was yet another stark development for Orwell’s classic in that infamous year synonymous with omnipotent and omniscient terror.  Writer-Director Michael Radford tackled Orwell’s nightmarish vision for the big screen and won. Starring John Hurt as the doomed Winston Smith, Suzannah Hamilton as his equally doomed lover Julia, and Richard Burton in his final and most chilling performance as the cold and sinister O’Brien, Michael Radford managed to transport the terrors of the novel in toto to film.

A haunting original score by the Eurythmics is the black icing on this unpalatable celluloid cake.

It is now celebrating a quarter-century of existence, which is a very good sign indeed. And its importance could not be more significant in our twisted Age of Unreason, where declaring two plus two equals four is a major inconvenience to many in politics, the media and show biz.

In fact, isn’t that ongoing math problem by Hollywood movers and shakers a main reason many of us here now congregate at Big Hollywood? To counter and call to the Carpet of Truth film icons like Annette Bening when she praises women’s rights in Iran? A true Orwellian oxymoron, if ever there was one.

As a Bonus Prize, I have found Michael Radford’s brilliant film adaptation, performed by some the finest actors ever to stand in front of a camera, free for viewing and download at Google Video. No excuse not to see it now. Yet as great a film as it is, I doubt you’ll be thanking me later.

But that’s the whole point. Peace and Freedom, Everyone