President Obama has entered into a special trade pact with Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Once the treaty is signed doctors and teachers from Cuba and Nicaragua offer their services to help the American “poor.” As soon as they enter the United States and become embedded in the countryside, they immediately begin organizing and indoctrinating the “poor” as to how oppressed they are and how they are entitled to the same lifestyle, privileges and properties that the “rich” enjoy. 

Honduran President Roberto Micheletti and Chris Burgard

The “rich” are now defined as anyone who has more than two bedrooms in their home. In this imaginary, future America, President Obama owns several mansions across the nation, yet he declares that it is the patriotic duty of every “rich” homeowner to turn their 3rd and 4th bedrooms over to the “poor.”   

President Obama raises the minimum wage by 60% percent. The “poor” hail him as their champion. Unable to meet the federal minimum wage requirement, thousands of small businesses close. Overnight 7,740,000 Americans lose their jobs. The American economy slumps even further. 

Taiwanese investors agree to build new hydro electric power plants to revitalize the failing American energy grid. However, they rescind their offer when President Obama begins to talk of nationalizing energy production. Other foreign investors take notice and foreign investment in America stalls. 

Even though the country cannot afford it, President Obama starts to subsidize gasoline. He gives the” poor” free electricity. He then makes a deal with Hugo Chavez and the Iranians to give free tractors to the poor. In the most rural parts of America every public works project has a big sign on it: “This has been built for you by Barack Obama!” 

The “poor” people love him for it. 

President Obama also makes huge concessions to the labor unions. Teachers now get paid whether they are in the classroom or on strike. As a result instead of a 220 day school year, American public schools are now only open 70 days per year. Public school students are hit the hardest. They soon fall far behind the few American students who can still afford private school. However, with the teacher’s union in his debt, President Obama now has a ready demonstration force that can be mobilized for public rallies at a moment’s notice. 

About this time, President Obama loses trust in the Secret Service and military personnel assigned to protect him. House minority leader, John Boehner and others believe that the President has his own private security force made up of Nicaraguans and other foreign nationals. 

With the end of his second term in sight, President Obama decides that he doesn’t want to leave office. He banks on his charisma and the devotion of his cult followers to allow him to follow in the footsteps of Hugo Chavez.  

President Obama declares that he will add a referendum to the ballots for the upcoming Presidential primaries. There will be a special box on the ballots that Americans can check in order to eliminate presidential term limits. 

But Americans rise up against this attack on their Constitution. There is not a single printing company in the United States that will print the illegal ballots.

With the exception of only three legislators, the entire Congress votes against the President. Undeterred President Obama again turns to his friend, Hugo Chavez. Millions of illegal ballots are printed in Venezuela for use in the United States. 

President Obama orders Joint Chief of Staff, Admiral Mullen to distribute the illegal ballots to every polling place across the nation. When Admiral Mullen refuses, the president fires him. 

The US Supreme Court orders Admiral Mullen reinstated and the illegal ballots confiscated. 

President Obama then takes his cause to the streets. Organizers, the unions and the “poor” rally to his side. The mob breaks into an air force base and seizes the illegal ballots by force. 

In this fictional, future United States, there are no articles of impeachment, but the law does apply to all citizens equally, even the President.           

Article 239

The citizen who has served as head of the Executive branch shall not serve again as President or Vice President of the Republic….He who violates this disposition or proposes its reform….shall immediately be removed from office. 

The Supreme Court orders President Obama arrested. On a Sunday morning at 6am, Admiral Mullen and the military carry out that arrest warrant. 

In this future, fictional United States, the office of Vice President is vacant. Vice President Biden had recently resigned, so according to Constitutional succession the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is sworn in as President. 

World reaction is swift. Within hours, the Organization of American States, the European Union and the United Nations all stand against Nancy Pelosi’s administration. Putin, Calderon and Gordon Brown stand in solidarity with the Castro brothers, Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez, in demanding that Barack Obama be reinstated immediately. 

With the exception of Germany, Panama and Israel, the United States stands alone against the world. 

There is reported troop movement on the US Southern border. Hugo Chavez threatens to move in with Nicaraguan and Venezuelan troops in an effort to “restore democracy” and help Barack Obama avoid a civil war. Americans live in fear of foreign invasion. 

Foreign operatives and paid organizers spread cash and chaos wherever television cameras are likely to be found. They threaten American citizens. 

Americans are afraid to leave their houses. 

The pro-Obama factions immediately take to the streets. The rallies number in the hundreds and sometimes thousands. The demonstrators call each other “comrade.” Posters of Che Guevara are predominate among the protesters. Red bandannas and clothing are every where. Communist leaders from the 1980s direct graffiti artists to blanket the capitol streets in propaganda. The protesters burn diesel fuel and tires in the streets. They carry a blind old lady off of a bus and then torch the vehicle. They fire bomb a Popeye’s restaurant while there are still women and children inside. At one demonstration, they cut holes in an airport fence and charge government forces. A young man is killed. 

In response, pro-Constitution rallies soon pop up. The demonstrators wear red, white and blue clothes. They don’t litter. They don’t burn things. They don’t attack security forces, vandalize or burn businesses. The pro constitution rallies number in the tens of thousands. The biggest rally hits one hundred thousand.  But the Main Stream Media focuses almost exclusively on the Obama rallies and the violence that they create. The outside world never knows the full extent of popular support that the US Constitution carries within its borders. 

Fortunately for us this is a purely fictional future United States. I do not believe that President Obama would ever do these things. Unfortunately for the people of Honduras, this is their reality. Ex President Manuel Zelaya did all of these things. The story you have just read is true. The President and the country were changed to put it into an American perspective. 

I spent two weeks in July and August covering the events in Honduras for Pajamas Media. I interviewed, spoke and traveled with campesinos living with no electricity and dirt floors, teachers, military officers and enlisted personnel, missionaries, business leaders, national police, the House Minority leader, the Chief Supreme Court Justice, the ex First Lady: Xiomara Castro, hard core ex president Manuel Zelaya supporters, community organizers, militant revolutionaries and the current Honduran president: Roberto Micheletti. 

I lost count of how many times I heard…”We never thought this could happen to us! We are a democracy.” 

Hondurans were shocked when their democratically elected leader, Manuel Zelaya, began shifting dramatically to the far left and began to adopt the policies of Hugo Chavez. 

After Manuel Zelaya was arrested and removed from office, Hondurans were stunned when President Obama called this a military coup. Within hours, President Obama stood in solidarity with Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers in demanding the return to power of Manuel Zelaya. 

Manuel Girbal, a retired Honduran Army officer wanted me to know that the Honduran military swears an oath to the Constitution, not the President. In his eyes, by protecting the constitution, the military was protecting the people. 

Chief Supreme Court Justice, Magistrado Presidente Rivera explained to me that the Honduran Constitution does not have articles of impeachment, but that the law applies equally to all men, even the president. Manuel Zelaya broke constitutional law and that is why the Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant and ordered the army to serve it. 

Later, as Honduran troops deployed once more to guard the Presidential Palace and the Marriot Hotel from pro Zelaya demonstrators, I was asked by an Army Lieutenant why the United States had abandoned their friends in Honduras. Honduras gets a lot of criticism from its neighbors for leasing Soto Kano airbase to the Americans. Soto Kano is strategically located and plays a huge part in stopping the flow of drugs into the US. This lieutenant had served five months in Iraq because President Bush asked him. He wanted to know why President Obama had now abandoned them. 

From the president on down to the peasants, from the right to the left, Hondurans are asking their Northern cousins to come and see for themselves what is going on in Honduras. 

Unfortunately for them, Michael Jackson died the same week that Manuel Zelaya was removed from office. It was Michael Jackson that dominated American television screens. 

Regular Honduran Presidential elections are scheduled for November 29. Hondurans are hoping to have free elections and a new president. According to the constitution, President Micheletti is ineligible to ever hold the office of president again. 

The EU has cut off over 90 million dollars in aid to Honduras. The US has cut off military aid and suspended diplomatic visas. All joint US/Honduran narco/military operations have been suspended. Labor unions across the planet have demanded that longshoremen refuse to unload Honduran fruit and coffee cargos. Between this and the US tourism warnings, the Honduran economy is taking a huge hit. 

In spite of all of this punishment, Honduras is standing tall. Everyday that they do not cave into international pressure brings them one day closer to their Presidential elections.

Over and over Hondurans told me that they would rather have six months of hell, than a lifetime of communism. 

In the two months since Manuel Zelaya was arrested, Daniel Ortega has declared that Nicaragua needs to change their constitution in order to extend his stay in power.   

Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica and the man that Hillary Clinton put in charge of mediations between Zelaya and the Micheletti administration came out last week with similar demands on the Costa Rican constitution.

 There are lessons to be learned here and there are friendships that should not be forgotten. 

Those of us who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it. Those of us who do not pay accurate attention to the plight of our friends and neighbors may not fare much better.

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.

For all I know, things might have begun sliding the very first time some slack-jawed teenager struck a pose and struck a chord on an imaginary guitar.  There was a time, after all, when most American kids were actually given music lessons and learned how to play an actual instrument, and even saved up their allowance to buy sheet music. 

Whenever the slide began, in the months since Obama was crowned, we’ve slid faster and further than I would have dreamed possible.  Obama keeps huffing and puffing and the federal government just keeps expanding like a gigantic balloon.  It’s only a matter of time until it blows up in all our faces. 

Not in my wildest nightmares would I have imagined that an American president would travel to countries we’ve bled and died to defend, and apologize for our arrogance.  Neither would I have ever expected that the same man who casually dismissed our special relationship with England would curtsy to a Saudi prince; refer to a blood-thirsty Muslim cleric, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the Supreme Leader; and butter up a Russian tyrant who cut his eye teeth working for the barbaric KGB. 

After all that, I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Obama joined Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers in demanding that Honduras allow dictator-wannabe Manuel Zelaya back in the country to resume his assault on democracy. 

Obama’s groupies in and out of the media used to cry “Foul!” during the campaign whenever people would question the character of a man whose intimate circle included a corrupt Chicago lobbyist, an unrepentant domestic terrorist, a racist minister and a spouse who announced that America was a mean country.  It seems that in the past several months, his circle has grown in size, but unfortunately not in character. 

The President’s good friend, Al Gore, who stands to clean up, thanks to the Cap and Trade bill, has long campaigned for the greening of America.  How long will it take people to wake up to the fact that his major concern is the greening of Al Gore?  For good measure, the greedy oaf recently compared the battle over global warming to the war against the Nazis.  And, to think, some folks thought PETA was over the top when they compared a chicken farm to Auschwitz. 

Speaking of Nazis and Auschwitz reminds me that I wish Israel, a haven for many of those who survived the concentration camps, would stop referring to portions of their country as settlements.  Israel was attacked by its Arab enemies, fought back and won.  Part of what the Israelis won was turf.  It’s how just about every country on earth wound up having its present dimensions.  Referring to the land as settlements makes it sound like they’re only borrowing it until the rightful owners come by and pick it up.  You might as well call California, Texas and Arizona settlements.  Well, come to think of it, I guess La Raza does. 

As hard as it is to accept, there’s no getting around the fact that Al Franken is a U.S. Senator.  On the upside, just as people used to say that any boy could grow up to be president, now people can say that any comedian who’s smug, obnoxious and not the least bit funny, can grow up to be a senator.  That being the case, I guess it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that Sen. Franken might one day be joined by the likes of Bill Maher and David Letterman. 

It is appropriate, though, that Franken represents Minnesota.  Its state bird, after all, is the loon. 

Before signing off, I found myself wondering the other day why it is, now that Afghanistan is Obama’s war, I don’t hear the Democrats or their lap dogs in the media referring to it as a quagmire, pointing out that the Taliban didn’t attack us on 9/11, and demanding that President Obama announce his exit strategy?

He was so excited (agitated?) when he got back that he asked if he could make a video of his impressions of “Transformers 2″ and post it on Big Hollywood. “I don’t know, Tío, that movie’s been out for a couple of weeks now, Big Hollywood is a blog, it’s all about what’s happening right now.” Tío Chano assured me that he’d find a way to make it current. So I relented. Why not? I hadn’t planned on posting anything this week anyway. So, here he is, my Tío Chano. Oh, and by the way: Spoiler alert!

Manuel Zelaya

July Fourth, the OAS ejected Honduras from its membership for refusing to reinstate Zelaya, but too late. The defiant interim Honduran government, now led by Roberto Micheletti, had already said in so many words, “you can’t fire me! I quit!” In short, the mouse gave the eagle the finger. I can appreciate that. At present, the possibility of sanctions is very real, a fact that could hurt the already hardscrabble nation very deeply, especially if the coffee trade is affected.

From the blustering we’re hearing from Chavez, Ortega and even President Obama himself, you’d think it would only be a matter of time before armies are lined up at the Honduran border, ready to reinstate democracy at the point of a gun. Yet who are the real democrats here? For that, you need to know the backstory. Let’s face it, you can’t properly review a movie unless you know all the plot intricacies. There are enough here for a Hitchcock film.

Let’s take a trip in the Wayback Machine to June 25th. Supposedly, the supremely democractic elected leader of Honduras, President Manuel Zelaya, was rousted in his pajamas and tossed into the cargo hold of a Costa Rica-bound fruit plane by a power-grabbing military junta, going by major news media reporting. Wrong. He was allowed to dress. I guess there’s a different kind of Pajamas Media out there now. You know. The good one’s evil twin. What else is new?

But much more important, it appears that President Zelaya was actively engaged in violating the Honduran Constitution by pushing an illegal ballot referendum to extend his term in office that had been vehemently opposed by the Honduran Supreme Court, the attorney general, the Congress and even Zelaya’s own party. On June 25th, in violation of Supreme Court order, President Zelaya ordered the commander of Honduras’ armed forces, Gen. Romeo Vasquez, to distribute the illegal ballots which, curiously, had just arrived from Venezuela courtesy of Hugo Chavez.

Gen. Vasquez refused. Zelaya fired him. The senior Honduran military command resigned in protest, and also refused to carry out Zelaya’s illegal order. The Supreme Court ruled Zelaya’s firing of Gen. Vasquez illegal on a 5-0 vote and ordered Zelaya to reinstate him. Zelaya refused, and continued with his attempt to impose the illegal ballot referendum on the Honduran people.

It was at this point the Honduran government had had enough of Manuel Zelaya and booted him out of the country. Some news reports indicate Zelaya was given the choice of resignation or imprisonment on charges of treason. If so, Zelaya had a lot more to gain flying out of the country ‘in his pajamas’ and whining to all his Leftist Socialist friends around the world, of which there is no shortage these days. The State Run Media, of course (ours, not Honduras), played out the Zelaya sob story to perfection, with all those messy Honduran Constitutional details somehow unreported.

All except for the Wall Street Journal, which titled their opinion piece on the subject, “Honduras Defends Its Democracy.” It’s a must-read, especially given all the blatantly pro-Zelaya coverage in the Vein Stream Media. The Honduran-based Fausta’s Blog has been covering these events for months. Gateway Pundit also has some incredible coverage of events in Honduras that you just won’t see anywhere else.

Was it a military coup? Look at how events proceeded and you tell me. The president of the Honduran Congress, Roberto Micheletti, also a member of Zelaya’s Liberal Party, was appointed Zelaya’s interim successor as called for in the Honduras Constitution. The Army went back to their barracks. The senior military officers were reinstated along with Gen. Vasquez.

Now, we all know what military coups look like. We’ve seen them in Thailand, Myanmar, all over the world. Yet never in any previous hardline coup by a ruthless military junta did I see tens of thousands of ordinary citizens swarming to the streets in support of it, even celebrating. You’d have thought it was the Fourth of July in Tegucigalpa! Oh yeah, it was.

There are certainly plenty of Zelaya supporters protesting, but compare the crowd sizes at the Gateway Pundit site linked above. It’s an eye-opening demonstration of how the news media can totally distort public perception by focusing on the dozens and ignoring the tens of thousands.

I have also not heard one condemnation by either the press, President Obama or any other government about Hugo Chavez’ threats to invade Honduras, a sovereign nation, in order to get his illegal ballot investment back. By the way, the same OAS that belatedly ejected Honduras for anti-democratic activities has just now welcomed Cuba, the 7th-happiest nation on earth, as a full member in good standing.

The ironies here could not be blacker. All branches of the Honduran government, legislative, executive and judicial, which appear to have exercised Constitutional jurisprudence in this matter, while Maneul Zelaya has done anything but, are the objects of righteous wrath and perhaps even sanctions by the Obama Administration in the form of aid cutoff and other punitive economic measures. Military cooperation has already been suspended.

Yet the real coup and bloodshed of innocents in Iran is met by Obama with reluctantly withdrawn Fourth of July BBQ invites to Iranian diplomats, and not much else. President Obama is even opposing financial sanctions on Iran at the upcoming G8 meeting, and is working overtime to undermine their implementation. All the other G8 members but Russia favor them. Might as well say “Happy Fourth of July, Honduras and Iran! Viva Zelaya! Signed, President Obama. PS Sorry about the BBQ disinvites, Iran. Too much bad press.” And I thought Jimmy Carter was pathetic.

I for one stand with Honduran people. The evidence seems quite clear to me that the Honduran government acted in Constitutional fashion, and President Zelaya did not. I say BUY HONDURAN! Contact the Honduran embassy at embassy@hondurasemb.org and let them know that REAL Americans stand for freedom and democracy, and against tinpot wannabe dictators-for-life like Zelaya and Chavez in full measure. Feel free to let the White House and State hear it, too.

Our President does not speak for us. He certainly doesn’t for me. But as one blog commenter summed it up beautifully, “NOTE TO PRESIDENT: If you find yourself on the same side of any issue as Chavez, Ortega and the Castro brothers, it’s time rethink your position.” What he said.

Lastly, I would much rather be screenwriting, and will again after this oped. At least until the next outrage. But who else is even covering this issue the way it demands to be? You know, people, it’s bad enough when the Obama press corps kneels at the altar in humiliating fashion. Quite another when that same media plays up an apparent democratic overthrow into a ruthless military coup for political purposes. It gets into scary Eastasia-Eurasia territory, and I really don’t like it.

And when I REALLY don’t like it, that’s when you’ll see me here. Some things are just way more important than film. Like standing with the Honduran people, in the face of a Leftist propaganda and political onslaught that threatens their democracy a hell of a lot more than Manuel Zelaya ever could.

They started a war. My ancestor, Francis Lightfoot Lee was one of those men. They started the revolution that birthed this nation. 

Now we are engaged at a crossroads of history, testing whether the leaders of this nation so conceived and dedicated, still hold those same truths and ideals to be self-evident. 

Iranian citizens have taken to the streets of their cities in the pursuit of freedom and liberty. They sought, and deserved, their own revolution. The Iranian government murdered and persecuted them for it. Our government voted present. 

Manuel Zelaya attempted to trample the Honduran Constitution and follow in the footsteps of his communist brother: Hugo Chavez. In the face of such tyranny, the Honduran people rose up in a revolution of their own and sent their  King George packing. Within hours, the same US government that dared not meddle in the affairs of the Iranians, sponsored a United Nations Resolution condemning the Honduran people for resisting the spread of communism. 

We will meet in the next few days to drink beer, eat hotdogs and enjoy multitudes of pyrotechnic displays reminiscent of the rockets red glare and the attack on Fort McHenry. 

Let us also take a moment to remember Neda and all those who are suffering in the quest for freedom. The Honduran Congress had the might of its military to deal with a would be dictator. Would the situation in Iran be different today if her citizens were armed as we Americans are under the Second Amendment? Would the Iranian Basij Militiaman who murdered Neda have ridden so confidently into that crowd if he knew that he faced a citizenry able to defend itself? 

I have the freedom today to write this article because on April 19, 1775 a handful of armed farmers and merchants stood and held their ground against the greatest super power on the planet. When the Minutemen stood at Concord’s North Bridge and fired the shot heard around the world, they forever changed the course of history. 

That moment brought the audacity of hope to the people of  Honduras and it should be cherished by Americans. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this on this 4th of July weekend. 

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate this weekend, we cannot hallow our history if we don’t remember the true meaning of our country’s birth: Revolution. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The Saul Alinskys and the William Ayers of the world will mourn the loss of  Manuel Zelaya and all that he represents, but those of us that are proud of our American heritage will pass on the Dreams of Our Fathers to our children this weekend and every day to come for the rest of our lives. We here highly resolve that all of those who have given their lives for the preservation of freedom shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall continue on in freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.