Today, the End of April '05

ZNet offers this Dan Bacher article that provides an overview of the totality of the move to the left in much of South America. It also discusses attempts to close down or at least withdraw particitpants from the infamous School of the Americas, the U.S. military school that has a history of graduates committing attrocities in Latin America.

Some non-politics: National Geographic has a piece about new technology that is salvaging ancient Greek texts that were previously unreadable. Included are some works by Sophocles, Homer, and possibly some lost Christian gospels that did not make the cut for the New Testament.

I know that I have posted a bunch of articles on the Chavez visit to Cuba already, but I find it such a compelling situation. A reuters arcticle does not speak approvingly of Chavez, his ties to Cuba, or ALBA, the regional trade agreement proposed by Chavez. This link offers a good description of what Chavez and Castro are doing to strengthen their ties. It seems as if, just possibly, money is not playing a huge roll here. Cuba needs oil, and in return Venezuela is getting thousands of doctors and teachers for the free social plans that the U.S. gov't so hates to see. The rhetoric is thick from both sides, but either way, there is nothing wrong with searching for options to the U.S. dominated policies of the region.

David Corn offers his take of the primetime Bush press conference. I wonder how many people actually bothered to watch him the other night, as he continually repeats the same mantra.