"Energetic" Apathy

Here are the six things we can do for the Honduran people (short of regime change):

1. Legally define the coup in Honduras as a military coup
2. Publicly condemn human right violations
3. Impose trade sanctions
4. Recall the American ambassador
5. Freeze the bank accounts of the coup leaders
6. Revoke the diplomatic and tourist visas of all the coup leaders

Have we done #1 yet? Nope. It is so simple, yet we have not done it, probably so that we can continue to supply humanitarian aid to the country. How we know it is getting in the right hands is beyond me.

#2 yet? Nope. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights doesn't count, even though it contains a U.S. citizen as a delegate. Who by the way condemned the human rights abuses:

“Since the events of June 28, the widespread practice of arbitrary detentions, the excessive use of force against protesters, and continued interference with freedom of expression in Honduras all contradict those responsibilities of the state.”

#3. Of course we're not going to do this are you crazy? By the way, I wrote that sentence before I even Googled the facts. But I was right. Why do they say this? They make ridiculous claims.

The first:

A letter from the State Department to Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, states that the U.S. "energetically" opposes Mr. Zelaya's June 28 ouster. But the letter also expresses the harshest criticism yet of Mr. Zelaya's own actions that preceded his removal from office, including trying to change Honduras's constitution to potentially stay in power.
"We energetically condemn the actions of June 28. We also recognize that President Zelaya's insistence on undertaking provocative actions contributed to the polarization of Honduran society and led to a confrontation that unleashed the events that led to his removal," Richard Verma, the assistant secretary for legislative affairs, said in the letter, reviewed Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal.

Seems like we're talking out of both sides of our mouth. On the one hand we oppose his ouster, but we also say that he had it coming, and continue to let the crooks who supported it trade illegitimately. Oh - and about changing the constitution, look it up, it was a non-binding resolution. And suppose it was binding: unless I missed the part in civics class where democracy is less important than a piece of paper written by elites, it still doesn't justify a coup. Oh - and let's see what else. Zelaya's own vice president was going to run for president, and Zelaya was not (he said he would if he could, but if the constitution was amended, it would go into affect after his presidency ended). Some way to stay in power!


#4. Nope
#5. Nope (see number 3)
#6. Somewhat. Only 16 people so far.

So far we've barely done one of these things. Some "energy" huh? And yet people think Obama is sympathetic to socialists.