Jon Stewart

To this old Latinomericanista hag, Evo Morales is nothing short of a miracle. I spent a good 10 years of my life working on several different degrees in Latin American Studies : My BA was done through NYU's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, my MA is in Hispanic American Studies and my ABD was in Latin American Literature & Culture. Not once through all of my years of stuydying and teaching my region's history, languages and cultures did I ever expect to see an Aymará man elected president of any country in Latin America, especially Bolivia.

The history of Bolivian indigenous people is intertwined with the displacement of miners and other laborers during the 1980's as well as with the agrarian reform movement. To say that the government of Bolivia unleashed a wave of brutal repression, torture and disappearance throughout the land is to put it mildly.

I had the luck to listen Domitila Barrios de Chungara talk at a conference back in the 80's of the plight of Bolivian indigenous people's during those years of corporate funded tyranny. She had become the voice of the new labor movement in Latin America, but a lonely one. A coup happened while she was out in Sweden speaking about the human rights abuses of the Bolivian government and she was forced into exile. If you want to read a heart wrenching story of how one woman unleashed her power as the leader of the Organizacion de las Amas de Casa (the Housewives Collective) you need to read

Especially when it's spinned by The Daily Show. This is worth at least an Emmy nomination. It's beyond brilliant. It's perfect.

It makes a difference who you are -- and whoever gets to create your character.

Favorite Daughter defines herself as her own reflection, says she has a "Disney Princess Complex."

But I don't think this fake news videoclip of "Frog Princess" is quite what she had in mind, guess homeschool princesses better be careful what we wish for and who gets to grant it.

(Sorry, can't get fancy video screen to appear but the link above will take you to it at Comedy Central site)
Anybody for popcorn? --

Currently I am still in the data collection period of deciding on who I support in 2008. To date I have mainly focused on Obama and Edwards, both of whom look good in Iowa polls and have considerable smarts and charm. Hillary looks good in the same polls and has smarts, but as one of her constituents, I can tell you she doesn't have much charm. I am unlikely to support Hillary in the primaries. Richardson is the latest one to come to my attention. I will write more about this in the future, but simply put, Richardson has the best resume. Absolutely excellent experience right down to nominations for Nobel Peace Prize. And, let's face it, Governors not Senators win the general election. He is trailing in the polls and, from what I hear, he lacks charm. But he is the one who could come up from behind.

So, for those who want to see more of our candidates, I try to highlight events that give you such opportunities. I think one of the best ways to see what a candidate has is the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Sadly I seldom get the chance to see Jon Stewart because my wife and I generally don't stay up that late. But it is always worth ratching.

Tonight, Wednesday, March 28 at 11:00 PM ET/PT, Governor Bill Richardson will be on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Will he flop or shine? Will he wow with his resume or will he come off flat? Personally, I hope he rocks and picks up some support.

I usually need little reasons to praise the work of Jon Stewart and the crew over at The Daily Show, even though the show has been lacking the freshness of earlier years. This lack of freshness has to do with the fact that TDS has become the Oprah Book Club of the country's punditocracy. Anybody who is anybody in Capitol Hill and who has a book to hawk will fight tooth and nail to get their 30 seconds of fame with Stewart (or Colbert, for that matter) if it means their book will sell. And even if either has called them a douchebag in past shows.

Which is why I flabbergasted by the timing of John Bolton's appearance on the show yesterday.

He had no book.

He has no project.

He came in to tell Stewart how wrong he was for thinking the current mess over at the Justice Department was a scandal at all.

Bolton went to the show to debate and put Jon Stewart in his place?

Oh. Hell. Yes!

Now that is amazing TV.