No Wonder Hugo Chavez is So Angry

There is an excellent opinion piece today in the Wall Street Journal that also happens to chock full of facts on what is really going on in Honduras. It also happens to back up my own observations of how most of Honduran's government officials attempted to protect and preserve their constitutional system -- including the military -- whereas ousted President Mel Zelaya went out of his way to circumvent it.

And that includes attempting an illegal vote using ballots furnished by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela!

That Mr. Zelaya acted as if he were above the law, there is no doubt. While Honduran law allows for a constitutional rewrite, the power to open that door does not lie with the president. A constituent assembly can only be called through a national referendum approved by its Congress.

But Mr. Zelaya declared the vote on his own and had Mr. Chávez ship him the necessary ballots from Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do.

The top military commander, Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, told the president that he would have to comply. Mr. Zelaya promptly fired him. The Supreme Court ordered him reinstated. Mr. Zelaya refused.

Calculating that some critical mass of Hondurans would take his side, the president decided he would run the referendum himself. So on Thursday he led a mob that broke into the military installation where the ballots from Venezuela were being stored and then had his supporters distribute them in defiance of the Supreme Court's order.

That's a good part of the news that your mainstream press forgot to tell you over the weekend, and certainly not part of the information upon which President Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hoping you knew about.

Read, and learn.

ACORN Claims Ownership of Foreclosed Home

Almost missed this one. Lawlessness predicated on perceived "friends in high places" has begun.

ACORN trains citizens to protest home foreclosures
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―A community organization breaks into a foreclosed home in what they are calling an act of civil disobedience.
The group wants to train homeowners facing eviction on peaceful ways they can remain in their homes.

Derek Valcourt reports their actions are not without controversy.

Near Patterson Park, the padlock on the door and the sign in the window tell part of Donna Hanks foreclosure story.

"The mortgage went up $300 in one month," said Hanks, former homeowner.

She says the bank refused to modify her loan and foreclosed, kicking her out of the house in September.

The community group ACORN calls Hanks a victim of predatory lending.

"This is our house now," said Louis Beverly, ACORN.

There are a couple of sentences that reach out and slap you in the face. The first, perhaps the major understatement of the week, as the report says "their actions are not without controversy." I would hope someone would think it's controversial!

OUR house? Even assuming Ms. Hanks should still be in the home, since when did ACORN get any particle of title to the property?

And on Thursday afternoon, they literally broke the foreclosure padlock right off the front door and then broke into the house, letting Hanks back in for the first time in months.

"We are actually trespassing, and so this is a way of civil disobedience to try to stay in the house," said Beverly. "Legally it's wrong, but homesteading is the only means that she has left to stay in her house. And we feel as though this is the right thing to do at this particular time to save this family."

This is not training, and yes, it is illegal. You cannot abrogate contract law through civil disobedience. We have courts to determine such things, and if every special interest group like ACORN starts breaking into other people's property, don't expect peacefulness to last for very long.

But this is why ACORN - Barack Obama's old friends - and like-minded outfits are so dangerous, and why it is a national tragedy that they were given untold millions in funding through the porkulus legislation. This is the tip of the iceberg.

(Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin)