The So-Called Liberal Media Strikes Again

This Washington Post article about the recent elections in El Salvador makes it seem like Mauricio Funes is a Marxist demagogue cheered to victory by crowds waving signs that said "Yanqui Go Home":

Leftist Declares Victory In El Salvador Election

By William Booth
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, March 16, 2009; A11

MIAMI, March 16 -- Mauricio Funes, a former TV newsman who was recruited to run for president, declared himself the winner of El Salvador's presidential contest Sunday night, bringing into power a leftist party built by former guerrillas and ending two decades of conservative rule.

Funes, a dynamic speaker and political outsider who compares himself to President Obama and pledged to be an agent of change in the small Central American nation, was leading the polls late Sunday night with 51.2 percent of the vote and more than 90 percent of the ballots counted. Turnout was high and election day was mostly calm.

If the lead holds, Funes and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) will take control of a nation struggling with an economic crisis and a murder rate that is among the highest in the world. The country has also suffered through 12 years of civil war, which left more than 70,000 people dead.

Funes's opponent, former National Police chief Rodrigo Ávila, who represented the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), was trailing with 48.7 percent of the vote. Ávila conceded defeat, telling supporters, "We will be a constructive opposition."

During a rough campaign season, Ávila insisted that a win for Funes and the FMLN would transform El Salvador into a hard-left satellite state of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Ávila further warned that Funes would turn El Salvador away from the United States. The two countries have traditionally shared close relations. More than 2 million El Salvadorans live in the United States, and thousands traveled home to vote in the elections.

Funes promised to create a broad government composed of FMLN members and outsiders like himself. He said he sought a close working relationship with the United States and vowed to champion the cause of El Salvador's poor. "This is the happiest night of my life, and I want it to be the night of El Salvador's greatest hope," he said. "I want to thank all the people who voted for me and chose that path of hope and change.

Now, let's change a few words here and add a few there:

Progressive Declares Victory In El Salvador Election

MIAMI, March 16 -- Mauricio Funes, a former TV newsman who was recruited to run for president, declared himself the winner of El Salvador's presidential contest Sunday night, bringing into power a progressive party built by former guerrillas and ending two decades of ultraconservative rule.

Funes, a dynamic speaker and nominee of the majority FMLN party who compares himself to President Obama and pledged to be an agent of change in the small Central American nation, was leading the polls late Sunday night with 51.2 percent of the vote and more than 90 percent of the ballots counted. Turnout was high and election day was mostly calm.

If the lead holds, Funes and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) -- which already controls a majority of the El Salvadoran legislature -- will take control of a nation struggling with an economic crisis and a murder rate that is among the highest in the world. The country has also suffered through 12 years of civil war during which the party representing the death squads of the Eighties received U. S. aid and political support, which left more than 70,000 people dead.

Funes's opponent, rightist former National Police chief Rodrigo Ávila, who represented the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), was trailing with 48.7 percent of the vote. Ávila conceded defeat, telling supporters, "We will be a constructive opposition."

During a rough campaign season, the ultraconservative Ávila insisted that a win for Funes and the FMLN would transform El Salvador into a hard-left satellite state of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Ávila further warned that Funes would turn El Salvador away from the United States. The two countries have traditionally shared close relations. More than 2 million El Salvadorans live in the United States, and thousands traveled home to vote in the elections.

Funes promised to create a broad government composed of FMLN members and progressives like himself. He said he sought a close working relationship with the United States and vowed to champion the cause of El Salvador's poor. "This is the happiest night of my life, and I want it to be the night of El Salvador's greatest hope," he said. "I want to thank all the people who voted for me and chose that path of hope and change."

Now read this and decide for yourself which version is more accurate. Here's the lede:

A desire for change isn't a sentiment unique to voters in the United States, and it's not something that our country should fear when embraced by our Southern neighbors. El Salvador, a country that will hold presidential elections on March 15, is a case in point. It's a place where a single party has been in power for two decades. It has long been mired in poverty, crime, and corruption. And its own Cheneys and Rumsfelds remain in power. A victory by the progressive frontrunner in the electoral contest -- the first Latin American presidential elections since President Barack Obama's inauguration -- would give the new White House an opportunity to reject fear-mongering about the rise of left-leaning governments in Latin America and instead praise the regional wave of democratic transformation.

The full story, written by Mark Engler of alternet.org, details both the origins of a U.S.-supported right wing party (ARENA) with roots in the Salvadoran death squads of the Eighties as well as the rise grass-roots progressive movement (FMLN) that now hold a majority of the El Salvador legislature. And yet the so-called liberal media insists on portraying FMLN as an extreme leftist group beholden to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, while the right-wing ARENA party comes across as upholders of law and order despite the high crime rate in El Salvador. Go figure...

Sugar Bird, Paul Reddick. Canadian Reddick comes from a distinguished national singer-songwriter tradition that boasts Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young. What distinguishes Reddick from them and everyone else is that he writes blues songs, an art form that has just about disappeared, as today's blues performers focus primarily on guitar virtuosity. With verses like this-

Sometime when you look at me
All my troubles cease to be
You are lovely, you are fine
You've got the devilment on your mind

Oh so fine, a heart so pure
You're alluringly demure
You're the fruit upon the vine
You've got the devilment on your mind

--Reddick draws inspiration from the lyric and melodic excellence of Robert Johnson.  On Sugar Bird, Reddick commands a variety of blues styles with such aplomb that that it seems perfectly natural and right for the rollicking "It's Later Than You Think" to succeed the aching "John Lennon In New Orleans." Any Reddick CD is worth having, and Sugar Bird is a great place to start. Highly recommended...

New Orleans book trade labels (tres frais!)...

Paul Reddick sings "Villanelle" at the Crossroads Cafe in Antwerp, Belgium: