I'm an optimist by disposition, but some weeks it's hard to find evidence of progress in human affairs. Here on the TV screen is Colin Powell, smoothly fulfilling his designated function as the Empire's prime dispenser of official lies. This particular morning he's ladling unctuous bilge about the US-sponsored coup in Haiti, even as the renascent Tontons Macoutes, under the tolerant gaze of USMC officers, swarm across Port-au-Prince, chopping up any supporters of Aristide they can find.

And here's John Kerry, the Democratic nomination in his grasp. Having made his own zestful contribution to the body count in Vietnam during the Phoenix sweeps, Kerry knows where many of the Empire's bodies are rotting. In his first Senate term he even led useful hearings into the BCCI scandal and the arms-for-cocaine shuttle in Central America. Then the Elders of Empire told him to mind his manners, which he promptly did.

But truth can pop out of Kerry's mouth from time to time, as happened amid the Haiti coup unrolling at the end of February under the carefully uncomprehending eyes of the US press. The Bush Administration, Newsday reported Kerry as saying, has "a theological and ideological hatred for Aristide," which led to the Administration empowering the rebels.

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