Iran's Holocaust cartoon contest was an atrocious and juvenile tit-for-tat for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's almost equally stupid and insensitive Mohammed cartoon contest. But the cartoon they finally chose as winner sounds like it was making a legitimate point. Israel really does use the legacy of the Holocaust to mask and justify oppression and expropriation of the Palestinians. Is it verboten to point this out? From AP, Nov. 1:

In his first public appearance upon his arrival in Chihuahua City on his tour of northern Mexico, Subcommander Marcos announced the Zapatista rebels' total support for the people of Oaxaca "and their most diginifed representative, the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO)." Marcos said from the city's central Revolution Park, "As of today, the federales have killed at least three people, including a minor; left dozens injured, including several Oaxacan women; and detained dozens, who have been illegally held in military prisons." In a communique, the General Command of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) called for the immediate resignation of Oaxaca's Gov. Ulises Ruiz, the total withdrawal of all federal police forces, the unconditional release of all the detained, and the apprehension and punishment of the assassins." The statement said Zapatista militants would begin blocking roads in Chiapas to press these demands Nov. 1. (La Jornada, Oct. 31)

From Milenio, Nov. 1:

The police in civilian dress implicated in the murder of US photojrounalist Brad Will continue to be fugitives from justice.

Three days after President Vicente Fox sent in thousands of federal police troops, Oaxaca City remains divided. Supporters of the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO), driven from the city center, still maintain barricades in many barrios, and pledge to retake the central plaza, called the zocalo. Some 2,000 APPO protesters have established a new encampment at a plaza a few block from the zocalo, which they say will be their new base of operations until they can reclaim the central plaza.

Imagine! Venezuelan meddling in American politics! Where would they ever get an idea like that? From the New York Times via the Denver Post, Oct. 29:

Voting machines' Venezuela link probed

The federal government is investigating the takeover last year of the manufacturer of electronic voting systems used in Denver and Arapahoe County by a small software company that has been linked to the leftist government of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

From the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), Oct. 30:

London -- James Bond actor Daniel Craig voted against plans to have suicide bombers in the new movie "Casino Royale" because that would anger Muslims.

Which is more hilarious? The US warning regional powers against carrying out a "proxy war" in Somalia while Washington itself is openly backing the warlord alliance that opposes the Islamic Courts Union? Or Eritrea's apparent backing of the Islamic Courts Union to oppose rival Ethiopia even as it uses the supposed jihadist threat to repress freedom at home? From Reuters, Oct. 30:

A bomb blast ripped through a crowd of laborers lining up for work offers in a square in Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City enclave Oct. 29, killing at least 25 people and wounding 60. It was the most recent of several attacks by presumed Sunni insurgentsin Sadr City. In July, more than 60 people were killed when a car bomb blasted through a market in the district. (Reuters, Oct. 31) But this attack came as US troops are sweeping Sadr City and throwing up barricades and checkpoints in a search for a kidnapped US soldier. (WP, Oct. 30 via Electronic Iraq) Sadr City residents demonstrated Oct. 30 against the siege of their district by US forces. Shi'ite MP Fallah Hassan Shanshal blaimed US troops for all attacks citizens in the district. Radical Shi'ite leaders Moktada al-Sadr's local office threatened a campaign of "civil defiance" if siege is not lifted. (Alsumaria TV, Iraq, Oct. 30)