HIAW Redesign and Chavez

So we have a few entries sitting on the back burner about such topics as Why the Darfur Protests Are Troubling and linking etiquette, but this entry is about something significantly more trite. Namely, that History Is A Weapon has gone through our second redesign. Go look at it, we made it for you. And please tell us your thoughts. We're especially interested in your navigating experience or if you think we should just lose it and go back to the list (which is still available).
Enjoy.
Update: Some browsers were not linking earlier to all of the articles. Our apologies. The issue should be fixed (until people complain about something else.)

---

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez delivered a nice speech at the U.N. yesterday. Despite the corporate media's dismissal of Chavez, always with few quotes hidden through "objective" ad hominem slights, Chavez quickly displays a sense of humor and a positive vision for the future. He is pretty enthusiastic in his support for Noam Chomsky's book Hegemony or Survival. But instead of simply telling you (like the corporate media), perhaps you should judge for yourself...

Hugo Chavez's Speech at the U.N.


Postscript on Chavez—
Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel said: ""I just want to make it abundantly clear to Hugo Chavez or any other president - don't come to the United States and think because we have problems with our president that any foreigner can come to our country and not think that Americans do not feel offended when you offend our Chief of State. Any demeaning public attack against him is viewed by Republicans and Democrats, and all Americans, as an attack on all of us."

Which is interesting because Chavez explicitly addressed the American people, distinct from the Devil: "The hegemonic
pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very
survival of the human species. We continue to warn you about this
danger and we appeal to the people of the United States and the world
to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our heads.
(snip)
I think that the first people who should read this
book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their
threat is right in their own house. The devil is right at home."

Later, Chavez added:
"The president then -- and this he said himself, he said: "I have come
to speak directly to the populations in the MiddleEast, to tell them
that my country wants peace."


That's true. If we walk in the streets of the Bronx, if we walk
around New York, Washington, San Diego, in any city, San Antonio, San
Francisco, and we ask individuals, the citizens of the United States,
what does this country want? Does it want peace? They'll say yes.


But the government doesn't want peace. The government of the United
States doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit its system of
exploitation, of pillage, of hegemony through war.


It wants peace. But what's happening in Iraq? What happened in
Lebanon? In Palestine? What's happening? What's happened over the
last 100 years in LatinAmerica and in the world? And now threatening
Venezuela -- new threats against Venezuela, against Iran?


He spoke to the people of Lebanon. Many of you, he said, have seen
how your homes and communities were caught in the crossfire. How
cynical can you get? What a capacity to lie shamefacedly. The bombs
in Beirut with millimetric precision? "

To be honest, I was surprised that we didn't see one headline like "Chavez calls Bush 'devil;' World responds: 'Duh.'" I have to say I wasn't surprised to see the Democrats rush to defend Bush. That's why they're the LOYAL Opposition in defending his honor, and this system of war and poverty, capitalism. I didn't feel offended by Chavez's comments. They weren't that audacious, merely observant.