Honduran pol shows Sanford-like resolve

Apparently taking a lesson from SC Governor Mark Sanford, Honduras’ interim leader Roberto Micheletti is claiming that “no one can make me resign.”

Last week, Honduras President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup. Micheletti, a member of the same party as Zelaya, was then sworn in as president by the National Congress.

Honduras’ interim leader warned that the only way his predecessor will return to office is through a foreign invasion, even as the hemisphere’s leaders gave him 72 hours to hand over the presidency.

Micheletti said in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday that “no one can make me resign,” defying the United Nations, the OAS, the Obama administration and other leaders that have condemned the military coup that overthrew Zelaya.

Like l’Affaire Sanford, this too appears fated to end poorly.

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10% Shift = 100% bad economics

More foolishness from the “buy local” crowd was evident this week in Charleston.

The Post and Courier reported that “Creating hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in economic activity for the Charleston region could be as simple as committing one of every 10 purchases to local businesses, according to the head of an area nonprofit.”

Jamee Haley of Lowcountry Local First called the group’s “10% Shift” campaign “our local stimulus plan” as she kicked it off Tuesday. 

Lowcountry Local First cited a study that found in Grand Rapids, Mich., a city similar in size to the greater Charleston area, shifting 10 percent of purchases to local businesses would create 1,600 jobs and generate $50 million in new wages and $140 million in new economic activity, according to The Post and Courier.

Canadian WWI ace’s exploits verified

A new biography of World War I ace Billy Bishop contains fresh evidence that the fabled Canadian pilot’s exploits were legitimate.

“Billy Bishop: Top Canadian Flying Ace,” includes the names of two witnesses who saw Bishop’s famous solo raid on a German airport in June 1917, according to a report in The Sarnia Observer.

Many historians have long insisted there were no witnesses to the attack, for which the Owen Sound, Ontario, pilot won the Victoria Cross, the United Kingdom’s highest gallantry award.

On June 2, 1917, Bishop flew a solo mission behind enemy lines to attack a German-held aerodrome, where he claimed that he shot down three aircraft that were taking off to attack him and destroyed several more on the ground. For this feat, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

But in 1982, the National Film Board of Canada created headlines across the country when it released a documentary that suggested Bishop lied about the airport raid and padded his victory score with a number of other false claims.

“There was a French farm boy named Gaston Meuniers who lived beside the airfield who saw the whole thing,” said Dan McCaffery, author of “Billy Bishop: Top Canadian Flying Ace.”

“And a British officer named Louis Weirter insisted he saw the raid while dangling in an observation balloonjust behind the front lines,” McCaffery added. “For decades Weirter’s testimony was discarded because it was thought he was too far away to see the action, but new evidence shows he could easily have seen it.”

Bishop was officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian ace, and according to some sources, the top ace of the British Empire.