120,000 Anti-Semites? NO, 160,000.

Britain’s University and College Union, representing more than 120,000 college-level educators has voted to go forward with a proposal to boycott Israeli academic institutions, according to the Jewish Daily Forward.

The Union voted May 30 to pass a motion beseeching its branches to circulate and discuss a Palestinian call for boycott of Israeli academics and universities.

Meanwhile in Britain, a coalition of Jewish groups has united to condemn the teachers union’s vote.

"The UCU boycott motion is an assault on academic freedom,” said Jeremy Newmark, the chief executive of Britain’s Jewish leadership council. "While the vast majority of academics do not support a boycott, the decision damages the credibility of British academia as a whole.”

Another recent move to exert political pressure on the Jewish state came in April, when Britain’s 40,000-member National Union of Journalists adopted a resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli goods.

Newsmax Article

What Does Secularism Have in Common with Islam? Dhimmitude!

What Does Secularism Have in Common with Islam? Dhimmitude!

The Christian – very similar to Sharia Law – is considered a “second class citizen” to the secularist. Our speech should only be allowed in the privacy of the church or home. A fellow blogger recently commented on this in regards to a graduation speech. This person is a believer in freedom of speech, but as most on the Left, this person doesn’t realize how his egalitarianism has created a climate of censorship. I guess speech should be approved now by censors who give a thumb up and a thumb down as to what someone can say and not say.

Can Valedictorians, Salutatorians, or Honorary Speakers Give Speeches on Religious Subjects, Including Reading From the Bible?

YES! As stated previously, it is well-settled that religious speech is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.39 Remember that school administrators can only prohibit protected speech by students when it "materially and substantially interfere[s] with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school."

If students have been granted freedom to compose their own speeches (e.g., valedictorian or salutatorian addresses), protected student expression should not be subjected to censorship because of its religious viewpoint. It is a fundamental proposition of constitutional law that a government official may not suppress or exclude speech for the sole reason that the speech expresses a religious perspective. Denial of this bedrock principle would undermine the essential guarantees of free speech and religious freedom under the First Amendment.

There is quite a difference between refusing to direct prayer or invite clergy to give prayer at graduation, and choosing to prohibit individual student expression based on its content. The First Amendment precludes any governmental effort to single out and censor - or otherwise burden - the speech of private parties solely because that speech is religious. A decision by a school board to respect the free speech rights of students and to refrain from censoring student speech based solely on its content is not a deliberate violation of the law. Students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Nor do students shed those rights as they pass through the auditorium doors to attend graduation or promotional exercises.

ACLJ Link

Below are just some recent examples to show how the progressive – I use that term tongue and cheek – Left is expanding our freedoms. This is why Tammy Bruce, a pro-choice lesbian, calls the Democratic left on their “thought policing.”

A junior high school student whose contribution to a school mural was censored because it contained a cross will now be allowed to have her artwork included in the mural after attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund sent an information letter on her behalf.

“Christian speech should not be relegated to second-class status,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “The Supreme Court has affirmed that students do not shed their beliefs when they enter the schoolhouse gate. We’re glad that the school district acted quickly and did the right thing by recognizing Melissa’s constitutional right to free speech.”

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a motion for preliminary injunction Thursday after a Minnesota school district refused to allow a group to distribute fliers containing religious content even though other groups are permitted to do so.

“Christian groups should not be treated as second-class,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. “The First Amendment prohibits school officials from censoring fliers simply because the fliers contain religious content. If they allow one group or individual to distribute fliers, they must open the doors to everyone.”

On Thursday, the Superior Court of Forsyth County granted a petition for writ of certiorari filed by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund. ADF attorneys asked the court to hear a case involving the right to distribute religious tracts on a public sidewalk. Frederic Baumann, a local citizen handing out religious tracts, was arrested, jailed, and convicted without being told why he was being charged.

“Christian speech should not be treated as second-class,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. “The city misapplied the law against Mr. Baumann and violated his constitutional right to religious expression. The First Amendment right for an individual to express his ideas in public does not require a governmental ‘permission slip.’”

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have sent an information letter to the superintendent the Comstock Park Public School District expressing that allowing the Comstock Park High School student choir to sing “The Lord’s Prayer” at their graduation ceremony Thursday would not violate the U.S. Constitution. ADF attorneys offered to defend the school if the ACLU or any of its allies chose to sue the school over the situation.

“The Establishment Clause does not ban religious songs at graduation, and it’s ridiculous that anyone would try to censor students wanting to honor a deceased classmate with one of his favorite songs,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “We sent the information letter to the Comstock Park School District to let them know that ADF will defend the school if the ACLU or any of its allies has the audacity to sue over this.”

On April 22, Baumann was arrested for distributing religious tracts on a public sidewalk outside the city of Cumming fairgrounds, saying Baumann had violated a city ordinance requiring parade and demonstration organizers to obtain a permit before engaging in such activities. However, the permit requirement only applies to private organizations or groups of more than three persons.

The Alliance Defense Fund, The American Legion, and Liberty Legal Institute will hold a press conference Thursday to announce a national effort to defend and protect America’s veterans’ memorials from potential legal attacks from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

“One person’s agenda shouldn’t diminish the sacrifice made by America’s veterans and their families,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Senior Vice-President of Allied Attorney Support and Coordination Joe Infranco. “Despite the claims from the ACLU and others, crosses on veterans’ memorials have been under attack. One only needs to look at what’s happened at Mt. Soledad and in the Mojave Desert. Americans want these memorials to be protected.”

ADF has been involved in legal efforts to defend the cross memorial at Mt. Soledad in San Diego and the Mojave Desert Cross in southern California against ACLU-led efforts to have them removed. Both memorials honor American military veterans.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a motion for preliminary injunction Thursday on behalf of a member of the Gideons threatened with arrest for distributing Bibles on a public sidewalk. A Monroe County sheriff’s officer told Thomas Gray and several other Gideons members that they had “no right” to be within 500 feet of a public school’s property.

“The First Amendment ensures that all persons and groups, including the Gideons, have the right to engage in free speech on a public sidewalk,” said Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. “We are asking the court to halt the unconstitutional harassment of Gideons members while this lawsuit moves forward.”

On Jan. 19, Gray, along with other members of the Gideons Key Largo Camp, began distributing Bibles on a public sidewalk outside Key Largo School. In accordance with Gideons Key Largo Camp policy, they did not step on to school grounds, and they notified the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office of their plans ahead of time. School officials were also notified on the day of distribution. Both said the activity was permissible.

During the distribution, Gray learned that two other Gideons, Anthony Mirto and Ernest Simpson, were under arrest and sitting in a Monroe County patrol car. Officer John Perez mocked the two men, saying they could “pray to Jesus all the way to jail.” Out of fear of arrest, Gray left the scene and has not returned. ADF attorneys filed suit on behalf of Gray on April 20.

!Terror Plot!

Maybe Bush is behind this as well? Just kidding. You conspiracy freaks are – I am sure – looking for some Whitehouse connection.

FoxNews Article

NEW YORK — Four Muslim men were foiled from carrying out a plot to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods, authorities said Saturday.

Three men were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad on Saturday. In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the plot would "cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks."

Little Green Footballs Making us laugh out loud again. LOVE IT!!!

Kennedy Airport Plot Stuns Reality-Based Community into Silence

So how is the reality-based community dealing with this terror plot against Kennedy Airport?

Nothing at Daily Kos.

Nothing at Eschaton.

Nothing at Crooks and Liars.

Nothing at Firedoglake.

Nothing at AMERICAblog.

Maybe they’re still trying to settle on the spin. “Question the timing?” or “blame Bush?” Choices, choices...

(BRUNO... READ)

FOX NEWS Correspondent Goes Off!!! Rightly So!!!

Venezuela is in a bit of an upheaval, but we have socialists here in the States defending such actions. Below is a link to a blog and at the bottom of the blog is a video that is a must watch! The Fox News correspondent RIPS the New York City Councilman a new one with facts, but the councilman continues with colloquial responses. Bottom line is that the councilman wears red as well, just on the inside.

For those who are inept at using the internet… (Bruno)… click on the blue underlined part of the sentence above and it will bring you to the HOT AIR article.

Hopefully This Time We Got Him!

Drudge props

Cnn article

An Old Blog on Almost Getting This Guy

Spec Ops thought they had this guys back when Ethiopia was helping the rightful Somali government chase the Islamo-Fascists out. I even had a post saying we killed him. But the first report is usually wrong. Lets hope we got him this time… se below.

(CNN) -- A U.S. Navy destroyer off the coast of northern Somalia Friday fired on a suspected al Qaeda operative believed to have been involved in the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, sources confirmed to CNN.

There was no immediate word on the results of the attack, which was carried out using one of the destroyer's 5-inch guns.

U.S. officials have long suspected that some of those responsible for the embassy attacks have been hiding in the war-torn East African country. (Map)

The nearly simultaneous bombings on August 7, 1998, killed 213 people in Nairobi, Kenya, and 11 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Among the dead in Nairobi were 12 Americans.

In March, Ethiopian forces crushed an insurgency connected to the Council of Islamic Courts, a hard-line militia that had controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months in 2006.

The Islamists were driven from power in December by Ethiopian and Somali troops. U.S. intelligence shows al Qaeda stepped up its operations in Somalia after the Council of Islamic Courts took power, the sources said.

U.S. air strikes in Somalia in January reportedly targeted several suspects in the embassy bombings, but reports that one was killed were not confirmed.

College Faculty Largely Liberal

No New News

Washington Post

College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds

By Howard Kurtz

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 29, 2005; Page C01

College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined, a new study says.

By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative, says the study being published this week. The imbalance is almost as striking in partisan terms, with 50 percent of the faculty members surveyed identifying themselves as Democrats and 11 percent as Republicans.

The disparity is even more pronounced at the most elite schools, where, according to the study, 87 percent of faculty are liberal and 13 percent are conservative.

8-to-1 College Commencement Speakers -- Liberal

FrontPage props

Colleges veer left for '07 speakers

By Amy Fagan

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

June 1, 2007

Commencement addresses at the nation's top colleges and universities this year mostly were given by left-leaning or Democratic speakers with few conservatives snagging the honor, according to a report released yesterday by the Young America's Foundation.

The conservative group conducts the review each year using the U.S. News & World Report ranking of top schools. This year, it found left-leaning speakers outnumbered conservatives by a ratio of 8-to-1.

"It's not that there's a few cases here and there. It's that there's a consistent pattern where conservatives are shunned," said Jason Mattera, spokesman for YAF. "For 14 years, we've shown that college administrators are using commencement ceremonies to send their students off with one more predictable leftist lecture."

Al Qaeda Torture Manual Found

PLUS

U.S. Finds and Frees Al Qaeda Torture Victims

archived Drudge Report link to Yahoo News

ALSO, PHOTOS FROM:

The Smoking Gun props

BAGHDAD - American forces freed 42 kidnapped Iraqis — some of whom had been hung from ceilings and tortured for months — in a raid Sunday on an al-Qaida hideout north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Military officials said the operation, launched on tips from residents, showed that Iraqis in the turbulent Diyala province were turning against Sunni insurgents and beginning to trust U.S. troops.

"The people in Diyala are speaking up against al-Qaida," said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.

Graphic Drawings, Caution when you click to enlarge…

Jefferson Airplane - 1969

Wall Street Journal Caught RACE BAITING!

I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. But the WSJ is off its rocker and might as well be walking down the Rainbow Coalition Road with the Reverend Al and Jackson.

Crazy!

Hot Air props

Hillary Clinton… Our Own Che Guevara??

When I get extra time I try and visit some of the other blogs I enjoy, the Plains Feeder is one of them. I love the insight there. So I must give props to ”Plains” for this blog.

What is scarry is that the base of the Democratic party are really revolutionaries. They are capable of violence, especially since these crazy conspiracy stories of 9/11, dark oil barrens in smokey rooms, and the like. In fact across history and even currant events. The Left has been far more murderouse than the right, religion, and all alcohol related death combined --- from the first century to the 19^th.

This is the article that shows the Democratic Party’s true colors.

We Are All in It Together, Clinton Says

Tuesday May 29, 4:41 pm ET

By Holly Ramer, Associated Press Writer

Clinton:

“Shared Prosperity Should Replace 'On Your Own' Society”

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it's time to replace an "on your own" society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity.

The Democratic senator said what the Bush administration touts as an ownership society really is an "on your own" society that has widened the gap between rich and poor.

"I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," she said. "I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

That means pairing growth with fairness, she said, to ensure that the middle-class succeeds in the global economy, not just corporate CEOs.

"There is no greater force for economic growth than free markets. But markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people a chance to succeed," she said. "Fairness doesn't just happen. It requires the right government policies."

Clinton spoke at the Manchester School of Technology, which trains high school students for careers in the construction, automotive, graphic arts and other industries. The school highlighted one of the nine goals she outlined: increasing support for alternative schools and community colleges.

"We have sent a message to our young people that if you don't go to college ... that you're thought less of in America. We have to stop this," she said.

Beyond education, Clinton said she would reduce special breaks for corporations, eliminate tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas and open up CEO pay to greater public scrutiny.

Clinton also said she would help people save more money by expanding and simplifying the earned income tax credit; create new jobs by pursuing energy independence; and ensure that every American has affordable health insurance.

Beyond education, Clinton said she would reduce special breaks for corporations, eliminate tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas and open up CEO pay to greater public scrutiny.

In 1965, the average corporate chief executive earned 24 times as much as the average worker, she said. By 2005, it was 262 times as much. In the last six years, productivity has increased, but family incomes have gone down, she said, leading to rising inequality and pessimism in the work force.

"It's not as if America hasn't been successful these last six years, but the measure of success does not relate to what's happening in households across our country," she said. "It's like trickle down economics, without the trickle."

RCTV Shut Down, Che Guevera, and the Left

The Left is on the militaristic march in Latin America. Many people lauded by the left as speaking for them have had their photos taken with this despot.

You can find much of their programming on YouTube, here:

http://youtube.com/profile?user=elobservadorenlinea

I find it odd that many on the Democratic Left in America back this guy. Cindy Sheehan, Danny Glover and others love Marxism for some reason, but then so does much of the Democrat base. Angelina Jolie has a tattoo of Che Guevara, as does Mike Tyson and other Hollywood starlets.

“The Cuban revoltuuion,” Hemingway wrote in 1960, “is “very pure and peaceful…. I am encouraged by it..... the Cuban people now have a decent chance for the first time.”

- Hemingway

"Che was the most complete human being of our age."
-Jean-Paul Sartre

Che Guevara founded the labor camp system, in which countless Cubans judged "deviant" by the regime would suffer and die. Many Christians has been judged as being "deviant" in Cuba. Carlos Santana has said "I want to transform this planet and get closer to, in 25 years, creating heaven on earth, free from flags, free from the corruption of politics and religion."

This is the goal of most on the Left, they want secularism as their religion. Here I will post an article by an author that is my “Book of the Month” choice. All I can say is that if there are any youngsters who think Che was a good guy… read on.

“The Cuban revoltuuion,” Hemingway wrote in 1960, “is “very pure and peaceful…. I am encouraged by it..... the Cuban people now have a decent chance for the first time.”

"Che was the most complete human being of our age."
-Jean-Paul Sartre

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

Che Guevara: 39 Years of Hype

Humberto Fontova

Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006

Thirty-nine years ago this week, Ernesto "Che" Guevara got a major dose of his own medicine. Without trial he was declared a murderer, stood against a wall and shot. Historically speaking, justice has rarely been better served. If the saying "What goes around comes around" ever fit, it's here.

The number of men Che's "revolutionary tribunals" condemned to death in the identical manner range from 400 to 1,892. The number of defenseless men (and boys) Che personally murdered with his own pistol runs into the dozens. Imagine Charles Manson, Ted Bundy and Son of Sam T-shirts on such as Johnny Depp and Prince Harry. Granted, these last three didn't match Che's murder tally.

"Executions?" Che Guevara exclaimed while addressing the hallowed halls of the U.N. General Assembly on December 9, 1964. "Certainly we execute!" he declared, to the claps and cheers of that august body. "And we will continue executing (emphasis HIS) as long as it is necessary! This is a war to the DEATH against the revolution's enemies!"

According to the Black Book of Communism, those firing-squad executions had reached around 10,000 by that time. Sloboban Milosevic, by the way, went on trial for allegedly ordering 8,000 executions. The charge against him by the same U.N. that deliriously applauded Che Guevara's proud proclamation was "genocide."

The "revolution's enemies" bound, gagged and murdered by Che and his henchmen were among the most enterprising and valiant fighters of the 20th century. These Cuban freedom fighters rank alongside the Polish Home Army and the Hungarian Freedom Fighters. They fought just as valiantly, as desperately – and, ultimately, just as hopelessly. They fought to the last bullet and usually to the death.

Most heartbreaking of all, they fought alone and abandoned. They specialized in ripping off their gags and blindfolds to yell "VIVA CRISTO REY!" or "VIVA CUBA LIBRE!" or "ABAJO COMUNISMO!" before the bullets shattered their bodies and the coup de grace from Che's henchman shattered their skulls.

The few survivors live today in places like Miami and New Jersey and qualify as the longest-suffering political prisoners in modern history. But you'll look for their stories on the History Channel and PBS and in The New York Times, etc., in vain. They fought the Left's premier pinup boys, you see. So their heroism doesn't qualify as politically correct drama.

To be ignored would be bad enough. Instead, whenever they are acknowledged, the mainstream media (MSM) parrot the Castroite slander against them of "terrorists" and "mafiosi." It's a tribute to the MSM and academia's incurable obtuseness and imbecility that they still depict Castro/Che as the "plucky underdogs" against an aggressive colossus – when that colossus was in fact protecting Castro's regime, as pledged to Nikita Khrushchev by JFK in October 1962.

"I don't need proof to execute a man," snapped Che to a judicial underling in 1959. "I only need proof that it's necessary to execute him!"

Not that you'd surmise any of the above from the mainstream media or academia – much less from Hollywood. From the high priests of the fourth estate Che Guevara receives only accolades. Time magazine, for instance, honors Che Guevara among "The 100 Most Important People of the Century."

The man who declared, "A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate" (and who set a spirited example), who boasted that he executed from "revolutionary conviction" rather than from any "archaic bourgeois details" like judicial evidence, and who urged "atomic extermination" as the final solution for those American "hyenas" (and came hearth-thumpingly close with nuclear missiles in October 1962) is hailed by Time not just among the "most important" people of the century – but in the "Heroes and Icons" section, alongside Anne Frank, Andrei Sakharov and Rosa Parks.

"If the nuclear missiles had remained, we would have used them against the very heart of America, including New York City," Che Guevara confided to the London Daily Worker in November 1962. "We will march the path of victory even if it costs millions of atomic victims. ... We must keep our hatred alive and fan it to paroxysm." This was Che's prescription for America almost half a century before Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and Al-Zarqawi appeared on our radar screens.

But for the prudence of Nikita Khrushchev, Che Guevara's fondest wish would have made New York's 9/11 explosions appear like an errant cherry bomb. Yet listed alongside Che Guevara in Time's "Heroes and Icons of the Century" is Mother Teresa. From here the ironies only get richer.

The most popular version of the Che T-shirt, for instance, sports the slogan "Fight Oppression" under his famous face. This is the face of a man who co-founded a regime that jailed more of its subjects than did Hitler's or Stalin's and declared that "individualism must disappear!"

In 1959, with the help of Soviet GRU agents, the man celebrated on that T-shirt helped found, train and indoctrinate Cuba's secret police. "Always interrogate your prisoners at night," Che ordered his goons. "A man's resistance is always lower at night." Today the world's largest Che mural adorns Cuba's Ministry of the Interior, the headquarters for Cuba's KGB- and STASI-trained secret police. Nothing could be more fitting.

Yet somehow, this same image is considered the height of hipness on everything from shirts, watches and snowboards to thong underwear and an undisclosed location on Angelina Jolie's epidermis. Ms. Jolie, by the way, recently won the U.N.'s Global Humanitarian Award for her work with refugees.

Will someone please inform Angelina Jolie that her tattoo idol, with his firing squads and prison camps, provoked one of the biggest refugee crises in the history of this hemisphere? On top of the 2 million who made it with only the clothes on their backs, the Cuban Archives Project meticulously compiled and documented by scholars Maria Werlau and Dr. Armando Lago, estimates that close to 80,000 Cubans have died of thirst and exposure, drowned, or been ripped apart by sharks while attempting to flee the handiwork of the man "Ms. Global Humanitarian" honors by having him permanently emblazoned on her skin.

Yet prior to Fidel and Che's glorious reign, Cuba took in more immigrants (primarily from Europe) as a percentage of population than the U.S, and this includes the Ellis Island years. Prior to the glorious Cuban revolution, people were as desperate to ENTER Cuba (especially from neighboring Haiti and Jamaica) as they are now to EXIT Cuba (at extreme risk to life and limb). Perhaps Castro acolyte Charlie Rangel can explain this? Perhaps Jesse "Viva Fidel! Viva Che!" Jackson can explain it?

Not that ignorance, willful or otherwise, is exactly rare on the topic of Cuba or Che Guevara. When Carlos Santana and Eric Burdon (among many other rockers) smugly sport their elegant Che T-shirts, they plug a regime that in the mid- to late '60s rounded up "roqueros" (Cuban rock-and-roll fans) and "longhairs" en masse and herded them into prison camps for forced labor under a scorching sun. These young prisoners' "counter-revolutionary crimes" often involved nothing more than listening to music by The Animals and Santana.

When Madonna camped it up in her Che outfit for the cover of her American Life CD, she plugged a regime that criminalized gays and anything smacking of gay mannerisms. In the mid-'60s the crime of effeminate behavior got thousands of youths yanked off Cuba's streets and parks by secret police and dumped in prison camps with the sign "Work Will Make Men out of You" in bold letters above the gate (the sign at Auschwitz's gate read: "Work Will Set You Free) and with machine-gunners posted on the watchtowers.

The initials for these camps were UMAP, not GULAG. But the conditions were identical.

"Iron" Mike Tyson used to end fights with his arms upraised in triumph. In 2002 he got a huge Che tattoo on his torso, visited Cuba, and has been consistently and horribly stomped in fight after fight ever since, a process perfectly mimicking the combat record of his tattoo idol. Che was indeed proficient at smiting his enemies, Mike, thousands of them – but only after they were bound, gagged and blindfolded. Chances are, nobody disclosed this to you in Cuba, much less in the mainstream media. But I'm afraid the National Boxing Federation won't allow it anyway.

When the crowd of A-list hipsters and Beautiful People at the Sundance Film Festival (which included everyone from Tipper and Al Gore to Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep and Paris Hilton) exploded in a rapturous standing ovation for Robert Redford's "The Motorcycle Diaries," they were cheering a film glorifying a man who jailed or exiled most of Cuba's best writers, poets and independent filmmakers while converting Cuba's press and cinema – at Czech machine-gunpoint – into propaganda agencies for a Stalinist regime.

Executive producer of the movie Robert Redford (who always kicks off the film festival with a long dirge about the importance of artistic freedom) was forced to screen the film for Che's widow (who heads Cuba's Che Guevara Studies Center) and Fidel Castro for their approval before release. We can only imagine the shrieks of outrage from the Sundance crowd about "censorship!" and "selling out!" had, say, Robert Ackerman required (and acquiesced in) Nancy Reagan's approval to release HBO's "The Reagans" that same year.

Che groupies are many and varied. Christopher Hitchens, for instance, marvels at Che's "untamable defiance" and assures us in the same New York Times article that "Che was no hypocrite."

The noted historian Benicio Del Toro, who will star as his hero in a Hollywood biopic due next year, says that "Che was just one of those guys who walked the walk and talked the talk. There's just something cool about people like that. The more I get to know Che, the more I respect him."

More than his cruelty, megalomania or even his epic stupidity, what most distinguished Ernesto "Che" Guevara from his peers was his sniveling cowardice. His groupies can run off in a huff, slam their bedroom door and dive headfirst into their beds sobbing and kicking and punching the pillows all they want – but Che surrendered to the Bolivan Rangers voluntarily, from a safe distance, and was captured physically sound and with a fully loaded pistol.

One day before his death in Bolivia, Che Guevara – for the first time in his life – finally faced something properly describable as combat. So he ordered his guerrilla charges to give no quarter, to fight to the last breath and to the last bullet.

A few hours later, his "untamable defiance," lack of hypocrisy and "walking of the walk" all manifested themselves. With his men doing just what he ordered (fighting and dying to the last bullet), a slightly wounded Che snuck away from the firefight and surrendered with a full clip in his pistol, while whimpering to his captors: "Don't Shoot! I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!"

His Bolivian captors begged to differ.