"Ecuador President Dissolves Supreme Court"

[GreenPartyVoter]

"QUITO, Ecuador - President Lucio Gutierrez declared a state of emergency in the capital city of this Andean nation and dissolved the Supreme Court, saying the unpopular judges were the cause of three days of pot-banging street protests in Quito."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050416/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/ecuador_emergency

Hope our gov't doesn't get any bright ideas about dissolving courts.

Oh wait, we're already on that road. X(

[Igel]

1. Eh. This is my favorite line from the story:

"Although they had opposed the court that was appointed by the president's congressional allies in December, his political foes immediately labeled its summary dissolution an act of a dictator."

Court was met with protests and pot-banging; Gutierrez dissolves it; its dissolution is met with protest.

Hard not to get out the popcorn. But it's early.

Maybe Gutierrez should have just expanded and packed the court, then had a law banning pot-banging. But that would be *so* derivative.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Yep

[Jack Rabbit]

3. BBC (early Sunday): Ecuador lifts state of emergency

From the BBC Online
Dated Sunday April 17 02:12 GMT (Saturday 7:12 pm PDT)

Ecuador lifts state of emergency

Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutierrez has lifted a state of emergency in the capital, Quito, less than 24 hours after he imposed it.

Thousands of people had taken to the streets of the city in defiance of the new emergency powers.

They were also protesting about his decision to dismiss the Supreme Court.

The magistrates were appointed by the president's allies in Congress in December, sparking a wave of popular street protests.

Read more.

[driver8]

4. Oh man...don't give the shrub any ideas!! n/t