Fujimori convicted of human rights abuses

No doubt this is still the middle of the story, not the end, but I hear from the NY Times that Fujimori has been convicted of human rights abuses. This man exemplifies the flabbergasting politics of Perú (though Alan Garcia, the current president, is another big political puzzle).

Fujimori led Perú during some of its worst times—70,000 people died during his war on the Maoist group The Shining Path and Marxist-Leninist Tupac Amaru—and then he was caught in a corruption scandal when his intelligence chief was recorded bribing a lawmakers and businessmen. Fujimori fled to Japan and faxed his resignation. Five years later he planned to return to run for reelection (can you believe?) and instead got extradicted by Chile and then tried in Peru.

Alberto Fujimori was the president for ten years after he seized control of the government in a coup d'etat, shut down Congress and suspended the Constitution... yet in 1995 when he ran for reelection he won with a 2/3 majority. Then he ran for a dubious third term and in the hubbub that followed he fled to Japan...

Candidates

I have been trolling the internet, trying to get a sense of the difference between McCain and Obama in terms of food policy, since it's the issue I feel I know the most about to begin with. It turns out this isn't so easy to find out... From Marion Nestle's blog I was directed to a posting by a graduate student at Cornell, Alexandra Lewin. I was surprised at what I learned, for instance that Clinton was the top recipient of food industry donations, Obama was fourth, and McCain was ninth. It seems to me from looking at the differences between McCain and Obama's vote that Obama is only slightly more in line with my foodie values. I still want to vote for him, because I like his tax policy and his restraint from hyperbole.