I saw the commercial above the other day on Babalú blog, a blog written by several, sometimes radical, Cuban exiles. Named “I Pledge”, it has a eerie section where actors pledge to “serve Obama”. I’m mostly ignorant of the situation, and know only what I read in the blog post, where I first heard of Obama wanting to speak to all the nation’s students. Many parents were concerned that their children would be subjected to indoctrination and partisan messages from the President.

This is actually happening in Venezuela, where the new education law passed a few weeks ago gives the government the power to forbid any teacher to speak against Chavismo, and to teach, even in private schools, government propaganda as fact. Even in Honduras, leftist teachers have been grading students on how well they have assimilated pro-Zelaya propaganda.

Although it does seem to me as an overreaction by the US parents, CNN has spun a glistening web of ridicule to discredit those who were afraid of Obama’s speech.

Why should there be “left” and “right” news sources? This politization and polarization of truth only serves to breed ignorance and senseless hate in both sides of the political equator.

“In Venezuela, no television channel has been closed despite the fact that in many cases the television channels supported a coup d’etat,” Reuters reported Hugo Chávez as saying.

Chávez’s statement should be followed by a disclaimer reminding readers of his highly publicized Radio Caracas TV (RCTV) shutdown in 2007, for playing footage of soldiers shooting unarmed protesters during the 2002 coup attempt against him. Read the whole article. Where is the correction? Chávez shut down RCTV. That is a fact.

Reuters should print a retraction, I’ve emailed them about it. What’s more worrying is that it is their most popular article at the moment.