Toasting death

At a holiday diner party last night, a guest proposed a toast to the death of Augusto Pinochet.

He was as reprehensible as dictators come.

Yet I held my tongue at the toast, wishing to be polite. What I didn't say was, "And let us not forget how our own government overthrew a functioning democracy to put him in power in the first place, out of fear of the -ism of the day. Let's remember how evil our own govermnent can be."

But let us not forget that.

Read more on that point here. The CIA helped in the coup, since Allende wanted to nationalize some key industries.