Category Archives: Venezuela

2008 Election, Immigration, Media, MRIOTD, Politics, Russia, Uncategorized, Venezuela

Today’s Special

News of Venezuela’s referendum which would crown the hemisphere’s idiot, Hugo Chavez, as dictator for life, and usurp the democracy movement is sounding all too familiar. Too close to call. Opponents are acting confident that they won by an 8 percent margin. The government has not released the results yet. Will be interesting to see what Chavez does if he loses.

UPDATE: 1-hour later: Chavez loses referendum 51% to 49%. OK, now stand back and watch how well Chavez takes this news.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin did what Chavez hoped to do. His political party won by a landslide. Of course, it helps when you only allow the opposition (pro-Western) party on the tightly controlled state airwaves and characterize them as provocateurs in the pay of foreign overlords. Scaring voters of a ‘western plot’ also helps.

A small victory for democracy in Hong Kong. But we’ll take it.

Things aren’t going well in Iowa for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Aside from polling second to Sen. Barack Obama in Iowa, she was booed by a group of 3000 fellow democrats in Des Moines when she spoke in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. Iowans correctly read that as nothing more than lipstick on a pig named ‘ amnesty.’ I read that as Iowa democrats are not liberal like she is. It highlights her arrogance, not leadership, to even go there after seeing how badly and how broadly the country rejected Bush’s comprehensive plan.

And qualifying for the Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day, the media comes to her aide in the aftermath of the hostage ‘crisis’ in one of her campaign offices like this.

When the hostages had been released and their alleged captor arrested, a regal-looking Hillary Rodham Clinton strolled out of her Washington home, the picture of calm in the face of crisis.

and this explains why.

It was a vintage example of a candidate taking a negative and turning it into a positive. And coming just six weeks before the presidential voting begins, the timing could hardly have been more beneficial to someone hoping to stave off a loss in the Iowa caucuses and secure a win in the New Hampshire primary.

 

Politics, Uncategorized, Venezuela, War On Terror

Chavez To His People: You’re A Traitor

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Having all the diplomatic tact of his best bud Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (the hemisphere’s idiot) told his people today that if you don’t vote for his constitutional reform on December 2, then you are a traitor. In his own words . . .

“He who says he supports Chavez but votes ‘no’ is a traitor, a true traitor.”

The changes to the Venezuelan constitution that he calls ‘reform’ will eliminate term limits for the president, and more. The changes effectively render the votes of the people meaningless, since he won’t face term limits and the people on the ground running the local governments will be hand picked by him, not the people. Thereby setting himself up as a lifelong dictator like his other best bud, Fidel Castro. This is his goal.

The proposed revisions would do away with presidential term limits, extend terms from six to seven years, let Chavez appoint regional vice presidents and eliminate Central Bank authority, among other changes. Critics warn he would also have the power to shut down Venezuelan newspapers, television and radio stations by declaring a state of emergency, and the government could detain citizens without charges during such a period.

Chavez has already taken over, nationalized, U.S. companies Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips in Venezuela. He has already taken over or shut down TV networks and newspapers who were critical of his administration and who aptly characterize his proposed changes as a legislative coup to be dictator for life.

And this is the guy that we should trust to supply our Navy bases with fuel? I don’t think so.

Update 11/24/07: According to the first poll in Venezuela on this Chavez’s ‘reforms,’ he is losing ground. Voter turnout for the Dec. 2 initiative is growing and, according to the poll, increased voter turnout trends against Chavez. It is something to watch.

Russia, Venezuela

Aid Begins To Arrive In Bangladesh

Saudi Arabia and the United States lead the way in relief to the devastated areas. Oh, and nothing from Venezuela, Iran, China, or Russia. As usual, that ‘evil,’ (according to the hemisphere’s idiot, Hugo Chavez) United States responds with ships and helicopters to act as the delivery agent and coordinator.

How bad is it?

The confirmed death toll stood at over 3,100 but officials feared it could run into many thousands after all the victims in isolated areas were accounted for.

The head of the Bangladeshi Red Crescent, a part of the global Red Cross federation, said he believed between 5,000 and 10,000 people had died.

Venezuela

Chavez At It Again

Hugo Chavez gets something he has been needing for quite some time. A big ‘SHUT UP‘ on his inflammatory rhetoric. Here’s a quote from the hemisphere’s idiot.

Aznar, a conservative who was an ally of Bush as prime minister, “is a fascist,” Chavez said in a speech at the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. “Fascists are not human. A snake is more human.”

What’s that sulphur smell?

Spanish King Juan Carlos, seated next to Spain’s prime minister Jose Zapatero, angrily turned to Chavez and said, “Why don’t you shut up?”

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, responded during his own allotted time by urging Chavez to be more diplomatic in his words and respect other leaders despite political differences.

related: Chavez = Citgo U.S.

Politics, Russia, Venezuela

Price Controls Don’t Work

Ever hear that the fix is worse than the problem? Due in no small way to the ‘save the planet’ hysteria, bio-tech industries have driven the cost of basic foodstuffs up worldwide. That’s when, sure as gravity, the law of supply and demand inserts itself and the four, or six, or eight cylinder cars you drive begin to compete with your four, six, or eight family members for fuel/food.

And again, sure as gravity, politicians will call for price controls to ‘solve’ the problem. I am not aware that price controls have ever effectively altered the law of supply and demand. What they lead to is more shortages of supply. When the $20 loaf is forced to be sold at $2 via ‘price controls,’ that $2 loaf will disappear. IE. its $2 only if you can find one. Witness the empty supermarket shelves in Venezuela where the hemisphere’s idiot, Hugo Chavez, put price controls in effect for his oil rich country. That is exactly what Vladimir Putin will get when he does it. You can’t expect a communist to understand how markets react to supply and demand, but his motivations are more sinister. He is motivated by an upcoming election, not feeding his people.

Putin is just trying to save his administration’s popularity before the parliamentary elections in December.

Russia is introducing Soviet-style price controls on some basic foods in an effort to prevent spiralling prices from denting the Putin administration’s popularity ahead of parliamentary polls in December . . . to freeze prices at October 15 levels on selected types of bread, cheese, milk, eggs and vegetable oil until the end of the year.

He is more interested in himself and his party than his country. Not unlike the behavior of Democrats in Washington.

MRIOTD, Venezuela

Chavez Calls Catholic Leaders “Morally Unacceptable”

In a you have to see it to believe it moment, Venezuelan Dictator and President Hugo Chavez, criticizes Roman Catholic leaders in his country as “morally unacceptable” after they called him on his attempt to re-write their constitution to strike out the term limits so he can remain in office.

Church leaders on Friday issued a strongly-worded statement accusing Chavez of seeking to concentrate power with an “authoritarian” proposal to overhaul the OPEC nation’s constitution that he helped rewrite in 1999.

“They say the reform is morally unacceptable – they are morally unacceptable,” Chavez said in a government press release sent out on Sunday night. “Those bishops that we have make us ashamed.”

Pensacola, Uncategorized, Venezuela

Why Is Citgo On Our Navy Bases?

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Did you know that Citgo is on every Navy base in the United States? To me, there is just something wrong with doing business with a dictator like Chavez, who, with his new bud Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has all but declared war on us. So why should our Navy be doing business with Citgo U.S.?

According to an official at Pensacola NAS, it is because the Navy put that contract out for bid and Citgo was the only company to offer a bid. I find it hard to believe that no other ‘domestic’ oil company bid for the job but will allow for the possibility.

The good news is that the contracts, there are two, are going to expire in 2008 and 2010, according to the official I spoke to at Pensacola NAS. Unless we are prepared to invade Venezuela to insure Chavez performs on his contracts, I think the risk to our national security is not worth taking and we should look to another truly domestic supplier. Granted that Citgo U.S. employs U.S. citizens, but so does Exxon and the rest of them. I’d rather give the business to the company that I trust would perform on the contract under any and all circumstances than to trust Chavez to not shut off the supply.

A stronger case for being self-sufficient where our oil production is concerned cannot be made when you have to trust people like Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. Trusting him is more like playing a game of Russian roulette with a fully loaded weapon.

The solution to this dilemma is to simply get another vendor to bid and find out why none of them bid on it the last time. Are our US owned oil companies not able to compete? Was the request for bids written in such a way that Citgo was the only company that could meet the criteria?

My sympathy goes out to all those dedicated U.S. employees who make a living working for Citgo U.S. because it isn’t their fault that Chavez is an untrustworthy idiot. My fondest wish is that all of them can find jobs in the industry with other oil companies and give Hugo Chavez a present on the next May Day celebration by walking out the door on May 1, 2008.

related links, Get Citgo out of our military bases

Uncategorized, Venezuela

Venezuela Jails More Journalists

Did you know Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela made some ‘reforms’ to their criminal code a couple years ago. The result being they can now lock up journalists who print anything bad about them.

The Virginia-based World Press Freedom Committee says thatDavid Perez Hansen defamation of a public official remains a crime in dozens of countries, including in several democracies, “where legislators should know better than to allow such poor examples to exist.” The committee said countries where defamation laws are in effect include Russia, Ethiopia, Cambodia and Tajikistan.

The situation is particularly acute in Venezuela. The Virginia press group said in a report released in April that Venezuelan criminal code “reforms” that took effect in 2005 stiffened penalties for defamation of the country’s president, attorney general, National Assembly legislators and senior military leaders. Penalties for defamation increased from a maximum of 30 months in prison to a new maximum of four years’ imprisonment if the defamation is made in a document distributed to the public.

No word if the criminal code also covers lawyers.

link: Many Reporters Worldwide Face Prison

related link

Fairness Doctrine, Uncategorized, Venezuela

Hugo Chaves’ Version Of The ‘Fairness Doctrine’

The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, answered critics of his government who say he is “becoming increasingly authoritarian and cracking down on dissent” by saying that foreigners who publicly criticize him or his government while visiting Venezuela will be expelled from the country.

“How long are we going to allow a person — from any country in the world — to come to our own house to say there’s a dictatorship here, that the president is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it?” Chavez asked during his weekly television and radio program.

Sounds eerily familiar doesn’t it? Proponents of the Fairness Doctrine appear to have a lot in common with the hemisphere’s idiot.

Link: Chavez to Kick Out Foreigners Critical of Him