Fairweather Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 The people of Venezuela have spoken. No demonstrations. No 'parallel government' sworn in. No chairs thrown or shout-downs. But to our resident socialists who regularly sing Hugo's praises, I have a question: How can one man who controls the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government - and has nationalized the country's largest industries, seized private 'unproductive' land, and used his mob to shred the constitution so he can rule in perpetuity - be any better than the leader you so despise here at home? At some point, Chavez' personality cult will wear down and the people of Venezuela will want change. Unfortunately it will be too late. With one notable exception (now reformed?), guys like Chavez don't go away when the poll numbers start to slump. They simply transition from 'elected leader' to dictator and start killing their political opponents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 How can one man who controls the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government - and has nationalized the country's largest industries, seized private 'unproductive' land, and used his mob to shred the constitution so he can rule in perpetuity - be any better than the leader you so despise here at home? A: Chavez has yet to invade another country under false pretenses. B: Chavez hasn't run the most formerly admired country in the world into the toilette. C: Chavez doesn't lead the world's largest greenhouse gas producing country while denying that global warming is a problem. C: Chavez doesn't have his finger on the world's most powerful nuclear button. The list goes on, but why bother? At this point, there isn't anyone in this audience who needs a kindergarten lesson in current events. Speaking of kindergarten lessons, dissapproval of a greater buffoon does not translate to support of a lesser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 You make some valid points. People of Valenzuela will grow tired of Chavez after he'd destroyed their economy, but they will be powerless to remove him. At least in this country we can still have free elections- well, at least until we go to paperless ballots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_Puget Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 Peron Argentina has never recovered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 (edited) See what happens when you give Madonna the keys to the kingdom and Antonia Banderas a singing role? Mel-viiii-nas! Mel-viiii-nas! Edited December 4, 2006 by tvashtarkatena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 The real answer is that neither his actions nor the condition of the people in his country are likely to deter from the adulation so long as his rhetoric is in tune with the ideological pre-commitments of the folks who still believe in Socialism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prole Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 This thread is long on unsubstantiated claims of ruined economies, dictatorships, cults of personality, false consciousness, coup predictions, etc. and short on any substantive analysis of what is actually happening there. Sounds like y'all have been drinking deep the "liberal media's" blue kool-aid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prole Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 ...and regurgitating it undigested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 i'm not able to think both bush and chavez are shitheads? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 (edited) Hmmm, 10% economic growth under that commie Chavez verses near 0% economic growth slated for us for the remainder of Bush's term... NYT article Yes, dark days are indeed ahead for Venezuela; as dark as, say, the color of crude oil, freshly pumped. Edited December 4, 2006 by tvashtarkatena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexual_chocolate Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 How can one man who controls the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government - and has nationalized the country's largest industries, seized private 'unproductive' land, and used his mob to shred the constitution so he can rule in perpetuity - be any better than the leader you so despise here at home? At some point, Chavez' personality cult will wear down and the people of Venezuela will want change. Unfortunately it will be too late. With one notable exception, guys like Chavez don't go away when the poll numbers start to slump. They simply transition from 'elected leader' to dictator and start killing their political opponents. Can you substantiate your charges in the first paragraph? Inre second paragraph: I believe his popularity is based a bit more on actual changes in the living conditions for the majority of people in Venezuela instead of being simply a personality issue. A notable drop in poverty, access to health care, affordable food and water, literacy programs, affordable housing.... Such terrible things, really? Especially in a country with such vast natural resources and previously such endemic poverty. I applaud his attempts to redress these gross inequities, and I applaud his success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Phil Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 Even Mussolini made the trains run on time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 and he looked better in a dress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_Puget Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 US Government Projection regarding US Economic Growth: 2007 2.9% 2008 3.15% IMF 2007 forecast for Venezuela => 3.7 (Inflation 19.6%) IMF Average forecast growth for Latin America = 4.7% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prole Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 Ass-backwards again. The real answer is that neither his actions nor the condition of the people in his country are likely to deter from the adulation so long as his rhetoric is in tune with the ideological pre-commitments of the folks who still believe in Socialism. From: AFP ...(A)nalysts said Chavez drew much of his electoral support from impoverished Venezuelans more interested in the government's petrodollar-financed social projects than in its leftist ideology. "People voted for Chavez because he is a popular leader who spends a lot of public funds, who distributes much of the oil income," said Luis Vicente Leon, who heads the respected Datanalisis polling institute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 and he looked better in a dress. not to mention upside down w/ his mistress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvashtarkatena Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 (edited) US Government Projection regarding US Economic Growth: 2007 2.9% 2008 3.15% IMF 2007 forecast for Venezuela => 3.7 (Inflation 19.6%) IMF Average forecast growth for Latin America = 4.7% As always, different sources, different projections. Venezuela's growth for the past three years under Chavez has exceeded 11% per annum (per the World Bank), dispelling the popular myth that his presidency = economic ruin for Venezuela. Having said that, he'd best do something (back off on some price controls, for example) to curtail the rising inflation in Venezuela. And as always, I'll forego a smug little emoticon, or what I like to call a dipshit's period, to punctuate my obviously irrefutable opinions. Edited December 4, 2006 by tvashtarkatena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather Posted December 5, 2006 Author Share Posted December 5, 2006 How can one man who controls the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government - and has nationalized the country's largest industries, seized private 'unproductive' land, and used his mob to shred the constitution so he can rule in perpetuity - be any better than the leader you so despise here at home? A: Chavez has yet to invade another country under false pretenses. B: Chavez hasn't run the most formerly admired country in the world into the toilette. C: Chavez doesn't lead the world's largest greenhouse gas producing country while denying that global warming is a problem. C: Chavez doesn't have his finger on the world's most powerful nuclear button. The list goes on, but why bother? At this point, there isn't anyone in this audience who needs a kindergarten lesson in current events. Speaking of kindergarten lessons, dissapproval of a greater buffoon does not translate to support of a lesser. A. The relatives of innocents kidnapped and murdered by Chavez-supported FARC in next-door Colombia probably see things differently. 300,000 rifles for a 64,000-man army, you say? B. No. He is simply leading a nation - whose capital has the highest murder rate on Earth - deeper into the toilet. C. True. He simply sells his nation's heavy, sulfur-rich sludge to those who burn it. C. Hey! That's two C's! You're not one of the Chavez-loving commies about whom I spoke, so I'll leave it at "D" (?). BTW, I thought I was on your ignore user list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Doesn't Baghdad have the worlds highest murder rate? Or is terror not considered murder Fairweather? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klar404 Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 I'm not sure what Chavez is up but 17 cents a gallon for gas is pretty screwed up for the enviroment. Here is a lovely video that makes the United Nations deal seem tame.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PC2RpDzYeo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather Posted December 5, 2006 Author Share Posted December 5, 2006 Scary shit. His loud guttoral ranting coordinated with the flailing hand gestures then followed by strategic pause reminds me of Hitler - while his endless repeat, rephrase, rehash of the same rant harkens Castro. Even if you agree with his hatred of Bush you must admit that the guy is NOT head-of-state material. Thanks for the link. I hadn't seen that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prole Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 His loud guttoral ranting coordinated with the flailing hand gestures then followed by strategic pause reminds me of Hitler... You heard it here first folks, the birth of a hot new conservative buzzword: PETROFASCIST! Don't worry Fairweather, you can take all the credit. Hell, write a book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather Posted December 5, 2006 Author Share Posted December 5, 2006 His loud guttoral ranting coordinated with the flailing hand gestures then followed by strategic pause reminds me of Hitler... You heard it here first folks, the birth of a hot new conservative buzzword: PETROFASCIST! Don't worry Fairweather, you can take all the credit. Hell, write a book! Prole. I'm willing to laugh with, at, or by myself. But your post just aint funny, nor does it make sense. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Prole. I'm willing to laugh with, at, or by myself. But your post just aint funny, nor does it make sense. Sorry. S. Arabia, Iran, Russia, Venezuala.. the list goes on, and the term is very accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prole Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 His loud guttoral ranting coordinated with the flailing hand gestures then followed by strategic pause reminds me of Hitler... You heard it here first folks, the birth of a hot new conservative buzzword: PETROFASCIST! Don't worry Fairweather, you can take all the credit. Hell, write a book! Prole. I'm willing to laugh with, at, or by myself. But your post just aint funny, nor does it make sense. Sorry. Who's joking? I'm taking bets as we speak on when the word "Petrofascist" first passes a FoxNews pundit's lips. Any takers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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