This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Hugo Chavez

  • Lazy Sunday Night Links

    I wondered where Robin at Chickenhawk Express was hiding. I hadn’t heard a peep from her since early Thursday. I was beginning to get worried. But then I popped over there tonight and I see why – she’s written a legal brief that should be enough to get the media indicted entitled “They Indicted the Haditha Marines Without a Trial – Part I Newsweek“ Please read it – truly a masterpiece. The best thing about it – it’s only Part I.

    COBDanny reports that Hugo Chavez tells the world that su Tio Fidel will never die. Mora at Babalu Blog says Oogo let the cat out of the bag.

    You have to watch this video of Chris Wallace verbally smacking Bill Moyers around at Hot Air.

    Jules Crittenden’s “Little Saddams“ is a must read if you think we need to leave Iraq.

    Bloodthirsty Liberal is getting Katrina Fatigue – I passed that point when I listened to a supposed Libertarian complain that the Feds weren’t doing enough to bail his whinin’ ass out.

    Curt at Flopping Aces discovers that the DUmmies twigged to our evil plan in “Bush has Killed the Birds!”

    mRed at Invincible Armor has an excellent article on the extermination of Black children (something I’ve been saying for years) in “One quarter of the Black population is now missing“  – I’d add “…just like Margaret Sanger planned”.

    Gateway Pundit reports that the mullahs are pleased they’ve finally got a smart bomb. Well that’s hardly news in Iran – Kamangir translates that Amadinejad just got through telling a group of students that Iran has much to teach the world about rocket science. Even though they still engage in public executions.

  • Saturday links

    There’s just so many good writers out there saying all of the things I wish I’d written, I’m just putting up their links today.

    COBDanny reminds me to take my meds before reading that he agrees with Dean on at least one thing.

    Dadmanly puts President Bush’s speech last week into historical context and disputes NY Times interpretation.

    At Flopping Aces, Curt blows a New York Times article about suicide rates in the military out of the water, while Todd Anthony reports that a Democrat turns the tables and calls for continued US presence in Iraq.

    Republicanpundit at Hang Right Politics, twice, here and then here, disputes the history revision we’re experiencing now as the media takes up the torch for the Democrats to dispute their shameful participation in the murder, imprisonment and dislocation of millions in Southeast Asia.

    Shiro-Korshid Forever (hat tip to Dreams Into Lightening) writes the most heart-swelling and heart-breaking post describing his journey into the final moments of the life of a recent victim of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

    Gateway Pundit reports that Iraqis in the US protested terrorism yesterday at the Saudi embassy – wonder why they chose the Saudis? Well, GP’ll tell you.

    Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters warns “AP Spins Record Low Unemployment as Problem That Could Get Worse“.

    Marc Masferrer at Uncommon Sense reminds us that while we’re waiting for word on Castro’s death (or the lack thereof) there are still living Cubans wasting away in his prisons.

    Daniel at Venezuela News and Views explains Chavez’ plan to move the Venezuelan clock 30 minutes and his plan to rename the city of Caracas.

    Kate at A Columbo-Americana’s Perspective reports that Chavez is dumping $6 million into Bolivia’s military and buying Russian transport planes despite food shortages and stunning poverty in Caracas.

  • Red Ken and Redder Hugo

    Hugo Chavez paying for the heating oil of the poor in South Bronx Joe Kennedy shilling for him and now he’s underwriting the bus passes of poor Londoners with Red Ken playing backup. The Wall Street Journal’s Review and Outlook piece today entitled “Brits on Venezuelan Dole“;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has found a British business partner in the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. Mr. Chávez is doling out $32 million, which is supposed to allow a 50% cut in bus fares for low-income Londoners. In return, Transport for London will go to Caracas to tutor locals on fixing traffic jams.

    Of course the Journal’s editors point out that Britain’s per capita GDP is $31,000 compared to venezuela’s $6000, but they stop short of pointing out that simple agricultural products are missing from the shelves of Caracas’ markets – things like milk, eggs and rice.

    But Red Ken and Redder Hugo have cut a completely useless deal – purely for the sake of making themselves look better than they really are. And of course, who’s fault is it that poor Londoners need someone to supplement their bus fares (someone aside from Red Ken, their mayor)? I’ll give two guesses;

    “Frankly, I’d rather be getting into bed with [Mr. Chávez] than, as the British government has been, getting into bed with George W. Bush.”

    Any excuse, I guess. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Congress has given Chavez initial approval for his reforms – no big surprise there, huh?

    After about six hours of debate, National Assembly president Cilia Flores said Mr. Chávez’s proposed changes to the constitution, including the lifting of presidential term limits, received “majority approval.” Ms. Flores did not say how many of the 167 lawmakers voted in favor of the reforms, saying only that they were approved with overwhelming support. Final approval is expected within two or three months, and the changes would have to be approved by voters in a referendum. The National Assembly has been solidly pro-Chávez since the opposition boycotted a 2005 vote and had been expected to sign off on the changes proposed by Mr. Chávez in Tuesday’s first reading. The reforms, if approved, would extend presidential terms from six to seven years and allow Mr. Chávez to run again in 2013.

    So where are the US Democrats on Chavez and his Constitutional reforms? So far, Chavez has acted exactly like the Bush caracature the Democrats used to threatened voters in the last two presidential elections. It would seem to me that if the “human rights” Democrats were truly all about human rights, they’d be up in arms about a self-proclaimed adversary stealing rights from his people, without a peep from the legislature almost on a daily basis. I’ll tell you why they don’t have anything to say about it – because Chavez is doing exactly what US Democrats want to do. They want to shut down the broadcast opposition, they want to rule by decree, they want to rewrite the Constitution in their favor. They don’t oppose Chavez, they envy him. And maybe they’ll even move the clocks ahead 1/2 hour like Chavez wants according to the New York Times;

    Moved by claims that it will help the metabolism and productivity of his fellow citizens, President Hugo Chávez said clocks would be moved forward by half an hour at the start of 2008. He announced the change on his Sunday television program, accompanied by his highest-ranking science adviser, Héctor Navarro, the minister of science and technology. “This is about the metabolic effect, where the human brain is conditioned by sunlight,” Mr. Navarro said in comments reported by Venezuela’s official news agency. Mr. Chávez said he was “certain” that the time change, which would be accompanied by a move to a six-hour workday, would be accepted.

    He sounds more like the new revolutionary leader of Woody Allen’s movie “Bananas” as quoted by Sweetness and Light.

  • Chavez saves Peru!

    Well, actually, no he didn’t. According to Kate at A Columbo-Americana’s Perspective, Chavez promised 120 tons of aid to Peru’s earthquake victims and what they got was government surplus canned tuna with Chavez’ picture on the label. I guess he’s auditioning to be the new mermaid on the “Chicken of the Sea” label.

    In other unrelated news, Confederate Yankee (with a hat tip to Fauta’s Blog) blows apart the ammo shortage problem. Seems AP got the story backwards – the war isn’t causing a shortage of ammunition, police demand has increased. D’oh!

    From Pajama Media’s Richard Miniter, the research The New Republic should have done on Beauchamps before they published one word from him. (h/t Molten Thought)

  • Hezbollah recruiting in Venezuela

    Just when you think things in Venezuela can’t get more weird, things get more weird. I just ran across this from Jungle Mom at The Jungle Hut;

    If the United States were to attack Iran, the only country ruled by God, we would counter-attack in Latin America and even inside the United States itself. We have the means and we know how to go about it. We will sabotage the transportation of oil from Latin America to the US. You have been warned.

    Sounds like Ahmadinejad! This statement is from Hezbollah Latin America, also known as Hezbollah Venezuela. Signed by Teodoro, called Commander Teodoro. He was a guevarists guerrilla that organized disorder in the Maracaibo region in the past. He was in born Ciudad Bolivar, and was converted to Islam. (Funny how commies convert to Islam!) He is a Chavista.

    Teodoro is running a social experiment among the Guajiros of Venezuela. Anyone who has paid attention to the news of Venezuela will realize that the evangelical missionaries were removed by the government of Chavez and no new religious worker’s visas have been granted for over 2 years.

    While Chavez accuses the North American missionaries of being “spies” and genocide, coercing conversions to Christianity, Chavez proclaims that Shi’ite Iranian “missionaries” are welcome to live and work among the tribes.

    Any anti-American port in a storm. I’d guess it’s to make little suicide bombers that can slip across our borders and blend in a little better than an Arab.

  • Chavez is suddenly news

    Apparently the newswires finally noticed that Chavez is working to rewrite Venezuelan Constitution this morning;

    President Hugo Chavez called for changes to Venezuela’s constitution Wednesday night, delivering a key address pitching reforms that are expected to allow him to be re-elected indefinitely.
     
    Chavez, speaking to the National Assembly, said the changes affect “less than 10 percent” of the constitution but would bring Venezuela “new horizons for the new era.” Chavez, who is seeking to transform Venezuelan society along socialist lines, denied he wants lifelong power as his opponents allege.

    “They accuse me of making plans to be in power forever or to concentrate power. We know it isn’t like that. It’s power of the people,” Chavez said. “So many lies in the world. I doubt there is any country on this planet with a democracy more alive than the one we enjoy in Venezuela today.

    Since we already know that Chavez rigged his last election and he had Jimmy Carter certify it for him, there’s nothing that can stop him from rigging the next several elections, too. And since he silences his opposition (as he did RCTV) and he has the unerring support of Hollywood’s biggest spaztards, and military support of Iran, we can be sure he’ll continue in perpetuity as the leader of Venezuela como su Tio Fidel. The Devil’s Excrement writes that the government is cracking down even more on the press, accusing them of terrorism against the State.

    Poor Daniel of Venezuela News and Views wrote last night that Chavez’ latest rant (Chavez calls them a cadena which means chain) lasted for hours and since he commands the television stations now, each carried his hours-long cadena – and Venezuelans were forced to go to the internet for news about the earthquake in Peru. Daniel links to Bruni of Cuentos Intrascendentes, who in turn summarizes Chavez’ reform plan;

    The two articles of reform;

    Article 1: All of the power belongs to the People

    Article 2: Hugo Chavez changes his name. He is now called Hugo People

    Somewhere this morning I read that Chavez proposed a mandatory six-hour work day be added to the Constitution. I can’t find the link again (so if anyone else sees it, let me know). It’s just more populist drivel from the little socialist goofball. It’ll give the impression that the unemployment rate in Venezuela has gone down, but there’ll be less money in Venezuelans’ pockets as a result. But more time for them to protest, he’ll find out eventually.

    And of course, no matter how anti-American a foreign dictator gets, you can always find a Democrat to cuddle with them. From Kate at A Columbo-Americana’s Perspective;

    Macon, GA mayor C. Jack Ellis has become enamored with the robolución bolibanana to the point where he sent Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez a letter expressing his solidarity with him. Ellis defends his praise of Chávez citing his “humanitarian efforts.” Humanitarian efforts, eh? I do wonder to what Mayor Ellis might be referring. Is silencing opposing opinions now considered to be a humanitarian act? Or maybe he means putting people on a political blacklist because of the way they voted in the 2004 recall referendum.

    Don’t be surprised when I tell you that C. Jack Ellis is awaiting a legal name change to Hakin Mansour Ellis. From Wikipedia;

    In February 2007, Ellis made headlines by announcing his December 2006 conversion to Islam, including plans to legally change his name to Hakim Mansour Ellis. Ellis, who had previously been a practicing Christian, became a Sunni Muslim during a trip to the west African country of Senegal, saying it was like going “back to [his] roots” — claiming that some West Africans brought to America as slaves practiced Islam.

    Um, C. Jack, buddy, Muslims were the folks who sold African slaves to the Europeans. And now, you want to honor them by claiming that becoming a Muslim is getting back to your roots? Dumbass. More on Ellis from The Foxhole and Right Truth.

    That’s the type of folks that Chavez attracts – the intellectually lazy with a superficial understanding of the world around them. That’s why Chavez’ empty promises have made him so popular – empty promises to empty heads.

    Empty promises like oil to the Caribe for the next century and beyond;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pledged on Saturday to meet Caribbean nations’ oil needs for years to come, and urged the region to unite and seek greater independence from the U.S.

    Mr. Chavez deepened past pledges to share his country’s oil wealth as he addressed a summit of nations taking part in Venezuela’s Petrocaribe oil initiative, which supplies fuel under preferential terms.

    “If we truly unite .. the grandchildren of our grandchildren will have no energy problems,” Mr. Chavez said. He predicted oil prices will soon hit $100 a barrel but said “the Caribbean shouldn’t have problems this century and beyond.”

    “Venezuela puts this oil wealth at the disposition of our peoples of the Caribbean,” Mr. Chavez said. “It belongs to all of us. We’re going to share it like Christ. .. It will be enough for everyone.”

    He sounds just like all of the other caudillos in Latin American – promises and no substance. 

    And fingers are flying over the $800,000 found in Buenas Aires airport a couple of days ago. According to the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board the story goes like this;

    When customs officials found $800,000 in a suitcase at the Buenos Aires airport 10 days ago, maybe they were surprised. Then again, maybe not. The plane containing the case was chartered by the state-owned Argentine energy company, Enarsa, and was carrying a high-ranking Argentine official and three amigos from the Venezuelan state-owned oil company PdVSA.
    Investigators aren’t sure where the money came from or where it was going. Claudio Uberti of the Argentine Planning Ministry had been on a trip to Caracas, and the PdVSA trio asked to hitch a ride. A Venezuelan businessman on board is said to be the owner of the bag — though even that is unclear. Maybe they’d just seen “The Godfather: Part II,” and were inspired watching Fredo carry the suitcases to Michael in Havana to invest with Hyman Roth.

    The incident has caused an uproar in Argentina, and Mr. Uberti has resigned. The suspicion is that the cash was intended to play a role in October’s presidential election, in which Cristina Fernandez, the wife of President Nestór Kirchner, is the Peronist candidate. Mr. Kirchner has lined up with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez against the U.S. and market economics, and in return Mr. Chávez has financed the Kirchner government to the tune of more than $5 billion, with $1 billion more pledged last week. Political parties in Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua and Ecuador have complained in the past about Mr. Chávez’s meddling in their presidential elections.

    And of course, it’s Bush’s fault;

    Mr. Chávez calls the episode a “U.S. plot,” naturally. But even the Argentine government concedes that it looks bad, claims to know nothing of the money, and wants Venezuela to apologize. Those dictator allies sure can be embarrassing.

    And the Left blogs rush to back Chavez.

    Blogs by Boz has a link summary and reports figuratively (so far) rolling heads.

  • Chavez tightens grip on military

    Little Hugo Chavez has consolidated his grip on the military in Venezuela. Anyone who has spent a day studying current affairs in Latin America knows that political leaders serve at the pleasure of their military.

    Coming from the military, and himself having been involved in a coup attempt, Chavez fired his defense minister, General Raul Baduel and replaced him with General Gustavo Rangel – former head of Chavez personal protection force and palace guard.

    Baduel left with these parting words, according to Martin Arostegui of the Washington Times;

    “A socialist regime is not incompatible with a democratic system of checks and balances and division of powers. We must separate ourselves from Marxist orthodoxy.”

    This move will more firmly entrench Chavez in his palace as he becomes more isolated from the people – the supposed beneficiaries of this socialist revolution. Retired Venezuelan general Muller Rojas warns that this move against Baduel signals a purge of the ranks;

    Another recently retired general, Muller Rojas, believes Gen. Baduel’s resignation signals a purge of the high command, which he says has become “highly politicized and partisan.”

    The new defense chief, Gen. Rangel, underwent military instruction in Cuba and is expected to merge the regular army with politically directed militias armed with new AK-103 rifles purchased from Russia.

    “By naming Rangel, Chavez imposes his military thesis on the high command. The president conceives of a tactical doctrine combining professional armed forces and militias, which are the basis of the asymmetrical warfare strategy of the people in arms,” said Venezuelan defense analyst Alberto Garrido.

    Of course we now know why Chavez was warning Venezuelans the George Bush was coming to get him – so he could tighten the security around himself. The next move after purging the ranks is the quelling of the “White Hands” student movement.

    I suspect that some national emergency will emerge soon after the purge of military officers that would require tossing “suspects” in prison, much like the Iranians are doing to their student movements. Think Chavez and Ahmadinejad were talking about sports jackets in Tehran last month?

    In fact, Chavez is cranking up his anti-US chatter this week. He blames the US for blocking Venezuela’s entry into the Mercosur trade bloc and he has put out feelers to Columbian communist rebels and terrorists.

    Miguel at The Devil’s Excrement (celebratin five years of bloggin in English from Venezuela this weekend) reports money woes in Venezuela;

    Because the country is a basket case and only oil prices going higher all the time will be able to sustain the madness.

    For example…It went unnoticed that in the last three weeks, bolivar denominated Government bonds, mostly in the hands of the banking system, dropped 20-30% in value.

    Or that Venezuela’s Global 27 bond fell 30% since March and gyrated 8% on a single day last Friday.

    And that Fonden’s indiscriminate sale of its Venezuelan and Argentinean bonds, destroyed the market for some of them and increased spreads by 300% due to the amateurish way in which this was done.

    And this all spells trouble in the economic front at a time when oil prices are at an all time high…imagine if they happened to go down.

    Daniel at Venezuela News and Views begins a series on Chavez proposed constitutional changes to further ensconce him in office;

    Here in Venezuela we are not fooled: chavista and anti chavista alike know perfectly well that the objective is to make Chavez president for life. The only difference is that the formers have no problem with that and the later will resist it. The bottom line will come from a not insignificant fraction of chavistas who are having increasingly second thoughts about giving Chavez a final blank check that this time will wipe their democratic account once and for all.

    So what will it take to get the world involved in the subjegation of the Venezuelan people to the whims of a maniacal diminutive despot like Chavez? Will the world wait for the public executions to begin – it hasn’t woke up the world to the terror being inflicted on Iranians (graphic pictures from Kamangir at August the 5th here and here) Do we wait twelve years like we did for Hussein’s reign of terror on the Shi’ites in Iraq? Or an indeterminate amount of time like we have for the Christians in the Sudan?

    The US is not the world’s police force, but it’s time the rest of the world woke up to the evil and stop waiting for the US to solve the world’s problem for them.

  • Hugo Chavez; uber-moonbat

    Picture from Venezuela Llora, Venezuela Sangra

    The noose around the collective neck of Venezuelans seems to be tightening. An Associated Press story quotes Chavez in a personal ad hominem attack on a Honduran cardinal;

    President Hugo Chavez called a cardinal from Honduras an “imperialist clown” after the Roman Catholic prelate warned of increasing authoritarianism under the Venezuelan leader.

    “Another parrot of imperialism appeared, this time dressed as a cardinal. That’s to say, another imperialist clown,” Chavez was quoted as saying in a bulletin posted Tuesday on the state-run news agency’s Web site.

    Chavez — a close ally of Cuba’s Fidel Castro — was responding to criticism from Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, who said in a recent interview cited by Venezuela’s Bolivarian News Agency that Chavez “thinks he’s God and can trample upon other people.”

    Chavez made the comments during a government event late Monday. He has repeatedly clashed with Catholic Church leaders in Venezuela, calling them “liars” and “perverts,” but he rarely targets high-ranking priests abroad.

    Clowns, liars and perverts. That’s real grown up. Kind of like when he made the “smell of sulfur” comment at the UN about our President. But, the mask is off Hugo now – since he’s been granted “continuous reelection”, the Orwellian term he uses to describe his seizure of the office of Venezuela’s president for the remainder of his life, it seems he can’t be stopped.

    Tank at Venezuela Llora, Venezuela Sangra does an excellent piece on the new Culture of Personality growing up in Venezuela around Hugo in true Maoist/Stalinist style, including action figures of the stumpy little dictator. 

    Daniel at Venezuela News and Views found an article from Foreign Policy that reports that Venezuela’s bolivar is one of the five worst currencies in the world in which to invest – as a result of Chavez’ communistic social and monetary policies;

    With massive public spending fueling inflation and President Hugo Chávez’s nationalization campaign triggering a massive outflow of capital, it’s been a bad year for the bolívar. Thanks mainly to the high price of oil, many of Venezuela’s economic fundamentals look sound. But Venezuela’s currency has lost 21 percent of its value since January 2007….  

    The Devil’s Excrement records a conversation betweeen a community leader and Chavez when the community leader tries to tell Hugo that his advisors are lying to him about conditions in Venezuela. Tinpot Hugo doesn’t want to hear it, of course.

    Julia at The End of Venezuela as I Know It reports that the only way to organize protests these days is by text messaging since the Venezuelan media has fallen under the jackboot of Chavez and his minions.

    At Novosti, Hugo is quoted sounding a bit like the wistful Democrats before the 2000 election when they wished Bill Clinton could run again;

    Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has said he will soon submit to parliament a bill allowing the president to be re-elected an unlimited number of times.

    “If people don’t vote for me, I will leave. I’m not trying to hold onto this place, as I have always said. I won’t cry if I am rejected,” Chavez told the Hello President TV show Sunday.

    “If the Venezuelan people say go, I will go,” he said.

    Venezuela’s leader is elected by a simple majority by a direct national vote and is the head of state and government for six years, and can be re-elected once.

    Chavez first pledged to change the number of allowable presidential terms after he won the presidential election in December 2006.

    “I think the country’s Constitution should be changed. This first of all concerns presidential terms. We have no right to deprive people of the possibility of electing a leader they like for a fourth, fifth or sixth term,” he said.

    Yet, John Edwards and Barack Obama announced the other day during their debate that they’d meet with Chavez (and Castro) according to the Miami Herald (commentary from Babalu Blog). Since Hugo counts Edwards supporter Danny Glover among his pals, there’s absolutely no doubt that they would.

    Despite Chavez guarentees to Venezuelans that their private property rights would be protected by his revolution, he left enough wiggle room in his remarks to steal opponents private property (like he did with RCTV) in the style of Robert Mugabe;

    President Hugo Chavez assured private property owners their rights will be guaranteed in Venezuela under a pending constitutional reform, as long as proprietors and investors respect the law.
     
    “Our socialism accepts private property,” Chavez said in comments published Sunday on the Web site of Union Radio. “It’s only that this private property must be within the framework of the constitution.”

    He did not elaborate, saying only that he would present his proposal to lawmakers in the coming weeks. Few details have emerged from a committee Chavez has appointed to draft the proposed overhaul.

    Critics accuse Chavez of steering this oil-rich South American nation toward Cuba-style communism, and many wealthy Venezuelans fear second homes, yachts or other assets could be seized.

    Chavez denies copying Havana’s economic model, and counters that Venezuela’s socialist reforms will merely broaden the concept of ownership.

    Just like he did with petroleum and power companies – as long as they did what Hugo wanted them to do, they could continue to do business. Constitutional guarentees mean nothing in Venezuela these days since Chavez can now rule by decree – the Venezuelan Constitution is what Hugo says it is.