Chavez's 'democracy': Squashed & gutted

[steven johnson]

This is what the Chavez presidency is about: consolidating his power, squashing his opposition and gutting Venezuelan democracy.

Talk about not letting a crisis go to waste: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has used a natural disaster as a pretext to further undermine what little genuine democracy remains under his "Bolivarian socialist" regime.

With thousands homeless due to heavy rains, mudslides and flooding, Mr. Chavez sought -- and Venezuela's National Assembly granted him -- "special powers to enact laws by decree," according to The Associated Press. His vice president says those powers are needed to fast-track recovery measures.

El Presidente got those powers -- for 18 months -- from an outgoing National Assembly dominated by his supporters. And just in time, as a new National Assembly -- with enough opponents to deny Chavez a two-thirds majority needed for major legislation -- begins work Jan. 5.

This is the fourth time during Chavez's 12-year presidency that he has had such special powers. And despite whatever "recovery" guise he wraps his decrees in this time, his real aim is to contravene the will that the long-suffering Venezuelan people made clear by electing more Chavez opponents to the new legislature



Chavez's 'democracy': Squashed & gutted

[yodermon]

1. the proof will be in the pudding when he loses an election outright

will he step down

[EFerrari]

2. Hugo Chavez doesn't leash his dog!

lol

[Peace Patriot]

3. Hugo Chavez ruined by tomato crop! nt

[Billy Burnett]

6. Hugo Chavez let the air out of my tire. eom

[Judi Lynn]

4. An opinion piece from a paper owned by Richard Mellon Scaife. Cool!

Richard Mellon Scaife is a billionaire contributor to the Republican Party and right-wing think tanks, one of the most influential men behind the right wing today. Scaife has helped establish their biggest institutions and supported some of their most radical ideas.

Scaife was a primary source of money used to fund attacks against Bill Clinton during the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky eras of his presidency. He has also been known to purchase mass quantities of conservative books (especially those published by Regnery Press) to push them up the bestseller lists.

Among the right-wing organizations substantially funded by Scaife are the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, Judicial Watch, Cato Institute and a working group within his American Spectator publication called the "Arkansas Project," whose specific aim was to locate and create dirt on the Clintons in order to smear them, in hopes of removing Clinton from office.

People for the American Way estimates that the Scaife Foundations have channeled in excess of $340 million to right-wing groups over the last thirty years, more than any other individual.

Scaife has a long history of supporting attacks on organizations and institutions which refuse to kowtow to right-wing interests. For example in 1985 Scaife reportedly financed most of retired Gen. William libel suit against CBS over a documentary, "The Uncounted Enemy". This documentary claimed that he deliberately underestimated enemy troop strength in Vietnam (Morning Call, (Allentown, PA), March 1, 1985, Westmoreland Suit backed by Mellon Heir, Associated Press).

Scaife has been criticized by sections in the media for attempting to corrupt the practice of journalism and dilute it with a very specific agenda.<2><3>

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Richard_Mellon_Scaife

An account of how civilized this gentleman has always been. What a well-balanced, heck of a guy:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/02/scaife200802

Any thing a Scaife paper has to say about a leftist is good as gold, isn't it?

[Billy Burnett]

7. Like Richard Mellon Scaife's Cubanet.

Then Cubanet's "reports" end up as AI, RsF and HRW "reports" on Cuba. :dunce:

[Judi Lynn]

9. Ain't it grand knowing a foaming-at-the-mouth lunatic who's a billionaire can have as much influence

if not more than an elected official.

The fact he's mad as a hatter shouldn't mean US Americans shouldn't have their views fashioned by his ravings, and machinations. It's nice he can find something to do instead of sitting around all day in a straight jacket guarded by big men in white with huge butterfly nets.

Great 'toon. I haven't heard anyone mention S.A. since the '60's, or very early '70's, not until these baggers started tossing it around like an ort dug up by a dog. It's absolutely amazing. They are so damned EMPTY, aren't they? All they've got going for them is their hatred.

Thanks for the Cubanet reminder. How damned sad.

[mudplanet]

5. whatabunchofbullshit -

[social_critic]

8. it sure is, isn't it?

Amazing what one sees in Latin America when it rains hard. Being hispanic, I despair.

[EFerrari]

10. What we're seeing in Latin America is a democratizing wave

being fought tooth and nail by the Americans and their lapdogs.

If you find something there to despair over, that's very sad for you. :)

[social_critic]

11. I feel like the Robot in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Indeed. It's just that I find it difficult to believe it's a democratizing wave when I see what is happening. I think it's more like the beginning of a new dark age. And it has nothing to do with left versus right, it's more of a technology/machine versus man issue. I think it's likely the machines will win, and we will be replaced by silicon life. Did you ever read the Berserker books? Try it.

[Billy Burnett]

12. Wow. You better crawl back to the basement to your video war games.

You'll feel much better after taking out, with extreme prejudice, some Cubans defending their country as well as taking out Castro himself (virtually speaking, of course).

Stick to virtual.
Stick to the blue pill ...

I think it makes more sense to you than reality.

[social_critic]

13. I prefer to read history books

What do you mean by democraticizing? The gerontocracy in Cuba, where only the Communists are free to organize in their so called "elections"? The coup in Honduras?

I suggest you read about the end days of the Roman Republic, and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire - you do need to start learning somewhere.