Can Chavez get any more mental?

[Warren Dew]

You support dictatorial policies?

... Chavez is as much a dictator as obama is a communist.

Maybe you're both right.

[Coito ergo sum]

You support dictatorial policies?

... Chavez is as much a dictator as obama is a communist.

Maybe you're both right.

I'll not call Obama a communist, but Chavez is a dictator.

[sandinista]

You support dictatorial policies?

... Chavez is as much a dictator as obama is a communist.

Maybe you're both right.

I'll not call Obama a communist, but Chavez is a dictator.

I wouldn't call Chavez a dictator or obama a communist.

[Coito ergo sum]

Chavez to seize Venezuela's golf courses and "put them to other uses." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-3 ... -uses.html

[redunderthebed]

OH NOES WE CANT SEIZE RICH PEOPLE PROPERTY COE HOW ARE THE RICH MEN MEANT TO GET AWAY FROM THEIR MISSUS!.

FFS.

[redunderthebed]

Communism is not a dogma mad hatter you can apply it any way that fits within the conditions of the particular society china is a shining example of this.

[Clinton Huxley]

Chavez to seize Venezuela's golf courses and "put them to other uses." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-3 ... -uses.html

This is a policy I can support.

[redunderthebed]

Chavez to seize Venezuela's golf courses and "put them to other uses." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-3 ... -uses.html

This is a policy I can support.

NO ITS EVIDENCE THAT CHAVEZ IS EVIL BECAUSE HE HASNT DISAPPEARED UP AMERICAS ARSE!

[Clinton Huxley]

He probably is evil, mind. I bet he cackles into the mirror at night and wears evil pyjamas and everything.

Is Venezuela in the Axis of Evil? Do we still have an Axis of Evil? I lose track of these things.

[redunderthebed]

He probably is evil, mind. I bet he cackles into the mirror at night and wears evil pyjamas and everything.

Is Venezuela in the Axis of Evil? Do we still have an Axis of Evil? I lose track of these things.

Yes you got to have the proper uniform.

[mistermack]

What the US really really really don't like about Chavez is that he's not for sale.
They really can't get their heads around that concept.
.

[Warren Dew]

Is Venezuela in the Axis of Evil? Do we still have an Axis of Evil? I lose track of these things.

No. Chavez is only being nasty to his own people; he's not trying to get nukes to be nasty to other nations.

Actually wait, he's being nasty to Guatemala, but most westerners don't care because Guatamala is some latin American nation that they can't find on a map. He's not threatening the U.S. or Europe and that's what's "important".

[Coito ergo sum]

What the US really really really don't like about Chavez is that he's not for sale.
They really can't get their heads around that concept.
.

LOL - lot's of would-be dictators aren't "for sale."

Opposition parties boycotted the 2005 elections because of Chavez's control of the media, among other strong-arm tactics of Chavez. In 2004, the Law on Social Responsibility in Radio & Television permitted the state to close private media for vaguely defined offenses. Since then, the government has shuttered the country's most popular television network and cable system, closed dozens of commercial radio stations, and threatened cable providers who refused to halt programming to broadcast his frequent, lengthy speeches on all channels. Meanwhile, the state has built up its own network of television and radio stations to disseminate official propaganda. Last January, the Chavez-dominated National Electoral Council (CNE) announced it would expand districts where support for the President is strongest and merge precincts favoring opponents into pro-Chavez zones. He's expropriated land and businesses, etc.

But, yeah, the reason people don't like Chavez is because he's "not for sale," LOL.

[mistermack]

What the US really really really don't like about Chavez is that he's not for sale.
They really can't get their heads around that concept.
.

LOL - lot's of would-be dictators aren't "for sale."

It seems you can't make your mind up. Is he a dictator, or a would-be dictator?
The latter is presumably down to your mind-reading ability.

As far as the media goes, I don't blame him one bit. The right wing in Venezuela own the media, and blatantly use it to try to engineer a change of government, either by a coup, or one-sided reporting.
I think every country should have a system of media scrutiny, and ownership bias should be massively fined.
Chavez has wisely adressed this problem. No wonder the loony american right hate him. He's seen what they're up to, and trumped it.
.

[Coito ergo sum]

What the US really really really don't like about Chavez is that he's not for sale.
They really can't get their heads around that concept.
.

LOL - lot's of would-be dictators aren't "for sale."

It seems you can't make your mind up. Is he a dictator, or a would-be dictator?

I've not called him a dictator, yet. I've noted that the many of things he does appear dictatorial, and he's moved in some decidedly undemocratic directions, what with the whole "shutting down of news media" thing...

The latter is presumably down to your mind-reading ability.

Just judging by his actions.

As far as the media goes, I don't blame him one bit. The right wing in Venezuela own the media, and blatantly use it to try to engineer a change of government, either by a coup, or one-sided reporting.

If the ruling party doesn't like the media because it is being used to engineer a change of government or engaged in one-sided reporting, the ruling party can't be blamed for seizing it and shutting it down? Wow. That's amazing. By that token, nobody could blame Bush if he had seized most of the mainstream media that were reporting one-sidedly against him....can't have the media doing what it pleases, now can we?

I think every country should have a system of media scrutiny,

By the government it is supposed to be scrutinizing?

and ownership bias should be massively fined.

Bias determined by the party being criticized, right?

Chavez has wisely adressed this problem. No wonder the loony american right hate him. He's seen what they're up to, and trumped it.
.

He addressed the problem by forcibly seizing and shutting down media outlets.

Police and supporters of President Hugo Chavez clashed with students in cities across the country Monday during protests over the government forcing an opposition channel off cable TV. Two youths were reported killed and 16 people suffered injuries.

[...]The biggest confrontation occured in Caracas, where police fired tear gas and plastic bullets to scatter thousands of students who tried to march on the headquarters of Venezuela’s state-run telecommunications agency. At least six demonstrators and a journalist were treated for injuries.

Diaz told the state-run ABN news agency that the shooting victim was a high school student named Jossimir Carrillo Torres. Nine police officers were injured in the melee, El Aissami said.

Demonstrations erupted over the government ordering cable companies to drop Radio Caracas Television Internacional early Sunday. RCTV had defied new rules requiring local cable channels to carry mandatory programming, including some of Chavez’s speeches.

Police fired tear gas as protesting students tried to approach the headquarters of the state telecommunications agency, where several hud minor injures or breathing problems from tear gas during Monday protest in the capital, said Enrique Montbrun, director of health services in the capital’s Baruta district. Caracas Police Chief Carlos Meza said a government supporter was hurt when hit in the face with a bottle or rock. A journalist working for AP Television News suffered minor head injuries from a hurled object.

Press freedom organizations and Roman Catholic leaders condemned RCTV’s removal from cable, calling it part of a broader effort to mute government critics.

Globovision – the last opposition-aligned TV channel on the open airwaves – is also the target of multiple government investigations that authorities say could lead to the revocation of its broadcast license.

In Caracas neighborhoods, Chavez opponents leaned out apartment windows early Sunday to bang on pots and pans. Others shouted epithets and drivers joined in, honking car horns.

The national journalists' association called it a violation of human rights and freedom of speech. Its president, William Echeverria, condemned it as an "increase in censorship."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/2 ... 35281.html


http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN0520744720090905

Chavez minister vows more Venezuela radio closings

The powerful Chavez ally has threatened to close over 100 stations in total, part of a long-term campaign against private media that the government says are biased against Chavez's government.

Yeah.....riiiighht....."biased against the government..."

It's a shutdown of criticism, and that's obvious.

I'm surprised any liberal would support such efforts.