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Thursday, December 17. 2009

Says it all

Via Drudge, Climate summit erupts in 'deafening applause' for Hugo Chavez... 
Posted by Bird Dog in Hunting, Fishing, Dogs, Guns, etc. at 07:17 | Comments (15) | Trackbacks (0)

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I am going to throw up! My daughter's friend just came back from a wedding in Caracas and she traveled in an armored motorcade, everyone had a firearm and body guards stationed at every venue and home. There is no going out at night, not for the upper middle class and not for anyone else unless you are the thief. Although this experience is not the norm ( not everyone has a motorcade etc) it is sad. There are empty shelves in the markts and only one highway remains open from the airport to the city. I would say Chavez is succeeding in his hero's footsteps (Castro) and bringing down his nation to the level of economic deterioration we have not seen scince the Revolution of Cuba. It never ceases to amaze one , the level of ignorance and stupidity out there in the world and just how many of them live right here. I really do wish they would all go live in Caracas and Havana and then sing the praises of socialism and communism!!
#1 opie109 on 2009-12-17 07:43 (Reply)
While an armed motorcade is not the norm, as most lack the funds for it, your anecdote accurately reflects Caracas today. From Mapping Murder in Venezuela:

To be poor in Venezuela is to live under a permanent sentence of death held at arm’s length by extreme caution, sharp wits and a large dose of good luck. Chavez has always maintained that he defends Venezuela’s poor, but the alarmingly swift growth in homicidal violence is victimizing mainly the poor – Chavez’s original base constituency.Poverty and homicide go together everywhere in the world. The fact that the homicide rate has soared since Chavez has been president says everything about the failure of his Bolivarian revolution.

Since Chavez was elected president of Venezuela at the end of 1998, the homicide rate in Caracas climbed from 63 murders for every 100,000 inhabitants at in 1998 to 130 murders for every 100,000 inhabitants in 2007, according to Central University’s Center for Peace and Human Rights. President Chavez has always been indifferent to the insecurity crisis suffered daily by ordinary Venezuelans. In the thousands of hours of endless broadcasts over the past decade ranting about anything that pops into his mind, there hardly has been any mention or acknowledgement by Chavez that violent crime is rampant in Venezuela.

 Caracas has been called the murder capitol of the world. By comparison, here are the murder rates for Detroit and New York City: 6/100,000 in New York City and 46/100,000 in Detroit. For Bogotá, the rate is 20/100,000.

Since the AGW fanáticos- a word used to describe soccer fans is here appropriate- applaud Chavez's green bonafides, I am certain that they would also consider Venezuela's gasoline pricing as a model for the rest of the world to follow. The gasoline price at Venezuelan pumps is in the neighborhood of 20 US cents per gallon.
#1.1 Gringo on 2009-12-17 12:34 (Reply)
hell, it was 25 cents in the 70s-80s when i was working down there. and that was when $.25US was worth a lot more, too. And the waste --it was one of the citizen 'perks' you see.
#1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2009-12-17 12:58 (Reply)
I think normal people can all relax now.

From the data antics of the scienticians at CRU East Anglia to the extra limos brought in to shuttle the bigshots around to the appearances of Chavez and Mugabe, the climate-change true believers seem to have been on a sort of political suicide rampage, determined to "self-discredit" both themselves and their cause.

È finita la commedia.

Go figure.
#2 JJM on 2009-12-17 08:27 (Reply)
But of course, Hugo satisfies their latent Marxist sentiments...Wait till Obama-mao shows up. I'm sure they'll want to roast a virgin in his honor.
#3 Scott on 2009-12-17 08:41 (Reply)
Oh, and don't think I don't find it amusing that my own country, Canada, is pilloried for its fossil fuel wealth while the second-rate leader of a second-rate country whose wealth is almost entirely based on fossil fuel gets a rousing cheer.

Hypocrites.
#4 JJM on 2009-12-17 10:24 (Reply)
I second the ''throw up''. Cubaños average $15/mo income --and they own nothing. They receive govt services based on who the local party watchers like best --which makes them little block kings receiving gifts for gifts given. Only the island geography and a ruthless secret police keep the Castro brothers the richest brothers in the world.

And our self-appointed Copenhagen avatars of social justice just LOVE the model! And without a hint of awareness of the monstrous irony. This is not only vile but stupid, and not only stupid but tasteless, and not only tasteless but wicked.
#5 buddy larsen on 2009-12-17 11:33 (Reply)
"not only vile but stupid, and not only stupid but tasteless, and not only tasteless but wicked. "

Great phrase, buddy, and so true.

Marianne
#6 Marianne Matthews on 2009-12-17 15:28 (Reply)
--how nice of you to make such a beamish remark, MM!

(BTW, name it and claim it, what well-known poem contains the word 'beamish'?)
#6.1 buddy larsen on 2009-12-17 16:05 (Reply)
"The Charge of the Light Beamish" by Tennyson?

Oh, I don't know . I give up. Do tell.
#6.1.1 jappy on 2009-12-17 16:52 (Reply)
BL -

The cadence of the words actually make for a pretty good song. I do it in Am, up to C, down to G, then back to Am. The thing is, you have to mute the guitar when re-singing the first verse at the end and kind of stress the words a certain way in order to convey the message -- that everything was just hunky-dory until Man -- the beamish boy -- showed up and promptly slayed a beautiful creature that wasn't harming a soul. For the bragging rights, of course. Trophy on the wall, notch on the gun.

Typical.
#6.1.2 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2009-12-17 17:29 (Reply)
I tried it on the pianny --just modulating thru waiting for a melody and beat. Ended up playing the theme from "The Thomas Crown Affair" --a pretty crappy flic so thanks a lot.
:-)
#6.1.2.1 buddy larsen on 2009-12-18 15:16 (Reply)
The only thing I can remember about the 'Thomas Crown Affair" was Faye Dunaway playing chess with Steve McQueen. Faye wasn't playing fair.
#6.1.2.1.1 feeblemind on 2009-12-18 20:00 (Reply)
boy, i'll say --
#6.1.2.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2009-12-18 21:20 (Reply)
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy."

http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html

It ought to be the Emeritous Poem for the Gathering of Fleagles in Cope 'n Huggin'.

What's a Fleagle you ask, or maybe not? Well there's some dispute. Astroturf. you be the judge. I saw this kind of rhetoric in the 70s and it made me lie. I mean, cry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleagle_Gang

OR

http://www.lil-abner.com/other.html

Evil-Eye Fleagle had the terrifying skill of being able to concentrate destructive rays from his eyeballs. he could deliver a "whammy" --powerful enuff to knock a grown man senseless. A "double whammy" could collapse a skyscraper --but using the double would leave Evil-Eye exhausted and vulnerable. His dreaded "quadruple whammy" could melt a battleship but would also almost kill Fleagle himself. Evil-Eye was not a native of Dogpatch. He was said to hail from Brooklyn but Brooklyn has always been confused with Coprolite 'n Hagen, likely doo to the simyilar smellings. Er, spellings.
#7 buddy larsen on 2009-12-17 17:31 (Reply)

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