Venezuela set to let Chavez rule by decree for 18 months

Guess somebody is predicting Chavez’s overthrow in the near future, because that is the only way that it will only be an 18-month absolute dictatorship.

Potemkin’s Village with the willfully blind
Catherine the Great and Stalin would be proud

Defector01 on January 19, 2007 at 12:21 PM

I’m not too sure that Catherine the Great would be proud. She was after all hoodwinked by Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin, her commander in the Crimea, while on a tour of her newly won southern provinces. Now HE would be proud!

I’m almost certain that you didn’t intend to argue that it’s better now in Venezuela, and Nirvana is not here in the U.S. either. Maybe the dems will bring it to us.

Last I checked, in the U.S. we still have:
- freedom of ownership and competition

Regarding ownership; no, see Kelo v. New London
Regarding competition; no, two words – government subsidies

- freedom of the press

Regarding free press; yes, unfortunately the MSM has declined to accept the associated responsibility.

- multiple branches of government

Regarding multiple branches; yes, but note that each has been operating outside the context of the Constitution for the last century.

- freedom of speech

Regarding free speech; no, see McCain-Feingold

- freedom to form as many parties as we like

I would like to see more libertarians and constructionists come forward

- freedom to be ignorant, stupid, educated, poor, rich or whatever, so long as we don’t interfere with others’ freedoms to be the same.

Regarding ignorance & stupid; no, we have Helmet laws, seat belt laws, gun control laws, …

Regarding freedom to be poor; no, we have government welfare.

Entelechy on January 19, 2007 at 2:21 PM

iam7545, budorob, mojo,
as much as I would like to attribute this to Heinlein, it appears that it’s pre-Friedman, pre-Heinlein. Depending upon which source you cite, it’s been attributed to economist Leonard P. Ayres (circa.1946), and to the 1 June 1949 edition of the San Francisco News (with claims that it was a reprint of a 1938 editorial. Either way, it’s not Friedmans or Heinleins. Sorry *POP!* (bubble bursting)

So much for the Chargers. I’m with the Saints all the way.

Me too. As for the bolts, I told you, the Pats are on a roll.

College hoops, not there yet. Who do you root for?

Do you watch the NBA at all?

I wonder what would happen if a Republican took the exact wording for Chavez’ bid for rule by decree and introduced it in Congress and substituted Bush? Think there’d be orgasms by the Dems for it then?

ScottG on January 19, 2007 at 2:07 PM

The Dems have. Can anyone say “Fairness Doctrine”?

Rick, Rick, Rick: Hitler was a leftist….

I wonder what would happen if a Republican took the exact wording for Chavez’ bid for rule by decree and introduced it in Congress and substituted Bush? Think there’d be orgasms by the Dems for it then?

ScottG on January 19, 2007 at 2:07 PM

Sorry. I always get nazis, socialists, communists, fascists, world citizens, and democrats confused. Someone please help.

Last I checked, in the U.S. we still have:

- freedom of ownership and competition
- freedom of the press
- multiple branches of government
- freedom of speech
- freedom to form as many parties as we like
- freedom to be ignorant, stupid, educated, poor, rich or whatever, so long as we don’t interfere with others’ freedoms to be the same.

But, that’s only good for them here – never mind the loss of all these freedoms anywhere else. I despise your hypocrisy.

“When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered”, and

“It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives” –Dorothy Thompson

“None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free”. –J.W.v Goethe

“No nation ancient or modern ever lost the liberty of freely speaking, writing, or publishing their sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in general and became slaves”. –John P. Zenger

“In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued – they may be essential to survival”.
–Noam Chomsky

“A right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from you”. — Ramsey Clark

“If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too”. –Somerset Maugham

“So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men”. –Voltaire

Mr Finlayson said his delegation ignored such voices because the goal was to express solidarity, not investigate. But the group did encounter some Chavez critics: walking through a wealthy district of Caracas, it was pelted with eggs.

Lucky for him he wasn’t pelted with little lead pellets instead….

Okay then, Stalin (the left’s equivalent of Hitler).

Rick on January 19, 2007 at 1:11 PM

Rick, Rick, Rick: Hitler was a leftist….

I wonder what would happen if a Republican took the exact wording for Chavez’ bid for rule by decree and introduced it in Congress and substituted Bush? Think there’d be orgasms by the Dems for it then?

Robertson is in no positon of power. Pelosi is in a very omportant position of power.

We dont elect our problem children to office.

William Amos on January 19, 2007 at 1:54 PM

Thanks for the clarification. I’ll write this down.

Is that Cindy’s hand or is Hugo picking her nose?

TugboatPhil on January 19, 2007 at 2:01 PM

Like I said, man-hands!!!!!

In case you haven’t noticed, The Tuna Queen does indeed represent your side. And it’s a side filled with the stench of ethical malfeasance and hypocrisy. You fit right in.

JammieWearingFool on January 19, 2007 at 1:32 PM

Oh you charmer you. It’s so rare I am accused of “stench”. LOL

OK, I’ll take Pelosi to represent my side, you get Robertson. Deal?

honora on January 19, 2007 at 12:59 PM

Robertson is in no positon of power. Pelosi is in a very omportant position of power.

We dont elect our problem children to office.

ROTFLMAO.

OK, I’ll take Pelosi to represent my side, you get Robertson. Deal?

honora on January 19, 2007 at 12:59 PM

In case you haven’t noticed, The Tuna Queen does indeed represent your side. And it’s a side filled with the stench of ethical malfeasance and hypocrisy. You fit right in.

Okay then, Stalin (the left’s equivalent of Hitler).

Rick on January 19, 2007 at 1:11 PM

So much for the Chargers. I’m with the Saints all the way.

BTW, you obviously didn’t get the memo: there are a significant number of people who frequent this blog who hold that fascism is the logical sequence as the following: Democrat/liberal/socialist/communist/fascism. Go figure. Kinda makes you uncomfortable re our public schools though.

Actually, I am pretty disinterested in football, getting jazzed for college hoops!!!

TO SCEPTICS people with a brain, they are naive Westerners who would not recognise communist tyranny if it expropriated their sandals.

Had to fix that.