calling a spade a shovel

[rone]

Jym Dyer at meme_machine_go suggests that we call Pat Robertson's actions by their proper name: he has issued a fatwah.

Comments

[pennyhill.livejournal.com]

P.S.
There's an A.P. article in the Mercury this morning about it. Backing up my notion about oil, the article says:

"He [Chavez] has repeatedly accused the United States of backing a plan to assassinate him, which Rice and others have denied. Earlier this year he threatened to cut off oil exports to the United States if it supports any effort to overthrow him.

"That is not an inconsequential threat when gas prices are brushing $3 a gallon. Venezuela exports 1.3 million barrels of oil a day to the United States - 8 percent of the total supply."

By the way, the article says Chavez calls Bush "Mr. Danger" while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is "the imperial lady."
Heh.

Have you seen (and could you recommend) a good analysis of Chavez's regime - accomplishments and/or facts and allegations about his activities within Venezuela and other Latin American countries? I'm ignorant of Latin American current events (except for what you've written about Ecuador) and was not aware of Chavez-Castro fomentation of rebellion in other nations, e.g., Bolivia. The AP article cites allegations, but there are no details.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I haven't followed it very closely. What i've read seems to be biased in either extreme. He seems to be fairly concerned with the plight of the common man in Venezuela, and his opposition is visibly composed of the well-off; at the same time, he's also an asshole with little care for the niceties of diplomacy and is close friends with that noted philanthropist, Fidel Castro. Ecuador's recently deposed president was also close to Chávez. The real problem is that almost every time a populist gains power, he turns around and screws his support base. So it's probably just a matter of time until Hugo takes his turn.