You gotta love this guy! Why can't we have a president like him? Oh,
I forgot, because unlike Venesuala, we don't have elections that could
pass inspection from international observers!
Pretty funny, the network news said after the drubbing Caligula took
in South America, he was going to burnish his image in Asia. Yeah, he
was welcomed with open arms by 10s of thousands of people in South
Korea. Did I say open arms? I meant shaken fists.
I wish armericans had more balls. the majority feel just the same way
the rest of the world does. their just afraid to express it.
November 21, 2005
Poor Americans are Now Getting Charitable Aid from Venezuela
Hugo Chavez vs. the King of Vacations
By MIKE WHITNEY
Hugo Chavez seems to take great pleasure in tweaking George Bush's
nose. He's repeatedly called Bush a "terrorist" and disparaged the US
as a "terrorist state". Just last week, Chavez fired off another
broadside saying, "The planet's most serious danger is the government
of the United States ... The people of the United States are being
governed by a killer, a genocidal murderer, and a madman."
He got that right.
For liberals and leftists Chavez's fiery salvos have been a welcome
respite from the weak-kneed groveling of congressional Democrats and
the congratulatory purring of media brown-nosers. So far, the
Venezuelan president has been the only leader on the world stage to
state the obvious, that Bush and his maniacal group of liars,
carpet-baggers, and war criminals are savaging the planet and putting
millions at risk.
That doesn't mean that Chavez hates the American people; far from it.
Following the vast devastation of Hurricane Katrina Chavez responded
more quickly than FEMA, offering to send cheap fuel, humanitarian aid
and relief workers to the disaster area. He offered to provide $1
million of free petroleum via the state run Petroleos de Venezuela and
its subsidiary CITGO for the relief effort.
According to civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson, Chavez also offered
two mobile hospital units, 120 rescue and first aid experts, and 50
tons of food; considerably more than "Brownie" was able to produce.
"We have drinking water, food, and we can provide fuel," Chavez told reporters
None of this was, of course, was reported in the American media which
consistently lambastes Chavez as a "radical leftist".
Huh?
The self-proclaimed socialist, Chavez, is seen as a serious threat to
expanding capital markets in the southern hemisphere and, therefore,
ripe for regime change. This explains the hostile language the media
uses in describing the ebullient and charismatic Chavez.
Chavez succeeded in using Katrina to blast away at the callousness and
cynicism of the Bush administration saying, "Before the hurricane,
they knew Katrina was coming and refused to evacuate people. In Cuba,
when they know a hurricane is coming, chickens, hens, and people are
all evacuated. A hurricane recently destroyed many towns in Cuba but
not a single person died because no one was there. The government
prepared its people and took them to shelters, whereas here they left
the poor, without protection, especially the blacks. That's horrible!"
"The government had no evacuation plan. The world's only superpower is
so involved in Iraq ...but left its own people adrift," Chavez said on
live TV. "And, that cowboy, the king of vacations, stayed at his ranch
and said nothing but, 'You have to flee'. It's incredible."
"The king of vacations"?
Ouch!
Chavez also got his digs in at the recent economic summit at Mar Del
Plata, Argentina where he was the center of attention. A throng of
35,000 celebrated his arrival and filled the local soccer stadium with
protestors chanting, "Bush is the terrorist. Bush is the fascist".
Chavez gave a 2 hour speech railing against Bush, his "immoral war"
and his ruinous "neoliberal economic policies"
"The US has bombed entire cities, used chemical weapons and napalm,
killed women and children and thousands of soldiers. That's
terrorism," said Chavez. "The US government is a threat to humanity."
The summit at Mar del Plata was billed as a "showdown" between Bush
and Chavez and many of those attending anxiously awaited the face-off.
Chavez even joked to reporters that "he would sneak up on Bush and
scare him".
No need. The normally boastful Bush was uncommonly subdued during the
activities and slinked away to the safety of Air Force 1 as soon as he
spotted an opening. The Crawford peacock had no intention of going
nose to nose with his Venezuelan nemesis.
Bush prefers to limit his displays of bravado to televised appearances
on the flight-deck of American aircraft carriers, cinched up in a
warrior-jumpsuit and cod-piece, surrounded by a phalanx of security
guards.
Yee-hah!
Chavez summarized Bush's stealthy departure saying, "The real failure
here was Mr. Bush. He left defeated, and he will keep being defeated.
This century will be for the people of Latin America."
Last week, Chavez took another swing at the Bush team by ordering the
delivery of "12 million gallons of discounted home-heating oil to
local charities and 45,000 low-income families in Massachusetts next
month." (Boston Globe)
The deal will provide nine million gallons of oil to institutions that
serve the poor, such as homeless shelters. Families will be able to
buy heating fuel at discount rates, keeping them from freezing to
death in the bitter New England winter.
The plan is yet another blow to the administration and the rickety
system of predatory capitalism.
Massachusetts congressman William Delahunt explained that there was a
"desperate need" for affordable home heating oil that would not be met
by state or federal governments.
No wonder. There's been a 13% rise in the number of American's living
below the poverty line since Bush took office, and the fissures in the
"free market" edifice are beginning to appear everywhere.
Bush has reinforced the feudal system of upward redistribution,
creating even greater structural injustices that are hurting those who
are least able to protect themselves. Chavez's generosity shines a
light on a voracious system that is increasingly turning inwards and
wreaking havoc on the poor. Washington continues to siphon off the
nation's wealth to a small cadre of venal elites while others are
struggling just to keep warm.
Chavez's gift will be distributed by officials from Citizens Energy of
Boston and CITGO, a Houston-based subsidiary of Petroleos de
Venezuela. It should help to minimize the suffering of the working
people who face a 50% increase in the price of oil.
The political implications of Chavez's move are enormous. It's a slap
in the face to George Bush, who tried to remove Chavez 4 years ago in
a failed-coup attempt. It also demonstrates that Bush's "survival of
the fittest" neoliberal policies have fallen on hard times. Chavez has
assumed the mantle of Franklin D. Roosevelt redistributing Venezuela's
prodigious oil wealth to the people who need it the most, while the
blinkered Bush has become a modern-day Herbert Hoover paving the way
for economic Armageddon by shifting $1.3 trillion of wealth from the
middle class to his friends at the top of the fiscal food-chain.
Just this week, Bush slashed another $700 million from the food stamp
program leaving 235,000 needy Americans without enough to eat. These
same people face the prospect of a frigid Bush-winter unless they can
get help from Chavez.
Who could have imagined just 5 years ago that American citizens would
be getting charitable assistance from Venezuela?
Viva Chavez.
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached: fergiewhitney@msn.com
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