How many are paying attention to Venezuela?

[JoeB131]

Anything to the left of Ayn Rand is COMMUNISM!

I was hoping at least one of you would step up and tell me how socialism/communism/humanism is actually working in Venezuela but I guess I am stuck with you idiots. Which actually proves my point.

Was Venezuela a paradise before Chavez took over?

It's real problem is that it's a petro-state. It makes all its money off one product- oil.

 

[The Rabbi]

and thats a bad thing when the big boy capitalists are constantly shitting on you!

Which particular "man" is keeping you down?

I wasn't talkig about me! I'm part Capitalist and part Socialist if anything. My post was merely a reflection of what I see going on around me. In answering the quote "very simply put....socialism leads to no toilet paper" I was being a bit sarcastic. In a broad sense, though, the rich capitalists have "shit" on the rest of us by off shoring jobs, engineering the housing crisis, and storing assets off shore to circumvent paying taxes.

Maybe if you showered occasionally you wouldn't have the illusion people were shitting on you.
Everyone, capitalists included, work the laws to their advantage. There is nothing illegal or immoral about that. Would employees at Apple be better off if Apple paid billions of dollars in taxes to the Treasury or not?

 

[The Rabbi]

Anything to the left of Ayn Rand is COMMUNISM!

I was hoping at least one of you would step up and tell me how socialism/communism/humanism is actually working in Venezuela but I guess I am stuck with you idiots. Which actually proves my point.

Was Venezuela a paradise before Chavez took over?

It's real problem is that it's a petro-state. It makes all its money off one product- oil.

So if Venezuela was anything other than paradise then it doesnt matter what Chavez did? Are you drunk this morning?

 

[martybegan]

Anything to the left of Ayn Rand is COMMUNISM!

I was hoping at least one of you would step up and tell me how socialism/communism/humanism is actually working in Venezuela but I guess I am stuck with you idiots. Which actually proves my point.

Was Venezuela a paradise before Chavez took over?

It's real problem is that it's a petro-state. It makes all its money off one product- oil.

All the other Petro states seem to be doing OK.

 

[natstew]

Before Hugo Chavez took over there was a large Native (Indian) population living in poverty. They weren't put in poverty by the establishment, they just continued living like they had been for centuries and progress left them behind.
Chavez promised these poor indigenous people 'their fair share' of the Nation's wealth. They voted him in and that was the end of his devotion to the poor. He immediately began punishing his opposition (sound familiar?), shutting down opposition newspapers, radio, and TV stations, and putting his own people in charge of them. He Nationalized the Oil Industry and kicked out all foreign Oil Companies.
As for the wealth he promised to share with the poor indigenous people, they were forgotten. He didn't need them anymore. The wealth went to support his political machine.
That runs parallel with what The Left is doing in the U.S. Not as severe or harsh, but the same strategy. Castro did it in Cuba, the Left does it everywhere. They exploit the poorest for their Party's power gain. The poor are seldom, if ever really helped, other than with crumbs from the Master's table, just enough to keep them dependent.

 

[natstew]

Venezuela was self sufficient in food before Chavez, now the people are nearly starving.
In Venezuela election, food is a voting issue

Chavez Nationalized Agriculture and Ranching. It's what Socialist do when they get enough power to do so.

 

[natstew]

Progressives don't support Communism, Humanism is not Socialism, and Reaganomics doesn't work.

Progressives are communists, humanism and socialism are communism just new words. And yes free markets do work it's why you have enjoyed living under that system instead of Carter's malaise the last few decades.

What is "Carter's malaise"? When do record corporate profits trickle down like Reagan promised? It's a simple question. Do record corporate profits ever trickle down to society or is that just "job creator" bullshit that gets fed to FOX-watching mouth-breathers so the 1% can keep their taxes low? When do billionaire job creators start creating jobs? Why doesn't trickle down theory work? And why do you Republicans keep insisting that it does?

If you aren't smart enough to actually pay attention to a country going the same route you are espousing for us to follow maybe you aren't the most qualified person to represent your group. Actually, there isn't anyone in your group smart or qualified. Communism requires stupid people to enact and then pay the final price for that stupidity. ****, guess that makes you the next democrat president elect.

What are you even talking about? Do you know what is going on in this country? Rich people have more money than ever before while 49 million Americans can't afford food each month. You say it's because they're buying drugs but it's actually because the majority of money on Earth is being hoarded by a relatively small fraction of the human population. Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, and Carter have all been part of developing the system to its current state. We face Fascism in the US, not "Liberal Communism". Liberal doesn't actually mean Communist. You are entirely mistaken on that. But we do face Fascism which is a marriage of corporate and state power. We have had for some years now a government which rewards terrible behavior and issues pardons to the most heinous crimes (if those crimes are even brought before the public in the first place). HSBC confessed to laundering money for terrorist organizations that were killing American soldiers and the US Federal government accepted a fine that equaled two months' revenue for the bank- $1.9 billion. For funding terrorism against America. We the People were told that HSBC was "too big to fail". So we have a situation where the US Federal government refuses to prosecute TREASON because the corporate powers would crumble.

The rich are doing just fine. Who do you think is funding the US government? Whatever happens in this government happens for the benefit of the richest 1%. That should be the focus of your outrage, not single mothers working two minimum-wage jobs and still needing food stamps just to get by.

The 49 million on food stamps is misleading. It's not that they can't afford to buy food, it's that they qualify for food stamps, big difference. I qualify for food stamps and take it as an insult to my dignity! I don't take them because I don't need them!! Food Stamps is voter payola. There are some who actually need help, but not nearly the 49 million.

Washington is a cesspool of corruption. A serious journalist could spend a lifetime reporting it and still not cover it all.

I hate both Political Parties, it's just that I hate the Democrats more. I think there's hope for the Republican Party from the Grassroots movement called the TEA party. There's no hope for the Democrat Party, everything they do eventually leads to Communism in time. Anyone who thinks they would reach a certain level of Socialism and stop is fooling themselves. Marxism to Socialism to Communism, it's a one way street.

How about 'Regulated Capitalism', with some fair and meaningful regulations? Not the things that run them offshore!

Capitalism is the engine of our Country, kill it and we die.

 

[paulitician]

Communism/Socialism/Progressivism, whichever term you choose, just doesn't work. That has been proven many many times all throughout history. And it will eventually be proven in Venezuela as well. People want to be free from Government dominance over their lives. It's a natural human desire. Communism/Progressivism always leads to Government abuse and oppression.

We're seeing that oppression now with our own rapidly expanding Police State. Our own Government has become too intrusive and controlling. Everywhere you look, the Government is there controlling and abusing. It has invaded almost every aspect of our lives. It's exactly what our Founding Fathers didn't want. We are all now left groveling at Big Brother's feet. We have to beg his permission for everything. Less Government is the logical way forward. Venezuela will come to that conclusion at some point. Sadly the way things are going, they'll likely figure that out before our own Nation does.

 

[Edgetho]

Communism/Socialism/Progressivism, whichever term you choose, just doesn't work. That has been proven many many times all throughout history. And it will eventually be proven in Venezuela as well. People want to be free from Government dominance over their lives. It's a natural desire. Communism/Progressivism always leads to Government abuse and oppression.

We're seeing that oppression now with our own rapidly expanding Police State. Our own Government has become too intrusive and controlling. Everywhere you look, the Government is there controlling and abusing. It has invaded almost every aspect of our lives. It's exactly what our Founding Fathers didn't want. We are all now left groveling at Big Brother's feet. We have to beg his permission for everything. Less Government is the logical way forward. Venezuela will come to that conclusion at some point. Sadly the way things are going, they'll likely figure that out before our own Nation does.

communism, socialism, progressivism, dimocrapism or whatever you want to call it is just simply a gang of criminals trying to run rough-shod over an entire country.

They are no different, and in fact much worse, than the Imperialistic Monarchs and Emperors of old.

They are just as murdering -- WHEN they can get away with it, just as cruel, just as brutal and just as enslaving.

No one can name me an Empire, or any combination of Empires, that has killed, murdered, 100,000,000 of its own people.

The people who back this kind of criminal activity (dimocrapism, socialism, communism, etc) are themselves cruel and inhuman. They only care about what they can steal

They should be dealt with accordingly.

And permanently

 

[JQPublic1]

Which particular "man" is keeping you down?

I wasn't talkig about me! I'm part Capitalist and part Socialist if anything. My post was merely a reflection of what I see going on around me. In answering the quote "very simply put....socialism leads to no toilet paper" I was being a bit sarcastic. In a broad sense, though, the rich capitalists have "shit" on the rest of us by off shoring jobs, engineering the housing crisis, and storing assets off shore to circumvent paying taxes.

Maybe if you showered occasionally you wouldn't have the illusion people were shitting on you.
Everyone, capitalists included, work the laws to their advantage. There is nothing illegal or immoral about that. Would employees at Apple be better off if Apple paid billions of dollars in taxes to the Treasury or not?

Don't give up your day job, NEGGER!
It depends on what country the Apple employees are citizens of. Those tax dollars could be used in the USA to buy more plane/drones, encourage more research in solving medical or societal ills, or to repair our crumbling bridges. But even apple employees should be concerned about our national debt; something those billions would help to reduce!

 

[auditor0007]

Mostly for the benefit of educating you left wing fools.

It?s Happening In Real Time. Pay Attention. | Is This Blog On?

Toyota Motor Company shut down assembly. GM and Ford aren’t assembling cars either, because they can’t get parts. Inflation is at 50%. The TV stations are all now state controlled. Propaganda posters boast of socialist Venezuela, while there isn’t even toilet paper to wipe their asses. Twitter was shut down the other day when it was being used to coordinate student protests against the government. Yet, useful idiots like Sean Penn and Danny Glover supported Chavez and the social revolution which has lead to this ruin.

How many times do we need to watch your failed policies come to life and die in front of our own eye's before you left wing idiots catch on?

Socialism and communism is a sure route to failure. Yet you keep promoting these same policies here. When the hell are you going to learn?

The problem with almost all of the far right is that they believe that American liberals support a socialist system like that in Venezuela. Cons are so far out there, they just can't see anything for what it really is. To prove my point is easy; you all believe Obama is a liberal. It's about the craziest thing a person could believe.

 

[westwall]

Mostly for the benefit of educating you left wing fools.

It?s Happening In Real Time. Pay Attention. | Is This Blog On?

Toyota Motor Company shut down assembly. GM and Ford aren’t assembling cars either, because they can’t get parts. Inflation is at 50%. The TV stations are all now state controlled. Propaganda posters boast of socialist Venezuela, while there isn’t even toilet paper to wipe their asses. Twitter was shut down the other day when it was being used to coordinate student protests against the government. Yet, useful idiots like Sean Penn and Danny Glover supported Chavez and the social revolution which has lead to this ruin.

How many times do we need to watch your failed policies come to life and die in front of our own eye's before you left wing idiots catch on?

Socialism and communism is a sure route to failure. Yet you keep promoting these same policies here. When the hell are you going to learn?

The problem with almost all of the far right is that they believe that American liberals support a socialist system like that in Venezuela. Cons are so far out there, they just can't see anything for what it really is. To prove my point is easy; you all believe Obama is a liberal. It's about the craziest thing a person could believe.

Obama is no liberal. What he is is a wanna be dictator. He'll use the progressives as his pawns but ultimately he is just a little petty tyrant.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Mostly for the benefit of educating you left wing fools.

It?s Happening In Real Time. Pay Attention. | Is This Blog On?

Toyota Motor Company shut down assembly. GM and Ford aren’t assembling cars either, because they can’t get parts. Inflation is at 50%. The TV stations are all now state controlled. Propaganda posters boast of socialist Venezuela, while there isn’t even toilet paper to wipe their asses. Twitter was shut down the other day when it was being used to coordinate student protests against the government. Yet, useful idiots like Sean Penn and Danny Glover supported Chavez and the social revolution which has lead to this ruin.

How many times do we need to watch your failed policies come to life and die in front of our own eye's before you left wing idiots catch on?

Socialism and communism is a sure route to failure. Yet you keep promoting these same policies here. When the hell are you going to learn?

“We all see only that which we are trained to see.”

― Robert Anton Wilson

 

[Edgetho]

Mostly for the benefit of educating you left wing fools.

It?s Happening In Real Time. Pay Attention. | Is This Blog On?



How many times do we need to watch your failed policies come to life and die in front of our own eye's before you left wing idiots catch on?

Socialism and communism is a sure route to failure. Yet you keep promoting these same policies here. When the hell are you going to learn?

The problem with almost all of the far right is that they believe that American liberals support a socialist system like that in Venezuela. Cons are so far out there, they just can't see anything for what it really is. To prove my point is easy; you all believe Obama is a liberal. It's about the craziest thing a person could believe.

Obama is no liberal. What he is is a wanna be dictator. He'll use the progressives as his pawns but ultimately he is just a little petty tyrant.

the dimocrap party went from 'liberal' to 'radical' a long time ago.

We are the last remnants of classical liberalism in the United States.... Republicans.

dimocrap scum just call us names because we fight their radical ideas.

There's a difference between liberalism and radicalism that dimocraps have blurred.

We know where the line is drawn, dimocrap scum don't.

obama is a radical. What he does is present himself as a moderate force in the dimocrap scum party. He is not. He is as radical as the rest of the radicals in the dimocrap party.

But he is also a liar and a deceiver and a corrupt scumbag. He let's the more radical elements of the party advance an idea while he sits back and watches what happens.

If the idea falls on its face, he speaks out against it. If it takes hold, if it gains 'traction' then he's all for it.

The people he brings in... Like at the FCC and the IRS.... He knows who they are and what they are.

They are like-minded people to whom he doesn't have to give orders or directives. They do his bidding because it is THEIR agenda as well as his.

dimocraps are scumbags.

dimocrap voters think it's cute. They think, "Hey, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."

Which was the mass-murdering, genocidal socialist Stalin's favorite saying, BTW.

They don't care about the Constitution. That has been shown to be true enough times already that it's not even arguable anymore.

They don't care about anything other than holding on to power.

Dictators like the scumbag obama and his evil commie minions know what happens when they lose power.

Dictators don't just leave office in a smooth change of power -- With a handshake and a smile.

While there won't be violence (probably) when obama is finally deposed, the people who worked for and with him know for a fact that there will be investigations galore into the myriad ways in which they broke the law while they held the reins of power.

And they don't like the idea of that.

The odds of us getting another forgiving Christian Man like George W Bush, who completely forgave, and was uninterested in, the crimes of the Clinton Administration are not as good anymore.

Not since Romney. Which is exactly what Romney was... Just like Bush. A genuinely nice Man, a good, decent , honest, Christian who just wasn't interested in prosecuting the law against law-breaking dimocrap scum.

And that is also why Romney didn't get elected.

dimocraps know this. That's why we're going to see the fight of our lives come 2016. It will be epic.

Especially if we nominate a fire-breathing, kick-ass Conservative who wants to prosecute the hundreds (more like thousands, but I'll take what I can get) of criminals in the dimocrap party and put them where they belong.... Behind bars for decades.

dimocrap scum know this. And nothing is more dangerous than a cornered rat. You back a rat into a corner and he'll kill you to try to get out.

Just like dimocraps.

2016 will be the dirtiest, nastiest, most expensive, bloodiest presidential election in history.

dimocraps are the scum of the Earth.

 

[Barb]

A blog that cites the Globe and Mail

Maduro is no Chavez, and while the economy there is pinched somewhat due to lower oil consumption, even that right wing rag had this to say:

With oil economy running on fumes, Venezuela 'on the edge of the apocalypse' - The Globe and Mail

This is Mr. Chavez’s Venezuela, said Luis Vincente Leon, who runs a public opinion firm in the capital. There is undoubtedly an economic crisis, “but even the poor have a high level of assets.” And, now, a high level of expectations.

The protests and unrest are not exclusively, or even mostly due to the economy, but the authoritarian nature of the government, and authoritarianism the right in this country embrace, except when they don't.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/w...ezuela-as-places-to-rally-disappear.html?_r=0

And while the demonstrators condemn a wide range of perennial problems, including rampant crime, high inflation and shortages of basic goods like sugar and toilet paper, the intensity of the protests has been fueled by something more subtle and perhaps stronger — a sense that the spaces to voice disagreement with the government are shrinking and disappearing.

So far, Mr. Maduro’s response has been to crack down, but that has only fanned the flames. This week, he expelled three American diplomats, accusing them of recruiting students to take part in violent demonstrations. Then he arrested an opposition politician, Leopoldo López, saying that he had trained gangs of youths to sow violence in the country as part of a coup to overthrow the government.

The US government denies charges that there have been efforts to destabilize Venezuela, but we have a long history of such "soft" "counter terrorism" efforts in the South America's in general, and Venezuela in particular. And those involvements aren't limited to ancient history:

From Chomsky on Iran, Iraq, and the Rest of the World: ZCommunications | Chomsky on Iran, Iraq, and the Rest of the World by Noam Chomsky | ZNet Article

Shank: Venezuela has been successfully defiant with Chavez making a swing towards socialism. Where are they on our list?

Chomsky: They're very high. The United States sponsored and supported a military coup to overthrow the government. In fact, that's its last, most recent effort in what used to be a conventional resort to such measures.

Shank: But why haven't we turned our sights more toward Venezuela?

Chomsky: Oh they're there. There's a constant stream of abuse and attack by the government and therefore the media, who are almost reflexively against Venezuela. For several reasons. Venezuela is independent. It's diversifying its exports to a limited extent, instead of just being dependent on exports to the United States. And it's initiating moves toward Latin American integration and independence. It's what they call a Bolivarian alternative and the United States doesn't like any of that.

This again is defiance of U.S. policies going back to the Monroe Doctrine. There's now a standard interpretation of this trend in Latin America, another kind of party line. [according to that interpretation:]Latin America is all moving to the left, from Venezuela to Argentina with rare exceptions, but there's a good left and a bad left. The good left is Garcia and Lula, and then there's the bad left which is Chavez, Morales, maybe Correa. And that's the split.

In order to maintain that position, it's necessary to resort to some fancy footwork. For example, it's necessary not to report the fact that when Lula was re-elected in October, his foreign trip and one of his first acts was to visit Caracas to support Chavez and his electoral campaign and to dedicate a joint Venezuelan-Brazilian project on the Orinoco River, to talk about new projects and so on. It's necessary not to report the fact that a couple of weeks later in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which is the heart of the bad guys, there was a meeting of all South American leaders. There had been bad blood between Chavez and Garcia, but it was apparently patched up. They laid plans for pretty constructive South American integration, but that just doesn't fit the U.S. agenda. So it wasn't reported.

The OP's understanding of what it going on in Venezuela isn't deep enough to get one's socks wet.

 

[TemplarKormac]

How does it increase understanding of an international issue when you're citing Noam Chomsky??

 

[The T]

The problem with almost all of the far right is that they believe that American liberals support a socialist system like that in Venezuela. Cons are so far out there, they just can't see anything for what it really is. To prove my point is easy; you all believe Obama is a liberal. It's about the craziest thing a person could believe.

Obama is no liberal. What he is is a wanna be dictator. He'll use the progressives as his pawns but ultimately he is just a little petty tyrant.

the dimocrap party went from 'liberal' to 'radical' a long time ago.

We are the last remnants of classical liberalism in the United States.... Republicans.

dimocrap scum just call us names because we fight their radical ideas.

There's a difference between liberalism and radicalism that dimocraps have blurred.

We know where the line is drawn, dimocrap scum don't.

obama is a radical. What he does is present himself as a moderate force in the dimocrap scum party. He is not. He is as radical as the rest of the radicals in the dimocrap party.

But he is also a liar and a deceiver and a corrupt scumbag. He let's the more radical elements of the party advance an idea while he sits back and watches what happens.

If the idea falls on its face, he speaks out against it. If it takes hold, if it gains 'traction' then he's all for it.

The people he brings in... Like at the FCC and the IRS.... He knows who they are and what they are.

They are like-minded people to whom he doesn't have to give orders or directives. They do his bidding because it is THEIR agenda as well as his.

dimocraps are scumbags.

dimocrap voters think it's cute. They think, "Hey, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."

Which was the mass-murdering, genocidal socialist Stalin's favorite saying, BTW.

They don't care about the Constitution. That has been shown to be true enough times already that it's not even arguable anymore.

They don't care about anything other than holding on to power.

Dictators like the scumbag obama and his evil commie minions know what happens when they lose power.

Dictators don't just leave office in a smooth change of power -- With a handshake and a smile.

While there won't be violence (probably) when obama is finally deposed, the people who worked for and with him know for a fact that there will be investigations galore into the myriad ways in which they broke the law while they held the reins of power.

And they don't like the idea of that.

The odds of us getting another forgiving Christian Man like George W Bush, who completely forgave, and was uninterested in, the crimes of the Clinton Administration are not as good anymore.

Not since Romney. Which is exactly what Romney was... Just like Bush. A genuinely nice Man, a good, decent , honest, Christian who just wasn't interested in prosecuting the law against law-breaking dimocrap scum.

And that is also why Romney didn't get elected.

dimocraps know this. That's why we're going to see the fight of our lives come 2016. It will be epic.

Especially if we nominate a fire-breathing, kick-ass Conservative who wants to prosecute the hundreds (more like thousands, but I'll take what I can get) of criminals in the dimocrap party and put them where they belong.... Behind bars for decades.

dimocrap scum know this. And nothing is more dangerous than a cornered rat. You back a rat into a corner and he'll kill you to try to get out.

Just like dimocraps.

2016 will be the dirtiest, nastiest, most expensive, bloodiest presidential election in history.

dimocraps are the scum of the Earth.

2014 will be the first big battle.

 

[Barb]

Capitalism has failed also at times. The great depression and when our economy crashed in 2008 for a couple instances. Capitalism had to be propped up with taxpayer money. USA hated chavez because he increased the royalties on oil U.S. companies were taking out of Venezuela. What a criminal Chavez was in the republican mind. A democratically elected president raising royalties on assets (oil) exported out of his country.

 

[Barb]

How does it increase understanding of an international issue when you're citing Noam Chomsky??

If that's all you got, perhaps this discussion isn't for you


You wouldn't like this any better:

Latin America: History, Politics, and U.S. Policy - James D. Cockcroft - Google Books

and you would attack the author:

About the author (1996)

James D. Cockcroft is a bilingual award-winning authorof forty books on Latin America, Mexico, Latino/as, culture, migration, and human rights. He is Internet professor for the State University of New York, a poet, three-time Fulbright Scholar, and a veteran activist.

 

[Barb]

Mostly for the benefit of educating you left wing fools.

It?s Happening In Real Time. Pay Attention. | Is This Blog On?



How many times do we need to watch your failed policies come to life and die in front of our own eye's before you left wing idiots catch on?

Socialism and communism is a sure route to failure. Yet you keep promoting these same policies here. When the hell are you going to learn?

Please post the names of those who post here and support communism, and the evidence that they do.

That's amusing. You people support central planning and command/control economics.
You also look to government as your daily problem solver.
I see little difference between that and communism.

After WWII, the research and development in former military laboratories and the infrastructure in place proved to be the most significant impetus for the “Golden Age” of American growth and prosperity. As quietly as it’s currently kept (and you could hear a pin drop), and as William Chafe noted in The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II, it was a time that also came to be because our government spent money, regulated industry and commerce, and structured the economy. Our greatest economic growth was during the early 1940s when a wartime government virtually managed the economy, and in the 1960s, at the height of @_* social welfare expansion.