[Tusethede]

Originally posted by Kidicious



It's not like the Venezuelan people don't want him to continue as president. I actually have little problem with a country not having or dropping term limits.

But I do have some difficulty when it is done to benefit a currently sitting president. The chance for abuse is there when the person elected to the top job can change the rules pertaining to the top job


So term limits meh . . . Its the rest of the stuff going on in Ven. that seems more alarming. It appears that Chavez is positioning himself for a long terrm as leader and I don't know that he is necessarily concerned with having popular support to remain there.

This one is a "stay tuned"

[Lorionasodi]

There's a serious movement to replace capitalism in Venezuela. Powerfull forces are going to do whatever is necessary to prevent that. The movement has to be strong. I don't deny that there are potential dangers to Chavez getting more powerfull though. I hope for the best. I worry more about some of his policies though. He reminds me a lot of FDR though, and his policies could get better.

[sbgctsa]

Constantly rewritting the Constitution to maintain his grip on power and to eliminate seats held by the opposition isn't exactly democratic. Some people would call that gerrymandering while more honest people would call it out and out fraud designed to disenfranchize the opposition.

[Druspills]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Poor child. There is no difference once the party in power stacks the electoral districts to insure they always win. ...

A democratic leader wouldn't be nationalizing all of the key media players and closing most of the independent media outlets. Stacking the electoral districts to ensure he always wins is dictatorial. Nationalizing all of the key media players and closing most of the independent media outlets is dictatorial.

But abolishing term limits is not dictatorial. What makes the current situation dictatorial is the abovementioned actions.

[flowersnewaho]

Abolishing term limits in the context of those other actions is dictatorial.

[itaspCatCriny]

Originally posted by Oerdin
No surprises to anyone who hs been intellectually honest here. Chavez has announced that he intend to yet again rewrite the Venezualan constitution to extend his stay in office and to give himself more power. WOW, WHO COULD EVER HAVE GUESSED? Nope, no one called this one.

Chavez now says he wants to stay in office at least until 2030 and he wants to yet again redraw electorial districts in order to give his party yet more seats; any honest person would call that still more gerrymandering from the man who created the most gerrymandered state in the western hemisphere. I honestly can't see why anyone would be stupid enough to support a man who is obviously a dictator at heart. A dictator is not necessarily bad. An oppressive mean muther****a is.

You could argue that the Bush dynasty isn't kosjer either. The entire family has top spots all over the place... And supposedly there will be a new Bush member going for president soon enough. We'll have to see bou that however. Yah...


Chavez does has some oppressive traits though. This probably needed to fight rightwing dictatorship in the region. You can shoot all you like on Chavez, but this is because he is given no other options. I doubt a US favoured presidente would be any different in taking away liberties (well... he'd simply give all the natural resources ready for plundering to the rich foreign businesses instead)

[whimpykid]

Electoral districts matter a whole lot when you need 20 more to yet again rewrite the constitution and to maintain your iron grip on power. Thus we see the even further gerrymandering of the electoral districts to insure Chavez gets his cronies into office.

Then of course there is the issue that it is fundimentally impossible to have fair elections when the ruling dictator controls all of the mass media and refuses to allow the opposition to run ads and in fact orders the media to continually attack the opposition. That is not a democracy and the person who runs it is a dictator.

[MIBgirlsXXL]

There are links provided above.

[TpDoctorOneTp]

Check back with me in 2030 and tell me if you still feel Chavez is not a dictator. He's a Mugabe if I ever saw one.

[ergyuu]

What do you think about Evo? He seems like an asshat to me who will end up making the aerage Bolivian poorer.

[Patgaepx]

I think he is very naive and innocent, and maybe not very intelligent

He does things like going to China, and when surrounded by Chinese ministers, he starts praising Mao, when China is now super capitalistic no one has followed Mao for decades.

Or he is with the presidents of Brazil and Argentina, and he starts talking about how nice democracy is and how much he likes Castro, and the presidents of Brazil tells him, but, Evo, Cuba is a dictatorship.. and evo starts talking about those local meaningless show elections in cuba to prove it is a democracy, and the other presidents can barely avoid laughing.

Evo has a minister who believes that before the spanish conquest amerindians lived 200 years, and that his grandmother lived 200 years! and that bolivians should have 8, 9 children, that population control is a white conspiracy to make the number of amerindians smaller.

I dont think he is a bad man, I think he is good, but probably naive and uneducated, I think he could hurt bolivia like that south african minister who said aids could be fought eating veggies, and putting lemon juice on the foods

[markshome23]

You just want free koka, admit it

[KeettyGlots]

Watching it again, it is full of factual errors. Venezuala is most certainly not the world's fourth largest oil supplier. It is the fourth largest exporting meaning that domestic demand is so low it has to export. There are several countries which produce far more oil including the US, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Russia, and likely several others like Nigeria and Indonesia. Iraq and Iran might even beat it.

That was complete propaganda crap full of factual errors and conspiracy theories.

[dicemets]

Some pics to "affirm" that there is hope for the people of Latin America!

[Roneyslelry]

Three strikes and the Yankees are out!

[steevyjeors]

Originally posted by techumseh
OMG, you're surrounded! A little nostalgia. OMG! WE MUST INVADE CANADA!