This is what I love when leaders get really arrogant and self-assured; they think they can define democracy however they want and essentially become the controllers of everything, because when they say it is Democracy -- dang it, it is democracy!
This guy is a psychopath ruining his own country and bringing it closer to destruction daily:
New regulations in Venezuela will require cable and satellite TV channels to carry speeches by President Hugo Chavez on a regular basis.
The measures will apply to those stations that produce more than 70% of their content within Venezuela.
The BBC correspondent in Caracas says this will apply to dozens of international broadcasters, which will be considered national stations.
Government opponents said it was an attack on freedom of speech.
The BBC's Will Grant in Caracas says when Mr Chavez deems it necessary, all national broadcasters in Venezuela must carry the president's speeches.
...
The broadcasts, known as "cadenas", are part of Venezuelan life under Mr Chavez and can last up to five hours.
For those who do not want to watch the socialist leader, cable television has been a refuge whenever a cadena interrupts their favourite soap opera or a baseball match, our correspondent says.
But not any more, he adds.
The Venezuelan government defended the new regulations.
The minister overseeing broadcast licensing, Diosdado Cabello, said it was all part of bringing greater democracy to Venezuela's media landscape.
We will achieve democracy through more government control and regulation that will bring my propaganda to your ears at every turn, being capable of interrupting all broadcasting.
Hugo Chavez is democracy -- anyone else is anti-democratic.
Such a demagogue... There should be more criticism of this guy and more attention paid to him.
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“The egalitarian mania of demagogues is even more dangerous than the brutality of men in gallooned coats... Anyone who has been oppressed can get back on his feet if the oppression did not cost him his life. A man who has been equalized is physically and morally ruined." - Ernst Jünger (March 29, 1895 – February 17, 1998)
Yes, like the criticism levelled at him by the Venzulean media during the attempted coup. Watch a few clips... they were clearly biased against Chavez.
By the way... how is Mr. Chavez ruining his country?
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“Our reason suffers the peculiar fate that … it is beset by questions which it cannot set aside, as they arise from the nature of Reason itself; but these questions it cannot answer, for they transcend all the powers of Reason.” - Immanuel Kant. Critique of Pure Reason. 1781
Note: J.R.R. Tolkien once said, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." At the present time I'm pre-occupied with other more urgent issues that demand my full attention, and so I'll be off CF for several months. Wishing you well, Mithrandir.
Yes, like the criticism levelled at him by the Venzulean media during the attempted coup. Watch a few clips... they were clearly biased against Chavez.
By the way... how is Mr. Chavez ruining his country?
Well, let's see...trying just about every foible of socialism that 20th century experience proved to be a dismal failure: price controls, nationalizing industries, stifling dissent through rigid controls of the media, trying to tax private enterprise into oblivion, and so forth.
If Chavez wants socialism that works, he should study the Nordic countries, not East Germany, Cuba, and the Soviet Union.
Yes, like the criticism levelled at him by the Venzulean media during the attempted coup. Watch a few clips... they were clearly biased against Chavez.
By the way... how is Mr. Chavez ruining his country?
Chavez' biggest problem is that he doesn't care about his citizens. Everything is the collective and the collective is everything.
He wants to control the media so they won't report that crime, inflation, and unemployment have soared in Venezuela in the last few years. He doesn't want an intellectual discussion of varying viewpoints.
His Interior minister recently told the Petroleum union that if their members didn't support and join in socialist collectives, they would be viewed under suspicion as enemies of the "revolution". So much for freedon there.
He has fomented discord in other LatAm countries as well. Venezuelan agents were found with large sums of money that was being used to finance Fernandez's campaign in Argentina, Venezualen and Nicaraguan nationals have entered Honduras and are some of the leaders of the pro-Zelaya rallies. Morales is like a puppet on Chavez's knee, parroting whatever he says.
I could go one, but his record is easy to see. What I don't understand is why the OAS and the US do not condemn him as a dictator in direct opposition to democracy.
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"I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a ____. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said ____ than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."- Tony Campolo
Chavez' biggest problem is that he doesn't care about his citizens. Everything is the collective and the collective is everything.
He wants to control the media so they won't report that crime, inflation, and unemployment have soared in Venezuela in the last few years. He doesn't want an intellectual discussion of varying viewpoints.
His Interior minister recently told the Petroleum union that if their members didn't support and join in socialist collectives, they would be viewed under suspicion as enemies of the "revolution". So much for freedon there.
He has fomented discord in other LatAm countries as well. Venezuelan agents were found with large sums of money that was being used to finance Fernandez's campaign in Argentina, Venezualen and Nicaraguan nationals have entered Honduras and are some of the leaders of the pro-Zelaya rallies. Morales is like a puppet on Chavez's knee, parroting whatever he says.
I could go one, but his record is easy to see. What I don't understand is why the OAS and the US do not condemn him as a dictator in direct opposition to democracy.
Thanks for the info. I was aware that Chavez was a Socialist, but not of his policies. The one I find hard to believe though is the one regarding the Media. Looking through a few clips it's quite easy to see that the Venezuelan media has been everything but kind to Chavez, and their scrutiny of him has been biting, and often unwarranted. However, the footage I am talking about is all in past. It would not surprise me if Chavez reacted to this by attempting to seize control of as much of the media as possible, not that this is a good thing.
Though I do understand why he has not been condemned as a dictator in direction opposition to democracy - because he has been democratically elected.
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“Our reason suffers the peculiar fate that … it is beset by questions which it cannot set aside, as they arise from the nature of Reason itself; but these questions it cannot answer, for they transcend all the powers of Reason.” - Immanuel Kant. Critique of Pure Reason. 1781
Note: J.R.R. Tolkien once said, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." At the present time I'm pre-occupied with other more urgent issues that demand my full attention, and so I'll be off CF for several months. Wishing you well, Mithrandir.
Thanks for the info. I was aware that Chavez was a Socialist, but not of his policies. The one I find hard to believe though is the one regarding the Media. Looking through a few clips it's quite easy to see that the Venezuelan media has been everything but kind to Chavez, and their scrutiny of him has been biting, and often unwarranted. However, the footage I am talking about is all in past. It would not surprise me if Chavez reacted to this by attempting to seize control of as much of the media as possible, not that this is a good thing.
Though I do understand why he has not been condemned as a dictator in direction opposition to democracy - because he has been democratically elected.
The media had given him much of a pass until the attempted coup in '02. He cracked down on them then, and they, of course, fought back. He uses his power to selectively target media and impose fines, or worse, orders judicial investigations. Globovision is the last, largest independent broadcast media in Venezuela, and Chavez has been trying to close it down for years.
As far as being democratically elected, yes, he probably did win a plurality of votes. It's been shown, however, that he uses public money to finance his campaigns, he buses people in from the country side, he uses class warfare and targeted handouts to curry favor, and the election council has disqualified many/most of the opposition candidates. I also don't think that during the last election there were many international observers allowed in.
Add to the above the fact that many middle class and wealthy Venezuelans are immigrating to Europe and other Latin American countries to get away from him, and the opposition voting roster is depleted somewhat as well.
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"I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a ____. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said ____ than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."- Tony Campolo
Chavez & His Socialist Media Blitzkrieg 
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