You are right, Rico.  The mooncrow is just abusive because she doesn’t like be challenged as the alpha queen.

rico the sock puppet to avoid 3 silly posts by Eat My Dust in a row:

Once again you two clowns, er clones made a fool of yourself here.

Eat My Dust indicates that the unemployment figure of 9.6% in Venezuela is a government figure, and therefore wrong.  The exact same percentage in Gringolandia is also a government figure, so he believes like the complete dolt that he is, that it’s right!

Last I heard the commentarists in the US indicate that their government lies through its teeth and that unemployment is 20%—like in Spain.

So much for government figures and fools in general.

ITW:

Don’t fall for the bait. You’re better than that. Rants indicate lack of ideas/facts/logic, etc. Let it go.

Isn’t a raven just a big crow?

Let me guess: You base the unemployment figures on those issued by…Chavez’s government. (because that’s the “official” rate).  In fact, it’s higher than that.

On various lists, Caracas ranks as THE most dangerous city in the world, and on most in the top 4. Ciudad Juarez is usually less dangerous than Caracas as is Baghdad.  Sometimes Mogadishu outranks Caracas, sometimes not, depending on the list.

According to Urban Titan:
“The Foreign Policy magazine dubbed Caracas as the “murder capital of the world” at the end of 2008. In December of that year alone there were 510 people murdered. Like Ciudad Juárez the majority of the violence comes from gangs and drug wars. There has also been an increase in poverty in Venezuela’s capital; between the 1970s and 1990s the poverty rate increased by 300% to 65%. It’s also been reported that the murder rate has increased by 67% since President Chavez took over.”

I suggest that since you are a citizen of “Gringolandia” you give it up and apply to be a citizen of Chavez’s “Utopia”. (BTW, Ms. Linguist—that translates loosely as “No Where”)

You have no idea how much I have traveled or where I have been or the languages I can or cannot speak.  You pull ASS-umptions out of..your ass.  And it shows.  As far as I can the only thing you are expert in is vitriolic attacks on anyone who DARES question your “authority”.  You are clearly bigoted and anti-semitic to boot (as so MANY of your posts show).

For the life of me I cannot imagine why a native-born Canadian citizen would give that up to become a citizen of “Gringolandia”. How were able to take the oath/affirmation of citizenship without committing perjury?  You clearly HATE the USA, yet you became a citizen, and abandoned your Canadian citizenship (you did say you were born in Quebec).  Please explain….

Tex:

Mexico may have been floating on oil in the 50s, but at this moment its infrastructure is obsolete and practically non-functional (except for the practice of the head of PEMEX spending millions on his trips to stay at The Ritz in Paris and castles in England).

Last I checked—a few days ago—there were petroleum reserves for 9 years more, at best.

Inherit:

Sorry to bust your puny gringo balloon of disinformation, but:

1.  I don’t walk around Caracas.  I have travelled all over Venezuela—and I mean ALL.  Since I am bilingual I have no trouble whatsoever talking to folks about any and all aspects of life in their country.  And since I just happen to be a specialist in agrarian reform, I also particate in conferences there.  You cannot say the same.

2.  Unemployment in Venezuela is currently 9.6%, EXACTLY THE SAME as the US!

3.  Family members in the government?  Ya mean like Bush Sr., GW, Jeb and company—all of whom sent YOUR country to hell on rollerblades?  Nepotism is worldwide, punching bag, but you wouldn’t know that as youhave never left your plastic computer chair.

4.  No newspapers quiver in terror of being closed down in Venezuela.  Since I am fluent in Spanish, I have read libelous comments in the “opposition press” as well as calls to assassinate the president that if published in the US would have their owners and editors wearing those sweet orange jumpsuits in Guatanamo faster than you could say Obama is reprehensible!

5.  No dissents have been jailed as insurgents unless they were.  Tell us again about your right to habeas corpus in Gringolandia?

6.  The most dangerous city on the planet, oh geography whiz, is Ciudad Juarez, right here in Mexico.

7.  Last I knew, not many countries relied on petroleum for all their electrical power needs.  Duh.  And what sources of power other countries choose to use are none of your gringo concern.

8.  I wouldn’t know if their is a Holiday Inn in Venezuela.  When I am in Caracas I always stay at a small hotel owned and operated by immigrants from Spain in the working-class neighborhood of La Candelaria.  Tell us where YOU have stayed in Caracas.  Do tell.

Continue to make a fool of yourself on this site.  It makes my case about untravelled, monolingual gringos.

Mexico is ‘floating on oil’ .. and riding a cloud of natural gas (not just counting their politicians)

.. and Mexico is nuclear. One reactor sits on the side of a Volcano just south of me here in Veracruz. Close enough that when the last hurricane hit Veracruz we got some of it here too.

If you hang out in the colonias and villages in that beautiful countryside the signs are all over.. literally SIGNS .. 50’s era stuff.. advising to be alert for warnings, evacuation routes.. the kids know ‘duck and cover’.. some signs had representations of a mushroom cloud on the horizon! It’s illuminating and sobering.

Anyhow, if fossil-fuel rich (and unstable, read the headlines!) Mexico can have their Nuke, practically on our border.. why not Venezuela? Though I’ve long suspected Mexico of making plutonium for bombs.. probably for the CIA.. When the first of Israel’s bombs goes off we could find they were made in Mexico!

Adios!

Rico:

Think of it as a good, healthy pain, like lancing a boil.

As long as Conservatives rely on fact, not “Fox Factoids” and logical analysis, not talking points, I’m OK with disagreements with them.  But those, like you, are few and far between.  Too often what passes for “Conservative” sound like XXXX or XXXX XX XXX.

Sadly, too many moderates and progressives suffer the same affliction.  They just aren’t as noticeable at TD as their “Conservative” equivalents.

Moonraven:

You should get your facts straight.  I stay far away from Fox Noise. If they say the sun is shining I wouldn’t believe them until I need to put on sunglasses.  You will be hard-pressed to find ONE citation of Fox News in all the years I’ve been on TD.  And if you do, it will have been only to show how ridiculous they are.

Walking around Venezuela will not tell you how many people are unemployed.  It won’t tell you how many family members Chavez has employed. It won’t tell you if the newspapers are all in terror of being closed down if they print the serious negatives about Chavez.  It won’t tell you which dissidents have been jailed as “traitors” or “insurgents”. It won’t tell you why Caracas is the most dangerous city on Earth, with a murder rate per 100,000 that’s double that of Baghdad. (200 vs 100).

It won’t tell you why one of the energy-richest nations needs nuclear power plants for electricity.

Did you stay at a Holiday Inn last night? Is that why you are an “expert”?

Of course, Patrick Henry’s point that we elected George W. Bush twice therefore disqualifying us to criticize other nations is a far more cogent assessment than yours.  In other words, once again, PH has put up something I can’t argue with.

ITW:

It pains me to say this (because I feel I may be compromising you), but you’re becoming my hero here: a liberal with rational moorings.

Your critics (e.g., moonraven) are resorting to personal attacks because they have nothing substantial to say. That’s a good sign.

From a country who elected Bush and Bush Jr (twice), we are hardly in a position to criticise any other country’s elected officials.

Inherit:

You are barking at the wrong rabbit, pal.

I spend a lot of time in Venezuela, and have done so since 2003.  I am not taken in by your Fox News bullshit.

Sell it to the sucker that just bought my last oceanfront lot in Omaha!

moonraven, October 16 at 1:29 pm Link to this comment

Just an answer.
********************

No, Bugs, it’s not.  The US never claimed it was doing anything but building weapons to deter the generated threat from the Soviet Union.  The US never claimed it was doing it solely to develop alternative energy sources.

But that’s what Chavez is doing.

One needs to learn that leaders in Latin and South America who defy the United States are not automatically great leaders.  Chavez is incredibly bad—for Venezuela.  How is such an oil-rich country so poor and why is that wealth so poorly distributed?

In every nation that is oil-rich but STILL has horrible economic problems and crime (Caracas is twice as dangerous as Baghdad!) it always turns out there are two connected causes: Incompetence and Corruption.  Socialist speeches and military uniforms don’t make one a great reformer.  The proof of the pudding is the economic mess Chavez has made.

It should be a great public works project. 

We need several here in the states.

Uh, the right IS the chaff.

Too bad you have not noticed that.

moonraven abd Aaron:

Well! That sure spun out of control fast!

Robaire: Good point about energy diversity. And good for Hugo for going there. But I think there’s more ranting from the left about nukes (except vis a vis Iran) than the right. The left generally hates all things nuke, while the right generally separates the energy wheat from the weapons chaff.

Yes!!!

You are right. 

You are stupid.

And filled with hate.

And both of those defects are YOUR fault, not mine.

My stupidity about Venezuela comes from watching the president of my country
support mafia thugs like Marcelo Chimirri while they dismantled legitimate
businesses, including the one I worked for, for the crime of competing with a
state telecom. It comes from watching him smile next to Chavez while he
spewed hatred for the US during a rally celebrating the anniversary of the
Sandinista revolution.

My stupidity also comes from watching him try to replace our constitution
without saying why, and refusing to present a national budget to hide the
millions he was spending on propaganda for his constitutional campaign. My
stupidity also comes from the fraud he admitted on national TV to commit, and
the fraud he committed on the referendum that didn’t occur on June 28. The
computers what were going to record the referendum already had a landslide
victory pre-programmed into them.

My stupidity comes from Chavez proclaiming a coup in Honduras and
mobilizing his propaganda engine 2 days before the purported coup occurred.
It also comes from watching the world condemn Honduras for defending it’s
constitution. It comes from watching hundreds of thousands of people taking to
the streets in celebration, but be ignored by CNN who preffered to show a
couple dozen high school students burning tires.

I am very stupid it seems. Don’t bother wasting your time enlightening me.

My comments are filled with disdain for uneducated and cynical bigots and zionist shills.

I am proud not to be either.

If you are listening to what others say with any kind of comprehension I am Bugs Bunny.

Can we add a little sobriety to this conversation?

And some common sense?

Oil exporting countries, such as Venezuela and Iran, desperately want nuclear power. Why? Because their national economy is terribly reliant on oil export revenues. Every barrel of oil used in-country for energy production or transport fuel means less export earnings.

On the other hand, countries such as Canada and Russia are eager to export their nuclear power technology because it brings in big earnings AND adds a new customer for future uranium exports.

Ideally, an export-reliant country with declining oil reserves such as Iran would build enough nuclear power stations to convert a significant portion of their national transport needs in future to electric; then they could stop burning so much of their own valuable fuel.

That’s the economic thinking behind the desire for nuclear plants.

The idea that nuclear energy equals nuclear weapons is just a pretext for a lot of right-wing nationalistic posturing. The absolute stupidity of right-wing ranting about Iran and Venezuela is symptomatic of the rapidly declining US empire.

Moonraven,

Why are your comments filled with disdain and pride? I would rather be an idiot if
that will mean that I will listen to others and regard their opinions as worthy of
respect. (even if they aren’t)

Inherit:  I am old enough to remember a time when Gringolandia was floating on oil—or thought it was—and yet stockpiled enough nukes to demolish the planet at least 1000 times.

Just an answer.

Aaron,

Trust me, your particular brand of puerile foolishness will not lead to wisdom.  Our species won’t even be around that long.

My insight about energy pluralism?  Okay, here goes:  Gringolandia is a rogue state founded on the twin pillars of genocide and slavery, whose day is over and which is rapidly hitting bottom—soon to be swept into the dustbin of history. 

Other nations are moving on, as they are the folks with resources.  The gringos squandered theirs, as well as everyone else’s that they could take at gunpoint.  The folks who are moving on are not going to allow their people to be without electrical power just because Coca Cola is grabbing all the water on the planet. Although I am anti-nuclear, I can see their point.

I wonder if Chavez ever asked the US. Years ago,
Castro asked the US to join him in building a new
Cuba.  We refused.  Castro turned to Russia and she
agreed.  The US came unglued, Kennedy launched the
Bay of Pigs, Castro became enemy no. 1, the US
boycotted the country, and the military/industrial
complex congratulated itself on the addition of one
more enemy as a reason to extort more billions from
the budget.

True that Russia is no longer the enemy, but don’t be
surprised if Russia’s connection with Iran, the
latest manufactured enemy, ends up making Venezuela a
true enemy - and then watch our defense/offense
budget grow geometrically.

Nuclear arm is not a war weapon; it is a deterrent. Once held by not so technology advanced nation like Venezuela in the back yard of United States against the US hegemonic adventurism and exploitation that she is so flagrantly showing and coercing by her brutal force in Middle Eastern and other Central Asian countries including Pakistan.

Out there; hundred of thousand of defenceless destitutes have since perished at the hands of savage forces of United States.

Nuclear arms may prove to be good stabilizing agent—-enabling a ‘Sure peace and stability’—- which may save lives of millions———-it may include lives of US citizens also.

****************

““Venezuela’s economy is overwhelmingly
reliant on oil and Chávez has said he wants the
nuclear power station to diversify energy
supply.”“
*********

Just another oil rich country wanting to
supplement their energy needs to sell more oil
to other countries. Dubious to me as just what
in the hell does more use of nuclear power do
for the future people… but I forgot, greed is so
rampant and metastasized so deep in the
current 7,000,000,000 fools on this planet that
the flippant use of such a dangerous substance
is of NO REAL CONCERN because it will just be
another problem created by their ancestors for
them to figure out how to deal with it. Stupid,
insane and now, never silly, human race.

Moonraven,

I will ignore the negative things you said. I’d rather show my foolishness if it leads
to wisdom in the log run.

Could you share your insight about the nuclear cooperation between Chavez,
Ahmadinejad and now Medvedev?

Aaron

Why does a country floating on oil need nuclear power, except to build weapons?

Just a question.

Nukes kept Bush from invading NK and experts say the neocons are coming back.  Hugo is no fool.  Keep Fear Alive!

Aaron,

As usual on this site you are making a fool of yourself!  Grow up.

As for the article, it is not correct in its assertion that this would be Venezuela’s first nuclear experiment, as it purchased a nuclear reactor from General Electric in 1956—which was used for research purposes under IAEA oversight.  It was officially shut down in 1994.

Being an Atomic Farmgirl who has lived for almost 66 years with a chronic illness thanks to the Hanford project, I am not in favor of nuclear anything—not because nuclear is inherently bad, but because the chimps passing themselves off as scientists and technicians don’t know their ass from 25 cents!

Those cretins deliberately released thousands of times more radioactive matter during the 40s and 50s than hit the fan at Chernobyl.

Apologies to chimps and cretins, who deserve better than these cheap knock-offs.

Ahmadinejad will be thrilled, if he doesn’t already know. Where better to process
Venezuelan uranium for export?

I can hear it now- “Bomb, bomb, bomb…Bomb, Bomb Chavez…”

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”.

It’s a near certainty there will be much anguish over the idea of ‘one more Marxist’ building their nuclear capability.. But didn’t Obama himself come out for nuclear energy? .. here in the states?

I am not a ‘Chavez-ista’ but I give him high marks for his address to the UN assembly where he (in jest) refers to the Shrub as the devil! Oh.. the USA, USA, USA! folks had their panties in a bunch over that! .. how many of the most outspoken critics of Chavez’ speech at that time would or could now summon up such passion in defense of Bush!

Here’s one notable American on the subject.. “That we are to stand by the president, right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Adios!