$125-a-barrel oil, the guy must be crying in his champagne.

.

Bush made him *STRONGER*.

www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3515

There appears to be a growing dispute between the Bush government and the Chavez government over Columbia and FARC involvement. As usual, Columbia and Venezuela appear to be working towards cooperation while the US government is branded as a mischief maker in the area. If our history was not so ripe with the truth of our mischief making enterprises in Latin America the tags from Venezuela could be thoroughly discarded. The sad reality is that we have been guilty of some of the worst forms of intervention and homicide in that region, and it is tough to seem above the fray and benevolent when history has demonstrated so matter-of-factly our less than noble intentions.  Rail all you like, but you should at least know why these people refuse to trust anything our government says. Sounds a lot like our own citizens this past decade.

OK...You guys are too much, but I have come to expect that. Yeah..He's not crying in anything because people with attitiudes like yours will insure he stays in power. Who ARE crying are the people of Venezuela who would cry in the pot they piss in..if they could afford one. What is happening in America bears no resemblance whatsoever to the goings on in Venezuela nor does Bush have anything in common with Chavez. To honestly state that either are any other way is simply dragging out your hatred for Bush and trying to blame all the worlds ills on him. I am not saying the guy hasn't made some bad decisions(see my post "Where is the guy I voted for")but to put him in the same category as a dictator is ridiculous. Had Al Gore been elected we would have, by his own admission of his desire, been paying $5 a gallon for gas by 2004. It's not Bush who has made the position of the oil rich exporting countries stronger, it is the environmentalist movement in America, and I assure you, Bush is not a part of that. Like it or not, this country really isn't governed by our elected officials, it is ruled by special interests and one of the most powerful of those are the environmental interests who say animals and plants are more important than people. Well..It has been the liberals who have made it policy to pander to these narrowminded, shortsighted people, so if you want to keep harping about gas prices, go harp to them.

Latin American countries are banding together? Sure they are, they all share pretty much the same vision for their people, Chavez is just the only one willing to take the ball and run with it right now. Columbia doesn't like us because we put a crimp in their drug cartels and Hugo doesn't like us because we are a free nation. I WILL rail and it wont be about gas prices. It will be about human rights, something both of you like to ignore for the benefit of Bush bashing.  The good people of Venezuela are facing a REAL threat to their rights and freedoms and all you can do is blame Bush for gas prices(which proves that neither of you really understand what drives the price of oil)and compare him with a dictator. It is painfully obvious you have no idea what it would mean to be ruled by such a man as Chavez or any other dictator. Here you are in a very public forum, speaking your mind about the president and nobody cares a lick. The people of Venezuela are not so fortunate. I know a couple who just left Venezuela(he was a pipleine engineer for a major oil company...probably secretly owned by Bush)and their assessment of teh situation there is very grave. When was the last time you saw armed soldiers in a Taco Bell? I guess your idea of freedom and mine are very different.

I truly believe the main reason the left in America is so weak is that they become so centered on one issue or person that is stuck in their craw, that they lose sight of everything else. Bush is GONE folks, and if you want your party to change things you had better get that fact through your heads. The new congress has done NOTHING of any import. All it's big talk of change has yet to materialize. It's business as usual and everyone knows it. Obama is going to lose this election because so many people are so pissed off that Hillary didnt get the nomination that they are not going to vote for Obama. The conservatives may not all like McCain, but they realize the danger of not voting for him because they haven't forgotten the lesson of 1992, which the democrats so obviously have.

So, the next time you want to blame Bush for oil prices or compare him to some dictator just because you dont like him, think about what you are really saying.

Naturally you don't like Chavez.

Ignorance breeds contempt.

Pretty much everything you say about Chavez isn't based on fact.

Chavez is not a dictator or all of the other bad labels tied to him. Venezuela has many problems. Man of which can be attributed to American foreign policies (see Operation Condor, Neo-liberalism, Chicago Boys, etc.)

"Chavez is not a dictator "

HUH ?

No he isn't. He was democratically elected by Venezuelan citizens and it was confirmed by Amnesty International.

The US doesn't like him because he rejects the notion that "free markets" and outside forces will improve conditions in South America. He believes that South Americans should control their own destiny and reject "imperial" dependence and capitalism to solve it's social problems (illiteracy, poverty, health care).

http://www.youtube.com/watc...  One of many.

Apparently no one here is paying attention.  Please tell me when this last happened in the United States under Bush.

edited to add Bush.

Geez Jf, do you really believe he has to be sworn in as a dictator to be one?

No, but they usually acquire the title after more than two democratically elected terms. And they don't implement Plan Bolivar 2000 to ensure that his/her citizens have food to eat, adequate health care, and education opportunities. Most would just horde the money for their own personal interests. Most would not use government revenues for the sake of the people. Most would not subsidize oil for the benefit of their society.

Gezz, are all leaders classified as dictators if they don't toe the American line? He has a responsibility to his people to govern in their interests.

And their interests include shooting them?  Torturing them? Detaining them and having them disappear?

Some on here were quick to declare Bush a dictator.  Go back and look at the video..and the ones alongside and tell me there's ANY comparison.  YOU don't have to live in fear of speaking your mind.  Ask the Venzuelans if they have that freedom without fear.  Hitler was a swell fella who was just looking out for his peoples interest too.

Nancy, you and your son might want to try reading or watching some stuff that doesn't exclusively pander to the extreme right-wing fringe like CafeNetAmerica does. This is a site that has DeleteHillary and BaracksWhiteLies.com as links. This site is in no way a news organization where facts can be verified. This is right-wing rumor blogville in search of a fact.

I find it so interesting that Castro or Chavez are such arch villains for you and your family. I am certainly old enough to remember the Cuban Missile crisis, but that is now forty-six years past. Cuba has not been a threat to the US in all that time. Our own government interventions in Columbia, El Salvador, Chile, Peru, Guatemala and Panama have turned the populations of those countries and their neighbors into adversaries of the US rather than allies in this hemisphere. We have nothing to fear from Fidel, Raul and Hugo. It would be in our best interests to work with Venezuela and Cuba on helping to alleviate poverty and rampant violence that is so prominent throughout Latin America.

You must have Venezuela confused with another country. For the record, the U.S. had a hand in killing many Chileans in the 70's by purpose allowing dictactors/juntas to come into power because the people attributed the failures of their economy to private (mostly American) companies. This continued into the 80's in other Latin American countries.This is what makes populist leftist leaders such as Hugo Chavez popular. When did this happen in Venezuela? Maybe you're thinking Columbia?

Read about Operation Condor and you might understand the grievances that Latin American leaders/countries have with American policies (not Americans). Castro even has some decent ideas (actual application is a different story). Chavez is actually an ally if you look at our interdependence. What you see in the news is just political posturing. We are sending oil from Kern County to Venezuela (for Christ's sake).