August 25, 2005

• THURSDAY WHATEVER
  

  Who IS Hugo (apparently pronounced Oogo) Chavez anyway? I really hadn’t been paying any attention until the Giant Foo Foo Pat Robertson created by announcing the U.S. should kill him. PR got just a bit too big for his britches this time, I think, though of course the White House Bunch would never dare haul him to the curb. They need his vote power too much. Chavez is 51. He was elected President of Venezuela in 1998. He’s been married twice and is currently separated and has four children. He is a former paratrooper lieutenant-colonel. He was elected on promises of helping the poor. He has 70% popularity so he must be doing something they like. They have a new constitution, new social programs, and a new foreign policy that is decidedly wary of the U.S. He has been giving preferential oil deals to countries like China and Argentina to line up other trade partners than the U.S. and just met with Castro, which is probably really freaking out our administration. While in Cuba on Tuesday, Chavez also offered for the first time to help poor U.S. communities by selling them gasoline directly to eliminate middle men. Oh My God – who knew? He signed a deal with Jamaica on Tuesday night that is to be one of many across the Caribbean, pledging Venezuelan oil at special rates and allowing the island to pay through goods and services as well as low-interest loans.  He’s been saying he fears assassination and gosh, I wonder why. Venezuela is the world’s 5th largest oil exporter and he’s been warning us that he’ll cut off the shipments if we back a conspiracy against him. So along comes the Christian Coalition head honcho and makes it all come true, thereby instantly raising Chavez’s popularity to probably 101%. Don’t you just love it? Now if some leftwing religious figure had made this mess – let’s say Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson – hmmmmm what do you think Fox News could have done with that? P.S. I would have included a photo of Pat Robertson but I just can’t stand to look at him. Stay tuned.
  

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  Deep Thought: “ Of all my imaginary friends, I don’t think there was one that I didn’t end up having to kill.”
  Today I am grateful for: Different strokes for different folks
  Guess the Movie: “There are many things my father taught me here in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” Answer: The Godfather II, 1974. Winner: Iby1014.
  Is Pat Robertson Out of His Mind or in the Loop?
  by Bill C. Davis
  There is something not only rotten but seemingly deranged in the state of mind of Republican leaders. I would call Pat Robertson a Republican leader. He did well in a few Republican primaries back in 1988 until scandal hit the whole Evangelical enterprise, which Mr. Robertson assumed was a Bush Sr./Lee Atwater conspiracy. It seemed convenient, he thought, that the scandal hit just as he was hitting his stride.
  Reverend Pat made peace and perhaps a pact with the powers that be and currently has a direct line to the White House. He, with Jerry Falwell, claims to have helped make the double-barrel-two term Bush presidency possible. On Monday the iconic American Christian using the language of gangsters endorsed the assassination of Hugo Chavez so we could save 200 billion dollars. The assumption was that the only two alternatives to dealing with an elected leader who is critical of the military industrial complex running our country is to “take him out” or to wage a war. He presents the options and then chooses the less expensive one. (Rest of article here.)
  End of Day: 8:01 pm
  + = Had a delicious shrimp, crab and avocado salad at the only floating restaurant in Portland for lunch today.
  - = Took a turn into what I thought was a street but it was a max train track where I would have been crushed if I hadn’t had time to do a U-turn and scamper back – cripes!

  • 7:55 am
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