"Go to Hell, Gringos" <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez returned to his weekly radio and TV broadcast Sunday, extolling the ideals of socialist thinker Karl Marx and telling U.S. officials to "Go to hell!" for what he called unacceptable meddling in Venezuela's affairs. Chavez defended his government's effort to establish a socialist model and rejected U.S. concerns over a measure to grant him broad lawmaking powers, saying: "Go to hell, gringos! Go home!" The National Assembly, controlled by the president's political allies, is expected to give final approval this week to what it calls the "enabling law," which would grant Chavez authority to pass a series of laws by decree during an 18-month period. On Friday, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said that Chavez's plans under the law "have caused us some concern." Chavez, who this month announced plans to nationalize Venezuela's main telecommunications company and the electricity and natural gas sectors, says the law will permit profound changes in areas ranging from the economy to defense. Relations between Caracas and Washington have been tense since a 2002 coup that briefly ousted Chavez, who accused the U.S. government of playing a role in the putsch. The Bush administration has repeatedly denied involvement, but recognized an interim government established by coup leaders. Criticizing excessive consumption and self-indulgence, Chavez also announced plans to raise domestic gasoline prices and approve a new tax on luxury goods such as private yachts, second homes and extravagant automobiles. "The one who will pay is the one who fills up the BMW," Chavez said of the gasoline tax. He did not give details of the gasoline price hike, which he said would not affect bus drivers who provide public transportation, or the luxury tax. He said revenue from the new measures would be put toward government social programs. In Venezuela -- one of the world's leading petroleum exporters -- gasoline costs as little as 12 cents a gallon thanks to government subsidies. Fond wishes for Castro, comments on Hussein In typical style, Chavez spoke for hours Sunday on his return after a five-month hiatus to the weekly program "Hello President," sending best wishes to ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro and commenting on topics ranging from watching dancing Brazilian girls wearing string bikinis at a recent presidential summit and Washington's alleged role in the hanging of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "They took out Saddam Hussein and they hanged him, for good or worse. It's not up to me to judge any government, but that gentleman was the president of that country," Chavez said. Chavez urged Venezuelans to embrace "21st-century socialism," which he said aims to curtail what he sees as U.S. cultural domination and redistribute the country's oil wealth to the poor through programs that provide subsidized food and cash benefits for single mothers. "Socialism isn't going to fall from the sky. We are going to understand it, work on it, plant it, sweat it," said Chavez, praising Marx's ideals. "Socialism is built on practice." Chavez said government officials were considering new legislation that would force businesses to set aside several hours a week for employees to study, and he recommended they read leaflets outlining socialist concepts. A vociferous former paratroop commander who revels in the role of talk-show host, Chavez suspended "Hello President" over five months ago, saying that broadcasting the weekly program would have constituted unfair use of state airtime ahead of December's presidential election. Chavez was re-elected to a six-year term in a landslide vote.</div> http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/01/...z.ap/index.html
<div class="quote_poster">Mamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/01/...z.ap/index.html</div> Wow, the thing i find funny is he called them Gringos. Lol, viva la raza!
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">What does gringos mean?</div> Its a slang term for americans, white guys. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Eh, I don't know if you're being serious, lol.</div> Partly, why? Im actually surprised he didnt do it in spanish, so they didnt know what he said. lol. Veta al infierno tu gringoes. (Just the translation, not directed at anybody )
I dont want to turn this into a race war, but notice how there was no riot, no hateful backlash or anyone in here who is white that took offense to that article. I just find it interesting how different races act towards racism.
The US should stop meddling in other countries businesses, especially socialist ones. The US's own democracy is not even close to being a good one in my opinion, so they should work on themselves first and not try to change others.
<div class="quote_poster">NTC187 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I dont want to turn this into a race war, but notice how there was no riot, no hateful backlash or anyone in here who is white that took offense to that article. I just find it interesting how different races act towards racism.</div> There isn't like a race-wide consensus on how to react to these type of situations. In this case, it's not really worth getting angry about and the reason you don't see a big reaction is because people don't take Chavez' exaggerations seriously. He's basically trying to rally his population against a common enemy and is targeting the uneducated and poor (people who would actually associate America with whiteness). Race isn't really the issue here (I'm sure there's quite a few caucasians in Venezuala), it's just politics.
This is what's so frustrating about being an American. I'm supposed to get all pissed off at this Chavez character (LOL) for bashing my people, but I also know he's got plenty of reason to be mad at us. The US has a long history of meddling in the affairs of most Latin American countries, and sometimes that history is straight up embarassing and wrong from my point of view. I don't begrudge this guy at all. But to all the people in this country who don't realize the reasons that Chavez and others have to dislike us (70% of the US population, at least ), he's just an anti-American, a terrerist. It's really sad that we're spending so much money on an unjust war that we can't afford to educate our citizens even to the extent that they'll at be able to know who's right and who's wrong based on issues and history, not just tow the company line and hate anyone who doesn't love the benevolent USA. /end of anti-American rant, I'm sure that I'm already being investigated as a possible domestic terrorist.
<div class="quote_poster">NTC187 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> I just find it interesting how different races act towards racism.</div> once again, it is context. white people are in a position of POWER and so are not threatened by a few derogatory words. it's all about who's holding all the cards.
Iteresting to see that while Chavez takes an extreme ani-American position in public his country reflects the exact opposite of his rhetoric. Heres an article about that: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> ...Ch?vez?s demonization of the U.S. has had little or no impact on business between the two countries. The U.S. continues to be Venezuela?s most important trading partner. Much of this business is oil: Venezuela is America?s fourth-largest supplier, and the U.S. is Venezuela?s largest customer. But the flow of trade goes both ways and across many sectors. The U.S. is the world?s biggest exporter to Venezuela, responsible for a full third of its imports. The Caracas skyline is decorated with Hewlett-Packard and Citigroup signs, and Ford and G.M. are market leaders there. And, even as Ch?vez?s rhetoric has become more extreme, the two countries have become more entwined: trade between the U.S. and Venezuela has risen thirty-six per cent in the past year. Ch?vez has been the beneficiary of excellent timing: oil prices have quintupled since he took over, allowing him to hand out billions of dollars to the poor. But he has done little to diversify the nation?s industrial base and lessen the economy?s dependence on oil, while his few tepid ventures into state ownership or co?peratives will have no meaningful economic impact. The result is that the ties between the U.S. and Venezuela have actually tightened. And there is only so much Ch?vez could do to loosen them without wrecking his economy; most Venezuelan oil is heavy with sulfur, and the refineries that are best equipped to handle it are in the U.S. It?s far easier and cheaper to ship oil from the Orinoco Basin to Corpus Christi than to a refinery in Shanghai. In any case, it?s far from clear that most Venezuelans want those ties loosened at all; Venezuela has traditionally been more America-friendly than other South American countries. Baseball is bigger in Venezuela than soccer, and there are Subway and McDonald?s franchises throughout the country. </div>http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/arti...talk_surowiecki
<div class="quote_poster">Pgballer17 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Iteresting to see that while Chavez takes an extreme ani-American position in public his country reflects the exact opposite of his rhetoric. Heres an article about that: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/arti...talk_surowiecki</div> Well .. you can spin that either way. USA is still a large trading partner of their country despite the continued feud with Chavez. I agree it is irony all around though.
Chavez is so stupid i swear i hate him he came here in the U.S and called out Bush and called him a "Donkey".And Bush didn't do anything. Chavez is crazy and stupid.But i was kind of funny.LOL] <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Hugo Chavez has called President Bush a devil, a donkey and a drunkard. But on Wednesday the Venezuelan leader said his comments were "nothing personal." Chavez, who had stepped up his verbal assault during Bush's Latin American tour this week, suggested that the two adversaries might eventually overcome their differences and even play a game of dominos or baseball together.</div> Link http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireSt...TC-RSSFeeds0312
