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January 5, 2007
Chavez Continues to Snuff Out Liberty in Venezuela
Left-wing goon Hugo Chavez continues to tighten his malignant grip on Venezuela. This vociferous enemy of the United States has announced that he will not renew the license of Radio Caracas Televisión, which is one of the country's oldest TV stations but — unfortunately for them — not on board with the Chavez's Castro-esque "revolution."
As an op-ed in the Miami Herald observes:
This is Mr. Chávez's latest step on the road to authoritarian reign. In eight years of heavy-handed rule, Mr. Chávez has amassed almost limitless power, a shift sealed last month with his reelection by an overwhelming majority. He controls the Congress, Supreme Court, Electoral Council and almost all state governments. Laws passed by his congressional fan club give him sweeping power to rule by decree, seize private property and control the press.
A 2004 media-content law, for example, threatens television and radio stations with heavy fines or license suspension for broadcasting anything found by the government to ''condone or incite'' public disturbances or that is ''contrary to national security.'' Recent measures sanction speech that the government doesn't like with criminal charges and punishment of up to 5 years. Offending the president in private can land you in prison for 30 months. […]
With so few independent institutions left in Venezuela, gagging the media could eliminate the most effective check on abuse of power by Mr. Chávez and his government. The Organization of American States should take a close look at Venezuela and determine if it conforms to the Inter-American Democratic Charter. It may not be long before Mr. Chávez silences all his critics.
To see the flame of freedom slowly snuffed out is tragic — and shameful, considering the extent to which American liberals contemptuous of the concept of freedom have offered crucial propaganda support to this hostile tyrant.
But don't expect any apologies from useful idiots like Jimmy Carter and Joe Kennedy when the last vestiges of Venezuela's free press are finally crushed — or when the country's oil revenue is used to purchase nuclear weapons to be employed against Americans.
Posted by Van Helsing at January 5, 2007 9:04 AM
Comments
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the same moonbats who denouce President Bush at every turn for his attempts to keep the country safe from terrorists the same ones who basically endorse similar behavior by Chavez by their support of him?
I'm not saying Bush is perfect on the issue, but claiming he is violating your rights while you support the same behavior by Chavez is hypoctritical.
Posted by: Steve at January 5, 2007 1:28 PM
You are not wrong, Steve. Lefties live in this mom's-basement-fantasy-world when America is a BushCo police states and they represent the brave resistance by boldly typing profane screeds onto DailyKos.
Meanwhile, a real police state, with real oppression, is happening right in our backyard. But there are no profane, badly-spelled, uncapitalized screeds against Chavez to be found anywhere.
Posted by: V the K at January 5, 2007 4:42 PM
A good example of that is a headline on CNN about Bush signing a bill regarding the opening of suspicious mail. This is something they've been able to do in the past, and Tony Snow as well as a representative from the USPS tried to make it clear the president is not getting new powers.
But CNN's headline was (paraphrased) Can the President Now Read Your Mail? The headline was irresponsible, in my opinion.
So now we'll have the kossers screaming about fascism and a police state where they read and censor everyone's mail, while the truth is much more mundane.
Posted by: NudeGayWhalesForJesus at January 5, 2007 7:15 PM
I'm reading Useful Idiots by Mona Charen (I'm a little too young to remember the press and Congress during the 80's). This is nothing new. You're talking about the same people that apologized for the Khmer Rouge...
Posted by: Jason at January 6, 2007 11:07 AM
