Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

US & Int'l Papers

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Don't Cry for Me Venezuela

Wednesday November 26, 2008

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Don't hit the SEND key. I know the Tim Rice lyric (to the Andrew Lloyd Webber tune) is: "Don't cry for me Argentina," but this isn't about Argentina.

Nevertheless, the rhythm works with Venezuela just as well, but who would sit through 1,567 performances of a story about Hugo Ch�vez ' wife?

No one, is the answer to that. But, then, who would have thought that a musical about Juan Per�n's wife would be such a hit?

Ok. Enough. On to Venezuela.

Venezuela is a country on the north coast of the South American continent. (There is a map on the Secret Decoder Ring page.) Venezuela is run by a guy name Hugo Ch�vez who is a self-proclaimed Socialist and who has been in power for about 10 years.

Hugo Ch�vez doesn't like the U. S. of A. very much but he likes greenbacks and Venezuela is third on the hit list of countries from which we import oil behind Canada and Saudi Arabia.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy we import about a million barrels of oil from Venezuela � A DAY. Even at $50 per barrel that means we are sending Ch�vez $50,000,000 a day or (hold on to something) over $18 BILLION per year.

Ch�vez , to poke a finger in the eye of the gringos, is this very week hosting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as well as units of the Russian Navy for a series of training exercises.

Venezuela had an election this past weekend and Ch�vez didn't do very well. In spite of his Socialist Party winning 17 of 23 state races,

"the multi-party opposition eroded Ch�vez 's dominance of regional politics, winning six top posts that govern almost half of the population."

The Washington Post analyzed:

Venezuela's opposition has been energized by Sunday's regional elections, in which its candidates won five states and important urban centers in the country's most economically vital and populous regions.

In an editorial, the New York Times distilled the problems facing Ch�vez:

For all the rhetoric about revolution and social change, the Ch�vez era also has brought Venezuelans soaring food prices, overflowing sewers and a surge in gang violence.

Ch�vez was a military officer who led a failed coup against then-President Carlos Andr�s P�rez in 1992. He was elected President in 1999.

Wait. Doesn't this sound at all familiar? South American military thug? Coup d'etat? Takes control? Rules like a dictator?

What am I missing? Oh, yes. Ch�vez is a Socialist so it's all O.K. It's only those nasty Former-Military-Now-South-American-Dictator-RIGHT-WINGERS who are so dangerous.

Let me just tell you: If you are a Socialist dictator and you have irritated the New York Times, you need to retool your press operation.

Anyone have a phone number for Scott McClellan?

Speaking of Socialism, according to the very same NYT:

The Federal Reserve and the Treasury announced $800 billion in new lending programs on Tuesday, sending a message that they would print as much money as needed to revive the nation's crippled banking system.

That, according to the Times, brings to "about $7.8 trillion in direct and indirect financial obligations" for which you and I are now on the hook.

As regular MULLINGS readers know, I am deficient when it comes to higher mathematics like multiplication.

But I do believe $7 trillion is ten times - an order of magnitude - larger than the money the Congress authorized in its paltry $700 billion bailout in October.

I know we're in deep economic doo-doo, but wouldn't it make sense for the Congress to get their collective butts back to work and start asking some questions if not making some decisions?

Don't cry for me Constitution.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Lots 'o links to the quotes referenced above including Evita; A map of South America; one of those Mullfotos which I spent about an hour trying to get and which you may or may not even like; and a Catchy Caption of the Day.

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