most democratically elected person ever changes constitution

[yavoon]

so he can continue to be the most democratically elected person ever.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/17/wchavez117.xml

"A key strut of the new constitution will be a six-hour working day, which will hit Venezuela's already wobbly private sector, battered by expropriations, nationalisations, price fixing and currency controls - which have already affected British investment in the country."

[Adam]

No good, Chavez. I won't move there until you lower it to four hour days and set the minimum wage at $100 per hour. I also want to retire at 37. These are basic rights every human being should be entitled to.

[ant1999e]

Maybe I was wrong about this guy.

[The Lone Bolt]

Is anybody besides LABF really surprised by this?

[Spider]

who gives a damn what these people do ?
we have our own issues

[W*GS]

LABF used to a give a damn - he was drooling all over Chavez and posting straight-up pro-Chavez propaganda at one time... He would probably rather forget what an idiot he was to do so.

[Bronco Bob]

who gives a damn what these people do ?
we have our own issues

If Chavez were some dictator in some African country no one would.
Look at the track record of some of those clowns. For that matter,
when was the last time you saw a story about Kim Jong Il?
The only reason Chavez makes the news is because he is sitting
on mega gallons of oil. Just like Saddam was and the Mullahs
in Iran are.

[yavoon]

If Chavez were some dictator in some African country no one would.
Look at the track record of some of those clowns. For that matter,
when was the last time you saw a story about Kim Jong Il?
The only reason Chavez makes the news is because he is sitting
on mega gallons of oil. Just like Saddam was and the Mullahs
in Iran are.

or for that matter putin. or even china, afterall w/o a billion chinese rapidly industrializing themselves would ppl care?

I'm pretty sure venezuela gets more attentionb ecause as a country it matters more(it has oil). just like everyone else. like for instance the arabs have lots of oil, and they like whats going on in the sudan, so ppl don't really cover the sudan.

see? life is grand.

[Bronco Bob]

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Derailing Chávez's power grab




BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER

<!-- begin /production/story/credit_line_format.comp --> aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com

<!-- end /production/story/credit_line_format.comp --> Now that Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez has shown his hand and officially announced that he will seek to become president for life, let me offer some suggestions on what the Venezuelan opposition, Latin American democracies and the United States should do to return democracy to that country.
Chávez, as you may know, announced last week that he will ask his 100 percent loyalist National Assembly to change the constitution and extend the presidential term from six to seven years and allow him to run indefinitely. In addition, he asked to end the autonomy of the Central Bank, and to create a ``popular militia.''
His plan to grab absolute power -- sweetened with a proposal to reduce the workday to six hours -- will go to the National Assembly, where it is likely to be approved by a near-unanimous vote and must be later ratified in a national referendum.
Here's what should be done:
• The Venezuelan opposition should not repeat its mistake of the 2005 congressional elections, when it boycotted the vote citing Chávez's curtailment of campaigning freedoms, believing that would delegitimize the election. Chávez simply ignored the opposition, went ahead with the vote and installed a totally partisan National Assembly.
Granted, the opposition will have to compete in an even less level playing field today: Chávez has more powers to use state resources, will control virtually all mass media -- especially after his recent de facto takeover of the independent RCTV television network -- and will use the army and public employees to get out the vote in the referendum.
But mounting a campaign against Chávez's proposal would not only help Venezuela's opposition stay alive, it would also provide it with a golden opportunity for a comeback.
Public opinion polls show that Chávez's escalating narcissism-Leninism is beginning to irk some of his own supporters.
''Chávez is overreaching with this president-for-life plan,'' says Michael Shifter, a Venezuela expert with the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. ``This presents an opportunity to reach out to Chavistas who may be disillusioned.''
A new poll by the Venezuelan firm Hinterlaces says that 54 percent of Venezuelans disapprove of Chávez's proposal to change the constitution, while only 26 percent support it. Interestingly, 48 percent of respondents in the same poll described themselves as Chávez sympathizers, which suggests that many Chávez supporters are not happy with the indefinite reelection proposal.
• The 34-country Organization of American States, the Carter Center and other international election monitoring groups should not repeat the mistakes they made in the 2004 referendum on Chávez's rule, when they accepted Chávez's decision to only allow them into the country a few days before the vote.
This time, they should demand to monitor the process starting several months in advance, and certify that the elections are free, rather than simply certifying the Election Day vote counting.
• Brazil and Paraguay, whose congresses have yet to ratify Venezuela's entry into South America's Mercosur trade union, should at least put that decision on hold. Mercosur has a democracy clause, and allowing Chávez in now would amount to a tacit green light for others -- like Bolivia and Ecuador -- to impose ''constitutional'' dictatorships.
• The United States could do more than anybody to stop Chávez's megalomania if it stopped subsidizing it. Indeed, the United States is spending $34 billion a year on oil imports from Venezuela.
The White House should impose a $2 a gallon tax on U.S. gasoline imports from petro dictatorships around the world, or a 50 percent tax on Hummers and other needlessly gigantic SUVs, or demand Detroit carmakers double the fuel efficiency of American cars.
Reducing America's foreign oil addiction should be the single most important issue in the 2008 presidential election. In addition to being the most effective U.S. weapon against Middle Eastern countries that support terrorism, it would weaken oil-rich autocrats like Chávez, and would help reduce global warming.
My conclusion: Chávez may have become his own worst enemy. His latest bid to become a lifetime tropical emperor may provide an opportunity for his political adversaries to regroup and -- like judo fighters -- use his offensive impetus against him.
Let's hope they do it right this time, and that foreign democracies don't condone what could be the official beginning of an unequivocal dictatorship.

http://www.miamiherald.com/418/story/208138.html

[W*GS]

Not only does Chavez change the constitution, he changes time... He's becoming a god!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/world/americas/21briefs-clocks.html?ex=1345348800&en=be45c23e913a21b9&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Venezuela: A Decree for the Clocks

By SIMON ROMERO
Published: August 21, 2007
Moved by claims that it will help the metabolism and productivity of his fellow citizens, President Hugo Chávez said clocks would be moved forward by half an hour at the start of 2008. He announced the change on his Sunday television program, accompanied by his highest-ranking science adviser, Héctor Navarro, the minister of science and technology. “This is about the metabolic effect, where the human brain is conditioned by sunlight,” Mr. Navarro said in comments reported by Venezuela’s official news agency. Mr. Chávez said he was “certain” that the time change, which would be accompanied by a move to a six-hour workday, would be accepted.

[Bronco Bob]

Not only does Chavez change the constitution, he changes time... He's becoming a god!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/world/americas/21briefs-clocks.html?ex=1345348800&en=be45c23e913a21b9&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Venezuela: A Decree for the Clocks

By SIMON ROMERO
Published: August 21, 2007
Moved by claims that it will help the metabolism and productivity of his fellow citizens, President Hugo Chávez said clocks would be moved forward by half an hour at the start of 2008. He announced the change on his Sunday television program, accompanied by his highest-ranking science adviser, Héctor Navarro, the minister of science and technology. “This is about the metabolic effect, where the human brain is conditioned by sunlight,” Mr. Navarro said in comments reported by Venezuela’s official news agency. Mr. Chávez said he was “certain” that the time change, which would be accompanied by a move to a six-hour workday, would be accepted.

Sort of a half-assed, er half-hour version of Daylight Savings Time?