Chavez Loses!

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Comments

  • soulsinging
    soulsinging Posts: 13,202
    gue_barium wrote:
    If I'm deflecting anything it is the hype.

    And Caterina was in error in her reply. I was speaking of what some call geology, and she thought of it as geography.
    Big difference.

    sounds like someone's a bit bitter about the uselessness of their undergrad degree ;)

    isn't caterina a non-native english speaker? she's allowed a few mistakes in vocabulary.
  • polaris
    polaris Posts: 3,527
    gue_barium wrote:
    If I'm deflecting anything it is the hype.

    And Caterina was in error in her reply. I was speaking of what some call geology, and she thought of it as geography.
    Big difference.

    uhhh ... i majored in geography and land masses is in fact part of geography, so is the politics of venezuela ...
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    gue_barium wrote:
    If I'm deflecting anything it is the hype.

    Hehe...funny that you should bring up "hype" in a discussion about Hugo Chavez.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrio_Adentro
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    soulsinging wrote:
    sounds like someone's a bit bitter about the uselessness of their undergrad degree ;)

    isn't caterina a non-native english speaker? she's allowed a few mistakes in vocabulary.

    I had a good friend who was a geology major. Now he's a Geology professor. Pretty cool dude, and he used to grow some of the best bud in the land.

    If it were an honest mistake on Caterina's part, I can see past that. Being that she was touting her education, it seems a rather large oversight on her part. :)
    all posts by ©gue_barium are protected under US copyright law and are not to be reproduced, exchanged or sold
    except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    polaris wrote:
    uhhh ... i majored in geography and land masses is in fact part of geography, so is the politics of venezuela ...

    Land masses don't give a damn.
    all posts by ©gue_barium are protected under US copyright law and are not to be reproduced, exchanged or sold
    except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
  • CaterinaA
    CaterinaA Posts: 572
    gue_barium wrote:
    I had a good friend who was a geology major. Now he's a Geology professor. Pretty cool dude, and he used to grow some of the best bud in the land.

    If it were an honest mistake on Caterina's part, I can see past that. Being that she was touting her education, it seems a rather large oversight on her part. :)

    You know, as I was writing, I thought I should post both geography and geology. The thing is, I never had a subject actually called geology, so to be accurate I only wrote geography. But this is such a petty issue, I wasn't touting my education, I was being a little obnoxius (I apologize for that), but I didn't like the patronizing tone of the post regarding the composition of the world.

    Yes, English is not my first language. My native tongue is Spanish and Italian is my second language via my father. Nevertheless, I think I convey my thoughts pretty well in English.
  • Cosmo
    Cosmo Posts: 12,225
    "President For Life" is never a good idea. I think the people of Venezuela know this.
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • RolandTD20Kdrummer
    RolandTD20Kdrummer Posts: 13,066
    54% of Venezuelan ballot boxes will be opened to backup electronic results.

    http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/newsbrief/2948

    I wonder what they'll find?
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • CaterinaA
    CaterinaA Posts: 572
    RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:
    54% of Venezuelan ballot boxes will be opened to backup electronic results.

    http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/newsbrief/2948

    I wonder what they'll find?

    This is regular procedure according the Electoral Council, so there's nothing strange about it. However, it will clear the air in Venezuela. There's plenty of information pointing towards a larger difference in favor of NO. We'll see
  • Kann
    Kann Posts: 1,146
    TheVoiceInside wrote:
    I guess this proves that Chavez is not the dictator he is made out to be.

    I guess so.
    I think Chavez is just a megalomaniac with the wrong friends.
  • CaterinaA
    CaterinaA Posts: 572
    Kann wrote:
    I guess so.
    I think Chavez is just a megalomaniac with the wrong friends.

    I'm not so sure about that. The fact that the man was trying to change the Constitution to: a) get the chance for indefinite reelection; b) gerrymander Venezuela's geography, getting the power -without further requirement- to appoint governors, majors and regional authorities and, last but not least and c) to decree "state of emergency/excepcion" whenever he wanted for as long as he wanted; during such states, Habeas Corpus, Due Process Laws and Constitutional Warrants would be uneffective, among others doesn't do much service for his democratic credentials.

    (Before anybody says, but in some European countries there are no term limits for Chancellors or Prime Ministers, well there are significant differences between a parliamentary regime and a presidential one)

    The reform had one good issue though: reform the social security system to expand its coverage to informal workers. This should be passed by the National Assembly, and I think it will.

    Those are the serious parts of the reform. There are others that are just funny, like proposing to change Caracas (Venezuela's capital) name to "The Queen of the Guaraira Repano". (the Guaraira Repano is a mountain in Caracas).

    It is important thing to keep in mind that this reform proposal was actually unconstitutional. According to the 1999 Constitution (approved during Chavez' first term), a Constitutional Reform can only take place if a Constituent Assembly proposes it. Of course, Venezuela's Supreme Court -with 100% of judges appointed by Chavez- looked the other way and let the man pursue his ambition.

    Besides, Chavez simply didn't need the change the Constitution to carry out most of the reforms. Last year the National Assembly gave Chavez extraordinary powers (Poderes Habilitantes, in Spanish) to rule by decree for 18 months. Indeed, changes to private property regulations, social security regime, amount of hours worked per day, among other, recquire not a Constitutional Reform. The real reason for reforming the Constitution was: indefinite reelection, elminating popular vote for Governors, Majors, etc and having the power to decree states of emergency.

    Furthermore, last Monday (day after the election) he said he doesn't care the reform wasn't approved by the people of Venezuela. He'll try to make it pass anyway. Why bother making the Referendum then?

    EDIT: for grammar reasons
  • soulsinging
    soulsinging Posts: 13,202
    CaterinaA wrote:
    You know, as I was writing, I thought I should post both geography and geology. The thing is, I never had a subject actually called geology, so to be accurate I only wrote geography. But this is such a petty issue, I wasn't touting my education, I was being a little obnoxius (I apologize for that), but I didn't like the patronizing tone of the post regarding the composition of the world.

    Yes, English is not my first language. My native tongue is Spanish and Italian is my second language via my father. Nevertheless, I think I convey my thoughts pretty well in English.

    the fact that you can type this makes you more intelligent than 99% of the americans on here, including myself, who can speak english and maybe type a sentence in spanish like "i would like to order a hot dog" but couldn't discuss complex political topics in another language to save their lives.
  • RolandTD20Kdrummer
    RolandTD20Kdrummer Posts: 13,066
    CaterinaA wrote:
    This is regular procedure according the Electoral Council, so there's nothing strange about it. However, it will clear the air in Venezuela. There's plenty of information pointing towards a larger difference in favor of NO. We'll see


    Agree, it's to be expected on such a close margin. It is required for sure. I'm thinking it will will fall to the NO side as well. Chavez made a mistake.
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • CaterinaA
    CaterinaA Posts: 572
    soulsinging wrote:
    the fact that you can type this makes you more intelligent than 99% of the americans on here, including myself, who can speak english and maybe type a sentence in spanish like "i would like to order a hot dog" but couldn't discuss complex political topics in another language to save their lives.

    Well, wow thanks a lot :), really it is quite a compliment. I feel there's plenty of smart people on this board, although sometimes they push their agendas so hard that forget to analyze things.

    The fact that you can only type "quiero un perro caliente" (I'd like a hot dog :p) doesn't make you less smart than me; to get a decent jod these days -at least in Latin America- you need to be profficient in English, let alone to get a job in an interntional organization. Italian, well I wasn't given much of a choice :D. But, from your posts I think you're quite smart...

    Thanks again

    Caterina

    EDIT: grammar again

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