comppared to even our lower class.
The USSR was a military world power, but never became any type of economic power despite the huge natural resources they control.
When the Russian stock market collasped in the 90's it didn't even register a blip on the world markets. The only thing that makes the Russians relevent are their huge petroleum reserves and their military might. Economically they are on a par with Cuba. lol
Sean Penn, Oliver Stone, Danny Glover and all the other Hollywood socialists are going to be cancelling their vacation plans to hang out some more with good ol'Hugo?
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama was at best an "ignoramus" for saying the socialist leader exported terrorism and obstructed progress in Latin America.
"He goes and accuses me of exporting terrorism: the least I can say is that he's a poor ignoramus; he should read and study a little to understand reality," said Chavez, who heads a group of left-wing Latin American leaders opposed to the U.S. influence in the region.
Chavez said Obama's comments had made him change his mind about sending a new ambassador to Washington, after he withdrew the previous envoy in a dispute last year with the Bush administration in which he also expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.
"When I saw Obama saying what he said, I put the decision back in the drawer; let's wait and see," Chavez said on his weekly television show, adding he had wanted to send a new ambassador to improve relations with the United States after the departure of George W. Bush as president.
There is no doubt from my perspective ,that Sean Penn is a great actor..He became that way by learning how to totally immerse himself in his roles..Once a actor sinks that far in , its very difficult to swim back out to reality..
It makes perfect sense to me that the better the actor the more clouded their views of what is real.
Chavez is the Ignoramus in my World.
SO Penn is now having gay realtions 
I would not doubt that peckerhead is bi
Obama thinks that if we just be nice, the world will love us. People on his side of the aisle think that people who hate the U.S. did so because Bush was so nasty.
In reality, people like Chavez dislike the American way of life. The left was marching with anti-American signs in Paris 30 years ago.
Iran also rebuffed Obama's outstreached hand.
He asked Russia to help with Iran, and both Russian and Iran laughed at the idea. It implicitly told Russia we aren't strong enough to do things or our own. It told Iran that we can't do about their potential nukes.
Now both think we are weak.
I don't think either Chavez or Ahmadinejad or strong enough to do much more than saber rattle. Of course there is still is Kim Jong-il, but with the Chinese involved the chances of him doing anything egregious are not that good.
Speaking of Kim, one of the smartest things that George W did was to not engage him in unilateral talks, by making Kim an Asian problem and not just a US problem he has kept Kim at bay, so far at least.
Yes, I think Putin is going to prove what a paper tiger we are becoming once again by taking over Georgia and daring us to do something about it.
As far as the US response to such a thing, I think we all know what Obama's response would be......
Obama would get on every news channel,
AND SAY PUTIN IS A TERRORIST !!! And scare us of russia?? Are we all On The Same Page here? About that being the first thing obama would do?
I can see it now, Obama claiming Russia just couldnt ''re-set'' our relationship, But their anti-American Views will not be tolerated, America, Land of the free, Where you think what I tell you to think..Then Obama Says ''Good Night America'' And we all Go to bed- hahaha
are potentially our greatest threat. I've never trusted that ex-KGB son of a bitch, but I still like the Russian ladies. I guess if I was a CIA spy and they sent a hot Russian gal spy to seduce me, I probably spill my guts after cup number 2, lol.
I'd fuck her then I would kill her when I was finished with her, and donate her organs.
Yep and what is gonna be interesting after OBAMESSIAH lets Iran have the bomb is what
Benjamin Netanyahu will do . I doubt he will give a damn what Obama thinks.
Netanyahu would ensure it was no longer deliverable. If flattening the country threatening to deliver it was the way to do it, Obama's wishes would be completely irrelevent.
Georgia is a backwater province that the US capitalists have no profit in defending.
but we have gone on record as supporting them. For Putin to call our bluff would be a giant bitch slap to our new POTUS. If he does we will be shown as the paper tiger that we are and it will invite others to test the mettle of Obama. It's a losing hand for Obama and I don't think he has the stones to play out the bad cards he's been dealt. It will give Putin the credibility he needs to get his own house in order at our expense.
US support for for former Soviet states is a joke at best. Unless a former Soviet state is willing to cozy up to the EU and join the NATO alliance it is of no value to the capitalists. At the end of the day Putin has his hands full managing what he has. The last thing he needs is a confrontation with the US over some lame assed bullshit.
It's not worth it to the US, but it would show the world and more importantly his own people just how important Russia and Putin are to the world. This is exactly what Putin needs, and the chances of the US under Obama doing anything but whine to the UN are virtually non existant.
I don't really dislike Clinton, but eight years of his leadership is what emboldened the terrorist to hit us on 9-11. Do you really think the results would have been the same under the decisive leadership of some one like Ronald Reagan?
Reagan was the last cold war warrior and Clinton was a Jackass. Bush and his gang of throwback gangsters were responsible for 9/11. BTW, Do ya think 3 hijacked aircraft could gotten anywhere near the Kremlin? The capitalists that run the US could give a fuck about attacks on US soil.
Wrong. Georgia has huge strategic value with its pipelines that carry Caspian oil to ports on the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea ensuring that Russia doesn't have a monopoly on shipments of Caspian crude.
Those are BP pipelines. Cutting them would be good for US oil companies. It created an artificial oil shortage and forced a spike in prices. Capitalists LOVE high oil prices.
brackets for the bb tournament, bowling and insulting the Special Olympics.
All of the Obama voters reminds me of the old Toyota commercial, you asked for it you got it!
I hear that often, but it makes me wonder...what about "our way of life" do they hate? Is it the mortgage payments, car payments and daily struggles that they despise us for? Is it because we're fat?
I'd guess that the average American hater does so, not because of the average Joe's life, but because of our government's interaction with the rest of the world. We tell ourselves that we police the world, but when there's some foreigner in your yard with a gun, is he a good guy or a bad guy? I think that if someone was in my yard, wearing a uniform and carrying weapons, I'd probably not go out back with beers for each of us. Instead, I'd be concerned why he's there, and how to get him the fuck out. That's not to say that our foreign policy should be to sit home and wonder, but it seems that some of the people that we "visit" aren't really thrilled to see us.
Our daily struggle is so minor compared to the rest of the world. And yes, I have been to Sweden, Norway, England, France, as well as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and the USSR and satalites. (And about 25 others.)
And yes, I have been in South Central L.A. and Harlem and the Navajo and Hopi reservation.
On the whole, we have it so good here, we should get down on your knees in thanks every day. To think we "strugle" is just a sign of how spoiled we are. Life is rough. (Even Afro-Americans who got the worst of US history should be happy they aren't in Rwanda ,the Sudan, or even Kenya where Obama's brother lives on a dollar a day in a hut without electricity.
We police the world because they are committing genocide in Serbia and Europe can't stop it, so they come to us and say, "Oh, please Mr. USA. We hate you for policing the world, but all the armies of Europe can't stop the Serbs. Please do it for us."
Yes, we overthrew a tyrant who used poison gas on his own people, tortured like you wouldn't believe, started two wars of aggression killing over a million people, and violated UN orders after the second one. And yes, when Bush left office the war was all but over and they have one of the most free nations in the Arab world. Hey, they have had more elections supervised by international obervers in 4 years than the rest of the Arab world had had in the last 20.
And yes, a lot of people died. But most of the people who died in Iraq were killed by Arabs who were planting bombs in cafes and markets and buses, because they didn't want democracy.
And yes, most of the people there did want democracy because when the terrorist said "don't go the the polls or we will kill you," most of the people said, "Fuck you. We want to vote." and they went to the polls and held their purple fingers in the air, because most of them wanted to vote and got to for the first time in their lives because of us.
And yes, we went to Korea as policemen and created a free and propserous south while the north is the world's largest prison where 2 million people died of starvation in peace time, while the southern half of the peninsula was doing very well, thank you.
And yes, the S. Koreans don't appreciate our 50,000 dead who gave them their freedom. I would like everyone one who does not appreciate it to live in the north for 60 days.
How is that for an off the cuff rant? No proof read, just hit "post."
I have to agree with just about everything you said. But there are a number of S. Koreans who did appreciate what we did. I think, like many other countries who's asses we pulled out of a meat grinder (France comes to mind), the population bears a certain guilt that they weren't able to do it without our help. That guilt creates a certain self-loathing that they transfer to us.
BBxxx (still not Sigmund Freud)
You are right that there is a certain amount of guilt when they can't stand on their own and need help.
Slightly related is the fact that if people do not want to fight evil, they hate those who are willing to do so.
The evils of communism are too numerous to mention. Having seen tens of millions of people killed in Europe by communists, you would think that countries like France would be willing to fight communism. However, unwilling to fight evil they denigrate people like Reagan who were willing to stand up to the USSR.
With no proof reading, and no errors. I agree, it's difficult to fathom how good we have it here without going to other countries, and getting a healthy dose of reality.
that's why it galls me as well when people as well off as virtually all Americans are(even the unemployed) start whining about how bad things are here. What's worse is when the people who contribute the least start complaining how bad and evil America and Americans are.
People in this country have no idea what real poverty is. Anyone with his/her health can make something of themself in this country. Sex, race, education aside, If you can get your ass out of bed and are physically capable of working you can make something of yourself. Even people that have physical disabilities that prevent them from even performing the most basic of physical tasks can make it, but their challenges are obviously much greater than the rest of us
In large part, I agree with you. Certainly, the impoverished of West Virginia look like they're staying in the penthouse at the Ritz, compared to many parts of the world. I have traveled abroad as well, and have relatives that have lived outside the US for a few years.
Still, I believe that my original point is a valid one. The byproduct of going to other countries in tanks and fighter jets is that many of the people there will hate us. The kid who sees his parents blown up as we fight the corrupt government is more likely to view us badly, and grow up wanting to harm us. He probably won't rationalize whether our mission was just, or even if we were part of a coalition. He knows only that his shitty life has been made worse because he's now an orphan too. I don't have a fix, and I don't think that Kool-Aid and kumbaya is the answer. Still, I think we create some of the problems, and then can't understand why we're hated. It's not entirely envy.
The US doesn't always do what it does for purely altruistic reasons. We do what everyone else does by and large, America acts in American interests and sometimes our interests don't intersect with the interests of other countries.
I'm with you Phil. It is possible to be pro-American without turning a blind eye to the faults of our government. America bashing is one thing, making an honest assessment of who we really are is quite another.
I may end up retiring in another country for my own selfish reasons, but I will always be an American and I would never dream of giving up my citizenship.
You write "the kid who sees his parents blown up as we fight the corrupt government is more likely to view us badly,"
Not necessarily. We blew up a lot of parents accidently in France when we toured Normandy. But since we were freeing them from the Nazis there are still signs in Normanday (at least as of 1998, when I was there) saying "Welcome to our liberators."
The same can be said through out all of Europe and a hundred other places. Sorry we killed some innocent, but you are free.
You mean that barbarism that we inflict on countries in the name freedom. There's nothing like 24 hours of "shock and awe" to make a population feel free.
In the crapper now.
they are still the envy of the rest of the world. Have you ever been in Venezuela?
Carracas is an environmental shithole, and the citizens average only a few hundred dollars a month. It's what makes it a great place for us "rich Americans" to visit. The country still has beatiful Chicas, but Chavez had nothing to do with that little fact of life. I guarantee you there isn't one in a hundred Venezuealans that wouldn't trade place with even a "poor" American.
You can't distinguish fact from fiction so how else could you perceive your life? The 8%+ of unemployed in the the U.S. are doing 10X better than 90% of Venezualans.
The only reason Chavez gets so many cheering people on the streets for him is by giving them couple of bucks and a shiny apple or some other pittance to eat.
Even now, with things being rough, things are so good. I was in a medium priced restaurant the other night. People waiting at the door. There are a dozen restaurants within walking diistance of my house, doing the same.
The Arclight, the most expensive movie theater in L.A., is busy.
Yes, some businesses are hurting, but this is so far from the depression.
I may have to take a pay cut for a fair amount. Oh, well. Could be worse.
Our crapper is their heaven.
Chavez dislikes the raw deal that he gets from the US capitalists.
devloping his country's oil industry that he, like many despots before him now claims belong to the "state" instead of the companies that paid for them. Even the international courts agree with the "evil capitalists". It's pretty obvious to any unbiased observer that Chavez fucked the oil companies, not the other way around.
GAG, Oil companies are unfuckable. Chavez tried to fuck them but when the price of oil dropped he ended up fucking himself. Chavez would need to control production and distribution in order to fuck the oil companies. Just having oil reserves is not enough leverage these days.
at least that's the amount an international court has frozen of Venezuelan assets. Exxon is not the only company he has fucked, just the only one to make any headway in court. so far at least.
He didn't get to keep the cash though.
Yes, he tried.
have been fucking the oil cos for decades.
I am surprised however that you actually conceded a point, maybe there is hope for you after all. lol
was interpreted to mean, that which existed prior to Reagan. Many are looking towards a date when C.C.C.P. rings loud and proud once again around the world (not necessarily und Communism, but for some “that” would be OK too) and now some of them believe they have BHO’s blessing.
Where did you get that idea? The Russians lost the cold war hands down. The US capitalists are the worlds most ruthless barbarians these days.
You are living proof.
Apart from the danger that communist nations created, there is a very bad philosophy behind it that has consequences.
For example, Marxist philosophy tends to find an economic cause to very human action. Thus, crime is caused by poverty, not evil or a bad moral standard of the person.
This has several effects. For example, in preventing crime, people will try to focus on econimic causes, ignoring other origins. Thus, many origins won't be addressed.
Second, it tends to create excuses. He committed the crime because he is poor.
In fact, many poor people live law-abiding lives and many rich do not, but having excused poverty in the poor community, you won't find it as vigorously, so people who have to live there are continually victimized.
There are other Marxist ideas that are also still around that have equally bad effects.
I guess Marxists don't know a thing about sociology or psychology is that what you are suggesting?
The communists actually became capitalists. Russia has socialism for the middle class and government controlled capitalism for everyone else. It is a harsh system for capitalism, but prior to it's existence the country was ruled by a king and things were a lot worse. Look at it this way. Between 1890 and 1950 Russia under communism, transformed itself from a monarchy with 70% of its population living in poverty to a world power. The Soviets lacked a stable federal government so capitalism was able to fragment it and bring about its collapse. Communism has learned to be far more subtle. Governments can be very flexible these days. You might wake up 3 years from now to a system similar to what Russia uses.
comppared to even our lower class.
The USSR was a military world power, but never became any type of economic power despite the huge natural resources they control.
When the Russian stock market collasped in the 90's it didn't even register a blip on the world markets. The only thing that makes the Russians relevent are their huge petroleum reserves and their military might. Economically they are on a par with Cuba. lol
Relative to the days of the monarchy the current situation is an improvement.