The Devil's Excrement

I recommend the interview with Mexican economist Luis Pazos in today’s El Universal. He has some very graphic metaphors, besides his usual sensible economic advise. I particularly liked:

-“He sees Chavez as a dinosaur, small and slow, and, thanks God, on its way to extinction”

-“If the Government does not cease in its attitude of imposing a siege on the private sector, whom it considers its enemy, will drive the economy to a degree of improductivity that will imply more than a collapse, a hara-kiri, that will not only kill the current Government, but also thousands of Venezuelans”

-“There is no justification for an economy to have collapsed in such a way as it did last year, and next year it will be worse, because in 2002 crude oil prices were very strong and they will likely fall significantly in 2004”

Wish we had someone as clear thinking as him in the Finance Comittee of the National Assembly (from either side)

The pro-Chavez leadership in the National Asembly rejected yesterday’s decision by the Supreme Court, giving them ten days to choose the members of the Electoral Board. According to them, there has been no omission since they had made all efforts to select the members of the Electoral Board. Interesting, there is no omission but they had ten days from April 8th. to select the Board, let’s see that makes it 18th. of April and today is August 5th., I guess they just don’t understand what omission means, no? But the part I don’t understand is that they say that it would appear to be a contradiction to replace a transitory regime (the current CNE) for another one that would still “would continue to lack constitutionally or democratic legitimacy”. It seems to me that it never bothered them to have the previous transient CNE until it started threatening them and now they find their same transient nature “undemocratic and illegimitate”? What cynics.

The pro-Chavez leadership in the National Asembly rejected yesterday’s decision by the Supreme Court, giving them ten days to choose the members of the Electoral Board. According to them, there has been no omission since they had made all efforts to select the members of the Electoral Board. Interesting, there is no omission but they had ten days from April 8th. to select the Board, let’s see that makes it 18th. of April and today is August 5th., I guess they just don’t understand what omission means, no? But the part I don’t understand is that they say that it would appear to be a contradiction to replace a transitory regime (the current CNE) for another one that would still “would continue to lack constitutionally or democratic legitimacy”. It seems to me that it never bothered them to have the previous transient CNE until it started threatening them and now they find their same transient nature “undemocratic and illegimitate”? What cynics.

By coincidence I realized yesterday that today was the one year anniversary of this blog. What a ride it has been! I started it because I was curious about my brother blogging intensely and as usual, I do not like being behind technologically speaking (even if I am). I dowloaded the software and wanted to see where it would take me. Never did I imagine that it would become a daily commitment like it has. I thought I would blog more about technology, orchids and curious facts and less about Venezuela. I guess events took over my Editorial content. At some point, soon after I started, I decided I would make my blog a depository record of the bizarre Government and events in Venezuela and a medium to explain to the world (if it is at all possible) from a definitely anti-Chavez point of view what is happening in Venezuela, documenting the news and the legalities of what has happened. It’s been fun!

Some interesting graphs on Chavez’ TV ratings from AGB Panamericana sent to me by JL. The first one below shows the number of hours Chavez has spent on the air in the last five years. Note that despite the fact that we are barely in August, he has almost spent more hours on Tv than than any previous year. These hours are the number of hours he gives speeches on TV in nationwide adresses that have to be broadcast by all networks.

The second graph below shows the percentage of the time that the market share for Cable TV is actually higher than that for the open TV signals that are forced to carry his speeches, when they occur. (People have a choice on Cable TV, not on the networks) Note that this is the market share, that is the number of viewers who are actually watching, not the number of potential viewers. More people watching cable means that they simply dont want to watch Chavez at all.

Finally, the last chart shows the ratings for Chavez’ famous or infamous Sunday TV program which is shown on the Government’s TV channel. Note how his rating went up last Xmas (time between teh two solid lines) during the work-stoppage but is back down to below 1%. This is rating the percentage of potential TV’s that are watching him on Sundays.

Some interesting graphs on Chavez’ TV ratings from AGB Panamericana sent to me by JL. The first one below shows the number of hours Chavez has spent on the air in the last five years. Note that despite the fact that we are barely in August, he has almost spent more hours on Tv than than any previous year. These hours are the number of hours he gives speeches on TV in nationwide adresses that have to be broadcast by all networks.

The second graph below shows the percentage of the time that the market share for Cable TV is actually higher than that for the open TV signals that are forced to carry his speeches, when they occur. (People have a choice on Cable TV, not on the networks) Note that this is the market share, that is the number of viewers who are actually watching, not the number of potential viewers. More people watching cable means that they simply dont want to watch Chavez at all.

Finally, the last chart shows the ratings for Chavez’ famous or infamous Sunday TV program which is shown on the Government’s TV channel. Note how his rating went up last Xmas (time between teh two solid lines) during the work-stoppage but is back down to below 1%. This is rating the percentage of potential TV’s that are watching him on Sundays.