Archive for June, 2012

Watching the sameness from afar

June 24, 2012

I know, I know, I have been derelict in my blogging duties since I have been on vacation, but I have turned my computer on once, while using my iPad all the time, even as a camera. Meanwhile, the comments in the previous post got a little bit out of hand for my taste (you have been scolded!) Meanwhile in Chavez la-la land things are much the same:

-The La Carlota military/high officials airport which Chavez promised to turn into a park a decade ago, only to convert it into a cement processing factory a few months ago, will be turned into a Formula 1 race track, proving once gain that this revolution is a humongous potpurri without any consistency. Talk about a grandiose non-revolutionary project.

-Meanwhile a Chavista Deputy to Parlatino warns that a recent Cornell UnIversity study shows that producing natural gas by fracking contributes 150 times more to Global Warning than producing oil. He fails to note that there are two Cornell studies that happen to contradict each other and that this 150 times is just about the level ofCoal use. Interesting, when the biggest user of coal as a fuel happens to be China, Venezuela’s buddy country, and the Venezuelan Government is the only Carbon producer in the country. And I ask the Deputy: Does Venezuela or Pdvsa have an enviromental policy other than a lot of hot air like his?

-And despite following the Constitution and a vote with an overwheling majority, Chavez and buddies do not accept the Lugo impeachment. Funny how they accepted demotions in Ecuador and Bolivia which resulted in their buddies coming to power. As I said consistency of mush among these guys.

-And as Chavez decides to deal with the crime problem, which he did not acknowledge for 14 years, I read that a bunch of investigative police (27 of them!) killed their own buddy by mistake and tried to cover it up. The whole cover up unraveled when one cop refused to cooperate and denounced the case. I am sure the 27 will go free one day. Just like their bosses, only 3.5% of the CIPCC officers have any scruples or morals.

-And speaking of crime, three lower middle class kids are kidnapped and killed, their bodies horribly thrown into the Avila mountain near the Cota Mil highway. Kidnapping is slowly becoming a democratized crime in Venezuela.

– Oh yeah! I almost forgot how we were visited once again by Iranian President Ahmadinejad, received with full honors by his buddy Chavez. Two days later, Chavez gave the highest ranking General in Belarus the Carabobo star. Mugabe must be coming soon to round up the most importa nt visits.

And I leave you with a picture from where I am. Hope it works, have never managed to make it work from the iPad

20120624-200342.jpg

Tonight, The Devil Sleeps Here

June 17, 2012

The Devil is taking a few days off, posting will be lighter than usual for a while. Tonight, the Devil will feel like he is sleeping in a museum, as he sleeps here:

If All Excuses Have Been Used, Blame The Opossum

June 15, 2012

Venezuela’s electric power company ran out of excuses again this week and decided to go back to creative ideas and blame an opossum for the latest blackout in Ciudad Guayana. The excuse goes even beyond the opossum by saying that people have been leaving garbage behind, which attracts animals, which then manage to eat a cable, cutting off all power to sections about half the size of a city like Ciudad Guayana.

Of course, nobody explains why there is no clean up to remove the garbage, or measures to prevent people from throwing garbage near the power plant or transformers. But more importantly, how can a system be designed such that a single opossum can short-circuit half a city?

Just asking.

While Government Finances Chavez’ Campaign, Opposition Figures Accounts Are Investigated

June 15, 2012

In the Hugo Chavez Autocracy fairness and honesty are not important when dealing with electoral matters. While La Patilla published a document showing how Ministries financed and mobilized the people to go to Chavez’ rally on Monday, the bank Superintendent asked all financial institutions to provide him with the details of all fund movements in the bank accounts for opposition figures such as Gerardo Blyde, Leopoldo Lopez, Stalin Gonzalez and Delsa Solorzano.

Thus, while Chavez finances his campaign in full violation of the law, in a manner that is punished with jail, the Superintendent of Banks goes fishing to see if any irrelevant amount of money is flowing to Capriles’ campaign via opposition leaders. This limits campaign contributions, as donors are afraid of being harrased for contributing to Capriles’ campaign, while all of the Government’s resources are at the service of Chavez’ efforts in blatant violation of the law.

Such are the unfair and unethical ways of the revolution.

From “Vintinto” To “Un Solo Camino”

June 13, 2012

This is the original video of the young Venezuelan kid who is switching his allegiance  from Brazilian soccer to Venezuela’s Vinotinto soccer team:

This is the parody:

You be the judge…

Explaining What It Means To Make Miami Registered Voters Go To New Orleans

June 9, 2012

Dear Friendly visitor from abroad, PSF or not:

This is Venezuela:

a somewhat dysfunctional country in South America led by a religious like leader known as Hugo Chavez, who leads a cult called Bolivarianism. His tribe is called PSUV. Now, Hugo likes to make people believe that Venezuela has a fair Government and is a democracy. Many locals, as well as some foreigners who obviously would not be caught dead living in Venezuela defend the cult and its “fairness”

Now, the picture below shows the southern part of the US, including Miami, Florida and New Orleans, Lousiana. There are a lot of Venezuelans living in the southern part of Florida. In fact, 26,000 of them are registered to vote in the Venezuelan Consulate in Miami. Some come form Georgia, but the large majority are near Miami. The right to vote for President, even if you live abroad, is supposed to be a Constitutional guarantee. Over 90% of them do not vote for President Hugo.

The Venezuelan Consul in Miami, was caught in a video conspiring on how to start a cyber attack on US Government computers. This led the US Government to kick her out. The cult leader, Hugo Chavez, decided then to shut down the Consulate in Miami:

This week, the Electoral Board decided that these 26,000 people would have to go and vote in New Orleans, Louisiana, which is an 867 mile drive from Miami (as shown in the map) or 651 miles away as the crow flies.

Let’s try to put this in proper perspective: A coach bus fits 53 people. Thus, it would require 490 buses to take them to New Orleans to vote. The line of buses would be about three miles long. The cheapest one way fare I could find costs $107 per person and takes one day, one hour and fifteen minutes to get there. Double that to return.

But there is a better perspective. Suppose that you picked a voter in Maracaibo, Zulia State, a large Western city of Venezuela and moved him to vote to a center 651 miles away. The result would be this:

The red circle shown above has an approximately 650 mile radius and is approximately centered in Maracaibo. The conclusion is that it would be unlikely that you could find an Electoral Center outside of this circle, for the simple reason that I doubt that there are any centers in the roughly 4% of Venezuela that is left outside this circle.

The whole thing is yet another dirty trick by this fake democratic Government. The whole point of shutting down this voting center was to eliminate 20,000 opposition votes with one single decision. After all, would it be so hard to rent an office somewhere in Miami to have the vote held? Would it be so expensive? In fact, you could even have it a the office of Banco Industrial de Venezuela in Miami, if you wanted to save money. Or ask any of the neighboring countries in Latin America to give you a hand and create one, two or even three separate locations at their Miami consulates, to allow people to exercise their right to vote.

But the cult leader, Hugo Chavez, did not shut down the consulate, as an “administrative measure” or to get back at the US Government for kicking the Venezuelan Consulate out. After all, it was only Venezuelans that are affected by the measure. No, this whim by the religious leader of Bolivarianism was another perverse dirty trick, which was consummated this week by the Electoral Board when it forced these 26,000 voters to go so far to vote.

Many will try to go and vote. But clearly, this is expensive and wholly unreasonable. This is just a maneuver to wipe out 20,000 votes which may or not be important in deciding the upcoming Presidential election. But with a few tricks like this, like the previous post, it all adds up and makes the objective of preserving the cult more feasible.

So, please don’t pay attention to the BS. There is no Electoral Justice in Venezuela. Democracy is not relevant to Hugo Chavez. There is an autocracy and a judicial system corrupted and dominated by the cult leader to project an image of democracy and fairness. The whole point, as his Presidential program shows, is to block the possibility of Bolivarianism ever being removed from power. That is not what democracy is about.

Making Miami voters, 95% of whom support the opposition candidate, has no logic or justification. The maps above clearly prove it.

Chavismo Pulls Dirty Trick On Podemos And Patria Para Todos (And Ultimately On Capriles)

June 9, 2012

When the myriad of dirty tricks pulled by Chavismo during its tenure is analyzed after the demise of Hugo, none will be judged as being more cynical and undemocratic than the two this week on the legal status of the Podemos and Patria Para Todos political parties. The Supreme Court this week pulled two rabbits out of their dozens of dirty trick hats and managed to insure that neither party will be able to back back Capriles in his Octobre Presidential bid.

In one case, the Electoral Hall of the TSJ ruled that the elections for leaders of Partia Para Todos (PPT) were invalid and new ones had to take place. The Hall named a “temporary” President and mandate 90 days for new elections. By then, it will be too late for PPT to register for the election backing Capriles. (Those that back Capriles won the internal elections). In the second case, the Constitutional Hall of the TSJ ruled that Didalco Bolivar, not too long ago in exile from Chavismo accused of corruption, was the rightful leader of Podemos, despite the fact that Ismael Garcia had used the party to back the opposition in the Assembly elections.Reportedly Didalco exchanged his exile for returning and claiming the party.

Thus, in one swipe, two minor, but significant regional parties will not be able to use their symbols and colors to back Capriles. this may seem like a minor nuance, but it is not. Such symbols are quite important to the rank and file and are used extensively, particularly in the regional bastions where these parties are strong.

The fact that the two decisions were made practically simultaneously just days before these parties were due to register their support for Capriles, shows how dirty and cynical the whole thing is. Didalco Bolivar had left the country in a rush and Chavez had said that PPT was largely irrelevant. But revenge against traitors and fears that these small parties may make a difference in certain states drove the decisions and its exquisite and perverse timing.

A Short Quiz For The Devil’s Readers

June 2, 2012

Ok, without looking it up, what do the following last names have in common?

Angulo

Capriles

Carrasco

Chavez

Chirinos

Sanchez

Zamora

These are the people who….

have registered their candidacy for the Venezuelan Presidential election!!!

And if you knew that, you really have little to do with you time (like me).

And yes, I have no idea, who Sonia María Chirinos, Toribio Gilberto Sánchez, Alirio Angulo, Alejandro Zamora Moya and José Gabriel Carrasco are. But all five of them want to be President.

Sonia could be any of these. Toribio Gilberto Sanchez, I can’t find. Alirio Angulo could be this guy, but who knows? This one claims to be a prophet, sounds about right for the job.  There was an Alejandro Zamora Moya nominated for the Grammys for his New Age music, but I have no idea if it is the same one. There are three Jose Gabriel Carrasco’s, but none of them identify themselves as having Presidential aspirations.

For a bunch of Presidential candidates, they certainly try to hide who they are, no? I guess they know what it’s coming if they win.

The other two, I sort of know where they are coming from and where I hope they are going.

How To Interfere With The Capriles Campaign In Ten Commandments

June 1, 2012

So, the democratic campaign of Hugo Chavez has issued these “Ten Commandments” to orient people on what to do if the “ultra right wing” candidate Capriles dares to visit you.

You can , for example (Commandment #1) coordinate sports, cultural or social activities to compete with Capriles’ visit.

or, you can use Government resources to have a National ID campaign (Commandment #2) that same day, once again, the idea is not have people show up at Capriles’ rally.

Better yet, you can have an “open air” Mercal, selling cheap produce purchased by the Government (Commandment #3), as the text says: “This activity “captures” a large segment of the population”. Of course, people are scraping by in the revolution.

Then there is Commandment #4, which is somewhat cryptic: “Coordinate with the Francisco de Miranda Front (Chavez campaign organization) and with the Socialist Youth, “political agitation activities”. I am not sure what those activities are, but it does not sound like they will hold a mass or anything like that.

Some of the rest are somewhat lame, like placing women in places to tell Capriles they would vote for him if he had not “take over” the Cuban Embassy in 2002 (which is a lie) or if he had not participated in the “coup” against Chavez in 2002. Or to place people in strategic places to chant: ” Capriles Fascista, Oligarca Imperialista”

But the true Jewel in the commandments is the tenth:

“Provoke situations of political agitation with the security personnel and the bodyguards of the “majunche” candidate”

And then, there is the note:

“All of these activities will be backed by fellow countrymen of alternative media, independent reporters  (??)and members of the national public media (read: Government media). As well as intelligence organizations of the State which will be there dressed as civilians”

As you can see, democracy is truly sick in Venezuela, with the Government using resources, whether they are imported food, Government media outlets, intelligence officers to interfere with the oppositions campaign.

It is indeed the revolution without scruples.

And the worst part, we are all paying for all of this.