Hugo Chavez is dead (1 Viewer)

[Apple Jack]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)

But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

Before I even opened this thread I knew what your response would be. I think sometimes you take this pollyanna, both-sides-of-the-fence, shtick just to far. Are you ever absolute in any opinions you form? Chavez was a minor player, a weaker Manuel Noriega if you will; your praise isn't what upsets me, it is more your need to always try to counter your own points. Chavez was a doosh that did very little for his people except to drive away foreign dollars. Hugo could not of been that good if he still had to rig his elections. The fact that he made some symbolic donation is along the lines of Yassar Arafat (who died of AIDS ) donating blood to the Red Crescent after 9/11. These guys are more harmful to the people they lead than any "war" they wage against the U.S.; your faint praise of him is pitiful.

If tim didn't exist, we'd have to invent him.

 

[SacramentoBob]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)

But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

Are you being serious?

Sure. That money and aid helped out. People's lives were affected in a positive way as a direct result. Very few people are completely evil. I think that when somebody does something positive it deserves to be acknowledged. Does it make Chavez a good man? Of course not. Does it negate all the terrible stuff he's done? Absolutely not. But it still deserves to be acknowledged.

Thanks for clearing this up. You would be the guy who interrupts someone speech on the evils of Hitler, to remind everyone he was kind to stray animals.

Charles Manson once let an old lady at the Supermarket move in front of him in line. Let's not forget that.

 

[SacramentoBob]

Fictitious praise of brutal dictators by timschochet.

 

[poopdawg]

Probably my least favorite Hugo.

Hugo from "House of 1000 Corpses" was a nicer guy than this POS.....

 

[mquinnjr]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)

But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

So did Mussolini for making the trains run on time.

My link

 

[Rush Limbaugh Fan]

Not a great guy necessarily, but not sure he entirely deserves the terrible reputation he has in America. Just browsing on Wikipedia, it seems he was fairly successful in addressing the countries' issues with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, while growing the economy.

WE DON"T NEED YOUR FACTS AROUND HERE!Who cares if he halved the poverty rate! I'm gonna toe the ideological line!/sarcasm

 

[DiStefano]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)

But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

So did Mussolini for making the trains run on time.

My link

Proves the point.

 

[quickhands]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

you are a %^&*@!

 

[GroveDiesel]

Not a great guy necessarily, but not sure he entirely deserves the terrible reputation he has in America. Just browsing on Wikipedia, it seems he was fairly successful in addressing the countries' issues with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, while growing the economy.

WE DON"T NEED YOUR FACTS AROUND HERE!Who cares if he halved the poverty rate! I'm gonna toe the ideological line!/sarcasm

Yeah, we'll just ignore the out of control crime rate, skyrocketing inflation (which helps skew poverty numbers) and the shortages of basic goods. Venezuela is a mess.

 

[quickhands]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

Are you being serious?

Sure. That money and aid helped out. People's lives were affected in a positive way as a direct result. Very few people are completely evil. I think that when somebody does something positive it deserves to be acknowledged. Does it make Chavez a good man? Of course not. Does it negate all the terrible stuff he's done? Absolutely not. But it still deserves to be acknowledged.

Next tim waxes poetic on the goodness of mao, pol pott, castro, lenin, mugabe, vlad the impaler, saddam, blah blah blah. Etc. Etc etc...

 

[The_Man]

Wow, what a relief.Not since Fidel Castro or Daniel Ortega or maybe Manuel Noriega has there been such a horrible Latin/South American boogeyman whose policies and actions caused such terror and detriment to the American way of life.Now that he is gone, perhaps our long national nightmare will be over.

I have friends that live in Venezuela. My guess is that your flippant viewpoint would be a lot different if you actually lives there or knew people that live there.

I am sure you are right, as would also be true of numerous other tyrants and dictators around the world if people close to me were affected.My comment is more about how this particular tyrant had been held up as a particularly dangerous threat to the U.S., which he was not. As evidenced by the fact that he is now dead and our republic still stands.

 

[mr roboto]

Fictitious praise of brutal dictators by timschochet.

1.01 Hitler never parked his Panzer in the 'compact only' spots of the parking garage.

 

[Joe Summer]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

In before Hitler.

 

[John Bender]

Fictitious praise of brutal dictators by timschochet.

1.01 Hitler never parked his Panzer in the 'compact only' spots of the parking garage.

1.02 - Pol Pot returned his loaner copy of "A Separate Peace" on time to Mr. Ishida's Bookstore

 

[Don Quixote]

Not a great guy necessarily, but not sure he entirely deserves the terrible reputation he has in America. Just browsing on Wikipedia, it seems he was fairly successful in addressing the countries' issues with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, while growing the economy.

WE DON"T NEED YOUR FACTS AROUND HERE!Who cares if he halved the poverty rate! I'm gonna toe the ideological line!/sarcasm

Yeah, we'll just ignore the out of control crime rate, skyrocketing inflation (which helps skew poverty numbers) and the shortages of basic goods. Venezuela is a mess.

Yep. All of his "successes" can be tied to the rise in the price of oil. If anything, he squandered the opportunity to improve the country more.

 

[SoBeDad]

Not a great guy necessarily, but not sure he entirely deserves the terrible reputation he has in America. Just browsing on Wikipedia, it seems he was fairly successful in addressing the countries' issues with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, while growing the economy.

Poverty decreased under Chavez, as it has in even poorer countries such as Bolivia, but he did it the wrong way. You can't just give money to people and expect the economy to prosper long-term. You can't scare away entrepreneurship without consequences. Poverty in Asia and Latin America has shrunk because of job creation and capitalism. The Chilean and Peruvian models of economic prosperity leave the Venezuelan and Cuban models in the dust.

 

[NutterButter]

Wow, what a relief.Not since Fidel Castro or Daniel Ortega or maybe Manuel Noriega has there been such a horrible Latin/South American boogeyman whose policies and actions caused such terror and detriment to the American way of life.Now that he is gone, perhaps our long national nightmare will be over.

It will be nice to finally be able to go to bed without worrying about Venezuela.

 

[NutterButter]

Wow, what a relief.Not since Fidel Castro or Daniel Ortega or maybe Manuel Noriega has there been such a horrible Latin/South American boogeyman whose policies and actions caused such terror and detriment to the American way of life.Now that he is gone, perhaps our long national nightmare will be over.

I have friends that live in Venezuela. My guess is that your flippant viewpoint would be a lot different if you actually lives there or knew people that live there.

I am sure you are right, as would also be true of numerous other tyrants and dictators around the world if people close to me were affected.My comment is more about how this particular tyrant had been held up as a particularly dangerous threat to the U.S., which he was not. As evidenced by the fact that he is now dead and our republic still stands.

 

[Rayderr]

Wow, what a relief.Not since Fidel Castro or Daniel Ortega or maybe Manuel Noriega has there been such a horrible Latin/South American boogeyman whose policies and actions caused such terror and detriment to the American way of life.Now that he is gone, perhaps our long national nightmare will be over.

I have friends that live in Venezuela. My guess is that your flippant viewpoint would be a lot different if you actually lives there or knew people that live there.

I am sure you are right, as would also be true of numerous other tyrants and dictators around the world if people close to me were affected.My comment is more about how this particular tyrant had been held up as a particularly dangerous threat to the U.S., which he was not. As evidenced by the fact that he is now dead and our republic still stands.

Was he ever really deemed a threat? Seemed to me that we pretty much just laughed at him and his empty threats.

 

[poopdawg]

Wow, what a relief.Not since Fidel Castro or Daniel Ortega or maybe Manuel Noriega has there been such a horrible Latin/South American boogeyman whose policies and actions caused such terror and detriment to the American way of life.Now that he is gone, perhaps our long national nightmare will be over.

I have friends that live in Venezuela. My guess is that your flippant viewpoint would be a lot different if you actually lives there or knew people that live there.

I am sure you are right, as would also be true of numerous other tyrants and dictators around the world if people close to me were affected.My comment is more about how this particular tyrant had been held up as a particularly dangerous threat to the U.S., which he was not. As evidenced by the fact that he is now dead and our republic still stands.

Bin Laden is dead too.....

 

[Novice2]

As bad as he was I'm sure he never made his kid wipe his ### cheeks.

 

[NutterButter]

Wow, what a relief.

Not since Fidel Castro or Daniel Ortega or maybe Manuel Noriega has there been such a horrible Latin/South American boogeyman whose policies and actions caused such terror and detriment to the American way of life.

Now that he is gone, perhaps our long national nightmare will be over.

I have friends that live in Venezuela. My guess is that your flippant viewpoint would be a lot different if you actually lives there or knew people that live there.

I am sure you are right, as would also be true of numerous other tyrants and dictators around the world if people close to me were affected.

My comment is more about how this particular tyrant had been held up as a particularly dangerous threat to the U.S., which he was not. As evidenced by the fact that he is now dead and our republic still stands.

Was he ever really deemed a threat? Seemed to me that we pretty much just laughed at him and his empty threats.

I'm sure there's a lot more of this to be found on the innerweb.

 

[phrozen]

Wow, what a relief.Not since Fidel Castro or Daniel Ortega or maybe Manuel Noriega has there been such a horrible Latin/South American boogeyman whose policies and actions caused such terror and detriment to the American way of life.Now that he is gone, perhaps our long national nightmare will be over.

I have friends that live in Venezuela. My guess is that your flippant viewpoint would be a lot different if you actually lives there or knew people that live there.

I am sure you are right, as would also be true of numerous other tyrants and dictators around the world if people close to me were affected.My comment is more about how this particular tyrant had been held up as a particularly dangerous threat to the U.S., which he was not. As evidenced by the fact that he is now dead and our republic still stands.

Bin Laden is dead too.....

Bin Laden also sponsored 2 children in Haiti so there you go.

 

[TPW]

Hasta nunca, demagogo.

 

[Charlie Steiner]

Wow, what a relief.

Not since Fidel Castro or Daniel Ortega or maybe Manuel Noriega has there been such a horrible Latin/South American boogeyman whose policies and actions caused such terror and detriment to the American way of life.

Now that he is gone, perhaps our long national nightmare will be over.

I have friends that live in Venezuela. My guess is that your flippant viewpoint would be a lot different if you actually lives there or knew people that live there.

I am sure you are right, as would also be true of numerous other tyrants and dictators around the world if people close to me were affected.My comment is more about how this particular tyrant had been held up as a particularly dangerous threat to the U.S., which he was not. As evidenced by the fact that he is now dead and our republic still stands.

Bin Laden is dead too.....

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

Not a great guy necessarily, but not sure he entirely deserves the terrible reputation he has in America. Just browsing on Wikipedia, it seems he was fairly successful in addressing the countries' issues with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, while growing the economy.

Poverty decreased under Chavez, as it has in even poorer countries such as Bolivia, but he did it the wrong way. You can't just give money to people and expect the economy to prosper long-term. You can't scare away entrepreneurship without consequences. Poverty in Asia and Latin America has shrunk because of job creation and capitalism. The Chilean and Peruvian models of economic prosperity leave the Venezuelan and Cuban models in the dust.

Now is the point in the thread where we damn Chavez by praising Pinochet. Nice.

 

[Rayderr]

Not a great guy necessarily, but not sure he entirely deserves the terrible reputation he has in America. Just browsing on Wikipedia, it seems he was fairly successful in addressing the countries' issues with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, while growing the economy.

Poverty decreased under Chavez, as it has in even poorer countries such as Bolivia, but he did it the wrong way. You can't just give money to people and expect the economy to prosper long-term. You can't scare away entrepreneurship without consequences. Poverty in Asia and Latin America has shrunk because of job creation and capitalism. The Chilean and Peruvian models of economic prosperity leave the Venezuelan and Cuban models in the dust.

Now is the point in the thread where we damn Chavez by praising Pinochet. Nice.

Chavez wasn't nearly as funny playing Balki.

 

[cstu]

I still won't buy Citgo gas.

Will you buy BP? I avoid them unless in dire need and even then I try to drive past those sum#####es.

If you buy gas at a station that's not affiliated with a company that produces it's own gas, then there's a good chance you're still buying BP gas.

I only buy local organic sustainable gasoline, from a little family-owned refinery in town.

 

[MaxThreshold]

Not a great guy necessarily, but not sure he entirely deserves the terrible reputation he has in America. Just browsing on Wikipedia, it seems he was fairly successful in addressing the countries' issues with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, while growing the economy.

Poverty decreased under Chavez, as it has in even poorer countries such as Bolivia, but he did it the wrong way. You can't just give money to people and expect the economy to prosper long-term. You can't scare away entrepreneurship without consequences. Poverty in Asia and Latin America has shrunk because of job creation and capitalism. The Chilean and Peruvian models of economic prosperity leave the Venezuelan and Cuban models in the dust.

So he pretty much did the same things the American left is trying to do here now. I wonder if we can expect the same results? Hmmm.....

 

[Abraham]

I still won't buy Citgo gas.

Serious question that I've never had a satisfactory answer for; why is citgo allowed to operate in the USA?

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I still won't buy Citgo gas.

Serious question that I've never had a satisfactory answer for; why is citgo allowed to operate in the USA?

Not sure if this is the "for real" answer or not, but given that the global oil industry features the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia, why draw the line at Venezuela?

 

[FlapJacks]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)

But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

Cliff notes on what made him a bad guy?

First off, IMO anyone who holds political power in the form of a dictatorship, shuts off free speech, and holds opponents as political prisoners is generally a bad guy. More specifically in Chavez' case, he has given aid, money, and refuge to terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaida. These are not nice people.

I'm sure those organizations, for all the mayhem they have caused, have performed some good deeds which should be acknowledged...

 

[Novice2]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)

But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

Cliff notes on what made him a bad guy?

First off, IMO anyone who holds political power in the form of a dictatorship, shuts off free speech, and holds opponents as political prisoners is generally a bad guy. More specifically in Chavez' case, he has given aid, money, and refuge to terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaida. These are not nice people.

I'm sure those organizations, for all the mayhem they have caused, have performed some good deeds which should be acknowledged...

I'm not sure but someone may want to ask Tim.

 

[mr roboto]

Generally a very bad guy, and certainly no friend to the United States (at least not to our governments.)

But he does deserve credit for sending money and aid during Katrina.

Cliff notes on what made him a bad guy?

First off, IMO anyone who holds political power in the form of a dictatorship, shuts off free speech, and holds opponents as political prisoners is generally a bad guy. More specifically in Chavez' case, he has given aid, money, and refuge to terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaida. These are not nice people.

I'm sure those organizations, for all the mayhem they have caused, have performed some good deeds which should be acknowledged...

They did give some nice construction workers jobs building new buildings in NYC.

 

[FlapJacks]

If tim didn't exist, we'd have to invent him.

I'm still not convinced that "we" didn't...

 

[Abraham]

Sean penn is awesome.

 

[FlapJacks]

Fictitious praise of brutal dictators by timschochet.

1.01 Hitler never parked his Panzer in the 'compact only' spots of the parking garage.

1.02 - Pol Pot returned his loaner copy of "A Separate Peace" on time to Mr. Ishida's Bookstore

 

[GrandpaRox]

Two of my top ten gone. Guess it is a top 8 now.

Can't wait for number 1 to go.

 

[Fennis]

1.03 Stalin won the first World Moustache Championship

 

[Fennis]

Two of my top ten gone. Guess it is a top 8 now. Can't wait for number 1 to go.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt?

 

[Fennis]

I still won't buy Citgo gas.

Serious question that I've never had a satisfactory answer for; why is citgo allowed to operate in the USA?

Pretty sure Chavez asked the same question about Exxon in Venezuela.

 

[Sand]

Very few people are completely evil.

True, but there is no doubt that he has decimated the oil industry in Venzuela. He amassed a 2 billion dollar personal fortune on the backs of the people. And, even worse, he created and supported a socialist government that was so replete with corruption (not a surprise here) that approximately 100 billion of the 1 trillion dollars of produced oil money was siphoned away to bad actors.He certainly wasn't as destructive as Mugabe, but his rule placed a massive amount of overhead in the system. That kind of knowing destruction for personal gain most definitely has a lot of evil inherent in it. Not Hitler (gotta mention Hitler in here, right?), but his own little flavor of evil.

Any word on if Rodman will be a pall bearer?

Think Danny Glover.

 

[SoBeDad]

Not a great guy necessarily, but not sure he entirely deserves the terrible reputation he has in America. Just browsing on Wikipedia, it seems he was fairly successful in addressing the countries' issues with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, while growing the economy.

Poverty decreased under Chavez, as it has in even poorer countries such as Bolivia, but he did it the wrong way. You can't just give money to people and expect the economy to prosper long-term. You can't scare away entrepreneurship without consequences. Poverty in Asia and Latin America has shrunk because of job creation and capitalism. The Chilean and Peruvian models of economic prosperity leave the Venezuelan and Cuban models in the dust.

Now is the point in the thread where we damn Chavez by praising Pinochet. Nice.

Sometimes it get ugly when there's a battle. Fujimori had some excesses in Peru, but they may have been necessary. Much of South America's growth depends on export of raw materials, but why are Peru, Chile and even Colombia prospering more than Venezuela? Remember that Chavez benefited by an almost 10-fold increase in the price of oil.

 

[Christo]

Got a FB friend who's a lefty journalist sort. She and her friends are singing their praises. One of them even called him a "Great American".

 

[Fennis]

Got FB friend who's a lefty journalist sort. She and her friends are singing their praises. One of them even called him a "Great American".

only one of those words is wrong

 

[Jewell]

Got a FB friend who's a lefty journalist sort. She and her friends are singing their praises. One of them even called him a "Great American".

"Hugo, girl!!"

 

[Ilov80s]

Not a great guy necessarily, but not sure he entirely deserves the terrible reputation he has in America. Just browsing on Wikipedia, it seems he was fairly successful in addressing the countries' issues with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, while growing the economy.

Poverty decreased under Chavez, as it has in even poorer countries such as Bolivia, but he did it the wrong way. You can't just give money to people and expect the economy to prosper long-term. You can't scare away entrepreneurship without consequences. Poverty in Asia and Latin America has shrunk because of job creation and capitalism. The Chilean and Peruvian models of economic prosperity leave the Venezuelan and Cuban models in the dust.

I think he solved some problems with a short sighted approach. Now the country is dealing with the long term effects. Still, misguided economic strategy in an attempt to increase education, lower food prices and reduce poverty does not make a leader evil.

 

[pittstownkiller]

Got a FB friend who's a lefty journalist sort. She and her friends are singing their praises. One of them even called him a "Great American".

Who; Tim?

 

[Fennis]

Got a FB friend who's a lefty journalist sort. She and her friends are singing their praises. One of them even called him a "Great American".

Who; Tim?

Got to say, I appreciate the semi-colon use

 

[pittstownkiller]

Got a FB friend who's a lefty journalist sort. She and her friends are singing their praises. One of them even called him a "Great American".

Who; Tim?

Got to say, I appreciate the semi-colon use