Don’t forget Venezuela—and forgetting Afghanistan
Dr. Sanity reminds us to connect a few dots between President Obama, Bill Ayers, and Hugo Chavez. The picture we end up with when we do so is not a pretty one.
And Byron York points out the increasingly obvious fact that the Left is only opposed to Republican wars.
None of it is surprising. I think there are a lot more people now who have come to the realization that Obama’s associations were important and did give us probably the only look into the core of the man and his ideologies. After all almost everything else was denied us (ie, college transcripts).
As far as the war goes, again it is not surprising, but I think there is something more at play there. I believe the same dynamic is at play as during the Clinton era. No matter their words both of them (Bill and Barack) both have shown themselves to have no respect for the military. In fact I would go even further and say they both have contempt for the military. They see it as a somewhat necessary evil. But neither of them had / have any compunction about using the military as a political tool for their own personal agendas.
Oddly enough that is exactly what the left accused GWB of doing yet not many things could be further from the truth. And it’s funny – one of the biggest complaints of the liberals was that Bush was wasting money on the war fronts that could be better spent at home. So you would think with the economy in the shape it is and the rising deficit that would be an even greater concern. But I guess they think the (so called) rich will be tapped for it all.
Again – the far left liberals will laud Obama for (what they see as) his victories and excuse him for (or not even acknowledge) his mistakes.
The antiwar sentiment was real with only about 30% of those making noise. For the rest, it was only a pretense to be against Bush, who so aptly embodied the fact that the Wrong People had somehow gotten into power, against the natural order of things. I doubt many of them recognise about themselves, even now.
You used the analogy of a lost lover to describe those who cannot yet bring themselves to admit who Obama is. That has helped explain to me much of the blindness of the left. They continue to hope that Bush was really horrible and fascist, and that Obama and the Democrats really do have their best interests at heart. They scour the horizon for confirming evidence, pacing on their widow’s walk.
We have to offer them something, not just the disillusionment.
Believe it or not, this morning I took Gringo out of the local library to read. The author is Chesa Boudin, who was raised by Billy All I want for Christmas is the Dictatorship of the Proletariat Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn while his Weatherpeople parents served prison terms. Chesa worked in Mraflores, the Venezuelan equivalent of the White House, in the Chavez administration.
In skimming the book, I note that he calls his four parents ( his term) “anti-imperialist.”
Is this the reason Vietnam went on through 3 Democrat Presidents before Nixon ended it?
Or am I factually wrong here ? 🙂
The left has always been hypocritical and revisionist about war.
They blatantly ignore the 17 UN resolutions that authorized force in Iraq and uniformly agree that the invasion was illegal. Yet, ask them how they feel about Clinton’s war in the Balkans, they puff out their chests with pride. Bring up the fact that their was no UN resolution authorizing force they ignore it completely.
Talk about Vietnam they all uniformly agree that it was Nixon’s war. Bring up the fact that it was begun by Johnson (remember Tonkin) and that US war deaths escalated every year (total about 36,000), and that under Nixon deaths decreased dramatically every year (total about 22,000) they ignore it completely.
They ignore the estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 innocent Iraqi children that died from malnutrition and disease from UN sanctions and Clinton’s numerous (and disproportionately collateral) ‘wag the dog’ terrorist strikes and bombing campaigns.
And while we’re on the subject of gross hypocrisy.
Let’s review Rep. John Conyers letter to Bush regarding NSA Wiretapping, where he states:
“the presidential program of surveillance at issue here is a violation of the separation of powers – as grave an abuse of executive authority as I can recall ever having studied.”
Rep.s Conyers and Kucinich even called for Bush’s impeachment specifically because of NSA Wiretapping.
Yet,
Yet,
They remains uncharacteristcally silent now that Obama is using exactly the same NSA Wiretap program.
Maybe the lefties signed a non-aggression pact with the enemy.
Wouldn’t be the first time.
Chavez’s anti-semitism is open, notorious, and unabashed. I have yet to see any leftist pundit or leader–including, of course, our president–say much of anything about that.
I pointed out this exact hypocrisy to some of my academic “colleagues” who just a year ago organized a faculty antiwar protest. I asked them a year later with a war in Afghanistan expanding, why they weren’t again on the protest lines. The spin was enough to make anyone dizzy.
Once again I was suitably disgusted.
Unless I am mistaken, the NSA was also brought into existence by, and during, the Carter administration.
It’s a pretty big building with an incredibly huge parking lot and lots of cars.
Bak – 2 Democratic presidents, Kennedy and Johnson. I don’t think Truman did anything to get us in, because the French were still holding the bag then. Eisenhower ramped up a bit, but up until 1964 or so, everyone expected it was Laos that was going to be the big problem.
I read somewhere that after Kennedy was elected, Eisenhower’s people briefed him during the transition period and said that Laos was the most important situation in Southeast Asia. Kennedy then proceeded to concentrate on Vietnam.
Eisenhower was only a former general. What did he know?
The ability of the left to accept from their own what they reject from the opposition is limitless — we should not be surprised. At the same time, we should continue to point it out.
What is worse, I believe, is their projection. Listen to their defense of their own policies as they project onto conservatives what they themselves want: total control, which obviously requires wire taps. Or spamming, which is now pretty well acknowledge about this White House by everyone except Robert Gibbs and Rahm Emanuel. And the list goes on. . .
We need to learn to say something akin to “but that’s what YOU GUYS are doing! That’s what YOU GUYS WANT” every time they project onto conservatives what they in fact are doing. Lewis Carroll understood this world and wrote about it very well. F
Oh, I think there is more than a sliver of true to “The Left only opposes Republican wars” — The surge in Iraq worked, the war against Saddam was the right war (could have been sooner, but better later than never).
Left, in their deepest soul, know that the overwhelming majority of opposition was on provincial grounds, because their ice-cream progressive plans would be diverted from liberating a nation of people.
Wow when did the Left become so status quo that it lost the core of its soul? And mostly ironically, that it would be championed with historic success by the hated and the same petty drama! Which is another irony, because anything that America does is anything but petty.
The Left has Always been virulently opposed to proper patriotism.
I wanted to post this for you all: Daniel Hannen’s eloquent, moving defense of liberty, and his passionate plea to us Americans to not go down the path that England has gone. Not to sell our inheritance as a free people for a mess of pottage.
He starts with a seriously funny Churchill anecdote, moves through the reality of the National Health Service, and rounds off with a ringing call to arms.
http://www.theospark.net/2009/08/speech-of-year-daniel-hannan-speaks-at.html
Please listen, and if moved to do so, please pass it on. Like the man says, what we are about to do is almost impossible to undo. And it’s massive.
And to Old Charlie, I would just say this: “Trying to make a leftist remember the crimes of the left is like wrestling a greased pig: you get nothing but dirty, and the pig enjoys it.”
The only reason to argue with them is that most of our audience won’t be Leftists as such; more ignorant people who want to indulge their moral vanity, or people who just want other people’s money.
Although, now that I think about it, that patly describes the Left, doesn’t it? The only trait left out is the lust for power.
Beverly,
You are surfing Theo’s website? Are you checking out the totty? Shame on you!
Daniel Hannen RAWKS. Love that guy.
Hugo’s physique may not be a pretty site.
But what Chavez has done for Venezueuela sure is. It is a vibrant community focused democracy with free universal health care, free polytechniques, free university, free school lunches, dirt cheep gas and public transport, subsidised housing, brand new highways and railways, subsidised supermarkets, cheap[ electricity, a growing economy,
In short, just about everything the GOP hates.
(slaps forehead)
How could I have ever opposed Obama? What was I thinking?
He only wants to do for America what Chavez has done for Venezuela. Amazing how one man can do all that, isn’t it? I wonder why no one ever thought of doing that before now.
Obviously luke has never been to Venezuela and doesn’t know anyone from there.
Venezuela
2008 Inflation rate (consumer prices) 20.7%
2008 Population below poverty line 37.9%
2008 Unemployment rate 9.1%
2008 Net migration rate (migrant(s)/1,000 population) -0.84
2008 Infant mortality rate (deaths/1,000 live births) 22.02
http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=ve&v=71
Venezuela inflation rate grows to 26.2% in July
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093263677
Hugo The Great Leader is building a paradise down there isn’t he?
Well golly gee-bees, lukey. How come you aren’t luke weyland, Caracas, Venezuela, then?
LOL. I’m guessing Luke has a big poster of Che Guevara in his bedroom.
It is nice to know you people live in Australia too, not just in America.
Imagine if all of you were to congregate somewhere. Like . . . CUBA! It would be paradise!
Yes, dont forgot iraq either..
قصة صواريخ سكود الايرانية على الØدود العراقية:
بعد ÙضيØØ© الانتخابات الايرانية الاخيرة وبعد زيادة قوة الترابط ايران وجماعة علي Øاتم السليمان والهايس, بدأت ايران تزيد من تغلغلها داخل Ù…ØاÙظة الانبار وخصوصا بعد الانسØاب الامريكي من المدن ÙÙŠ نهاية الشهر السادس , Øتى وصل بها الØال ان قامت بانشاء مقرات وقواعد اشبه بمقرات الشرطة ÙÙŠ مناطق نائية من صØراء الانبار القريبة من الØدود السورية والاردنية بØجة انها نقاط Øدودية خلÙية ومقرات لصØوة الانبار, ثم قامت وبصورة سرية بنقل صواريخ “سكود” الروسية طويلة المدى بواسطة عناصر من الميليشيات وبالتعاون مع قيادات ناÙذة من الصØوة الى تلك النقاط وخزنها ÙÙŠ مناطق قريبة من الØدود بين سوريا والسعودية والعراق,تم ادخال تلك الصواريخ من سوريا وتخزينها هنالك مع عربات مموهة للاطلاق,كانت الصÙقة بين ايران وعلي Øاتم السليمان وجماعته هو التعهد لهم بتسليمهم مقاليد الØكم ÙÙŠ الانبار والتخلص من ابو ريشة وضمان Øصولهم على ما يكÙÙŠ من المقاعد ÙÙŠ البرلمان القادم مقابل قبولهم بØماية تلك الصواريخ وقواعدها والتي قالت لهم بانها مجرد “درع صاروخي” لشنّ هجوم صاروخي على اسرائيل اذا ما هاجمت اسرائيل ايران خلال الÙترة القادمة,وعن امكانية ان تقص٠اسرائيل تلك المناطق ÙÙŠ Øال اكتشا٠اسرائيل لمناطق انطلاقها, اقنع الايرانيون Øاتم السليمان بان اسرائيل سو٠لن ترد بقص٠المنطقة لانها ستظن ان “القاعدة” هي التي اطلقت الصواريخ من تلك المناطق ,بالاضاÙØ© الى ان المنطقة صØراوية وارض خالية Ùلن تجد اسرائيل ما تضربه Ùيها.(علما ان صدام قد استهد٠اسرائيل بعدة صواريخ من تلك المنطقة Ùعلا).اما اذا ما جرى واكتش٠الامريكان تلك الصواريخ,Ùسو٠يدعي الجميع انها من مخلÙات النظام البائد ولهذا جرى طلائها بنÙس الوان صواريخ “الØسين” العراقية مع وضع العلم العراقي القديم (ابو النجمات) عليها..
http://www.kitabat.com/i58955.htm%5D
Neo, your software has a problem with a too-well documented reply I gave to our Australian friend. I sent it twice.
Friends, friends. The failure of Chavez’s policies, as illustrated by the stats you bring up, is only part of what we need to remind young luke of. The rest is that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH. Look at his list of “benefits”: “free universal health care, free polytechniques, free university, free school lunches, dirt cheep gas and public transport, subsidised housing, brand new highways and railways, subsidised supermarkets, cheap[ electricity.” Do doctors spring full-fledged from the brow of Chavez? Is an education at a polytechnic or university achieved by putting library (“free”) books under your pillow? Does the bounty of the earth arrange itself onto trays for school children to eat? Does gasoline spontaneously rise to the surface, refine itself, and make its way into underground tanks at gas stations? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
WHO PAYS THE BILL, luke? Are you excited about Chavez’s Venezuela because you believe if you were there YOU wouldn’t have to? You’re one of the poor downtrodden pipples, right?
Something else I’ve noticed is that suddenly we don’t get the nightly death toll on the network news show or the more left leaning cable channels.
But they were doing it because of their love of and concern for the troops, weren’t they?
On a single day in January, the “anti-war” movement apparently died. The wars are still there and still going on. It’s hard not to come to the conclusion that for the left, it was never about war. It was always about politics and their hatred of one man.
I googled up luke. He signs petitions “luke Weyland, Sydney Australia, Socialist Alliance and Democratic Socialist Perspective.” He’s been hitting the conservative websites lately with short comments in the standard repertoire of far left causes: sandanistas, GM foods, gay rights, defending chavez. He doesn’t seem to stick around for any actual discussion and exchange of ideas.
Sounds like he’d be good at running Democratic town halls.
luke weyland, Sydney Australia
Hugo’s physique may not be a pretty site.But what Chavez has done for Venezueuela sure is.. subsidised housing..
Our friend in Austrialia is truly a certified member of the PSF: Pendejos Sin Fronteras.
Let us investigate this claim.
Contrary to our PSF’s implication, government construction of housing units was not an invention of Thugo. In a Venezuelan Chamber of Construction publication, El Déficit y la Produccié³n Formal de Viviendas, in a graph on page 10 for housing construction from 1960 to 2004, we see that not only has there been public construction of housing during that period, but for most years since 1960 the government sector constructed more units than the private sector. Thugo became President in 1999.
From page 12 of the same publication, we find out that the housing deficit was 1,220,179 units in 2001. Thugo became President in 1999. In 2009 we find the following.
While the housing deficit increased by nearly 800,000 units in the last 8 years of Thugo’s rule, our PSF friend wants to inform us how great Thugo’s “subsidized housing” is.
From a recent article in El Universal.
Under Thugo’s rule, fewer housing units are constructed, the housing deficit has a massive increase during his watch, and our PSF friend wants to inform us how great Thugo’s “subsidized housing” is.
From Miguel Octavio’s Devil’s Excrement blog, here is some comment on Thugo, and dirt cheep(sic) gas”
While the whole article is worth reading in its entirely, including what it says about cheap electricity, I will simply direct Neo and her readers to the link.
http://devilsexcrement.com/2009/03/17/chavez-and-gasoline-prices-the-clueless-revolutionary/
Since we all know it is all about FEELINGS with the left, The war just felt worse when Team 43 was running it.
Luke wrote, “t is a vibrant community focused democracy with free universal health care, free polytechniques, free university, free school lunches, dirt cheep gas and public transport, subsidised housing, brand new highways and railways, subsidised supermarkets, cheap[ electricity, a growing economy,
Utopia is free. And the GOP hates it. 🙂
Teachers teach for free and therefore don’t get paid – so how do they live?
Health care is free and therefore Nurses and doctors and administrators don’t get paid – so how do they live?
The money fall from the sky…
Or Luke can realize the sources of information he is reading needs to change. He is being lied to. The economy is NOT vibrant and growing. The only thing growing is Luke’s delusion..
Try to broaden your horizon’s. Learn economics Luke. Learn what the economy is truly like.
What are markets and market forces? Are there two classes in Venezuela? The privileged? And then the rest of the poor suckers who have to do anything they can do to survive – like black markets and doing with much LESS.
I’ll keep my standard of living here thank you. I only earn a five-figure income and I have a house with 4,500 square feet and I only owe 2/3rd what it is worth.
To live large in Venezuela you need to say the right things and be with the right people and be privileged.
Follow-up from Byron York, via Instapundit: What happened to the antiwar movement? Cindy Sheehan hits ‘hypocrisy’ of Left, Democratic allies.
No comment necessary.
Luke, a friend of mine left Venezuela. As him about Chavez if you want to get a crash course in Spanish profanity.
Occam, Luke can only live in a bubble.
Just like Saddam Hussein. Yes men surrounded him…
# luke weyland, Sydney Australia Says:
“In short, just about everything the GOP hates.”
No liberty, stagnant economy lacking in opportunity, forced equality for the middle and underclass (but not those connected to the socialist government)… yep, I hate it.