Requiem for an immortal

chavecito-history

So. This happened.

I’m not going to say “Well, this is awkward, guess the fascists were right, I owe them an apology.” Because this isn’t awkward. The fascists are still wrong (and if you doubt me, just scroll back a few pages to where I proved them wrong AND scooped their litterbox media…or watch this space in the coming days when I translate more things our litterbox media won’t bother with).

And I owe no one a goddamn thing. Not even the privilege (which, kindly remember, is NOT a right) of commenting on this entry. My blog is staying closed until I decide to reopen it. And I am not giving any hints as to when that will be. You can read, but you can’t comment.

Apologies to my friends; you know how to reach me, and many of you already have. You make everything bearable, even the worst. I appreciate and cherish your good words.

To my enemies, I have but one thing to say:

GET FUCKED.

Seriously. Do you think your petty venom and immature gloating is going to have the slightest influence on little old me and my little old blog, much less the bigger global picture? I have some sad news for you, then: YOU FAIL SO HARD. Your ill wishing did not kill Chávez; pneumonia did. Go cry, emo kids!

No, NOT “inferior” Cuban medicine didn’t kill him, either, FUX Snooze, you asshats. Thousands of US cancer patients die the same way every year, in what are supposed to be some of the best hospitals in the world. And, hell: Some people even die of pneumonia without the cancer! If they don’t stand a chance against it, no one does.

And Cuban medicine is, in many ways, superior to the capitalist system in the US. They’ve even come up with vaccines to help contain some of the more difficult cancers. That’s a lot more than can be said of US Big Pharma corporations, who have a greater interest in creating patients than in curing them. So don’t go running the Cubans down. They did everything for him that was possible for anyone to do, and they did it unstintingly. And for that, they deserve a HUGE round of applause. Nada más, nada menos.

See how awkward that wasn’t? See how many fucks I don’t give, trolls?

Now, on to the requiem.

Am I crying because Chavecito’s dead? No. Sad? Yes, because I miss the big guy. I miss his charm, his wit, his courage, his humor, his unmistakable voice, his tremendous eloquence and intelligence, and yes, THAT FACE. I’ve been missing him ever since he went for his last operation. I’m going to miss him for as long as I live. He is irreplaceable, and his loss will never be made good.

But another part of me is glad. Glad that he is no longer suffering, no longer vulnerable, no longer food for the vultures, the putschists, the fascists, the haters. You can circle and circle, guys, but you’ll never get a piece of him. The brave people of Venezuela will see to that. They’ve already expelled two of the bastards, and more will end up flying out of Venezuela by the seat of their pants in the days and weeks to come. Bet on that! Haters gonna hate, assholes gonna fart, the State Dept. gonna plot. But none of them will ever get control of Venezuela again. Because Chavecito started something, and it’s going to keep on going. It won’t die with him, no matter who hopes it will and no matter how hard they try. The brave people of Venezuela have picked up the habit of resistance from him, and they’re not about to quit just because he’s not there anymore.

Chavecito will walk with Che Guevara, with Camilo Cienfuegos, with Bolívar and Martí, and all the others who fought for freedom and social justice in Latin America. He will walk with Zapata, with Sandino, with Benito Juárez, and Morazán. He will walk with Artigas, San Martín and Bernardo O’Higgins. And he will walk with every guerrilla and revolutionary leader, dead or living, so long as the fight goes on.

Because, you see, Chávez is immortal now. And immortal fighters never tire, never fade, never die.

That’s why I’m not crying. It’s because he’s not dead. Gone from his body, maybe, but so what? Remember what happened to Che? The CIA murdered him, cut off his hands, and buried the rest under an airstrip, all in an effort to snuff out what he stood for. And they failed. Failed dismally, because with every year of his absence, Che’s presence grew bigger. Immortals have a funny way of doing that! And today, Che is the guiding spirit of every Latin American movement, along with Bolívar and all the rest.

It will be the same with Chávez. Bet on it.

Time for music. Lhasa de Sela, who also died after falling ill with cancer a few years back, makes a perfect (immortal) choice for this very defiant requiem:

This is an excerpt from Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis’s documentary, The Take, which was filmed in Argentina over a decade ago. The fighting you see going on in the streets of Buenos Aires is the workers of the Brukman clothing factory, trying to take back their cooperatively-run business from the federal police, who have shuttered it and welded the factory gate closed. Those were NOT rubber bullets flying there. But the song is an accurate reflection of what’s going on, as the lyrics attest:

Who said that all is lost?
I come to offer up my heart.
All the blood washed down the river;
I come to offer up my heart.

It won’t be so easy, but I know it will happen,
It won’t be as simple as I once thought.
Like opening my chest and pulling out my soul,
A knife-thrust of love…

Moon of the poor, always open,
I come to offer up my heart.
Like an unalterable document,
I come to offer up my heart.

And I’ll bring together the ends of the same rope,
And I’ll go calmly, I’ll go slowly,
And I’ll give you everything, and you’ll give me something,
Something that will relieve me a little more…

When there’s nobody, near or far,
I come to offer up my heart.
When the satellites don’t reach,
I come to offer up my heart.

And I talk of countries, and of hopes,
And I speak for life, I speak for nothing,
And I speak of changing this, our house,
Of changing it once and for all…

Who said that all is lost?
I come to offer up my heart.

Translation mine.

Who said that all is lost? Chavecito came to offer up his heart. And that heart lives on in Venezuela. Ahora y siempre.

Chavecito vive, la lucha sigue.

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Protesters seek Venezuelan leader

…and no, it’s NOT Chavecito. It’s his former electoral rival:

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“Where is Capriles? There’s a power vacuum in Miranda!”

Well might you ask, muchachas. The so-called governor of Miranda isn’t governing; he’s too busy trying to hound a certain high-profile cancer patient, and getting his brain-dead followers to do the same (with the usual backing from you-know-where). Meanwhile, his state can best be described as “all gone to shit”:

Mirandans protested peacefully on Sunday outside the Miranda state government building in Los Teques, demanding that governor Henrique Capriles Radonski step down due to repeated absence from his job.

With slogans like “Capriles, govern or resign”, the demonstrators camped out in front of the state government office to denounce the apathy and the state of abandonment in which the governmental entity finds itself ever since Capriles took office as governor. Capriles visited Colombia a few weeks ago, and more recently the United States, abandoning his functions.

María Castro, one of the demonstrators, explained that the government is in disarray due to the nonexistence of policies on health, security and education. She also described Capriles’ leadership as “the worst”, since every day the level of insecurity in Miranda increases, along with the preoccupation of the state’s population.

“Miranda is the most insecure state in the country. It’s in decadency. Capriles doesn’t govern, nor does he concern himself for the region. He always asks: Where is Chávez? But we Mirandans ask: Where is Governor Capriles, who doesn’t govern? Lamentably, neither Capriles nor his committee is governing,” Castro said.

Dalia Araujo, who lives along the old Los Teques highway, pointed out that the state doesn’t have a governor who responds to the needs and demands of the people and added that “if Capriles can’t rule as governor, he should resign, because we don’t want him.”

“Here in Miranda, we don’t have a governor, Capriles should resign because insecurity is killing us, and he doesn’t show his face. What’s Capriles doing in the United States when he should be in Miranda?”

During the demonstration, a group of Capriles sympathizers approached with the intention of disrupting the peaceful protest.

One of the Capriles sympathizers pushed and assaulted members of the reporter team from the Mayor’s Office of Guaicaipuro, who were there to cover the protest. Meanwhile, functionaries from the Miranda Police (Polimiranda), who were present outside the government building, did not act in defence of the citizens.

Yelitza González, one of the witnesses, denounced the “fascist and violent” attitude of the right-wing sectors who support Capriles, adding that they would not permit violence or destabilization from the opposition, since “we want peace and we are demonstrating peacefully, we all believe in our president (Hugo Chávez), we want respect. Capriles should present a security plan.

“We’re here peacefully, and we see how this citizen, under the effects of alcohol, pushed a young reporter. Never mind that she’s a woman; he threatened her with death. The Miranda State Police, who are here as witnesses, just stood by inertly in the face of sexist violence; they should have acted, and they did not. The Guaicaipuro Police took him into custody because he was violating the rights of the woman,” said González.

Translation mine.

Here’s some video relating to the events in question:

The demonstrators gave a press conference denouncing Capriles’ irresponsibility and lack of plans, and his participation in a Washington-backed plan of destabilization while the president undergoes chemotherapy. It appears alongside footage of the demonstrations described above. They call on the people of Miranda to demand that Capriles show his face and govern, already. And in the face of the dismal crime statistics of the state, Capriles is in no legitimate position to blame Chávez for the insecurity problem, much less launch a new (and illegitimate) campaign (in MIAMI!) for his own presidency after losing the REAL vote, which took place last October. He’s discredited even among his own. He should take his lumps, admit he lost fair and square, and get down to his job, which is governing the state of Miranda, not all of Venezuela as a wholly owned subsidiary of Washington.

PS on Tuesday, 5:40 pm: Out of respect for today’s bad news from Venezuela, commenting on this entry is now closed. I’ve gotten two pathetic, lonely boys looking for love in all the wrong places so far. Fair warning: All trollish attempts will be subjected to a trashing (complete with IP and e-mail doxxing) on Saturday’s wankapedia. I know you fascists out there have no shame, so I feel none dishing it back to you. If you shit-eaters have no respect for someone’s death or their family, or my blog (which is NOT your toilet!), you deserve none either. And you WILL get gay porn spam…count on it. Meanwhile, Chavecito vive…la lucha sigue. He’s more alive than ever now, you fucking bastards. Just like Che and Camilo before him. ¡VIVA CHAVEZ, CARAJO!

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Economics for Dummies: Why higher wages are GOOD for the economy

In a nutshell, this is it:

be-excited

Of course, you can never overestimate the power of Stoopid in capitalist economies. That’s why you’ll find people working not two, but three or even four jobs and still being unable to make ends meet. They’re not the stupid ones for taking those jobs; their employers are, for cheaping out and banking on a high employee turnover rate commensurate with job-seekers’ desperation. They won’t end up with more loyal customers, only disgruntled ex-employees.

Whenever I was fired without cause or forced to quit (yes, that happens!), I never went back to buy from that particular place. I’d diligently put in hours and loyalty and, in return, got paid poorly and treated like shit. Creativity was never rewarded in those places; even conformity was no guarantee of anything. You could do your job to the letter and still lose it the next day to a gum-snapping kid who’d do it poorly, but who would no doubt do it for less. The quality of the goods was just as terrible as was working there. And at least one of those businesses is now OUT of business.

I’m sure all of that is no coincidence.

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Quotable: Stephen King on taxes

stephen-king-on-taxes

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Music for a Sunday: A little something for your winter blahs

I can’t think of anything more curative than five cute guys making absolute asses of themselves over one woman. Bonus: They’re on a horse! They’re on a boat! They’re playing the sax! They beat that Old Spice dude to all the badass stuff by 30 years!

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Wankers of the Week: Horsemeatballs

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Crappy weekend, everyone! Well, how about that horsemeat scandal? It just keeps galloping along, eh? This week, I found out that IKEA not only deals in cheapish assemble-it-yourself bookshelves, but also in Swedish horsemeatballs. I didn’t even know they sold food, much less tainted food. Goes to show you how out of it I am, not shopping at big-box stores if I can help it. But I’m never out of it when it comes to spotting the taint in human society…and here it is this week, in no particular order:

1. Seth Fucking MacFarlane. Thanks for making me glad I ignored the Oscars. Sexism in this day and age, when women all over the world are mightily pissed off at guys who STILL don’t get it, and beating back rape culture on all levels? Yeah, really smart. Guess who won’t be invited back to THAT party, boring and self-indulgent wankfest that it is. PS: Oh, oh. Looks like sexism wasn’t the only shit flying through the air that night. Ugh!

2. Robert Fucking Jeffress. Woop woop woop woop woop! Sorry, that was my gaydar. It goes off everytime I see a homophobe, or hear one talking hideous smack. It’s how I know he secretly loves him some big, beefy, ultra-masculine sausage.

3. Brian Fucking Brown. Speaking of things that set my gaydar off, honorary degrees in homophobia from nonexistent diploma mills also do it just fine.

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4. John Fucking Boehner. And more gaydar trippin’ goodness! Boner’s gonna weep big, cheddary orange tears if the Defense of Unequal Marriage Act is repealed. Let us pray…

5 and 6. Pamela Fucking Wallin and Mike Fucking Duffy. Either Pammy and Puffy are really fucking stupid, or they think that we, the taxpayers who pay their exorbitant fucking salaries, are. How else to explain how these two mediocre ex-CTV journalists turned worse-than-mediocre senators can’t seem to read a form which is, in fact, perfectly fucking clear? PS: Ha, ha.

7. Keith O’Fucking Brien. And another one who tripped my gaydar from the moment I heard his hypocrisies about allowing priests to marry…but not same sex. And how delicious is the irony that he’s been accused of chasing cassocks himself, and been forced to resign as cardinal because of that?

8. Jim Fucking Lawry. No, birds don’t poop on cars in the name of Jesus. But thanks for the picture of your holy shit!

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9. Ben Fucking Affleck. Hey dude, next time you try to do a movie “based on a true story”, how about using a little more of the true story, and a little less of the rah-rah patriotic crapaganda and Hollywood flimflam? Making the gutsy Canadian ambassador who actually arranged the rescue of your people from Iran out to be a bit player but elevating a minor CIA figure in his stead is just an unpardonable wank. One more reason I’m glad I didn’t watch that film, OR the Oscars.

10 and 11. Steve Fucking Stockman and Ted Fucking Nugent. No, gun violence victims are NOT “useful idiots”. But I know two useLESS idiots…and one of them shat his pants to evade the Vietnam draft.

12. Pat Fucking Robertson. Apparently, thrift-store shopping is Satan’s instrument. But a lot of people are having to do it after signing away all their money to televangelists and other charlatans. Patwa’s fail-safe home remedy? Scolding the devil right out of those fusty old clothes! Yes, he really IS that far off his rocker.

13. Mike Fucking Huckabee. Again with the “abortion is a holocaust” bullshit. Mikey, siddown and shuddup. Considering that as many as 60% of all fertilized eggs never even make it to implantation, and a goodly percentage of implanted pregnancies end in miscarriage, it’s fair to say that God is the biggest abortionist of them all. Call God Hitler, do you? Idiot.

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14. Jack Fucking Hatch. WTF is a “recreational abortion”? No woman ever gets them for fun. Those things hurt like motherfuckers, asshole.

15. Bobby Fucking Jindal. Gay-bashing may have been a winning electoral strategy ten or 20 years ago, but today, it’s basically an admission that you’ve got nothing. And given that more than half of the US population is no longer bigoted against LGBTs, it’s actually a losing strategy in all but the most backward of backwoods areas. PS: Ha, ha.

16. Dov Fucking Hikind. A little old for hipster racism? Nah. You’re NEVER too old to put on blackface and an Afro wig and make an ass of yourself!

17. Lance Fucking Manion. No, I’m not gonna throw an ugly dude a bone on April 2. And I’d be royally insulted if I were deemed an ugly chick by a gorgeous dude who, out of the goodness of his superficial widdle heart, was offering to throw me a bone(r) that day. So I guess what I’m trying to say here is, unless this is some kind of a failed attempt at trolling, Lance, this proposed sex holiday of yours is a bit of a non-starter. (And that “throw a gorgeous person out of your bed” bit is just ludicrous. Like a good-looking person would ever bed someone who’s unattractive AND douchey at the same time. Beautiful ≠ totally fucking stupid.)

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18. Walter B. Fucking Jones. Yeah, the Big Dick is most certainly going to rot in hell, if there is one for him to rot in. But what took you so long to say that? Oh, I see…you were too busy eating Freedom Fries.

19. Don Fucking Cherry. Sorry, Sour Grapes, but hockey is NOT a paragon sport by any means. All the same problems that afflict other pro sports are rampant in the NHL. And part of the reason for that is boors like you, cheering on the worst aspects of it. *coughVIOLENCE!coughwheeze*

20. Kim Fucking Kardashian. Go. Away. NOW.

21. Jack Fucking Fonseca. Oh look, the Religious Reich is still flogging that dead horse(meat) of sex-selective abortion. Once more, with feeling: Over 90% of all abortions in Canada happen in the first trimester, before you can even tell the sex of the fetus! (Oh dang, did I just get all sciency-facty there? I guess I did. My mistake. I should have remembered that the only argument that moves these idiots is one of hysterical emotionality!)

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22. Jeff Fucking Watson. And while we’re on the subject(s) of Religious Reich, abortion, and hysterical emotionality, I am feeling the purest Schadenfreude at seeing how his poll to build public support for anti-choice laws has backfired. And he couldn’t get his desired numbers up without Viagra — er, sorry, FREEPING. Ha, ha. That’s what you get for wanking on the public dime, dude!

23. Dan Fucking Flynn. Oh, that’s just great…cut gun training periods by more than half! Yeah, that’ll really go a long way to making sure that legal gun owners are competent and responsible for their firearms! PS: Ten hours’ classroom instruction doesn’t strike me as particularly onerous. Unless you’re exceptionally stupid, that is.

24. Mark Fucking Warden. Surprise! Flibbertigibbertarians are just as stupid about domestic abuse as they are about economics and, oh, everything else. Yeah, every battered woman that I’ve ever known has chosen to stay with a shitty man instead of just up and leaving, and/or shooting the fucker. Because they’re “free” and they “like” it that way. Yeah. Keep telling yourself that instead of facing the ugly truth, eh?

25. Jim Fucking Rice. And on the flipside of flibbertigibbertarianism, you get imbeciles like this one, seriously proposing that all adults be forced into militias “to protect gun rights”. We’re truly through the looking glass when “rights” are protected by FORCING people to tote expensive guns they don’t want. PS: Here’s his Facebook page. Have fun with it! PPS: And gee, that mandatory militia service thing is really doing wonders for the Swiss. At this rate, they might soon catch up to the US.

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26. Bill Fucking Whatcott. Remember that name, kiddies. Because one of these days, this professional homophobe is gonna slip up and revert, and it will be spectacular. I predict drugs and rentboys galore. And/or a “wide stance” incident in a public washroom.

27. Stephen Fucking Harper. Transparency? What’s that? Oh, just something that flies out the window whenever a so-called fiscal conservative is throwing money around to make it look like he’s catching frauds in the name of SAVING money. Which is often. And just think, this one’s our national disgrace, the illegal squatter in the PMO. No wonder Canada can no longer hold up its collective head on the international stage.

28. Colin Fucking Brewer. If special needs children are a burden to society and should be “put down”, then let’s start with this one, who managed to reach quite a ripe old age and be elected to a local council in Cornwall. I’d say he deserves to be put out of his misery with a taste of his own medicine, no?

29. Tony Fucking Blair. And while we’re on the subject of British wankers who really need to be put out of their misery, Dubya’s Poodle has decided to yelp and whine about how mean everybody is still being to him, ten years after he bent over for the White House Squatter. Yeah, Saint Toady, my heart bleeds for you. Just like yours bleeds for the people of Iraq. You poncy motherfucker.

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30. David Fucking Cameron. The Malvinas are Argentina’s, you Brit nitwit.

31. Tom Fucking Casperson. The reason Obama’s birthplace dropped off the public radar is because he produced his long-form birth certificate, and it still said Hawaii. Hard to believe, I know! Just like the fact that Dubya is no real Texan, but a Connecticut Yankee. The media never talk about THAT, either.

32. Joan Fucking Rivers. Snipe at Adele’s weight all you want, you horrid old bat. Unlike you, she has a lovely voice, and hasn’t fucked up her face nine ways till Friday, either! PS: Ugh. Just UGH.

33. Richard Fucking Land. Yes, the homophobes ARE bound for ostracism, and like the KKK, they thoroughly deserve it. Because homophobia and racism both come from the same place, and in effect are the same thing. DUH!

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34. Jim Fucking Sacia. Finally, one teabagging Repug lets slip what they’re all really clutching when they rant and rave about “gun grabbers”: THEIR TEENY WEENY PEENIES, DUH.

35. Ricardo Fucking Hausmann. Yeah, sure, go ahead and make up a whole raft of bogus statistics to “prove” that “Chávez ruined Venezuela”. Who at the Grauniad is gonna fact-check you? They’re just happy to have more padding for between advertisements.

36. Guillermo Fucking Cochez. Panama’s national disgrace is STILL spreading dirty rumors about Chavecito, too. Remember how accurate he was the last time he piped up? Remember, too, that he is in NO position to know, and that everyone who IS in the know says he’s talking out his ass? Walter Martínez had some choice words for that, and I heartily concur. They still apply.

37 and 38. Jonathan and Barbara Fucking Kay. Awww, ain’t it sweet how the Fucking Kays, fils et mère, have written matching (and identically fuckwitted) excuses in the National Pest for the horror that is Tom Fucking Flanagan? You’d think they were bookends, or something. Maybe they’ll both be fired together when some long-overdue outrage falls on their publisher’s head? Let us pray…

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39. Kathy Fucking Dunderdale. Something tells me that she’s destined to be nicknamed Dunderhead. Whatever could it be? Oh yeah…poll-tampering and thinking that’s perfectly kosher, just like all the Fucking SupposiTories — that “natural ruling party” of Harpistan and Mordor.

40. Gary Fucking Doer. Oh, what an embarrassment it must be for our ambassador to the US (and former premier of Manitoba) to learn that Canada, despite “booming” tar sands and all, is actually importing oil from evil, wicked Chavecito’s Venezuela, right along with the US. And that in so doing, we’re collectively helping to feed a very successful (and growing!) economy, where oil money goes toward creating social justice, dignified housing, and decent jobs. And that all that tar-sands oil “boom” is feeding, is the already overstuffed pockets of the Kochtopus. Whatever will he sputter when he finds all these inconvenient truths out?

41. Joseph-Charles-Philippe Fucking Côté. Yes, that IS an awfully long first name for a short-eyed sex tourist to be carrying. Now that the Dominican Republic knows about him, it’s time to start asking if he’s also been to Cuba, where I have it on good authority that there is also child prostitution going on in the resort towns. There, a pedophile ring based in Montréal (quelle coincidence!) is actually organizing the perverts’ tours. Time to notify the Cuban government too, eh?

42. Dale Fucking Bolinger. And while we’re on the subject of truly sick fucks, British hospital patients must be breathing a sigh of relief that this one’s been arrested. It’s kind of ghastly to know that you have a self-styled cannibal on staff, and that he liaised with a would-be cannibal cop across the pond, no doubt sharing recipes for liver and fava beans with a nice Chianti. Thupthupthupthup.

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43. Vic Fucking Toews. What, so very little to say about Tom Fucking Flanagan and his yet-to-be-explained NAMBLA membership and creepily lax views on “just pictures” of child sex abuse? I’m shocked. SHOCKED, I tellz ya.

44. Marc Bradly Fucking Johnson. And now, from the ridiculous to the, er, sublime: This one is literally an artsy-fartsy wanker, who clocked I don’t know how many hours collecting his own jizzum for an installation which ultimately did not get the go-ahead. Possibly because it was a public health hazard; maybe, just maybe, because something similar was already done long ago, and done better.

45. Stella Fucking Tremblay. Woodrow Wilson could not possibly have “agreed with Hitler”; he died nearly ten years before the latter stole the chancellor’s seat in the Reichstag. Look, if you’re gonna make assertions on the last day of Black History Month, shouldn’t you be cognizant of some actual, er, HISTORY?

46. Sebastián Fucking Piñera. ¿Qué h’éso? ¿Un poquito de doble moral? ¡Sí! Qué weón, puej. And for those who can’t understand Spanish: Basically, it says that Tatán is a hypocrite for detaining Bolivian soldiers who strayed into Chile, while letting Argentines go. Politically motivated? ¡Por supuesto! — of course! PS: Ha, ha. The Bolivian soldiers are now back on home soil.

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47. Victoria Fucking Nuland. Hello? Venezuela is a sovereign country, with its own democratically-ratified constitution and everything. They don’t need the Fucking US State Dept. giving them their “democratic” marching orders; they can elect and swear in their own leaders, thankyouveryfuckingmuch.

48. Leopoldo Fucking López. Such a pretty little head…and such an empty one, too. He couldn’t even keep the date of the Caracazo straight. The worst violence in his country’s history, and he can’t remember when it took place! And just think, this is one of the people whom the State Dept. wants to put in charge of Venezuela. Pathetic!

49. Ernest Fucking Hewitt. Keep your snake in your pants, mister. And a civil tongue in your head.

50. Joe Fucking Francis. So, Girls Gone Wild is Guys Gone Broke. Pardon me while I try to squeeze out a few crocodile tears…nope. Sorry, not sorry, I can’t do it. Show us your bankruptcy, dude!

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And finally, to our lovely crapagandarati and lazy media slobs up here. Why did you not jump all over Tom Fucking Flanagan in 2009, when he first made the remarks that eventually brought his career crashing down around his ears this past week? It’s not as if it wasn’t reported. You could even have noted the hypocrisy of that, given that as Harpo’s 2004 campaign manager, he was responsible for attack ads condemning then-PM Paul Martin as “soft on kiddie porn”. It’s been nearly ten years since this guy should have lit up your radar, and you’ve all sat on your butts since then, leaving it for a Native guy from Idle No More to pick up your slack. Worse, you eventually gave him a microphone and a forum on CBC! In the meantime, this crap ideologue from Illinois has done immeasurable damage to our political processes, our environment, and heaven only knows what else. And he’s still doing it, even though he’s now officially persona non grata. At long last, are you all not ashamed? You should be…YOU HELPED MAKE HIM.

Good night, and get fucked!

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Good news from the Vatican

First up, a shot of the retiring Pope, leaving the Vatican yesterday in his papal helicopter:

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And now, a photo of the new pope:

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Habemus novem papem…Tabbeus the First!

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Tom Flanagan is okay with kiddie porn

Incredible. Watch as a Native guy nails jello to the wall…and makes it stick:

It’s “just pictures”. Unbefuckinglievable. Yeah…just pictures of kids being subjected to adult sexual whims before their time. No biggie!

Oh, and he’s been on the NAMBLA mailing list for a number of years, which could explain his flibbertigibbertarian position right there. (Of course, he’s not “really” one of THOSE.) What would Icky Vic say? Oh wait…NAMBLA’s mailing list pre-dates the Internets, so I guess he’d say that’s fine. As long as Tom’s just looking at pictures, eh?

Minimizing the child abuse that is the BASIS of child pornography. SupposiTories not bothering to vet their own, but going around accusing their political opponents of supporting this shit. It doesn’t get any scungier than that.

And just think, this is Stephen Fucking Harper’s chief ideologue here. This is not a minor player. This is the guy who wrote the hymnal from which the entire Harper Conservative cabinet sings. But I guess taking a flibbertigibbertarian stance on economics expunges a multitude of crimes.

PS: CBC has just fired Flanagan from their news panel. (The Alberta “Wildrose” ReformaSupposiTories were actually ahead of them on that.) I’m only surprised that it’s taken them this long. His original remarks about kiddie porn, referenced by the questioner in the video, were made in 2009. His first foray into dirty politicking came in 2004, when Flanagan accused then PM Paul Martin of being soft on kiddie porn, and even incorporated it into a SupposiTory attack ad campaign. I told you he was a nasty fucking ideologue…and a nastier fucking hypocrite. And he’s getting his comeuppance now, at long last and not a minute too soon.

PPS: And if you’re wondering why it took Natives to expose this crap ideologue for the perverted freak he is, read this and you will know all.

PPPS: Aaaaand the fallout continues. The U of Calgary has denounced him and he has resigned. Also, nice non-apology, bastard!

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Posted in Canadian Counterpunch, Crapagandarati, Fascism Without Swastikas, Good to Know, Isn't It Ironic?, Isn't That Illegal?, Isn't That Racist?, Law-Law Land, Men Who Just Don't Get It, Not So Compassionate Conservatism, Sick Frickin' Bastards, Teh Injunz, The WTF? Files | 1 Comment

The Venezuelan opposition and the Caracazo

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Venezuelan protesters attacking the office of the ruling Acción Democrática party in San Agustín during the Caracazo, 1989. Photo: Venezuelanalysis.

Right now, Venezuela is remembering one of the worst episodes in its history: the Caracazo riots of 1989. Over a five-day period, more than a thousand Venezuelans, most of them from poor neighborhoods and unarmed, were killed when the military and the Caracas police were ordered to fire on them to quell their protests against the IMF’s drastic (and disastrous) neoliberal economic policies. The fact that the late ex-president Carlos Andrés Pérez (“CAP”, whose face appears in the photo above, alongside a party logo) was guilty has never been a point in doubt; he called out the army. But what about the Caracas metropolitan police? Well, for that we need look no further than who was sitting in the mayor’s office at the time. And, as it turns out, HE is still living…and an active figure in the opposition:

His name is Antonio Ledezma. He is also known as “Grandpa Monster”, after his superficial resemblance to Grandpa Munster from the old TV show. A Munster he ain’t, but a monster he most certainly is. He claims innocence, but he’s unconvincing to say the least. And a popular government minister is calling for him to be investigated at long last:

The Popular Power minister of Penitentiary Services, Iris Varela, assured that one of the principal actors of the Caracazo massacre was the metropolitan mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, who, as governor of the Federal District, was in charge of the Metropolitan Police, which in turn was responsible for guarding and overseeing the Catia Prison.

“The Metropolitan Police told the inmates that they would be freed, so that they could later murder them in vile ways, and of course, those orders were received in advance, since they could not operate without the consent of their chief — Ledezma,” Varela said.

The minister recalled declarations the metropolitan mayor made to a Spanish newspaper, in which he confessed that president Carlos Andrés Pérez and himself “had to act, and that the expected result were many dead.”

“How is it possible that this personage goes on walking very calmly through the streets when there were so many dead in the barrios higher up?” Varela asked.

The minister made these remarks during her radio program, “No te prives”, on Alba Ciudad 96.3 FM, where she was accompanied by the Director of Communicatios and Institutional Relations from her office, Francisco “Frasso” Solórzano, and the journalist, Freddy Bravo.

Translation mine.

Frasso’s photos figure prominently in the coverage of those terrible days in late February and early March of 1989. He witnessed a 14-year-old being abused in the street by the police, and when he demanded to know why, because the demonstrators were only singing the national anthem, he was menaced by the armed officers. The singing of “Gloria al bravo pueblo” was a part of many of the spontaneous uprisings of the barrio dwellers; some sang the anthem while looting the shops of speculating storekeepers, making clear that there was a patriotic component to their seeming lawlessness. They were trying to feed their families; they were also saying outright that there was still a need for the poor to revolt and “throw off the yoke”, in the words of the song. The “freedom” of trade and commerce meant nothing to them, except for 200-odd more years of exploitation and poverty, which came to a head on the morning of February 27. That was when the “reforms” CAP had promised the IMF took effect, and the poor workers from the barrios suddenly found themselves unable to afford bus fare to their own jobs (which, of course, were NOT paying them enough to cover the sudden increase in the cost of living.)

This week also marks the swearing-in of the Truth Commission, whose duty it will be to catalogue and document the abuses of the “democratic” Fourth Republic (1958-98). It will be interesting to see what other blatant lies they will catch Grandpa Monster in.

Meanwhile, the next generation of would-be Fourth Republicans is busy “protesting” in the streets. It’s easier to say what they are against (Chávez, what else?) than what they stand for. And their leaders are no more credible than Grandpa Monster. At least one of them, Julio César Rivas, alias “Pajulio” (a play on the Venezuelanism pajúo, meaning an airhead, or someone whose brain is made of straw) has been caught literally with his pants down:

javu-porn

Nice ass, Pajulio.

Of course, Pajulio & Co. are too young to remember the Caracazo, and too blinded by hereditary ideological hate and greed to care what it all means. These are upper-class kids we’re talking about here; they have no interest in the public good. All they care about is making sure the money that trickles down from the lucrative private sector pools in their own pockets, as it did for their parents.

And while they wait for their unearned profits to roll in, they’re getting a lot of financing and other “aid” from Washington, from the shadowy corporation STRATFOR (a CIA front if ever there was one), and from “exile” organizations with ties to the CIA and organized crime. Wikileaks has exposed all this to the light of day. Venezuelans are all too aware of the interference, but they also have good cause to laugh. The clowns of STRATFOR and the CIA really do believe that their little puppets stand a fighting chance. Meanwhile, even with the target of their ire momentarily out of commission, they can’t seem to scratch up an ounce of credibility.

Gee, I wonder why.

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Posted in Fascism Without Swastikas, Fine Young Cannibals, Huguito Chavecito, Spooks, The Hardcore Stupid, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off on The Venezuelan opposition and the Caracazo

Crapaganda channel in deep shit?

propaganda

Hey Harpo, see what happens when you throw your robocall scapegoats under the bus on a channel that was supposed to be your permanent mouthpiece?

Michael Sona, a former Conservative staffer linked to the Guelph robocall by Sun News Network, has applied to appear before the CRTC to oppose the network’s request for must-carry status.

Sona submitted his application on Tuesday, complaining that Sun TV personality Brian Lilley named him in connection with the Guelph robocall without giving him the opportunity to comment, a breach of proper journalistic practices.

Because of that, Sona writes, “forcible taxpayer funding of this network would not be in the best interests of the journalistic profession or the viewing public.”

[…]

In his submission, Sona says that he wants to appear before that panel to warn people about the network’s journalistic practices.

After the “robocalls” story broke last February, Sun News Network, citing Conservative sources, linked Sona to a deceptive call that sent hundreds of opposition supporters to the wrong polling station. He was fired soon after. Sona says Sun did not give him the opportunity to comment before going to air.

“They did so without first calling me for comment, and the resulting political and media upheaval resulted in not only a lost job on my part, but also intense, unwarranted scrutiny of my family and friends,” Sona writes.

“At this point it’s too late for me to undo the damage to my reputation which Sun News engineered …. However, if my testimony can shed additional light on Sun News and save even one more person from having their life ruined by this network, I would consider it worthwhile to testify.”

Now, I don’t know Mr. Sona, so I can’t tell why he’s suddenly caught a bad case of very unConservative integrity. But whatever his motive is, I welcome it.

Meanwhile, the delicious irony of a “free market” right-wing channel trying to use a government organ to force Canadians to pay for and watch its crap is duly noted.

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Posted in Canadian Counterpunch, Crapagandarati, Isn't It Ironic? | Comments Off on Crapaganda channel in deep shit?