F
Fooled By Folksy Republicans
Guest
Bush thinks it's a cool idea to concentrate American political power into
the executive branch...and so do his rightard supporters. I wonder if these
rightard dittoheads will squirm a bit over this:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070131/chavez_070131/20070131?hub=World
quote
Venezuela's Chavez granted sweeping new powers
Updated Wed. Jan. 31 2007 2:19 PM ET
Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela -- A congress wholly loyal to President Hugo Chavez
approved a law Wednesday granting him authority to enact sweeping measures
by decree.
Meeting at a downtown plaza in a session that resembled a political rally,
lawmakers unanimously approved all four articles of the law by a show of
hands.
"Long live the sovereign people! Long live President Hugo Chavez! Long live
socialism!" said National Assembly President Cilia Flores as she proclaimed
the law approved. "Fatherland, socialism or death! We will prevail!"
Chavez, who is beginning a fresh six-year term, says the legislation will be
the start of a new era of "maximum revolution" during which he will
consolidate Venezuela's transformation into a socialist society. His critics
are calling it a radical lurch toward authoritarianism by a leader with
unchecked power.
Hundreds of Chavez supporters wearing red -- the color of Venezuela's ruling
party -- gathered in the plaza, waving signs reading "Socialism is
democracy," as lawmakers read out passages of the law giving the president
special powers for 18 months to transform 11 broadly defined areas,
including the economy, energy and defense.
"The people of Venezuela, not just the National Assembly, are giving this
enabling power to the president of the republic," said congresswoman Iris
Varela, addressing the crowd.
Lawmakers discussed the law by each of its four articles, approving one
after the other by a show of hands. At the end, they stood and cheered.
Chavez, a former paratroop commander who easily won re-election in December,
has said he will use the law to decree nationalizations of Venezuela's
largest telecommunications company and the electricity sector, slap new
taxes on the rich, and impose greater state control over the oil and natural
gas industries.
The law also allows Chavez to dictate unspecified measures to transform
state institutions; reform banking, tax, insurance and financial
regulations; decide on security and defense matters such as gun regulations
and military organization; and "adapt" legislation to ensure "the equal
distribution of wealth" as part of a new "social and economic model."
Chavez plans to reorganize regional territories and carry out reforms aimed
at bringing "power to the people" through thousands of newly formed Communal
Councils, in which Venezuelans will have a say on spending an increasing
flow of state money on neighborhood projects from public housing to road
repaving.
Chavez's opponents, however, argue the law dangerously concentrates power in
the hands of single man.
"If you have all the power, why do you need more power?" said Luis Gonzalez,
a high school teacher who paused to watch in the plaza, calling it a "media
show" intended to give legitimacy to a repugnant move. "We're headed toward
a dictatorship, disguised as a democracy."
Chavez supporters said the law will help align the government and economy
for a swift move toward a more egalitarian society.
"That law is going to allow the president to accelerate the process so that
government becomes more efficient," said Ruperta Garcia, a 52-year-old
university professor in the crowd.
Vice President Jorge Rodriguez ridiculed the idea that the law is an abuse
of power and argued democracy is flourishing. He thanked the National
Assembly for providing "gasoline" to start up the "engine" of societal
changes.
"What kind of a dictatorship is this?" Rodriguez asked the crowd, saying the
law "only serves to sow democracy and peace."
"Dictatorship is what there used to be," Rodriguez said. "We want to impose
the dictatorship of a true democracy."
Historian Ines Quintero said that with the new powers, Chavez will achieve a
level of "hegemony" that is unprecedented in Venezuela's nearly five decades
of democratic history.
Chavez has requested special powers twice before, but for more modest
legislative changes.
In 1999, shortly after he was first elected, he was only able to push
through two new taxes and a revision of the income tax law after facing
fierce opposition in congress. In 2001, by invoking an "enabling law" for
the second time, he decreed 49 laws including controversial agrarian reform
measures and a law that sharply raised taxes on foreign oil companies
operating in Venezuela.
This time, the law will give Chavez a free hand to bring under state control
some oil and natural gas projects that are still run by private companies --
the latest in a series of nationalist energy policies in Venezuela, a top
oil supplier to the United States and home to South America's largest gas
reserves.
Chavez has said oil companies upgrading heavy oil in the Orinoco River
basin -- British Petroleum PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp.,
ConocoPhillips Co., Total SA and Statoil ASA -- must submit to
state-controlled joint ventures, as companies have already done elsewhere in
the country.
The law gives Chavez the authority to intervene and "regulate" the
transition to joint ventures if companies do not adapt to the new framework
within an unspecified "peremptory period."
end quote
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070131/chavez_070131/20070131?hub=World
Too much power concentrated into the hands of one man is bad, way bad,
whatever their political stripe.
Fooled By Folksy Republicans
the executive branch...and so do his rightard supporters. I wonder if these
rightard dittoheads will squirm a bit over this:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070131/chavez_070131/20070131?hub=World
quote
Venezuela's Chavez granted sweeping new powers
Updated Wed. Jan. 31 2007 2:19 PM ET
Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela -- A congress wholly loyal to President Hugo Chavez
approved a law Wednesday granting him authority to enact sweeping measures
by decree.
Meeting at a downtown plaza in a session that resembled a political rally,
lawmakers unanimously approved all four articles of the law by a show of
hands.
"Long live the sovereign people! Long live President Hugo Chavez! Long live
socialism!" said National Assembly President Cilia Flores as she proclaimed
the law approved. "Fatherland, socialism or death! We will prevail!"
Chavez, who is beginning a fresh six-year term, says the legislation will be
the start of a new era of "maximum revolution" during which he will
consolidate Venezuela's transformation into a socialist society. His critics
are calling it a radical lurch toward authoritarianism by a leader with
unchecked power.
Hundreds of Chavez supporters wearing red -- the color of Venezuela's ruling
party -- gathered in the plaza, waving signs reading "Socialism is
democracy," as lawmakers read out passages of the law giving the president
special powers for 18 months to transform 11 broadly defined areas,
including the economy, energy and defense.
"The people of Venezuela, not just the National Assembly, are giving this
enabling power to the president of the republic," said congresswoman Iris
Varela, addressing the crowd.
Lawmakers discussed the law by each of its four articles, approving one
after the other by a show of hands. At the end, they stood and cheered.
Chavez, a former paratroop commander who easily won re-election in December,
has said he will use the law to decree nationalizations of Venezuela's
largest telecommunications company and the electricity sector, slap new
taxes on the rich, and impose greater state control over the oil and natural
gas industries.
The law also allows Chavez to dictate unspecified measures to transform
state institutions; reform banking, tax, insurance and financial
regulations; decide on security and defense matters such as gun regulations
and military organization; and "adapt" legislation to ensure "the equal
distribution of wealth" as part of a new "social and economic model."
Chavez plans to reorganize regional territories and carry out reforms aimed
at bringing "power to the people" through thousands of newly formed Communal
Councils, in which Venezuelans will have a say on spending an increasing
flow of state money on neighborhood projects from public housing to road
repaving.
Chavez's opponents, however, argue the law dangerously concentrates power in
the hands of single man.
"If you have all the power, why do you need more power?" said Luis Gonzalez,
a high school teacher who paused to watch in the plaza, calling it a "media
show" intended to give legitimacy to a repugnant move. "We're headed toward
a dictatorship, disguised as a democracy."
Chavez supporters said the law will help align the government and economy
for a swift move toward a more egalitarian society.
"That law is going to allow the president to accelerate the process so that
government becomes more efficient," said Ruperta Garcia, a 52-year-old
university professor in the crowd.
Vice President Jorge Rodriguez ridiculed the idea that the law is an abuse
of power and argued democracy is flourishing. He thanked the National
Assembly for providing "gasoline" to start up the "engine" of societal
changes.
"What kind of a dictatorship is this?" Rodriguez asked the crowd, saying the
law "only serves to sow democracy and peace."
"Dictatorship is what there used to be," Rodriguez said. "We want to impose
the dictatorship of a true democracy."
Historian Ines Quintero said that with the new powers, Chavez will achieve a
level of "hegemony" that is unprecedented in Venezuela's nearly five decades
of democratic history.
Chavez has requested special powers twice before, but for more modest
legislative changes.
In 1999, shortly after he was first elected, he was only able to push
through two new taxes and a revision of the income tax law after facing
fierce opposition in congress. In 2001, by invoking an "enabling law" for
the second time, he decreed 49 laws including controversial agrarian reform
measures and a law that sharply raised taxes on foreign oil companies
operating in Venezuela.
This time, the law will give Chavez a free hand to bring under state control
some oil and natural gas projects that are still run by private companies --
the latest in a series of nationalist energy policies in Venezuela, a top
oil supplier to the United States and home to South America's largest gas
reserves.
Chavez has said oil companies upgrading heavy oil in the Orinoco River
basin -- British Petroleum PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp.,
ConocoPhillips Co., Total SA and Statoil ASA -- must submit to
state-controlled joint ventures, as companies have already done elsewhere in
the country.
The law gives Chavez the authority to intervene and "regulate" the
transition to joint ventures if companies do not adapt to the new framework
within an unspecified "peremptory period."
end quote
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070131/chavez_070131/20070131?hub=World
Too much power concentrated into the hands of one man is bad, way bad,
whatever their political stripe.
Fooled By Folksy Republicans
