Venezuela Next?
 

Just wondering if the pro-Iraq invasion crowd supports invading Venezuela. If not, why not? Doesn't Venezuela pose a more significant threat than Iraq by proximity alone?

Man, if we could only "secure those oilfields", we could stave off the inevitable maybe a couple of years or so--I'm sure these itchy-finger armchair warriors amongst us wouldn't mind sending their firstborn off for that kind of "sacrifice"...and he's a commie-pinko to boot.

Onward Christian soldiers
Marching as to war....

Did you miss the part where the administration vehemently denied, disavowed, and chastised that nutty parson?

Bot

Doesn't Venezuela have more oil than Iraq? If oil is the reason to go, then we ought to get right on down there and secure those oil fields, don't you think?

Go reread what I wrote, silly boy.

Bot

We have serious oil, some serious sticks and stones, and a much greater threat than Iraq, since there aren't 50 more likely targets than the U.S., as is clearly the case with Iraq. Why support one and not the other? The most significant difference seems to be the major religion of the inhabitants.

.........ya...........I've been reading it for years.........it doesn't vary.

The question wasn't posed to the administration.

Google it.

Then you must have missed the part about where 3/4 of the world's petroleum reserves are located. If Venezuela shut-down it would cause some serious waves in the financial markets for several months, but it would not cause a global economic collapse.

It's a matter of scale, see? Some problems are solved with a stick and others are solved by leaving it the heck alone. Venezuela is the latter.

Bot

How do I Google for ms member responses?

I'm lost.

I know.

And did you miss the part where the Bush administration supported the 2002 coup in which members of the Venezuelan military overthrew Hugo Chavez's democratically elected government? If so here's a link.

Unfortunately for the administration, democracy prevailed and Chavez returned to power within about 48 hours.

And if Iraq shut down, by your logic, it would cause a global economic collapse?

You're right, some problems are solved by leaving it the heck alone.

Your logic is faulty, sonny.

You damn Hilary Clinton loving liberal commie pinkos.





Bonehead, where art though??

He's making love to Hillary. :eek:

:D :D

yeah, he was smokin' some good havanas when robertson talked in tongues. i just know them two are scheaming something... maybe an invasion of FL. i sure hope so.. :rolleyes: :D

We need to free that country! Free them I say.....

Sure they did, but they'd have a lot harder a time disavowing their apparent support of the first coup attempt against Chavez.

Robertson is too dumb to know when to keep his mouth shut. Rumsfeld War Machine Systems, Inc. is not.

Robertson has been a whacked out, clue challenged onward Christian Soldier for some time. He once visited the Contras in Honduras and walked down the ranks as though he were a visiting general inspecting the troops.

This is part of the decades long fear and loathing that has accompanied the comm-oo-nist witch hunting that has obsessed this country way too much. I mean, it's not a good system but there is this belief that communism is sorta like a vampire's bite: once a country dabbles in it, they've gone to the other side and need serious military innoculation.

D'ya ever catch ol' Pat praying on TV with his eyes all scrunched up tight? He perhaps didn't read the scripture that goes:

Matthew Chap. 6

5. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

UNCOVERED: Insidious plans to kill Merkins with kindness
 

Published on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 by Reuters
Chavez Offers Cheap Gas to Poor in U.S.
By David Pace


HAVANA, Cuba - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, popular with the poor at home, offered on Tuesday to help needy Americans with cheap supplies of gasoline.

"We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," the populist leader told reporters at the end of a visit to Communist-run Cuba.

Chavez did not say how Venezuela would go about providing gasoline to poor communities. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns Citgo, which has 14,000 gas stations in the United States.

The offer may sound attractive to Americans feeling pinched by soaring prices at the pump but not to the U.S. government, which sees Chavez as a left-wing troublemaker in Latin America.

Gasoline is cheaper than mineral water in oil-producing Venezuela, where consumers can fill their tanks for less than $2. Average gas prices have risen to $2.61 a gallon in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Chavez said Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers" were cut out.

Venezuela supplies Cuba with generously financed oil and plans to help Caribbean nations foot their oil bills.

Chavez, in Cuba to attend the graduation of Cuban-trained doctors from 28 countries, was seen off at the airport by Cuban President Fidel Castro. Washington has accused the two leaders of being a destabilizing influence in South America.

Chavez and Castro offered to give poor Americans free health care and train doctors free of charge.

© 2005 Reuters

Our government engineered a coup attempt in Venezuela in this century? I didn't know that.

Linkee please.

Bot

Just buy them up.

The man said "apparent support", and nothing about engineering anything--keep it real.

Oh, apparent support by the apparent Nazis. I'm geting the hang of this now.

Is it okay for me to refer to people who have strong opposition to the war in Iraq as, "apparent cowards" and "apparent terrorists supporters" and "apparent terrorist sympathizers?"

Just trying to keep it real...and fair and balanced, ya'll.

Bot

You get a kick out of pushing people's buttons, don't you? :grin:

So far as I know, Venezuela hasn't violated numerous UN resoultions (to include shooting at US aircraft), and there is no intel that suggests they may have WMDs. So nah, it ain't worth it... but you know better. Enjoy whipping up another frenzy!

It was his Army and a pretty darn good one I might add. Robertson has lots of power down there, he's put millions into paramilitary operations.

There are a lot of people these days who would benefit from reading Matthew.

Hehe. The Shrub twins can go there and plant a spit-ball straw, then Mr. Shrub can say they have WMDs... so yeah, it could happen.

"engineered" probably overstates the case, but the U.S. did express approval for the coup and when the coup ended 48 hours later, Condi Rice said that she hopes that it taught Chavez a lesson.

I posted a link in my prior post, but I'm not sure it is working properly. Try this one: link

If you were trying to keep it real and fair and balanced, you wouldn't have exaggerated his comment and you would read up on U.S. support for the 2002 coup in Venezuela before ridiculing him. U.S. support for the coup was real. Your sarcastic reference to "apparent cowards." is not.

Do you still think that the invasion of Iraq had anything to do with UN resolutions or WMD?

Sigh... those were the reasons given. I am sure you're well aware of this. No need to revisit that discussion AGAIN. There are no such reasons to knock-off Venezuela (that I am aware of). When Venezuela starts shooting at our airplanes, then we'll talk.

When we start flying airplanes over their sovereign territory without their permission, they may start shooting at us. The Iraq WMD argument always cracks me up. The argument implies a threat to the U.S. (otherwise, who cares?). Can we have a show of hands from folks who were actually living in fear of an attack upon U.S. soil from Iraq before the invasion?

Saddam agreed to fly-overs as a condition of the first gulf war.

The UN apparenlt agreed that the WMDs were a threat of some sort (hence the resolutions), but we're back to the old argument that'll get us nowhere.

I suspect you posed this question as a sort of joke; I'll assume as much, anyway. A quasi-nutty teevee Christian goes off his rocker and suddenly invading Venezuela is a cause of the right wing? Um... ok...

Often, your comments are well-made and thoughtful, even when I disagree with them. This thread really has me scratching my head.

Well, if you embrace the simple notion that the Iraq invasion is actually an attempt to stabilize an oil-rich region, the topic will make more sense. In any case, feel free to ignore it. I ignore lots of threads.

Fair enough.. ignore I shall. Good luck finding anyone who thinks chaging into Venezuela is a good idea. (Then, I doubt that was really your intention)

If jousting with shadows and strawmen is your thang, then go for it.

Well now, this nut job does has some influence on our current Administrations. GW's faith based policy has full backing from all the tv evangelists, and it was them who called for full Christian support for his second term. Nut job like that at times can be dangerous when they opened their mouths. Maybe it's time someone call to have him assisinated instead.

Yes, and the administration was so quick to agree with him... :rolleyes:

That's how I remember it, but I wasn't sure if it was Rice or Powell or Bush or some flack in State who was opining like a nincompoop on crack when he/she should've kept his/her mouth zippered.

Bot

A budding Foggy Bottom genius.

Now I didn't say anybody was a coward, I said, "APPARENT." There's a big difference.

Bot

It does not have more oil than Iraq. It currently supplies more oil to the US than Iraq, but Iraq has much,much more untapped reserves, reserves which the US right wing seem to think it is ok to steal.

Prove it.

Bot

I wonder if that promise is worth as much as all the ones Bush made about seeking every available option to not invade Iraq, things he was saying that the Downing memo shows he was already planning to invade Iraq. Given all the lies we have been told about WMDs, "death throes" insurgencies, liberators not occupiers, Iraq paying for its own reconstruction, etc ad naeseum, why do you think this promise is worth much more than a boot full of cat piss?

Why do I have to "prove it"? You've said it over and over again. You have indicated time again that might makes right, that the US has a right to dictate to the people of Iraq at gunpoint if necessary, that the people of the United States have a right to it's oil. Are you disavowing those statements at this time?

You make an asserting that is at variance with the claims and stated aims of the US Government. They offer an argument and supporting evidence, you offer an accusation and then fail to support it wityh facts, reason, or logic. Instead you do the Houston Two-Step. See the difference?

Where did I say, "might makes right?" You're doing that accusation thingy again, aren't you?

Bot

If he's not doing it, I will. It's implied in your entire assertion that we had a "right" to unilaterally attack, invade and occupy another sovereign nation, simply because they might, just might possibly theoretically impede our access to a resource we don't even own...all because we can. If we couldn't, we wouldn't.