Setting The Stage For December

First off.....

Go and buy your T-shirt here.

Regular readers already know that I have had many posts on the despicable Hugo Chavez. Like his idol, Fidel Castro, Chavez would like nothing more than to be the driving force to take down the United States, and with his recent travels to the U.N. in NYC as well as his travel around the world meeting with the King of the Norks Jong Il, Ahmadinejad, et al, Chavez has been doing about all he can do to stir up hatred for the USA.

Like Castro, Kim Jong Il, Ahmadinejad, Saddam, Chavez is intoxicated with power and believes he is above all else....taking away personal freedoms, creating a forced dependence on fellow countrymen to the government and invoking terror and even targeted assassinations on those who disagree with him (it's amazing how many journalists who disagree with Chavez have mysteriously died).

A reader from the Cuban community in Florida recently sent me some information about the pre-Castro days in Cuba and what it was like before the tyrant took over. Unfortunately the photo's and captions sent are not Blogger compatible, however among the information sent was the average salary of Cubans working for a Cuban citizen(s) owned company that we all know, Bacardi. In 1956, the average annual salary for a Bacardi employee was $1957.82, compare that to the average monthly salary for 2005, which is $10 or $120 per year. Now compare that to the average salary in 1956 to today and you have a difference of 1632%! Let's not forget about the huge bennies provided, such as health care benefits and paid vacation (totaling 1 MONTH).

Oh, how they long for the good ol' days.

Why bother about Cuba? Well, it is because we all know (well at least conservatives) that Hugo Chavez is in the process of making Venezuela the next Cuba. Like Castro, Chavez is aligning himself with world communist and socialist leaders to position themselves against the evil, capitalistic United States. It has been documented that Chavez has supported terrorist training camps in Venezuela as well as in Guayana & Suriname, conveniently located Sunni Muslim swampholes hidden at the top of South America. Top that off with his hand in the back pocket of the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and there is a recipe for big-time problems with regards to kicking him out of power.

The Venezuelan Consititution calls for Presidential term limits of 2 terms.

``If the majority of the people say yes, we'll have to change the constitution so that re-election in Venezuela will be indefinite,'' Chavez, 52, said in a televised speech in Caracas before tens of thousands of red-shirted supporters. ``The people will decide.'' Chavez would have to step down in 2013 under the current constitution if he wins in December.

Fat chance.

Last week in Israel's intelligence webzine, DEBKAfile, it was reported that officials from Iran, Cuba and Venezuela were putting their heads together on ways of translating their leaders' rhetoric into effective war action against the USA. After their meeting, officials from Iran and Venezuela moved their talks to Venezuela where Ahmadinejad continued his talks with Chavez on Sept. 17 and 18. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during those talks.

You may recall back in 1979 in Iran the day of the embassy take over, Castro said that "Together Iran and Cuba can bring America to her knees". The next year, Castro built Iran a biotechnology plant.

So we have a history of Iran/Cuba ties and with Chavez grandstanding his anti-America venom, Ahmadihejad has chummed up with Chavez and have talked repeatedly about deploying a few Iranian made missiles in Venezuela (and Cuba) all for being a menace to the U.S.

DEBKAfile also reports that "The three-way talks have thus far yielded a solid decision for Iranian intelligence agents, some of them sabotage specialists, to be sent soon to Cuba and Venezuela. They will operate in the guise of road network and industrial development experts. Their real mission will be to conduct surveys on the practicability of using Cuba and Venezuela as bases for subversive activities against the United States and other parts of Latin America."

Wonder what would happen if a Democrat becomes President in 2008?

Back in Venezuela, Chavez is now facing some stiff competition in this year's Presidential election in December from Manuel Rosales, the current Governor from the state of Zulia in Venezuela.

Here's a breakdown:

Chavez:

Like his personality or not, he can whip up a firestorm in a rally like wildfire. He has at his disposal billions of dollars to spend on the local media, television and newspapers, to deliver his propaganda and campaign virutally 24/7, which he is doing.

Chavez has relatively more power and income to manipulate the election than any sitting president in the Americas. His control over voter the election voter machinery is absolute, which led to voter abstention of 75% in the 2005 election for the National Assembly. Many Venezuelans and even a higher percentage of foreigners believe that that his reelection is a foregone conclusion.

There is hope, no a lot, but some. Chavez is facing big, big problems. Approximately 75 percent of voters rate his performance negatively on issues such as poverty, unemployment, housing, insecurity and corruption and almost as many oppose his foreign spending which is at $36 Billion and growing. The homicide rate has tripled under Chavez and whiskey and rum sales have risen over 50% in the past 2 years.

Remember when Chavez was in New York City last week at the U.N. and he was promising to sell discounted oil to the poor in NYC andBoston? Well Venezuelans have had an a$$ full of him subsidizing the "poor" in other countries when it is needed in his own backyard, something that may come back to bite him.

It's funny how he opposes capitalism and the U.S. yet his favorite bankers and politicians are reaping large capitalistic rewards from this Socialistic state.

Can Chavez be beaten? He can if his opponent, Manual Rosales, can positively put forth a campaign that enables a share of Venezuala's oil wealth with families, take away the power of the government and hand it back to the people and a campaign to end the growing poverty, homelessness and corruption.

Rosales:

The light at the end of the tunnel for Venezuelans is Manuel Rosales. His top priority is the transferring the property of the land to its rightful owners and the initiative "Mi Negra". Currently the government grants leases to its rightful owner, sort of a production rights, while the government maintains ownership. Rosales is offering complete transfer of ownership to the rightful owners. What will really hit home the people of Veneazuala is an initiative called "Mi Negra", which is basically a plan to distribute a percentage of oil income directly to the people. Rosales' plan is to put Venezuelans to work by guaranteeing property rights legally that will encourage local and foreign private investment which will turn into job creation and wealth. "Mi Negra" is their share of the oil pie and the use of those funds will depend entirely on the people. It's not a subsidy, it's an inalienable right for all Venezuelans.

Terrorism and crime is an issue that Rosales wants to do away with. Hugo Chavez gave away over $100 Million to Bolivia (surprise) so they can build military bases within their territory, meanwhile, their police, National Guard and Army lack adequate funding. Rosales declares that not one single barrel of oil or single dollar will be given away to foreign countries that deal in terrorism.

Rosales also will subsidize Venezuelan farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs and develop their own farming infrastructure instead in importing subsidized goods from foreign countries.

He also is calling for the elimination of electronic voting machines, machines that would no doubt be manipulated by Chavez.

Another issue Rosales is running on is providing free education to private universities for the less fortunate which has been wildly successful in is state of Zulia, and elimante the humiliation of the donning of red shirts while standing in line to accept government assistance (yes they do that).

He also declares that fascism will be a thing of the past.

There is a battle within Venezuela, one that will either free Venezuelans from a tyrants control or continue in a downward spiral of repression and poverty. It has been reported that the hard Chavez vote is 25%, they would vote for him no matter what and about 30% would vote for him if there is no choice. Don't be surprised if the latter is true, meaning that there is a possibility of cancelling the elections, or the elimination of a candidate(s) if you know what I mean.

As I posted 2 weeks ago, Hugo Chavez has admitted he has a fight on his hands, saying that he knows he is tied with Rosales at this juncture. A recent poll in 7 regions show that Rosales has 72% of the votes while Chavez has 17%. Here's to hoping of a landslide victory for Rosales so we don't have to endure tactics much worse than those of Al Gore, John Kerry and Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Just think what a better world we would be in if we were free of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, their countries would be gold mines for capitalism.

We've got another fight in this world pitting good against evil, this one taking place in Venezuela. The blogosphere has done wonders for getting out information regarding elections, I encourage all bloggers to do their part and help in spreading the good word and help take down the evil tyrant, Hugo Chavez.