Hugo Chaves takes over schools public and private.

AP via Yahoo: CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Monday to close or take over any private school that refuses to submit to the oversight of his socialist government as it develops a new curriculum and textbooks.

"Society cannot allow the private sector to do whatever it wants," said Chavez, speaking on the first day of classes.

All schools, public and private, must admit state inspectors and submit to the government's new educational system, or be closed and nationalized, with the state taking responsibility for the education of their children, Chavez said.

A new curriculum will be ready by the end of this school year, and new textbooks are being developed to help educate "the new citizen,"

Sex gets in the way of Chaves worship time.

Posted by: Howie at 04:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The America left's favorite fat fascist pig has just crossed the line into dictator territory. What a amazing advocate of "people power!" That whole takeover of the opposition media that happened under the Venezuelan Fairness Doctrine? Necessary for the people's own good! As is this:

The Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has anointed himself president for life by proposing sweeping changes to the country's constitution.

Setting out his plans for completing his socialist revolution in the oil-rich Latin American nation, he proposing radical constitutional reform which has at its centre indefinite re-election for himself.

And with friends like these...

Go leftists!

Posted by: Good Lt. at 09:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I was curious whether the Kossacks had anything to say on Chavez' media crackdown in Venezuela. This is what I found:

It is therefore, as I say, extraordinary to see the mainstream media in the U.S. and Britain insinuating that this move by Chavez somehow represents an attack on democracy and freedom. In fact, the move - totally constitutional - may well result in a media that is more pluralistic, not less...

[Fear of a successful socialist Venezuela] is the true explanation for the hysterical anti-Chavez propaganda. It has nothing to do with concern for human rights in Venezuela, or a fear that Venezuelan freedom of speech is under threat. That is totally irrelevant to the corporate media, as evidenced on countless other occasions. The problem for the U.S. establishment (and hence the establishment media) is that Chavez represents an alternative to U.S.-imposed neo-liberalism and a direct challenge to U.S. domination. He, like Castro’s Cuba, represents the "threat of a good example". The deepest fear of U.S. planners is that if states like Cuba are permitted to follow a path of independence unchallenged, other states might start getting similar ideas. Hence the decades long American campaign of economic warfare and terrorism against Cuba.

Posted by: Ragnar at 03:40 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Cindy Sheehan's favorite dictator is crushing democratic protests and dissent with tanks and his Gestapo. Why? Der Furher Chavez doesn't like criticism from a TV station.

Maybe they should institute the Fairness Doctrine!

Anyone at Kos or in the Nutosphere want to defend the violent oppression of speech by a left-wing socialist dictator?

Anyone want to question Cindy Sheehan's shameful elbow-rubbing and smooching with Chavez?

Didn't think so.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 11:08 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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If you share my appreciation for Latin women, you might enjoy the the latest protest babe gallery at Publius Pundit. They're aren't any stunners in the gallery, but any girl who stands up to a thug dictator gets an automatic 2 points on my own hotness scale. Whatever your taste in women--or men, for that matter--it warms the heart to see tens of thousands of young people flipping a collective middle finger to Hugo Chavez' attempts to silence the last vestiges of a free Venezuelan media.

Posted by: Ragnar at 08:48 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Hugo Chavez, #1 in using tanks against protestor chicks. Ha, I caught myself and speeled it with a z. If George hadn't called me a dumbshit every time I used an s I'd have never learned Eh George.

Posted by: Darth Odie at May 28, 2007 11:11 AM (YHZAl)

2 Somebody should tell them that mini skirts and bra burning sends a great protest message to dictators

Posted by: Randman at May 28, 2007 02:17 PM (Sal3J)

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It's Iron Curtains for Venezuela's RCTV. Via Marketplace:

Venezuela's oldest, most-watched TV network is going to have its broadcast license pulled by the government at the end of the month. It's the price for getting on the wrong side of President Hugo Chavez. Dan Grech reports.

After the 2002 coup, the four main networks continued to attack Chavez. He branded them the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," and he crafted new laws that made it easier to take them off the air. That's led to widespread self-censorship....

...When RCTV's signal flickers off, Chavez says a national public service channel will take its place.

Posted by: Howie at 11:13 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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(Caracas, Venezuela) Do not tarry, comrades. There is a time limit to register and become an enlightened socialist revolutionary.

From Prensa Latina:

Registration of applicants to become members of Venezuela's Socialist United Party (PSUV) entered its second phase on Saturday with collection of signatures in the states of Zulia, Cojedes and Miranda.

Today, President Hugo Chavez registered in Caracas and Vice President Jorge Rodriguez followed suit in Zulia.

The registration process, to run for four consecutive weekends, started last Sunday in Lara and Caracas.

Vice President Rodriguez called on the people to sign the registry en masse to join the new political organization of the Revolution.

Interesting. When the government identifies hoarding as a problem, not all is well in utopia. The citizens are obviously preparing for shortages despite what the government contends.

There's no guarantee but it's possible that membership in the Socialist United Party will help people avoid being rounded up when the executions start. As a general rule, it's much better to have "Party Member" stamped on a police-state dossier than not.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 10:26 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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How bad is it in Venezuela? This bad:

Venezuela's government will require workers to spend four hours a week in ``socialist formation'' classes, and is mandating employers form ``Bolivarian Work Councils'' to run courses on the job, El Universal reported, citing Labor and Social Security Minister Jose Ramon Rivero.

The classes will first be held only in public sector jobs, beginning with a pilot program at the nation's Labor Ministry, and will later spread to private businesses, after President Hugo Chavez decrees a law outlining re-education guidelines and rules, the newspaper said.

Topics to be addressed in the four-hour classes include Venezuelan history and "basic tools for analyzing reality, the environment, the role of the state and socialist scheme,'' to speed the transition from capitalism to socialism, Rivero said, according to the newspaper.

On a related note, Lance at A Second Hand Conjecture has an interview with Manny Lopez of the Detroit News about his recent visit to Venezuela:

Chávez has spent millions plastering the country with propaganda. “Socialism, patriotism or death” banners hang throughout Caracas as well as a litany of “death to American imperialism” murals.

Posted by: Rusty at 10:53 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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