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The Closing of the Venezuelan Press
According to a report in the Miami Herald, Venezuela is threatening to close yet another opposition television station. The anti-Chavez channel Globovision, which the Dear Leader recently called an "an enemy of the Venezuelan people," is up for its broadcast license renewal in November. In a press release, Inter American Press Association said it was "currently detecting government stances against Globovisión similar to the ones that preceded the shutdown of Venezuela's other independent television network, RCTV..." (RCTV, founded in 1953, was knocked off the air last May when the Chavez government refused to renew its broadcast license.). From the Miami Herald's report:
The threats against Globovisión have prompted the Inter American Press Association to express its concern.
''It would be disastrous for the people and their right to know if [Globovisión] were to cease operations,'' said Gonzalo Marroquín, editor of a Guatemala City daily, Prensa Libre, and chairman of the press association's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information. The group will hold its midyear meeting in Caracas at the end of March, and its leaders are hoping to take their concerns directly to Chávez.
For his part, [station owner Alberto] Ravell doubts Chávez will risk trying to close the station.
''We're kind of a trophy for the government to say that there is freedom of expression in Venezuela,'' Ravell said in his office. Still, he fears that the government could cite a vague 3-year-old measure -- known as the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television -- to attempt to close down Globovisión.
Information and Communication Minister Andreas Izarra told Venezuelan daily El National that the government had no plans to shut down the station.
In other Venezuelan news, President Chavez managed to blame violence in Tibet and China (which, according to the latest reports, includes Chinese riot police open-firing on marching Buddist monks and nuns) on the "empire":
Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez blamed the United States for violent protests in Tibet during the last two weeks that he said were aimed at trying to destabilize China. In comments reported by his press office on Sunday, Chavez said the protests were an example of the U.S. "empire" "going against China" and trying to divide the Asian powerhouse.
Dr. Phil|3.24.08 @ 3:49PM|#
"In comments reported by his press office on Sunday, Chavez said the protests were an example of the U.S. "empire" "going against China" and trying to divide the Asian powerhouse." Chavez then returned to his fist love -- making life-like utopian doll villages out of his own stools.
highnumber|3.24.08 @ 3:54PM|#
Chavez then returned to his fist love...
You could have stopped there.
|3.24.08 @ 3:55PM|#
Chavez is reason #646585476 to build nuclear power plants again in this country.
|3.24.08 @ 3:56PM|#
Gee I wonder how Chavez's admirers and Hollywood and academia are going to take those pro China statements. Pretend they never happened I suppose.
some guy|3.24.08 @ 4:01PM|#
The same sort of threat is implicit whenever American broadcast licenses are up for renewal. A more subtle form of coercion, of course, but the FCC wields the same kind of power.
thoreau|3.24.08 @ 4:02PM|#
Cesar-
What? You want America to become dependent on Niger for its energy
needs?
"Dear Cesar, I'm writing to you because my uncle was Minister of
Mines and left behind a sum that I need to transfer to an American
bank account..."
|3.24.08 @ 4:17PM|#
joe's response if he were cooler:
I'm going down to shoot my old Johnny.
You know, I've caught him dissin' around with my Chavez man.
I'm going down to shoot my old Johnny.
You know, I've caught him dissin' around with my Chavez man.
And that ain't too cool.
Yes, yes, I know, joe. But it's funnier this way.
Kolohe|3.24.08 @ 4:17PM|#
What's kinda amusing is that this post (and possibly the 'fist love' in the first comment?) has caused the ad server to dish up a site for dating latinas.
|3.24.08 @ 4:24PM|#
some guy
I think a company with broadcasting rights in the US would stand a
better chance of raising hell, and suing the FCC into acquiescence,
if they were denied a licence renewal based apperently on critcism
of government officials.
thoreau
So your theory is that Nigeria's internet scam industry will move
to Niger?
Kolohe|3.24.08 @ 4:25PM|#
"I maried a half-latina"
[insert joke about doing jobs americans won't do]
|3.24.08 @ 4:25PM|#
thoreau,
More than likely, we'll become a pawn in the South
African/Australian world hegemony.
highnumber|3.24.08 @ 4:27PM|#
I'm a man of lesser means than ProGLib. I married a quarter-Latina. Less Latina allows room for more Jewish and Scottish, so she's quite affordable.
|3.24.08 @ 4:28PM|#
What? You want America to become dependent on Niger for its energy needs?
That's Nigeria. And they're already our
number five supplier. They supply over 90% of what Venezuela
sends, at number three.
Buster|3.24.08 @ 4:28PM|#
"I'm going down to, uh, to, uh, shoot a Mexican lady. Or
something."
Closet racist, Joe?
joe|3.24.08 @ 4:28PM|#
joe's response if he were cooler
"I'm so cool you can store a side of beef inside me. I'm so hip I
have trouble seeing over my pelvis."
|3.24.08 @ 4:30PM|#
Kolohe,
But she is American.
joe,
You missed an opportunity. If Hendrix had a song called, "Hey,
Pro", I'd have been ready, let me assure you.
Episiarch|3.24.08 @ 4:32PM|#
joe's response if he were cooler
"Aaay!" (as Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli)
|3.24.08 @ 4:32PM|#
Australia, the new Saudi Arabia....
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_ura_pro_res-energy-uranium-proved-reserves
Taktix®|3.24.08 @ 4:32PM|#
I'm a man of lesser means than ProGLib. I married a
quarter-Latina. Less Latina allows room for more Jewish and
Scottish, so she's quite affordable.
Yeah, Scottish is like the HFCS of ethnicities...
Kolohe|3.24.08 @ 4:34PM|#
highnumbers comment reminds me of my college roomate who was
from San Juan
ricardo: 'do you have any puerto rican in you?'
tri-delt: 'no, i don't think so'
ricardo: 'would you like one?'
an oldie but a goody.
and as payback he had the misfortune of going by rico when that
song by gerado came out.
|3.24.08 @ 4:35PM|#
Taktix®,
Do you mean it's in everything? There's certainly nothing sweet
about being of Scottish descent. Unless wanting to hack away at
your enemies with a sword while drunk is "sweet".
|3.24.08 @ 4:43PM|#
Information and Communication Minister Andreas Izarra told
Venezuelan daily El National that the government had no plans to
shut down the station.
So, its a done deal, then.
I think a company with broadcasting rights in the US would
stand a better chance of raising hell, and suing the FCC into
acquiescence, if they were denied a licence renewal based
apperently on critcism of government officials.
If by "better chance" you mean "lay-down win", I would agree.
After all, I don't think the FCC has ever yanked a license for
political content, but Chavez already has.
Of course, he was elected, so its all good. Right, joe?
|3.24.08 @ 4:47PM|#
Don't take advice on democracy from people who don't believe in
it.
It doesn't make it right, RC. Someday, I'll explain the difference
between legitimacy and morality to you.
Rhywun|3.24.08 @ 4:58PM|#
I highly recommend one, if you have the means.
I hear they're very choice.
|3.24.08 @ 5:00PM|#
This is interesting:
"
In this image where I was trying to illustrate from closer the
living conditions, the first thing that struck me was the amount of
satellite TV dishes, Venezuelan Direct TV. After all the precarious
existence of the dwellers is obvious, again after 9 years of
chavismo. What is less obvious is the amount of satellite dishes,
something that did not exist there 9 years ago. How come at the
very least 10-20% (I was able to distinguish 24 dishes, marked with
a pink dot next to them) of these homes are paying the most
expensive cable system in Venezuela? Click to enlarge and to see if
you can find more dishes than I did"
http://www.daniel-venezuela.blogspot.com/
|3.24.08 @ 5:02PM|#
The commentator posts two photos of large Venezuelan slums - once Chavez strongholds.
GILMORE|3.24.08 @ 5:11PM|#
some fed | March 24, 2008, 4:28pm | #
""What? You want America to become dependent on Niger for its
energy needs?""
That's Nigeria. And they're already our number five supplier. They
supply over 90% of what Venezuela sends, at number
three.
No dude, he got it right the first time and you missed the
joke.
Niger. Yellowcake. Uranium. Nuclear Power. Fuel for Nuclear
Plants.
Nigeria is the OLD economy, man.
Which reminds me of a running joke I used to play with my ex
girlfriend (who worked for the UN on African development issues)...
I'd purposely funge African country names while making arguments,
and she'd always try and seriously correct me, and I'd get all "tut
tut. Come now. *Thats* not a real country! You must be thinking of
the pre-colonial nation-states"
Like - Zambia, Gambia, Namibia, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Fasso,
Uganda would become = Yambia, Zamibia, Guganda, Bhurka Fatzo,
Genie-Blazzow etc.
Yeah, its funnier when you have an uptight international aid worker
for a girlfriend
Rhywun|3.24.08 @ 5:11PM|#
Chavez said the protests were an example of the U.S.
"empire" "going against China" and trying to divide the Asian
powerhouse
Jeez, I don't think even the nonsensical pack of lies coming out of
Beijing attempts to pin the blame on the Yankee
Empire.
Episiarch|3.24.08 @ 5:15PM|#
Yeah, its funnier when you have an uptight international aid
worker for a girlfriend
You just keep telling yourself that, dude. I'm sure it was a laugh
riot. Please tell us that she was at least a demon in the sack or a
knockout, because if she wasn't, you sure make odd choices of
girlfriends.
|3.24.08 @ 5:20PM|#
There's certainly nothing sweet about being of Scottish descent
Let's see, the Scottish are known for being 1) brilliant scientists and engineers 2)claymore-wielding, kilt-wearing Highlanders and 3)golfers
|3.24.08 @ 5:22PM|#
Art-P.O.G.,
As I said, nothing sweet. You left out economists and philosophers.
As well as haggis-eaters.
|3.24.08 @ 5:32PM|#
GILMORE,
Come on, next you'll be telling me there' s a Congressman named
"Chocola."
|3.24.08 @ 5:44PM|#
Incidentaly, Lew Rockwell is saying pretty much the same thin with regards to the current crakdown in Tibet.
|3.24.08 @ 5:52PM|#
This might be the first time Niger has ever come up in a thread,
with the exception of that oh-so-unfortunate yellowcake
imbroglio.
And let me tell all y'all something - thank god Niger has uranium,
because otherwise it would be the undisputed rectum of the
universe. Sure, I thought it was swell when I lived there... but I
was seven, and the judgement of seven-year olds is not to be
trusted.
Also, there will never be an African name to beat Bechuanaland.
|3.24.08 @ 6:09PM|#
Let's see, the Scottish are known for being 1) brilliant
scientists and engineers 2)claymore-wielding, kilt-wearing
Highlanders and 3)golfers
You forgot "so cheap and greedy they make the Jews look like
drunken philanthropists".
|3.24.08 @ 6:44PM|#
This might be the first time Niger has ever come up in a thread
I've known people from Nigeria, Malawi, Somalia, Ethiopia and the Congo, but oddly, never Niger.
|3.24.08 @ 6:45PM|#
You forgot "so cheap and greedy they make the Jews look like drunken philanthropists"
I forgot. Scrooge McDuck was Scottish, no?
highnumber|3.24.08 @ 7:07PM|#
Look, here's what I got:
Paul McCartney - English, of Irish ancestry
Ian "Mac" McLagan - English , of Irish ancestry
I rest my case.
Abe Froman|3.24.08 @ 7:50PM|#
Pro Lib
I married a half-Latina. I highly recommend one, if you have
the means.
Excellent "Ferris Bueller" reference...
Nephilium|3.24.08 @ 8:44PM|#
Art-P.O.G.:
Don't forget that the Scottish make the second best whiskey in the
world.
And that most Scottish culture is just a bunch of practical jokes
from the Irish.
"Ah've gots an idea. We'll go grab a cat, stick it unner ar arm,
an' squeeze t'e bastard. We'll t'en preten' it's a new musical
instrumen'. T'e Scotts'll eat it up... jus' like t'at haggis crap
an' golf, an' curlin', an' t'e fecking kilts!"
Nephilium... thinking he broke the servers trying to post this.
|3.24.08 @ 9:33PM|#
Scotland vs. Ireland. I have a feeling the former is better than the latter. Now I will leave, confident that such statements will engender no ill will. For if it is not Scottish, why, then, it must be CRAP!
|3.25.08 @ 9:25AM|#
Pro,
Scotland gave us Presbyterianism. They are the biggest nanny-stater
busibodies on earth. Give me a hard drinking Irish Catholic any
day.
|3.25.08 @ 10:58AM|#
Don't take advice on democracy from people who don't believe
in it.
I'm not sure who you are addressing this to, joe. I happen to
believe that democracy is a necessary but not sufficient condition
for a free country, and a legitimate government.
It doesn't make it right, RC.
Is this the first time joe has gone on the record saying that
something Chavez has done wasn't right?
Someday, I'll explain the difference between legitimacy and
morality to you.
I'd love to hear your version. I'd also like to know if you think
that the legitimacy of a government requires anything more than a
plurality of votes, cast sometime in the not too distant past.
|3.25.08 @ 12:32PM|#
Is this the first time joe has gone on the record saying
that something Chavez has done wasn't right?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
I don't know, Captian Delusion, why don't you look back through
some old threads and see what you find.
I have no doubt you will genuinely be shocked.
anon|3.25.08 @ 3:43PM|#
Joe could help him. If we can get in touch with Joe, he could get him to a doctor. He could get a doctor to come see him.
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