maybe i'm immature, but I like Chavez because he makes me laugh

[Herman Munster]

I always get a smile on my face when he trashes Bush. And if people don't like that, fuck 'em. We all deserve some enjoyment in our lives and him making a mockery of Bush in front of the UN is fucking hilarious to me.

He needs his own reality tv show with a monthly book club!!

[Virginia Dare]

1. I think he must have a DU handle...

wonder what it is?

:rofl:

[Lisa]

2. actually, he does have a TV show!

Doesn't mention a book club yet, but who knows? It sounds like anyone tuning in would not have been surprised by his UN speech -- note the regular "jabs at U.S. President George W. Bush". Sounds like he is developing it as a showbiz-type feud, just like Letterman vs. Oprah, or Stephen Colbert putting Jon Stewart "on notice"!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ayT3Lv1UDWDk&refer=latin_america

"So it goes on ``Alo Presidente'' (``Hello, Mr. President''), week after week, as Chavez engages his supporters with personal stories, songs, poems, interviews and jabs at U.S. President George W. Bush.

Now in his eighth year in office -- and floating the idea that he could stay in power for life -- Chavez has made the show a cornerstone of his leadership, offering instruction on subjects from socialist economics to Venezuela's oil industry, the world's fifth-largest exporter. He creates a sense of drama by firing officials or laying out a new foreign policy on air."

(snip)

"Twice divorced, Chavez has talked on the show about his love life, offered advice on how to lose weight while bemoaning his own weight gain and pleaded with citizens to use bicycles, even though subsidized gasoline in Venezuela costs the equivalent of 19 cents a gallon.

Viewers may be treated to guest appearances by visiting world leaders, actors and singers. Chavez makes a point of sending a friendly greeting to Cuban leader Fidel Castro along with his Bush barbs."

[Chipper Chat]

3. He looks like a cross between Howard Cosell and Ed Sullivan.

had piks, but they wont transfer. Use your imagination.

[Richard D]

4. I like him too . . .

. . . he's a truth speaker and seems to have a heart. I'd love to visit Venezuela some day and see first hand what it's like there.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. What has Chavez accomplished

He's reduced Venezuelan debt down to damn near zero, paying off extortionist loans taken out in corrupt schemes by former governments. As a result, he is able to turn Venezuelan oil profits to social problems.

The thing the bourgeois of all stripes fear is this: That social problems can be solved with planning and money. If that gets out, then people will demand it everywhere, and the reasons for the lack of funds and planning will be challenged everywhere. So they make up their lies about market systems being the only responsible approach to problems, and keep up the lie that their greed, their savage murderous greed, is actually benefitting people. And they scream all day when it is proved otherwise, because that's another small dent in their privilege. Much of that screaming will ensue in this very thread (see below). But this is the basic question at stake: Can communities plan and address community problems together, using the wealth generated by the labor of that community to address such problems? The answer is yes, despite the lies and pretentions of the blood suckers that hoard it all for themselves, and fuck everybody else.

That said, Chavez is certainly a character.