How Hilton may fare under Venezuelan government's control

[naaman fletcher]

To be sure, this article can't be true because it is not positive about Chavez. Any news that is not positive about Chavez is not true, and you should not believe it. Besides, it's none of our business. We should focus on our own problems and leave Chavez alone.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/hotelcheckin/post/2009/10/620000367/1

"Shabby rooms, drab cheap paint, faulty plumbing,old tatty furniture from the sixties, poor(expensive) food, dangerous area (I was told not to go out at night by hotel employees). The staff moral was non-existent because they were ashamed to work there.

"I would never under any circumstances go back there, even if it were free. It reminded me of hotels behind the iron curtain in the 60's, very depressing. I was glad to leave. Viva Socalism."

[obliviously]

1. No one seems to take pride in stolen property!

[The Magistrate]

2. The Horror, Sir....

Perhaps more telling is this old review, at the end of the chain of links leading from the article you cite:

“Caracas Venezuela”
Hotel Alba Caracas




HelloChris 1 contribution
Texas
Sep 12, 2007
3/3 found this review helpful
I have gone to Caracas 3/4 times over t he past two years mainly due to my husbands work. We stayed at the Hilton Caracas and the hotel service is reflective of t he rest of the city, SLOW AND COULD CARE LESS WHAT YOU THINK! The hotel is clean but absolutely nothing wonderful just like the city. There are MANY homeless and grungy looking people that are extreemly rude. The best thing about Caracas is t he gold district in which the prices of gold are good, not the gems/diamonds. OVERALL, I would not waste my time if you are looking for a vacation spot!

[discocrisco01]

3. Our preoccupation with Chavez

Personally, I do not like Chavez. He has a lot of good points on American imperialisn but I am not interested in his version of socialism.

True democracy means that the conservatives have to be included in the government. Even if they have crazy and whacked out view. You cannot have a one party state.

Which makes me lament. Conservatives worship the free market like it is a God that could do no wrong. They deny global warming because it is interferes with their God of Capitialism. Just like creationist deny evolution (which in reality means nothing whether the Christian faith is true)

They are wreckless with our society until their god/idol is smashed. Yet, it takes winning the hearts and minds of conservatives instead of using brute force to stop them. I guess you have disillusion them first, and then flip into rabid progressives once they are disillusioned.

You cannot argue with conservatives. They are true believers in the system. The only way to flip them is disillusionment.

And you are going to use Christianity to change Christian Right Blue. You have use their value system aganist them and show that the form of Christianity is toxic and aganist Christ's teaching. YOu have to keep their spirituality but disillusion them from their political and culture institutions.

It is a frustrating predictment. I hope people see that the conservatives are stinky thinking and that their god is actually the devil himself.

Personally, I have no solutions to the mess. And America does not need Hugo Chavez style socialism because it creates of cult of personality. Which is a major problem that people have to work out to ensure that socialism works. Socialism works when there is spirituality and people are connected to each other spiritually.

[The Magistrate]

8. Your Points Are Well Taken As A General Case, Sir

But actual circumstances are always particular and contingent.

In Venezuela, the right has resorted to extra-legal means of opposition, extending to an attempt at coup d'etat which briefly appeared successful, and was thwarted only by the refusal of rank and file soldiers to obey treasonous officers. This puts the situation beyond conventional considerations of civil libertarianism. By the measure of governments which face active revolutionary activity, Col. Chavez has displayed an extraordinary leniency.

When a poorly educated and dispirited mass must be moved, charismatic leadership seems to be a necessary factor. It is always going to be a feature of any successful attempt to mobilize the poor and dispossessed and disenfranchised.

If the pattern of concentration of wealth displayed in the United States over the previous several decades continues, we here are certainly going to need something many would be willing to call 'Hugo Chavez style socialism'. It is not possible to maintain anything which can be honestly called democratic rule in a situation where five percent of the populace owns more than the other ninety-five percent of the people put together. Such inequality can only be maintained, or rectified, by force.

[saracat]

9. An America doesn't have a "cult of personality'? We have leaned in that direction for years.

[blindpig]

6. Why pay any attention to this class-ists snob? n/t

[saracat]

4. Odd. If Chavez only took over 2 years ago, why was the furniture from the 60's?

and why would the paint be "Cheap" ? Something doesn't sound right with this article, unless one believes the Hilton had not been repainted or redecorated since the 60's!

[naaman fletcher]

5. Perhaps..

Perhaps the story is not true.

Perhaps "looking like the 60's" could mean relatively newish furniture that is worn and dirty.

Perhaps Chavezistas stole all the nice furniture for their offices and homes and replaced it with old furniture.

[Stevenmarc]

7. "All we'll sell is chewing gum and antibiotics" I love a well stocked gift shop

[Forkboy]

10. You lost me with your opening smugness.

[bvar22]

11. I stayed in hotels in Caracus BEFORE Chavez.

ALL Americans were warned not to walk the streets after dark.