Rubbishing America, Bridge by Bridge, Parking Lot By Parking Lot
Mike Whitney portrays an entirely different image of Hugo Chavez in his article, Why Washington Hates Hugo Chavez, than what the Venezuelan strong man is known as in this country. In late November, when Venezuela was hammered by torrential rains causing widespread flooding that took 35 lives, Chavez turned a portion of his presidential palace as makeshift shelter for 60 people, which is akin to turning the White House into a homeless shelter. Now contrast this with Bush's virtual locking up of Hurricane Katrina victims in a Superdom, which resembled a large makeshift ghetto. Venezuelan victims are now being fed and provided by the state until they are able to fend for themselves.
Whitney writes, “The details of Chavez's efforts have been largely omitted in the US media where he is regularly demonized as a 'leftist strongman' or a dictator. The media refuses to acknowledge that Chavez has narrowed the income gap, eliminated illiteracy, provided health care for all Venezuelans, reduced inequality, and raised living standards across he board. While Bush and Obama were expanding their foreign wars and pushing through tax cuts for the rich, Chavez was busy improving the lives of the poor and needy while fending off the latest wave of US aggression.”
Some of you may have seen this exchange between Governor Christie and a teacher during a town hall meeting. I am not sure what your reactions to that exchange were, but mine was a kind of disbelief—no this is not happening, not in this country that we call the USA, where the word “freedom” is showered gazillion times over the media everyday in a vitriolic demonstration of how people are deceived in the name of altruistic ideals.
I emigrated from a third world country, and was accustomed to the bully behavior of political goons, and more than anything else that kind of culture led me to come to the USA—the alleged land of the “free and the braves.” However, I do not blame Christie for his behavior as much as I blame the voters of New Jersey for electing him. It is said, you only get the leaders as you are.
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