----- Original mass-email is below, followed by my reply----
PLEASE forward this to as many people as possible.
Venezuela Dictator Vows To Bring Down U.S. Government
Venezuela government is sole owner of Citgo gasoline company Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government. Chavez, president of Venezuela, told a TV audience : "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century."The guest on his television program, beamed across Venezuela, was Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist. Chavez recently had as his guest Harry Belafonte, who called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world." Chavez is pushing a socialist revolution and has a close alliance with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
Regardless of your feelings about the war in Iraq, the issue here is that we have a socialist dictator vowing to bring down the government of the U.S. And he is using our money to achieve his goal! The Venezuela government, run by dictator Chavez, is the sole owner of Citgo gas company Sales of products at Citgo stations send money back to Chavez to help him in his vow to bring down our government.
Take Action Please decide that you will not be shopping at a Citgo station. Why should U.S. citizens who love freedom be financing a dictator who has vowed to take down our government?Very important. Please forward this to your friends and family. Most of them don't know that Citgo is owned by the Venezuela government. YOU CAN VERIFY THIS ON THE CITGO WEB PAGE. http://www.citgo.com/AboutCITGOjsp Mary
--------------------- my response --------------------
There is a mass email being circulated urging people to boycott Citgo gas claiming that Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, "vowed to bring down the U.S. government." I thought I'd set the record straight.
First, you should know that the email originated as an "action alert" from the conservative Christian organization, American Family Association. Here's an overview of the organization. It's interesting that this controversial organization's sponsorship of this email was eliminated.
Second, the email examines only a small part of a complex, multi-faceted issue. I hope to correct that.
Saying "I like/don't like Citgo gas stations" is an expression of a preference, an opinion. There is no need to argue for or against such a statement. However, "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a dictator" is a statement of fact. Well, not really. It's completely wrong, but the person intended it as a factual statement. Another incorrect statement is "Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government."
First, the definition of a dictator is:
a : a person granted absolute emergency power; especially : one appointed by the senate of ancient Rome
b : one holding complete autocratic control
c : one ruling absolutely and often oppressively
Hmmmm, that doesn't sound at all like how Hugo Chavez governs Venezuela.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/05/08/Worldandnation/Venezuela_s_oil_wealt.shtml
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-coops21aug21,1,3609004.story?coll=la-headlines-business&track=crosspromo
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050411/parenti
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/680/680p18b.htm
His elections in 1998, 2000 and 2004 were certified by the Carter Center as "fair and open" and "legitimately expressed the will of the people." The most recent one in 2004 was considered a landslide victory of 58%. Although, to be fair and present both sides (unlike how some people present arguments), I found a lot of info on the Net claiming that Chavez rigs his elections ALMOST as well as the GOP does here.
If he's trying to be a dictator as the e-mail claims, he's a pretty lousy one. It sounds to me like a guy who is using the best aspects of capitalism & socialism to try to help his people. Man, that's an antiquated notion, isn't it? The thought of a government using its nation's wealth and resources to actually help its citizens instead of its already wealthy cronies!
But that definition of dictator does ring true with a leader of a different nation. His name escapes me at the moment, but I'll remember it. Let's see, who's that guy who stole two elections (one potato, two potato, Dan Quayle's potatoe), has signed over 800 "signing statements" claiming that he is above the laws passed by the legislature and continues to want to operate outside the law even when it's condemned by the judiciary? He lied for years about running a secret network of gulags where innocent people are kidnapped from their homes and tortured, flown on the CIA's secret airline to countries that routinely practice torture, such as Romania, Poland, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. See, that allows the leader to engage in some word play, like "We don't torture." Nah, President Asshole farms it out to the Syrians instead. Try reading about Khaled El-Masri, Maher Arar and Hassan Osama Nasr. He also lied about the unconstitutional spying on his own citizens, then when the truth came out, attempted to justify it instead of stop it.
Oh, and he's done 1,500 other nasty things, too. Like what? Um, erosion of civil liberties, committing elections fraud, rampant cronyism & corruption in an unnecessary military buildup and during a hurricane cleanup, poor federal response to said hurricane crisis, engaging in fear-mongering, a weakened economy, creating record deficits with nothing positive to show for it, erosion of gay and women's rights, turning healthcare over to corporate interests such as the pharmaceutical industry, the de-funding of education and other social programs, lip service about protecting the environment while tightening the addiction to polluting, terrorist-creating energy sources instead of encouraging research & development on alternative/renewable ones, and diminishing his nation's stature in international arena through unilateralism and committing offensive foreign policy decisions.
He has stripped his citizens of their most cherished set of liberties, too. Today, October 17, 2006, "President" (in this nation, someone has to actually win--not steal--elections in order to legitimately use the title "President") Bush signed the "Military Commissions Act of 2006" into law. It's the scariest piece of legislation in this country's recent history.
Need more? How about going to war against a nation that has never been any threat against his own nation, resulting in 2700 of his soldiers dead (an average of two or three every day) and about 655,000 killed in the other country (mostly civilians and many children). Oh, and he is responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of families in both nations being shattered forever.
Man, with an abysmal record like that, I should remember that guy's name. It's on the tip of my tongue. Help me out here. It's not Stalin or Hitler. Mussolini? Nah. Not even Pol Pot or Mao Tse-tung. You know, the guy whose approval rating has sunk like a stone. Man, that chart looks just like a slide on a children's playground. Weeeeeee!
Okay, back to the subject. Now, just like our crappy mainstream media (Fox, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity), let's get direct our attention away from the really evil guy and back on to this alleged bogeyman. Now, what were all those terrible things this Chavez guy has done?
Oh, yeah. He said something. Maybe.
The original email's selling point repeatedly is the shrill: "Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government." The only support provided for this statement is this quote from Chavez: "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century." I wasn't able to verify that Chavez said this because all references on the Internet to this quote are congested with this silly, ignorant email. But even if he said it, read it carefully. The quote is a criticism of U.S. foreign policy (how our government, corporations and military behave when interacting with foreign entities), and how that aspect of our government behaves, not a threat to "bring down" our government. There's a big difference. Chavez knows. After all, it's certainly possible that Bush sent the CIA in to "bring down" his government in 2002. And it worked. Until the Venezuelans put "dictator" back into power in less than two days!
And let's not forget when the Islamic extremist Pat Robertson suggested that our government should assassinate Chavez on national television. Oh, wait, Robertson is a Christian extremist who declared a fatwa on Chavez. Sorry for the confusion. Well, religious extremists are scary no matter what religion they're twisting, right?
And people think Chavez is trying to "bring down" OUR government? Is that a cuckoo bird I hear in the distance? And does anyone think Chavez doesn't have a right to have a chip on his shoulder with George Bush's name on it?
However, Chavez feels differently about ordinary Americans. Does someone who wants to "bring down" another nation normally offer up to 10% of its heating oil and gasoline to be sold directly to its hospitals, nursing homes, schools and organized poor communities at a 30% discount? Oh, and if your eyes go bad and if you're a poor American without health insurance (something those evil socialists don't have to worry about with their whacky nationalized health care plans), Chavez plans to offer Venezuelan doctors to perform any needed surgery for free!
Wow! Compare Bush with Chazez, and guess who has my vote? Well, I can't vote for Chavez, but I can buy his gas to help him help some poor Venezuelans (and his 40,000 American employees and gas station owners). Or I can buy gas from any other gas station and contribute to unelected, oppressive, monarchs who are unpatriotic, filthy-rich Saudi sheiks billionaires who don't share their wealth with their countrymen who suffer in abysmal poverty. And who look the other way while the madrassas and Wahhabi schools in their countries teach their children to hate and want to kill Americans. Or how they allow a popular Saudi spectator sport: the Friday afternoon beheadings!
Or maybe all that extra money you've been paying at the pump has been going to other oil-rich, oppressive Arab countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
· The UAE was one of three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
· The UAE has been a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia.
· According to the FBI, money was transferred to the 9/11 hijackers through the UAE banking system.
· After 9/11, the Treasury Department reported that the UAE was not cooperating in efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden's bank accounts.
If you've bought gas anywhere BUT Citgo, you've even helped to pay for the $1 billion "Mall of the Emirates" in Dubai which has indoor ski slopes so the sheiks can go down the bunny hill in the 120-degree desert heat.
Yeah, those sheiks and emirs are people who I really want to support by buying their gas and oil products! Much better than Hugo Chavez, right?
First, you should know that the email originated as an "action alert" from the conservative Christian organization, American Family Association. Here's an overview of the organization. It's interesting that this controversial organization's sponsorship of this email was eliminated.
Second, the email examines only a small part of a complex, multi-faceted issue. I hope to correct that.
Saying "I like/don't like Citgo gas stations" is an expression of a preference, an opinion. There is no need to argue for or against such a statement. However, "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a dictator" is a statement of fact. Well, not really. It's completely wrong, but the person intended it as a factual statement. Another incorrect statement is "Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government."
First, the definition of a dictator is:
a : a person granted absolute emergency power; especially : one appointed by the senate of ancient Rome
b : one holding complete autocratic control
c : one ruling absolutely and often oppressively
Hmmmm, that doesn't sound at all like how Hugo Chavez governs Venezuela.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/05/08/Worldandnation/Venezuela_s_oil_wealt.shtml
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-coops21aug21,1,3609004.story?coll=la-headlines-business&track=crosspromo
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050411/parenti
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/680/680p18b.htm
His elections in 1998, 2000 and 2004 were certified by the Carter Center as "fair and open" and "legitimately expressed the will of the people." The most recent one in 2004 was considered a landslide victory of 58%. Although, to be fair and present both sides (unlike how some people present arguments), I found a lot of info on the Net claiming that Chavez rigs his elections ALMOST as well as the GOP does here.
If he's trying to be a dictator as the e-mail claims, he's a pretty lousy one. It sounds to me like a guy who is using the best aspects of capitalism & socialism to try to help his people. Man, that's an antiquated notion, isn't it? The thought of a government using its nation's wealth and resources to actually help its citizens instead of its already wealthy cronies!
But that definition of dictator does ring true with a leader of a different nation. His name escapes me at the moment, but I'll remember it. Let's see, who's that guy who stole two elections (one potato, two potato, Dan Quayle's potatoe), has signed over 800 "signing statements" claiming that he is above the laws passed by the legislature and continues to want to operate outside the law even when it's condemned by the judiciary? He lied for years about running a secret network of gulags where innocent people are kidnapped from their homes and tortured, flown on the CIA's secret airline to countries that routinely practice torture, such as Romania, Poland, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. See, that allows the leader to engage in some word play, like "We don't torture." Nah, President Asshole farms it out to the Syrians instead. Try reading about Khaled El-Masri, Maher Arar and Hassan Osama Nasr. He also lied about the unconstitutional spying on his own citizens, then when the truth came out, attempted to justify it instead of stop it.
Oh, and he's done 1,500 other nasty things, too. Like what? Um, erosion of civil liberties, committing elections fraud, rampant cronyism & corruption in an unnecessary military buildup and during a hurricane cleanup, poor federal response to said hurricane crisis, engaging in fear-mongering, a weakened economy, creating record deficits with nothing positive to show for it, erosion of gay and women's rights, turning healthcare over to corporate interests such as the pharmaceutical industry, the de-funding of education and other social programs, lip service about protecting the environment while tightening the addiction to polluting, terrorist-creating energy sources instead of encouraging research & development on alternative/renewable ones, and diminishing his nation's stature in international arena through unilateralism and committing offensive foreign policy decisions.
He has stripped his citizens of their most cherished set of liberties, too. Today, October 17, 2006, "President" (in this nation, someone has to actually win--not steal--elections in order to legitimately use the title "President") Bush signed the "Military Commissions Act of 2006" into law. It's the scariest piece of legislation in this country's recent history.
Need more? How about going to war against a nation that has never been any threat against his own nation, resulting in 2700 of his soldiers dead (an average of two or three every day) and about 655,000 killed in the other country (mostly civilians and many children). Oh, and he is responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of families in both nations being shattered forever.
Man, with an abysmal record like that, I should remember that guy's name. It's on the tip of my tongue. Help me out here. It's not Stalin or Hitler. Mussolini? Nah. Not even Pol Pot or Mao Tse-tung. You know, the guy whose approval rating has sunk like a stone. Man, that chart looks just like a slide on a children's playground. Weeeeeee!
Okay, back to the subject. Now, just like our crappy mainstream media (Fox, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity), let's get direct our attention away from the really evil guy and back on to this alleged bogeyman. Now, what were all those terrible things this Chavez guy has done?
Oh, yeah. He said something. Maybe.
The original email's selling point repeatedly is the shrill: "Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government." The only support provided for this statement is this quote from Chavez: "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century." I wasn't able to verify that Chavez said this because all references on the Internet to this quote are congested with this silly, ignorant email. But even if he said it, read it carefully. The quote is a criticism of U.S. foreign policy (how our government, corporations and military behave when interacting with foreign entities), and how that aspect of our government behaves, not a threat to "bring down" our government. There's a big difference. Chavez knows. After all, it's certainly possible that Bush sent the CIA in to "bring down" his government in 2002. And it worked. Until the Venezuelans put "dictator" back into power in less than two days!
And let's not forget when the Islamic extremist Pat Robertson suggested that our government should assassinate Chavez on national television. Oh, wait, Robertson is a Christian extremist who declared a fatwa on Chavez. Sorry for the confusion. Well, religious extremists are scary no matter what religion they're twisting, right?
And people think Chavez is trying to "bring down" OUR government? Is that a cuckoo bird I hear in the distance? And does anyone think Chavez doesn't have a right to have a chip on his shoulder with George Bush's name on it?
However, Chavez feels differently about ordinary Americans. Does someone who wants to "bring down" another nation normally offer up to 10% of its heating oil and gasoline to be sold directly to its hospitals, nursing homes, schools and organized poor communities at a 30% discount? Oh, and if your eyes go bad and if you're a poor American without health insurance (something those evil socialists don't have to worry about with their whacky nationalized health care plans), Chavez plans to offer Venezuelan doctors to perform any needed surgery for free!
Wow! Compare Bush with Chazez, and guess who has my vote? Well, I can't vote for Chavez, but I can buy his gas to help him help some poor Venezuelans (and his 40,000 American employees and gas station owners). Or I can buy gas from any other gas station and contribute to unelected, oppressive, monarchs who are unpatriotic, filthy-rich Saudi sheiks billionaires who don't share their wealth with their countrymen who suffer in abysmal poverty. And who look the other way while the madrassas and Wahhabi schools in their countries teach their children to hate and want to kill Americans. Or how they allow a popular Saudi spectator sport: the Friday afternoon beheadings!
Or maybe all that extra money you've been paying at the pump has been going to other oil-rich, oppressive Arab countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
· The UAE was one of three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
· The UAE has been a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia.
· According to the FBI, money was transferred to the 9/11 hijackers through the UAE banking system.
· After 9/11, the Treasury Department reported that the UAE was not cooperating in efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden's bank accounts.
If you've bought gas anywhere BUT Citgo, you've even helped to pay for the $1 billion "Mall of the Emirates" in Dubai which has indoor ski slopes so the sheiks can go down the bunny hill in the 120-degree desert heat.
Yeah, those sheiks and emirs are people who I really want to support by buying their gas and oil products! Much better than Hugo Chavez, right?
1 comment:
Ouch,thats gonna hurt right-wingers where counts,the truth always does. I often drive 15 miles out of my way to buy my gas at the only Citgo in the area,a small truck stop and gas station in Upper Sandusky Ohio. More people should buy their gas and oil products from people who share our values,and that isn't the Saudi's,Kuwaiti's or the U.A.E.
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