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Friday, March 8, 2013

Under the Fedora: Chavez



Hugo Chavez has died and some on the left are in mourning including some in congress like Jose Serrano
Hugo Chavez was a leader that understood the needs of the poor. He was committed to empowering the powerless. R.I.P. Mr. President.
People were expressing outrage, I don’t’ see why.  The left has supported totalitarians since Vietnam, they tried to hinder Reagan in central America and opposed his standing up to the soviets, they did all they could to protect Saddam, why should anyone be surprised that the Democrat left should support yet another dictator?
That doesn’t fly as well in an internet age and Think Progress is doing it’s best to protect the left from itself when it comes to Hugo
Chavez’ policies harmed Venezuela’s poorest in other ways: the value of the Venezuelan currency dropped while prices soared, making it harder for people to buy basic necessities, and crime skyrocketed
…Chavez also attacked Venezuela’s democratic political system. Human Rights Watch reported in 2012 that “the accumulation of power in the executive and the erosion of human rights protections have allowed the Chávez government to intimidate, censor, and prosecute critics and perceived opponents in a wide range of cases involving the judiciary, the media, and civil society.” Contra Serrano, Venezuela’s elections were not certified as “free and fair” by international monitors of late: Chavez had not allowed international election monitors to observe Venezuelan elections since 2006.
Alas poor Think Progress they didn’t think of shutting off comments on their post.  They don’t seem to share that opinion.

While the Think Progress crew is seems to miss the dictator there are signs that some other groups are moving in the right direction.  As you might have heard an attempt was made on Lars Hedegaard’s life over his cartoons hitting Islam, what you might now have heard is how the Islamic society of Copenhagen reacted:
When the news broke on Feb. 5 that Mr. Hedegaard had narrowly escaped an attack on his life, recalled Imran Shah of Copenhagen’s Islamic Society, “we knew that this was something people would try to blame on us. We knew we had to be in the forefront and make clear that political and religious violence is totally unacceptable.”

I’ve never been shy about hitting Radical Islam, conversely when you see Muslims do the right thing that needs to be highlighted and encouraged.  If we don’t’ support people willing to object to this kind of thing in the Muslim community the hard liners will roll right over them.

Meanwhile in the US being willing to speak against Radical Islam or it’s enablers will get you banned from CPAC
This year, I applied to speak and was ignored. I tried to get a room for an AFDI event, "The War on Free Speech," and was ignored. So, for the first time in five years, I won't be at CPAC. Last year Suhail Khan bragged out loud that he (and his other operatives) had successfully kept Robert Spencer and me from being invited to speak. He went so far as to warn people not to attend our events or read our books.
In fact you might not even be allowed to accept awards that you win:
But as time went by and no announcement was made of this victory, and the voting continued despite my having been told that it officially ended last Friday night and that I had won, and the promised links and other placement promised to the winning blog didn't materialize, I started to wonder. So I contacted the organizer who had written me telling me I won and asked him what was going on.
He told me that there was a slight problem: the Tea Party group, which co-sponsored this People's Choice Blog Award, didn't want to allow me to receive it at CPAC next week unless I promised not to criticize Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan as I accepted the award.
I told the organizer that I couldn't agree to that. He asked me if I had planned to talk about Grover and Suhail. I said no, I hadn't, but I had to now.
So that's that. The People's Choice Blog Award is now the Grover's Choice Blog Award. I will not be going to CPAC and will not be receiving this award.
Hugo Chavez might be dead but apparently his spirit lives on, I just didn’t think it would live on at CPAC.
Meanwhile while some try to deny the dangers of Radical Islam others are counting on it.
Mind you the Kimberlin crowd is not doing this because they object to some Muslims being critiqued as murderous barbarian bastards who would kill or threaten a person who objects to Islamic threats. They are doing this specifically because they BELIEVE Muslims to be murderous barbarian bastards who will threaten or harm those who critique them, in fact they’re counting on it!
And these guys don’t have the excuse of trying to please God
Just picked up the in the 2nd Season of the 4th Doctor Adventures at Mike’s Comics/Anne’s Book Stop of Worcester The Sands of life.

It’s a simply delightful episode the first of two parts, the second being released next month.  While a great pleasure it makes one sad.  How many great Doctor Romana #1 stories could we have had if Tom Baker had jumped on Board with Big Finish in 1999 rather than in 2011.
Not to mention Sarah Jane Stores.
I don’t know if they will do any Lalla Ward stories, her being his ex wife it might be complicated.
BTW David Warner guests in The Sands of life, is there anything at ALL he isn’t good in?
I’ve been following the World Baseball Classic.  Three interesting stories thus far.
The Dutch Team.  Last time they shocked the world by eliminating the Dominican Republic this time they advanced at the expense of Korea.
Don’t’ think for one minute that performance last time didn’t help build up the team for this time around.
Brazil vs China:  Brazil blew two 8th inning leads vs Japan and China but the Chinese game was incredible, in the 8th inning Brazil walked five batters (three ties forcing in runs) hit one and give up the key bases loaded single that gave China a lead they would never surrender.
Did you know China has a General Secretary of Baseball.She stood behind the manager during the game.  She didn’t react when China took the lead but when they turned a 5-4-3 double play after Brazil put on the first man in the ninth she cheered like a person who didn’t have to go back to communist masters and tell them they qualified for 2016.
Italy is playing in Pool D.  If you are a non-baseball country it’s got to be the worst bracket to be fighting in, Mexico, Canada and the US.  Despite this Italy managed to beat Mexico in the first game 6-5 surviving a bases loaded 3-2 situation in the last of the ninth.
And THAT is why baseball is the best sport ever made.
See you all at CPAC next week