Hey, I'm no big fan of Chavez, but this is ridiculous

A freeper lady I used to work with, nutty as a fruitcake she was, thought that Clinton was running drugs in Arkansas like some sort of mafia king, and sending messages to some nefarious group or another by carrying a rose in his hand as he was about to give a speech, that sort of thing.

Well, she just sent me this:

>Mates, we all knew about Chavez & CITGO, but here is more INFO. I feel
>bad for friends who have been CITGO Dealers for 30 years. they do
>understand buyer resistance to buying
>from Chevez.
>
>
>
>Diane Sawyer on ABC news interviewed the Venezuelan leader Chavez
March
>2007 He is so dangerous, and you can tell he is thrilled to be selling
>oil to America and having a foot on the throat of this country. He is
>something else. If you did not hear the interview, the following was
>discussed and it is true. They have all this money coming in and the
>majority of his own people are living in poverty and he is so rich. He
is
>best of friends with Castro and Russian leaders. He told Diane Sawyer
>that he was friends with all the world leaders, but President Bush is
as
>dumb as a 'donkey'.
>
>
>
>CITGO CHANGING NAME...this is serious Americans...make sure you read
>..
>
>NEWS FLASH:
>
>Chavez is NOW getting a Russian Weapons Factory built by Putin.
>The RUSSIANS are building an AK-47 Kalashnikov Assault Rifle factory
in
>Venezuela , to give armament support to Communist Rebel groups
>throughout
>The Americas .
>
>Chavez NOW has IRANIANS operating his oil refineries in Venezuela for
>him.
>It is likely only a matter of time, if not already, before Chavez has
>Iranian built LONG RANGE missiles, with a variety of warhead types
>aimed
>At: Guess Who?
>
>CITGO is NOW in the process of Changing Its Name to PETRO EXPRESS due
>to
>The loss of gasoline sales in the USA due to the recent publicity of
>Ownership by Chavez of Venezuela.
>
>
>Every dollar you spend with CITGO or PETRO EXPRESS gasoline will be
>used against you, your basic human rights, and your freedoms He will
start
>wars here in the Americas that will probably be the death of millions
>of free people.
>
>
>THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT because Chavez is starting to feel the loss of
>revenue from his holdings. HE OWNS CITGO. This is a very important
move
>that everyone should be aware of.
>
>ANNOUNCED JUST RECENTLY, CITGO, BEING AWARE THAT SALES ARE DOWN DUE TO
>U.S.
>CUSTOMERS NOT WANTING TO BUY FROM "CITGO-CHAVEZ", HAVE STARTED TO
>CHANGE
>THE NAME OF SOME OF THEIR STORES TO: "PETRO EXPRESS"
>
>DO NOT BUY FROM "PETRO EXPRESS" EITHER!!! "PETRO EXPRESS" IS ALSO 100%
>OWNED BY "CHAVEZ."
>
>KEEP THIS MEMO GOING SO THAT EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT IS HAPPENING.
>
>BOYCOTT "CITGO" AND "PETRO EXPRESS".............MAKE SURE THIS IS
>PASSED ON TO EVERYONE YOUR YOUR E-MAIL LIST IN THE UNITED STATES AND
>OUTSIDE
>OF AMERICA
>

I mean, good GOD! Find me a Citco so I can go and get some gas from them!

That oil boycotts are basically useless. It really is a fantasy. Put a one cent a gallon strain on CITGO and somebody in China will appear to suck up the slack. The OP should explain how much time the endeavor is wasting...Oh nevermind, its wasting republican time. Tell em to keep it up!

I don't like Chavez either, and I think what I just read was the dumbest thing ever sent in an e-mail. Come on you dumb freepers, it's their country let the Venezuelans work it out, we can't afford to not buy their oil.

revolution, Hugo Chavez and Venezuela. It's important to note that Chavez government policies are supported by 63% of Venezuelan voters (his % in the last election), that Venezuelan elections are the most highly monitored elections on earth (and have been certified as honest and aboveboard by the Carter Center, the OAS and EU election monitoring groups), and that the Bolivarian revolution (Latin American independence and self-determination, and social justice) goes way beyond Venezuela and Chavez to encompass the aspirations of the vast poor majority of people throughout the Andes region, including Bolivia (where socialist Evo Morales was elected the first indigenous president); Ecuador (where U.S.-educated leftist economist Rafael Correa was just elected president), Argentina (where Nestor Kirchner is president and worked closely with Chavez to pull Argentina out of economic catastrophe caused by the World Bank/IMF), and soon in Paraguay (where Fernando Lugo, the "bishop of the poor," just announced his candidacy for president and will likely win it). The first three--Morales, Correa and Kirchner are close friends with Chavez, and feel great common cause with him. So is Lulu da Silva of Brazil, also a champion of the poor (he's a former steelworker), although he tends to be more into capitalist development than socialist redistribution; however, he is a defender of Chavez. I don't know about Bishop Lugo and Chavez, but I suspect they are kindred spirits, too.

All this hysteria about Chavez (expressed above) is hard to figure. He is hugely popular in South America and in his own country, for the simple reason that he is the genuine article, a political leader who represents the interests of the people, and has correctly analysed South American economics as too dependent on, and too dominated by, U.S. corporations and the the U.S. government which, under Bush, has tried to assassinate and topple him, relentlessly, since he was first elected. He is a genuine leader, with good policies and a vision of Latin American independence--and is the most well-known spokesman of a movement whose time has come. That is , no doubt, why the Bush Junta hates him and wants to kill him, and why our war profiteering corporate news monopolies constantly vilify him. It's interesting, though--I sometimes wonder why Bush and his lapdog corporate press never miss a chance to revile him, because it only makes him more popular in South America. I think it's for our benefit--so that we don't get any ideas here about government acting in our interest.

You can tell, from the wild anti-Chavez tract above, how Bush/Corporate Predator propaganda can affect some people. It can shut down their thinking processes, and cause them to hold opinions that are contrary to their own interests. We've seen it time and again, with our more weak-minded citizens, on the Iraq War, the "war on terror," the "war on drugs," and fascist, thieving economic policy. But, luckily, the weak-minded and the rightwing are a minority in our country--always have been, always will be. The trouble is that the great, progressive, peace-minded, justice-minded majority in the U.S. has been disenfranchised, and the nazi-like leaders of these weak-minded people are ruling over us.

We should take a cue from Venezuela, and restore transparent elections here. It would be good to have decent political leadership again.

as far as I know, the Russians haven't produced AK-47's since the late 70's. Now they use AK-74's. And why would the russians give a damn about communists anymore? IT'S NOT THE USSR, PEOPLE.

And even if they DID build factories, so what? We've done the same thing in the middle east, after all.

let her wonder if maybe she didn't send it at all.

me like Chavez for not kowtowing to the bushco* empire

With CNN etal following along behind with a much subtler but same message.

The propaganda tactics work with some people. That is why they use them.