Okay, okay, Chavez is a despot

[Lautremont]

You know, I'd always liked him. But now he's gone too far. This can only be the action of a truly ruthless dictator:

Venezuela's Chavez says he is banning beer trucks from sales on the street

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's president has a new public enemy: beer trucks.

President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday he is fed up with seeing beer trucks sell alcohol directly on the streets of poor neighbourhoods. "It's the degeneration of society. It's one of the causes of public drunkenness in the slums," he said as he declared he was putting a ban on the beer runs. "As of today, I want the National Guard to stop the beer trucks and take them to the nearest command post. No more trucks," he said in a televised speech.

Chavez was speaking before participants in a state program aimed at helping alcoholics, the homeless and street children. The crowd had cheered him enthusiastically earlier in his speech, but his beer decree was met with a lukewarm response and scattered applause.

(snip)

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/061011/K101102U.html

[Avalux]

1. Well, there aren't any beer trucks on our streets are there?

And in a lot of cities smoking has been banned. Difference? :shrug:

[Ken Burch]

2. "I'm shocked, SHOCKED to find beer trucks in the streets of Caracas"

:toast:

Well, if Dubya hears of this, he'll REALLY want a coup now.

[TlalocW]

9. I can see the press conference now

Chavez has stepped over th' line. The Ven-uhz-waaylans, the one who s'pport democracy and are against terra, deserve to have their beer - or as they call it, cerveza, heheheheh, after a hard's day work. It's hard work being in Venezuela. Heheheheh. (Smirk)

TlalocW

[Taxloss]

3. Good for Chavez. n/t

[shance]

4. Have you ever noticed all the liquor stores in lower income areas?

Do you think that is a coincidence?

Im guessing your post is a joke - and it's pretty funny.

On the other hand, it shows to me, that Chavez is a good leader and truly gets whats going on.

He gets that the power abusers and the wealthy enter neighborhoods that are in need and they exploit and profit off of the downtrodden and depressed populations by feeding their addictions with readily available liquor, cigarettes and drugs.

[Lautremont]

5. I am indeed being sarcastic in calling this despotism.

I mean, I like beer, but I'm not big on exploiting downtrodden alcoholics. Good for Chavez, indeed.

[AngryAmish]

11. Why liquor stores in poor areas?

Because they don't have supermarkets. Booze is cheaper in supermarkets.

[KingFlorez]

6. I think that's a good move

Selling beer in a poor neighborhood only makes the situation worse and potentially drives crime up.

[southpaw]

7. I really like this guy.

And it seems that the citizens of Venezuela like him, too.

[ShaneGR]

8. I guess what Chavez says goes in that country

If Chavez doesnt like the constitution, he holds a "referendum" on whether it should be changed.

After that he changes the entire constitution to fit his ideology.

Even then, if Chavez doesnt like the new consitution saying he can only run 2 terms. He changes that too.

If Chavez doesnt like beer sales, he just gets rid of em. It's all the same thing.

It does crack me up that someone like me is terrified of Bush grabbing for unchecked power, but there are people on our side who think its perfectly ok to do the same thing if its someone closer to our ideology. Don't get that.

[Balbus]

12. Chavez is an asshat dictator.

Don't be fooled by the Chavez groupies that are going to flock to this post.

[Beacho]

10. Funny I live in a dry town in Texas

Does that make the local 'tin pot dictators' despots?

oh wait, nevermind

[Solo_in_MD]

13. Yeah, but he is our despot, so its ok

I assume this is clear enough that a sarcasm tag is not needed....