Hugo Chavez - Smelling the Devil

Another of life’s little absurdities in Yova’s world – while driving to meet a fellow traveler on a sunny September afternoon I hear a voice on the radio ranting about Hugo Chavez’ address before the U.N. focusing on his perception of George Bush when he said “yesterday, the devil came here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today.”

A scan of talk radio found that while the words were different the message was the same and the method of this madness where the President of the United States can refer to others as “devils” or “evil-doers” but takes umbrage when they dare refer to him as the “devil” was to work up the listeners into a frothing patriotic frenzy with not stop ignorance that will create another enemy and generate the necessary level of blind hatred that will support subversion or another invasion of another country if necessary.

Too bad the Fairness Doctrine was done away in the Reagan years because today’s public needs to hear the other side of the story in order to make an informed decision about the world in which we live, the one where President Chavez says: "The government of the United States doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit its system of exploitation, of pillage, of hegemony through war." He also criticized the U.S. dividing the world and using the U.N. as a tool to dominate other countries and claimed the U.N. is worthless unless it is able to counter Washington’s control.

Like it or not there is merit to Chavez’ comments as evidenced by our actions: asking the Taliban in early 2001 if they wanted a carpet of gold or a carpet of bombs, the invasion of Afghanistan to bring back Osama dead or alive but not really, the invasion of Iraq based on deceit and deception of its own citizens as well as the world community and an absolute disregard for the U.N., our support for Israel’s most recent invasion of Lebanon, and the recently disclosed threat to Pakistan – when you say “either you are with us or against us” – the “threat” is implied.

As for calling George Bush the devil I recently read an August 20, 2006 article in the U.S. News and World Report that described George Bush as “a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can’t get enough of fart jokes. He’s also known to cut a few for laughs, especially when greeting new young aids,…” Perhaps what President Chavez smelled was a long lasting deadly fart from the leader of the free world because George Bush is not the devil for the devil is in the details. President Chavez would have been wise to stick to facts rather than resort to name calling and provide the homeland press with another opportunity to ignore the message.