And again, Chavez opens his mouth and nothing coherent comes out.

Chavez says Obama "lost in space" on Latin America
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE57F24620090816

Quote

...
"We are not asking you to intervene in Honduras, Obama. On the contrary, we are asking that "the empire" get its hands off Honduras and get its claws out of Latin America," Chavez said in a rambling weekly television and radio show.

"President Obama is lost in the Andromeda Nebula, he has lost his bearings, he doesn't get it," he said.

Chavez repeated an accusation that the United States had prior knowledge of the coup that deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on June 28 and the military plane that flew Zelaya out of the country had used a U.S. base in Honduras.

...

The leftist Venezuelan leader is furious, however, at a U.S. security agreement with Colombia that will give the Pentagon access to seven Colombian military bases. Chavez has cut trade with his neighbor as a reprisal.

The United States and Colombia say the deal is an expansion of an existing accord and will help fight drug traffickers and guerrillas involved in the Colombian cocaine trade. Chavez says a larger U.S. troop presence risks sparking war in the region.

Venezuela is planning to beef up its army by buying tanks and other weapons from Russia, Chavez said, adding that his country needs to be prepared for an attack.

Chavez claims the United States wants to control Venezuela's huge oil reserves as well as the Amazon region.

"This is just the start of an imperial military expansion," Chavez said of the U.S.-Colombian security arrangement.

Chavez asked Obama to withdraw U.S. forces from the Palmerola air base in Honduras (also known as Soto Cano) and from Guantanamo Bay which the U.S. Navy has used as a base in Cuba for over a century.
...

Russia, Venezuela edge closer to oil deal, talk arms
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE57E19G20090815

Quote

ST.PETERSBURG (Reuters) - Russia and Venezuela on Saturday moved closer to an oil venture deal and discussed arms trade, forging a partnership that may drag Russia into a row over the U.S. military presence in Colombia.
...
Colombia's government is expected to sign a deal this month giving U.S. forces increased access to military bases in order to fight the cocaine trade and Marxist insurgents. Chavez has blasted the plan as a threat to regional stability.

"We as a sovereign state must protect our people and in that sense we can make arms purchases that we deem necessary," Carrizalez said. "These bases without doubt create a threat for all Latin American countries.
...

No doubt since a lot of the drug trade gets funneled through Venezuela, that had something to do with all of this.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

oh man... he's going to be sore when we move to a new fuel source... and accuse the US of trying to bankrupt them.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

I just wish they would have been straight on Honduras. Instead with this back and forth policy they have given rise to a lot of the follow-on violence.

Term Limits and Constitutional Tinkering in Latin America
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/06/29/term_limits_and_constitutional.html

Now they say they are putting troops in Colombia to fight drugs and marxist rebels (supported by Chavez - he has been supporting the FARC for years)

FARC You: Why The Marxist Group Is Doomed To Fail In Colombia
http://blogs.oilandgasinvestor.com/stephen/2008/03/19/farc-you-why-the-marxist-group-is-doomed-to-fail-in-colombia/

Quote

...
But the main reason is because of support from individuals like Hugo Chavez. Colombians recently discovered computer files tying the Venezuelan president to FARC during a raid in Ecuador, with Chavez committing $300 million toward their cause. It’s the sad fate of America that a chunk of the money being sent to OPEC nations eventually ends up funding terrorist groups, be it the right-wingers in Saudi Arabia or the lefties in in South America. Chavez, who never met a revolutionary he didn’t love, even sucking up to Iranian president/Holocaust denier Ahmahdinejad last year, certainly wants to see the noble FARC freedom fighters succeed. It won’t do his propaganda any good to have a country right next door to him have a higher GDP and quality of life, despite having smaller hydrocarbon reserves.

And really, that’s what keeps FARC afloat. They have virtually no support in any of the major Colombian cities, only gettign some Robin Hood-like sympathy from poorer peasants in the more rural and mountainous areas of the country. But if there’s any constant about developing countries, it’s that rural populations tend to fade as urban populations grow, so love for FARC will continue to erode until they literally have to operate from other countries completely, existing as a state-less organization.
...

I am guessing Colombia wouldn't have agreed to this if they didn't see Chavez as a growing threat to their government.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

You know, Chavez's paranoid and anti-American rants sound a lot like Vince(1).....

Coincidence Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You know, Chavez's paranoid and anti-American
> rants sound a lot like Vince(1).....

Well, Hillary said she wasn't going to "...channel her husband...". But perhaps Vince is channeling Chavez?

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

Gravis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> oh man... he's going to be sore when we move to a
> new fuel source... and accuse the US of trying to
> bankrupt them.

He shouldnt worry..republican strategist are killing any such plans...except of course to drill baby drill. As if that'll put anything more then a ding into our demand for Venezuelian oil.

Registered Voter...a Big talking coward..big man on FFXU...little man in life.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2009 12:09AM by Vince(1).

China Makes Real Energy Moves
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33151

Quote

...
This is no longer the case, with the American national debate (and that in several other developed countries) consumed by climate change, emissions and the preposterous idea that solar and wind energies can substitute for carbon-based or nuclear energy sources. While any realistic and even charitable estimate puts solar and wind as contributing less than 1 percent of world energy demand for the next 20 years, more than 85 percent will still derive from oil, gas and coal; this while world energy demand will increase by more than 40 percent. The lion’s share of the latter will go to China.

The concern for the 1 percent solution, while ignoring the 85 percent question, is tantamount to economic hara-kiri for the United States. It also presents a huge opportunity for China to expand its energy interests worldwide and diversify its supply sources.

...

Almost overnight, the United States and the European Union will be reduced to mere bystanders while China moves into the big geopolitical leagues. Massive Chinese acquisition of energy assets, while the West is philosophizing on the future of the “planet” and carbon cap-and-trade schemes, will lead to a transfer of political and economic power that the modern world has rarely seen. Why the United States would be willing to give up competing for what has arguably been the world’s most vital commodity -- and for which there is no credible alternative even on the far horizon -- is mystifying if not bizarre.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

Gravis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> oh man... he's going to be sore when we move to a
> new fuel source... and accuse the US of trying to
> bankrupt them.


He'll be dead before the US finds a new fuel source. Most people are too self-centered to be the "first ones" to convert. Americans would support alternative fuels, as long as they didn't have to be inconvenienced by the still developing infrastructure.

__________________________________
That's not a ladybug, that's a cannapiller.

Registered Voter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> China Makes Real Energy Moves
> http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33151
>
>
> ...
> This is no longer the case, with the American
> national debate (and that in several other
> developed countries) consumed by climate change,
> emissions and the preposterous idea that solar and
> wind energies can substitute for carbon-based or
> nuclear energy sources. While any realistic and
> even charitable estimate puts solar and wind as
> contributing less than 1 percent of world energy
> demand for the next 20 years, more than 85
> percent will still derive from oil, gas and coal;
> this while world energy demand will increase by
> more than 40 percent. The lion’s share of the
> latter will go to China.
>
> The concern for the 1 percent solution, while
> ignoring the 85 percent question, is tantamount to
> economic hara-kiri for the United States. It also
> presents a huge opportunity for China to expand
> its energy interests worldwide and diversify its
> supply sources.
>
> ...
>
> Almost overnight, the United States and the
> European Union will be reduced to mere bystanders
> while China moves into the big geopolitical
> leagues. Massive Chinese acquisition of energy
> assets, while the West is philosophizing on the
> future of the “planet” and carbon cap-and-trade
> schemes, will lead to a transfer of political and
> economic power that the modern world has rarely
> seen. Why the United States would be willing to
> give up competing for what has arguably been the
> world’s most vital commodity -- and for which
> there is no credible alternative even on the far
> horizon -- is mystifying if not bizarre.
>


Blah..blah..blah..cant do anything....the sky is falling...the republican mantra

Registered Voter...a Big talking coward..big man on FFXU...little man in life.

That's not what the point of the article was Vince.

What they are saying is, as we focus on reducing CO2 emissions (as yet an unproven Theory on why it got warmer, but no longer appears to be doing so) and NOT developing local sources of fossil fuels to run our existing power generation needs - it is essentially economic suicide. The Chinese (and the Russians) are constantly expanding their investments in both production and extraction of oil and other resources. On the other hand, many US energy industries are shying away from these investments since they fear the US government will be imposing extraordinary taxes on their operations.

Unless we learn how to create matter from thin air, we will soon be even MORE dependent on foreign energy imports. That is the way our current policy is leading us.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

Like I said..we cant do anything..efforts to reduce dependence...only increase dependence...only investing in more carbon based fuels will save us..drill, drill, drill!

The fact of China and perhaps Russia becoming the economic power houses of the future is for alot more reasons then cap and trade. This shift is nothing to fear...it is an opportuntiy.

Registered Voter...a Big talking coward..big man on FFXU...little man in life.

I thought I would do something more interesting with my 2000th post, but the utter stupidity of your post requires something more mundane.

Vince. You know I was watching this show tonight with Michio Kaku.

http://mkaku.org/

The guy is brilliant. He is sort of today's Carl Sagan on the cable channels. One of the points he made on the show tonight is how important it is to find cheap, abundant energy, and how transformative that would be for the entire world.

Cheap - Abundant - Transformative

For some reason, your befuddled little brain has lost sight of reality. You live in this little cocoon of fear, having been spoon fed from the spin machines and soundbite madness of the political world. What's truly weird is that you embrace the things you should fear - Russia's mafia-style Communist Party (now rebranded into some shiny new nice mafia), and the oppressive and anti-freedom Communists of the PRC. Instead, you fear everything about the US that made it what is today. The US has made huge strides in dealing with issues such as racism, equality, and religious freedom. For whatever reason, you are one of those people that is determined to demean the US at every turn to try and fit your ideal of how the whole world should work.

Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia (to some extent) and others outside the US see us as some kind of goose laying the golden egg. The problem is, the goose is empty. All the goose does now is shit pieces of paper that say "One Golden Goose Egg - Payable on Demand" and in the fine print it says "Note, on Demand does not really mean today, or any time within the next 25 years". As it is, if/when the economy turns back up, the price of oil will rise even more, and the speculators will do their part to make as much money as they can - possibly driving us back into recession while they make millions. Chavez uses the US as a convenient demon so he can purchase weapons from Russia so he can exert more overt influence on his neighbors with the threat of his military. Look at history and you will see that that is much more likely than the US invading him because they don't like him.

With cap and trade, we will tax our existing energy production facilities and make energy in the US even more expensive. Without doing what we can today to produce more energy locally (yes that means drill, drill, drill), we will be condemning ourselves to a repeat of the current situation within 5 years. The ones hurt the worst will be the poor - they will find it almost impossible to survive without energy. Cap and trade, in its zeal to turn back the clock on CO2 (which China and India will easily overcome), will be just another way to siphon funds out of the US taxpayers to fund a "religion" of the environment. The revolution in the US, if it occurs, will not be because of legal gun owners, it will be because of the poor rising up as their situation will become totally untenable due to rising energy costs that they can no longer afford. Rising energy costs that will make the cost of everything they need to buy too expensive to afford. Even government run health care won't change that.

The alternative? We invest in all sources of energy now, today - to hold the prices of energy low - in combination with investing as much as we can in cheaper solar products, and fusion energy research. The one thing that is going to get us out of this recession at the moment is the low cost of Oil. As a matter of fact, it is highly probable that the cost of Oil is one of the major reasons we are seeing any light at the end of the tunnel. We have to hope the French succeed in creating the new Fusion Reactor (right now they can only hold plasma reactions for 30 seconds, not long enough to make them self-sustaining) With abundant cheap energy we can lower the costs of all goods, produce more food, ensure fresh water supplies with desalination plants if needed, etc.

Cheap, Abundant - Transformative.

I am a believer. In a better world - and I think folks like you just want to drag everyone down to your fucking miserable pit of an existence.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

From the site I like that discusses Global Warming Issues:

My Favorite Renewable Energy Concept: The Solar Updraft Tower
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2009/08/my-favorite-renewable-energy-concept-the-solar-updraft-tower/

I can see these being very efficient in output, but maintenance on one of these babies would be a bitch. Multiple turbines, a very strong updraft in the central shaft - you would almost have to shut all the turbines down even if you only wanted to work on one, or have some way to redirect the airflow around the turbine unit being serviced. Interesting concept though - be excellent to build a bunch of these out in the desert. We still need a large investment in transmission lines to be able to deal with these new systems.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University
Attachments:

Was it my delusional mind or did I read in today's Washington Post editorial section saying they support Cap and Trade? Oh I know they are left wing pinkoes willing to let western civilzation fall into the hands of russia, china and venezuela..but here's a little summary.

If Congress fails to pass cap and trade legislation....members can sit back while unelected bureaucrats at the EPA regulate green house emissions.

Registered Voter...a Big talking coward..big man on FFXU...little man in life.

I am guessing Obama is just playing with Chavez now. Maybe they think he will overstep himself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8208683.stm

Quote

...
Under the deal, the US military will be able to operate on Colombian soil to tackle drug-trafficking and terrorism.

Mrs Clinton said the threats were very real and that the US was "committed to supporting the government of Colombia in its efforts to provide security to all its citizens".

Mr Bermudez said developing "more effective mechanisms of cooperation" would benefit both Colombia and the region.

"We have suffered, and we have learned from the lessons as a result of this suffering," he said.

A number of countries in the region have condemned the plan and Argentina has called the move "not helpful".

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed fears the move would amount to preparation for an invasion of his country by US forces.
...

Totally delusional

Quote

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed fears the move would amount to preparation for an invasion of his country by US forces.

"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Registered Voter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed
> fears the move would amount to preparation for an
> invasion of his country by US forces.
> ...
>
>
> Totally delusional

No doubt.

Why would we waste our time invading Venezuela? They aren't that important. They have oil, sure, but we could much more easily invade Nigeria, or any of another half dozen countries with unproven or speculated oil reserves.

Unless there is a super rich class that has strong business ties with America that can lobby our government to change regimes to benefit them, I don't see us really giving more than two shits about Venezuela