The late Venezuelan president visited Hickory, NC, as the guest of Republican congressman Cass Ballenger:
It was an unlikely friendship: the left-leaning, America-bashing, Latin American strongman and the conservative Republican congressman from North Carolina.
But Hugo Chavez and Cass Ballenger hit it off. So much so that Chavez was the honored guest at a 2001 barbecue at Ballenger’s home in Hickory.
“He was our friend and he was always like the guy next door,” Donna Ballenger recalled Tuesday. “He didn’t do anything but be nice to us.”
Click the link to read the rest. I've heard of stranger friendships: the late Senator Jesse Helms was a friend of the Dalai Lama.
Showing posts with label dictators. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dictators. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Friday, March 01, 2013
The Definitive Barack Obama Quote
"I am not a dictator."
When the man wanders off the TelePrompTer reservation it gets ugly fast, don't it?
Note to politicians of all stripes: If you start a declarative sentence with the words "I am not a.." there are few words you can add that will make you look like anything other than a fool or a knave.
When the man wanders off the TelePrompTer reservation it gets ugly fast, don't it?
Note to politicians of all stripes: If you start a declarative sentence with the words "I am not a.." there are few words you can add that will make you look like anything other than a fool or a knave.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Playing Devil's Advocate
Walter Russell Meade explains why Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is seizing dictatorial power:
While Morsi is being criticized in and out of Egypt for his assumption of dictatorial powers, it’s worth noting that his plans to bypass Egypt’s judicial system are grounded in a reality: Egypt’s judges were handpicked by the thoroughly corrupt Mubarak regime and did the old dictator’s bidding without protest for many years. Neither the judges as a group nor the judiciary as an institution are entitled to any particular respect.
This is an example of a problem that many revolutionary regimes face around the world. Do you allow the judicial lapdogs of the old dictator to act as umpires in the new regime, or do you destroy all the institutions of society and try to rebuild everything from scratch? Do you allow yourself to be bound by corrupt judges defending privileges of the old regime, or do you cast down the legal system and cast off the restraint of the laws?
Neither alternative is a good one and this is one of the reasons why most revolutions end in disappointment and new dictatorship.
Read the whole thing, as they say.
While Morsi is being criticized in and out of Egypt for his assumption of dictatorial powers, it’s worth noting that his plans to bypass Egypt’s judicial system are grounded in a reality: Egypt’s judges were handpicked by the thoroughly corrupt Mubarak regime and did the old dictator’s bidding without protest for many years. Neither the judges as a group nor the judiciary as an institution are entitled to any particular respect.
This is an example of a problem that many revolutionary regimes face around the world. Do you allow the judicial lapdogs of the old dictator to act as umpires in the new regime, or do you destroy all the institutions of society and try to rebuild everything from scratch? Do you allow yourself to be bound by corrupt judges defending privileges of the old regime, or do you cast down the legal system and cast off the restraint of the laws?
Neither alternative is a good one and this is one of the reasons why most revolutions end in disappointment and new dictatorship.
Read the whole thing, as they say.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, March 05, 2012
Tears of a Crocodile
Czar Vlad wins the Russian Presidential election, weeps for joy:
"Come hither, Little One," said the Crocodile, "for I am the Crocodile," and he wept crocodile tears to show it was quite true.
Then the Elephants' child grew all breathless, and panted, and kneeled down on the bank and said, "You are the very person I have been looking for all these long days. Will you please tell me what you have for dinner?"
"Come hither, Little One," said the Crocodile, "and I'll whisper."
Then the Elephant's Child put his head down close to the Crocodile's musky, tusky mouth, and the Crocodile caught him by his little nose, which up to that very week, day, hour, and minute, had been no bigger than a boot, though much more useful.
"I think," said the Crocodile--and he said it between his teeth, like this--"I think to-day I will begin with Elephant's Child!"
- - Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories
"Come hither, Little One," said the Crocodile, "for I am the Crocodile," and he wept crocodile tears to show it was quite true.
Then the Elephants' child grew all breathless, and panted, and kneeled down on the bank and said, "You are the very person I have been looking for all these long days. Will you please tell me what you have for dinner?"
"Come hither, Little One," said the Crocodile, "and I'll whisper."
Then the Elephant's Child put his head down close to the Crocodile's musky, tusky mouth, and the Crocodile caught him by his little nose, which up to that very week, day, hour, and minute, had been no bigger than a boot, though much more useful.
"I think," said the Crocodile--and he said it between his teeth, like this--"I think to-day I will begin with Elephant's Child!"
- - Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Treasure Blog: Mussolini's Bugout Bag
Up in Webster, NY:
History has paid scant attention to the personal effects Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Claretta Petacci may have been carrying when they were captured by partisans while trying to escape to Switzerland amid a convoy of retreating German troops in April 1945.
The answer may have been stowed away in a bedroom closet in the home of a doctor here for the better part of 65 years, enjoying a much more dignified fate than that of its previous owners.
It was there that Paul Moriconi kept a brown leather suitcase containing a gray gabardine military tunic and matching riding pants, a khaki Italian military shirt and a woolen red dress that were claimed to have been a change of clothes in the possession of Mussolini and Petacci when they were captured.
Moriconi, who practiced medicine in Rochester, N.Y., for decades and died last year, acquired the suitcase when he was an Army corporal stationed in Italy in the waning days of World War II.
Click the link to read the rest.
History has paid scant attention to the personal effects Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Claretta Petacci may have been carrying when they were captured by partisans while trying to escape to Switzerland amid a convoy of retreating German troops in April 1945.
The answer may have been stowed away in a bedroom closet in the home of a doctor here for the better part of 65 years, enjoying a much more dignified fate than that of its previous owners.
It was there that Paul Moriconi kept a brown leather suitcase containing a gray gabardine military tunic and matching riding pants, a khaki Italian military shirt and a woolen red dress that were claimed to have been a change of clothes in the possession of Mussolini and Petacci when they were captured.
Moriconi, who practiced medicine in Rochester, N.Y., for decades and died last year, acquired the suitcase when he was an Army corporal stationed in Italy in the waning days of World War II.
Click the link to read the rest.
Friday, August 05, 2011
Shake the Juju Beads, Pugsley
Hugo Chavez is seeking help from "indigenous deities" in his battle against cancer.
Not to put too fine a point on it, and I guess I'm risking a karma hit by saying this, but you can't die fast enough to please me, Pugsley.
Not to put too fine a point on it, and I guess I'm risking a karma hit by saying this, but you can't die fast enough to please me, Pugsley.
Friday, August 06, 2010
Headline of the Day
Sean Penn 'suspicious' of Wyclef Jean's bid for Haiti president.
Ain't that a laugh?
Sean probably isn't sure if Wyclef is Communist enough to suit him. If Wyclef gives indications of being a true leftist dictator, or hell, even a garden-variety Saddam Hussein-style dictator, I'm sure Penn will break out his kneepads and fellate Wyclef just as readily as he does Castro or Hugo Chavez.
Not to put to fine a point on it.
Ain't that a laugh?
Sean probably isn't sure if Wyclef is Communist enough to suit him. If Wyclef gives indications of being a true leftist dictator, or hell, even a garden-variety Saddam Hussein-style dictator, I'm sure Penn will break out his kneepads and fellate Wyclef just as readily as he does Castro or Hugo Chavez.
Not to put to fine a point on it.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Check Out Mao Guevara
A new statue of Chinese dictator Mao Zedong features him with long, flowing hair:
Ready for his close-up on the t-shirts of young lefties everywhere.
Ready for his close-up on the t-shirts of young lefties everywhere.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Fidel Castro...
...finally took himself off the pitching mound.
Don't look for huge changes in Cuba for a while, though, especially while Fidel is still alive, unless perhaps Obama becomes President. A President Obama might be inclined to end the embargo against Cuba.
Don't look for huge changes in Cuba for a while, though, especially while Fidel is still alive, unless perhaps Obama becomes President. A President Obama might be inclined to end the embargo against Cuba.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
They're not ALL useful idiots?
80 entertainers signed a statement of support for Alejandro Sanz after his criticism of Venezuelan president Hugo Sanches resulted in two canceled concerts in that country.
Naomi Campbell is reportedly "devastated."
Naomi Campbell is reportedly "devastated."
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