• Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 6, 2013

    Hugo Chavez

    These are my news headlines for March 5th through March 6th:

    • Hugo Chavez, passionate but polarizing Venezuelan president, dead at 58 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who went from a young conspiratorial soldier who dreamed of revolution to the fiery anti-U.S. leader of one of the world’s great oil powers, died March 5 in Caracas of complications from an unspecified cancer in his pelvic area.He was 58 and had been president since 1999, longer than any other democratically elected leader in the Americas. Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced the death.Mr. Chavez first revealed in a brief, dramatic television address in June 2011 that he had undergone two surgical procedures in Cuba. He would go under the knife two more times, greatly weakening the once robust leader. Mr. Chavez had been elected in October 2012 to a third six-year term. But he missed his swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 10 while lying gravely ill in a Havana hospital after undergoing what his aides had called a complex operation a month before.

      The country was plunged into an institutional crisis, with Mr. Chavez’s foes accusing the government of violating the constitution. But Mr. Chavez’s lieutenants managed to buy time until their leader’s pre-dawn return to Venezuela on Feb. 18. He remained at a Caracas military hospital, with his Twitter account bursting out messages such as “Onward toward victory always!! We will live and we will triumph!!”

      As an obscure 37-year-old lieutenant colonel, Mr. Chavez had led a failed coup in 1992 against President Carlos Andres Perez’s government. Six years later, on Dec. 6, 1998, Mr. Chavez was elected president in a landslide after pledging to replace a broken, corrupt political system and redistribute the country’s substantial oil-fueled wealth.

    • Jeb Bush is back in the spotlight — and thinking about 2016 – Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has remained on the sidelines since his older brother left the White House with dismal ratings four years ago, has jumped back into the political fray this week with a new book, wall-to-wall television interviews and a round of public speaking engagements.His appearances mark a change in approach for Bush, 60, who has operated as more of a Republican elder statesman since leaving Tallahassee in 2007 but is now clearly considering a run for the White House.
    • Journalists as Ring Wraiths – Today’s Washington journalists are like J. R. R. Tolkien’s ring wraiths, petty lords who wanted a few shiny golden Obama rings — only to end up as shrunken slaves to the One.The Bob Woodward/Ron Fournier/Lanny Davis psychodrama is another small reminder that the Obama administration continues to assume that the press should be little more than a veritable Ministry of Truth. Its proper duty is to serve the White House and promote the progressive agenda of Barack Obama. Any were considered suspect who questioned whether those exalted ends should really be achieved by any means necessary — but they were so few and far between that it mattered little.
    • Massachusetts needs a waiver from Obamacare rules for small-business health plans – Massachusetts has made a concerted effort in the last few years to rein in health care costs for small businesses. But new federal regulations written to implement the Affordable Care Act threaten to undercut those efforts — and saddle thousands of Bay State businesses with big increases in premiums.
    • God and Jeb at CPAC – CPAC Has Become the Defender of the Status Quo – John McCain’s presidential campaign manager from four years ago, Steve Schmidt, has compared the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to the “Star Wars bar scene.”Reflecting on the dysfunctional 2008 freak show that passed for a campaign against Barack Obama, Mr. Schmidt would know.The conference’s problem, for many longtime participants, is not the diversity and raucous freedom one might expect to find in a social club on an alien planet. The quandary is that what is now the largest gathering of conservative activists in the nation has wandered far from its original intent, which was a rejection of the status quo.

      In the old days, the event represented the best intellectual revolutionary elements of the conservative movement. Panel after panel would argue and debate issues such as abortion, foreign aid, spending policies and about what the true Holy Grail of conservatism entailed – defending institutions or individuals?

      The conference was always separate and apart from the GOP establishment, even in the Reagan years. Today it no longer represents a joyous insurgency but is instead part of the Washington political establishment.

    • The Mighty Jeb Bush Comes Down to Earth – Bush’s flip flop on immigration will doom any chance he had for a 2016 Presidential race.
    • Boehner Pledges to Stick to the ‘Hastert Rule’ – Speaker John A. Boehner sought to assure his conference on Tuesday that the “Hastert rule” is still regular practice, on the heels of breaking it for the third time this Congress.Republicans breached the rule — under which the speaker only brings forward bills that enjoy support from the “majority of the majority” — last week when a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act passed with a majority of Democratic votes. Of three major bills passed this session, two have passed in violation of the rule. The House passed the fiscal-cliff deal Jan. 1 despite the rule as well.The rule — named after former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. — may be tested again in coming months on legislation relating to immigration and gun control, although a GOP leadership aide said that scenario is highly unlikely.
    • Analyst estimates Chávez’s family fortune at around $2 billion – But, u can’t take it with you RT @DRUDGE_REPORT: CLAIM: Chavez Had Amassed Private Fortune of $2 Billion…
    • CDC Warns Of Spread Of Deadly Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria « CBS Miami – CDC Warns Of Spread Of Deadly Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria #tcot
    • Twitter / RepJoseSerrano: Hugo Chavez was a leader that … – RT @jeffemanuel: So, is it McCarthyism to declare @RepJoseSerrano a dyed-in-the-wool, dictator-supporting socialist?
    • Untitled (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/chavezs-successor-venezuela-nicolas-maduro) – RT @AP: Hugo Chavez’s successor in Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro: -CC
    • Jeb Bush immigration comments spark uproar – Kevin Robillard – POLITICO.com – RT @politico: Jeb Bush immigration comments spark uproar:
    • Jeb Bush: Actually, I could support a path to citizenship in theory « Hot Air – Jeb Bush is all over the place on immigration. He is as much feckless as his brother W was wrong #tcot
    • Video: Jeb Bush on 2016: ‘I’ve Decided . . . Not to Think About It for a While’ – Former Florida governor Jeb Bush continued to fend off speculation about his 2016 presidential prospects this morning, saying that he hasn’t decided whether he’ll run and won’t for at least another couple years.“I’ve decided not to think about it for a while, and I have the discipline to do that,” Bush told CBS’s Charlie Rose, and that his focus is on being a voice in immigration reform, the subject of his new book, Immigration Wars. When co-host Norah O’Donnell suggested that it was interesting he hadn’t ruled out running, Bush laughed it off: “I guess that’s interesting, I don’t find it that interesting.”
    • Rubio in ‘same place’ as Jeb Bush on immigration – POLITICO.com – “@politico: Marco Rubio in “same place” as Jeb Bush on immigration, @mkraju reports: “
    • Ken Jeong AHA Hands-Only CPR video – YouTube – RT @RaDragon: Disco is NOT dead 😉 PSA: Hands-Only CPR
    • Support @Flap – Gregory Flap Cole in the 2013 Los Angeles Marathon – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – Support @Flap – Gregory Flap Cole in the 2013 Los Angeles Marathon #tcot
    • Jeb Bush’s False-Flag Operation – Jeb Bush generated quite a bit of publicity for his new book yesterday by suggesting that amnestied illegal immigrants should not be eligible for citizenship. Instead, he’s suggesting they be given some kind of permanent status that would provide them work cards, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, and the right to travel abroad and return, but not allow for eventual naturalization — in effect, a kind of permanent guestworker program or a green-card-lite, rather than an actual green card. This is consistent with suggestions from other pro-amnesty Republicans, including Senator Rubio and a group of House members working up an amnesty deal.Unfortunately, it’s a trick.
    • Two more casualities of Twitter’s power play | Android Central – @TweetDeck better give mobile users a better app RT @androidcentral: Two more casualities of Twitter’s power play
    • Jeb Bush’s Poorly Timed Flip-Flop on Immigration – NationalJournal.com – Jeb knows exactly what he is doing |Jeb Bush’s Poorly? Timed Flip -Flop on Immigration
    • A Market Solution to Immigration Reform | RealClearPolitics – A Market Solution to Immigration Reform #tcot
  • Barack Obama,  Hugo Chavez,  Newt Gingrich

    Newt Gingrich Rips Obama for Making Lovey Dovey With Hugh Chavez

    chavez and obama 2

    President Barack Obama and Hugh Chavez extending each other a hand and photo op at this weekend’s Latin American summit

    Former GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich lets it fly against President Obama for his palling around this weekend with Venezuela President and/or Dictator Hugo Chavez.

    Chavez has been one of the harshest critics of the United States in that part of the world. Obama said at the conclusion of the Latin summit Sunday that he didn’t think greeting Chavez would be “endangering the strategic interests of the United States.”

    Gingrich complained that the simple act of a smiling Obama shaking Chavez’s hand caused a book Chavez has written to skyrocket on the best-seller lists in the United States.

    “What I find distressing,” he said, “is that the administration opposes opening up oil exploration,” but yet Obama has “bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia” and now reached out to Chavez, whom Gingrich said has been conducting “a vicious anti-American campaign.”

    Gingrich, whose name has been mentioned in 2012 presidential speculation, said, “How do you mend relationships with someone who actively hates your country. … “

    “Cuba releases zero prisoners,” he said, “yet we make nice with Cuba. I’m for doing things methodically and calmly … things that will work, but I’m not for deluding myself about smiles and words.”

    Fantasy land world for Obama….

    Hugs and exchanging books will not change the policy of these American hating dictators.


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  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day

    Day By Day by Chris Muir April 20, 2009 – Old Whine

    day by day 042009

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    President Obama’s atrocious display of lovey-dovey with Venezuela dictator Hugo Chavez over the weekend has empowered an American enemy and a thug.

    This reminds me of the ol’ Jimmy Carter foreign policy where the President cozied up to the LEFT totalitarians while they spewed hatred towards the United States and undercut freedom throughout the world as they expanded their sphere of influence.

    Obama is using his popularity in the wrong way.

    Is it arrogance or ideology?

    Previous:

    The Day By Day Archive


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  • Barack Obama,  Hugo Chavez

    Photo: “The United States Empire is on its Way Down and it Will Be Finished in the Near Future, Inshallah (God Willing)”

    chavez and obama 2

    This is what Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in New York at the United Nations a few years ago.

    “The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future, inshallah,” Chavez told reporters, ending the statement with the Arabic phrase for “God willing.”

    Chavez said that the United Nations is a “deceased” organization because it was formed to bridge the differences between the United States and Russia, and a brand new international organization would have to be formed to replace it.

    Earlier, Chavez initiated a verbal assault on President Bush, calling him “the devil” during an insult-riddled address to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.

    obama and chavez 1

    Maybe Chavez has a point. Does Obama get it?

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  • Hugo Chavez,  Russia,  Venezuela

    Russian Warship To Cross Panama Canal – Will U.S. Navy Provoke?

    russian-battleship-and-hugo

    Flap bets the Russian Navy may be in for a little surprise, no?

    A Russian warship will sail through the Panama Canal this week for the first time since World War II, the navy announced Wednesday, pushing ahead with a symbolic projection of Moscow’s power in a traditional U.S. zone of influence.

    The destroyer Admiral Chabanenko will arrive Friday at a former U.S. naval base in Panama’s Pacific port of Balboa for a six-day visit after carrying out joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy in the Caribbean Sea, navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said in a telephone interview.

    The Panama Canal has long been a symbol of U.S. clout in Latin America, and Dygalo said no Soviet or Russian military ship has sailed through it since World War II. The wartime alliance between the U.S. and the Soviet Union swiftly gave way to the mistrust, military buildups and proxy conflicts of the Cold War.

    In a throwback to those times, the Russian navy statement announcing the plans referred to the base the Admiral Chabanenko will visit as Rodman naval base—its name when it was a U.S. base many years ago.

    Rodman was the hub for all U.S. naval activities in South America and supported fleet units transiting the 50-mile (80-kilometer) canal. But control of the facility shifted to Panama a decade ago, and it is now called the Balboa naval base.

    Monday’s joint maneuvers with Venezuela, which brought the Admiral Chabanenko and the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great across the Atlantic along with two support ships, were widely seen as a show of Kremlin anger over the U.S. use of warships to deliver aid to Georgia after its August war with Russia.

    Russian warships tailed U.S. ships in the Black Sea, where Russia borders Georgia, on that mission.

    Wow – two big Russian ships crossed the Atlantic to support dictator Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

    Just a reminder to Americans that while the price of gasoline has fallen precipitiously that American Energy indpendence is essential over the next decade.

    Then, we don’t have to fund and deal with these tin-horn tyrants and their totalitarian governments.


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