His government then said the former Czech leader could visit but would be closely monitored.

Article gets a FAIL!

andyb2260: His government then said the former Czech leader could visit but would be closely monitored.

Article gets a FAIL!

"Czech" is Flemish conversational for "Polish." Easy mistake to make.

submitter: Lech Walesa tells Hugo Chavez that if he wants a Nobel-laureate lapdog he'll have to do what the other dictators do and use Jimmy Carter

+1 subby

Happy Freeper Friday everyone!

PurplePimpSaber: Happy Freeper Friday everyone!

Dude, I'm the leftiest lefty who's ever hoisted a protest sign, but that headline is funny.

I dig the headline whether it applies or not. +1

Would it be safe to say that the article forgot Poland?

your an asshat subby...

but it did make me laugh, +1!

Chavez made a Polish joke didn't he?

Nah, even Hugo doesn't want to have to deal with Jimmy. He might want to bring a hammer and start building houses or something.

Does Carter just admire socialists dedicators or is he jealous that he never got to become one, himself?

As a dictator with close ties to Jimmy Carter, I'm getting a kick out of these replies.....

what_now: PurplePimpSaber: Happy Freeper Friday everyone!

Dude, I'm the leftiest lefty who's ever hoisted a protest sign, but that headline is funny.

No! Only anti-Bush stuff is funny. Because he is dumb and looks like a chimp. You're just a Freeper or a Fark Independent.

Lets give him Nobel prize, Just coat it with Ricin first

Yeah, this is defintely neutral on the Political Inclination Thermometric Analyzer.

i think subby missed the point, he was coming to support Chavez's opponents, there was no implication that he was expected to be chavez's lapdog. which makes sense considering he brought down communism in poland.

/great man
//lousy as president...

Nemo's Brother: Does Carter just admire socialists dedicators or is he jealous that he never got to become one, himself?

I actually think that Carter understands the nuances of geopolitics and realizes that sometimes you need to talk to assholes to get stuff done, instead of "cowboy diplomacy", which is shoot off at the mouth first, and worry about what that does to international stability....never.

OlafTheBent: Chavez made a Polish joke didn't he?

Yep, this was his joke:
"The submarine with the screen doors was here yesterday. It still smells of sulfur today."

the article says Chavez's opposition invited him, not Chavez... the article and the headline doesn't really reconcile.

what_now: I actually think that Carter understands the nuances of geopolitics and realizes that sometimes you need to talk to assholes to get stuff done, instead of "cowboy diplomacy", which is shoot off at the mouth first, and worry about what that does to international stability....never.


And sometimes you have to say "enough is enough" and take action.

xuanzhiyouxuan: OlafTheBent: Chavez made a Polish joke didn't he?

Yep, this was his joke:
"The submarine with the screen doors was here yesterday. It still smells of sulfur today."

The sulfur is from his oil

I can't wait for W to take over as the most abused exPotus. I mean, he gets abused alot now, but Carter is the target for most conservatives.

And it will be some time before their tiny, tiny brains can figure out that W was almost infinitely worse than Carter ever was.

So the list of recent disappointing Presidents are as follows:

W, Reagan, Carter.

/learn it, know it Republitards

Aides told the former pres, "If Hugo to Argentina, they're gonna Czech on every little thing you do. They may not Lech you roam freely, and they may Jimmy open and rifle through all your Walesa-es."

what_now
Nemo's Brother: Does Carter just admire socialists dedicators or is he jealous that he never got to become one, himself?

I actually think that Carter understands the nuances of geopolitics and realizes that sometimes you need to talk to assholes to get stuff done, instead of "cowboy diplomacy", which is shoot off at the mouth first, and worry about what that does to international stability....never.



^ Want to know what's wrong with cowboy diplomacy?

Can't wait for Pinhead Penn and and Bonehead Bellafonte to speak out and defend their Uberlord.....I mean good friend Hemmaroid Hugo!

Meantime we'll just forget the whole Reagan/Marcos thing.

+1 Subby, though I suppose soon Jimmy Carter II will be at these dictators disposal.

If only Carter was a criminal like Reagan, then we could all like him more.

I mean Reagan was one dude who wasn't afraid to deal with and appease terrorists.

diabeetus

The_Sponge: And sometimes you have to say "enough is enough" and take action.

Of course. But it shouldn't be your first step.

Um... Chávez was elected. Three times actually. He tried for a coup once in the 90s but it failed.

He has an opposition, and there's a free press in Venezuela still, although not as free as is ideal in a democracy. Also, when Chávez held a referendum to remove term limits, the public defeated it. He just recently proposed another referendum to remove term limits, and the public will vote on it again if it makes it to the ballot.

Being critical of America doesn't make you automatically a dictator.

Mark, you're wrong. Carter was a total buffoon & Clinton a popularity hound with no interest in bettering anything but himself. These are the worst Presidents in my lifetime.

happydude45: Mark, you're wrong. Carter was a total buffoon & Clinton a popularity hound with no interest in bettering anything but himself. These are the worst Presidents in my lifetime

Seriously? Try to think critically, ok? Just for a little while.

I think George W. Bush has a better chance of getting the Nobel Peace Prize than Chavez.

what_now: The_Sponge: And sometimes you have to say "enough is enough" and take action.

Of course. But it shouldn't be your first step.


It can be...but it greatly depends on the situation. (Obviously.)

And if Obama wants to liberate Cuba, he can give me a call, and I'll gather up my old war buddies...Stinky, Fatty, Brooklyn, and Cotton.

Here (new window) is an interesting read about Lech Walesa, Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Solidarity, the CIA, the Catholic Church, and the AFL-CIO:

Until Solidarity's legal status was restored in 1989 it flourished underground, supplied, nurtured and advised largely by the network established under the auspices of Reagan and John Paul II. Tons of equipment -- fax machines (the first in Poland), printing presses, transmitters, telephones, shortwave radios, video cameras, photocopiers, telex machines, computers, word processors -- were smuggled into Poland via channels established by priests and American agents and representatives of the AFL-CIO and European labor movements. Money for the banned union came from CIA funds, the National Endowment for Democracy, secret accounts in the Vatican and Western trade unions.

The_Sponge: what_now: I actually think that Carter understands the nuances of geopolitics and realizes that sometimes you need to talk to assholes to get stuff done, instead of "cowboy diplomacy", which is shoot off at the mouth first, and worry about what that does to international stability....never.


And sometimes you have to say "enough is enough" and take action.

Yeah Damn them stupid Christians and their stupid "faith" right? Having faith that going among the wrong doers and acting in an nonjudgmental christian way that you might change things,, No you should KILL THEM ALL!!!!!! Stone them Stone Them with Nuclear missiles !!
/sarcasm

andyb2260: His government then said the former Czech leader could visit but would be closely monitored.

Article gets a FAIL!

Came here to say this. They even mention he's Polish in the first sentence.

happydude45: Mark, you're wrong. Carter was a total buffoon & Clinton a popularity hound with no interest in bettering anything but himself. These are the worst Presidents in my lifetime.

Not doubting Carter's boobery, just saying W and Reagan were boobs also. And they were far more damaging to the US than Clinton and Carter.

sepuku2: submitter: Lech Walesa tells Hugo Chavez that if he wants a Nobel-laureate lapdog he'll have to do what the other dictators do and use Jimmy Carter

+1 subby

+2.bobbette: He has an opposition, and there's a free press in Venezuela still, although not as free as is ideal in a democracy. Also, when Chávez held a referendum to remove term limits, the public defeated it. He just recently proposed another referendum to remove term limits, and the public will vote on it again if it makes it to the ballot.


I realize there is degrees of freedom in how you can say things, but Venezuea doesn't have free press. Seized/closed TV radio stations, govt gangs threatening reporters and state run TV replacing commercial ones cross the line.

happydude45: Mark, you're wrong. Carter was a total buffoon & Clinton a popularity hound with no interest in bettering anything but himself. These are the worst Presidents in my lifetime.

Your partisan blinders and blinding. W is easily the worst in the last 50 years.

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

mynameismark:
So the list of recent disappointing Presidents are as follows:

W, Reagan, Carter.

/learn it, know it Republitards

List is strangely missing Clinton, what's up with that?

If you're classing Reagan, who was a mixed bag at worst, as disappointing, you've really gotta put the guy who puttered around not accomplishing much of anything for 8 years on the list.

what_now: Nemo's Brother: Does Carter just admire socialists dedicators or is he jealous that he never got to become one, himself?

I actually think that Carter understands the nuances of geopolitics and realizes that sometimes you need to talk to assholes to get stuff done, instead of "cowboy diplomacy", which is shoot off at the mouth first, and worry about what that does to international stability....never.

Plus he likes that salty dictator dick.

happydude45: Mark, you're wrong. Carter was a total buffoon & Clinton a popularity hound with no interest in bettering anything but himself. These are the worst Presidents in my lifetime.

Yeah, Clinton was a total ass for helping to build one of the best economies our country ever had, for creating a budget SURPLUS, for getting Israel and her neighbors to talk, for ending genocide in the FRY and and and....

Go be stupid somewhere else.

happydude45: Mark, you're wrong. Carter was a total buffoon & Clinton a popularity hound with no interest in bettering anything but himself. These are the worst Presidents in my lifetime.

LOL.

bobbette: Um... Chávez was elected. Three times actually. He tried for a coup once in the 90s but it failed.

He has an opposition, and there's a free press in Venezuela still, although not as free as is ideal in a democracy. Also, when Chávez held a referendum to remove term limits, the public defeated it. He just recently proposed another referendum to remove term limits, and the public will vote on it again if it makes it to the ballot.

Being critical of America doesn't make you automatically a dictator.

He's a dictator. The press is all but free and any vocal opponents are often made an offer they can't refuse. I have family in Vz and most of those who can have left. Chavez is a dictator; don't be fooled by the "elections."

Speaking of lap dogs . . .

liam76: sepuku2: submitter: Lech Walesa tells Hugo Chavez that if he wants a Nobel-laureate lapdog he'll have to do what the other dictators do and use Jimmy Carter

+1 subby

+2.bobbette: He has an opposition, and there's a free press in Venezuela still, although not as free as is ideal in a democracy. Also, when Chávez held a referendum to remove term limits, the public defeated it. He just recently proposed another referendum to remove term limits, and the public will vote on it again ifwhen it makes it to the ballot.


I realize there is degrees of freedom in how you can say things, but Venezuea doesn't have free press. Seized/closed TV radio stations, govt gangs threatening reporters and state run TV replacing commercial ones cross the line.

The revoking of TV licenses is very disheartening. Still, Venezuela's press is still more free than, say, China's.

It will be interesting to see the outcome of the new referendum in a couple of days.

Say what you will about Lech Walesa, but he's got one hell of a cool name.

dogdaze: bobbette: Um... Chávez was elected. Three times actually. He tried for a coup once in the 90s but it failed.

He has an opposition, and there's a free press in Venezuela still, although not as free as is ideal in a democracy. Also, when Chávez held a referendum to remove term limits, the public defeated it. He just recently proposed another referendum to remove term limits, and the public will vote on it again if it makes it to the ballot.

Being critical of America doesn't make you automatically a dictator.

He's a dictator. The press is all but free and any vocal opponents are often made an offer they can't refuse. I have family in Vz and most of those who can have left. Chavez is a dictator; don't be fooled by the "elections."

Speaking of lap dogs . . .

I think we're arguing about degrees of scale on press freedom. When I think "dictator" and lack of press freedom I tend to think of Lukashenko in Belarus. Or when it comes to dangers for journalists, the murders of journalists in Russia or Sri Lanka. Or the complete absence of a press in places like Burma or Eritrea.

In any case, my point isn't that there aren't concerns about democracy and human rights in Venezuela, it's that the term "dictator" isn't accurate.