News?

So, the Christian Right is at it again.

It seems that TV Evangelist, and all around WASP Leader Pat Robertson, has declared that the US should just go ahead and kill whoever he feels needs to be dead. And it's not just any random non-believer or punk lefty who may cross his path each day, it's the leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.

Ok, so let's get this into perspective. Hugo Chavez is the elected leader of Venezuela and has been for the last couple of years. Now, the government that Venezuela has in place is a fun little mix between Socialism and Communism. Along with that, Chavez has repeatedly said that Catsro- you know, the bearded guy from Cuba who Kennedy went after in the 60's- is his long time mentor and friend. And, like we needed more, Venezuela has a nice supply of crude oil, and their top buyer is the US.

So there's some bad and some not-so bad in that little blurb about Chavez, and it's highly likely that Robertson is manily focusing on the bad. Now, Time Magazine online has a nice little story about these on goings here and has clearly stated that Robertson's statements only help Chavez. Well, they're right.

Chavez has been using anti-US and "down with capitalism" rhetoric since he was first elected, and this blatant call for his death by none other than our own leader of the "right and mighty" will only make him more loved in his own country than he already is. And to futher fuel the anymosity, Chavez has said repeatedly that Venezuela needs to cut back their oil supplies to the US and find more buyers. If you see gas prices go above $3 in the next couple months, there' one guy who some can pin it on now.

So, for the sake of objectivity -I did take a journalism class or two in college, so I should adhere to it- is Pat Roberston wrong for saying this on cable TV? At first glance, yes. You can't just go on TV and say that you think someone should be dead. Not only that, but you shouldn't incite that the person that should do the killing is not actually a person, but your own national government. That is just plain stupid.

But this will definitely get spun by the right, and with alittle help from an article in a German newspaper calling Europe a coward for their lack of help with the Iraq War that's going on, Robertson will be shown as a bold thinker. Not to mention that Bush holds Robertson is his good graces. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to Robertson's comments, but I'm sure, even though he wont say it, Bush likes what he hears.

Now, personally, I've never been a fan of the Christian Right, or the melding of Church and State thats become so prevalent in our society today, but in all honesty, Robertson has gone balls out here. Now whether or not its the good kind of balls out or the bad here, thats not for me to decide, but I know we are certainly not talking about the Churchill speech against Hitler. That dude was nasty and he had it coming.

Just a side note, that article by the German fella I mentioned earlier is pretty interesting. He takes a sort of "i hate non-action" stance against Europe and I kinda dig that. Now as you might tell , I'm not a big Bush fan, but there's not a whole lot of praise for Bush in the article, just a show of respect for a man who's taking action and not sitting back until the last minute. I guess you could say Bush is that German's, Steven Segal. Or, mabye not.