Mikaela says:
I offer the following translation of Bush’s statement on Venezuela and Bolivia yesterday.
from Democracy Now
Bush Warns of “Erosion of Democracy” in Venezuela & Bolivia
President Bush warned Monday that Venezuela and Bolivia are suffering from what he described as an “erosion of democracy.” [Read: “erosion of neoliberalism” which, for the record, is NOT the same.]
[These are democratically-elected leaders, voted in OVERWHELMINGLY by poor citizens who SUPPORT their methods.]
Bush’s comments come a week after the U.S. cut off military sales to Venezuela and three weeks after Bolivia announced it would nationalize its natural gas resources.
Bush said he had a message for Venezuela, Bolivia and other nations in the hemisphere.
President Bush: I am going to continue to remind our hemisphere that respect for property rights [as opposed to business records, according to the NSA flap] and human rights [except in the case of anyone we randomly deem to be a “threat to national security” who we jail without the basic right of habeas corpus or oh, I don’t know, freedom from torture – both psychological and/or physical] is essential for all countries in order for there to be prosperity and peace. [Read: prosperity for US and peace from our bombing you “back into the stone ages” for daring to oppose our corporate interests.]
I'm going to remind our allies and friends in the neighborhood that the United States of America stands for justice [for ourselves and in the situations we declare are just and with no recourse for you]; that when we see poverty [in other countries], we care about it [because it gives us an excuse to invade your country] and we do something about it [except in cases of severe distress of our own citizens who happen to be poor and/or black and living in, say, Louisiana or Mississippi]; that we care for good -- we stand for good health care [when it serves our rhetorical needs but not for our own citizens]. I'm going to remind our people that meddling in other elections is [by other people in other countries – certainly not here, where I thank my lucky stars that I have friends in the electronic voting machine business] -- to achieve a short-term objective [if it’s for long-term objectives, okay] is not in the interest of the neighborhood [read: for US].
The hypocrisy is sickening. To declare so openly the opposite of what Bush works for … I know I shouldn’t be surprised or outraged anymore. I can’t help it; this guy blows my mind every time.
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