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Burnett's Urban Etiquette

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

I hate politics, but...

I've been listening to debate for several days on the speech Venezualan Pres. Hugo Chavez gave at the United Nations last week, and I've been trying to pretend I didn't care. But I have to weigh in: Hugo Chavez is a knucklehead.

There, I said it. And you know why I'm OK with saying it? 'Cause it's my opinion, and I'm saying it from a respectful distance. If I had said it while standing in his back yard, I'd expect him or his big brother to come outside and smack me in the mouth for my disrespect.

So, whether you like Pres. Bush or not, whether you voted for him or not, he is the Commander in Chief of the United States. And Hugo Chavez was out of line to come to the United States last week and call our president names. When I was a kid, my older sister and my female cousin who lived with my family used to practically torture me. The teasing was brutal. But when another kid tried to do the same to me, that duo would always check the other kid and say "Hands off. We may think he's a snot nosed brat, but he's our snot-nosed brat. You go home and beat up your own siblings."

And you eggheads out there don't leave me messages about the United Nations being international soil. You know what? The U.S. government pays most of the UN's bills, and that organization gets a nice building with a waterfront view virtually rent free. No matter how you define the UN, it's headquarters still rest within the United States. And those people who embraced Chavez and applauded his childish tongue-lashing? They're knuckleheads too.

7 Comments:

  • I feel your sense of national pride and disdain for others who feel they can come here and step on our flag, but JB, it's not like the man wasn't provoked. We did not treat him like the kind neighbor who is willing to give poor Americans oil where we citizens were not. In fact, the Bush administration supported a group that tried to assassinate the guy. This being a guy who, although he has socialist leanings, pays more lip service to being Christian and Catholic than anybody in at the helm of this country. He puts his money and the teachings of Christ where his mouth is. He shares the wealth with poor people. Any Republicans doing that? Any Godless Democrats (as the Neocons like to say) walking that path?

    I don't think you can blame him for being miffed or for stating the obvious--which is George W. Bush is Satan to Hugo Chavez. Don't go too far in being a Bush apologist--more often than not the mother-in-law who says her daughter's abuser "ain't that bad of a guy" gets killed right along with everyone else.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:44 PM  

  • Chavez needs Basic Diplomatic Protocol 101, regardless.

    By Blogger Maria de los Angeles, at 5:44 PM  

  • Knuckleheads all around. I sometimes fall into that category. But heck yeah - Chavez AND Bush could stand a little lesson in diplomacy.

    By Blogger Melissa, at 8:52 PM  

  • JB, thanks for your message. I agree, Chavez is a knucklehead. And I must respond to big daddy..."He shares the wealth with poor people."...are ya kidding me??? Venezuala has an 85% poverty rate. The UN is a joke, I'm tired of supporting it through my tax dollars...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:37 PM  

  • Big Daddy, you have got to be joking me. I have a dozen or so new friends who have recently moved here from Benezuela (as they call it). They moved her because their President doesn't give a flyin' (beep) for his own people, yet, he'll come to a foreign country and give oil away to spite our President and the patriots who support him. You're defending a man who stands beside other Third World leaders that want us dead. I could just imagine what you'd be saying about George Bush if the tables were turned. Wake up, man.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:26 AM  

  • Big daddy, you need to pay a little less attention to the media and more to some salient facts: Hugo Chaves is a murdering tyrant. Anything the "says" he is doing "to help the poor" is a bunch of crap. And I can name you ten Republicans in my neighborhood who are doing more for "the poor" than Hugo Chavez will ever do, and none of those people will ever have to worry about being hunted down and killed like dogs by their benefactors, either. Drop the newspapers, turn off the TV and radio and do some research yourself. You're a damned smart guy, and you should be better informed than that.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:40 PM  

  • Well, James, having read yr blog, & the comments, I agree with Big Daddy.

    Maybe Americans who wonder why some of the rest of the world gets really ticked off with them should try seeing things from someone else's point of view for a change.

    Or even researching other peoples' points of view - preferably from the other people & NOT via American media.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:41 PM  

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