And Chavez isn't actively stamping out free press afaik, he didn't renew the license of a particular tv station. That's questionable, but not illegal by any means. But consider this article:
http://www.freepress.net/news/20947
[quote]Chavez as Castro? It’s Not that Simple in Venezuela
From Houston Chronicle, February 6, 2007
By Bart Jones
Alarm bells are sounding in Washington, on Wall Street and around the world over President Hugo Chavez’s latest moves to consolidate his Bolivarian Revolution in oil-rich Venezuela. He is — we are told — shutting down a television station, creating a single-party state, nationalizing key industries including some major oil projects, threatening perpetual re-election and vowing to impose “21st century socialism.â€
Statistics: Posted by Rinox — Sat Feb 24, 2007 10:59 am
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But take Bolivia for example: Chavez definitely isn't perfect and is gathering an awful lot of power (parliament gave him personal authorisationin some fields), but has undubitably and vastly improved the social situation in Bolivia and is immensely popular. His elections and authorisations are all a result of popular vote. You can rig an election, but the type of landslide victories Chavez gets can't be staged with the EU and the US paying close attention like they do. Heck he even survived a CIA coup attempt.
As for the government...well, don't be fooled: the top politicians don't really make that much money, compared to the filthy rich business top managers. In fact, they're beggars in comparison. That doesn't mean they should waste our hard-earned tax money, but still. I worked at the Belgian minister of Home Office's personal department (about 40 ppl) for a month as an intern as you know, and yes there is a lot of slacking and money-wasting going on. And I wish I had a cool car with a personal driver as well.
But I've also seen that the minister (and the heads of the different cells) doesn't have a life. No life at all. He wakes up at 7, works, works, works, goes to bed at 12. No matter if it's Monday, Sunday or any other day. I believe he had an hour or two for his family on Sundays, wow. Heh, point being: for working like a madman they don't really make that much money. Of course, the UK and US are bigger countries so the ministers will make more money too, even though they can't humanly do more work than a Belgian minister (only 24 hours in a day). Anyway, I'm just saying: politics is a calling for 95% of the ppl involved, the wages really aren't that spectacular. They only start making BIG money when they retire from politics and become board members in big companies.The Health Service thing is tragic, of course, but it's not just about money or how its spent. The US spends a multitude on the public school system compared to many other countries, yet it is one of the worst failing school systems of the West. The reason? Who'll say...mentality problems, bad training, whatever. It's the same with health services. But beats me who's gonna reform it though. You'd think that it'd be a lot easier in the British political system to make drastic changes, with the two-party system. But apparently not.
Statistics: Posted by Rinox — Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:41 am
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