Meanwhile in Venezuela - and then some

The situation is bedded for dissent as rival political forces fight for advantage using every trick in the 'dirty politics' handbook. The opposition is claiming that Chavez Frias is attempting to put a spoke in the wheel of their democratic intent to overthrow him where a violent coup d'etat failed in April 2002 and their efforts to bankrupt the national economy likewise failed in a 2-month national stoppage, December-January 2003.

Indications are strong that the political opposition against reform President Hugo Chavez Frias is losing strength and that the grossly over-inflated claim they had made of 3.4 million signatures gathered November 28-December 1 will ultimately be proven to be a sham.

Currently the opposition is making a lot of brouhaha about the already established mechanics of verification and auditing of their claimed 3.4 million signatures but they have quietly admitted that the actual, verifiable figure is closer to 1.9 million ... which is corroborated by the autonomous CNE as promised within 30 days, will render a shattering blow to their anti-government ambitions since 2.4 million are required under terms laid out in the 1999 Constitution.  article

But what the opposition does have is U.S. backing and funding.    (More articles on Venezuela.)

Presidents Chirac and Chavez Frias share the same concern in relation to Sustainable Development and...both are urging increased dedication to eradicating poverty. Brought together, the Presidential proposals to explore financing of Sustainable Development could take place in a great International Forum on Sustainable Development which might be held in Venezuela in May, 2004 ... if this happens, the Venezuelans and the French might collectively be able to put out the burning fire of endemic poverty in this world.  article

Let's see...where does the U.S. stand on poverty and sustainability? Let them eat cake, and sustain the CEOs.

Here's something I didn't know (which covers a lot of territory): When Paul O'Neill was secretary of treasury at the beginning of Dumbya's unofficial office, as a result of the Enron scandal, O'Neill proposed a new standard for CEOs - instead of being held to account on the basis of "reckless" behavior, they would be held to a "negligent" standard. In other words, if they didn't know their company was screwing its stockholders, or playing funny with the money, they should know and would be held accountable. CEOs all over the country wrote to the White House to protest the idea. (I wonder if Bernie Ebbers was one of them.) Of course, it didn't get enacted. And the actual reason given was that there would be too many lawsuits filed for the SEC to handle. Again, in other words, there are so many CEOs out there overseeing companies involved in unethical business practices that the resultant number of lawsuits would overwhelm the system. Therefore, don't make laws that would stop Enron type accounting. Go on with your business, gentlemen. The government won't stand in your way.

And while I'm on the subject of what I didn't know and Paul O'Neill - I had early posted that I thought it was a subtle, yet impactful misstatement for reporters to talk about Paul O'Neill's statements in the Suskind book referring to O'Neill as having been fired, when technically he had resigned. I hadn't been aware of Paul O'Neill's trials and tribulations, and so when I googled him, all I found was that he had resigned. Clearly, he was fired.

From The Price of Loyalty:

"We'd really like to do this in an amicable and gracious way. The President thinks you should say you decided to return to private life, and you can decide whatever timing is good for you." [Dick Cheney phone call.]

...O'Neill paused and gathered himself. "You know, Dick, this is fine. The President is entitled to have people around him who he wants around him. What I'd like to do is announce it tomorrow morning...I'm not willing to say I want to return to private life, becasue I'm too old to begin telling lies now...I'm not going to say I quit."
pp. 310-311

The phone rang. It was Andy Card.

"The Vice President tells me the President would like to meet with you at four p.m. or four-thirty tomorrow. How does that sound?"

O'Neill thought that through - it took only a second. "Andy, I don't think he needs another meeting, and, for sure, I don't need another meeting with him."
p. 313

And here's a little something that ought to make your boots feel a little tight - when O'Neill came back from a trip to Africa suggesting that the U.S. could dig wells to bring clean water to all of Ghana for only about $25 million, he was met with blank silence.

As Bush looked blankly at him, O'Neill's mind raced through all the excuses he'd heard over the past few weeks: "That, you know, 'Oh God, we can't establish goals like that, because what if it failed, we'll be held up to ridicule for not being able to organize it.' But that's what leadership is all about. This is just an engineering problem. Then they said, 'Well, there aren't enough drill rigs.' I said, 'Bullshit.' There are all kinds of drill rigs you could put together for multiple thousands of dollars, but it's not a huge amount of money to do the kind of drilling that needs to be done." The other argument was, 'Oh my god, what if we succeed? Then everyone will want this and expect us to do the same thing.' When he had gone around Africa, he had been thinking about the hundreds of billions of dollars spent in economic assistance since the 1950s. What the hell was so important that water didn't make the cut?
p. 267

Okay, your boots still feel fine, but you haven't seen this yet:

O'Neill met with Powell at the State Department..."If we bring the water, it's something, Colin, we'll be remembered for - and remembered favorably for - long after the two of us are gone."....Powell said he'd have to think through the geopolitical logistics. A common refrain at State was that fresh water - growing scarce in many parts of the world - would be the oil of the twenty-first century.

How about privatizing water? It's being done. And it isn't pretty.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.