Chavez threatens to cut oil if U.S. questions vote

[ehostler]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americ...est/index.html

I would gladly pay more for fuel, if it keeps my money out of this guys pockets.

Heck, I thought that they were part of OPEC. That means if he cuts production to us, other members will increase production to make up the difference. So, no real loss to us, only to him.

Can't we get someone in there to take out his prick?

[Dave 572]

I find his timing interesting in that oil is heading downward again.If his threat was sucessful it would certainly drive oil prices back up.Chavez was seen last week with his NBF Iranian president Ahmadinejad.No doubt they were concocting schemes to keep oil high as it benefits the both of them.

Didn't Bush remove the "No Assassination of Foreign Leaders" rule? I thought he hid it in one of the spending/funding bills? Black Ops to the rescue.

[Frankie]

"No Assassination of Foreign Leaders" rule. Just another self impost limit we set upon ourselves that no other country has to live up to (no pun intended).

[Grandmas67]

Maybe higher oil prices is just the ticket to give the gov't a kick in the pants and remove drilling and production restrictions.
Btw...what exactly is the offense the U.S. committed against Venezuela anyway? Yeah yeah...I know....imperialist America....blah blah blah...but seriously what's the problem?

[Dave 572]

Originally Posted by Frankie

"No Assassination of Foreign Leaders" rule. Just another self impost limit we set upon ourselves that no other country has to live up to (no pun intended).

It would be quite a can of worms if a "hit" were ever traced back to us.I think We'd be the first suspects anyway.I believe the Rule was in place before Castro took power.I don't know how long before though.

[ehostler]

Maybe it is the fact that our leadership has publicly condemned this man and his policies.

[nhdriver]

This Chavez is a no good commie SOB. If the Venizualan people have any doubts what their in for, they should look at Cuba. Right now Chavez is trying to change their constitution so he can grab more & more power. Basic consumer comidities are disapearing from store shelves. The people are rioting in the streets. And this clown has the nads to call Bush satin?

[Jim 65B]

I say we beat him to the punch and ban all imports from Venezuela, and be sure to make it publicly known there just why its being done.
Lets see how much his people love him when the find out his loudmouth is responsible for their loss of income...that sounds familiar, hmmmmmm.....

[Dave 572]

Originally Posted by nhdriver

This Chavez is a no good commie SOB.

So is China, but that isn't stopping us from giving them the keys to this country.

Originally Posted by Jim 65B

I say we beat him to the punch and ban all imports from Venezuela, and be sure to make it publicly known there just why its being done.
Lets see how much his people love him when the find out his loudmouth is responsible for their loss of income...that sounds familiar, hmmmmmm.....

Yep, Castro tactics.Hopefully,incite a coup.That,or make a deal with one of the paramilitary drug cartels to take him out.

[John Kunkel]

Originally Posted by Frankie

"No Assassination of Foreign Leaders" rule. Just another self impost limit we set upon ourselves that no other country has to live up to (no pun intended).

What makes you think the U.S. leaders would honor that policy when they routinely violate so many others?

I don't see Chavez as any more deplorable than many other world leaders the U.S. sucks up to.

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by John Kunkel

I don't see Chavez as any more deplorable than many other world leaders the U.S. sucks up to.

I don't doubt that.

[memnoch451]

Originally Posted by Dave 572

It would be quite a can of worms if a "hit" were ever traced back to us.I think We'd be the first suspects anyway.I believe the Rule was in place before Castro took power.I don't know how long before though.

It's kinda been a rule for like the last 2000 years.

But, it's been a rule the United states has blown off in the past.

I'm all for wiping out the other guy...one way or another!

[Nomomoney]

HMMMM!! I was under the impression that the USA imported and refined a lot of oil for that sorry nutbag. For those of you who don't know, he owns Citgo. So if you are buying Citgo gas or products, stop now. I haven't bought anything with the Citgo logo on it for several years. He's doing his best to become a dictator just like Castro and if he's as far in bed with Iranian president I'manutjob,as the Whitehouse is with Israel, then we'd all better get prepared for some wild stuff in the future. It wouldn't surprise me if Chavez buys a "Bomb" from I'manutjob as soon as he has more than one and then points it straight at us from down south. I'm with Jim65B, let's stop all imports from Venzuela including their athletes. That'll sure screw with his economy for a little while.

[Dave 572]

Originally Posted by Nomomoney

HMMMM!! I was under the impression that the USA imported and refined a lot of oil for that sorry nutbag. For those of you who don't know, he owns Citgo.

We import 1 million barrels a day from Venezuela according to an article in today's paper.You want to see gas prices really go up?Take his supply out of our pipeline.

It was also reported that Chavez has ordered all of Citgo's assets sold off.Also reported is that he's negotiating with China to buy the 1 million barrels he's not going to send here.So,it looks like he's serious.

We're going to have to take him out.If we're ever on the edge of a recession,the loss of that much oil will push us over the edge.

[DanL]

Oil is a fungible commodity.

Boycotting Citgo won't affect anything, except maybe to make you feel better.

[Dave 572]

Originally Posted by DanL

Oil is a fungible commodity.

Boycotting Citgo won't affect anything, except maybe to make you feel better.

True.If everyone boycotted Exxon they would sell the gas in Europe or to another U.S. oil company.

[ehostler]

1 million BPD is a drop in the bucket. Look at how much oil we import every day. Look how much we export every day.

Also, like I said, OPEC will shift that Million BPD to come from another country. Chavez can Chav it up his az.

[Dave 572]

Originally Posted by ehostler

1 million BPD is a drop in the bucket. Look how much we export every day.

I agree,but look how the prices spike when even the talk of 250,000 is taken out of the supply chain.Sure you can get the oil somewhere else,but the price is still driven up by increased demand.

China will buy Chavez' oil and will still compete for the extra 1M bbls that OPEC will over supply.It creates additional instability in the market and that's what speculators feed on.

Also, like I said, OPEC will shift that Million BPD to come from another country. Chavez can Chav it up his az.

Forget how to spell "ass",Ed?lol

[ehostler]

It looks like it no longer matters. Chavez lost this round of voting, so the US has nothing to speak out about. Chavez will not be allowed to run in 2012.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/...a_constitution

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez suffered a stunning defeat Monday in a referendum that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely and impose a socialist system in this major U.S. oil provider.

Voters defeated the sweeping measures Sunday by a vote of 51 percent to 49 percent, said Tibisay Lucena, chief of the National Electoral Council, with voter turnout at just 56 percent.

She said that with 88 percent of the votes counted, the trend was irreversible.

Opposition supporters shouted with joy as Lucena announced the results on national television early Monday, their first victory against Chavez after nine years of electoral defeats.

Some broke down in tears. Others began chanting "And now he's going away!"

"This was a photo finish," Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace, adding that unlike past Venezuelan governments, his respects the people's will.

Exactly a year ago, Chavez won re-election with 63 percent of the vote.

"Don't feel sad," Chavez urged supporters, especially given the "microscopic differences" between the "yes" and "no" options in a referendum that opponents feared could have meant a plunge toward dictatorship.

Chavez's supporters said he would have used the reforms to deepen grass-roots democracy and more equitably spread Venezuela's oil wealth.

The changes would have created new forms of communal property, let Chavez handpick local leaders under a redrawn political map, permit civil liberties to be suspended under extended states of emergency and allow Chavez to seek re-election indefinitely. Now, Chavez will be barred from running again in 2012.

Other changes would have shortened the workday from eight hours to six, created a social security fund for millions of informal laborers and promoted communal councils where residents decide how to spend government funds. The reforms also would have granted Chavez control over the Central Bank and extended presidential terms from six to seven years.

"To those who voted against my proposal, I thank them and congratulate them," Chavez said.

But he also urged calm and restraint. "I ask all of you to go home, know how to handle your victory," Chavez said. "You won it. I wouldn't have wanted that Pyrrhic victory."

Yet he made it clear he would remain a formidable foe.

Echoing words he spoke when as an army officer he was captured and jailed for leading a failed 1992 coup, he said: "For now, we couldn't."

The ever combative Chavez had warned opponents ahead of the vote he would not tolerate attempts to incite violence, and threatened to cut off oil exports to the U.S. if Washington interfered.

All was reported calm during Sunday's voting but 45 people were detained, most for committing ballot-related crimes like "destroying electoral materials," said Gen. Jesus Gonzalez, chief of a military command overseeing security.

At a polling station in one politically divided Caracas neighborhood, Chavez supporters shouted "Get out of here!" to opposition backers who stood nearby aiming to monitor the vote count. A few dozen Chavistas rode by on motorcycles with bandanas and hats covering their faces, some throwing firecrackers.

Opponents — including Roman Catholic leaders, press freedom groups, human rights groups and prominent business leaders — feared the reforms would have granted Chavez unchecked power and threatened basic rights.

Cecilia Goldberger, a 56-year-old voting in affluent eastern Caracas, said Venezuelans did not really understand how Chavez's power grab would affect them. She resented pre-dawn, get-out-the-vote tactics by Chavistas, including fireworks and reveille blaring from speakers mounted on cruising trucks.

"I refuse to be treated like cattle and I refuse to be part of a communist regime," the Israeli-born Goldberger said, adding that she and her businessman husband hope to leave the country.

Chavez, 53, is seen by many as a champion of the poor who has redistributed more oil wealth than any other leader in memory.

Tensions have surged in recent weeks as university students led protests and occasionally clashed with police and Chavista groups.

Lucena called the vote "the calmest we've had in the last 10 years."

[Frankie]

2012 gives him plenty of time to "change things", so to speak.

[REDNECKMOBILE]

How about giving the fellow a break, before he went into power that country was a play ground for the rich that abused the poor at will just like most of the other countries in that area. Chavez is like Castro in that he cares about his people, both of them hold a trait that should be common with all the world's leaders but that would be dreaming. And before you start bashing just think what if Castro had all the oil and we had none, count your blessings my friend, charity is our only hope of survival in this world so praise those that help their fellow countrymen not condemn them.

[peg leg]

There is a simple solution to offshore oil dependency. First, recognize that only about 20% of our crude comes from offshore. Most comes from Canada, Mexico and our own fields.
Now we happen to have a few trillion barrels of crude sitting in ANWR and in deeper pools off the Gulf coast and Kalifornia coastal areas. A couple of years ago, our magnificent congress managed to prevent the environmentally safe and critically important exploitation of that supply. Sure makes you wonder where our priorities are! The solution is right in our back yard.

[John Kunkel]

Originally Posted by REDNECKMOBILE

Chavez is like Castro in that he cares about his people, both of them hold a trait that should be common with all the world's leaders but that would be dreaming.

Around here that trait gets you labeled "socialist". It seems that caring about citizens of the rest of the world is OK but caring about your own makes you a "bleeding heart Liberal".