The rigs, located in Monagas, Anzoategui and Zulia states, will be taken over by state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the official news agency AVN said.PDVSA had asked the legislature controlled by supporters of leftist President Hugo Chavez to take over the rigs after the US firm declined to negotiate a new service contract, unlike 32 other foreign firms.
"Somehow people say, why are you doing that, I'm not sure that's good politics. I'm doing it because I said I was going to do it and I think it's the right thing to do. People should learn that lesson about me because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits and debt step-up because I'm calling their bluff. We'll see how much of that, how much of the political arguments that they're making right now are real and how much of it was just politics."
I was at a party last weekend and had the opportunity to talk to a young man who had voted for B. Hussein Obama. I tried hard not to interrogate him, but asked him a lot of questions and then tried to shed some light on his answers. I discovered that he only had half the truth and absolutely refused to believe that BO was a communist (or ever a socialist) or that there were people in the government intentionally trying to collapse this country. 1) US acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2) US willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3) Develop the illusion that total disarmament by the US would be a demonstration of "moral strength."
4) Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5) Extension of long term loans to Russia and Soviet Satellites.
6) Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7) Grant recognition of Red China, and admission of Red China to the UN.
8) Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the Germany question by free elections under supervision of the UN.
9) Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the US has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10) Allow all Soviet Satellites individual representation in the UN.
11) Promote the UN as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the UN as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo).
12) Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13) Do away with loyalty oaths.
14) Continue giving Russia access to the US Patent Office.
15) Capture one or both of the political parties in the US.
16) Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions, by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17) Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for Socialism, and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers associations. Put the party line in text books.18) Gain control of all student newspapers.19) Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.20) Infiltrate the press. Get control of book review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.21) Gain control of key positions in radio, TV & motion pictures.22) Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all form of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings," substitute shapeless, awkward, and meaningless forms.
23) Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24) Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25) Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography, and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.26) Present homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as "normal, natural, and healthy."27) Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a "religious crutch."28) Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."29) Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.30) Discredit the American founding fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man".31) Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of "the big picture": Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32) Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture - - education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33) Eliminate all laws or procedures, which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34) Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35) Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36) Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37) Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38) Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand or treat.
39) Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40) Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.41) Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.42) Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special interest groups should rise up and make a "united force" to solve economic, political, or social problems.
43) Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44) Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45) Repeal the Connally Reservation so the US can not prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
It sounds to me like Gen Stanley McChrystal may have more sense than I had previously given him credit for.
Glenn Beck just released his new thriller The Overton Window. I have not read it yet, but will eventually.
Thank you Woodsterman for this picture. Please head over to The Right Truth for more information. I couldn't have covered it as well as Debbie has.
I have been playing ostrich the past two days thinking maybe if I bury my head in the sand for a while, things won't sound quite so bad. I pulled my head out this afternoon and found that things actually look much worse.The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PCNAA) bill introduced by Sen. Lieberman would give the federal government the power to shut down the internet.
I haven't written about the oil spill, though I have been following it diligently.
I'm hot. In more ways than one. It's going to be 100 degrees here today and I just noticed I have bats living under the overhang of my bay window.
Things have been quiet the last few weeks. Too quiet. So I set out to see what kind of surprises our politicians have in the works for us.
What about his wife, Bernadine Dohrn? What is their relationship with Barrack Obama and why should we care?Students for a Democratic Society is an association of young people on the left. It seeks to create a sustained community of educational and political concern: one bringing together liberals and radicals, activists and scholars, students and faculty.
The chickens think they hear something....
I thought Trevor was going to go after one of my little chicks. He doesn't have claws so I don't think he could take down one of the big chickens, nevertheless, I was watching closely. He got Flag in his sights (see sidebar for Flag's picture), hunkered down, got ready to pounce, then changed course and pounced my rooster!!! This picture of Woody is a couple weeks old. He is much bigger now.
Much clucking and fluttering ensued.
But the chickens ended up back where they belong."I say seize their assets. Right now. Seize their assets today. Take over the [company]. I don't care [how]. Issue an executive order...Call it socialism, call it communism, call it anything you want. Let's watch Rush Limbaugh explode on TV...Seize the assets. Take over BP."
I have a large vegetable garden. Each year I grow tomatoes, peppers, beans, eggplants, squash, zucchini, beets, chard and various other things. Without fail, when I tell people about my garden, they ask, "Is it organic?"
