Women's Crossroads

Oh, the audacity of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela! He is fast becoming a modern-day David, or, more colorfully, a Mighty Mouse of Latin America, rivaling and even surpassing his friend Fidel Castro in shaking his fist at the huge Goliath of our time, the US of A.

The difference between Castro and Chavez can be summed up in one short word: OIL. Sitting on top of one of the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, Hugo Chavez can literally afford to be cocky.

But what cheek, what gorgeous and appropriate rhetoric, to stand up at the United Nations and call George W. Bush the Devil himself!

The New York Times reported: "Speaking on Wednesday from the same lectern Mr. Bush had occupied the day before, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela announced, to gasps and even giggles: “The devil came here yesterday, right here.

“It smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of,” he said."

Can it be denied that Mr. Bush has led the U.S. with fire and brimstone, and the victims of American aggression abroad probably do feel themselves in hell? (On American military might, by the way, see David Unger's excellent Times Talking Points piece on the way billions of dollars of the Pentagon's budget are going to support obsolete, Cold-War era weaponry, money that could be much better used for education, welfare, and genuine efforts at Homeland Security (a phrase I detest)).

It didn't surprise me to hear that Chavez was making waves at the United Nations. What did surprise me, however, was the reaction of the audience. Times reporter Helene Cooper plays up the "gasps and giggles" in her article, burying down towards the end of the piece the fact that Chavez's performance was met by"loud applause that lasted so long that the organization’s officials had to tell the cheering group to cut it out."

He drove his ethical position home, Cooper reports, by pledging to "double the amount of heating oil Venezuela donates to poor communities in the United States. He reminded reporters that Citgo, which is owned by Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., delivered free and discounted oil to Indian tribal reservations and low-income neighborhoods in the United States, including the Bronx.

"“We are ready to double our oil donations,” Mr. Chávez said. “That is a Christian gesture.”"

Go Chavez!

I just want to take a minute to express my annoyance with Ms. Cooper for faithfully reporting that Chavez made the faux pas, in front of reporters, of saying that Noam Chomsky was already dead:

"He brandished a copy of Noam Chomsky’s “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance” and recommended it to members of the General Assembly to read. Later, he told a news conference that one of his greatest regrets was not getting to meet Mr. Chomsky before he died. (Mr. Chomsky, 77, is still alive.)"

How about cheering a world leader who actually reads and appreciates Noam Chomsky!

How many many many many faux pas has the press let our fearless leader GW Bush get away with? And what, pray tell, is his bedtime reading?

My advice to readers? Buy Citgo!

POSTSCRIPT, Sunday 9/24: Al-Jazeera reports that since Chavez told Americans they should read Chomsky's book, "Hegemony or Survival" has jumped to first place in sales, from its previous position at #26,000! How's that for a marketing ploy!