http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1729156220101217
- - - CARACAS, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Venezuela's parliament gave President Hugo Chavez decree powers for 18 months on Friday, outraging opposition parties that accused him of turning South America's biggest oil producer into a dictatorship. The move consolidated the firebrand socialist leader's hold on power after nearly 12 years in office, and raised the prospect of a fresh wave of nationalizations as the former paratrooper seeks to entrench his self-styled "revolution." Chavez had asked for the fast-track powers for one year, saying he needed them to deal with a national emergency caused by floods that drove nearly 140,000 people from their homes. But the Assembly, which is dominated by loyalists from his Socialist Party, decided to extend them for a year and a half. - - - Ah, Democracy! The outgoing Congress has cleverly concealed many subtle and not-so-subtle power-grabbing instruments in Baby Raila's executive toolbox in the tens of thousands of unread pages of legislation they rammed through in the last 2 years, the climax of which would have been the Omnibus Budget bill that, by the grace of God, went down in flames. But Barry knows it's now unlikely that he can outright declare himself dictator a la Chavez, which is why he's so glum and decided to just enjoy the perks of the office and let everyone else do the heavy lifting for him (letting Bubba enjoy another 15 minutes of megalomaniacal fame with the White House Press Corps last week so he could go to a party was a surreal but nonetheless case-in-point example of this). - Publius -- "It ought never to be forgotten, that a firm union of this country, under an efficient government, will probably be an increasing object of jealousy to more than one nation of Europe; and that enterprises to subvert it will sometimes originate in the intrigues of foreign powers, and will seldom fail to be patronized and abetted by some of them. Its preservation, therefore ought in no case that can be avoided, to be committed to the guardianship of any but those whose situation will uniformly beget an immediate interest in the faithful and vigilant performance of the trust." [Federalist Papers #59] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
