Chile's New President...

[Guest]

... a woman!

Rock on

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060311/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/chile_bachelet_inauguration

 

[rgraham666]

I hope Chile's and the U.S. 'free trade' agreement works better than the one the U.S. signed with us.

The one the U.S. pays no attention to unless it's in their favour.

 

[CopyCarver]

I hope Chile's and the U.S. 'free trade' agreement works better than the one the U.S. signed with us.

The one the U.S. pays no attention to unless it's in their favour.

True, no doubt, but I'm personlly hoping that the White House treats Michelle Bachelet better than Nixon treated Allende.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

True, no doubt, but I'm personlly hoping that the White House treats Michelle Bachelet better than Nixon treated Allende.

I just hope that she doesn't BEHAVE like Allende. Not exactly the model of "freedom-loving" leader that lefties would have us believe. Some of his repressive measures during the trucking strike come to mind, for instance.

 

[Liar]

I just hope that she doesn't BEHAVE like Allende. Not exactly the model of "freedom-loving" leader that lefties would have us believe. Some of his repressive measures during the trucking strike come to mind, for instance.

Allende was a hardcore controllist and a thoroughly incompetent diplomat. But still... staging a coup and having him shot seems to be a bit...ah...hyperbolic.

 

[TheEarl]

I hope Chile's and the U.S. 'free trade' agreement works better than the one the U.S. signed with us.

The one the U.S. pays no attention to unless it's in their favour.

Strange, that's just like the extradition treaty that the US signed with us!

Sooner or later, the USA's going to lose all its friends.

The Earl

 

[amicus]

Amazing how so many Litsters are ready to jump on the bandwagon for any woman doing anything, anywhere.

And never take the time to judge whether the examples of women in political life in the past three quarters of a century is a good thing or not.

Ah, well, push that agenda, perhaps she will be a lesbian politician, then you can really jump up and down and hug each other.

amicus....

 

[Liar]

Amazing how so many Litsters are ready to jump on the bandwagon for any woman doing anything, anywhere.

And never take the time to judge whether the examples of women in political life in the past three quarters of a century is a good thing or not.

*shrug* Not that I've kept statistics, but it seems to be as equally good and bad as when there are men in charge.

I guess that some female leaders get elected with the novelty merit of being women. On the other hand, a male opponenet probably gains votes for NOT being a woman too that has nothing to do with their leadership qualities. So sometimes women get elected in spite of being women, and have to show extra good merits as statemen instead.

In the case of Bachelet, I'm not sure either applies. She seems to be an excellent public leader, a skilled politician and a merited negotiator. I can't say I agree with all of her policies but it's not my country she is running, so why would I? A 50/50 government of men and women is no news to me either. It has been tradition in Sweden since the beginning of the 90's. As long as there are enough merited and experienced people for the posts, I can't see what the problem with that would be.

 

[CopyCarver]

Amazing how so many Litsters are ready to jump on the bandwagon for any woman doing anything, anywhere.

And never take the time to judge whether the examples of women in political life in the past three quarters of a century is a good thing or not.

Ah, well, push that agenda, perhaps she will be a lesbian politician, then you can really jump up and down and hug each other.

amicus....

Personally, I don't care about the gender of political leaders. I merely hope that they won't be total vermin.

As for judging whether the examples of women in political life in the past three quarters of a century is a good thing or not, I don't see any evidence that women have yet produced a Hitler, Stalin, Khomeini, or Milošević.

 

[CopyCarver]

I just hope that she doesn't BEHAVE like Allende. Not exactly the model of "freedom-loving" leader that lefties would have us believe. Some of his repressive measures during the trucking strike come to mind, for instance.

You're referring to the trucker's strike that originated not with Chilean truckers but in the White House, as part of Nixon's plot to "make the Chilean economy scream"--a policy that was instituted after three giant corporations threatened to make public its bribes to Nixon unless he protected their corporate profits by deposing Allende when he showed signs of objecting to their looting of Chilean natural resources...a strike intended to stir up revolution when people began starving because food could not reach cities in a 4,000 mile long country if trucks weren't moving...a strike financed by feloniously misappropriated U.S. tax dollars...a strike that was one small part of a systematic oppression that violated US, Chilean, and international law. (All of the above are documented by sworn testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, by Nixon's own Ambassador to Chile, and by White House documents obtained by the National Security Archives under the Freedom of Information Act.)

Not exactly the best example for "righties" to cite when trying to peddle the same shopworn propoganda that was thoroughly discredited thirty years ago.

 

[rgraham666]

Don't you understand, CopyCarver?

They were battling Communism. Things like ethics and restraint had no place in such a conflict. The evil of the enemy made it necessary to use every tool at their disposal, no matter how wicked.

Snort! Knew I'd never be able to say that with a straight face.

 

[CopyCarver]

Don't you understand, CopyCarver?

They were battling Communism. Things like ethics and restraint had no place in such a conflict. The evil of the enemy made it necessary to use every tool at their disposal, no matter how wicked.

Snort! Knew I'd never be able to say that with a straight face.

Thanks for clearing that up. I should have realized that hypocritically puffing and blowing about "anti-communism" and "law and order" didn't give Nixon merely the right--but rather a sacred duty to be one of the few life forms lower than a syphillis germ.

 

[rgraham666]

It's been my experience that people who make a big deal about 'Law And Order' are usually more interested in order than law.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

It's been my experience that people who make a big deal about 'Law And Order' are usually more interested in order than law.

Not me. BOTH are important. I just also care for justice. Law is good. Loopholes are not.

As for Allende, he was not only overreacting to a strike (admittedly sponsored by outsiders, but still a strike based on valid grievances), he also helped people seize land (a la Robert Mugabe, which he probably inspired), stole the mines, and planned to dissolve Congress and replace it with a rubber-stamp assembly. The man had designs of taking away Chilean freedoms. He may have been elected, but so was Juan Peron, whom no one deems a champion of freedom (except Peronists, that is). So was Hugo Chavez. Being elected is no guarantee of respecting freedoms.

 

[Munachi]

As for Allende, he was not only overreacting to a strike (admittedly sponsored by outsiders, but still a strike based on valid grievances), he also helped people seize land (a la Robert Mugabe, which he probably inspired), stole the mines, and planned to dissolve Congress and replace it with a rubber-stamp assembly. The man had designs of taking away Chilean freedoms. He may have been elected, but so was Juan Peron, whom no one deems a champion of freedom (except Peronists, that is). So was Hugo Chavez. Being elected is no guarantee of respecting freedoms.

i know quite a few people would now say "see, for example, bush." but not being american i should probably stay out of this...

as for allende - well he surely had his bad sides (which are one of the favorite topics of a professor of mine, who himself was part of the chilean left wing movements of the time, i think, and who recently published a book about racism and homophoby and similar things in earlier writings by allende) but the things you mentioned he did don't really sound like they are all taht worse than having several thousand people killed, as pinochet did...

anyway, as for bachelet, i hope she does her job well, and anything else i will say after she has been in office for a while.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Not me. BOTH are important. I just also care for justice. Law is good. Loopholes are not.

As for Allende, he was not only overreacting to a strike (admittedly sponsored by outsiders, but still a strike based on valid grievances), he also helped people seize land (a la Robert Mugabe, which he probably inspired), stole the mines, and planned to dissolve Congress and replace it with a rubber-stamp assembly. The man had designs of taking away Chilean freedoms. He may have been elected, but so was Juan Peron, whom no one deems a champion of freedom (except Peronists, that is). So was Hugo Chavez. Being elected is no guarantee of respecting freedoms.

Besides the fact that Adolph Hitler was elected.

Allende was a novelty in that he was one of the very few leftists ever elected, even though he did only receive about a third of the votes cast. Had there been a runoff, he probably would have lost, although that is a moot point now.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Stand athwart history and shout, “Hurry Up!”

Wish I could take credit, but this was forwarded from a friend. R.A.

"VALPARAISO, Chile -- Michelle Bachelet, a Socialist pediatrician who suffered prison, torture and exile under Chile's military dictatorship, was sworn in as the nation's first female president on Saturday.

"She is expected to maintain (fellow Socialist and outgoing President Ricardo) Lagos' free market economic policies that have made Chile's economy one of the healthiest in Latin America. The country had a $5 billion surplus in 2005."
WSJ news story

Twenty years ago, who would have imagined these two paragraphs would appear in the same article? Set aside legitimate concerns over the accuracy of the terms involved. Instead, just reflect on the fact that an avowed socialist is expected to maintain “free market policies” that are broadly recognized as the source of a developing country’s economic success.

I may stand athwart history and shout, “Hurry Up!”