Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

February 28, 2014 By Fausta

Just what the Venezuelans need: Jimmy Carter!

As if the country wasn’t hapless enough already, Jimmy Carter’s on his way: Former President Plans on Visiting Country Amid Riots

Daniel Duquenal posts his Open letter to Jimmy Carter: Don’t you have any shame?

I can assure you that half of the country has no respect nor credibility for you and the other half thinks you are a mere fool that they can use and discard as needed.

Go read it all.

UPDATE:
Linked to by Pirate’s Cove. Thank you!

Share

Filed Under: Communism, Jimmy Carter, news, Venezuela Tagged With: #LaSalida, #SOSVenezuela, Fausta's blog

July 5, 2013 By Fausta

Venezuela: A circus without a ringmaster

The Economist sizes it up:
Venezuela’s government
A circus without a ringmaster
Radicals, former soldiers and Cuban spies jostle for control of the Venezuelan ring

During the presidential election campaign, Mr Maduro was seen as the favoured candidate not just of his predecessor but also of Cuba, Venezuela’s closest ally. A month ago, however, Mr Cabello made a three-day visit to Havana, holding meetings with President Raúl Castro and his brother, Fidel. The trip came shortly after the leaking of the Silva recording. No one knows what sort of deal the Cubans may have struck with Mr Cabello. For the moment, he and Mr Maduro are locked in a macho Latin embrace, of the kind some say was devised as a way for each man to frisk the other for weapons.

Maduro was in Havana reviewing the promotions of military officers of the Venezuelan Armed Forces (h/t Babalu). Cuban intelligence officers are tracking Venezuela’s opposition. If there is a ringmaster, he’s most likely Cuban.

I mentioned a while ago that Maduro may not last long in power, and his successor may be Cabello, not Capriles. Only time will tell.

Over at the Carter Center, they’re having qualms over the quality of the voting conditions and whether every registered voter is able to vote one time, and only one time.

But fret not, unctuous Jimmy had already given his Seal of Approval to the Venezuela Election.

Share

Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, Cubazuela, elections, Jimmy Carter, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog

March 31, 2011 By Fausta

Jimmy comes back empty-handed

Remember that Jimmy Carter was heading to Cuba? He was invited by the Cuban government, and supposedly was going to get Alan Gross released.

Well, he got there, dressed like the natives, kissed up to the Castro brothers, called Fidel “an old friend”,

asked the US to release five convicts,

Bypassing ancillary issues such as the lack of freedom on the island and the enslavement of 11-million Cubans, Carter instead demanded that the U.S. release the Cuban 5. Those are the same five convicted Cuban spies who are serving prison time for espionage and the murder of four innocent American pilots who were shot down over international waters by Castro MiGs.

met with Yoani Sanchez, her husband, Claudia Cadelo and Laritza Diversent, and Alan Gross remains in jail

when the 86-year-old ex-president flew off in the afternoon without Alan Gross on board, it dashed the hopes of Washington officials and relatives who had hoped Carter would be able to bring the Maryland native home.

The Obama administration missed the opportunity months ago when it eased restrictions on Cuba without demanding Gross’s released.

As Instapundit puts it,

And we probably have decades of similar stuff to look forward to once Barack Obama is an ex-president.

Indeed.

Cross-posted at The Green Room and Real Clear World.

25760
Share

Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, Democrats, Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter, Raul Castro Tagged With: Alan P. Gross, Fausta's blog, Real Clear World, Real Clear World Blog

March 26, 2011 By Fausta

Oh look, Jimmy’s going to visit his old pals

It’ll be like a school reunion. I bet they might even play dominoes and drink beer, like old men do all over the Caribbean,
Jimmy Carter To Visit His Favorite Communist Dictators
Jimmy’s heading there to get Alan Gross released, but don’t expect much anything else – aside from the usual kissing-up to Communists.

25687
Share

Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter Tagged With: Alan P. Gross, Fausta's blog

July 24, 2010 By Fausta

Well, hooray, Billy Carter’s gas station won’t be a national historic site YET

Jimmy Carter’s drunk brother’s gas station won’t be added to the historic site on our dime YET; $17 million for 30 acres and a gas station in the Georgia boondocks is a pile of money:

Barrasso stops Billy Carter Service Station Museum from becoming national park

The gas station of former President Jimmy Carter’s beer drinking brother will not become a national historic site paid for by taxpayers — at least, not yet.

Legislation that would expand the former president’s national historic site by 30 acres at a cost of $17 million over five years was pulled from consideration during a Senate committee meeting Thursday. Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming offered an amendment preventing the Billy Carter Service Station Museum from being included in the expansion, making the Georgia museum a national park. The House has already passed similar legislation.

“The Los Angeles Times posed the question best: ‘In the age of the $787-billion stimulus package, it is, perhaps, a modest question: Should the American taxpayer foot the bill to enshrine the gas station run by the late Billy Carter?’’ Barrasso said during the meeting. “I believe the answer is no.”

Thank you, John Barrasso.

21881
Share

Filed Under: Democrats, Georgia, Jimmy Carter Tagged With: Fausta's blog

February 17, 2010 By Fausta

CNN: Obama’s disco-ball jobs bill

CNN Money/Fortune have an interesting article on the jobs bill, where they directly compare Obama’s plan with that of Jimmy Carter, which by now many of us remember with a sense of deja vu,
Obama’s disco-era jobs bill

The article points out
– the potential for waste,

It’s estimated that of the companies that claimed the tax credit under Carter’s plan, two-thirds would have hired those employees regardless of the tax break.

“It’s a windfall for companies that want to expand anyway,” says Rea Hederman, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation. Should the bill pass, Hederman says the big beneficiaries of the tax credit this time around would be companies in the big-growth areas of health care and education.

– lack of useful information for businesses who may not know about the tax credit, particularly small businesses

– the bill won’t do much,

Bartik estimates that with its $13 billion price tag, the law would create 350,000 jobs at best — a drop in the bucket compared with the over eight million jobs lost since the end of 2007.

On this, may I point out that the government would be taking tax money from businesses to come up with 350,000 jobs at best, at a cost of at least $37,143 each, so the business can deduct how much? from their taxes. It’s a scam with the government at the center.

– in order to qualify for the tax break, an employer has to hire someone who has been out of work for at least 60 days. What became of hiring the best qualified candidate?

And, the article doesn’t mention it directly, but any business that can wait to hire would not hire them immediately but rather postpone until the tax credit goes into effect.

Why not cut taxes on businesses instead?

Larry Kudlow explains (emphasis added),

The future of the U.S. economy — including jobs, growth and the stock market — hangs in the balance. Government-controlled health care, with Senate vote-purchasing and union special-interest loopholes, is not the answer. Nor is a $2 trillion tax hike on banks, multinational corporations, capital gains, inheritance and successful upper-income earners. Nor is a doubling of the publicly held federal debt to $19 trillion, or nearly 80 percent of gross domestic product. Nor is a federal spending ratio of 25 percent of the economy. Nor is a budget deficit at a 10 percent share of GDP for as far as the eye can see.

Again, Washington doesn’t get it. Politicians are delivering a fiscal product that no one in America wants. It’s no wonder small businesses aren’t hiring. Yes, there is a cyclical recovery going on, but it is incomplete without the jobs.

The so-called $85 billion jobs program is not a jobs program at all. It is a spending bill. Temporary tax credits to hire new workers have virtually no permanent job-creating effect. In budget terms, these kinds of temporary tax credits are scored as tax expenditures — i.e., spending. Only a permanent reduction in the marginal business tax rate has the incentive effect for long-run job creation. Reducing the business tax rate makes firms more profitable after-tax. And it gives them more cash flow. Those incentives will work to expand investment and jobs.

And taxing capital is the worst idea of all. That’s why the capital-gains tax must not be increased. Plus, raising the top two income tax brackets from 33 percent to 35 percent, and then from 35 percent to 40 percent, thereby penalizing those who own about half of the small-business income, is a job-destroyer.

But, to the Obama administration, it’s back to the dying days of disco.

Share

Filed Under: Barack Obama, business, economics, economy, Jimmy Carter Tagged With: Fausta's blog, jobs bill

November 23, 2009 By Fausta

“Smart diplomacy” futile: Obama’s Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage

Der Speigel’s harsh assessment of Obama’s trip to China:
Obama’s Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage
When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it’s not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming.

Upon taking office, Obama said that he wanted to listen to the world, promising respect instead of arrogance. But Obama’s currency isn’t as strong as he had believed. Everyone wants respect, but hardly anyone is willing to pay for it. Interests, not emotions, dominate the world of realpolitik. The Asia trip revealed the limits of Washington’s new foreign policy: Although Obama did not lose face in China and Japan, he did appear to have lost some of his initial stature.

In Tokyo, the new center-left government even pulled out of its participation in a mission which saw the Japanese navy refueling US warships in the Indian Ocean as part of the Afghanistan campaign. In Beijing, Obama failed to achieve any important concessions whatsoever. There will be no binding commitments from China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A revaluation of the Chinese currency, which is kept artificially weak, has been postponed. Sanctions against Iran? Not a chance. Nuclear disarmament? Not an issue for the Chinese.

The White House did not even stand up for itself when it came to the question of human rights in China. The president, who had said only a few days earlier that freedom of expression is a universal right, was coerced into attending a joint press conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, at which questions were forbidden. Former US President George W. Bush had always managed to avoid such press conferences.

Spiegel even ends the article by quoting Newt Gingrich and saying Obama’s “a lot like Jimmy Carter.”

Even harsher than Spiegel, via Taylor Marsh, the Saturday Night Live skit:

UPDATE
Whoa. MoDo starting to wake up? Chris Matthews saying Obama’s making “Carteresque” mistakes?

Share

Filed Under: Barack Obama, China, Jimmy Carter Tagged With: Der Speigel, Fausta's blog

June 6, 2009 By Fausta

Dropping a clause, and getting Carter’s praise

A memo, released late on a Friday night, Obama Drops Key Clause in Jerusalem Embassy Memo

Late on Friday The Washington Times’ Christian Bourge obtained a copy of Presidential Determination 2009-19, latest in a series of pro forma memos to the Secretary of State entitled “Suspension of Limitations Under the Jerusalem Embassy Act.” This determination is a legally required waiver under said act to continue to delay the May 31, 1999 deadline for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Nearly identical memos like this have been issued every six months for the last decade. Standard procedure, no big deal, right? Well in the Bush years the memo contained the sentence,

“My Administration remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem.”

The Obama team has edited that passage out. This explains the Friday evening release. Congress should revisit the Jerusalem Embassy Act and remove the loophole that has allowed this charade to continue for ten years. Meanwhile the president should explain exactly what his policy is on this issue, and why he is not committed to beginning the process of moving the embassy.

Jimmy Carter, for one, is delighted over Obama’s Israel policy:
Ex-President Carter praises Obama Mideast policy Do read the article, but the main points are:

  • Carter wants Netanyahu to do exactly what Obama wants – whether it’s in the bests interests of Israel or not.
  • Carter doesn’t think that Iran won’t attack Israel. If 400 days of Iranian hostage crisis didn’t teach him not to trust Iran, nothing will.

Carter, a vile little man, will stand forever against Israel.

UPDATE A skeptic’s guide to President Obama’s Cairo speech

Share

Filed Under: Barack Obama, Iran, Israel, Jimmy Carter, Middle East. Tagged With: Fausta's blog

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »
Tweets by @Fausta
retirees_raise-2015_300x250

Pages

  • About
  • Email

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Previous Posts

  • Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • You need to unfriend me
  • Go ahead and Kiss the Girl, if you dare
  • Ashamed

Recent Comments

  • John on Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! – PoliticalWitchDoctor.com on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! - AmericanTruthToday on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Did Venezuela’s Minister of Defense Back Out At The Last Minute? on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Roseanne Not Back, Khan not Invited, Operaman’s back, Jobs back, Fausta’s back (but not here yet) Thoughts under the fedora – Da Tech Guy Blog on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?

Archives

  • 2019
    • December 2019
    • May 2019
    • January 2019
  • 2018
    • December 2018
    • October 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
  • 2017
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
  • 2016
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
  • 2015
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
  • 2014
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
  • 2013
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
  • 2012
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
  • 2011
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
  • 2010
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
  • 2009
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
  • 2008
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
  • 2007
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • September 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • February 2007
    • January 2007
  • 2006
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • October 2006
    • September 2006
    • August 2006
    • July 2006
    • June 2006
    • May 2006
    • April 2006
    • March 2006
    • February 2006
    • January 2006
  • 2005
    • December 2005
    • November 2005
    • October 2005
    • September 2005
    • August 2005
    • July 2005
    • June 2005
    • May 2005
    • April 2005
    • March 2005
    • February 2005
    • January 2005
  • 2004
    • December 2004
    • November 2004
    • October 2004
    • September 2004
    • August 2004
    • July 2004
    • June 2004
    • May 2004
    • April 2004
    • March 2004
Content Copyright Fausta's Blog

Site Developed and Managed by 300m.com