[NYTr] Idiot Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Statement on RCTV Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 20:12:52 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Jane Franklin - May 31, 2007 The Speaker of the House would become president if Bush and Cheney were impeached or otherwise incapacitated. As someone just wrote to me: "When are the Democrats going to do something about the steady rightwing politicization of NPR-PBS, and where were they when the 1996 legislation opened the doors to radio monopolization by Clear Channel?" Siempre, Jane Franklin http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jbfranklins *** NANCY PELOSI PRESS RELEASE: Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release - 05/30/2007 Pelosi Statement on Suppression of Media in Venezuela Washington, D.C. _ Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today on the closure of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) after the Venezuelan government refused to renew its broadcasting license: "The decision by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez not to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television in order to silence criticism is exactly the kind of action that raises concern about his leadership. President Chavez should know that efforts to suppress the media will not only ultimately fail, but are also a detriment to one of the pillars democracy: freedom of expression. He should reconsider this ill-advised decision. "The United States Senate has already called upon the Organization of American States to respond appropriately, and the House may consider similar action soon." *** Luis Rumbaut: Speaker Pelosi's Statement on RCTV Friends: I am aghast that the Speaker has joined the RCTV bandwagon, meaning that either she is ignorant of the realities of the matter or she is purposefully misleading the people of the US. I hope that she is simply misinformed. RCTV helped to plan the military-big business coup of 2002. It pre-recorded in its studios the dictator-in-waiting's announcement of the coup, which was broadcast the next day as the coup unfolded. It distorted its "news" coverage of events preceding, during, and after the coup in compliance with the plan. Its announcers, without a trace of professionalism, gleefully celebrated the coup for the short time that it lasted. Its owners, in other words, are unindicted co-conspirators in carrying out the overthrow of the constitutional, elected, and popular government of Venezuela. Should the same thing happen in the US, with, let's say, the Fox network taking part in overthrowing an elected government to bring in a military/big business junta, and should the people rise up to take back their government, would the Speaker insist that Fox retain its license of the public airwaves as a matter of freedom of speech? I suspect that the owners would be in jail for treason and sedition, possibly terrorism. What if Fox had further taken part in instigating a management lock-out designed to cripple the economy and take down the government by other means? What if Fox had accumulated a record of sanctions, including the suspension of broadcasts, under prior presidents, on the basis of non-compliance with the law? Would the Speaker still not only renew the license but defend the station owners as paragons of democracy? The denial of renewal was made under a law that pre-dated Chavez. Chavez did not imprison the conspirators. He has not touched the remainder of the RCTV empire, including its radio stations, and RCTV still can transmit through cable or satellite--private media. Its TV license has not been renewed, and deservedly so. The coup, despite its prompt failure, was no small matter. The dictator, Carmona, with the support of the powerful and wealthy of Venezuela, including the RCTV millionaires, arrested the president, dissolved parliament and the Supreme Court, fired the top ministers, and prepared to rule by decree for as long as it took to eliminate the mass base of support that Chavez had built. By "eliminate" I mean physically. One of the coup's top supporters, the head of the corrupt PDVSA union, was recorded on a telephone intercept (I heard it) saying that they were going to need a dictatorship--his word-- for a dozen years to clean up. Sorry to use the "f" word, but this is textbook fascism. The coup did not collapse from the inside. If failed because the most ordinary citizens refused to accept it. They came down from the hills of Caracas--despite the news blackout by RCTV on what was happening--and, unarmed, in a moving and pivotal action, faced the military usurpers and demanded the return of their president. Which side is the Speaker on? The coup was coordinated with the US, greenlighted by Otto Reich and Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice and the White House. Navy ships were stationed off-shore, ready to lend assistance. During and after the coup, Ambassador Shapiro took the lead in trying to build diplomatic support for the coup, finding rejection by all of Latin America, including the US's close ally Mexico. Still, Rice immediately expressed the Administration's pleasure at the overthrow of an elected government. Those actions could be chalked up to neocon dreams of empire. But what about the reform Congress? Is the Speaker now lining up in support of new plans to overthrow the elected and constitutional government? The war on Iraq was justified with lies and the manipulation of the citizens' good will. The attack on Venezuela is being pursued on the same basis. I have been for decades a registered Democrat, but am finding it hard to distinguish between the two parties when it comes to US international policies and, in particular, the politics of empire. Is it all about oil? I am not keeping this letter a secret between us. I am distributing it as widely as possible to politically-active people who have their own distribution lists. We are all watching to see what the Speaker does on this issue, and will act accordingly. Surely, millons of people in Latin America will also take note of what she does, as a harbinger of a future Democratic administration. I hope that the Speaker retracts her statement forthwith. Luis Rumbaut 609 Lamont St NW Washington, DC 20010 P.S. The Speaker, having declared today, May 30, that "The United States Senate has already called upon the Organization of American States to respond appropriately, and the House may consider similar action soon," should know that last Friday the head of the OAS, Secretary General Inzulza, stated that "the only problem facing Venezuela, like in many other countries, is the fact that the State is empowered to grant and renew television licenses," adding that "beyond my personal opinion, this issue will be solved legally in Venezuela." * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================