Godwin's Law
This is a follow-up to Back to Venik's (Update).
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.
Mike Godwin, counsel for the EFF, on Usenet in 1990
Rumsfeld on Chavez on Thursday. Cmdr. John Correa, USN, Naval Attache at the US Embasy in Carracas declared "persona non grata". Rangel1 on Bush on Friday. Jenny Figueredo Frias, Chief of staff at the Venezuelan Embasy in Washington declared "persona non grata". Its the kind of transaction sequence that can lead to less dialog, not more.
On a personal level, writing about Venezuela is frustrating. Arelis Paiva, the VenEmb PR flack, is unresponsive. I still send query letters, but its an extravagance.
To frame the week, last Sunday John McCain (R-AZ), used his Fox News Sunday time to use "mullahs and wackos" as a motivation for ... unleashing (Mme.) Chiang Kai-Shek the nuclear nutmen. Apparently he got an advance copy of Rove's midterms text. Its a win-win. Either "science and math" means nuclear power, plus a happy tour through anti-intellectualism in the NCLB context via jeremiads against "new math", or "mullahs and wackos" means military power, plus a happy tour through crypto-racism in the oil and gas context and jeremiads against "new communists" in Latin America.
1 José Vicente Rangel, Vice President of Venezuela
Comments
I'd already alluded to this at the bottom of my Assclowns of the Week (Dishonorable Mention segment) and I think it's disgraceful. It's bad enough when foaming-at-the-mouth raving psychopaths like Pat Robertson start calling for this guy's assassination (he did it again, recently) but breaking off diplomatic relations at the behest of the State Dept. sends a clear-cut message of hostility to other nations, especially nations that may want to consider not selling theiroil to us. Unfortunately, as reprehensible as this is, it's sadly all too typical for us to take out on innocent people being held punished and held accountable for trying to overthrow or harm a democratic government like Venezuela.
Posted by: jurassicpork | February 4, 2006 05:46 PM