Posts

Showing posts from August, 2017

Life in Venezuela is Terrible Right Now!

Image
Under the leadership of Hugo Chavez, it seems like the citizens of Venezuela were living a pretty good life.  Mr. Chavez was the President of Venezuela from 1999 until 2013 when he died.  He was also the leader of the Fifth Republican Movement.  This party merged with several other parties to form the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.  He was the beneficiary of high oil revenues in the mid 2000's and focused on poverty, literacy and income inequality.  He was an outspoken leader and made alliances with Fidel and Raul Castro and other strong man leaders.  He symbolized a proud leader for his people and has many followers today. I was interested in Venezuela because it seemed like this leader had utilized the oil revenue to help his citizens.  He was an enemy of the United States because he leaned more towards a Marxist philosophy.  He supported Latin American and Caribbean cooperation and that was good for this area of islands that depend so much on tourism.  He died of cance

Charlottesville, VA is a Stain on Race Relations

Image
Many of us are trying to make sense of the events that occurred in Charlottesville, VA on Friday and Saturday.  It seems like the alt-right, neo-nazi, Ku Klux Klan supporters were upset that a statue of General Robert E. Lee, a Confederate hero, was to be removed from this area.  I guess it was one statue too many for these individuals.  The Confederates lost the civil war and should not have been able to continually erect statues to maintain slavery as a right and a way of life.  Dylan Roof's cold blooded murder nine church members at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC. At the time of this heinous crime, Mr. Roof wanted to incite a race riot.  I am so happy that people who think like him did not take the bait and cause more bloodshed.  This event was one of many acts of violence against people of color in this country.  African American males were being murdered by police officers and these murders led to the formation of the Black Lives Matter mo