Need gas?

My family uses the MLK (Airport Rd) Mini Mart. Good information; I did not know. Thx. Terri.

I'm sorry if you consider me a troll for merely providing some background information on Colonel Hugo Chavez. Perhaps the jab at Carrboro was a bit much and off topic, though. The only other opinion that I put forward was that Chavez is not a democratically-minded fellow.

All of the above information about Chavez is factual and can be obtained by simply googling or looking up news stories on the crises in Venezuela in the past five years.

I personally buy gas at citgo because the one near my house tends to be cheaper. I just think that it is important that people take Colonel Chavez' version of "democracy" with a grain of salt. Shutting down media critics and bringing their msot profitable industry to a standstill repeatedly doesn't strike me as being very productive.

*I* would love to see evidence of our attempts to overthrow him though. Especially since unrest there disrupts petrolium prices here. What a wonderful strategy for us to have.

Chris,

I personally have no problem with you sharing an opposite opinion. I think the issue is how that is done within the local context of this forum. In this instance, I think you could have simply stated that you disagree, provide references to sources that you find to be reputable, and let it go. That would have honored your need to put forth another position and yet respected the local nature of this forum. My posting wasn't intended to start a foreign affairs debate--I was simply sharing information that some on this forum will appreciate and make use of. I tried to trim down the original article I excerpted to remove the most inflammatory liberal language! In our pluralistic community, we can't expect that everyone will agree on such hot topics. My goal is to figure out how we can disagree without offending one another. It's easier face-to-face (IMHO) than online.

Terri

Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on just a minute. Hugo Chavez is NOT the poster child of democracy. Do you not remember a few months ago when Venezuelans were trying desperately (and legally) to oust him through a referendum that he would not allow? Not only that, but their country is in the crapper now economically speaking. Whether or not you believe in his mix of socialist and peronist mix of authoritarianism, it's very hard to point to Chavez as an example for others. If nothing else, the nationwide strikes (of which there have been at least four directed at him) a year or two ago down there (including in the oil industry) should point out that he is immensely unpopular in his own country and exists by manipulating their laws.

If nothing else you Carrboroites and Chapel Hillians will appreciate the fact that he has made huge territorial claims against Guyana, and could at any time start a war (of course Carrboro only likes it when THEY annex people). Let us also not forget that Chavez led a failed coup attempt in 1992 against democratically elected President Carlos Perez. Another coup was launched nine months later in support of him while he was still in prison. Let's also not forget that Chavez supports guerillas in his neighbor Colombia and has Fidel Castro for a hero.

Chavez may have had a huge majority when he was first elected to his eight year term, but he has been wildly unpopular since and has certainly contributed little to or even taken away from the average Venezuelan's daily life. The people of Venezuela have realized the mistake Chavez was and so should everyone else.

What's 'IMHO'?
Is there a relevant glossary somewhere?

I have to agree with Chris here and share my dismay that whenever a dissenting opinion is posted here, it is quickly followed with a "don't feed the trolls" post by the editor. Strange considering how much talk there is on thise site about the need to hear "other voices."

To turn this back to a local discussion, I buy my gas where it is cheapest--if that happens to be Citgo, so be it. However, I rarely buy gas in ChapelHill since its usually 5-10 cents more expensive than in durham.

IMHO=in my humble opinion.

http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm

Oh my God, please, no one use @TEOTD.

>Do you not remember a few months ago when Venezuelans were trying desperately (and legally) to oust him through a referendum that he would not allow?

Thank you, Terri, for the netlingo site. That should keep me busy for awhile, @ least till TEOTD.

Hmmm.. Looks like something funny happened to my post, perhaps due to a familiar symbol I was using to indicate a quote. In any case:

Chris et al. Venezuela did not simply hold a recall referendum against Chavez--he won it by a landslide, and international observers strongly encouraged the opposition to accept the results. Polls tend to indicate he has approval ratings among the highest in Latin America.

There is strong evidence the US was involved in the coup--most notably the coup leaders met with the American ambassador in the months before the coup, and the US government quickly recognized them as the government of Venezuela, as did the 'liberal media', i.e. the New York Times. Right wing and centrist think tanks have suggested Chavez is a threat to the US precisely because he controls some oil and does not do the US' bidding.

The 'strikes' Chris refers to were employer lockouts that were hated by much of the population for damaging the economy and completely failed. They further demoralized and divided the opposition to Chavez, which had previously included some groups who were not elites.

There is no evidence Chavez is arming guerillas in Colombia. This war had been going on for about thirty years before Chavez came to power, and the guerillas have ample financial resources due to taxes they impose and drug dealing.

Finally, I'm not sure why Chris' post was denounced as trolling. It seems like disagreeing with a post on the main page should be fair game.

I did not submit this topic to generate a political discussion on Central American politics. This is a local politics forum, so forgive my bluntness here. For those who believe that Venezuela is a worthy cause, please shop at Citgo. For those who believe that Venezuela is not a worthy cause, shop elsewhere.

I was at a John Locke Foundation fundraising dinner tonight in Raleigh (I was a guest... I just went to eat their food, drink their wine and meet their John Stossel).

Clearly you guys are quite famous, as the folks introducing John Stossel at the podium referenced a certain "Chapel Hill weblog", mocked our fair city, and talked for a bit about this thread. :)

What did they say Ginny? This seems like the least controversial thread we've had in while to me!

That link is to the same article from the original post on May 17--has anything changed?

I found this bit about oil companies and the gas they sell at Snopes.com which was pretty interesting:

Moreover, the idea that oil companies sell gasoline only through their branded service stations, and therefore if you don't buy gasoline from Shell-branded gas stations you're not sending money to Shell (or, by extension, the Middle East), is wrong. Oil companies sell their output through a variety of outlets other than their branded stations; as well, by the time crude oil gets from the ground into our gasoline tanks, there's no telling exactly where it came from.

The article isn't about Citgo/Venezuela per se but about an email that runs around the internet about how you avoid sending $ to the middle east by boycotting certain gas companies...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/saudigas.asp