Cadena? Again!?

Today I have part of the day off. Which means that I will working from home some. Thus I came back from work for lunch at 12:30 and turned on TV to eat my sandwich in front. There was a cadena (mandatory unified broadcast on all TV and radio stations across Venezuela). I tried to listen to it for, say, 2 minutes, just to see what it was all about. El Supremo was reading some numbers (better numbers on unemployment it seems) and some other stuff, with PDVSA inside of course, as if yesterday's Ramirez fiasco had been a major success (Chavez used in those two minutes the "media conspiracy"). In other words, as usual, when the going gets tough, start throwing cadenas around.

So, I made my sandwich and ate it watching a French movie on cable. I did switch to the French channel as I wanted to see the recent news on the French coming referendum. At the end of the movie I did watch the Swiss news (TV5 shows news from Switzerland, France, Canada and Belgium, which is a rather interesting complex and complete way to watch the world). Then there was a special from the ARTE network on the view from the US on the European constitution (they know nothing, though interviewing people at a long Star Wars line might not be the best place to discuss Europe, a far away galaxy according to the reporter).

Now it is 2:30, and before getting to work at my desk, a little round up. Chavez is STILL in his cadena. The single minute I could put with the verbal diarrhea was enough to listen from him that he was coming back from the Middle East where loans with interest are forbidden. And thus he gave the order to some minister to suppress interests in loan for the poor and for "socially conscious" private enterprise business, or those business that were willing to give up stock to their employees (co-gestion winds obliging). Nobody, of course, would dare to point out to El Supremo that interest free loan in a country with 20% official inflation rate is absurd, but heck! if he is willing to force credit card companies to offer interest rate free credit cards, I am all for it!!!!! There is no depth of cheap populism that Chavez will not explore to gain a vote!!!!

It is amazing that EACH time I listen to a Chavez cadena there is one nincompoopy idea like that within 3 minutes I am listening to him. That is why I have never been able to listen to his cadenas for more than 5 minutes in a row. After 5 minutes I urgently need a break to preserve my sanity!!!!

It is just 3 PM as I post and, mercifully, a quick chek up tells me that the cadena is over. And I could not care less waht was the occasion. At Alo Ciudadano tonight, or on the paper tomorrow morning, a couple of lines will summarize 3 hours of BS.