The Anchoress

The initial headlines are either unclear or they’re working at happy spin:

Chavez launches new Venezuela TV station.

That sounds merry, doesn’t it - as though Hugo Chavez is happily launching a new enterprise and celebrating! The story is a bit different, though:

CARACAS, Venezuela –Venezuela’s oldest private television station was pushed off the air as President Hugo Chavez’s government replaced the popular opposition-aligned network with a new state-funded channel on Monday. Radio Caracas Television shut down just before midnight Sunday as its broadcast license expired. Chavez refused to renew its license, accusing the channel of “subversive” activities. The new channel, TVES, launched its transmissions with artists singing pro-Chavez music…

This headline could be about anything:

Troops fire upon protesters in Venezuela

As with the first headline, it says nothing of Chavez shutting down a popular opposition television station and implanting his own propaganda machine - if you’re only reading the headline, you have no idea what’s really happening:

National Guard troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday into a crowd of protesters angry over a decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced a critical television station off the air.

Madonne! Talk about yer chill winds! Here is Hugo Chavez doing precisely what the his admirers on the left daily accuse President Bush (“The Devil” per Chavez) of doing: suppressing dissent, suppressing human liberty.

Another rather innocuous-sounding headline: Venezuela to Launch TV Channel, Replacing Private Station.

Good Lord, that sounds downright dry and humdrum. Reads that way, too. Another: Venezuela TV station to shut at midnight

Honestly, if you were scanning headlines, would you - unless you have a specific interest in that country - even bother reading the story? And the story is pre-tty interesting.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Television personalities embraced, wept and broke into chants of “freedom!” before the cameras Sunday as Venezuela’s most widely watched channel prepared to go off the air at midnight under a decision by President Hugo Chavez that opponents called an assault on free speech.

This is a little better: Venezuela moves against second opposition TV channel:

Hours after President Hugo Chavez shut down Venezuela’s main opposition broadcaster, his government demanded an investigation of news network Globovision on Monday for allegedly inciting an assassination attempt on the leftist leader.

Chavez took Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, off the air at midnight on Sunday and replaced it with a state-run channel to promote his socialist programs. The move sparked international condemnation and accusations from the opposition that he was undermining democracy in the OPEC nation.

More: Venezuela TV station says troops seized equipment

Anti-Chavez TV station forced off the air in Venezuela

Fausta and Gateway Pundit are the absolute go-to blogs on this story. They’re following closely, updating frequently, and linking heavily. Who else is going to tell you that Chavez sent in tanks?

Venezuelans are saying, how do we get to America - to freedom? I guess they haven’t heard about Bush being the Devil.

And Glenn Reynolds links to video.

And how is the “voice” of the American Left spinning this? Aw, c’mon…take a guess! You don’t have to be a seer to predict it, but go see the bit My Pet Jawa has excerpted. “Wow…just wow,” indeed.

Reading Jawa’s excerpt from Kos,Snarky Bastards notes:

If President Bush forced CNN off the air, I’d guess that the university types would take to the streets—and they would be right to. But if a President Obama reenacted the Fairness Doctrine and forced all talk radio to be silent, I’d guess there’d be very few street protestors.

A reasonable world would cry out against this true “chill wind,” like these protest babes in Venezuela. The world is increasingly unreasonable, however, and friend Larwyn, monitoring the channels, wrote a few hours ago that - up until then, at least - only FOX News is reporting on the story. Perhaps because FOX is wondering if they’ll face their own “chill wind” come ‘08.

I’ll tell you what…reading news like this makes me appreciate the Merton quote in my header all the more.

Read Dr. Sanity on the left’s nuanced sympathies for Chavez’s thuggery.

See also: Choosing liberty, a sort of continuation on this theme.

WELCOME: American Thinker readers! While you’re here, please look around. Today we’re also (or, still) talking about Cindy Sheehan’s off-key swansong, the fakery and hoo-hah of Al Gore’s “manmade” Global Warming, why Bill Clinton needs twice as much money as the next-most-expensive ex-president (guess who that is), we’re thinking about consumerism and maturity, Hillary’s debts, how a soldier feels about the press, and why we should impeach Bush, after all, plus a thumping good read, for the ladies.