the devil wears a shmata.

i happen to think dubya dresses rather drably. but that is not the point of this post.


yesterday, adressing the UN, hugo chavez, president of venezuela, called dubya the devil. and he didn't mean it in the affectionate way, like, 'you little devil!' now, im not gonna get into dissecting his message here; that would take too long and id hardly bring anything new to the table. suffice it to say i agree with some of chavez's comments, disagree with others, and generally think he's the poorest messenger since the snaggletoothed oddball from dynamex who used to bring us some of our packages at the office.

[from the times article: Mr. Chávez...brandished a copy of Noam Chomsky’s “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance” and recommended it to members of the General Assembly to read. Later, he told a news conference that one of his greatest regrets was not getting to meet Mr. Chomsky before he died. (Mr. Chomsky, 77, is still alive.)]

anyway, you know what's kinda crazy? besides boss hugo i mean. when i got to the above-linked times article, i was struck by the photo montage of chavez on top (which i copied at the top of this post). it reminded me of a powerful series in batman comics, circa 1988, called a death in the family.

[what was powerful was that robin - technically the second incarnation of robin, another thing im not gonna get into here - dies at the end of this series. the joker kills him. (there would later be a third robin.)]

anyway ii - and please follow this - after killing robin, the joker - im not making this up, dc comics actually ran with this storyline - becomes an official ambassador from iran, ostensibly to enjoy diplomatic immunity, and to gain access to the united nations, so he can try to murder the entire general assembly. and yet this is still not exactly why im connecting yesterday's events and this comic. here's why: before the joker tries to gas everyone in the assembly, he gives them an official address, from the main podium. and i distinctly remember that the comic portrayed this address with a montage of close-ups of the joker making a series of gesticulations and exaggerated facial expressions that was eerily similar to the times montage of chavez. (i think i still have that comic at my mom's house; i will try to retrieve it and scan this in next week.)

here's a link explaining this batman plotline.

these two events - the fictitious and the real-life - are of course further connected by the parallel of iran and the UN being all tied up in both of them (iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad gave a colorful speech of his own at the UN on tuesday).

now, finally, lest you think these are just random, whimsical musings of mine, without any real significance, then tell me this: why, as the times article states - and see for yourself at the bottom of the piece - did chavez suggest that "Americans read Mr. Chomsky’s book instead of spending all their time 'watching Superman and Batman' movies."?

you cant make this sh*t up.
_

Blue Basilica's Senior UN Correspondent D. David Rutimann was able to obtain a complete copy of chavez's suggested reading list:

1. Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (The American Empire Project) - Noam Chomsky
2. Imperial Crusades: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia - Alexander Cockburn and Jefferey St. Clair.
3. Globalization and Its Discontents - Joseph E. Stiglitz
4. The Davinci Code - Dan Brown
5. Are you there god? It's Me, Margaret - Judy blume
6. Bunnicula Strikes again! - James Howe
7. Everyone Poops - Taro Gomi
8. An Illustrated History of Rollerderby - Jack Imhoff