Come for the Politics, Stay for the Pathologies



Monday, May 17, 2010

Anything I want… you got it

Anything I need, you got it.

Anything at all – you got it!

(with sincere apologies to Roy Orbison)

In case you have forgotten - or never knew because you graduated public school in the past 30 years -  what a “socialist dictator” is, here’s a short refresher course from AP: 

President Hugo Chavez announced Saturday the expropriation of a group of iron, aluminum and transportation companies in Venezuela's mining region.

Among the expropriated companies is Materiales Siderurgicos, or Matesi, which is the Venezuelan subsidiary of Luxembourg-based steel maker Tenaris SA.

Venezuela's socialist president said in a televised [address] that his government was going to take over Matesi because "we couldn't reach an amicable and reasonable settlement with the owners."

Chavez said production at the company has been paralyzed since midway through last year, when Venezuela's president announced plans to nationalize it.

…Since coming to power more than a decade ago, Chavez has nationalized major companies in the electricity, oil, steel and coffee sectors, as well as other private businesses.

Socialism: for dictators it’s really simple: “What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine too.” For citizens, it’s pretty simple too: “What was mine is now yours too.”

Once you get it, Sean Penn seems like an even bigger idiot. What do you say we spread your wealth around a little more, Sean? All of it. Give it all to the Big Guy – not the one upstairs, the one in Washington – maybe he’ll use it to reduce our national debt. Or to “buy” BP so he can tell them how to fix that broken pipe.

VENEZUELAN LEADER HUGO CHAVEZ AND ACTOR SEAN PENN

Do you see two morons coming up or going down the tube? It’s not an issue of perspective, it’s an issue of education. From that standpoint, it’s a trick question.