Andy Semple

Socialism in action: Venezuela runs out of toilet paper due to state price controls

Revolutions have started on less…

 

Via Rare

First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities — toilet paper.

Blaming political opponents for the shortfall, as it does for other shortages, the embattled socialist government says it will import 50 million rolls to boost supplies.

That was little comfort to consumers struggling to find toilet paper on Wednesday.

“This is the last straw,” said Manuel Fagundes, a shopper hunting for tissue in downtown Caracas. “I’m 71 years old and this is the first time I’ve seen this.”

One supermarket visited by The Associated Press in the capital on Wednesday was out of toilet paper. Another had just received a fresh batch, and it quickly filled up with shoppers as the word spread.

“I’ve been looking for it for two weeks,” said Cristina Ramos. “I was told that they had some here and now I’m in line.”

Economists say Venezuela’s shortages stem from price controls meant to make basic goods available to the poorest parts of society and the government’s controls on foreign currency.

“State-controlled prices — prices that are set below market-clearing price — always result in shortages. The shortage problem will only get worse, as it did over the years in the Soviet Union,” said Steve Hanke, professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University.

President Nicolas Maduro, who was selected by the dying Hugo Chavez to carry on his “Bolivarian revolution,” claims that anti-government forces, including the private sector, are causing the shortages in an effort to destabilize the country.

The government this week announced it would import 760,000 tons of food and 50 million rolls of toilet paper.

 

If we’re stupid enough to leave Labor in power, it will most likely happen here too…

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Obey the State: Subliminal message from the artist behind the Obama ‘Hope’ poster

Via the People’s Cube

 

The above two posters is our spoof (People’s Cube) of a new anti-gun sign (below) by Shepard Fairey, who is also known as the artist behind the famous Obama "Hope" poster.

Shepard Fairey produced the poster last month in support of the failing anti-gun legislation, and most recently had it printed on hundreds of protest signs in anticipation of a massive anti-gun rally in Washington. From sympathetic Buzzfeed.com: “Artist Shepard Fairey will paper downtown D.C. Thursday with copies of a new work aimed at reigniting the push for gun control.” Reality check: the advertised Occupy The NRA rally attracted only about 60 participants.

That the anti-NRA poster looks Orwellian is not a coincidence. Fairey probably believes he has a spiritual channel directly to George Orwell: after all, he had designed book covers for Penguin’s Animal Farm and 1984, in addition to a series of nightmarish posters collectively titled Nineteeneightyfouria. His Orwellian connection, however, is very unflattering. Lacking the depth and, apparently, the slightest understanding of Orwell’s actual message, Fairey rather channels some mind-numb Party functionary out of George Orwell’s novel as he manufactures establishment propaganda that facilitates the takeover of the individual by the all-powerful state.

But Orwell advocated gun ownership and even left us this powerful quote: "That rifle on the wall of the labourer’s cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there."

Pacifism is a frequent theme in Fairey's posters. Misrepresenting America's war against Islamic terrorism, he likes to depict Muslims as victims of U.S. military aggression. But Orwell has another message for Shepard Fairey: "Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other."

And even more to the point: "Since pacifists have more freedom of action in countries where traces of democracy survive, pacifism can act more effectively against democracy than for it. Objectively the pacifist is pro-Nazi."

Clearly, Fairey hasn't read Orwell. Instead, by the artist's own admission, his inspiration comes straight out of John Carpenter's B-grade sci-fi flick They Live, from which he borrowed his logo and the "OBEY" slogan that became a trademark of his entire artistic career.

  

The plot of this conspiratorial movie is centred around a drifter who discovers special Ray-Bans which reveal hidden messages behind billboards, television, magazines, and posters, such as, "Obey, consume, reproduce, watch TV, this is your God," and so on. He then joins the underground and helps to eradicate the lizard-like aliens who had hypnotized humanity into obedience.

Continue to read the entire piece here.

Also, make sure you check out Oleg’s other Obama poster parodies found at the end of this article.

For example,

 

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EU Gov’t bureaucracy gone insane - Virtually all plants, vegetable seeds & gardeners to eventually be registered by Gov’t

A comment from a person who resides in the US.

I wouldn't doubt it. In America Monsanto owns agriculture. You cannot buy seeds at a store that will produce a plant that produces viable seeds. You can grow corn but the corn will not reproduce. Ya have to buy 'Heirloom' seeds to be able to get viable seeds. Hey, ya control peoples healthcare, food supply and their kids education, ya own people. I wouldn't doubt it.

Its part of the Agenda 21 plan – essentially the UN want to remove any and all means of us getting our own food supply, making farming unviable and gov’t solely responsible for the allocation of food – basically Soylent Green for real.

Via Natural News

A new law proposed by the European Commission would make it illegal to "grow, reproduce or trade" any vegetable seeds that have not been "tested, approved and accepted" by a new EU bureaucracy named the "EU Plant Variety Agency."

It's called the Plant Reproductive Material Law, and it attempts to put the government in charge of virtually all plants and seeds. Home gardeners who grow their own plants from non-regulated seeds would be considered criminals under this law.

The draft text of the law, which has already been amended several times due to a huge backlash from gardeners, is viewable here.

"This law will immediately stop the professional development of vegetable varieties for home gardeners, organic growers, and small-scale market farmers," said Ben Gabel, vegetable breeder and director of The Real Seed Catalogue. "Home gardeners have really different needs - for example they grow by hand, not machine, and can't or don't want to use such powerful chemical sprays. There's no way to register the varieties suitable for home use as they don't meet the strict criteria of the Plant Variety Agency, which is only concerned about approving the sort of seed used by industrial farmers."

Continue reading about this insane EU law – seeds are about to become contraband – here.

Maybe the real reason our police forces are becoming militarised is so they can adequately “control” the public? Why else do they need gear like this then?

 

 

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The Militarisation of our Police

How the “War on Terror” has militarised our Police. Introducing the Ballistic Engineered Armoured Response Counter Attack Truck or BEARCAT.

Via Perth Now

A $400,000 counter-terrorism armoured vehicle has today been added to WA's police crime-fighting arsenal.

Federal Fremantle MP Melissa Parkesaid the vehicle was an excellent example of the Federal Government’s commitment to building our national security capability.

"National security remains a key focus of the Federal Government," Ms Parke said.

"The recent and tragic bombings in the United States have once again highlighted the importance of being prepared and vigilant.

"This vehicle provides the Western Australian Police Force the capability they need to quickly and effectively respond in the unlikely event of a terrorist incident.''

"The vehicle is being provided to the Western Australia Police by the Federal Government to provide extra capability in the unlikely event of a terrorist incident.

"It will increase the protection of our police officers in very dangerous and hostile situations.''

'Bearcat' has an impressive list of features which includes gun ports, rotating roof hatch, two electric winches, emergency light/sirens, spot/flood lights, battering ram, tear gas deployment nozzle, thermal cameras, common remotely operated weapon station and protection against chemical, biological, radiological nuclear and high-yield explosives.

There are two uses for a vehicle like the BEARCAT – one) if a fictional Zombie apocalypse were to ever eventuate, then that’s the truck you want or two) if there should ever be a “Citizens” revolt, then a few of these would help restore “order.”

Next we’ll see Predator Drones flying in our skies? Why not? A Predator surveillance drone flown over the U.S. border in Texas costs the Department of Defense US$3,234 per flight hour. That equates to a dozen or so officers on the ground. Community policing, actual officers walking the streets and interacting with civilians, instead of patrolling in cars or rolling-in armoured response vehicles, has by far proven the most effective form of law enforcement – budgetary and statistically. The militarisation of local police is inherently opposite of strategies that have shown the best results.

 

 

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DHS training video depicts legal gun owners as ‘Militia members’ planning terrorism

 

Imagine the outrage from the leftards if DHS made an accurate video depicting jihadists plotting terror attacks?

Via the Examiner

The DHS has long been suspected of gearing up to fight Americans. The agency has released documents describing conservatives, libertarians, people who distrust the federal government, people who oppose illegal immigration, who oppose the Federal Reserve and who support gun rights, among other things, as potential terrorists and “domestic extremists.”

The agency has further stoked fears by purchasing nearly 2 billion rounds of mostly hollow point ammunition, 7,000 fully automatic assault rifles, nearly 3,000 mine-resistant MRAP vehicles and $2 million worth of paper targets depicting Americans, including women and children.

Last month, Arkansas State Fusion Centre Director Richard Davis admitted that the DHS spies on "anti-government" Americans.

While trying to clear up "misconceptions" that the agency is spying on all Americans, he admitted that they only observe “domestic terrorism and certain groups that are anti-government. We want to kind of take a look at that and receive that information."

 

 

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Stephen ‘Joseph’ Conroy's media regulation is government licensing in all but name

If you want to know who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise.

The Daily Telegraph fights back while it’s still free

A government-appointed enforcer would oversee press standards and have the power to apply sanctions, which critics said would stifle news reporting, under proposed draconian media changes.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy yesterday announced a new proposed statutory position of Public Interest Media Advocate, among a raft of changes the government will attempt to ram through parliament by the end of next week.

The advocate would oversee the Press Council, the main vehicle for complaints about the print media, and could take back exemptions from privacy laws afforded to journalists to report valid news stories if the advocate deemed a breach of standards.

 

You know things are rotten when Burma ends media censorship while Australia considers media censorship. 

 

 

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Creeping Sharia: Teaches either wear a hijab or you’re fired

Bit by bit…this is how creeping Sharia infects our liberal democratic society.

South Australia's biggest Islamic school has warned teachers, including many non-Muslims, that they will lose their jobs if they do not wear a hijab to school functions and outings.

Up to 20 non-Muslim female teachers, who do not wish to be named, have been told they will be sacked from the Islamic College of South Australia's West Croydon campus after three warnings if they do not wear a headscarf to cover their hair.

The order, from the school's governing board and chairman Faruk Kahn, contradicts the policy of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

…One long-term teacher at the Islamic College of SA said a new school board was now "forcing teachers to put hijabs back on".

"There's no discussion ... you wear it or you're fired," the teacher said. "The teachers have always adhered to the policies and we are respectful of that.

"We are respectful of their religion but they are not going to respect us."

The college has about 800 students and 40 staff.

So this is Islam’s latest contribution to peace? If the community doesn’t put an end to this now, next the Islamists will force girls to wear the burka while attending school as they do now in the UK.

 

 

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Bully State NYC Mayor Bloomberg looks to ban Styrofoam cups

Obviously New York doesn’t have bigger problems to worry about.

First he dictated the size of our cups — now he wants to ban what they’re made of.

The Bloomberg administration is considering banning Styrofoam cups and containers — popular at thousands of delis and food carts across the city— as it prepares to roll out a major recycling announcement in the coming weeks, a Sanitation Department official said yesterday.

“We’re studying all the different things in our waste stream. We want to make sure that everything in our waste stream is recyclable,” Ron Gonen, deputy commissioner for recycling at Sanitation, told The Post.

 

 

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Roxon makes a strategic retreat, but the muzzle is still present

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has rolled back Labor's proposed anti-discrimination reforms to remove the prohibition on causing offence, which has been criticised by the media, judicial figures and the human rights lobby as an attack on free speech.

Ms Roxon will today announce that her department is drafting a series of options for the new laws that includes the removal of the section that prohibits conduct that offends, insults or intimidates.

It is understood the draft legislation will still contain the provisions in the existing Racial Discrimination Act that impose liability for actions that offend or insult. However, the provisions, which were used in 2011 to prosecute columnist Andrew Bolt for comments about fair-skinned Aborigines, have not been extended into any other areas of discrimination, as originally proposed. These include discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, medical history and nationality.

A good start, but the whole bill should be junked.

Elections change everything…

 

 

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Playing video games now upsets Muslim feelings

Via BoltA

Playing video games such as Counter-Strike has been found to promote negative stereotypes of Arabs.

Researchers from University of Michigan and Iowa State assessed levels of prejudice against Arabs by those participants that played a terrorism-themed video game versus a golf game.

The results indicate that because of the absence of personal contact, society is more likely to draw stereotypical traits from the media, which rarely depicts Arabs in a positive light.

So I gather playing video games such as Left 4 Dead has been found to promote negative stereotypes of Zombies? Or what about Wolfenstein, was that found to promote negative stereotypes of Germans because the main enemy are Nazis?

Did the Uni of Michigan assess the level of prejudice against Zombies or Germans by those participants that played a Zombie or Nazi themed video game versus a golf game?

 

Unlike Infidelophobia (Quranically-inspired hatred for non-Muslims Quran 4.101), Islamophobia doesn't involve real dead bodies, but rather bruised Muslim feelings, which - according to the teachings of the faith - are far more important than the lives of infidels.

In Muhammad's day, Islamophobia was treated with a practice known as beheading. Since this is now impractical outside of the Muslim world, the condition is best addressed by means of prevention. Such preventive measures include willful ignorance (best assisted with a strong dose of taqiyya).

The fact is that when Islam checks in, a lot of folks wind up checking out... permanently.

 

 

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