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Old Melonhead’s glorious socialist revolution in Venezuela is working out beaut, aint it?

Venezuela’s economy is in trouble despite the country’s huge oil reserves. Blackouts plague major cities. Its inflation rate is among the world’s highest. Private enterprise has been so hammered, the World Bank says, that Venezuela is forced to import almost everything it needs.

[...]

This is not the way it was supposed to be. Venezuela is one of the world’s great energy powers. Its oil reserves are among the world’s largest and its hydroelectric plants are among the most potent.

But these days, Venezuela is being left behind: The rest of Latin America is expected to grow at a healthy rate this year, according to the World Bank.

[...]

The grill at Landi Nieto’s burger joint still works: It runs on gas. But customers eat in the dark, Nieto says, if they venture out at all in the first place.

More here:

What more need be said of a country that has simultaneously extraordinary oil revenues and the highest inflation in the world? Not even African countries without governments and  devastated by  war have higher inflation than Venezuela. What can we say about the management of a country with the largest energy resources in the hemisphere, but that forces its inhabitants to live in a constant nightmare of blackouts and energy rationing?

Geniuses.

How’s that revolución working out for you now, morons?

If you’re in Oz and need some heating in your home, I can recommend these extremely high-grade wood heaters:

www.ecomaxx.com.au

Disclosure: I know the blokes who make these, and they are very serious about – and very proud of – their product.

If you’re in the market for something like this, the Ecomaxx is quality gear. Contact details are available at the above link.

The Davalos twins from Columbia:

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The big daddy of them all.

Even in the awesome culinary heaven that is New York City, nothing could quite match a small restaurant in the East Village named Gnocco.

We first went to this place in Feb 2009. We found it dark, cramped and noisy. Characteristics that will almost always turn me off a place. We also had to wait 20+ minutes for a table and they got our wine order wrong. And it’s a pain in the ass to get to.

…and we couldn’t have cared less. We had been counting the days until we could return to this establishment, and our second visit confirmed that our first outing there had been no fluke.

Take a look at this picture:

That is the appetizer of the Gods..aka. ‘gnocco’: a basket of fried dough accompanied by a plate of sublime cold-cuts.

No matter how delicious you think that looks, trust me: it’s much better than you can imagine. It may be the single best thing I have ever eaten in any restautant, ever. And it was merely the appetizer.

The main course was a superb whole wheat maccheroni pasta with braised Parma Prosciutto, and a touch of cream. This was accompanied by lovely bottle of chilled Lambrusco.

Then came the dessert:

That’s a “nutella calzone”: a dessert cooked by the restaurant’s pizza chefs. Pizza dough filled with hazelnut chocolate spread and ricotta cheese. Sweet Jesus it was stunning.

Three courses of mouth-watering food and an excellent bottle of wine. I cannot think of the smallest thing that would have improved any part of our meal.

You can shove your pretentious high-end restaurants with snooty waiters and overpriced, tasteless micro-meals. Gnocco represented the upper reaches of how delicious food can be, complete with friendly service and a relaxed, warm atmosphere.

That’s what eating out should be about.

Gnocco is magic.

Swedish artish Lars Vilks is attacked by muslims while giving a lecture about free speech:

Can’t imagine why this prehistoric death cult has an image problem.

Quick, somebody start blubbering about how this is all Israel’s fault.

These are astounding.

This guy has a big future:

This, with ice and Indian tonic water, is liquid heaven:

Bwahahahahaha

The appetite of the state and their health nazi catamites to control every last area of everyday life is never satisfied……

THE federal government aims to make smoking less alluring to young people by introducing compulsory plain packaging for cigarettes.

It will announce on Thursday plans to bring in new laws making plain packaging compulsory for cigarettes and other tobacco products by January 1, 2012.

I just saw some smug “health” spokesidiot on Lateline pronounce “this is about protecting our children”. Ahh, the eternal catch-cry of every urban totalitarian.

No it isn’t, you goddamned twit. This is about you trying to control the behaviour of other adults because you think it’s naughty.

Go to hell, you rotten bastards.