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Chavez: all that fun stuff is “hell”

By Julian Harris
January 20th, 2010 at 9:58 am | 4 Comments | Posted in Culture, International Politics

cigsandboozeFresh from his latest efforts to ruin everything, Hugo Rafael Chavez has launched a scathing tirade on lots of fun stuff.

The Venezuelan despotic nut-job said in his Weekly Address to the Proletariat:

“[Capitalist countries] promote the need for cigarettes, drugs and alcohol so they can sell them.”

Having displayed this unparalleled ability to unravel the evils of ‘the West’, the Dear Leader concluded:

“That’s capitalism, the road to hell.”

Which is funny, because usually when I peer lovingly at a seemingly-perspiring chilled glass of gin & tonic I think: “Bejesus, this is the road from hell. Deliver me to happiness, my sparkling transparent friend!”

It turns out, strangely enough, that the real source of Mr Chavez’s ire is a piss-take of himself–in the form of a video game. So he explained, to gasps (or giggles) of his people:

“Those games they call ‘PlayStation’ are poison. Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game; ‘you’ve got to find Chávez to kill him.'”

Find Chavez? Kill him?

It’s poison, readers, poison.  Vive la revolution.

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Drugs – Obama czar leading a liberal shift?

By Julian Harris
May 24th, 2009 at 10:00 am | 6 Comments | Posted in UK Politics

danceIllegal drugs have fleetingly hit the news of late, albeit squeezed by the ongoing stories about MPs expensing their own indulgences.

First we had a morning of sudden crowing from the government about increases in the price of cocaine – “this is a good thing,” so the reports went.

On form as usual, Blogger Costigan pointed out that “no, actually, it’s not.” The illegal status of drugs mean that consumers are unable to distinguish between legal brands, and are often at the mercy of dealers – hence the tampering of the products which sees old Charlie mixed with anything remotely white and powdery. Dealers are therefore making just as much money (so that the price per kilo is the same), but consumers snort more rat poison up their nostrils. Victory for government!

Second, the Centre for Policy Studies issued a new report cleverly saying that conservative anti-drug authoritarian policies are spot on, but just that this hopeless Labour lot haven’t been doing them right. Naturally the Torygraph lapped this up.

Over the pond, however, they seem to be edging in the opposite direction; although slowly, and with caution. Obama’s new drug czar has implied that a policy shift towards treatment and away from incarceration is on the cards.

One new policy over there is to stop federal authorities raiding medical-marijuana dispensaries in the 13 states where voters have made medical marijuana legal. Obama, in a rare moment of sense, has also mentioned reversing the federal ban on funding for needle exchange programmes, which are designed to prevent the spread of HIV.

Like his boss, this new czar is not a real liberal and clearly opposes drug legalisation. However, the mere shift in policy is notable. With Labour up against the ropes, perhaps now is as good a time as ever to highlight the futility of their “war on drugs”, and promote the benefits of a more liberal alternative.

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