“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
.
And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
Socialism in the botanical garden: Why Venezuela can't have nice things
by Monica Showalter
Is there any dreadfully destructive deed socialism can't accomplish? Reuters has an excellent piece (other than omitting the 's' word) about the terrible fate of Venezuela's priceless botanical garden in Caracas.
"CARACAS (Reuters) - Dead palm trees and a dried-up lagoon are what you see when you enter Caracas’s botanical garden. A UNESCO World Heritage site and once one of the city’s most important tourist spots, its directors are trying to rescue it from abandonment."
Yes, I know, the country has far more hellish problems with people starving, fleeing, running out of water, and using machetes on one another to fight for garbage scraps.
But the destruction of nature is terrible, too. The botanical garden doesn't even rate as high as zoo animals starving on the mercy scale, yet it's deeply disturbing.
The Reuters story says the famed Moriche palms of the area have crumbled and dried up, along with one third of its palms. The gargantuan Santa Cruz water lilies, with pads so huge they can support a small child, have all died.
Socialist price and currency controls, along with free-spending inflation, last seen clocking in at north of 41,000%, has left the garden with a $66 (with no zeros) operating budget. It obviously is not going to survive unless there's regime change.
I find this immensely sad. It's part of a long continuum of socialist war with nature, the warlike result that gave us the ruin of the Aral Sea, the black rivers of China, the ugliness of Norilsk nickel, and the wasteland of Cuba's once prominent citrus groves and tobacco fields. Now it's hit Venezuela, and not just the oil fields, and not just the nature reserves, described here in 2005. … “Chavista greed and meddling left the estate defenseless as the then-starving locals were eating the parrots. … the land held some of the oldest geological formations on the continent and so much knowledge was being lost as the estate was ravaged and the ecological structure disrupted. How very very sad to see it go! …
No nation with this kind of bounteous natural treasure should not have some kind of botanical garden to showcase its wonders, reminding the country of its vast inheritance, delighting its visitors, and teaching kids about it. In any normal society, even a poor one, a botanical garden is always possible. Just not in a socialist one.
Will Bernie Sanders and his new sidekick, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ever notice that? Don't hold your breath. And the greenies, of course, are perfectly silent.
Even on the rare occasions when he tells the truth Chomsky still comes off as a typical arrogant, self-important, obnoxious, know-it-all like Carl Sagan and far too many other conceited, overly-educated members of his accursed tribe. His demeanor and vocal tone positvely REEK of condescension.
I guess he can't help hmself, poor fellow, but that only makes him all the more insufferable.
The Greeks said, "Know thyself."
The tragedy of The Chosen lies in their appearance of knowing practically everything BUT themselves.
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July 21, 2018
Socialism in the botanical garden: Why Venezuela can't have nice things
by Monica Showalter
Is there any dreadfully destructive deed socialism can't accomplish? Reuters has an excellent piece (other than omitting the 's' word) about the terrible fate of Venezuela's priceless botanical garden in Caracas.
"CARACAS (Reuters) - Dead palm trees and a dried-up lagoon are what you see when you enter Caracas’s botanical garden. A UNESCO World Heritage site and once one of the city’s most important tourist spots, its directors are trying to rescue it from abandonment."
Yes, I know, the country has far more hellish problems with people starving, fleeing, running out of water, and using machetes on one another to fight for garbage scraps.
But the destruction of nature is terrible, too. The botanical garden doesn't even rate as high as zoo animals starving on the mercy scale, yet it's deeply disturbing.
The Reuters story says the famed Moriche palms of the area have crumbled and dried up, along with one third of its palms. The gargantuan Santa Cruz water lilies, with pads so huge they can support a small child, have all died.
Socialist price and currency controls, along with free-spending inflation, last seen clocking in at north of 41,000%, has left the garden with a $66 (with no zeros) operating budget. It obviously is not going to survive unless there's regime change.
I find this immensely sad. It's part of a long continuum of socialist war with nature, the warlike result that gave us the ruin of the Aral Sea, the black rivers of China, the ugliness of Norilsk nickel, and the wasteland of Cuba's once prominent citrus groves and tobacco fields. Now it's hit Venezuela, and not just the oil fields, and not just the nature reserves, described here in 2005. … “Chavista greed and meddling left the estate defenseless as the then-starving locals were eating the parrots. … the land held some of the oldest geological formations on the continent and so much knowledge was being lost as the estate was ravaged and the ecological structure disrupted. How very very sad to see it go! …
No nation with this kind of bounteous natural treasure should not have some kind of botanical garden to showcase its wonders, reminding the country of its vast inheritance, delighting its visitors, and teaching kids about it. In any normal society, even a poor one, a botanical garden is always possible. Just not in a socialist one.
Will Bernie Sanders and his new sidekick, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ever notice that? Don't hold your breath. And the greenies, of course, are perfectly silent.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/07/socialism_in_the_botanical_garden_why_venezuela_cant_have_nice_things.html#ixzz5LutoSKZl
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Even on the rare occasions when he tells the truth Chomsky still comes off as a typical arrogant, self-important, obnoxious, know-it-all like Carl Sagan and far too many other conceited, overly-educated members of his accursed tribe. His demeanor and vocal tone positvely REEK of condescension.
I guess he can't help hmself, poor fellow, but that only makes him all the more insufferable.
The Greeks said, "Know thyself."
The tragedy of The Chosen lies in their appearance of knowing practically everything BUT themselves.
Milo Yianpoulis is a flashy, pretentious, narcissistic attention hog.
What he says of Jordan Peterson applies far moreaccurately to Slavoj Zizek.
I don't like the narrator either, but I much prefer him to the Boy Wonder.
The snark of Colbert and Jon Stewart is also the curse of Milo Yiannopolis. The Right is not immune from insufferable know-it-all boors.
I'm afraid it's an all-too human trait that emerges especially among the bright and imaginative who have a trace of emotional insecurity.
All i can say is "It takes one to know one."
<[;-)=
Bright people are a despised, often persecuted minority too, you know.
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