Eeyore's News and View

Bair Says Insurance Fund Could Be Insolvent This Year
By Alison Vekshin
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the fund it uses to protect customer deposits at U.S. banks could dry up amid a surge in bank failures, as she responded to an industry outcry against new fees approved by the agency.
“Without these assessments, the deposit insurance fund could become insolvent this year,” Bair wrote in a March 2 letter to the industry. U.S. community banks plan to flood the FDIC with about 5,000 letters in protest of the fees, according to a trade group.
“A large number” of bank failures may occur through 2010 because of “rapidly deteriorating economic conditions,” Bair said in the letter. “Without substantial amounts of additional assessment revenue in the near future, current projections indicate that the fund balance will approach zero or even become negative.”
The FDIC last week approved a one-time “emergency” fee and other assessment increases on the industry to rebuild a fund to repay customers for deposits of as much as $250,000 when a bank fails. The fees, opposed by the industry, may generate $27 billion this year after the fund fell to $18.9 billion in the fourth quarter from $34.6 billion in the previous period, the FDIC said.
The fund, which lost $33.5 billion in 2008, was drained by 25 bank failures last year. Sixteen banks have failed so far this year, further straining the fund.
Angry Bankers
Smaller banks are outraged over the one-time fee, which could wipe out 50 percent to 100 percent of a bank’s 2009 earnings, Camden Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
“I’ve never seen emotions like this,” said Fine, adding that he’s received more than 1,000 e-mails and telephone messages from angry bankers.
“The FDIC realizes that these assessments are a significant expense, particularly during a financial crisis and recession when bank earnings are under pressure,” Bair wrote. “We did not want to impose large assessments when the industry and economy are struggling. We searched for alternatives but found none better.”
The agency, which has released the change for 30 days of public comment, could modify the assessment to shift the burden to the large banks “that caused this train wreck,” Fine said. “Community bankers are feeling like they are paying for the incompetence and greed of Wall Street,” he said.
Legal Constraints
Bair dismissed that suggestion.
“For risk-based assessments, our statute restricts us from discriminating against an institution because of size,” Bair wrote.
The deposit insurance fund won’t dry up because the government can get funds from the industry and congressional appropriations, and borrow from the Treasury, Chip MacDonald, a partner specializing in financial services at law firm Jones Day, said today in a telephone interview.
“As a depositor, I am not worried in the least,” MacDonald said. “No one is going to let the FDIC go without any money.”
Consumers should watch this issue closely, said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director at U.S. PIRG, a Boston- based consumer-watchdog group.
“I wouldn’t take their money out of the bank yet,” Mierzwinski said. “If the FDIC is saying that there is this serious problem, then we should all be concerned. I think there is a chance the FDIC is going to have to ask taxpayers for money in the future.”
No Taxpayer Funds
Bair rejected arguments that the agency should use government aid to rebuild the fund. The FDIC has authority to tap a $30 billion line of credit at the Treasury Department and legislation pending in Congress would boost the amount to $100 billion.
“Banks, not taxpayers, are expected to fund the system,” Bair said. Asking for taxpayer support “could paint all banks with the ‘bailout’ brush.”
The FDIC “will revise the interim rule, if appropriate, in light of the comments received,” the agency said in a Federal Register notice.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?id=washingtonstory&sid=alsJZqIFuN3k

Md. residents: Reports needed on SWAT team use March 4, 2009 - 4:43am
By KATHLEEN MILLER Associated Press Writer
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Five Maryland residents testified Tuesday that SWAT teams storming their homes handcuffed them, drew guns or even killed their dogs in two instances, telling a state legislative panel that the state needs reports on how the units are used.
State Senator Anthony Muse of Prince George's County is sponsoring legislation that would require law enforcement agencies to issue monthly reports to the Maryland Attorney General on the number, purpose, authorization, general location and results of Maryland SWAT team deployments.
"I believe our law enforcement agencies do a tremendous job under the pressure and the limited resources that they have," Muse said. "But there is no doubt that sometimes things go horribly, horribly wrong. There are those behind us today who will testify that things did go horribly wrong."
Last summer, police raided the home and killed the dogs of an innocent Berwyn Heights mayor after drug smugglers sent a package containing 32 pounds of marijuana to his residence. Police now say the smugglers hoped to have a courier pick up the package shortly after it was dropped outside Mayor Cheye Calvo's front door. Officers kicked down the door and shot Calvo's dogs during the raid, later clearing him and his family of all wrongdoing.
"As I was forced to kneel down on the floor at gunpoint I remember thinking this was a terrible, terrible mistake," Calvo told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Tuesday. "But as I learned more I've come to understand that what my family and I experienced is part of a broader and troubling trend in law enforcement where police are using SWAT teams for jobs that used to be done by regular police officers."
One after the other, Baltimore County resident George Spicka, Montgomery County resident Sylriel Peters and Howard County residents Karen Thomas and C.B. Petit Jr. told lawmakers about SWAT team raids of their homes in which police damaged property, sometimes killed or threatened to kill family pets and disrupted their lives.
"We will never forget the terror as we saw multiple high-powered weapons aimed at our children's chest," Petit said. "The laser dots on our chests haunt us daily and are now in our nightmares."
Thomas said the raid of her home stemmed from her 20-year-old son selling one gram of marijuana to an undercover police officer _ he ultimately pleaded guilty and served two weeks in jail for the incident, while Petit and Peters said there were no charges brought against anyone living in their homes.
Spicka said he was arrested, but the charges against him were dropped and he's now suing Maryland Transit Authority detectives over the raid. He says he was taken from his home wearing bedroom slippers and not allowed to grab his glasses or change shoes before being taken into jail after the raid. He adds that officers could not locate his cell phone when he was released.
"I had to slog through Glen Burnie in the dark, not being able to see clearly beyond 20 feet, in a rain that soaked me and my slippers, until I found an all night diner that called me a cab," Spicka told legislators.
Law enforcement representatives said it was impossible to comment on particular cases without firsthand knowledge of the situation, but that raids are a necessary part of police work.
"When I write a search warrant I don't know that person could be the sweetest person in the world or a 12 year-old-child who is hell bent on using a firearm who will pull a trigger and can pull a trigger," said Percel Alston Jr., who testified for the Maryland State Fraternal Order of Police. "You don't necessarily know the intent of the person on the other side of the door."
They also said the legislation at hand would probably not change the way raids are conducted.
"I think at the end of the day what you'll wind up with is a report," Phillip Hinkle, general counsel for the Charles County Office of the Sheriff. "You're going to have numbers on a piece of paper."
But Calvo and others said the reports are necessary so lawmakers can devise future legislation to protect people from raids based on inaccurate information or small offenses.
"I see this as a first step and not a final step," Calvo said.
On the Net:
Read Senate Bill 447: http://mlis.state.md.us/2009rs/billfile/SB0447.htm
http://wtop.com/?nid=708&sid=1615452

Reports: Russia building anti-satellite weapons March 5, 2009 - 12:11pm
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia is working to develop anti-satellite weapons to match efforts by other nations, a deputy defense minister was quoted as saying Thursday.
Gen. Valentin Popovkin said Russia continues to oppose a space arms race but will respond to moves made by other countries, according to Russian news reports.
"We can't sit back and quietly watch others doing that; such work is being conducted in Russia," Popovkin was quoted as saying.
Russia already has some "basic, key elements" of such weapons, he said without elaboration.
Popovkin, who previously was the chief of Russian military Space Forces, reportedly made the statement at a news conference in response to a question about U.S. and Chinese tests of anti-satellite weapons.
In February 2008, a U.S. Navy ship launched a missile that hit a dying spy satellite. The test boosted the credibility of missile defense advocates. In 2007, China destroyed one of its own defunct satellites with a ballistic missile.
The Kremlin has criticized U.S. plans for space-based weapons, saying they could trigger a new arms race. Russia and China have pushed for an international agreement banning space weapons, but their proposals have been rejected by the United States.
As part of missile defense plans developed by the previous U.S. administration, the Pentagon worked on missiles, ground lasers and other technology to shoot down satellites.
George W. Bush's administration plan to locate missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic put it at odds with Russia, which opposed the move as a threat to its security.
President Barack Obama has signaled that he might forgo an anti-missile system in Eastern Europe if Russia helps end a standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The Kremlin has welcomed Washington's moves to improve ties, but Russian officials continue to emphasize the need for modernization of Russian military arsenals.
Popovkin said the government budgeted 1.5 trillion rubles ($42 billion) for weapons purchases this year. He said a quarter of that sum will be spent on strategic nuclear forces.
The military will use the money to put more than 10 new intercontinental ballistic missiles on line by year's end, Popovkin said _ a much faster pace of deployment than in previous years.
Popovkin said the military also intends to complete tests of the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile and put it into service by the year's end. Russian leaders have boasted of its capability to penetrate missile defenses and described it as a key part of the military's future nuclear arsenal.
But the Bulava, intended for Russia's nuclear submarines, has failed in five of its 10 test launches.
"Any weapon may fail during tests," Popovkin was quoted as saying. "We were forced to increase the number of tests because of a series of failures. We have checked the entire production chain and found a number of flaws."
Popovkin said the Russian air force will receive about 50 new planes and 50 military helicopters this year. The figure is significantly higher than the total number of combat aircraft commissioned by the military since the 1991 Soviet collapse. He also said a next-generation fighter jet is set to make its maiden flight in August.
http://wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1610163

Here is an excellent article from 230gr at the FRC forums about Garlic
Preserving Garlic
Silverskin or Porcelain garlics are usually still good in storage all through the winter and into the spring. But if you're going to want to try to preserve it, anyway, then you have three pretty safe choices for longer term storage (drying, freezing and pickling - recommended) and one fairly dangerous choice for shorter term storage (in oil - NOT recommended).
Drying Garlic.
Drying garlic is the least expensive and safest way to preserve garlic and retain as much as possible of its fresh character. It's also easy to do. Simply cut the garlic into 1/8" to 1/4" thin slices, and dry them in your dehydrator at 100 to 130o F or so and dry them until they are hard and crisp, even on the inside but still light in color. Do not overcook them, when they turn brown they will turn bitter. In a few days they will become completely dry will keep for years if you can keep it dry. The dried slices should to be kept whole until used in order to better preserve the allicin potential. You can grind the dried slices into powder or nuggets at the time you use them and upon re-moisturizing, allicin happens. The whole dried slices will retain almost all of their potency.Note: Drying garlic is the only way to retain the potential to make allicin - neither freezing nor pickling can do that, and allicin is the beginning of everything that garlic means to us as food, flavoring or pharmaceutical.
Pickling Garlic.
Pickled garlic may not be exactly like fresh garlic but it has a wonderfully refreshing and invigorating flavor of its own. They lose a lot of the heat in pickling and so you can eat more garlic this way. I found a few recipes to pass on for several different ways of pickling garlic. Pickle the garlic anyway you want to, but pickle it and eat it because it is too delicious of a snack to pass up.Pickled Garlic: 12 large heads garlic, about 1 3/4 lb 21/2 cups white vinegar 1 cup dry white wine 1 tbsp pickling salt 1 tbsp granulated sugar 1 tbsp dried oregano 5 dried whole chili peppers Separate garlic bulbs into cloves. To soften and loosen skins, blanch garlic cloves in rapidly boiling water 30 seconds; immediately immerse in cold water, drain and peel cloves. Place 5 clean 8 oz Mason jars in a boiling water canner; fill with water, bring to a boil. Boil SNAP lids 5 minutes to soften sealing compound. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar, wine, pickling salt, sugar and oregano. Bring to a boil; boil gently 1 minute; remove from heat. Add peeled garlic cloves to hot vinegar mixture. Stir constantly 1 minute. Pack garlic and 1 dried whole chili pepper into a hot jar to within 3/4-inch of top rim. Add hot liquid to cover garlic to within 1/2-inch of top rim (head space). Using rubber spatula, remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Centre SNAP lid on jar; apply screw band just until fingertip tight. Place jar in canner. Repeat for remaining garlic and liquid. Cover canner; return water to a boil. Process -- boil filled jars -- 10 minutes. Remove jars. Cool undisturbed 24 hours. Check jar seals. Sealed lids curve downward. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars, as desired. Label and store in a cool, dark place. Warning: This recipe was specially formulated to allow home canners to preserve a low acid food -- garlic -- in a commonly available boiling water canner. Please do not deviate from the recipe ingredients; quantities jar size and processing method and time. Any change could affect the safety of the end product.
Fermented Garlic Pickles
PICKLING with LACTO-FERMENTATIONBack before the advent of canning and freezing, folks preserved their vegetable harvest via lacto-fermentation. This process, once commonplace, survives today mostly in the form of sauerkraut and kim-chi. These days, almost all store bought pickles and contemporary pickle recipes are vinegar-based. Lacto-fermented pickles contain no vinegar at all.In lacto-fermentation, salt is added to vegetables, either by covering them in salty water or by mixing them with salt to draw out their own juices. Either way, the vegetable ends up stewing in salty liquid. Lactic microbial organisms take hold in this environment and make it so acidic that bacteria that cause food to spoil can’t live there. The result is a pickled food that will keep without canning or refrigeration. Lacto-fermented pickles are also full of beneficial bacteria that, like the bacteria in yogurt, are good for your gut and make food more digestible.Just about any firm, sturdy vegetable can be lacto-fermented including Radishes (daikon especially), cucumbers, cabbage, baby onions, green beans, carrots, beets, lemons, turnips, and, of course, garlic cloves will work nicely. Essentially, all you have to do is pack a canning jar or crock with your veggies and cover them with a brine solution and leave it somewhere dark and cool to ferment. Pickling time varies by taste, vegetable, ambient temperature, but say anywhere from three days to four weeks. Open it up and sample at regular intervals to decide when you like your pickles best. It’s a frighteningly simple and flavorful transformation.Use sea salt or canning salt over iodized salt and non-chlorinated water. The saltier your solution, the longer the vegetable will last, but too much salt can be unpalatable. More salt is generally required in the summer when microbial action is fast paced, less in the winter.If you’re pickling your veggies in brine, covering them with premixed salt water, at:1. 2 tablespoons of sea salt per quart of water (a 3.6% brine solution) is a pretty standard strength for most pickles. 2. 3 tablespoons of salt per quart (5.4% solution) yields a salty but extra long lasting pickle. 3. 10% brine lasts even longer but often the vegetables must be soaked in fresh water before being eaten. 4. Some old-time recipes call for brines with enough salt to float an egg. This translates to about a 10% salt solution. 5. Experiment with brine strength. A general rule of thumb to consider in salting your ferments: more salt to slow microorganism action in summer heat; less salt in winter when microbial action slows.The directions are simple:1. Clean and cut veggies and fill a very clean jar. Add any spices (like black peppercorns or chili peppers) and, to increase crunchiness, add fresh tannin-rich grape leaves (or fresh cherry, oak, and/or horseradish leaves). 2. Pour brine to cover. Leave a little breathing room at the top of the jar about 1/2″.3. Cap and wait: once the vegetables are in the jars, leave them at room temperature (72 degrees) for 4 to 14 days. During summer months, I leave them on my kitchen counter to ferment. During the fall and winter, I snuggle my jars into towels and place them in an insulated picnic cooler. How long you allow them to ferment depends on how tangy you like your vegetables. I suggest opening a jar after three to five days but if you like the tanginess, allow them to ferment a bit longer. After 14 days, you can place all the jars in the refrigerator for up to eight months.4. It is important to note that fermented vegetables have a very distinct smell and may bubble and fizz when first opened. When done correctly, they have a strong sour smell. Note: “Dry Style” fermentation you’re packing salt and shredded vegetables together (like sauerkraut and kim-chi) use minimum of 1 1/2 percent salt by weight of vegetables or about two to three tablespoons of salt per quart of prepared veggies.1. Shred vegetable2. Pack into container, salting as you go3. Put a weight on top of the vegetable to help press out the liquids. Cover with cheesecloth.4. It should take about three days minimum to pickle. Do a taste test every few days thereafter, and as soon as you have got a good flavor (probably in about a week or so) transfer your pickles to the refrigerator where they should last for several months as leaving them in a cabinet, they won’t last nearly as long.You’ll know they’re bad if they start to smell or look off, or take on a slimy texture.Refrigerator Garlic Pickles AIngredients: Whole, peeled garlic cloves Red wine vinegarSalt (about 1 Tbs. per cup of vinegar)Place the cloves of garlic in a jar with an air-tight lid. Add enough vinegar to cover, and add salt. Place lid on jar and shake to dissolve salt. Store in the refrigerator for two weeks before using to "cure". These should keep almost indefinitely, covered and refrigerated. Refrigerator Garlic Pickles BIngredients: Whole, peeled garlic cloves 5% Vinegar of your choiceKikkoman's light soy sauce Place the cloves of garlic in a jar with a lid and add enough vinegar to cover. Place lid on jar and store in the refrigerator for two weeks to "cure". Drain vinegar off and use separately as garlic flavored vinegar. Place cloves into jar and add soy sauce to cover. Wait a week or more before eating. These should keep almost indefinitely, covered and refrigerated. Refrigerator Garlic Pickles C2 whole heads garlic, divided into peeled cloves 2/3 cup distilled white vinegar or wine vinegar3 tablespoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon commercial mixed pickling spice 3 sprigs fresh thyme, 3 inches long one 1/2 pint sterilized jar with lid Peel garlic, cut any pieces that are thicker than 3/4 inch in half length-wise. In a small saucepan, boil vinegar, sugar, salt and pickling spice, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add garlic cloves and return to a boil; cook stirring for 1 minute. Put thyme sprigs in jar then pour in garlic, liquid, and spices, filling to within 1/4 inch of top, making sure garlic is covered. Cover tightly. Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours to blend flavors, then refrigerate for up to 2 months. Garlic in Oil Warning! - Not Safe. It's important to keep food safety in mind when storing garlic in oil. Low-acid foods like raw garlic can be a source of Clostridium botulinum bacteria. Oil's oxygen-free environment is perfect for growth of this anaerobic bacteria. Garlic in oil, therefore, must be stored correctly to prevent botulism food poisoning. It's best to store these oils in the refrigerator, but for a limited time only, not be refrigerated longer than 3 weeks. After 3 weeks of refrigeration, the increased number of bacteria will become a food safety hazard. This conflicts with the desire for long term storage of the garlic, however, after removing the garlic, the flavored oil can be stored safely at room temperature. When vegetables or herbs are dried, water will not be available for bacterial growth.
Therefore, DRIED vegetables (including garlic) in oil can be stored safely at room temperature. Note. Tomatoes are high in acid. Therefore, plain dried tomatoes in oil can be safely stored at room temperature. I grow North German cultivar of Porcelain (ophios) garlic which may be the most cold hearty garlics of all and will survive -45oF . Their bulbs are usually over 2 1/2 inches in diameterand with 3" bulbs are not unusual . The wrappers tend to be very thick, very white and parchment-like and tightly cover their few 3 to 5, but very large, cloves. Great eating garlic, Porcelains are all very richly flavored garlic. Porcelain garlics store longer than most other garlics, only the Silverskins store longer, it's hard to ask much more out of a garlic. The Porcelains are the densest of all garlics and weigh more per unit of volume than the other kinds and research scientists say that makes it a superior medicinal garlicIn our experience, Porcelains are very hardy garlic and will grow well in most of the USA, but get larger the further North they are grown. Even so, they do well in most areas of the South most years although they are "iffy" in Florida and South Texas and the warmer winter parts of California. Porcelain garlics are unique in that the scapes they produce in the spring coil in all kinds of ways and resemble a bed of snakes before the scapes all straighten up and become vertical. If eaten while soft and still in the curl, the scapes are absolutely delicious in soup, dips and stir fries. We plant from cloves, as most people do, though some plant bulbils that develop on scapes. The problem is that your clove size is reduced by about a third and it takes two full growing seasons to mature the bulblets. We usually plant our garlic the end of October and harvest late in July, well before the Silverskins. 230gr
http://frc4u.org/phpbb/index.php?topic=406.0;topicseen

First had burping and farting cows and then bletching sheep and now we have burping worms the cause of Global Warming.
Burping Worms May Contribute to Climate Change
While the biological emissions from these critters pales in comparison to the nitrous oxide emitted by fossil fuel burning, their contribution could increase as more and more nitrogen-rich fertilizer runs off into lakes, streams and seas, the authors of the study said.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is more commonly known to anyone who has sat in the dentist's chair as laughing gas.
In the atmosphere it is a powerful greenhouse gas, packing about 310 times the punch as the same weight of carbon dioxide (though carbon dioxide is still the bigger driver because there is much more of it).
Studies of soil-dwelling earthworms had showed that the creepy crawlies emitted nitrous oxide because of the nitrogen-converting microbes they gobbled up into their guts with every mouthful of soil.
Peter Stief, of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany, and his colleagues noticed that no one had ever looked for similar nitrous oxide emission in aquatic animals, so that's where they turned their attention.
"We were looking for an analogy in the aquatic system," Stief said.
The researchers found that in a variety of aquatic environments, animals that dug in the dirt for their food did indeed emit nitrous oxide, thanks to the bacteria in the soil they ate, which "survive surprisingly well in the gut environment," Stief told LiveScience.
The team's findings are detailed in the March 2 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The nitrous oxide given off by these so-called filter feeders has little global impact of course.
"We're not expecting a new catastrophe," Stief said.
But on the scale of an individual lake or stream, "the difference can be huge," Stief said — as much as an 8-fold difference between situations where animals were and were not present.
Nitrate from fertilizer runoff can exacerbate the situation because those bacteria that end up in animal guts love to feast on it.
Increased nitrogen levels can also favor algal blooms, which suck up all the oxygen in the water. This could cause a shift in the ecosystems subjected to runoff, favoring the species that are more tolerant to oxygen depletion, which also tend to be the nitrous oxide emitters.
Because these species tend to be at the bottom of the food chain, any shifts in species abundance can cascade up the food chain, Stief noted.
The findings don't mean that animals will be to blame for any future increases in nitrous oxide, because the pollution would fuel their emissions ultimately comes from humans.
"We have not discovered that the animals represent an environmental problem," Stief said.
The research was supported by a European Union Marie Curie Fellowship, the Danish Research Agency and Aarhus University, Denmark.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,504646,00.html

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez tightens state control of food amid rocketing inflation and food shortages
President Hugo Chavez is tightening state control over Venezuela's food supply, setting quotas for food staples which are to be sold at government-imposed prices.
Venezuela's public finances are unravelling, with oil prices at $40 a barrel, while the national budget is calculated at $60 a barrel. Inflation is running at over 30 per cent, yet with the new measures Mr Chavez is seeking to ensure that his core support, the poor, can still fill their shopping baskets with food.
"If any industry wants to ride roughshod over the consumers, with a view to getting better dividends, we are going to act," said Carlos Osorio, the national superintendent of silos and storage. "For the government, access to food is a matter of national security."
Production quotas and prices have now been set for cooking oil, white rice, sugar, coffee, flour, margarine, pasta, cheeses and tomato sauce.
White rice, the staple for many Venezuelans, can now only be sold at a price of 2.15 bolivares (71p) per kilo. Private companies insist that production of that kilo costs 4.41 bolivares (£1.46) and that government regulations are impossible to fulfil and companies will quickly go broke. Companies that are dedicated to rice production must ensure that 80 per cent of their efforts are dedicated to white rice. The new regulations set production percentages, as companies were rebranding their products to avoid the government controls, like flavouring the rice, as the price restrictions apply only to white rice.
"Forcing companies to produce rice at a loss will not resolve the situation, simply make it worse," said Luis Carmona of Polar, a rice company that has been singled out by the government for trying to sidestep restrictions.
Government price controls on basic goods have been in place, in various forms, since 2003. But the restrictions have forced Venezuela to become increasingly reliant on imports of these products as local farmers will not supply the selected food staples at government prices.
Mr Chavez last month won a referendum allowing him to stand indefinitely for re-election. With that now achieved the Venezuelan leader, who has vowed to turn his South American nation into a model Socialist state, is now taking some unpopular decisions needed to stabilise his floundering economy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/4938993/Venezuelas-Hugo-Chavez-tightens-state-control-of-food-amid-rocketing-inflation-and-food-shortages.html