uninteded. you could be my unintended. muse. love. only muse.  i guess it’s one of the greatest love songs ever.

source: youtube.com

Jammers has been hard at work finding me some of the creepiest little commercials you’ll ever see. Can you spot the unintended sexual innuendos?

I’m embarrassed. There’s something that I want to talk about, but I feel like everything has been said. I don’t want to be that girl who is still pining after an ex two years later. But for some reason there is something about it that I just can’t shake.

You know how couples have a song? I don’t think we ever agreed on one, but every time I heard “Unintended” by Muse I would think of him. That’s probably not the best song to inspire romance, but it was so true. I was his unintended love. He wasn’t looking for me, but I popped up while he was still picking up pieces from the one who left. Maybe I couldn’t fully accept that.

But now I feel like I am the one who is still mending the pieces that he left. Maybe he was my unintended? I just wish I could shake this feeling… those memories. I foolishly believe hope that this isn’t over and we’ll meet randomly one day and start over new. After we’ve mended.

Or… maybe I need to practice some tough love and smack myself out of this love funk. You’d think a year and a half would have done the trick.

Firstly, thanks to Emily Law for telling me the name and artist of this nice happy song I heard on the radio one morning It’s making a bit a HIGH, haha. xD It’s really made my day. If you haven’t heard it already, it’s called ‘High’ by Lighthouse Family, a duo that unfortunately split up in 2003.
LISTEN to it! =D the lyrics can be found here.

Which leads me to something else. UNINTENDED! (Muse) I absolutely love this song right now.

You could be my unintended
Choice to live my life extended
You could be the one I’ll always love

You could be the one who listens
to my deepest inquisitions
You could be the one I’ll always love

I’ll be there as soon as I can
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before

First there was the one who challenged
All my dreams and all my balance
She could never be as good as you

You could be my unintended
Choice to live my life extended
You should be the one I’ll always love

I’ll be there as soon as I can
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before

I’ll be there as soon as I can
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before

Before you

The music video, which is very strange… and kind of hypnotising too… they look so different now compared to back when this was made and I swear that Matthew’s lips don’t quite sync with the music, but whatever

I’m only just beginning to really appreciate Muse’s debut album, Showbiz. I think it’s brilliant, although Black Holes and Revelations has still got to be my favourite at the moment. Hmmm.

It’s 1.43am and I’d better be getting to bed soon. I’m still not feeling my best, after getting sick unexpectedly during these past few days. Thankfully it wasn’t as serious as last time. So it’s finally come to this, the end of the road. The last week (less actually) of school, forever. Tomorrow (well more like in a few hours time) is the literary luncheon, which should hopefully be interesting. Basically everyone had to (either in groups or solo) dress up or make some sort of visual rep about anything in English – whether it be a theme, quote, technique – or something else altogether. It will be interesting to see what people came up with, although I’m expecting most of them to be lame. In a good way of course As an added bonus we get to see everyone dress up in boy’s uniform as well – thanks James and Joseph – which I expect to be a prime opportunity for photo-taking. Yes. :3

Tuesday is “dress up like a junior and invade the junior classes” day, which should be fun. I think teachers vs year 12s basketball has also been postponed to Tuesday as well due to the duststorm last week. Wednesday is LUNCHEON! I still haven’t figured out matching shoes and accessories. I can’t be bothered at the moment. Hrm. In fact, I can’t be bothered doing much these days. Which is a bad thing, considering the HSC’s in 3 weeks and 1 day…wait did I just say THREE WEEKS?! OH MY GAD CRAP NOOO

Bedtime now! I think the mega long post will be up on Friday, when I don’t have to go to school and before I start intensively studying during the holidays. Ugh.

The choice rests in your hands...

Now that actually makes me want to go work…thanks Thom. Later everyone

Creo que la mayoría ya sabéis quiénes son Muse. El caso es que el grupo de Matthew Bellamy parece que alcanzó otra órbita cuando la autora de Crepúsculo los mencionó como una de sus principales fuentes de inspiración. También es triste que un pedazo de grupo como Muse se haga megaconocido por las declaraciones de la escritora de moda (si al menos fuera J.K. Rowling). Mucho antes ya tenían New Born, Unintended, Sunburn o Hysteria, por mencionar sólo canciones de sus tres primeros álbumes (Showbiz, Origin of Symmetry y Absolution -el raruno de mezclas ni lo menciono-). Teloneros estelares de la gira norteamericana de U2 y con numerosos premios por, entre otros cosas, su espectacular directo, la banda tenía que tocar en un programa de la RAI un tema de su último disco The Resistance.

Hasta aquí lo más normal del mundo en la promoción internacional de un nuevo disco (lo dice alguien que ha estado en decenas de centenares de giras mundiales). Pero resulta que la dirección del programa les impone que hagan playback, cosa que a Bellamy y compañía no les hace ni puta gracia. ¿Se encabronan? ¿Dejan de tocar? ¡Mucho mejor que todo eso! Con dos cojones, cada uno de los componentes del grupo se intercambia instrumento con uno de sus compañeros, de tal manera que acabamos viendo al vocalista y guitarra tocando la batería, y al batería haciendo de cantante brutal. Eso sí, ¡todos en su papel!, ¡con emoción!

Y ya el colmo es cuando la presentadora se dirige al “cantante” Dominic Howard (para el resto del mundo, el verdadero batería de Muse) para hacerle la entrevista… Pero para qué tanta palabrería si es mejor disfrutarlo en imágenes. Agradecido a J.D. y dedicado a S.C.: Muse se reinventa (capítulo I):

dah lame tidak tengok drama melayu yang memang tipikal drama melayu yang realistik. rasa macam nak angkat televishen tu lepastu macam opsiee! the television slipped off my hands accidentally and kebabom jatuh atas lantai sambil nudge shoulder sendiri dan mata di-roll-kan ke kanan dan ke kiri. punyalah sakit hati gile tengok drama tu. most of the cerita melayu kadang-kadang can be a bit annoying when it comes to the storyline. like got no twist, and you can wrap up the whole drama with your own conclusion and turn off the television or maybe flip  some other channels, say Disney ke? unlike any dramas, Disney cartoons do not bore you to death, mind you.  tapi malam tadi drama die, annoyance nya was not towards the storyline.  awal-awal die dah saspen dah.  pasal this one guy; a husband and a father, yang boleh tahan tahap liberal nya. but when it comes to the wife and the family he chose to implement traditional values whilst it was alright for him to berpoye-poye with his girlfriend and neglecting his small kids. Dude, mane equality nya?  Dont ask me what happened in the end, because i slept halfway through and wrapping up the story with my own conclusion was pretty impossible. Maybe, that guy turned into a new leaf? or maybe the wife, keeping too much to herself, chose to leave the husband and live alone happily? entah.

Little did we know, this phenomena is happening dan dah boleh kate ia adalah fenomena yang cliche.

Drama Tipikal Melayu kadang-kadang ada realistiknya .

u could be my unintended

choice

to live my life extended

u could be the one I’ll always love

u could be the one who listens

to my deepest inquisitions

u could be the one I’ll always love

I’ll be there as soon as I can

but I’m busy mending broken

pieces of the life I had before

first there was the one who challenged

all my dreams and all my balance

she could never be as good as you

u could be my unintended

choice

to live my life extended

u should be the one I’ll always love

I’ll be there as soon as I can

but I’m busy mending broken

pieces of the life I had before

before you

urr, i dont know how to put this. we’ll make it short and sweet otey?

sesiape yang perasan tolong jangan perasan.

peace out .

I’m sorry… I’ve a bit lazy. Havn’t posted anything in a while… Just havn’t had anything to say.

So, today I’ll post a very beautiful song by Muse, called “Unintended”. Now listen very carefully!

If you listened carefully enough, you’ll already be able to sing it yourself

If you’re not sure about the lyrics you may cheat and read them below:

You could be my unintended
Choice to live my life extended
You could be the one I’ll always love
You could be the one who listens
To my deepest inquisitions
You could be the one I’ll always love

I’ll be there as soon as I can
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before

First there was the one who challenged
All my dreams and all my balance
She could never be as good as you
You could be my unintended
Choice to live my life extended
You should be the one I’ll always love

I’ll be there as soon as I can
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before

I’ll be there as soon as I can
But I’m busy mending broken
Pieces of the life I had before

Before you

felt normal today. i have an FB account finally.   got myself out of the abnormality. LOL. abnormal ke tak de facebook ? i did feel abnormal without facebook. >.<  erk! *hides face*

psst, i had a rather fun (fun ialah sangat dull okay. but i kenot describe the feeling that im feeling . but boy oh bow, its beyond indescribable. so just be happy with fun nabila, and stop digging dictionary.com) escapism (or shall i say I-Skey-Piz-Uhm) nonetheless. what i was i trying to say just now was, “i had a rather fun escapism, nonetheless”. what should be barely a one-lined sentence somehow turned out into almost a paragraph. ngek tol aku. ekskezemua.

now that i have a facebook, i think i might need to do some changes on my blog title. no? well, maybe if i have figured any catchy words which amuse me . like “Nabilah Abdul Rashid” perhaps.?  bluwergh ! tak best.

sesuatu yang dah lame mahu dijadikan entri tapi baru hari ini dijadikan entri.

sebelum pembacaan dan punat play ditekan pade tab-tab dibawah , sile pastikan anda berseorangan di dalam bilik. kunci bilik jangan lupe. dan sile pakai headset untuk penghayatan yang lebih. dan sediekan tisu sekirenye anda tidak mahu mengesat air mate dan hingus pade lengan baju anda.

ini youtube pertame.

“it’s this small things that you remember; little imperfections that made them perfect for you..”

“..find a life partner who is beautifully imperfect to you. “

ini youtube kedue. iklan insurens siam, tapi message die cukup  menyentap.

“true love comes once in a lifetime.” true that.

finding a life partner who would accept us the way we are; secomel-comel kite, sengade-ngade kite, segedik-gedik kite, seburuk-buruk kite, sehine-hine kite, semasam-masam kite, sekentut-kentut kite dan berbagai se-senye lagi, is pretty tough,  especially when the global is too much engrossed with  high-technologies,  building skyscrapers that almost touch the sky  and school kids flashing their rocket science gadgets; blackberry, iphone , 3g , 4g , 5g , 100g, and whatnot. it is some kind of a global disease that has been walloping humans i shall say. (mende aku ngarot ni.)

BUT  i have met this one guy, way back then, when i was 17. (so there must be still this kinda  guy of  mutual traits for the rest of you girls as well. yayay   fear not oteh!)  well, it was in form 5, where life was such a  tralalala one~! it was the time when you were so carefree that made you go yeyey and weng-weng every single day without fail.

His name is …

*drum rolls*

Landon Carter.  (kehkeh, kene tipu!).

watch this.

“love is like the wind, you can’t see it, but you can feel it.”

rasenya tak payah kot aku nak cerite panjang lebar. video-video pada entri ini sudah cukop untuk sampaikan mesej

********************************************************************************************************

I Know How It Feels

by Rainbow Slider

I know how it feels when you touch me.
Because you have touched before.
I know how it feels when you hold me.
Because the feeling I can’t ignore.
I know how it feels to be without you.
Because I felt that way for a long time.
I know how it feels when love is true.
Because I feel that in every rhyme.

E Am
You could be my unintended

D G
Choice to live my life extended

C B E
You could be the one I’ll always love

E Am
You could be the one who listens

D G
To my deepest inquisitions

C B
You could be the one I’ll always love

Chorus

E Am
I’ll be there, as soon as I can

D G
But I’m busy, mending all the

C B
Pieces of, the life I had before

Verse 2

E Am
First, there was the one who challenged

D G
All my dreams and all my balance

C B
She could never be as good as you

E Am
You could be my unintended

D G
Choice to live my life extended

C B E
You should be the one I’ll always love

Bridge : Am  Csus2  E

Repeat Chorus 2x

Outro : Am  Amsus9  E

Jamba Juice is a frozen fruit smoothie franchise that has consistent taste, predictable service (both timing and quality), hip marketing, and friendly staff.  As a process engineer, I have always marveled at the “process line” that Jamba Juice employs.  It is simple, efficient, and allows for excellence in quality in pace and accuracy (so long as the vast majority of products being sold are smoothies).

Jamba Juice uses a register station, a prep station, a blending station, a finishing station, and a washing station.  The “line” works because each smoothie gets a paper ticket with the smoothie identity (product) and the purchaser identity.  The paper ticket sticks to the blender carafe when moist, so information flows along the line with each carafe.  As the tickets flow, carafes are prepped and pushed down the line, creating an excellent First-In-First-Out (FIFO) process line.  The “line” is usually well staffed to ensure flow through the series of stations and the register station can be used regulate flow.  If needed, they can reduce the flow momentarily by ceasing to take orders when they get too backed up.  It is easy to see your order progress in the line-up, making the wait very predictable.

I also like Jamba Juice because they are “hip.”  They use colorful advertising, clean humor, and they have a “secret smoothie menu” that appeals to teens (my kids like the “Pink Star”).

When I went for a smoothie today (it was hot outside), I found that Jamba Juice had added many new food products to their menu.  I watched sadly as the once simple process gave way to complexity and FIFO flow was no longer working.  The woman in front of me in line received only one of her two smoothies.  Even though she muttered about the error (such that I knew), she was not assertive in requesting a correction from the staff.  On the other hand, when I observed that one of my smoothies had NOT been prepared at the prep station, I spoke up immediately, because it was clear to me that the new way the paper tickets and carafes flowed led to errors and a loss of system capacity.

Indeed the squeaky wheel (me) got the grease (my order was fixed ASAP).  I left advising the woman ahead of me to speak up, even though I knew that more expediting would continue to cost process capacity.  They had became caught in an eternal expedite situation – as each person found an error in their order, “flow” work ceased and “expedite” work filled the capacity of the staff.   The line backed up more and more because complexity unintentionally increased the rate of error and no mechanism was added to compensate.

I lament the loss of the niche excellence that Jamba Juice once commanded.  I am saddened because they have lost their core to the unintended consequence of what probably seemed like an “improvement” (revenue?).  Maybe only this location was duly affected with the addition of food to the menu and maybe they can create a corrective action, but I am not confident.

Jamba Juice failed to see the long view value of their core competence from a customer’s perspective:  consistent fruit smoothie preparation (tasty!), FIFO process (predictable timing), and high order quality (order accuracy).  It is the experience that has value. The unintended consequence of their change compromised this core value.    As my friend Greg (a marketing guy) points out, “Ask your customers why they buy your product and why they buy your product from you and not one of your competitors. You will no doubt be amazed at the answer.”  In summary, understand your core and the potential for unintended consequences from your customer’s perspective.

Do you know what your customers think your core competency is?

the relevancy of today’s entry has got nothing to do with its title.  now i know the reasons for some malaysian artists, or rather, malay artists who would just reply with a simple “no comment” in response to nasty juicy gossips bombarded on them. (you can catch this by tuning on to “melodi , TV3, 12.30p.m., every Sundays. mind you, terjah  is pretty much not to be missed if you were flipping through the channels and ended up not fancying any show at this hour). so, nak perasan jadi artist melayu kejap. “no comment” ye.

swallow everything and accept everything as a karma; for being sinful to God and to anyone else too. May God bless myself and just whoever who needs His blessings.

And yes Rob, I am taking your advice; I took the one less traveled by, definitely having  the better claim

Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken (1915)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Dell SK-8100 Keyboard
A bumper-like protrusion on the Dell SK-8100 Keyboard very frequently produces unintended, and sometimes catastrophic(!) left mouse clicks with various common mice, including the one Dell shipped with the system. If you simply bump the mouse into the corner of the keyboard, it has a perfectly-designed “ramp” that produces a left-click every time. Besides being extremely irritating and inconvenient, this can sometimes have catastrophic consequences, depending on where the cursor happens to be when the unintended click is issued. Extremely thoughtless design on Dell’s part. Tsk tsk tsk…

Lessons Learned/Solution:
Don’t design in a vacuum. Don’t just focus on the component – consider the interaction of the entire system. As a work-around, I now use a thick book as a mouse pad to elevate the mouse above the height of the keyboard. An ugly, messy, and inconvenient solution, but an effective one! Shame on you, Dell!

orthodox , is a pretty big word. just make sure you match it with bombastic sentences as well.  i believe in my beliefs ; beliefs that my mother taught me. if you do not share the same beliefs that i have been believing , just stick to your beliefs because i am still believing in my beliefs. i hope no one is affected when i emphasize on traditional male role.  *runs quickly*

a portrayal of a fine chap , an aloof romantic and is a gentleman too. *blush*

*drum rolls….*

mr fitzwilliam darcy ~

*feet sweep off..*

mr hensem ; not that hensem sangatlah. cume hensem sbb die manly and calm which bring out the hensem in him =p

p/s : honestly, to begin with,  i am not even sure the exact meaning of orthodox. as far as i am concern, orthodox has got something to do with the population in Soviet Union who believes in orthodox; a Christian communion. *scratches head* kompius.

]]> http://lindaslongview.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/relativistic-comparisons/ Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:44:01 +0000 lindaslongview http://lindaslongview.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/relativistic-comparisons/

I had Chinese food with a good friend last evening.  My friend received the following fortune:  “Linger over dinner discussions this week for needed advice.”

Specifically, we discussed the challenges of coping with isolated HR (Human Resources) actions that benefit a single individual/group, yet create long-term unintended consequences for other staff.   One example was a scenario where HR advocated offering a higher starting salary to recruit a new employee without adjusting other staff salaries for like positions.   The problem is that even if current staff salaries are economically fair (from an entirely objective perspective), the salary differential will be perceived as unfair when (not if) the details become known.  This is because humans are tightly bound to relativistic thinking.  Watch this great YouTube video by Dan Ariely from his work, Predictably Irrational, Ch.1, to demonstrate the point.

How people feel about their situation is highly dependent on comparison to others.  Thus, in order to achieve good staff morale, it is important to consider how to minimize negative comparisons now *and* in the future.

The question that my friend and I discussed is the WHY would anyone advocate for such a scenario?  I think that the biggest issue is that organizational policy-makers may not believe that negatives resulting from relativistic thinking are real.  Concerns are dismissed by otherwise thoughtful and well-educated policy-makers because they want to believe that we should not behave that way *and* because they don’t “feel” it themselves.  They are more likely to be insulated from accumulating these negatives, because their own (more senior) staff better model ideal behavior.  Thus, their mental models, based upon their current experience, allow them to apply idealized logic to the expected behavior of more junior staff when assessing positives/negatives.

Intentions are good, vis-à-vis accruing an immediate (short view) positive for the single/group (improve employment competitiveness by recruiting new employee at higher salary).  However, as noted by Jeffery Pfeffer in his book What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom about Management, pg.117, “…executives [can be] hopelessly out of touch and unable to empathize with or even understand the situation faced by front-line staff…,” underscoring the reality that long view negatives can be dismissed.  The situation is more acute if policy-makers believe that that actions/policies will inculcate ideal behavior – it won’t!  Humans are wired relativistically.

It is much better to avoid the conflicts than to have to deal with the unintended negative consequences. Thus, what is needed is for policy-makers to understand the effects that they are not currently considering.  My advice:

• Teach Concepts: show the video clip to demonstrate the global concepts – Ariely has done excellent work to unequivocally demonstrate that relative thinking is universal and unavoidable,
• Explain Specifics: describe the specific logical effects of the proposal under scrutiny, and
• Gain Acceptance: get agreement that relativistic thinking causes significant negatives before you begin to discuss a direction for solution.

Are you taking time to teach concepts, explain specifics, and gain acceptance to those who do not “feel” them directly?

The long view advice when faced with pettiness is to take the high road.  No durable happiness is ever derived from succumbing to pettiness in others. Revenge is fleeting and often filled with long-term negative consequences.  It is okay to channel the bumper sticker that reads, “Mean People Suck” to sum up our emotions and feelings from being taken advantage, but keeping negativity appropriately directed (safely venting only!) is the best course.  I share this wisdom as I face down my own challenge with a backyard fence:

The shared fence between my neighbor’s home and my home is in severe disrepair.  It has been that way for about ten (10) years.  Five years ago, when a significant portion fell, our neighbor did not want to replace the fence and because we planned to redo our backyard in a few years time, waiting seemed like an acceptable option.  We agreed to an unaesthetic functional repair.  A few years later, when we redid our backyard and approached our neighbor to replace the fence, it became clear to us that he was an obstructionist.  Unfortunately, what before seemed reasonable became precedent.  With the fence failing again and the homeowner’s association notifying us that it needs to be replaced/repaired (to maintain the aesthetics of the neighborhood), we still cannot get our neighbor to agree to replace the fence!

Recently, my husband and I decided that life is too short to not enjoy our backyard more and have decided that we will shoulder 90% of the cost of the fence replacement (the neighbor would pay 10%, which is equivalent to half the cost of another unaesthetic repair).  Shockingly, our neighbor is still obstructing by demanding terms of the contractor, timing, and more, before giving approval for the work to proceed.  Aaarrgghhh…..

• The high road, the high road, the high road, the high road….my mantra to get me through those emergent thoughts of effigy burning.
• What else works is laughter to ease the frustration.  Jim, my fence guy (who has quoted this job many times over 10 years, but never been given the go ahead to do the work), regales me with tales of much worse neighbors.  He makes me laugh and it never seems so bad after I talk to Jim.
• Lastly, perhaps there is prayer?  Yesterday, I attended a special occasion prayer service and learned that the psalm for Wednesday is a prayer for spiritual retribution:  “…Judge of the earth, give the arrogant their deserts…destroy them with their own evil…”

Although I continue to take the high road, I concurrently pine for more Wednesdays!

Do you take the high road or pine for more Wednesdays?

This Bloomberg article may be helpful to those Democrats who voted for Obama because they hoped that Obama would stop outsourcing by taxing “the rich” and by taxing “greedy coporations”. (H/T Club For Growth)

Excerpt:

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steven Ballmer said the world’s largest software company would move some employees offshore if Congress enacts President Barack Obama’s plans to impose higher taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign profits.

“It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,” Ballmer said in an interview. “We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S.”

…In a roundtable discussion today, Ballmer, Symantec Corp. Chairman John Thompson and the heads of smaller companies such as privately held Bentley Systems, an Exton, Pennsylvania-based maker of engineering software, said such policies would hurt domestic investment, reduce shareholder value and increase the cost of employing U.S. workers.

See, there’s a difference between what Obama thinks will happen (fantasy) and what actual will happen (reality). He is probably very surprised that corporations are responding to his socialism by shipping jobs overseas. What an unexpected surprise! Let’s recall the simplest possible economics lesson from Henry Hazlitt’s “Economics in One Lesson“.

From this aspect, therefore, the whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence. The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.

Obama shows no evidence of knowing this lesson. And neither does anyone who voted for him. And it isn’t just that he and his voting bloc seem to know nothing about economics, it’s that they seem not to know anything about anything. And this, coupled with disregard for the unemployment rate, the budget deficit and the national debt, is what fuels his domestic policy.

Isn’t it mysterious that Bush cut taxes across the board, and tax revenues skyrocketed, while unemployment dove down below 5%? It’s a mystery! At least it’s a mystery to people who have never cracked open a book.

How communists operate

Here’s a preview of what we can expect from someone like Obama, who has no doubt absorbed the views of many left-wing arts professors, who, like him, have probably never run so much as a lemonade stand. Chavez doesn’t even have a college degree. (I have not seen Obama’s grades, he hasn’t ever released them – but he used alcohol, pot and cocaine).

IBD writes about Chavez:

It ought to worry people that what’s happening at GM is perfectly recognizable in Caracas.

In 2004, Chavez began by expropriating cattle ranches in Venezuela, saying he only wanted to clarify property rights, not confiscate land. End result: Virtually all productive land now is in his hands, redistributed to his loyalists in serfdom.

After that, he went after the U.S. oil industry, snagging prizes like Exxon Mobil’s $1 billion heavy-oil complex on the Orinoco River in 2007, citing a different legal issue: tax disputes.

He did similar expropriations with steel, cement, ports, banks, sugar, rice, pretty much any industry that was viable.

Running out of companies to steal, he now persecutes private media — not, he claims, to stifle dissent, but to protect children from smut, his pretense for shutting down RCTV in 2007.

For the last remaining nonstate TV station, his concern is now environmental desecration, with Chavistas using the pretense of some old antlers on the wall of a Globovision executive following an open-ended state raid as the excuse to shut down the TV station.

Whatever Chavez’s legal concerns are, the punishment is always the same: expropriation and more power to the state, the two pillars of socialism.

Read the whole thing, it goes on to juxtapose Obama and Chavez. (MP3 Podcast is here)