In the news yesterday...

Troops were mobilized over the weekend to assist Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, in seizing the assets of some 60 oil service companies, after a law was approved last week that paves the way for the state to take increasing control over its all-important oil industry. “To God what is God’s, and to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” said Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, as he presided over the expropriation of at least a dozen rigs, more than 30 oil terminals and some 300 boats.

h/t Drudge (I think)

I had an interesting "teaching moment" with my 12 year-old son the other day.  He asked why I went through the trouble of taking a right, a left, another right, and another traffic light to go to one gas station when I could have much more easily pulled into a Citgo on the same side of the street.

"Because I can't support fascist dictators". 

I didn't expect him to know what I was talking about so I explained to him how Hugo Chavez outright stole upwards of billions in U.S. Company owned oil infrastructure assets.

"Well, it's only oil" he responded. 

To which I responded, "Only oil? You mean the oil that the entire world relies on to operate?"  

So he says " It's just that they have been known to spill into oceans and kill wildlife". 

And I reply, "That maybe so, and is definitely unfortunate and awful, but if you seriously compared all the good they provide compared to the occasional damage from accidental spillage it wouldn't be very close." 
 
That his public education, science class presumably, obviously focused mainly on the negative aspects of the oil industry merely confirmed a suspicion.  A discussion for a future parent-teacher conferences I am sure.

But the thing really bothering me lately is if you were to take another look at that paragraph up there, with just a few keyword substitutions it would look like this...

Treasury Department officials were mobilized over the weekend to assist the United Auto Workers Union, in seizing the assets of Chrysler and General Motors, after a law was approved last week that paves the way for the state to take increasing control over its all-important auto industry. “Never let a crisis go to waste,” said President Barack Obama, as he presided over the expropriation of secured bonds.

Which also explains my boycott of Chrysler and General Motors.

And we wonder why he doesn't denounce Chavez?  It's quite obviously because he has no quarrel with either his governing philosophy or methods.

I made the following point in a comment on a Pajamas Media column Monday:
The lefts casual and reckless charges of fascism has been so overused the past eight years it has lost its meaning to the point where they can't even recognize the genuine article they voted into office.

And sure enough Kyle Anne Shiver at the American Thinker comes up with this yesterday:

In what may eventually prove to be a devious rhetorical feat of monstrous proportions, while the left has been indulging and fostering the "Bush Is Hitler" meme, they may have just put a genuine ideological fascist heir in the White House.

She continues to flesh out the theory quite thoroughly here;
Barack Obama, the Quintessential Liberal Fascist

Me? all I'm saying is, if the brown shirt fits, wear it