No milk for oil...

The Miami Herald calls it a Venezuelan paradox: much oil, no milk. I call it what happens when a megalomaniacal dictator practices his own zany brand of socialism...much to the detriment of the people.

(Paging Sean Penn. Paging Danny Glover. Paging Naomi Campbell. You can bet they had leche for their coffee when they visited. Funny how you're not hearing much from them on this.)

The lines formed at dawn and remained long throughout the day -- hundreds upon hundreds of Venezuelans queuing up to buy scarce milk, chicken and sugar at state-run outdoor markets staffed by soldiers in fatigues.

President Hugo Chávez's government is trying to cope with scattered shortages of some foods, and long lines at state-run megamercal street markets over the weekend show many Venezuelans are willing to wait for hours to snap up a handful of products they seldom find in supermarkets.

''You have to get in line and you have to be lucky,'' said Maria Fernandez, a 64-year-old housewife who was buying milk and chicken. She said trying to find milk is a constant frustration. She had almost managed to get powdered milk at a private supermarket -- only to watch someone else walk away with the last can.

Read it all.