Horrified Venezuelan Residents wake up to find their taps 'running with oil...'

Its not oil you would need a huge oil spill to get into their water supply. what it probably is poor maintenance as the pipes corrode. Magnesium is often found in water and when mixed with oxygen, turns black. Most likely the houses effected are at the end of lines and need to be flushed.

a reply to: dragonridr

Which would support the claim that this is propaganda being used to garner support for a US invasion.

How often is maintenance done on your pipes?

We're just supposed to believe that these issues started emerging all over the country right after the last ploy didn't work?

Seems unlikely.

originally posted by: MyToxicTash
Is crude oil worth more than water per pint?.

Excellent question that's needs deep research 😎

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: strongfp

The biggest issue, though, was that they did not diversify their economic base. They put the entire national resource into producing oil instead of producing food or anything else. That's why they have no food now; they have no money to buy it and no infrastructure to grow it.

Without sufficient money from capitalism, socialism cannot survive in a country dependent on the global economy. That's the kicker.

TheRedneck

This is exactly it. Is why I'm always arguing that any country who wants to be truly independent and free needs to FIRST make sure that in an emergency the country can close it's borders and provide for all the NEEDS of it's citizens. The ONLY thing a well built and established country should rely on trade for is WANTS. Other wise Venezuela can happen.

Man, talk about being kicked when you're down. Black water coming out of your faucets? That's almost a biblical sign.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Black gold... Texas Tea...

originally posted by: toysforadults
There's much propaganda about Venezuela right now I wouldn't believe anything about it

Of course you wouldn't... It's what most left-wingers do... You all, as a majority, ignore the people who suffer under socialism or communism, and then you all claim "socialism/communism is great..." Meanwhile you keep ignoring what happens in nations in which socialism or communism are embraced...

originally posted by: strongfp

Socialism in today's world doesnt mean you reject the free market.
You honestly think a nation with massive amounts of oil wont sell it in the world economy? What do they do with it all? Spill it in the streets and hope it turns into food and water?

It is absurd claims like the above that makes me wonder if the person responding is on drugs or has some type of brain injury that doesn't let the person think logically...

Socialism hasn't changed... Venezuela is living the "socialism of the 21st century" which Chavez claimed was "democratic..."

Again, in socialism no single person can own and control any of the means of production.

Here, directly from the most known socialist website in the world.

...
The answer is a society where the means of production—factories, mines, railroads, the energy sources, all things used to create new wealth—are owned publicly, not privately. And that means socialism—a society where private property has been abolished.
...

www.workers.org...

Here is what that same website claims about communism. You can also see how they contradict themselves.

Private Property

Private property, to a communist, is not your shoes or toothbrush, or even your house.

Those things are called personal property and under socialism and under communism they continue to belong to workers in much the same manner as they do now.

When Marxists speak of private property under capitalism, it refers to the tools of production that should be owned by all of society, such as factories, lands, stores, mines and all those things that are gifts of nature or are built by many people over many centuries, but are now being monopolized by a few. These few don’t concern themselves with how many years of human labor went into their creation, just so long as they alone can reap profits from legal ownership of that property.

The goal of socialism is to increase personal property many times over, through the abolishment of private property.
...

www.workers.org...

Try to process those statements, specially the last statement.

First of all, according to these numbnuts the store that your father started, and in which he, you and your son have been working at everyday for over 50 years doesn't belong to you, or to your father... Under socialism that store your father started with his own money 50 years ago "are gifts of nature or are built by many people over many centuries...

In fact the above shows that "socialism is the opposite of what socialists/communists claim." Because that store that your father, you, and your son own and worked in for over 50 years belongs to "all the people." In other words the government will own and control YOUR LABOR... The same thing happens to all land under socialism, no matter how small it is. If crops can be grown in 1 acre of land, under socialism it belongs to the state/government.

Second of all, if you can't own and control ANY of the means of production how do you make money to get more private property? More so when under socialism "rationing is introduced to control what people can buy, or sell."

a reply to: TheRedneck

Actually, people seem to believe that oil, it's viscosity, is all the same all over the world, and it isn't. There are types of oil that they almost look like to be mixed with water, because they are very thin and has a viscosity almost similar to water. Other types of oil/petroleum are very thick. Their viscosity varies depending of where you are drilling.

In the following video you can see the more liquid oil which looks like what is coming out of the faucet in places in Venezuela.

At 50 seconds in the video below you can see how oil can be very "runny" which almost looks like it is mixed with water.


Here is a video a Venezuelan uploaded in youtube showing the petroleum coming out of the faucet, and toilet.

a reply to: TheRedneck

BTW, there is a possibility that you are right and it could be partially treated waste water. But Venezuelans are reporting it as petroleum.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Actually, people seem to believe that oil, it's viscosity, is all the same all over the world, and it isn't.

I do not believe that.

There are types of oil that they almost look like to be mixed with water, because they are very thin and has a viscosity almost similar to water. Other types of oil/petroleum are very thick. Their viscosity varies depending of where you are drilling.

This is true. Crude oil is composed of a mixture of hydrocarbons. Some areas have more heavy hydrocarbon chains than others.

In the following video you can see the more liquid oil which looks like what is coming out of the faucet in places in Venezuela.

At about 1:50, you can see where water will also not mix with oil. That's what I meant when I said that oil is not water-soluble.

In your second video, it shows a toilet being flushed. The liquid in the bottom of the toilet before flushing is thicker than the liquid being introduced during flushing. Oil does not act like that. Crude oil is crude oil, while sludge contains thicker partially-dissolved fluids that will settle out over time and thicken the sludge if it sets. You will also notice that there is absolutely no separation of the liquid, even though the pipes would have a certain amount of water still in them when the oil was introduced. Also, crude oil tends to stain surfaces like the sink... but the video shows little staining where the liquid splatters.

There is also the question of why anyone would go to the time and expense and trouble to purposefully connect oil lines to water lines. In typical infrastructure, there is no such connection because there is never a time when one would need to switch water lines to oil lines. Doing so would contaminate both the oil and the water, rendering both commercially nonviable. Waste water treatment, however, does have a connection to the water lines, because the water you receive in your home is water that was previously used and has been cleaned to be reused again. That allows a treatment plant to produce many times the water as one which is totally reliant on fresh water for its supply.

I stand by my original assertion that what we are seeing is likely partially treated sewage caused by a lack of containment when the treatment plants lost power for an extended period.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

I think the answer is much simpler than that. I'm betting the water tanks they used for storage are galvanized steel. And I'm betting the tanks have not been cleaned In decades. So when the power went out the tanks lost pressure allowing the sludge on its walls to shake loose and you get black water. Filtering our magnesium to should get the water clear again. As for these poor people they will have to wait until this stuff is removed from the lines and also gets stuck in pipes along the walls. Eventually the water will clear up.

In the mean time water softeners could be used to clear up the water.

a reply to: dragonridr

Now that makes sense to me... good call!

TheRedneck

originally posted by: TheRedneck

At about 1:50, you can see where water will also not mix with oil. That's what I meant when I said that oil is not water-soluble.

I know oil does not mix with water, but the point is that there is crude oil that can look like, and have the viscosity of what's coming out of the faucet in some areas in Venezuela.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
There is also the question of why anyone would go to the time and expense and trouble to purposefully connect oil lines to water lines. In typical infrastructure, there is no such connection because there is never a time when one would need to switch water lines to oil lines. Doing so would contaminate both the oil and the water, rendering both commercially nonviable. Waste water treatment, however, does have a connection to the water lines, because the water you receive in your home is water that was previously used and has been cleaned to be reused again. That allows a treatment plant to produce many times the water as one which is totally reliant on fresh water for its supply.

I stand by my original assertion that what we are seeing is likely partially treated sewage caused by a lack of containment when the treatment plants lost power for an extended period.

TheRedneck

I never wrote that anyone connected oil pipes to the water pipes. However, Chavez and Maduro got rid of all the experts and put in charge "Chavistas" whom have done nothing but make things worse in Venezuela. For all we know there could have been a massive oil leak.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
...
When these things happen in other countries we're told it's because they don't love capitalism enough and they need to be saved by military force.

When they happen in the US we blame the victims and then just sweep the whole thing under the rug.

Could you point where in the thread did i write we need to start a war with Venezuela?...

originally posted by: Puppylove

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: strongfp

The biggest issue, though, was that they did not diversify their economic base. They put the entire national resource into producing oil instead of producing food or anything else. That's why they have no food now; they have no money to buy it and no infrastructure to grow it.

Without sufficient money from capitalism, socialism cannot survive in a country dependent on the global economy. That's the kicker.

TheRedneck

This is exactly it. Is why I'm always arguing that any country who wants to be truly independent and free needs to FIRST make sure that in an emergency the country can close it's borders and provide for all the NEEDS of it's citizens. The ONLY thing a well built and established country should rely on trade for is WANTS. Other wise Venezuela can happen.

The problem with the lack of food in Venezuela started with the "price controls" that Chavez implemented, and Maduro continued to force. It is part of socialist policy to implement price controls. The socialist dictatorship demanded all supermarkets, and small stores to sell all products at below cost. In Cuba exactly the same thing happened after the "price controls" were implemented.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

I never wrote that anyone connected oil pipes to the water pipes. However...

If there were one drop of water in the oil, it would bead. For that to be crude oil, it would have to be 100% crude oil to react the way it does in the videos. The only way to get 100% crude oil is for someone to connect the pipes together. A crude oil leak, no matter how massive, would simply not displace 100% of the water.

I think dragonridr had it right... sludge/water mix.

TheRedneck

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Thanks tips. I know what socialism is.
It doesn't take a genius to know that socialism can't work 100%. Which if you read any of my other posts was what I was pointing out.

Socialism in today's world isn't the same as it was in the early 20th century. It's like, it's learning or something, evolving?

Like I said, do capitalist nations run full 100% capitalism? Are there any nations still around that have slaves implemented, well I'm sure there are, but they don't thrive as a result.
You're to hell bent on definitions here. Think outside the box a little.

originally posted by: ElectricUniverse
First of all, according to these numbnuts the store that your father started, and in which he, you and your son have been working at everyday for over 50 years doesn't belong to you, or to your father... Under socialism that store your father started with his own money 50 years ago "are gifts of nature or are built by many people over many centuries...

Technically this part is true. If it were not for the hard work and ingenuity of all the peoples that came before. Your father would never have that store. He'd have been a hunter gatherer with a 20 year life span assuming he survives child birth, predation, a minor injury that was lethal then but easily curable now, etc. Society giveths and society takeths away. Is still true whether under communism, socialism, or capitalism, fascism or any other ism. Every government/economic ism is subject to the will of the people and or society should it decide as such.

Revolution is always an option should enough people get on board, and should they do so and decide your dad's store is theirs... well it's theirs, because the strength of any society is the people and their willingness to work with, accept, and support said society. It's society that keeps us from being simple hunter gatherers, it's society that protects us from the predators, it's society that gives us sciences that cure our ills, it's we humans working together that gives us all we have, including the very ability for your father to build said store and profit from it. So ultimately yes, the store does belong to the people should the people decide so.

Now I'm not saying society should just take the store from you and your father, as it serves a purpose and so long as it sells things at reasonable enough prices everything will be hunky dory. I am, however, sick of the I earned everything I've got and owe nothing to anyone or anything, least of all the rest of society mentality. It's a sick, sociopathic way of seeing things, and it's fundamentally wrong. Unless you somehow spontaneously formed up in the wilderness and were miraculously born with the innate ability through some kind of miracle to survive in the wilds, you owe your existence to the very society which you scorn by pretending you'd have anything without it, the people in it, and the people who came before and carved man's niche in the world through hard work and sacrifice.

This lack of understanding is why things get out of hand. Too many people have the I got mine, and I owe no one anything mentality. I chose a lower paying job to take care of the elderly, and I love it because I know we'd have nothing without their hard work and sacrifices. It's a shame how we as a society treat our elderly.