Chavez Deems Whale Sperm, Pickles, Codeine ‘Essential’ Items

[naaman fletcher]

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Whale sperm, pickles and the pain reliever codeine will be considered essential goods in Venezuela and receive a preferential exchange rate under President Hugo Chavez’s new currency structure.
Bleach, cheese and whisky have been deemed non-essential. Importers of essential items will pay 2.6 bolivars per dollar, while goods not on that list will get a rate of 4.3 per dollar, according to the government’s Official Gazette.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-14/chavez-deems-whale-sperm-pickles-codeine-essential-items.html

[slackmaster]

1. VISIONARY!

:nuke:

[timeforpeace]

2. Hugo likes him some codeine? That would explain a lot.

[devilgrrl]

3. You'd think "eye of newt" and "tiger penis soup" would be on that list. WTF?

It's like they're trying to make him sound normal or something!

:sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

10. LOL. I hear that he also listed the chupacabras over opposition protest.

:rofl:

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

4. Whale sperm? Can anyone who knows more about Venezuelan culture let

me know what whale sperm is all about? Is it thought to have aphrodisiac properties or what?

I can't believe that bleach is not essential, while whale sperm is. hmmm....

[leftstreet]

16. It's used in hair care products etc

Why...I don't know.

[arcadian]

19. "There's Something About Chavez"

[leftstreet]

21. ...

:rofl: :spank:

[jobycom]

20. It's not sperm. That's just the media trying to make Chavez look goofy.

Whether he needs help at that is another discussion...

Spermaceti is an oil from the head (the big one) of the sperm whale. The whale was actually named after the oil. It originally was thought to be sperm, and it's origin wasn't clear, but eventually they realized it was an oil from one type of whale, so the whale got labeled "sperm whale," and the unfortunate name stuck.

Now it's used in candles, cosmetics, and leather production. Venezuela uses it instead of substitutes (jojoba oil, for instance) because there is a large sperm whaling industry of its coast, from what I can gather from researching in the last twenty minutes or so.

The main reason I know any of this is because I just read Moby Dick, and the book goes into endless detail. :) I learned the rest from googling.

The media shouted "Whale Sperm!" in their headline because they like the way it makes Americans react to Chavez. They could have taken a couple of moments to explain what and why it was used, or they could have picked one of the other hundreds of items on the list, but that would be somewhat more objective, and the media is morally opposed to actually informing people these days.

I'm not defending or condemning Chavez, just pointing out the media's motivations. I'm sure there are enough editors and writers who have read Moby Dick that they knew the facts before ignoring them.

[jmowreader]

23. It's not actually whale SPERM

It is whale SPERMACETI. Spermaceti is a waxy product sperm whales store in cavities in their heads; there's no sperm in it. These days they make it synthetically because there aren't enough whales in the ocean to meet demand. If you see "cetyl palmitate" on the label of your favorite product, it's the same stuff.

I wonder...is there a bleach factory in Venezuela? Could be protectionism here.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

34. How does one extract whale sperm...

seems a person could get hurt trying.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

36. You give him a really big cup and a copy of Whale Tails.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

40. LOL...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

39. It is NOT whale sperm. See #9. And, after that, #28. -nt

[lurky]

5. Sounds like someone's planning a wild night in Caracas!

:rofl:

[enid602]

6. whale sperm, pickles and codeine

Don´t knock it until you´ve tried it.

[KittyWampus]

8. a little whale sperm schmear and pickle with your corned beef on rye?

[bridgit]

7. Good to see Bloomberg/BizzWk giving props to promising new stand-up comics

[jobycom]

9. I'm guessing they mean spermaceti, and have just never read Moby Dick.

"Spermaceti (from Greek sperma, seed, and Latin cetus, whale) sometimes erroneously called parmaceti is a wax present in the head cavities of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). Spermaceti is extracted from sperm oil by crystallisation at 6 °C, when treated by pressure and a chemical solution of caustic alkali. Spermaceti forms brilliant white crystals that are hard but oily to the touch, and are devoid of taste or smell, making it very useful as an ingredient in cosmetics, leatherworking, and lubricants. The substance was also used in making candles of a standard photometric value, in the dressing of fabrics, and as a pharmaceutical excipient, especially in cerates and ointments.

Originally mistaken for the whales' sperm (whence the name), spermaceti is created in the Spermaceti organ inside the whale's head and connected to its nasal passage, among other functions."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spermaceti

[LeftinOH]

14. Even so -for what possible modern purpose would anyone need whale oil?

[jobycom]

15. I don't know. It lists cosmetics and leather. Is there an industrial use?

Or maybe it's the opposite. Maybe it's just a small item imported by some specialty group that Chavez owes a favor to.

The media only reported it as a headline because it makes Chavez look weird, and that's what the media is paid to do. There's probably a reason for it. I was just pointing out that it probably wasn't whale sperm.

[northzax]

17. perfume, among other things (nt)

still, seems odd, no?

[laughingliberal]

30. From a post above...

pharmaceutical excipient.

[sufrommich]

11. Well, of course. Obvious necessities. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Breakfast of Champions. nt

[jimshoes]

13. Codeine and whale sperm I can see, but pickles?

Come on now Mr. Chavez. Also you should reconsider cheese for heaven's sake. How much more essential can one get? How in the world is McDonald's going to sell their Big Mac's? :shrug: Also I've always wondered what goes into that special sauce11!!11:freak:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

18. A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!

[Forkboy]

22. You win the thread.

:rofl:

[daleo]

24. Apparently, this isn't that unusual

The 2009 Import and Export Market for Beeswax, Insect Waxes, and Spermaceti in Spain

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/1073844

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The 2009 Import and Export Market for Beeswax, Insect Waxes, and Spermaceti in Denmark

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The 2009 Import and Export Market for Beeswax, Insect Waxes, and Spermaceti in Italy

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The 2009 Import and Export Market for Beeswax, Insect Waxes, and Spermaceti in Belgium

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The 2009 Import and Export Market for Beeswax, Insect Waxes, and Spermaceti in France

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The 2009 Import and Export Market for Beeswax, Insect Waxes, and Spermaceti in Mexico

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[apocalypsehow]

25. It is unusual for a normal government, but Chavez is a tin-pot dictator, and they do tend to have

peculiar fancies.

By-the-bye, that link you posted is apropos of...what exactly? :shrug:

[daleo]

26. The link is from a market research firm

That has prepared reports on these products (imports/exports of beeswax, spermaceti, etc) for the current year for various countries (including Germany, Finland, Australia, Italy, etc), which apparently deal in them. You could just as easily have a laugh about these countries, I guess.

I suspect the real explanation for this is that the law allowing the import of these products includes them as a category, and there is little or no actual trade in the actual whale products. As far as I can tell, these are all products that have been used in candle manufacture, currently or in the past.

It is probably the same with the report about Venezuela.

On edit - the real stupid thing is that the magazine Business Week got played on this claim about "whale sperm" and did no fact checking.

[Flaneur]

29. Please go back to Free Republic. It's that door on the right.

"Tin-pot dictator" is pure rightwing garbage.

[apocalypsehow]

35. My, my - a Chavez fan snarls. Fond of dictators, are we? n/t.

[fascisthunter]

27. dumb article....

boy are the fascists in this country scared of this man... next, they'll tell us his shit is green.

[laughingliberal]

31. Yep, nothing like a leader who helps the poor to get the elite all stirred up with hate nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

28. I don't need to even research to guess what happened.

- List of essentials has hundreds, if not thousands of items.
- Media with an agenda combs through list to find most ridiculous-looking items.
- Media with an agenda finds out most ridiculous-looking items aren't ridiculous-looking enough.
- Media with an agenda makes shit up about whale sperm, knowing that it will stick (sorry!) with enough gullible people.

And there you have it.

[daleo]

37. Your theory seems to fit the facts best. n/t

[Mimosa]

32. Chavez is insane.

No kidding, the man is an insane dictator. Socialists or not, he people will get fed up with his megalomaniac antics.

[fascisthunter]

33. nah... the hatred of the man is what's insane

and the lies that are used to justify that hatred. I've seen it all on this site...

[hayu_lol]

38. Whalers used to go after the sperm whates for the special oil ...

in their head. It was taken from the head and put into special casks. It is a very light oil-like substance with solids in it known as ambergris--a cheesy substance used in many industries. The value of Spermaceti was much higher than regular whale oil obtained by trying(boiling)whale flesh.

The product is still commercially valuable but isn't the Sperm Whale on the endangered list?