The Liberty Papers

The British have cameras, the Venezuelans have $465K dirigibles to do their surveillance:

Venezuela launched a Zeppelin on Thursday to patrol Caracas, seeking to fight crime in one of Latin America’s most dangerous cities but also raising fears that President Hugo Chavez could be turning into Big Brother.

Around the hot-dog stalls of the run-down suburb where the airship took its first flight, most people felt the unmanned eye-in-the-sky could help counter routine hold-ups, shootings and carjackings.

…

In the refined cafes of east Caracas, there was more cynicism, condemning the blimps as a waste of money that would not work in bad weather or at night, when Caracas is at its most risky, resembling a shuttered-up ghost town.

You know, it doesn’t take socialists to conduct surveillance on citizens, governments around the world have done so. But it’s only an oil-rich socialist who’s going to drop $465K a pop on surveillance blimps.

Hat Tip: Reason