By Teymoor Nabili in on October 25th, 2009
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Photo by Reuters

Hugo Chavez talking about saving water has driven some columnists into a frenzy of anti-socialist bloviating. The Venezuelan president stands accused of crushing people's spirit by banning singing in the shower.

When Jennifer Aniston announced that she restricts her shower time to three minutes to save water, she was lauded as a "Friend of the Planet".

When Hugo Chavez talks about saving water, as part of a broad-based government policy designed to address the country's critical situation of water and power shortages, it drives some columnists into a frenzy of anti-socialist bloviating.

But while the western media accuses him of crushing people's spirit by banning singing in the shower, in China they choose to highlight that the President has vowed to halve his own electricty consumption, and distribute energy saving lightbulbs to the public. Must be a conspiracy.

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