Venezuela oil offer already generating heat in USA

[Thom Little]

An offer by Venezuela's leftist president to sell heating oil at discount prices to low-income households in Massachusetts is warming the hearts of some and giving others heartburn.

Venezuela's state-owned oil company, which is essentially controlled by President Hugo Chávez, ran full-page advertisements in major U.S. newspapers Thursday saying it will sell 12 million gallons to families at a discount.

The ads, one of which ran in USA TODAY, is headlined "How Venezuela is Keeping the Home Fires Burning In Massachusetts" and describes the deal as a "simple act of generosity."

Critics say it is an attempt by Chávez to embarrass President Bush and take heat off allegations he supports terrorism. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal scolded Massachusetts' Rep. Bill Delahunt and former representative Joe Kennedy, both Democrats, for brokering the deal. "Mr. Delahunt's lobbying for the dictator undermines any official U.S. pressure on Mr. Chávez to behave more humanely, which is precisely why Mr. Chávez is returning the favor by plying Mr. Delahunt with cheap oil," the Journal said. "Leave it to the congressman ... and a Kennedy to close the deal."


http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-01-oil-chavez_x.htm

[shoelace414]

1. how is Chavez behaving in-humanely?

and can the same be said for Bush because of Abu-graib and secret prisions in eastern Europe?

[marmar]

2. The truth hurts...

If * was providing heat assistance rather than cutting it, what would he have to be embarrassed about? Why does Venezuela have to help out our poor? If he's not embarrassed, he should be.

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[acmavm]

3. Most of the policies of this administration have been for the benefit of

the readers and subscribers of the WSJ, not the American public. If they WSJ is against it, it's probably something that's good for the rest of us.

[dutchdemocrat]

4. Now he's a fucking dictator?

Elected in fair and free elections overseen by international observers and Jimmy Carter.

Bald Faces Liars.

[1932]

10. That quote tells you a great deal about the WSJ's politics.

It tells you so much more about the WSJ than it tells you about Chavez.

[Loonman]

5. Who are we to talk about behaving more humanely?

Our moral high ground died in the Iraqi desert.

[Sven77]

6. hope his weapon sale from spain goes through

cuz the globalists are going to try and assasinate him. they have already tried to kidnap him. hes a real hero for the people. im sure hes not perfect but i like what hes doing. standing up to bush, helping his own people, and bringing the artificially inflated price of oil down.

[1932]

7. chavez doesn't run PDVSA. It's run by a management team of professionals.

It returns its profits to the state, but it's not centrally planned at all.

[Mika]

8. WSJ: "Mr. Delahunt's lobbying for the dictator.." WTF??

Chavez is elected and supported exponentially more than _Bush is.

Its the WSJ that lobbies for real dictators. :puke:

[Marie26]

14. Sure, we say Chavez is a dictator

but no one ever, ever, mentions that Pres. Musharaff is one. It was slightly scary how quick the headlines went from "Military coup overturns democracy in Pakistan!" to "Pakistani President brings democracy and moderation to his country." The biggest criteria for being called a "dictator" seems to be whether or not you support the US's policies. But even though I understand why Chavez did it, it does seem like that oil could've been better used to help his own people rather than scoring points against the US.

[Mutley]

9. So, helping the needy is an act of terrorism now?

If one does anything more than gaze lovingly at W with a little drool on the corner of the mouth, then one is CLEARLY a terrorist. Shame on Chavez! :spank:

[Sabriel]

12. Whoops, I just donated to a homeless shelter yesterday.

Does this make me a terrorist? Should I try to retrieve my donation today?

[Mutley]

15. Terrorist!

Off to the reeducation camps with you!

[BeFree]

11. Critics of those helping poor people?

Who in the hell do they think they are criticizing help for poor people?

That is about as anti-American as one can be. The WSJ, well known to be an elite suck up rag, has reached a new low on it's way to hell. Not just anti-human, now, but evil.

:puke: on the WSJ.

[G_j]

13. Senate votes against more heating aid for poor

very short memory...

Senate votes against more heating aid for poor

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9765654/

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http://point08.blogspot.com/2005/12/joes-foreign-oil.html

Joe's Foreign Oil

Blue Mass Group has a post on the Wall Street Journal criticizing Congressman William Delahunt and Joe Kennedy for brokering a deal with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to pay below market prices for oil for low income homes in Massachusetts. I'm not sure how people who think it's A-Okay to get cheap labor from China think it's somehow a terrible crime to get cheap oil from Venezuela, but that's why I'm not on the WSJ Editorial board.

In any event, Kennedy was on Greater Boston last night talking about the deal. He spoke briefly about President Kennedy's push to put a man on the moon in ten years, and compared that with the current President.

"Now we've got Bush talking about taking flights to Mars, which is going to cost billions of dollars, but we don't do anything to get our cars to work with engines that get 100 miles per gallon or don't use oil at all. That is very much within range -- a much easier task to accomplish than getting to the moon in ten years. And yet we just don't show the will to go out and get it done. That's the hard truth about what's going on in this country. We don't go after the tough, hard issues any longer as a nation and try to get that squared away."