Venezuela sending cheap oil to Massachusetts

[Sarge]

What's wrong with this picture?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/22/venezuela.us.fuel.ap/index.html

QUINCY, Massachusetts (AP) -- Thousands of low-income Massachusetts residents will receive discounted home heating oil this winter under an agreement signed Tuesday with Venezuela, whose government is a political adversary of the Bush administration.

Citgo Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, will supply oil at 40 percent below market prices.

It will be distributed by two nonprofit organizations, Citizens Energy Corp. and the Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance.

The agreement gives President Hugo Chavez's government standing as a provider of heating assistance to poor U.S. residents at a time when U.S. oil companies have been reluctant to do so and Congress has failed to expand aid in response to rising oil prices.

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt of Massachusetts, a Democrat, met with Chavez in August and helped broker the deal.

He said his constituents' needs for heating assistance trump any political points the Chavez administration can score.

"This is a humanitarian gesture," Delahunt said, speaking after a news conference with Venezuelan officials and others outside the home of a constituent in Quincy who will receive heating aid.

Citgo is the Houston, Texas-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company and has about 13,500 independently owned U.S. gas stations.

It is offering Massachusetts more than 12 million gallons of discounted heating oil over the next four months, starting in December.

The two nonprofit organizations will screen recipients for financial need and cooperate with oil distributors that will make discounted deliveries to qualifying homes and institutions, such as homeless shelters and hospitals.

Chavez proposed offering fuel directly to poor U.S. communities during a visit to Cuba in August.

He has said the aim is to bypass middlemen to reduce costs for the American poor -- a group he argues has been severely neglected by Bush's government.

Chavez has become one of Latin America's most vocal critics of U.S.-style capitalism, which he calls a major cause of poverty.

U.S. officials accuse Chavez of endangering Venezuelan democracy by assuming ever greater powers.

During a short-lived 2002 coup against Chavez, the U.S. government promptly recognized the new leaders, who were soon driven out amid a popular uprising.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Chopper Dave]

Clearly Communist Mass. should be kicked out of the Union, right Sarge?

[BlueTalon]

Clearly Communist Mass. should be kicked out of the Union, right Sarge?

Is that what you got from his post?!?

[herrmag]

Good. I have no problem with this. We're a capitalist society. If our own oil companies refuse to do anything about it, we'll outsource! :laugh:

[visionary]

Clearly Communist Mass. should be kicked out of the Union, right Sarge?

Nah, we should just tax them at 500% the normal rate.

[Chopper Dave]

Is that what you got from his post?!?

No, but I'm pretty sure it's an accurate, albeit exaggerated, portrayal of what he was thinking.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I posted this in another thread a few weeks ago:

I have a friend who's ULTRA SUPER DUPER HEAVY into latin culture. She can't go more than 2 mins without talking about it. Literally. She's colombian and proud.

Anyway, she's a socialst, no suprise there.

Basically after hearing her talk it sounds like the Latin countries like Argentina can't assume the responsibility for the situations they're in, poor, etc. Everything is America's fault for some reason or another, because "we're the big kid in the sandbox."

We had an argument/discussion where she told me that Argentina has a surplus of oil and are refusing to do business with America. Instead they'd rather sell it cheaper to other latin countries to stiff America. Then she went on to ***** about how poor the country was. So i said, "wait a minute...Argentina has an export that America WANTS and is willing to pay MORE for...and Argentina is refusing? Thats just bad business, they deserve to be poor." And she just shut up, she had nothing to say to that.

So yeah, they're a bunch of dumbasses

I was wrong about that, actually. It wasn't Argentina who was trying to screw us on oil, it was Venezuela, and I realized that after I talked to her a few nights later.

Chavez sucks, no doubt about it.

[Thiebear]

Good for them: Now every blue state should line up for this Anti-Bush deal and make all oil go down due to the supply.

[SkinInsite]

How about sending some of that oil down to VA.

[@DCGoldPants]

after the 1st Hurricane. They offered the United States Oil to make up for what was lost in the Gulf.

I don't recall in the President accepted or not.

Isn't Citgo through them?

[chomerics]

How is this bad? Does anyone want to tell me? Dellahunt negotiated discounted oil from another country for his constituents, it was all over the news up here. He did a great thing for the people who can not afford oil this year, as they can get it cheaper then the market because they can't afford it.

Seriously Sarge, would you rather old people freeze to death then to have a congressman negotiate a deal with Citgo to deliver discounted oil to those in need???

[stevenaa]

I have no problem with this considering the windfall the Oil companies enjoyed due to fear mongering and price gouging. If the US companies won't step up to do the right thing, how can you blame them for going elsewhere?

[LegionOfDoom]

Whatever it takes to help those that have been left out in the cold by our government should be welcomed. Big Oil companies are staring at profit margins and goverment loves the kick backs provided to them...while the poorest suffer....

[Fatty P For The Pulitzer]

I think this a good thing too. This is how capitalism should work, and a Congressman actually did something good for his people for a change. I just hate that it had to be with Venezuela because Chavez is a rat.

[Delahunt] said his constituents' needs for heating assistance trump any political points the Chavez administration can score.

"This is a humanitarian gesture," Delahunt said, speaking after a news conference with Venezuelan officials and others outside the home of a constituent in Quincy who will receive heating aid.

Give me a break. Chavez's sole motivation is to score brownie points with lower class Americans. It's the same act he pulls with his own people. The only difference is he doesn't have as many means to screw us over as he does his own people.

[Kilmer17]

Bad Precedent.

Can Florida now contract with other countries for other goods and services?

Actually, now that I think about, maybe this is a GOOD precednt to set.

Get back to a State's First mentality.

hmmmmm

[Thiebear]

The only problem i will have with this is when we find out 2 months later that a Kennedy walked away with 30% of the money involved. And somehow the voters paid for it.

[Fatty P For The Pulitzer]

The only problem i will have with this is when we find out 2 months later that a Kennedy walked away with 30% of the money involved. And somehow the voters paid for it.

Which is pretty sad that when we read something like this today, one of the first things we think is "how much of a kickback is that Congressperson getting?"

[chomerics]

Which is pretty sad that when we read something like this today, one of the first things we think is "how much of a kickback is that Congressperson getting?"

In this case, probably nothing at all. Delahunt is a good politician from what I understand. He isn't my congressman Tierney is, but I like them both.

The only "kickback" is that Chavez rubs salt on Dubya whenever he can. But hell, if a congressman can use Chavez's oil for his own constituients, let him. It does nothing bad for America, and it is infact a good thing for Americans. It's nice to see that some of our congressmen actually do a good job

[Cskin]

Yeah.... and Teddy "shotglass" Kennedy, his family owns oil companies. Why isn't he helping out the fine folks of Mass.? Let me help ya.... what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander.

[Fatty P For The Pulitzer]

In this case, probably nothing at all. Delahunt is a good politician from what I understand. He isn't my congressman Tierney is, but I like them both.

The only "kickback" is that Chavez rubs salt on Dubya whenever he can. But hell, if a congressman can use Chavez's oil for his own constituients, let him. It does nothing bad for America, and it is infact a good thing for Americans. It's nice to see that some of our congressmen actually do a good job

Yeah, he must be one of the few! This is why I think it's a great move. The only thing that irks me is that some who don't know Chavez may think he's a good guy because of this. Granted, he's not a whole lot worse than big oil though.

[redman]

Chavez is doing this to embarass us. He's essentially throwing scraps down on the floor and making us get down on our knees to eat them for his own prestige purposes.

Aside and apart from the folly of an individual state using its own policy to trump the federal government's policy (didn't we fight a war over that sort of thing?), MA's leaders are essentially aiding and abetting Chavez against Bush in this ploy. No surprise there given the political leanings of hte People's Republic of Mass, but still.

[SkinInsite]

Chavez is doing this to embarass us. He's essentially throwing scraps down on the floor and making us get down on our knees to eat them for his own prestige purposes.

Aside and apart from the folly of an individual state using its own policy to trump the federal government's policy (didn't we fight a war over that sort of thing?), MA's leaders are essentially aiding and abetting Chavez against Bush in this ploy. No surprise there given the political leanings of hte People's Republic of Mass, but still.

So it's bad form to buy from socialist dictorship is it? I guess Walmart must have missed that memo.

[redman]

So it's bad form to buy from socialist dictorship is it? I guess Walmart must have missed that memo.

Your generalization, not mine. What I wrote had a bit more to it than that.

[stevenaa]

Chavez is doing this to embarass us. He's essentially throwing scraps down on the floor and making us get down on our knees to eat them for his own prestige purposes.

Aside and apart from the folly of an individual state using its own policy to trump the federal government's policy (didn't we fight a war over that sort of thing?), MA's leaders are essentially aiding and abetting Chavez against Bush in this ploy. No surprise there given the political leanings of hte People's Republic of Mass, but still.

I suppose if they turned down the same deal from an American company in an attempt to embarrass the President, what you say would make sense. Somehow, I doubt that's the case and I'm a Bush supporter. As long as trade is legal with the country in question, why shouldn't a state do what's in the states best interest?

[Soliloquy]

Bad Precedent.

Can Florida now contract with other countries for other goods and services?

Actually, now that I think about, maybe this is a GOOD precednt to set.

Get back to a State's First mentality.

hmmmmm

That's my question. I had been under the impression that only the federal government could broker international agreements.