Zach LarkinsCITGO
I've been wondering why I keep seeing Citgo ads that say they are providing low cost home heating oil to the poor thanks to their friends in Venezuela. I have to assume they are talking about their friend Hugo Chavez. What got me wondering about this is that Mr. Chavez is the one who came to American soil, albeit the grounds of the UN, and proceeded to trash George W. Bush, calling him a devil, amongst other things. The UN may be deemed to be neutral ground, but I still thought Chavez was way out of line with his diatribe.
So why would Chavez want to sell his oil to a country run by a devil? Money mostly. By buying this oil, at least one American company is helping this dictator fill his own pockets. I can't remember hearing about the plight of the ordinary Venezuelan being eased by these petro dollars.
I'm sure that if push ever comes to shove between the USA and Venezuela, the Lib/Dems will point out how the USA supported him and in essence gave him money to buy weapons that might someday be used against the US. An interesting little tidbit showed up on my desk today that may explain a lot.
Citgo has announced a program whereby it sets aside some 10% of its American refining capacity so that it can sell discounted fuel from Venezuela to hospitals, nursing homes and agencies helping the poor. As Father Raymond J. De Souza writes, "One of the latter agencies is Citizens' Energy Corp. Citizens' is run by Joseph Kennedy III, the former congressman and son of the late RFK. In return, Joseph Kennedy is publicly thanking "our Venezuelan friends" for the deal." Joseph Kennedy is of course a Democrat and sees nothing wrong with dealing with people like Chavez. "Mr. Kennedy says, not without merit, that Americans buy oil from all sorts of unsavoury regimes, beginning with Saudi Arabia; and if Mr. Chavez wants to score propaganda points in the United States with some discounted oil, only a fool would reject it." So, in his eyes, two wrongs do make a right. Father De Souza goes on to write, "What caught my eye was the additional accusation USA Today leveled at Joe Kennedy; that he was lending the prestige of the Kennedy family name to the Chavez regime." One has to wonder just what that ‘prestige' is?
JFK brought us Camelot and we'll never really know how radical a liberal he might have become, but that was back in the ‘60's, and as the song goes, "That was yesterday, and yesterday's gone". The ensuing scandals of the Kennedy family took all the prestige out of their name. Remember Ted Kennedy? Remember Chappaquiddick or the debauchery of Good Friday 1991, which resulted in rape charges against his nephew?
John O'Sullivan has just written a splendid book on the 1980's: The President, The Pope and The Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World. It tells the great tale of Ronald Reagan, John Paul II and Margaret Thatcher, and how they won the Cold War.Along the way, Mr. O'Sullivan uncovered some startling news. As Father De Souza writes, "After the first Reagan- Gorbachev summit in Geneva in 1985, Senator Edward Kennedy met with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow in February, 1986. The essence of the meeting, Mr. O'Sullivan reports, was that Senator Kennedy was concerned about Reagan's popularity in the United States and that the president might use that strength to the detriment of the Soviets." Who would've ever thought that a big D Democrat like Ted Kennedy would try to influence an American election? It's one thing to disagree with Mr. Reagan's policy; it's quite another, with the Cold War still on, to undermine his policies by advising and making common cause with the Soviet communists.
Apparently Kennedy tried the same tack with Yuri Andropov, but Andropov showed him the door. Father De Souza goes further with, "The news about Senator Kennedy, some of it previously reported and some of it original to Mr. O'Sullivan, should be devastating to a still- sitting senator. Imagine a senator trotting off to apartheid-era South Africa to advise the regime on how to avoid diplomatic pressure." Perhaps the senator's long history of scandal immunizes him from reports that have him merely cavorting with the Soviets. Whatever the reason, the revelations have not created a stir. And why should they, when the nephew is happy to shill for Hugo Chavez today, not 20 years ago, and openly, not in secret?
Father De Souza concludes by saying, "Joseph Kennedy III is lending the Kennedy name to Mr. Chavez's anti-American regime, but it is not prestige he is offering. He is living down to the name his uncle has already tarnished."
I certainly hope nothing comes between the USA and Venezuela, but if it does, Democrats would be well served to remember what they are doing to themselves. We don't get Citgo gas here, but I will try to find out who owns the company and boycott it. I hope Americans do the same.
So why would Chavez want to sell his oil to a country run by a devil? Money mostly. By buying this oil, at least one American company is helping this dictator fill his own pockets. I can't remember hearing about the plight of the ordinary Venezuelan being eased by these petro dollars.
Citgo has announced a program whereby it sets aside some 10% of its American refining capacity so that it can sell discounted fuel from Venezuela to hospitals, nursing homes and agencies helping the poor. As Father Raymond J. De Souza writes, "One of the latter agencies is Citizens' Energy Corp. Citizens' is run by Joseph Kennedy III, the former congressman and son of the late RFK. In return, Joseph Kennedy is publicly thanking "our Venezuelan friends" for the deal." Joseph Kennedy is of course a Democrat and sees nothing wrong with dealing with people like Chavez. "Mr. Kennedy says, not without merit, that Americans buy oil from all sorts of unsavoury regimes, beginning with Saudi Arabia; and if Mr. Chavez wants to score propaganda points in the United States with some discounted oil, only a fool would reject it." So, in his eyes, two wrongs do make a right. Father De Souza goes on to write, "What caught my eye was the additional accusation USA Today leveled at Joe Kennedy; that he was lending the prestige of the Kennedy family name to the Chavez regime." One has to wonder just what that ‘prestige' is?
John O'Sullivan has just written a splendid book on the 1980's: The President, The Pope and The Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World. It tells the great tale of Ronald Reagan, John Paul II and Margaret Thatcher, and how they won the Cold War.Along the way, Mr. O'Sullivan uncovered some startling news. As Father De Souza writes, "After the first Reagan- Gorbachev summit in Geneva in 1985, Senator Edward Kennedy met with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow in February, 1986. The essence of the meeting, Mr. O'Sullivan reports, was that Senator Kennedy was concerned about Reagan's popularity in the United States and that the president might use that strength to the detriment of the Soviets." Who would've ever thought that a big D Democrat like Ted Kennedy would try to influence an American election? It's one thing to disagree with Mr. Reagan's policy; it's quite another, with the Cold War still on, to undermine his policies by advising and making common cause with the Soviet communists.
Apparently Kennedy tried the same tack with Yuri Andropov, but Andropov showed him the door. Father De Souza goes further with, "The news about Senator Kennedy, some of it previously reported and some of it original to Mr. O'Sullivan, should be devastating to a still- sitting senator. Imagine a senator trotting off to apartheid-era South Africa to advise the regime on how to avoid diplomatic pressure." Perhaps the senator's long history of scandal immunizes him from reports that have him merely cavorting with the Soviets. Whatever the reason, the revelations have not created a stir. And why should they, when the nephew is happy to shill for Hugo Chavez today, not 20 years ago, and openly, not in secret?
Father De Souza concludes by saying, "Joseph Kennedy III is lending the Kennedy name to Mr. Chavez's anti-American regime, but it is not prestige he is offering. He is living down to the name his uncle has already tarnished."
I certainly hope nothing comes between the USA and Venezuela, but if it does, Democrats would be well served to remember what they are doing to themselves. We don't get Citgo gas here, but I will try to find out who owns the company and boycott it. I hope Americans do the same.
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Tales From The Green Lantern
I wonder how long it will be before Chavez bites, SL. And I'm going to roll on the floor laughing as I watch the Dems try to get out of resposibility.