Venezuela to Provide Discount Oil to Mass.

By MARK JEWELL, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 57 minutes ago

QUINCY, Mass. - 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.
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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 Mass Energy Consumer 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 (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., 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 outside the home of a constituent who will receive heating aid.

Citgo is the Houston-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.

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Hahahahahaha, I don't know what is better, this story, or Bush trying to open the locked door @ the Chinese Church.

I almost feel sorry for Bush at this point. His world is crashing around him.

Actually, it's a three-way. This, The chinese door, or the fact that he wanted to bomb Al-Jaazera (sp?).

Hehe.

Where is Bush involved in all of this..I see the Mass. liberals sucking up to yet another dictator for selfish purposes......like they were to Saddam.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Not for nothing pal,but I'm missing something here,since when is providing low cost heating oil,one of the necessities of life,a "selfish purpose"? sure,I'm the last one to ascribe a purely altruistic motive the Chavez's action but you don't see our government opening it's petroleum reserves to take care of of this problem which is a direct result of unrestrained,primal greed.

Let's start fresh and nationalise the production and distribution of energy resources rather than enriching these fatcats at our expen$e.

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Yeah, I'm missing something too. Out of who's hide are these oil profits coming from? Taking oil and profits from the Venezuelan people to heat Martha's Vineyard?

glenmore

o man haliburtons going to be hurting... i mean bush.. yes bush. leader we love leader.. all hail cheney.. cheney is leader of all errrrr

Yeah, that would be a great idea. Let's nationalize energy, so we can have Soviet style shortages while the morons in charge have something else to screw up beyond comprehension. No thanks.

Why is it in liberal central EAST......seem's mighty strange its in Ted Kennedy's back yard...or should I say..not surprising.

It would be a red state not a Blue state if Bush was involved.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

hahaha good one.. chavez is da men.. hahahaha

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

And Ted Kennedy has his nose so far up the mans butt obviously his shoulders got stuck.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

This is silly. The United States has given alot of foreign aid money to countries and no doubt Venezuela has received such. Irregardless of whose
administration was on the giving end and the receiving end, I think it is fair reciprocation for other countries to give back to the United States.

Now if Chavez wants to grand stand on this event, only those who agree with his policies can play into his game.

To take a stand against the United States, based on the likes of Chavez'
machinations, is also equal to playing into his game.
Consider yourself OWNED.

I have met good, decent people who were or have been on the receiving end of Castro's policies and Chavez' policies and had to flee their beloved countries
to save their lives, leaving all material things behind.

Yeah, Chavez is one hell of a nice guy.

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1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
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1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD

I think we missed something, I'll pull it out of the article for you all to chew on...the emphasis added is mine

=)

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

I just love the delicious f@#king irony of the Southern hemisphere "exporting" its values and largess into Uncle Hubris' backyard here in the good ol US of A. The perfect antidote to the crypto-fascism we've been exporting down there for decades. If Chavez didn't exist already, we'd have to invent him just to stay sane.

Viva Chavez!

It's good to see that big old intercooler staring me in the face again. Reinforcements have arrived.

BHD--You need to elaborate some more on what you understand a dictator to be. I always have been under the impression that democratically elected leaders don't qualify as dictators??

Did anyone hear Letterman's remark after he showed Bush pulling on the locked door, "It's not the only place he doesn't have an exit strategy."

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I don't know why anybody in the USA cares what Chavez does. As long as he's no threat, let him alone.

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