juanesky 0 #1 October 10, 2006 Clicky"According to some of the conservatives here, it sounds like it's fine to beat your wide - as long as she had it coming." -Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jerry81 10 #2 October 10, 2006 QuoteAlthough it was promoted as a way to help poor people who had minor illnesses, aches, pains and infections, Rodríguez and Jiménez said their Cuban supervisor made it clear that they also had to campaign for Chávez in the lead up to a 2004 recall referendum, which Chávez won handily. Just this weekend, one of our instructors was telling me what it was like working for a governement agency in Venezuela; attendance at Chavista political rallies is apparently mandatory, transport is provided and if you're not on the bus when your name is called... Still, Chavez has a good chance of remaining president even without stealing the elections, although the 10 million votes that he's basing his campaign on is probably an unattainable result. Basically, a lot of the voting population is poor and uneducated and very susceptible to populism, while the people who do have the economic power and oppose Chavez still do well enough that they wouldn't risk their wealth just to overthrow him... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
livendive 8 #3 October 10, 2006 And a different clicky... QuoteShivering Alaskans to Hugo Chavez: Keep your oil POSTED: 9:09 p.m. EDT, October 9, 2006 ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- In Alaska's native villages, the punishing winter cold is already penetrating the walls of the lightly insulated plywood homes, many of the villagers are desperately poor, and heating-oil prices are among the highest in the nation. And yet a few of the small communities want to refuse free heating oil from Venezuela, on the patriotic principle that no foreigner has the right to call their president "the devil." The heating oil is being offered by the petroleum company controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, President Bush's nemesis. While scores of Alaska's Eskimo and Indian villages say they have no choice but to accept, others would rather suffer. "As a citizen of this country, you can have your own opinion of our president and our country. But I don't want a foreigner coming in here and bashing us," said Justine Gunderson, administrator for the tribal council in the Aleut village of Nelson Lagoon. "Even though we're in economically dire straits, it was the right choice to make." Nelson Lagoon residents pay more than $5 a gallon for oil -- or at least $300 a month per household -- to heat their homes along the wind-swept coast of the Bering Sea, where temperatures can dip to minus-15. About one-quarter of the 70 villagers are looking for work, in part because Alaska's salmon fishing industry has been hit hard by competition from fish farms. The donation to Alaska's native villages has focused attention on the rampant poverty and high fuel prices in a state that is otherwise awash in oil -- and oil profits. In 2005, 86 percent of the Alaska's general fund, or $2.8 billion, came from oil from the North Slope. The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, a native nonprofit organization that would have handled the heating oil donation on behalf of 291 households in Nelson Lagoon, Atka, St. Paul and St. George, rejected the offer because of the insults Chavez has hurled at Bush. Chavez called Bush "the devil" in a speech to the United Nations last month. He has also called the president a terrorist and denounced the war in Iraq.(Watch former President Bush call Chavez "an ass" -- 2:10) Dimitri Philemonof, president and chief executive of the association, said accepting the aid would be "compromising ourselves." "I think we have some duty to our country, and I think it's loyalty," he said. Over the past two years, Citgo, the Venezuelan government's Texas-based oil subsidiary, has given millions of gallons of discounted heating oil to the poor in several states and cities -- including New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine -- in what is widely seen as an effort by Chavez to embarrass and irritate the U.S. government and make himself look good. Maine Gov. John Baldacci, who approved an agreement last winter to buy discounted oil, said he had no plans this year to seek a similar arrangement. In Boston, Massachusetts, a City Council member wants a landmark Citgo sign near Fenway Park taken down and replaced with an American flag. In Florida, a lawmaker asked the state to cancel Citgo's exclusive contract to sell fuel at turnpike service stations. About 150 native villages in Alaska have accepted money for heating oil from Citgo. The oil company does not operate in Alaska, so instead of sending oil, it is donating about $5.3 million to native nonprofit organizations to buy 100 gallons this winter for each of more than 12,000 households. "When you have a dire need and it is a matter of survival for your people, it doesn't matter where, what country, the gift or donation comes from," said Virginia Commack, an elder in the arctic village of Ambler, an impoverished Eskimo community of 280 where residents are paying $7.25 a gallon for fuel. For years, Alaska natives have accused the state and federal governments of sending too little money to their tiny, far-flung communities, where fuel and grocery prices are bloated by the high costs of delivery by plane and barge. An editorial last month in the Anchorage Daily News bashed the Legislature's rejection in March of an $8.8 million state supplement to a federal program that helps poor Alaskans with home heating costs. "It's embarrassing that residents in a state with so much oil wealth should be looking to a foreign nation for help," the newspaper said. "It's hard to blame villagers for accepting the gift." A spokesman for Gov. Frank Murkowski, John Manly, said the governor believes Chavez's donation is a ploy to undermine Americans' faith in their government. But he said it is up to each village to make its own decision. "It seems like a very strange irony that we produce the oil and yet every year there seems to be a chronic problem in getting the fuel to people that need it," Manly said. Joan Eddy, principal and teacher at Nelson Lagoon's school, said most buildings in town were erected 30 to 40 years ago, which makes them pretty old, considering how they get battered by the constant 20-25 mph wind coming off the ocean. Their heating systems are aging, too. She noted the fuel barge is late arriving this year, and said residents are turning on their furnaces for only a few hours in the morning and at night. "We're conserving as much as we can because we are concerned. It looks like it's going to be a snowy winter and cold," she said. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Blues, Dave"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shawndiver 0 #4 October 10, 2006 QuoteOver the past two years, Citgo, the Venezuelan government's Texas-based oil subsidiary, has given millions of gallons of discounted heating oil to the poor in several states and cities -- including New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine -- in what is widely seen as an effort by Chavez to embarrass and irritate the U.S. government and make himself look good. QuoteAn editorial last month in the Anchorage Daily News bashed the Legislature's rejection in March of an $8.8 million state supplement to a federal program that helps poor Alaskans with home heating costs. QuoteMaine Gov. John Baldacci, who approved an agreement last winter to buy discounted oil, said he had no plans this year to seek a similar arrangement. In Boston, Massachusetts, a City Council member wants a landmark Citgo sign near Fenway Park taken down and replaced with an American flag. In Florida, a lawmaker asked the state to cancel Citgo's exclusive contract to sell fuel at turnpike service stations. Good on the government to turn down this offer, and is willing to let its citizens freeze to death because they cannot pay rather than accept Chavez oil. Yeah, I would say that our government deserves some embarrasment and irritation. To allow people to die because someone called GWB names is pathetic. If the people turn down the offer themselves that is one thing. But until our government has something in place that allows these people to keep from freezing, they should not cut off this source._________________ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
livendive 8 #5 October 10, 2006 I mostly agree with you. I didn't realize Citgo was owned by the Venezuelan government. I don't normally stop at 7-11's, but I'll try to buy gas from there once in awhile now as appreciation for Chavez' efforts. Blues, Dave"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
masterblaster72 0 #6 October 10, 2006 Quote Good on the government to turn down this offer, and is willing to let its citizens freeze to death because they cannot pay rather than accept Chavez oil. Yeah, I would say that our government deserves some embarrasment and irritation. To allow people to die because someone called GWB names is pathetic. If the people turn down the offer themselves that is one thing. But until our government has something in place that allows these people to keep from freezing, they should not cut off this source. Good post -- my thoughts exactly. "Compassionate conservatism" is giving Mr. Chavez an opportunity to make complete asses of us. Apparently, we still haven't learned from last year. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steel 0 #7 October 10, 2006 QuoteClicky Hey if the topic is about Chavez then, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4243727.html I have never seen thousands of Americans at once come out in demonstration for any candidate. Thinking that the population is 10 times as high in the U.S. as Venezuela and that there have been mass executions of the opposition to Chavez, the fact that thousands still march against him says a lot.If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
