Here Today... Gone To Hell!

By JONATHAN P. HICKS
Published: November 26, 2005

A group of South Bronx residents will soon receive a large - and inexpensive - shipment of heating oil, courtesy of President Hugo Ch?vez of Venezuela, a frequent thorn in the side of the Bush administration.

Under an agreement between President Ch?vez and United States Representative Jos? E. Serrano, Citgo, the Houston-based American subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, will provide eight million gallons of discounted home heating oil this winter to thousands of low-income residents of the South Bronx.

The populist government of the Venezuelan president is one of Latin America's most vocal critics of American-style capitalism. Mr. Ch?vez has led anti-Bush rallies in his country and has accused the United States of trying to kill him and invade his country.

The oil should start arriving late next week or early in the week of Dec. 5, Mr. Serrano, a Bronx Democrat, said in an interview yesterday. He said that the oil would be provided at 40 percent below the market rate.

"This is something that came as a result of conversations between me and President Ch?vez," Mr. Serrano said. "As part of our talk, he suggested that he wanted to ask Citgo to make home heating oil available to the poor of the South Bronx at a lower rate. I said, fine. It's something the people in the Bronx would benefit from."

Mr. Serrano said that the agreement provided "an incredible message to other oil companies."

"It tells them," he said, "that that if these people in Venezuela can share their profits with poorer communities, then they should, too."

Earlier this year, two nonprofit Massachusetts energy groups signed an agreement with Citgo to provide discounted home heating oil this winter to thousands of low-income state residents.

In that agreement, Citgo committed itself to supply more than 12 million gallons of discounted heating oil over the next four months. It will be distributed by the two nonprofit organizations, the Citizens Energy Corporation and the Mass Energy Consumer Alliance.

Mr. Serrano said that there were some challenges in fine-tuning the program in the South Bronx that were not encountered in Massachusetts.

In New York, he said, most of the low-income residents rent their apartments as opposed to being homeowners, as in Massachusetts.

The congressman added that the priority was to administer the program in such a way that the savings were passed to residents.

"In New York, most of the landlords are private landlords, and we don't really know how to get them to pass along those savings to the renters," Mr. Serrano said.

"So, with that in mind," he said, "we suggested to the president that we start off with three nonprofit affordable housing community corporations in the South Bronx."

Initially, Mr. Serrano said, the program will involve residents in about 200 apartments in the South Bronx. He added that the agreements with the nonprofit groups call for residents to receive vouchers for rent reductions and for "infrastructure and quality-of-life improvements" in the apartment buildings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/nyregion/26oil.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1132971554-1mOmOgrXYDUl4Pm21Vf/QQ

Who would you prefer leading our Country SLC, Chavez or Bush?  Just curious.

I wonder why you do not comment on the article but go straight for me instead?

I also wonder why our own president could not provide cheap oil to our less fortunate?

GNRNIGHTRAIN.

I wonder why you post positive things about evil dictators but refuse to ever acknowledge any postive thing done by your own President.

Chavez is an evil dictator? Bush would like you to think he is. That way, when we go in to "liberate" them for their oil one day the stage has already been set.


There isn't really anything good to say about Bush, sorry. He sucks and so do the people who still support this lying, greedy, cynical, murdererous group of bastards.

This is a rather foolish thread.

SLC, you have purchased what Chavez was selling hook, line, and sinker.  This is all PR to help his image in America.  He doesn't give a rats ass about the poor in our country much less his own.  Just another conquistador South American leader who thrives on riling up the poor to get elected, then neglecting the same people who voted for him.

Whats next SLC.  Are you going to post threads about Robert Mugabe doing something rightous for America's poor (while ignoring how much of a backwardass evil fuck up he is).

You will get in bed with anyone to get at Bush.  That my friend, is sickening and dangerous.

This is a rather foolish response.

Action speak louder then words, especially...yours.

You are blind my friend.  Chavez has played you for a fool.

How many millions of sheep out there have the Bush Regime influenced with lies and misinformation? 

How is Chavez an evil dictator? Facts please.

How? Because he is HELPING poor people in a country he does not even rule in? If helping poor people is being an evil dictator then god damnit he is one evil dictator!  : ok:

Many, but the tide is a changin'. Many are jumping off the sinking boat now.


I agree. Lets see some facts, thanks.


Got that right! Since when did helping poor people become a bad thing?

Its called PR.  To be honest, I don't even think you believe the crap that you are spewing right now.  Anything to get Bush is your modo, and you don't care who you get in bed with to achieve it.  I'd rather oppose Bush on facts than teaming up with someone like Chavez.

This is actually a pretty fair look at him.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1925236.stm


Hmm, thats lower than Bush's now isn't it.


Like I said, just another conquistador south american ruler who likes to rile up the poor to get elected, then fail to remember them when actually in office.

Edit:
On further review, he isn't as conquistador as I thought.  But, he is still incompetent as hell.  A man with a lower approval rating than Bush is your boy now.  Now that is funny.

No that is your "modo" that you have placed on me to take down.

 You are all a bunch of wind up dolls that attack the same way. You'll claim that I am "this" and then attack what you created.

Chavez is hardly a dictator as you claim.

I'd like to know when I called Chavez a dictator.  I am calling Chavez an incompetent leader who is desperately trying to rebuild his public image.  Nice try at putting words in my mouth though.

OH sorry, it was GNRNIGHTRAIN.....your banter is all the same, I apologize.

This isn't banter.  I am calling you out for touting a leader who is more hated in his country than Bush is in ours.  IMO, he isn't the type of guy you want to team up with to take down Bush.

Sure it's banter.

All I did was post an article and you guys go into attack mode.

He supplied heating oil to poor people who needed it, and I posted the story.

Bush could have done the same thing for his poor people, just like Katrina, but he didn't seem to.

Pointing that out is simply pointing out fact.

You had an agenda behind what you posted.  Stop playing holier than thou.  You were using Chavez to take a jab at Bush.  You just admitted it.


So could have the democratic leaders in that state.  The blame goes around to a lot of people on that fiasco.

I posted that as a response.

Buck has to stop somewhere, Bush is the prez, don't like? Too bad.

Did I say Bush doesn't get blame?  No.  Again you are putting words in my mouth.

However, unlike you, I believe that other people that messed up should not get a free pass.  They had a job to do, and they failed.  Bush failed and they failed.  Don't like it, too bad.

This just goes to show how little you know about me.

Point to one post where you have criticized someone on the left.? Point to one post where you have criticized any country that opposed the US war against Iraq.  I'll take anything: any left-winger, any country (China, NK, Iran).  If you don't respond I'llassume Axl_owns was dead on.

Sounds like Bush as well. Didnt he promise to help the poor when he was running for election as well? But now that he is elected, well the poor people just don't matter to him now. Take New Orleans for example. All them poor black people stuck out there for almost a week before the federal government stepped in and did anything.


Describing Bush again I see  : ok:

Do a search. I am tired of repeating myself for you guys.

It's just like when you kept asking me to "give me timeline for Iraq", I'd give you the link, you'd ignore it and then ask again. Do your own research, why should I repeat myself? I have been critical of the left when you were GNRNIGHTTRAIN and with the user name you have now.

What you are doing is quite foolish.  You are assuming that because I critisize people on the left that I am automatically a fan of Bush.  How wrong you are.

I think Chavez is incompetent and I think Bush is incompetent.

You sure come off as such........

Do you completely ignore when I speak ill of Bush?

In my last couple of posts I have called him incompetent and a puppet.  Tell me how that is being a fan of Bush?