Chavez dead

[Phillip Greenlief]

Citizens Energy-CITGO-Petróleos De Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Help Needy Americans 
Keep Warm, 


Like his father Bob and Uncle Ted, former U.S. representative Joe  Kennedy II 
has spent his life committed to public service. As a  congressman, he addressed 
issues affecting people who did not have a  voice in Washington, supporting 
issues like low-income housing,  community reinvestment, and consumer 
protections.

Today,  Kennedy is chairman and President of Citizens Energy Corporation, a  
non-profit he founded in 1979 that provides discounted heating oil to  
low-income families, senior citizens, and the poor.

In 2005,  Kennedy's Citizens Energy teamed up with the Venezuelan state oil  
company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and its subsidiary CITGO  with the 
support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. That partnership  has helped more 
than 1.7 million Americans in 25 states and the District  of Columbia to keep 
warm, according to Moral Low Ground.

Since  2005, that unique relationship, needless to say, stirred up criticism,  
especially from Conservatives who seem to be hell-bent against anything  that 
benefits low-income Americans. They say Chávez is an ally of Iran,  supports 
North Korea, and is a close friend of Fidel Castro. They say  Chávez is "trying 
to shape U.S. public opinion in the hope that more  gringos will come to see the 
Chávez government as benevolent."

Right-winger, Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr criticized Kennedy's  Citizens 
Energy salary, claiming he earns $1 million, although Kennedy's  money came from 
his other Citizens Energy affiliated for-profit  organizations.

Also helping is the Department of Health and  Human Services' Low Income Home 
Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). But  funding is dwindling. The President's 
budget proposal in 2012  significantly reduced funding. For FY 2011 it was $4.5 
billion while the  funding for FY 2012 has dwindled to $3.47 billion.

And, on  March 1, "If sequestration goes forward, LIHEAP will face an additional  
$177 million in benefit cuts. That is on top of the $1.6 billion in  reductions 
to the program that have occurred since 2010," according to  Congressman Ed 
Markey. Yet, despite record profits, every year Congress  continues to subsidize 
Big Oil companies to the tune of $8 billion in  taxpayers' money.

On January 31, Citizens Energy Corporation  and CITGO Petroleum Corporation 
kicked off the eighth annual  CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program at the Night 
of Peace Family Shelter  in Baltimore with their first delivery of oil for the 
season.

Citizens Energy-CITGO and LIHEAP are the two most important energy  assistance 
programs in the United States. There should not be criticism  nor funding 
reduced when no one else is willing to step forward to help  and while Congress 
continues to subsidize Big Oil, regardless of whether  Chávez is trying to shape 
public opinion or not.

Kennedy said,  "… that he has approached numerous major oil-producing nations as 
well  as some of the largest US oil companies and asked them if they were  
interested in helping the poor heat their homes. I don't see Exxon  responding, 
don't see other major oil companies heating the homes of the  poor. They all 
said no except for CITGO, President Chávez and the  people of Venezuela."
 Phillip Greenlief
1075 Aileen Street Apt B
Oakland, CA 94608
510-501-7110




________________________________
From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
To: alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tue, March 5, 2013 6:33:57 PM
Subject: Re: Chavez dead

WOW!  Is that bad except for Chavez?

On Tuesday, March 5, 2013, alice wellintown  wrote:
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