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GIVE TILL IT HURTS

Hugo Chavez to the rescue! Venezuela’s humanitarian leader plans to deliver desperately needed aid to impoverished blue states:

Venezuela has said it will expand a programme to provide cheap home heating fuel to poor Americans, helping low-income families in Vermont and Rhode Island, as well as four Indian tribes in Maine.

Those poor Vermonters, all shivering and ruined after Howard Dean bankrupted their state. Actually, Vermont has the fifth highest minimum wage in the US; Rhode Island is seventh highest, and Maine 12th (the Venezuelan Santa has previously sent aid to Massachusetts, eighth on the list of minimum wage overpayers).

Why these relatively well-off states? Well, perhaps they have extraordinary energy needs that can only be met with Hugo’s help. Except ... they don’t. Maine ranks 16th out of all the states in terms of energy consumed per capita; Vermont is way down in 40th; and Rhode Island, gobbling only 215 million Btu per capita, is the least-consuming state of them all. Chavez is draining his busted nation to assist folk who don’t need assistance. It’s grotesque.

Posted by Tim B. on 01/08/2006 at 08:04 AM
  1. Only Northeastern states have a very high concentration of people still using heating oil for heat and power plants that use distillate fuels.  Most of the rest of the country use electric, natural gas and propane for heat, and nuclear, coal and gas power plants.  So Hugo can really only bribe the blue states.

    By the way, that is one of the many arguments I presented to Andrew Sullivan when he was ranting about SUV owners being primarily responsible for funding terrorists.  That over 60% of the oil being used in the US is not even for cars, much less SUVs.

    Posted by bill w on 2006 01 08 at 10:09 AM • permalink

  2. And the traitorous Hollywood elites follow him around the Potemkin village like little puppy dogs after their master.

    And whatever happened to guts?  If he offered me fuel, my answer would have been “Nuts!”

    Posted by Patricia on 2006 01 08 at 11:55 AM • permalink

  3. No doubt Chavez has a revolution for “liberation” of Latin America in mind.  He’s buying lefty complicity in that plan.  You have to admit, the man prepares for the future.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 01 08 at 12:15 PM • permalink

  4. Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore,
    Galloping through the land;
    Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore,
    Without a merry band;
    He steals from the poor and gives to the rich,
    Stupid bitch.

    Posted by Paul Zrimsek on 2006 01 08 at 12:37 PM • permalink

  5. Chavez is draining his busted nation to assist folk who don’t need assistance. It’s grotesque.

    But remember, those states all voted for Kerry…

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 01 08 at 01:14 PM • permalink

  6. bill w,

    By the way, that is one of the many arguments I presented to Andrew Sullivan when he was ranting about SUV owners being primarily responsible for funding terrorists.

    By Sully’s line of reasoning, one could also argue that the Democrats are funding terrorists (or forcing consumers to do so) by blocking any new domestic drilling for oil or gas.

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 01 08 at 01:18 PM • permalink

  7. Massachusetts has a state-run program (LIHEAP) to help low-income families pay their winter heating costs. Similar programs are probably in place in the other northeastern states.

    It’s a bit bizarre that so-called Progressives are falling all over themselves in praise of a left-wing Latin American caudillo who is transferring wealth from his impoverished nation to families in the U.S. who are already receiving assistance.

    Posted by Bruce Rheinstein on 2006 01 08 at 01:58 PM • permalink

  8. Sappier, the Penobscot tribal chief ... , praised Chavez for his help. “We appreciate him very much as a leader,” he said. “It’s been said he’s one of us. His thinking is like ours.”

    Keep them poor, isolated and beholden to politicians for handouts?

    Posted by Bruce Rheinstein on 2006 01 08 at 02:07 PM • permalink

  9. Let’s see, who are the people’s representatives from these states, how are they likely to respond to this kind of largess, how have they reacted to the degredations of the Castro regime over the years, and could Chavez have a plan here?

    Just wondering . . . .

    Posted by everyman on 2006 01 08 at 02:10 PM • permalink

  10. By Sully’s line of reasoning, one could also argue that the Democrats are funding terrorists (or forcing consumers to do so) by blocking any new domestic drilling for oil or gas.

    Ah, but point out that little detail and you’ll be listening to a loud rendition of “How Dare You Question My Patriotism.”

    Posted by Achillea on 2006 01 08 at 02:58 PM • permalink

  11. Well, I live in Maine, and I’d be happy to take some of Hugo’s oil. Why should only commies have useful idiots to exploit?

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 08 at 03:58 PM • permalink

  12. Of course, no one lives in Vermont except a handful of old hippies, & poor people can’t afford to live in Rhode Island. As for the Indian tribes, more handouts is definitely what they need

    Posted by beautifulatrocities on 2006 01 08 at 04:49 PM • permalink

  13. #11 Dave S.,
    To update Lenin:  “We will burn the last Commie at the stake drenched with the oil he gave us.”

    Works for me.

    Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 01 08 at 05:29 PM • permalink

  14. Worst. Post. Ever.

    Whilst you woolies were indulging in your holiday beach parties, we’re freezing our bits off in Vermont. And with an average temp of 45F, it doesn’t get much better in “summer.”

    The reason why we rank so low in per capita energy consumption is that gov has no way to tabulate the heat derived from burning porch railing spindles and naugahide recliners. FYI, we are #1 in harvesting utility poles for our wood stoves. So any fuel assistance we get really helps to keep the grid up.

    One more thing: You can’t blame my Howie for the dismal economy here. Vermonters like to work about as much as they like to bathe. This is a practical state of mind where the water exists in a solid state much of the year, but a dire obstruction to commerce. So I’m hoping Bernie Sanders can work out a Sister City deal with Venezuela, as he has with most other Communist countries.

    Posted by HelenW on 2006 01 08 at 07:26 PM • permalink

  15. First Chavez, and now the moonbattery of the new president of Columbia.  Are we seeing the emergence of a new North-South Hemisphere Iron Curtain? 
    Will the US Left fly south in numbers?

    Posted by Barrie on 2006 01 08 at 09:12 PM • permalink

  16. HelenW, you work for the Vermont Department of Tourism, right?

    You make Vermont sound like such a wonderful place!

    Posted by rinardman on 2006 01 08 at 10:03 PM • permalink

  17. rinardman — Hey, if it wan’t fer Vermont, all those people and the commuters from Massachusetts might move to New Hampshire, ayah?

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 08 at 10:21 PM • permalink

  18. I think the basic error here is trying to analyze Chavez’s behaviour as though he’s a rational person.

    Posted by PW on 2006 01 08 at 10:42 PM • permalink

  19. The same caveat might apply to the behaviour of the recipients of his largesse, of course. I temporarily forgot we’re talking about blue states here.

    Posted by PW on 2006 01 08 at 10:44 PM • permalink

  20. Y’know, Chave is making a major mistake here.  Instead of taking the oil to the blue staters, he should be bringing the blue staters to the oil.

    Think about it.  He gets all those lefties as token Americans to parade around the place, and saves big bucks in oil transport.  The blue staters move to a “socialist” government in a warm climate.  The USA loses a bunch of idiots.  Everyone wins!!!!!

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 01 08 at 11:00 PM • permalink

  21. Doubtless, Hugo’s oil will be delivered by a thousand Venezuelan “technicians”. Hope they come through Carolina; they’re likely to wind up clearing brush by the interstate.

    Posted by paco on 2006 01 08 at 11:05 PM • permalink

  22. The Real JeffS — He’s a deranged, megalomaniacal antisemitic tyrant.

    He isn’t stoopid.

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 08 at 11:17 PM • permalink

  23. Rats!  You’re right, richard.  Oh, well, back to the planning cell….

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 01 08 at 11:23 PM • permalink

  24. Will the US Left fly south in numbers?

    Hah! Fat chance! US lefties like to admire their ruthless tyrants from a safe distance. Say, Berkeley.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 08 at 11:29 PM • permalink

  25. Hey, if it wan’t fer Vermont, all those people and the commuters from Massachusetts might move to New Hampshire, ayah?

    They already have. New Hampshire has gone blue.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 08 at 11:30 PM • permalink

  26. Just to elaborate, New Hampshire is only about 50 miles from Baaahston. You may have your Vermont and New Hampshire switched, Rich.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 08 at 11:32 PM • permalink

  27. BBC World has been playing up Chavez’ stunt to the max.

    For baldly glib antiamericanism, you can’t go past the Beeb.

    Posted by Inurbanus on 2006 01 09 at 01:51 AM • permalink

  28. Spot on #27

    Parse through the famous ‘objectivity’ of the BBC and we can see that Chavez has already pulled [off] the same petrodollar greased propaganda coup on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

    Mr Chavez announced the Petrocaribe plan in June at a regional summit in Venezuela’s city of Puerto La Cruz.

    He said the region had suffered centuries of imperialism and needed to strike out on its own.

    Venezuela is a leading oil supplier to the US, but Mr Chavez is seeking to develop diversified energy ties with the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia.

    The Petrocaribe initiative aims to reduce the prices Caribbean nations pay for oil imports. Venezuela already gives preferential treatment to communist Cuba and other nations.

    Since the above linked BBC narrative, Chavez has embarked on a tripartite cooperation-fest with the mad mullah’s of Tehran. The ongoing circle-jerkathon between trans-National Socialism and Islam’s splodeydope satraps is splooging right along with the hemisphere’s accustomed rainbow coalition of Useful Idiots queing up for their go.

    Sadly 13 allegedly ‘proud’ nations in the Caribbean version of the EU (CARICOM) are busily triangulating between what they believe to be either the bounty of another American hand-out fest, or the apparently more desirable ‘progressive’ whoring of their collective credibility out for the privlege of being yapping barkers in Chavez’s shiny happy soup kitchen.

    It’s really sad that only two CARICOM nations - Trinidad (which has its own oil) and Barbados (one of the oldest [1639] representative democracies in the America’s) - had the wherewithal to resist Chavez’s slop…The oily gruel that happens not to have turned out to be quite the mealticket PetroCaribe signatories expected.

    Apparently sensible Trini and Bajan political leaders may also have benefited through a more rational memory of the Urgent Fury* surrounding the region’s last brush with la Revolución Progresiva.

    *Operation Urgent Fury - The Invasion of Grenada (1983)

    Posted by monkeyfan on 2006 01 09 at 02:31 AM • permalink

  29. Maine also has the highest taxes anywhere in the US? Wonder if the pinheads in Maine goverment realise that there might be a link between high taxes and lack of funds to pay for oil?

    Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge on 2006 01 09 at 07:12 AM • permalink

  30. #18 Aw he’s such a (mass produced) doll…

    Posted by crash on 2006 01 09 at 10:26 AM • permalink

  31. Maine also has the highest taxes anywhere in the US? Wonder if the pinheads in Maine goverment realise that there might be a link between high taxes and lack of funds to pay for oil?

    We elect Democratic governors, Democratic state legislators, Democratic congressional reps, and RINO senators. Do we sound like people who can add 2 and 2 and get 4?

    We also complain about stratospheric housing costs while barring construction of housing developments and setting aside more and more land for preservation (in a state that’s already about 80% empty forest.)

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 09 at 12:29 PM • permalink

  32. How come I haven’t heard the Gov or senators from those states, including my own, tell the Commie bastard to fuck off yet?

    Posted by IcallMasICM on 2006 01 10 at 11:13 AM • permalink

  33. See above.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 10 at 01:19 PM • permalink

  34. also complain about stratospheric housing costs while barring construction of housing developments and setting aside more and more land for preservation (in a state that’s already about 80% empty forest.)

    So that’s where the whole Mainiac handle comes from.
    ;^)

    Posted by monkeyfan on 2006 01 11 at 11:24 AM • permalink

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