Hugo Chavez declares war on Alaska

November 28, 2008 by twitterpaters

by twit

by again offering donations of oil to rural parts of the state:

With heating oil prices approaching $10 a gallon in rural Alaska and reports of neighbors stealing fuel from neighbors to warm their homes, a Venezuela-owned oil company plans to supply free fuel to villages again this winter. […] Citgo has provided roughly 15,000 Alaska village households 100 gallons of heating oil each for the past two winters. If the company donates the same amount this year, some families will save as much as $1,000 on their fuel bills. It’s part of a program providing assistance to low-income communities in 23 states.

which means war!

The fact that the heating assistance is coming from Chavez led some eligible Alaska communities — such as St. Paul — to reject Citgo’s gift in the past. It would have been unpatriotic to participate, said Steve Senisch, a local councilman who voted against the gift in 2007. He predicted the council will vote the same way this time.

well, maybe less war this year…



But Osborne said that villages that once opted out of the program, such as St. George, plan to participate this year as Citgo’s program grows internationally and prices remain high in rural Alaska. Melanie Edwards lives in Nome, where she’s the vice president of the regional nonprofit that manages the heating-oil program for more than a dozen nearby villages. “Last time I checked, (Citgo is) paying corporate taxes to the U.S. Treasury,” she said. “And we figure until such time that the U.S. government is so offended by Venezuela and Citgo that they’re not accepting any more funding, then we’re not being unpatriotic by accepting the same.”

and there was somebody who I vaguely remember being awful antagonistic not too long ago, I wonder what she has to say about this invasion by socialists:

Palin’s office did not respond to questions Wednesday about the governor’s stance on the Citgo program

good golly, could she really be considering a continued experiment with socialism?

Anchorage Rep. Bob Lynn, a Republican, said he doubts the state would cut checks again because oil prices are dropping and the payment was meant to be a one-time measure. Lynn said it’s not right for Alaska to receive oil from Chavez. “We need to be able to take care of our own. The United States needs to do something about this,” he said. Still, Lynn added later, “It’s one thing for me to speak philosophical thoughts here in the warmth of my home in Anchorage. It’s another thing to have a wife and kids in danger of freezing to death out there.”

oh dear, capitalism isn’t doing a great job of saving the day…