Let's talk more about the Citgo Venezuela program for heating fuel. Not just Bernie's state.

[madfloridian]

Last edited Wed Sep 16, 2015, 11:21 AM - Edit history (1)

This has helped too many people to be used in an attack against any candidate.

I found this link to a DU post in 2005. It tells a lot about the program.

Vermont could be in Venezeula's cheap-oil pipeline

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Vermont could be in Venezeula's cheap-oil pipeline

Published: Friday, December 16, 2005
By Terri Hallenbeck
Free Press Staff Writer

MONTPELIER -- Some of that cheap Venezeulan oil that has been flowing into the homes of poor people in Massachusetts and New York might make its way to Vermont, under a plan being negotiated by Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

The deal is not sealed, but a plan in the works would have the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association buying fuel from Citgo, an oil company controlled by the Venezuelan government, said Sean Cota, a member of the association's board of directors and co-owner of Cota & Cota fuel dealership in Bellows Falls. Because the fuel is offered at lower prices than other oil companies are charging, the savings would be passed on to help those receiving home-heating assistance.

The move would give Vermont much-needed relief in providing help to people who are struggling to pay unusually high heating bills this season, but it would also put Republican Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas in the awkward position of accepting help from a leftist critic of President Bush.

Heat won out over politics, said Douglas' spokesman, Jason Gibbs.
(snip/...)

More about the program.

Venezuela Donates Free Heating Oil to 100k Needy US Households

Be sure to note who turned down the opportunity to help those in need of keeping warm. Article is from 2013.

In 2005, a pair of devastating hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, led to dwindling oil supplies and skyrocketing fuel costs. Some of the poorest and most vulnerable Americans, including many elderly people on fixed incomes, found themselves having to choose between heating their homes or providing food, clothing or medicine for themselves and their families. Since that first winter, CITGO has provided 227 million gallons of free heating oil worth an estimated $465 million to an average of 153,000 US households each year. Some 252 Native American communities and 245 homeless shelters have also benefited from the program. This winter, more than 100,000 American families will receive Venezuelan aid. With the US government estimating that households heating primarily with oil will pay $407 (19 percent) more this year than last, the program remains an invaluable helping hand to many needy Americans.

.....Last year, President Barack Obama and Congress reduced Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding by 25 percent, cutting off an estimated one million US households from desperately needed assistance just as winter's worst chill, accompanied by record heating oil prices, set in. Fortunately, the CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program was able to assist an estimated 400,000 Americans last year.

.....Kennedy thanked CITGO, Venezuela and Chávez for "help[ing] more than 400,000 people stay warm and safe this winter," adding 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," he told the crowd in Baltimore. "I don't see other major oil companies heating the homes of the poor."

"They all said no," Kennedy added, "except for CITGO, President Chávez and the people of Venezuela."

There is a map at this link telling who the program serves.

Who we serve

Here is a program overview.

ON EDIT:

Video of David Brock confirming the Hugo Chavez part of the email. He does not back down, just calls it research. The word "lackey" is not mine but the word used by the one who put up the video. I would not have used the word myself.

[magical thyme]

1. ayup. the program was here in Maine, too,

and although I didn't use it, I was grateful for it and bought all my gas from Citgo in gratitude. It gets cold up here. No heat and you can easily freeze to death in winter.

[Bonobo]

25. I was in Western Massachusetts for 10 years and it saved a lot of people.

When you have to choose between food to heat your body and heat to heat your body, it is brutal.

I hope Hillary keeps pushing this issue. She can kiss the NE goodbye if she does.

[Barky Bark]

29. I would imagine that she has already lost all of NE including New York with that sleaze.

forgetting that Venezuela's oil has saved many lives during the brutal weathers up there.

[seaglass]

33. No, she will not lose MA. n/t

[jfern]

2. Such an absurd attack

Problems

1. What was wrong with taking the heating oil?
2. Since when does a single representative determine whether where their state's heating oil comes from?
3. Hillary's state of New York took oil, too.

[HooptieWagon]

6. NY got some of the oil...

...but not due to the efforts of Hillary 'Let them heat cake' Clinton.

[reformist2]

8. Attacking this program is such an epic blunder.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. I completely remember when this all went down.

I was thrilled that Chavez had stepped forward, even knowing full well it was also a nice way to thumb his nose at Bush. I didn't care, I only cared that Americans were not going to suffer after the LEAP cuts. To try to trash Sanders on this one? Not going to get very far. AT all. Same with the Corbyn thing.

[Scuba]

4. It helped many families here in Wisconsin.

[bunnies]

5. It helped poor people in half the country and camp Clinton wants to take a dump on it.

Tell me that middle class champion line again? I need a good laugh.

[Divernan]

17. Doesn't fit w/grandmotherly image/champion of women & children,

does it?

Meanwhile, Bill is burning the midnight oil figuring out every possible angle, i.e., what the meaning of "is" is - so that the Clintons can hang onto HRC's Super PACs' dollars when HRC withdraws from the race. The law is unsettled - should be some very entertaining lawsuits of billionaires against political candidates who drop out.
Rick Perry megadonor wants his $5 million back

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/rick-perry-super-pac-continues-213612#ixzz3lr7j78BZ

[bunnies]

32. Not at all.

And good. Let all these money grubbing, government bribing assholes spend all their money suing each other in court. They deserve it.

[PowerToThePeople]

7. When I had a Citco here

I always purchased my fuel there.

I was a big Hugo Chavez supporter.

[in_cog_ni_to]

9. Hillary is going to regret this.

How disgusting that a millionaire is begrudging poor people winter heat! Makes me ill. She's going to wish she hadn't done this.

[Ed Suspicious]

10. I'm actually quite happy she took the gloves off. Now her shitty candidacy can be pummeled

with impunity.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. She doesn't have a chance against

Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, online Progressive web sites/blogs...or all the well informed DUers - a huge majority here. ALL of those people are engaged, extremelyactive and pissed as hell now.

Good luck, Hill.

[retrowire]

16. yep.

welcome to the new generation Hillary.

we're not stupid.

[SoapBox]

11. So can his campaign actually turn this into a big fat positive.

Last edited Tue Sep 15, 2015, 08:14 PM - Edit history (1)

And hopefully make Brock and his ilk look like the dicks they are?

[TheKentuckian]

19. Yup, it is pretty plain to see but with the dots connected that pretty much leaves a line on the

on which the other side is contemptible to me and non soulless folk world wide I'd think but I guess outcomes are tied to the percentage of the Democratic electorate are people I'd rather not share air with much less a party.

At some point isn't who we are important? I think it is but it may be that more than I'm willing and able to believe right now are just cheering for their team to win the big game.

I think this is where these folk's hearts and minds are really at, this is where they instinctively come from.

This is the very nature of these folks from the top down, bottom up, inside out, and outside in to the marrow just the kind of people we are dealing with and don't tell me it ain't DAMN familiar.
Let's keep it real, how many times have you heard the song or read the verse before but coming from "the other side" from the Turd Way supporters and pols alike?

This is the kind of ridiculous and genuinely mean spirited shit that resonates with these folks.

[Babel_17]

12. Didn't "socialist" countries in Europe send us aid after Katrina and 911?

Haven't those "socialist" governments, and their people, always sent aid when an area in the US had a horrific disaster? The point being that a kind deed is a kind deed, even if nations do think about looking well as they are doing good.

[madfloridian]

27. I remember the dark days after Katrina when the govt was slow in sending relief.

Yes, I remember other countries had aid on the way pretty quickly. What a tragic time.

[kenfrequed]

30. Even Castro offered aid.

Which the Bushies of course turned down since Halliburton wanted to co tract with the federal government on this and Blackwater wanted another security gig.

[madfloridian]

43. Yes, he did. I had forgotten that.

[ms liberty]

13. And it was universally praised, right here on DU.

I'm sure you remember it as well as I do! K&R

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. Yes, yes it was and

Chavez was a DU HERO! My how times have changed.

[Catkin]

18. Alaska, too.

No one in the state government gave a damn about our villages. There is no other fuel to burn in western and northern Alaska. The winters are extremely cold and long and other than summer barges, no fuel can be shipped to them. Venezuela/CITGO saved many lives.

[madfloridian]

42. I'll bet the people didn't give a hoot who helped them keep warm.

I know I would not have cared. Yes, they saved lives.

[Paka]

20. About as slimey and creepy as it gets in politics.

But who in their right mind wouldn't think this could backfire on them.

[madfloridian]

47. I think it has backfired.

It's over the line stuff.

[madfloridian]

48. I think it has backfired.

It's over the line stuff.

[Uncle Joe]

21. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, madfloridian.

[madfloridian]

22. Here's a well-researched diary from Daily Kos in 2006.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/02/24/189523/-Behind-The-Blowback-Over-Citgo-s-Home-Fuel-Aid

[sabrina 1]

23. Ven did this during the Bush era airc, and airc, DEMS WERE THRILLED to see

Bush publicly embarrassed for not helping Americans who were in need, some dying for lack of heat.

Surely no DEM is attempting to use THIS now, because frankly, if someone claiming to be a Dem IS hoping to use this, they are not a DEM imo. I remember when that program started and we Dems were cheering Ven. Repubs of course always hated to see Ven gain its independence from the IMF and the Global Oil Cartels and start using its money for its own people.

This is getting ridiculous. Is Hillary's campaign so desperate they are digging up trivia rather than talk about ISSUES because the people are moving towards a candidate who actually speakd for them???

The ONLY people who will be affected by this are RIGHT WINGERS. They were furious over this program and it was so fun to see their heads exploding when Chavez made a fool of Bush. But Dems? Lol!

So, where does Hillary stand on the TPP, on the Keystone Pipeline, on Welfare Reform how that it has failed so spectacularly?

Do the EVER talk about issues?

[madfloridian]

24. Agree. Expect some attacks, but not on stuff like this that affects real lives.

I once asked someone who was spouting off about Chavez sending oil here if they were freezing would they accept his help? Oooh that made them mad.

[sabrina 1]

26. Yes, The attacks are getting pretty bad, showing imo, a real fear that Bernie is going to

win this election. Sad that they can't accept the will of the people but instead hide in their think tanks, drumming up garbage that has ZERO to do with the needs of the people.

I don't think it's going to work for them this time.

I saw a poll this week showing Bernie within ten points of Hillary NATIONALLY now. The CNN Orc poll I believe.

And if that is the case, if the people want Bernie Sanders, then decent people will simply accept that.

But between this garbage, that is really digging low into the gutter to try to find something, ANYTHING, and the David Brock disaster, all of it is exactly what the people are sick and tired of and this time we will make sure the people KNOW what they are up to.

Sick to death of the distractions, the nastiness, the smear campaigns paid for by Wall St, all of it.

And everyone I know, Dem, Repub, feel the same way. They just don't GET IT. That people have serious issues and are not in the least interested in watching yet another nasty campaign that doesn't address those issues.

Shame on them, seriously.

[LWolf]

28. Thank you. nt

[restorefreedom]

31. yes because denying heat in cold climates

is a winning way to help "everyday americans"

hillary 2016: if you can't afford your own oil, its because you're not rich enough.

don't forget to vote!

[Babel_17]

34. I just remembered Germany's aid to Detroit in the Reagan era

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/22/us/from-the-grateful-germans-care-packages-for-detroit.html

http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/02/28/Foreign-aid-for-Detroit-arrives/1387415256400/

DETROIT -- West Germans say the food, clothing and vitamins they sent in 'care' packages -- ready for distribution to Detroit's unemployed today -- are a way of repaying a favor but there also was a political message.

Sixty-eight packages containing 1,300 pounds of supplies arrived Saturday from Frankfurt, West Germany, but were held up because the cargo customs offices at Detroit Metropolitan Airport are closed on weekends.

The goods, addressed to Mayor Coleman Young and flown free by Pan American Airlines, were expected to be delivered as early as today.

Bob Berg, the mayor's press secretary, said the packages would be picked up and delivered 'as soon as possible.'

The packages for Detroit's poor were put together after reports by West German television and newspapers of needy people filling Detroit's unemployment lines and soup kitchens.

Many of the care packages came from West Germans who received CARE packages from the United States after World War II. They have said they regard aid to Detroiters as a gesture of appreciation.

Detroit suffers from an 18 percent unemployment rate. West Germany has 2.5 million people out of work or 10.8 percent of its population, surpassing the U.S. rate of 10.4 percent.

The West German charity has also taken a political twist, with critics of the Reagan administration using the need for the aid packages as a measure of failed domestic policies.

In an economic analysis published last week, former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said, 'If soup kitchens have to be set up in Detroit, it amounts to a depression there.

'Such a state of affairs (in Detroit) is unbelievable,' Schmidt said. 'It is grotesque to think of German automobile workers sending packages to Detroit.'

P.S. lol "Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (German pronunciation: [ˈhɛlmuːt ˈha͡ɪnʁɪç ˈvaldəmaːɐ ˈʃmɪt]; born 23 December 1918) is a German Social Democratic (SPD) politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982." Bold added by me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Schmidt

P.P.S.

New York was on the verge of bankruptcy, and President Ford (who never actually said “drop dead”) had made it clear, after listening to conservative hard-liners both inside and outside of his administration, that he planned to veto any federal rescue plan.

It was yet another case of the worshippers of abstract economic notions (let the markets run their infallible courses) ignoring the potential consequences of their smug certainties.

Felix Rohatyn, the financier who played such a large role in the city’s economic recovery, has told me many times of the economic summit near Paris in November 1975 in which President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing of France and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany explained to Mr. Ford that allowing New York to go bankrupt might well light the fuse to an international financial crisis and would foster the idea that America itself was no longer creditworthy.

Mr. Ford was persuaded that the cascading effects of a bankruptcy were potentially catastrophic and could not be risked. He relented. Loan guarantees were made; the city went through the long ordeal of getting its financial house in order; the loans were repaid; and New York not only recovered but thrived.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/opinion/15herbert.html?_r=0

[Divernan]

35. Excellent post - I never heard about that

Back in 1983 I was a single Mom to 3 teenagers, full-time law student and part-time law clerk - so no time to listen to teevee newscasts or read local papers - not that they would have covered the story out of Detroit anyhow. And of course that was before the internet and easy access to so much news.

So a very big thank you for that good story.

[Babel_17]

37. My pleasure, and given that the year is 2015, and not 1995,

the public has developed more resistance to being "Blinded by the Right" wing style of bullshit he's back to peddling. I bought that book when it came out, it was a revelation about the right wing smear machine, and well written. But it also exposed his MO for doing the dirty work of negative campaigning. At least he's found a better cause to sling his mud for. But I really thought he learned a larger lesson than he evidently has.

Not cool David Brock, not cool. I get that you're into being tough, http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/14/politics/david-brock-new-book-hillary-clinton/ but you need to recall the lesson you learned about taking loyalty too far.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinded_by_the_Right

[madfloridian]

36. Wow, thanks so much for that info. Never knew that. What Pres. Ford said...

sounds very Reaganish and sickening. We hear that tone today.

New York was on the verge of bankruptcy, and President Ford (who never actually said “drop dead”) had made it clear, after listening to conservative hard-liners both inside and outside of his administration, that he planned to veto any federal rescue plan.

[Babel_17]

38. Thankfully a Social Democrat was there to talk him down :)

This is what Sanders does, he relentlessly speaks truth to power, and his consistency, and honesty, and history of being on the right side, is not going unnoticed by a public that wants those attributes in the person they vote to be POTUS.

[madfloridian]

39. Amazing what a Social Democrat will do for the poor.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

40. Screw Hillary and her baseless, desperate, and egregious attack against a fine man like Bernie! nt

[madfloridian]

41. Video: David Brock does not back down about Bernie and Chavez. More of the video.

[Babel_17]

44. I get to use "smarmy" twice in one day*, yay!

His lies are tripping him up, on the one hand he says it's all just data that he's putting out there, let people draw their own conclusions, on the other hand he says regarding the Chavez mention that he's drawing a contrast. He can't maintain the fig leaf he's trying to hide behind.

It would work in print back in the 90s, but this is 2015 and journalists have the resources to call you on your blatant smears. What they miss, a million keyboard warriors are there to pick up on, and they post it immediately online.

In the past his dissembling could travel around the world while the truth was getting its boots on. No longer. And if he was hoping to keep the attention on himself, "Me, me, me", and his dubious commentary, and to have that overshadow his blatantly obvious teaming up with the Clinton campaign, he failed.

Instead he provided the media with a great story about the shady relationship of Brock with the HRC campaign, and it dovetails perfectly with a narrative that the media was waiting to run with anyway.

What a stupid unforced error. What benefit of the doubt did they think was coming their way so as to stay above the blowback? What world are they living in?

*http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141208029#post12

[madfloridian]

45. Your last paragraph.

Yes. Unforced error.

[jwirr]

46. Started watching Chris Hayes tonight and he covered

it but he did not do his research. All about Hillary going on the attack but nothing about the fuel program run by Joseph Kennedy. I turned it off.

MSNBC wants to elect my president. No longer interested in them.

I talked with my grandson about what is happening with MSM and how they are getting rid of anyone who is liberal. His comment: TV is done anyhow might as well win with internet.