Feel the Hypocrisy - and the Lack of Caring Too!

I can't say I'm surprised by this little piece of news today:

Citgo Petroleum Corp, the U.S. arm of Venezuela's state oil company, has suspended its program to provide free heating oil to hundreds of thousands of low-income U.S. families, the head of the nonprofit organization that distributed the fuel said on Monday.

The Andean nation attributed the move to the sharp drop in the price of oil as well as the spreading world economic crisis, said Joseph Kennedy, chairman of Citizens Energy, which had distributed about $100 million worth of Venezuelan oil for each of the past three years.

You could see it coming: oil prices are now about 1/3 what they were before everything started going to hell in a handbasket with the economy.  Now, I find this oddly amusing.

Citizens Energy said it encouraged U.S. families to write directly to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and ask that Citgo continue to provide the U.S. poor with "much-needed" heating oil aid.

Emphasis added.  Now, that's a beauty!  We've demonized Chavez for the past, what, five, seven, eight years?  We've pretty much equated him to Fidel Castro, and Lenin, and the President of Iran.  We've pretty much called him "evil incarnate" - in what must have been a constant tag-you're-it game between Chavez and Bush - and now we want his help?  For the "U.S. poor" who, in most Latin American countries would pass for middle class?

But it gets better:

Chavez, who considers U.S. President George W. Bush his nemesis, widened the heating oil aid program as prices surged in recent years, while accusing the Bush administration of neglecting the U.S. poor. Chavez has described the program as "humanitarian aid," even though average incomes in the United States are about 10 times those in Venezuela.

Which is shorthand for "lets embarrass Bush."

Kennedy asked why no U.S. oil companies have stepped up to fill the gap.

"What about U.S. oil companies?" asked Kennedy, the nephew of slain U.S. president John F. Kennedy. "How come I can't get one barrel of oil from U.S. oil companies?"

The suspension of the heating oil aid would come as easing oil prices make heating oil more affordable for many U.S. families this year -- though rising unemployment has given them a new economic worry.

Emphasis added.  And that is the key question.  A guy who has no business helping us, and who helped our poor because he could do it and it made for fabulous PR - as in "public relations," not "Puerto Ricans;" otherwise, "fabulous" would be superfluous - had that opportunity because the oil companies wouldn't do it.  (To my "free marketer" friends, yes I know, they don't have to do it, but then, these are the type of ridiculous results you get.)

And even now, when their oil is worth 1/3 of what it was, they're still not stepping up to help.

Now, who does this affect?

The program served 180,000 U.S. households, 250 shelters and 37 Native American tribes, in the winter of 2006 into 2007, Citgo said on its Web site. It expanded last winter, when heating oil rose above $3 a gallon. The price fell to $2.33 a gallon as of Dec. 29, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. 

It actually expanded to benefit as many as 235,000 U.S. families in 23 states.

Chavez started the program after meeting the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a U.S. civil rights leader. The program formed the basis of advertising campaigns still visible at the program’s Web site.

“Thanks to oil donated by the people of Venezuela at Citgo, there’s finally help,” Kennedy said in one of the ads.

Not that the Wall Street Journal cares, though.  Rather than focusing - or even mentioning - the impacts to persons - you know, human beings? - the WSJ only cares about what this says about Venezuela and Evil Hugo:

The move raises questions about whether Mr. Chavez can afford to continue his oil-fueled largess. Venezuela gives cut-priced fuel to many Latin American nations and sends some 100,000 barrels a day of oil and oil products to Cuba in exchange, in part, for the services of 30,000 Cuban doctors, nurses, dentists, and sports trainers. In 2007, Cuba valued total Venezuelan aid at $7.8 billion. Some analysts say Venezuela is now as big a donor to cash-strapped Cuba as the U.S.S.R. was back in the Cold War.

Doesn't it make you feel better?  "We're screwed but so is Cuba!!"

And before you go and tell me that the price of oil and heating fuel is much cheaper now, it probably doesn't do you any good if you don't have a job or if you're at risk of losing yours.