Shivering Alaskans to Hugo Chavez: Keep your oil
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — In Alaska’s native villages, the punishing winter cold is already penetrating the walls of the lightly insulated plywood homes, many of the villagers are desperately poor, and heating-oil prices are among the highest in the nation. And yet a few of the small communities want to refuse free heating oil from Venezuela, on the patriotic principle that no foreigner has the right to call their president “the devil.” The heating oil is being offered by the petroleum company controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, President Bush’s nemesis. While scores of Alaska’s Eskimo and Indian villages say they have no choice but to accept, others would rather suffer….”As a citizen of this country, you can have your own opinion of our president and our country. But I don’t want a foreigner coming in here and bashing us,” said Justine Gunderson, administrator for the tribal council in the Aleut village of Nelson Lagoon. “Even though we’re in economically dire straits, it was the right choice to make.”
OK, so you live in a place where winter can be brutal. With heating oil hovering around $5/gallon (around $300/month for the average household), you’d think that Alaskans would be jumping at the offer of FREE heating oil. Heckuva deal, eh? Well, you and I might jump all over this offer, but a number of good, God-fearing Alaskans are planning to refuse this offer? Why? You mean outside of the fact that they’re DUMB@$$E$? They’ve got a problem with the source of the free heating oil- Venzuelan President Hugo Chavez. OK, so Chavez is an idiot (no revelation there, eh?)…but if the man can save you and your family $300 a month this winter, especially in the frigid climes of Alaska, TAKE THE DEAL, MORON!!
Apparently, some Alaskans would rather make a statement (and freeze) in defense of Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader than to accept a legitimate offer of assistance. So Chavez called Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader “the Devil”. Chavez might be guilty of some overheated rhetoric, but the man’s got a point. It’s not as if Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader has a stellar track record when it comes to integrity and honesty. How many American soldiers have died in Iraq since he lied his way into war there?
For some Alaskans, though, it’s a matter of pride. Chavez came into our house and insulted their President. It’s reminiscent of the “no one picks on my little brother but me” argument. While I can understand how some would be upset that Chavez violated American hospitality by insulting Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader during a speech at the United Nations, we all know that Chavez is an idiot. Come to think of it, so is Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader.
Nelson Lagoon residents pay more than $5 a gallon for oil — or at least $300 a month per household — to heat their homes along the wind-swept coast of the Bering Sea, where temperatures can dip to minus-15. About one-quarter of the 70 villagers are looking for work, in part because Alaska’s salmon fishing industry has been hit hard by competition from fish farms.
The donation to Alaska’s native villages has focused attention on the rampant poverty and high fuel prices in a state that is otherwise awash in oil — and oil profits. In 2005, 86 percent of the Alaska’s general fund, or $2.8 billion, came from oil from the North Slope.
The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, a native nonprofit organization that would have handled the heating oil donation on behalf of 291 households in Nelson Lagoon, Atka, St. Paul and St. George, rejected the offer because of the insults Chavez has hurled at Bush.
Chavez called Bush “the devil” in a speech to the United Nations last month. He has also called the president a terrorist and denounced the war in Iraq.
Yep, apparently loyalty to a corrupt, lying President outweighs abject poverty. So when these maroons begin to complain about the high cost of heating oil this winter…well, let’s just say their complaints are going to fall on deaf ears.
Truly, no good deed goes unpunished….
First of all, it's only a handful of the over a hundred villages that qualify for the offer that are turning it down. Most are smart enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The larger question is where are the oil producers that are making billions of dollars on Alaskan oil? Why don't they step up and match the offer? Where is the Alaska government that has billions of dollars in savings, and earned windfall profits with the escalation of oil prices?
The National Association of Manufacturers has an interesting perspective on this issue:
http://blog.nam.org/archives/2006/10/aleuts_turn_dow.php
After catching my breath from laughing, my first words when Chavez called Bush a devil: "Goes to show, it takes one to know one."
By the way...the picture is one of National Lampoon's most memorable: "Buy this magazine or we'll kill this dog."
Oil and gas production rightly benefit the State of Alaska. So why does our federal government still prohibit Alaska from producing more oil and gas, even though most Alaskans as well as their Congresspersons and Senators support it?
The last thing Chavez would like to see is more oil coming from Alaska. He may be a socialist, but that doesn't automatically make him stupid (although it is grounds for suspicion...) I can't find any reference to Chavez making a similar offer to Americans in other states who are also facing a tough winter. Why single out Alaska as the target of such "generosity?"
If anyone really thinks Chavez's benevolent gesture is motivated by pure altruism, maybe it's time for a reality check, or failing that, a relocation to Venezuela.