As many of you know, Pat Robertson, former Republican presidential contender, advisor to at least two Republican presidents, and presently a big leader of the Christian Right (ever heard of the 700 Club?), recently proclaimed that Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez was a dictator and that the US military should assassinate him and just take his oil. Given that Hugo has been elected at least once (or more if you include the recall), and through processes that are considered cleaner than what passed in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, it's tough to see how Hugo is a dictator. Maybe Pat needs a dictionary. He really should read some more of the Bible, too. I think killing and stealing are mentioned in it, and not in a positive light.
The silence from the White House and from the Republican party on this latest batsh*t crazy idea from their Weird Uncle Pat is deafening. I guess they want the message to stand. Or is it that Bush is too busy hiding in Idaho from Cindy Sheehan? Wuss.
Never fear, though, as Hugo has stepped into the media void by countering Weird Pat's suggestion with a politically-deft turn of the cheek. He announced over the weekend that he's going to send cut-rate gasoline and heating oil to hospitals and poor communities in the US. I thought he was just posturing, but apparently the wheels are in motion as of yesterday:
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1738
Bwahaha!
I doubt that this happens, but what a hoot! Someone needs to tell him, though, that contrary to what may be the case in his country, discounting oil and gas to hospitals will only make the rich Republican hospital owners, like Senator Bill Frist, that much richer. You can be damned sure the price differences won't trickle down to poor patients. Probably a better political ploy would be to announce a "cheap gas day" over Labor Day Weekend and watch all the wingnuts' heads explode as they try to process the conflict between wanting to boycott the Evil Dictator but at the same time wanting to fill up on cheap gas for their SUVs just One Last Time. "Please, Jesus, please! Please let me have Just One Last Tank of Cheap Gas!"
Too bad Citgo (the Venezuelan gasoline refinery) doesn't own any of the franchised gas stations. Regardless, I'm happy as a clam that the local gas station just switched from being a Conoco to being a Citgo. I know where I'll be buying my gas for a while, if only for the chuckle factor. If you'd like to chuckle while you fill 'er up, your closest Citgo station can be found by clicking here.
http://www.citgo.com/CITGOLocator/StoreLocator.jsp
Note that I get no kick-back on this; I'm not that smart.