Free Republic

Why is ACORN's chief organizer friendly with the Marxist anti-American governments of two South American countries? Within ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis's storied rogues gallery of a rolodex may be found contact information for then-Bolivian ambassador Gustavo Guzman and for Sabine Kienzl, a professional propagandist employed by the Venezuelan embassy. The listing for Guzman contains what appears to have been a direct office telephone number.An ACORN insider I spoke with confirmed the authenticity of the rolodex which I have seen. Erick Erickson of the website RedState recently did an excellent job unveiling the rolodex.Both Bolivia and Venezuela are now headed...

SNIPPET: "Most importantly, Chavez has friends - powerful friends -- around the world who are assisting him in his goal of establishing communism as the dominant force in the world. Both Russia and China are assisting Chavez in spreading the message that the United States is "the most savage, cruel, and murderous empire that has existed in the history of the world," and Chavez's solution: 21st Century Socialism." SNIPPET: "The Moscow elite are not only supporting Chavez the dictator with weapons, but also Chavez the Marxist revolutionary with a high profile platform for his revolutionary rhetoric. In early September 2009...

Joseph P. Kennedy II said today he will not make a bid for the senate seat held by his late uncle Edward M. Kennedy, in a bombshell announcement expected to draw candidates-in-waiting out from the wings. “Given all that my uncle accomplished, it was only natural to consider getting back involved in public office, and I appreciate all the calls of support and friendship that have poured in,” Kennedy said in a statement posted on the web site of Citizens Energy, of which he is the founder. “My father called politics an honorable profession, and I have profound respect for...

Joe Kennedy’s business ties to Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, through Citizens Energy Corp., will likely become a major issue if the former congressman decides to run for the Senate seat held until last week by his late uncle. Joe Kennedy yesterday hadn’t even made a decision on a run when he came under blistering attack by Republican gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos and a Mihos spokesman. “It should be an issue,” said Mihos of the nonprofit Citizens Energy’s acceptance of oil from Venezuela to help needy residents heat their homes. Mihos described Chavez as a “communist dictator and avowed enemy of...

Political pundits say former Rep. Joe Kennedy II (D-Massachusetts) may be in the running to be successor in the U.S. Senate to his leftist uncle Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) who died earlier this week.Kennedy is a friend and ally of Hugo Chavez, who as Venezuela's head of state controls Petroleos de Venezuela SA which in turn controls the U.S.-chartered CITGO.Just like Uncle Ted, Joe Kennedy is a communist enabler too.At the direction of Chavez, CITGO provides low-cost fuel to Kennedy's nonprofit, Citizens Energy Corporation, which he created in 1979 to provide discounted home heating oil to low-income people in Massachusetts. The CITGO effort is part...

The global-warming debate is shifting from science to economics. For years, the fight over the Earth's rising temperature has been mostly over what's causing it: fossil-fuel emissions or natural factors beyond man's control. Now, some of the country's biggest industrial companies are acknowledging that fossil fuels are a major culprit whose emissions should be cut significantly over time. A growing number of these companies are pushing for a mandatory emissions limit, or "cap." Some see a lucrative new market in clean-energy technologies. Many figure a regulation is politically inevitable and they want to be in the room when it's negotiated,...

Venezuela's socialist strongman Hugo Chavez ordered the expropriation of some 60 oil service companies and assisted government-owned oil company PDVSA (parent of CITGO) in looting those firms unfortunate enough to have invested in the workers' paradise. "To God what is God's, and to Caesar what is Caesar's," said the Venezuelan president as he stole at least a dozen oil rigs, more than 30 oil terminals, and more than 300 boats. "Today we also say: to the people what is the people's," said Chavez, who is a hero to his American friends and admirers including actors Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey, Ed Asner, singer Harry Belafonte, and...

(CNN) -- Venezuela will give a 300-acre island in the Delaware River to the state of New Jersey, the governor's office announced. The Venezuelan-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp. had bought Petty's Island -- between Camden, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- to use as a fuel storage facility. The island is home to a pair of American bald eagles as well as several great blue herons and state-endangered black-crowned night herons, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine said in a news release Wednesday. Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez announced the island's transfer as part of Wednesday's Earth Day celebrations. Plans are being...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24351 Chavez, Joe Kennedy and Oil Math by Gen. Donald Blaine Smith and Christopher Brown It’s hard to avoid the commercials starring former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II explaining how friendly Venezuela and Hugo Chavez are to the American people. After all Chavez and Kennedy are bringing relief to the poor people of America who suffer under the evil tyranny of high fuel costs. However, reality has a tendency to get in the way of press events for Citgo and Citizens Energy Corporation such as the scenes of Joe Kennedy driving up to house in a Citgo truck to deliver 40%...

Just days after Venezuelan-owned CITGO suspended its fuel oil assistance program in the U.S., that nation's Marxist strongman Hugo Chavez has reinstated it, according to reports. Evidently, winning the hearts and minds of America's poor remains important to Chavez, who allows Islamist terrorist groups to openly operate in his country. We profiled Chavez and his American friends in the March 2008 Organization Trends and I wrote about Chavez in the Boston Herald on March 19, 2008.

Joe Kennedy announced yesterday he’s laying off 20 employees and temporarily halting most of his winter fuel-assistance programs due to Citgo yanking $100 million in support for the nonprofit Citizens Energy. Citgo, owned by the Venezuelan government led by leftist loudmouth president Hugo Chavez, recently informed Kennedy that it was “temporarily” suspending its oil donations for the low-income program.

Citgo has suspended its fuel-assistance program for low-income homeowners, putting added financial pressure on Joe Kennedy’s Citizens Energy Corp. Citgo, owned by the Venezuelan government, is pulling out of the program that provided home-heating oil to thousands of Northeast customers, via contributions to Kennedy’s nonprofit Citizens Energy. Kennedy has been criticized for accepting money from Citgo at the behest of controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, whose notorious anti-American rants have upset many Americans. Kennedy has defended Citgo’s donations, saying the goal of fuel-assistance program is to help the needy. Kennedy is holding a press conference this afternoon.

Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, who funds Iran-aligned terrorist group Hezbollah, has given $1.5 million to a Washington, D.C.-area charity that advocates for illegal aliens, the Washington Post reports. (See my previous Boston Herald op-ed about Chavez and terrorism here.) As part of Venezuela's "public diplomacy" (i.e. propaganda and subversion) program in the United States, the Silver Spring, Maryland-based Casa de Maryland will receive the grant from CITGO, Venezuela's government-owned oil company that is controlled by Chavez. Of course the Washington Post buried the story, placing it on page D8, as Ken Shepherd of NewsBusters noted. The Post reported that The...

<p>SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Immigrant-advocacy group Casa de Maryland on Monday received a $1.5 million donation from Citgo Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Venezuela's national oil company that is controlled by President Hugo Chavez.</p> <p>The funds will be used to strengthen Casa's $4.4 million social-service, small-business and vocational-training programs... Kim Propeack, advocacy director for the Montgomery County-based organization, said it's the largest corporate gift Casa has received. "Like many nonprofits, Casa has been trying to grow its corporate investment," she said. "Citgo is very committed to ensuring that the profits they earn through their business are shared by low-income people...." A Monday news conference to announce the donation was postponed because of a personal emergency of Citgo President Alejandro Granado, who was to attend with the Venezuelan ambassador. Ms. Propeack said the contribution would still be finalized Monday.</p>

The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, today arrived in Moscow on his latest arms-buying spree, saying that his country needed to buy more weapons to defend itself from the United States. Chávez met Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev this morning. He is expected to sign a billion-dollar arms deal with Russia for new missile defence systems and diesel-powered submarines. "I have great hopes we will be able to continue building our strategic alliance," Chávez said after landing in Moscow for a two-day trip. He added: "The deals will guarantee the sovereignty of Venezuela which is being threatened by the United States."

(CNSNews.com) - A Houston-based oil company will distribute free compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to low-income residents of 11 U.S. cities in a new program praised by a liberal activist but criticized by a conservative analyst on Friday as “shameless self-promotion” for Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. The project was announced last Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where 1,500 households will receive an estimated 30,000 CFLs throughout the summer and early fall from CITGO, a corporation owned by the Venezuelan socialist government that refines, transports and markets transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. “I am proud that CITGO invests over...

Venezuelan President Hugo chavez (left) with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September 2006. The acronym shown on their helmets, PDSVA, stands for Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the parent company of CITGO. * * * * *We already knew that Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez provides safe haven to Islamist terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas in his country, but now we know he actually funds Iran-aligned Hezbollah too. (See my previous Boston Herald op-ed here.) From a Washington Times report today: The Bush administration is accusing the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of providing cash and refuge to the militant...

March 10th 2008 BY PABLO BACHELET pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has launched a preliminary inquiry that could land Venezuela on the U.S. list of nations that support terrorism because of its alleged close links to Colombian rebels, a senior government official has confirmed. The inquiry, by government lawyers, is the first step in a process that could see Venezuela join North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, Syria and Iran as countries designated by the State Department as supporters of terrorism. U.S. laws permit some leeway on the scope of sanctions, but experts say that adding Venezuela to the list could...

Question: What do you get when you help terrorists seek dirty bombs, give sanctuary to Hezbollah and Hamas, taunt America, and threaten war on U.S. ally Colombia? Answer: Hugs and kisses from members of Congress like Senator Chris Dodd and Congressman Dennis Kucinich, academics like Cornel West, and Hollywood celebrities like Danny Glover - and a pass from the press. And what's there not to love about Venezuela's Marxist strongman Hugo Chavez, who crushes dissenters, muzzles the media, and takes from "the rich" to give to "the poor"? With a Kennedy clan member as his spokesman, he even gives discounted...

Would you believe it if we told you that the U.S. House of Representatives voted to raise the price you pay for gasoline at the pump and -- at the same time -- give a huge tax break to that America-hating dictator Hugo Chavez? Well, that is exactly what our so-called elected leaders-- led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her liberal colleagues in the House -- just did. In common parlance, we call that a "twofer" and as unbelievable as it may sound, Pelosi and company have yet again proved that they have never met a socialist tyrannical despot thatthey...