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November 19, 2005

Put up or shut up

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This Friday Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced he will be soon selling up to 1.2 million gallons of discounted heating oil in poor communities in Boston and New York via his government's 16,000 Citgo  Oil Company stations in the US.

What Democrats could also contribute discounted heating oil in Boston? After all, making speeches on the floor of Congress about a windfall profits tax, as many have done, or calling for government subsidies to the poor for heating oil bills as Ted Kennedy has done,  is just posturing talk when you know you don't have anywhere near the votes to get such legislation passed. Could Sen. Kennedy do something substantive to help the poor with their heating oil bills as Hugo Chavez is doing?
 
Let's go to the #27 Best Selling Book on Amazon.com, Do As I Say (Not As I Do), Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, by Peter Schweizer.
 
If you go to the chapter on Ted Kennedy, read past the Kennedy family trust set up by Grandpa Joe in Fiji to avoid taxes on the Chicago Merchandise Mart (p. 80—81). Then read past the Kennedy opposition to the US Army Corp. of Engineers' approved Cape (Cod) Wind Project to harvest free alternative energy and end The Cape's coal pollution and related health problems, a project also opposed by other liberal residents Walter Cronkite and historian David McCullough. There is speculation that they feel their view will be spoiled, but my  guess to the real reason is that the liberals fear the windmills too closely resemble Christian crosses.
 
Finally, starting on page 89, you will see that the Kennedys own some oil companies themselves: Arctic oil, despite the name, drilling in Texas and Oklahoma. Kenoil and Mokeen Oil. In 1985, Kennedy converted these two companies to Royalty Trusts, thus avoiding paying any corporate taxes, "windfall" or otherwise (see p. 92). The Kennedys also have oil deposits in Louisiana, as well as mineral rights on properties in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.
 
So it seems that Senator Kennedy is in a position to at least partially match Hugo Chavez's discounts on heating oil to the poor people of Boston and America. Should we hold our breath waiting for this to happen? The only one still holding their breath is Mary Jo Kopechne.
 
Jack Kemp  (not the politician)   11 19 05