The President cares about America's poor

The President of Venezuela that is. Hugo Chavez is sending cheap heating oil to two communities in the US.

From HoustonChronicle.com - AROUND THE REGION

Citgo to help poor on heating oil costs

Citgo Petroleum said Thursday it plans to distribute discounted heating oil to the U.S. poor to help them cope with expected record fuel costs this winter.

The Houston-based company, a subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil giant PDVSA, said it will send up to 12 million gallons of cheaper heating oil to communities in Boston and the Bronx borough of New York City next week.

It is the second offer of energy assistance from Venezuela — whose leftist President Hugo Chavez is a harsh critic of President Bush — since hurricanes disrupted oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico this summer.

More on the inauguration

From Greg Palast:

Oaf of Office
by Greg Palast

Watching John Kerry lip-synch the oath of office, I couldn't help wondering, 'what if.'

Here on stage in Washington was the winner-class warmed and protected by cashmere and tax cuts against the strange, nipple-chilling cold. Hell had frozen over.

Our President said, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation." Well, no, it isn't.

Our President said, "We will widen retirement savings and health insurance." No, he won't.

Our President said, "America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains." Yes, he will.

Our President said, "And our country must abandon all the habits of racism." Oh, sure.

He doesn't believe a single word he's saying. And all over America, everyone knows he's lying and America is truly relieved.

America doesn't want to give up the habit of racism. Karl Rove doesn't. Jeb Bush doesn't. If not for challenging hundreds of thousands of voters in Black precincts of Ohio and other swing states, if not for purging thousands more from voter rolls for the crime of voting while Black, you wouldn't be president now, would you, Mr. President?

You won't "pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains," unless they are chained by your buck-buddies in Saudi Arabia.

You'll "support democratic movements" so long as the citizens of Venezuela don't get carried away and decide that democracy means they can choose a leader you don't like.
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Lisa Rein has video of the Daily Show coverage of the inauguration speech here.
I liked this part:

Dubya: "When you stand for your liberty, we will stand for you."
Jon Stewart: "offer not valid in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and all of Africa."

And he could have added quite a few more. When Bush said that I thought about the Palestinians in the occupied territories. After all, the Bush Administration claims that it was only enforcing a UN resolution when it decided to invade Iraq. Israel is in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 yet the US government continues to supply Israel with military aid and weapons. Why is Bush not enforcing those UN resolutions?