The Daily Double (Tuesday)

Venezuela’s Chavez Plans
More Oil Discounts For U.S. Poor

Venezuelan firebrand (and Bush headache) Hugo Chavez vowed to greatly expand the discounted home heating oil program he started last year for needy people in Massachusetts and other northeastern states, reports the Boston Globe.

Chavez made the pledge after meeting in Caracas with a group including Representative William D. Delahunt, Democrat of Quincy, and Joseph Kennedy, who is now chairman of Citizens Energy, a nonprofit Massachusetts group. The two played a key role in negotiating the initial deal with Chavez last year that sent 12 million gallons of reduced-cost heating oil to Massachusetts this winter, which assisted about 45,000 needy families. Several other states, including New York, negotiated similar deals.

Iranian Bloggers Debate U.S. Role

As the Bush administration debates action on Iran - diplomacy or detonation - this site is required reading. It’s a collection of dozens of blogs by young Iranians, most of whom desperately want to change their government and reform their political system.

But many of them, such as this woman, remain deeply skeptical that U.S. military action will achieve those ends: While the main threat for our homeland is now Ahmadi Nejad’s nuclear policies and the war rhetoric of Bush administration, Iranian reformists are attacking each other. Hardliner newspapers in Iran are the only beneficiaries of these debates. They are watching these debates and attacks cheerfully and quote the allegations to attack reformists. This is the last thing we need in such a critical time.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 at 7:45 am and is filed under International, Iraq War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.