Venezuelan Oil "Assistance"

As if we needed another example of the perils of depending on foreign oil, I heard a radio commercial yesterday from CITGO, proclaiming it was owned by the Venezuelan “people” (government) and offering millions of gallons of oil free to needy Americans. The commercial used vivid language describing poor Americans in effect "hanging blankets between rooms to stay warm" and "shivering by the stove every night".

Is there some requirement that oil has to come from shaking, unstable countries that are hostile to the US? Or is because of oil that the areas around where it is sourced become that way? Either way it would be good to kick the habit.

Venezuela "helping" the US by donating oil? The US is far from perfect but perhaps Venezuela, and more specifically the regime of Hugo Chavez, would have more credibility if its own house was in order. Such as having a reasonably fair election, a per capita GDP a couple of times more than $7,200 as they did in 2006, and not having an "elected" dictator in power. Blatant propaganda, with help from spokesman Joe Kennedy.

And Venezuela is far from the worst of our oil suppliers. It's just bad US policy to be at the mercy of something as essential as energy, and one more reason we should all be working to avoid being dependent on unstable sources. Dependency is really no different than addiction.