The kindness of strangers

I love this story, in yesterday's Washington Post —

Thousands of low-income Massachusetts residents will receive discounted home heating oil this winter under an agreement signed Tuesday with Venezuela, whose government is a political adversary of the Bush administration.

A subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company will supply oil at 40 percent below market prices. It will be distributed by two nonprofit organizations, Citizens Energy Corp. and the Mass Energy Consumer Alliance.
. . .
The agreement gives President Hugo Chavez's government standing as a provider of heating assistance to poor U.S. residents at a time when U.S. oil companies have been reluctant to do so and Congress has failed to expand aid in response to rising oil prices.
. . .
Chavez has become one of Latin America's most vocal critics of U.S.-style capitalism, which he calls a major cause of poverty.

I've had a soft spot for the guy ever since the Bushies supported a coup against him. (They blew THAT, too!)

There's more; check out a great post by Op-Ed News.com:

Following the vast devastation of Hurricane Katrina Chavez responded more quickly than FEMA, offering to send cheap fuel, humanitarian aid and relief workers to the disaster area. He offered to provide $1 million of free petroleum via the state run Petroleos de Venezuela and its subsidiary CITGO for the relief effort.

According to civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson, Chavez also offered two mobile hospital units, 120 rescue and first aid experts, and 50 tons of food; considerably more than “Brownie” was able to produce.

“We have drinking water, food, and we can provide fuel,” Chavez told reporters.

I need to find out if that happened. Great stuff.