Citgo? Turn Left, er Right September 21, 2006
Posted by threadingwater in global warming, iraq war, nature, politics.trackback
Pity the wingy, for they shall inherit a world of monster trucks and gas masks.
The latest from “boo-freaking-hoo” Malkin and her lesser known minions is to call for a boycott of Citgo gasoline. ‘Cause, you know, that will really tug at the short hairs of that terrorist-hugging, Bush-hating Hugo Chavez and his state-owned oil company. Right.
Or rather, wrong.
Virtually every major oil company, including Citgo, buys and sells crude from all over the globe in a labyrinth of wheeling and dealing so complex that by the time it reaches the individual consumer, there is no way to determine the source of the gasoline you’re pumping into your tank. Did it come from Venezuela? Canada? South Africa? Who knows? And, let’s not forget Saudi Arabia, the source of fifteen percent of U.S. oil imports and the training ground for fifteen of the nineteen terrorists who took part in the 9-11 attack.
Want to know the source of all that gas you’re pumping into your individually owned vehicle? You can’t. But, here’s what you can do.
Conserve.
A word you won’t see on Malkin’s site, nor the rest of her lapdog bloggers’ sites. That’s because conservation requires forethought and a clear-headed analysis of cause and effect. Not some knee-jerk, simplistic response to the rantings of a man with a personal vendetta against Bush and his administration.
Using less gasoline by conserving usage would reduce our dependence on crude oil from all sources – Venezuela included – as well as cutting CO2 emissions that currently threaten the world’s climate.
I’ll say it again. Pity the wingy. If they ever have to give up their urban pickup trucks, their jet skis, their countryside McMansions or exchange their single-person commute to sharing a seat on a bus or train, their tiny little brains are apt to implode. Better to just drive past the local Citgo station and fill-up the RV’s tank at a station you can pretend is “untainted.”
Buy another “Support our Troops” magnet while you’re at it.
“Did it come from Venezuela? Canada? South Africa? ”
It doesn’t matter. The product is being sold by a CITGO owned business entity. I want to deprive that entity of it’s profit. And it’s highly likely that a CITGO retailer is selling a CITGO refined product…note the word “refined”…that is where the profit is and, to a lesser extent at the retail level.
Where the oil is actually produced ( engineered, drilled and produced) is not an issue.
“Virtually every major oil company, including Citgo, buys and sells crude from all over the globe in a labyrinth of wheeling and dealing so complex that by the time it reaches the individual consumer, there is no way to determine the source of the gasoline you’re pumping into your tank.”
This trading activity is almost exclusively in the area of hedging price risk. Over 95% of the trades never result in receiving or delivering the oil or gasoline traded. All refiners know in advance from where their supply originates.
Hugh says, “All refiners know in advance from where their supply originates. ”
Undoubtedly true. That doesn’t change the fact that consumers do NOT know the origin of the fuel they purchase.
Hugh also wants to deprive Citgo of their profits, perhaps under some misguided notion of patriotism. I wonder, though, how he feels about contributing to the profits of domestic oil companies who have been protected by the Interior Department and allowed to rip off American citizens to the tune of over 30 million dollars in unpaid royalties for oil produced in publicly owned waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
Don’t forget to attach your flag magnet right there next to your yellow ribbon.
“That doesn’t change the fact that consumers do NOT know the origin of the fuel they purchase.”…I do know, however, that if I purchase fuel from Citgo , regardless of it’s origin, Citgo will profit. Therefore, I will not purchase fuel from Citgo. That is not the result of some “misguided notion of patriotism” . The flag magnet and yellow ribbon comments are stereotypes that do little to advance your point.
” I wonder, though, how he feels about contributing to the profits of domestic oil companies who have been protected by the Interior Department and allowed to rip off American citizens to the tune of over 30 million dollars in unpaid royalties for oil produced in publicly owned waters in the Gulf of Mexico.”
I always enjoy contributing to the profits of domestic corporations, particularly the ones in which I own stock.As to the unpaid royalties from Gulf production, what royalty agreement are you talking about?
My argument – appropriately advanced by references to flag magnets and yellow ribbons – is that boycotting Citgo is as meaningless and empty a gesture as placing stickers on a car. Efforts to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by conserving energy would actually accomplish a worthwhile goal, but conservation is not, and has never been, a message or strategy endorsed by the Bush administration.
Perhaps the most vacant gesture of all is someone threatening to boycott Citgo while admitting they own stock in domestic oil companies. How often do you think Hugh filled his tank at Citgo instead of buying from one of his own holdings?
I do try to avoid stereotyping, but Hugh’s “as long a I get mine” attitude certainly fits the profile of wingnut ideology.
For more information on the unpaid royalty issue, go here.
Anyone else care to weigh in?
My…what an angry little Liberal who is unable to make a point without rhettoric and ad hominem attacks. I see you find it perfectly OK for the leader of Venezuela to act the way he does, and you also find it perfectly ok to spit on the country you live in, without understanding the basic principles of finance and economics. I also see that when it is a Left-wing cause and boycott, then those are quite all right, however, when a Conservative takes offense at something and wishes to boycott a company owned by a country that is Socialist…and by proxy what Liberals espouse…and that attacks our country, our way of life, our system of government and finances, then it is all about the boogeyman-NeoCon, right?
You seem to be unable to resist using the Dem Underground/KosKids playbook in your article and argument which pretty much makes any of your points moot. You attack someone who is a stock holder in the very same corporations that your idols hold stock in and maybe because you are not smart enough to provide for your future and believe it will be the governments job to take care of you as a result.
While it is your right to be against the boycott, your blatant hyposrisy and childish remarks in no way solidify your stance, and only makes you look foolish and furthers the COnservative cause by exposing how whacked out and childish and hate-filled Liberals and the Left -Wing is and has become.
If you fail to see how your belief structure and words and deeds weakens this country on a daily basis, well there is nothing anyone can do to help you. Noone can truly know why you are so filled with hate and hypocrisy and loathing for pretty much the only country and system of government and values that allows you to act and speak like a spoiled child, but please…just remember…just because YOU believe it is and YOU believe it should be, does not make you right, and does not make it so.
As we are and have been the greatest nation the world has ever seen, that aids more countries-friend and foe-than any other in the history of the planet, who allows people and heads of state to continually spit on us, as well as the spoiled little children of the Left without retaliating or cutting them off, proves on a minute by minute basis, just how horribly wrong you are and always will be so long as you hold and espouse your treasonous, hatefilled, biggotted ways.
Funny how ranting and name calling doesn’t really further a cause, even a conservative one. Thank you for your concern about this planet we all inhabit, threading water.
Thank you, A.I. Initially, I wasn’t going to approve horsedragger’s comment because it was just so vile, uninformed and crude. But then? Well, I figured my readers could take it for what it is – a rather pathetic outburst from a segment of the conservative right that we can all hope is a very small one.
Of course. By the way, some of us had a chance last night to hear again from Eliza Gilkyson, from L.A. by way of Texas–songs worth hearing ( from Paradise Hotel, Hard Times in Babylon, and other CDs). Relevant, funny, a breath of fresh air.
As a former CSpan junky, I turned off the freaking news and took up knitting socks in Dec 2005. Turned on Sunday morning talk show to listen “just while I straightened the bedroom”. Sen. Frist avoided answering the [But, will this compromise prohibit torture?] (3 times) [but good news the program will continue!] Shouting OH.MY.GOD. Where’s my knitting? Turned TV off.
Got home today and tuned in CNN just as they pointed out the LEAVE ALL CHILDREN BEHIND law allowed recruiters into our schools (or they won’t get federal funding). And recruiters are raping children at an alarming rate? OH.MY.GOD. KNITTING? Everyone
Got socks to finish!
You’re way ahead of me on the CITGO thing. Just posted about it today. I blame, oh, having three kids under 8? Does that work?