Yeah, Yeah. The same was true for Ralph Waldo Emerson. So?
By now most of my readers know that Mister Blue Gal is a Godless ACLU Commie** but this email sent Tuesday oughtta cinch it.
Mister Blue Gal is old school to the point that he not only opens most of his email, he also prints it out. Hard copy. For the file. A file sits on a drawer, not on a hard drive. What's a hard drive?
(Please remember the rule re Mr. Blue Gal is Don't Get Me Started.)
So he opened an email of which he was only one of a very large number of recipients. The sender was some Michelle Malkin boy-toy wannabe who wanted to WARN EVERYONE in his email address book:
>> ANNOUNCED JUST RECENTLY, CITGO, BEING AWARE THAT
>> SALES ARE DOWN DUE TO U.S. (CUSTOMERS NOT WANTING
>> TO BUY FROM "CHAVEZ"), HAVE STARTED TO CHANGE THE
>> NAME OF SOME OF THEIR LOCATIONS, TO: "PETRO
>> EXPRESS"
>>
>> DO NOT BUY FROM "PETRO EXPRESS"
>>
>>
>> "PETRO EXPRESS" IS ALSO 100% OWNED BY COMMUNIST
>>
>> DICTATOR "CHAVEZ" . THERE'S NOT A DAY THAT GOES BY
>>
>> WITHOUT HIM "BAD MOUTHING" THE USA! YET, HE STILL
>>
>> GETS RICH OFF US BY BEING ABLE TO SELL HIS GASOLINE
>>
>> IN THE USA. LETS SEE IF WE CAN'T CHANGE THAT!
>>
>> PLEASE KEEP THIS MEMO GOING SO EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT
>> IS HAPPENING. WITH ENOUGH PARTICIPATION, WE CAN
>>
>> MAKE A LOT OF CITGO AND PETRO GAS STATIONS DRY UP!
>>
>>
>>
>> UNLESS YOUR TANK IS BONE DRY, DON'T EVEN STOP THERE,
>>
>> AND IF YOU HAVE TO, ONLY BUY A GALLON!
>>
>>
>>
>> PASS THIS ON....I DID!
>>
Mister Blue Gal did not hesitate to reply, and inadvertently proved to me that he is more tech savvy than he lets on by hitting the "reply to all" button:
Thank you for telling me this, but for very different reasons.
You see, I go out of my way to buy from Citgo, and would not want to miss out because of confusion over the name change.
Chavez was elected President of Venezuela in several free and fair elections. The Venezuelan petro corporation has given oil free of charge to the poor in the United States.
But most important, I just have to respect a leader who has the nerve to call our fascist President a devil. Wars of aggression are contrary to international law, as is torture. Bush is a war criminal and deserves all the criticism he has brought down on himself.
**only the ACLU part is true, but still. You can go first up against the wall, honey. I'm proud of you.
I have to say in all honesty that Chavez worries me. He's too close to "dictator for life" ...
ReplyDelete...but then I look at Bush. And smell the sulphur...
I agree that Chavez is a bit of a loon. But he's also providing heating oil to low income families in this neck of the woods at lower prices. Yes, he's helping poor people. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteWhere should I buy my gas? Exxon (Valdez)? BP? Do a little of the Google on those outfits.
Pass THIS on, there, Scout: I always buy my gas at Citgo. Because it's CHEAPER there, and it pisses off the kind of folks who sent your email. Money well spent, that.
I'm still laughing out here in the midwestern hinterlands - even read this post out loud to Greatest Husband (another twin of sorts).
ReplyDeleteYeah, Chavez is a loon. In fact, as the amateur ornithologist that I pretend to be, he gives loons a bad name.
But I'm with Mr. BG, and I go OUT OF MY WAY to find Citgo stations.
You married well, Blue Gal.
ReplyDeleteAnd Mr. Blue Gal married even better.
Regards,
Tengrain
Hooray for MBG!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good fight, folks.
ReplyDeleteYou know, that's a real good letter to keep on file. Printed. Hard copy. On archival-quality paper. Should also be indexed.
ReplyDeleteFor your kids and grandkids and greatgrandkids to be proud of. And to mitigate the dilutive effect of lesser Americans on the pride the rest of us can take in being part of the noble experiment.
That letter alone is reason enough to love the man.
ReplyDeleteI imagine you have a few others . . .
hooray for him, you must be very proud. great guy.
ReplyDeleteI'll post the exact email I sent (with Reply All, too) when my uber-conservative father included me on the same idiotic warning.
ReplyDelete----------------------------------
Yep, Chavez is so anti-American that he's selling heating oil at a 40% discount to low-income households here. No other oil company in the world was willing to join Citgo in that program.
Meanwhile, companies like Exxon and Chevron are taking in such huge profits they could give heating oil away free to every American household that uses it. Instead, they are actually receiving billions in corporate welfare, courtesy of the Republican congress and president they bankrolled. In other words, they are using our government to take our money right out of our paychecks. Who is anti-American, again?
Oh, and let's not forget that most of the other oil companies buy Venezuelan oil as well, so no matter where you buy gas, you're likely sending money to Chavez. Another big chunk of their oil comes from Saudi Arabia, where the money flows to people who are such great friends of America that they will fly hijacked airplanes into buildings for us.
Finally, as is typical in emails of this sort, we come to the actual lies. You see, Petro Express is not owned by Chavez at all. Petro Express is a chain of gas stations/convenience stores wholly owned by a U.S. company based in North Carolina. For that matter, even the stations bearing the Citgo name aren't owned by Citgo - they are mostly American-owned small businesses with a contract to sell Citgo gas. The boycott, if it has an effect at all, will hurt the owners and employees of these businesses, not Citgo or Chavez.
Good point, Mad Patriot, about the small businesses. My favorite gas station is a Mom and Pop that sells Exxon. I hate Exxon, but would rather get my gas there and support one of the last Mom and Pop gas station/convenience stores than to go across the street and get my gas from a big chain station -- especially in my tiny hometown in Podunk, USA where WalMart came in and shut down just about everything else in the town.
ReplyDeleteI guess conscientious shopping is something you do on a degree-scale, not so much a black and white decision.
Ever since I discovered that Citgo was "Venezuelan" I've been going to Citgo. I've been upset, lately, as many of the stations that were previously Citgo, have changed petrol-suppliers due, I think, to the "bad-press" involved with Citgo Petrol.
ReplyDeleteBlue Gal, you have been a hero of mine for a while, and now your wonderful husband has joined into the choirs of "liberal" angels.
Cheers to you both!
-Tuckmac
Like you, I have some serious concerns about Chavez. However, to the best of my knowledge, he's been quite generous both to the poor of Venezuela and the poor of the US, and has neither tortured people nor embarked on a senseless, illegal war, so, until further notice, I say:
ReplyDeleteViva Chavez!
Viva Blue Gal!
Viva Mr. Blue Gal!!!
Vinceremos!
If I ever bought gas, it would be from Citgo, but I don't. Such a shame.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, I do live relatively close to the famed Citgo sign (which I don't think Citgo still owns, actually).
Go, Mr. BG! Funny how the email instructions have changed. Just after 9/11, they said we should buy from Citgo because it didn't get gasoline from Saudi Arabia. So now it's supposed to be better to buy from the nation that raised most of the 9/11 hijackers than to buy from the nation whose president dared to criticize the emperor? I'd say I was confused, but I'm really not.
ReplyDelete