Our President...

Every week, I get at least two emails from my Congressional House Member, the Rev. E. Cleaver, II., updating me on the activities of the House and his schedule. He holds 'Coffee with Cleaver' meetings once a month in various parts of our district, and both Keith and I have met him.

Today, this was in my inbox:

As we commemorated the third anniversary of Katrina, Hurricane Gustav reminded us once again just how fragile the reconstruction is in New Orleans. With two more hurricanes coming on the heels of Gustav, I ran across an interesting bit of news that hasn't gotten much attention.

The President said Wednesday that oil from the emergency stockpile would be released.

Here's what he said as part of his visit to the Gulf Coast, "Last night, we got a request from a company doing business here in Louisiana and we met that request."

Now do not get me wrong. I think he should open the reserve. In fact I think he should have done it months ago when a bipartisan request came from Congress to help relieve some of the pain at the pump.

But here is what I found interesting. The request the President was referring to was not the letter from Congress. Rather, he was talking about a request from Citgo Petroleum Corp., which is owned by the Venezuelan state oil company.

"Oil was released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and we will continue to do that upon request by companies," The President said.

Bipartisan request from Congress --- ignored.

Request from an oil company operated by Hugo Chavez --- acted upon.

Absolutely...positively...frustrating.

Chavez, people. Chavez. Fuck Congress and the American people.