Free Republic

Former Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II said he won’t consider running against Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown while appearing today at a high-profile protest against President Obama for cutting federal heating assistance. “I start to feel ill all of the sudden,” said Kennedy when asked if he’s thinking of challenging Brown. Kennedy, who had considered running for his late uncle U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seat in 2008, admitted after Brown’s surprise win that he wished he’d jumped into the special election.

Joe Kennedy’s business ties to Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, through Citizens Energy Corp., will likely become a major issue if the former congressman decides to run for the Senate seat held until last week by his late uncle. Joe Kennedy yesterday hadn’t even made a decision on a run when he came under blistering attack by Republican gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos and a Mihos spokesman. “It should be an issue,” said Mihos of the nonprofit Citizens Energy’s acceptance of oil from Venezuela to help needy residents heat their homes. Mihos described Chavez as a “communist dictator and avowed enemy of...

Joseph P. Kennedy II, whose father Robert F. Kennedy championed Native American rights, is at war with a band of Navajo Indians. The Cameron Chapter of Navajo Nation is charging that Kennedy, president of Citizens Energy Corp. and its for-profit business Citizens Wind, is trying to seize control of a proposed wind farm on the tribe’s reservation on Gray Mountain in northern Arizona.

NOTWITHSTANDING a shift by big business to become more socially responsible, Big Oil prides itself in being an island of bullheadedness and smugness. In a capitalist system, rewards of success go to shareholders. But Big Oil has virtually ignored an equally important constituency - the citizens of the United States - who have granted Big Oil the right to extract the nation's most strategic natural resources. In return, they expect them to act as responsible fiduciaries