Barack Obama's Enviromental Team Meets Before Convention
Posted on 09/11/2008 10:26:35 AM PDT by samsmom
Dirty money: How petroleum pollutes the political environment
by Bruce Watson Sep 9th 2008 @ 1:00PM
Filed under: Polit-eco, Activism, Climate Change I'm going to start with a painful admission that will undoubtedly get me yanked off Greenpeace's Christmas card list. Okay, here goes...
I don't care about polar bears, Prince William Sound, or even (to be totally honest) global warming.
If you're still here, it means you've decided to give me a second before trotting off to poke pins in your 100% hemp Bruce Watson voodoo doll. Thanks. The simple truth of the matter is that polar bears are one of the few animals that hunt humans and, while it's nice to have someone to take care of those pesky seals, I am not in the habit of ensuring the survival of my natural enemies.
Regarding Prince William Sound, while I am disgusted by Exxon's corporate malfeasance and the fact that they have been allowed to get off incredibly easy for their famous oil spill, I could really care less about an inaccessible, craggy chunk of land in the ass-end of the North Pacific and the oil-besotted wildlife that (used to) live there. In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't touch my life all that much and I'd be lying if I pretended to be depressed about it. For that matter, I don't spend all day thinking about the tons of plastic crap floating in the middle of the Pacific or the endless miles of nuclear dumps in Kazakhstan. Sure, these things are disgusting and upsetting, but they don't really affect my day-to-day existence.
About a year ago, I got into a little talk with a friend on the topic of global warming. He kept tossing out little statistics about average yearly snowfalls in Alaska, "evidence" that winters are actually getting colder, and various other tidbits that contradict the party line on the environment. Following his narrative, global warming isn't even happening and, even if it is, the whole issue is irrelevant for numerous reasons.
I thought about our discussion for a long time and I kept coming back to one basic conclusion: regardless of whether or not global warming is real, America's addiction to petroleum seems to have hijacked its democratic ideals. Earlier this year, Exxon managed to get its penalties for the Valdez reduced to a mere slap on the wrist, and I have little doubt that political lobbying, graft, influence-peddling, and a slick legal team all played their parts in the company's ultimate victory. Somehow, after years of legal fights, Exxon had managed to buy its way off the hook.
I don't know why I was surprised. Time and again, the United States has had to modify or even abandon its moral positions because it is afraid of offending an oil producer. For example, when Russia invaded Georgia, our reply largely consisted of impotent sputtering. Of course, this was par for the course, as we had sat idly by while Vladimir Putin rebuilt the anti-democratic apparatus of his country, imprisoning political opponents and conducting assassinations that hearkened back to the worst days of the Cold War. And, lest we forget, this resurgent evil empire was paid for with--you guessed it, petroleum profits.
While we're at it, let's give a little shout-out to Al Qaeda, our nation's official enemy and the recipient of a fair portion of our oil expenditures. Forget about what you've been told: Osama bin Laden isn't living off of marijuana revenues, grants from the Huffington Post, or Afghani opium. No, he's getting funds from radical Islamic madrassas in Saudi Arabia. They, in turn, are getting paid off by the House of Saud, who are desperate to avoid a revolution that would establish radical Islam and destroy their sybaritic lifestyle. And, of course, the House of Saud is funded by...well, everybody who buys gas from Saudi Arabia.
From the war in Iraq to Hugo Chavez's attempt to start a war with Columbia, it's pretty clear that oil wealth has become the catalyst for some horrifyingly undemocratic events in the past few years. Bottom line, oil companies are buying elections, funding assassinations, paying terrorists, and imprisoning protesters around the world. Meanwhile, we can't say a whole lot about the matter, because we're deathly afraid of ticking off our oil-controlling masters. Somehow, petroleum has transformed us from a country that used to export its democratic ideals into a gang of sniveling, fuel-hungry addicts who are willing to sell anything to pay for our next fix.
The next time that some smartass starts arguing about whether or not winters are actually getting colder and where most carbon dioxide really comes from, you might try asking him how he feels about having his country's democratic process undermined by a bunch of callow scumbuckets who just happen to have access to an ever-declining natural resource. After all, at the end of the day, the political environment is pretty important, too.
Barack Obama's Enviromental Team Meets Before Convention
Don't get too excited about the fact that some Lefty is starting to move his position away from AGW. As long as oil drives the engine of capitalism, Greens will have some issue with oil, because ultimately their problem is with capitalism, and everything else is just an excuse.
Even the dog walks away from this one...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
