Oil

Yesterday I had a bit of fun at the expense of the Republican noise machines and their efforts to paint themselves already as a loud and marginalized minority in Capitol Hill. I was so caught up on the moment that I didn't blog about it until this morning but Kenneth Quinnell described it as a "Twitter Bomb" and has happy to spread the word :

Twitter Bomb

This wasn't my idea (although I came up with the cool name), I think Liza Sabater was the one who started it, but it's too brilliant to pass up.

Those of you who are on Twitter, send as many tweets as you can over the next few days with #dontgo in them. The conservatives are using this hash mark (like a tag) to spread misinformation about offshore drilling and their latest publicity stunt. What Liza and a few others started doing was to flood that hash with counter-commentary or irrelevant posts. Sort of like a google bomb, this can either disrupt what they're doing or, at the very least, annoy the crap out of them. We can all do this.

Whatever you're posting on twitter, try to fit #dontgo into it. And make sure you include the # sign, which is key.

If you aren't on Twitter, this might be the type of thing to get you into it.

And before I even start to explain, let me break down the lingo for you.

Oil.

Sometimes it seems like the focal point of all that is disgusting, corrupt, unfair and evil in the world.

Oil profits are a major source of financial support for terrorists. Oil is the number one contributor to our national trade deficit, draining us of money and sending that money to feed the wealth of royal families in Middle Eastern kingdoms where women are second class citizens.

And oil is one of the main driving forces for inflation in our nation today. Rising oil prices feed rising prices for every commodity we buy that isn't produced locally.

Think about how much you spend on oil: gasoline for your car, high transportation prices for almost everything you buy, heating oil...

Think about how much oil is draining from your family's finances.

Then consider this. For the second year in a row, Exxon/Mobil has made record oil proifts. In 2006 Exxon Mobil posted the all time record for the largest annual profit by ANY U.S. company: $39.5 billion. That beat the previous record of $36.13 billion...set in 2005 by, you guessed it, Exxon/Mobil. We are struggling and soldiers are dying for these profits. When we consider Bush's invasion of Iraq, threats against Iran and Venezuela, remember that Exxon/Mobil profits from this instability and fear and that Exxon/Mobil, like most oil companies, overwhelmingly supports Republicans. ALL of the top 20 oil company contribution recepients in 2006 were Republicans. Exxon/Mobil was the top oil company donor to political races in 2006 and donated 89% to the very Republicans driving the foreign policy that is keeping oil prices high on fear and instability.

Russia has cut off Oil to western European countries, including a NATO member.

Link to BBCnews Headline: Russia oil row hits Europe supply

Quote:

Russia has cut oil supplies to Poland, Germany and Ukraine amid a trade row with its neighbour Belarus.

End quote.

As US policy has been at a stand still for how many decades? Since the 1970's ?

Why has the US not been building safe efficient modern Nuclear reactors as a bridge to keep the Grid powered and reduce dependence on oil?

France has a long history of operating plants safely. China is ordering new plants as fast as possible. Obviously while these folks have solved their own versions of waste handling, ours still sit in barrels on the shores of Lake Michigan (last I knew).

The US is and has been playing ostrich. Is it because the NIMBY crowd and Environmental Lobby influence are stronger voices than an economic and national defense voice of reason?

Were our decisions based on artificially low oil prices which falsely skewed the cost benefit equations to the point where on the one hand our grid is on the verge of collapse, our existing plant base (both fossil fuel and nuclear) are significantly aged, and the lag time to bring new plant resources on line is burdensome?

The last time Russia used oil as an economic weapon was in the dead of winter, during a Cold Snap. At least this time the temps are milder.

The Democrats, angry at 5 years of Republican lies, scandlas and failure since 9/11, are coming out swinging, making national security a prime issue. Here is Howard Dean's most recent fundraising letter for the DNC:

You can't trust Republicans on national security -- and two things proved it yesterday:

1) In a powerful interview that aired yesterday, President Bill Clinton took on the extremist Republican propaganda about 9/11 -- and Fox News tried to cover up the fact that the Bush administration downgraded terrorism as a priority before September 11th and has failed to eliminate Osama bin Laden since the attacks.

2) An explosive report on the still-classified National Intelligence Estimate states that the "invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks" -- and Republicans have been trying to cover it up.

This is what we're fighting against every day -- an administration covering up of the Bush failure of 9/11 and covering up an honest look at the war in Iraq and the war on terror.

You know that Democrats have a real plan for destroying Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, fixing the mess in Iraq, and really securing us at home.

I don't know about you, but I am damned sick of the right wing nuts exploiting 9/11 for their own benefit. This year they plan to do it again and ABC is hosting it. From Truthout:

Clinton, 9/11 and the Facts
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Wednesday 30 August 2006

The fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks is less than two weeks away...ABC intends to mark the occasion in far more grand a fashion. Starting September 10th and ending September 11th, the network will show a miniseries titled "The Path to 9/11." According to reports from early screenings, the writer/producer of the miniseries, Cyrus Nowrasteh, has crafted a television polemic intended to blame the entire event on President Clinton.

Nowrasteh, an outspoken conservative...spoke last year at the Liberty Film Festival, described by its founders as Hollywood's first conservative film festival. Govindini Murty, actress, writer, and co-director of the Liberty Film Festival, wrote a review of "The Path to 9/11" for the right-wing online news page FrontPageMag.com.

In the review, Murty states, "'The Path to 9/11' is one of the best, most intelligent, most pro-American miniseries I've ever seen on TV, and conservatives should support it and promote it as vigorously as possible. This is the first Hollywood production I've seen that honestly depicts how the Clinton administration repeatedly bungled the capture of Osama bin Laden."

From the Union of Concerned Scientists:

The Union of Concerned Scientists is pleased to announce the release of the fact sheet, “Human Fingerprints.” This fact sheet is the latest in a series addressing high profile climate change science issues. The current edition examines how the fingerprints that humans have left on Earth’s climate are turning up in a diverse range of records and can be seen in the ocean, in the atmosphere, and at the surface.

You can read and download a copy of this fact sheet on our website.

** About the Climate Science Series
All of the fact sheets in this series are designed to help policymakers and the general public understand important climate science issues. We have chosen high profile topics that are the subject of debate in the public’s perception of climate change science, and the fact sheets are based on a review of current scientific literature and discussions with experts. UCS climate scientist Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel is leading this effort, with review assistance from climate scientists with expertise in the chosen topic.

Hate to say I told you so, but...

I have been writing for some time about the rising and increasingly unified fundamentalist Muslim theocracy that Bush is losing to. This theocracy seems closely linked to Saudi oil interests, al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Sunni fundamentalists around the world. They use all tactics, including terrorism, and their main targets are the West, Sunni moderates, and Shi'ites. Bush claims his "Forever War" is all about defeating these people, but far from defeating him, he is enabling them. They are winning and the history of Republican errors when it comes to the rise of Muslim extremists continues unabated.

This rising Sunni theocracy, which I refer to as a nascent, new Caliphate, has scored a victory it has been wanting for some time. To most Americans it means nothing, but just as al-Qaeda in Afghanistan managed to make a major attack on the US, al-Qaeda and a new Taliban-like government now has a new nation to use as a base of operations.

From BBC News

Islamists claim Mogadishu victory

America claims to be fighting for democracy and freedom worldwide. Yet we condone torture and refuse to comply with the UN.

From BBC news:

A U.N. panel said Friday the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo violates the world's ban on torture. In issuing its report, the Committee Against Torture said the United States should ensure that no prisoner is tortured.

Why did we invade Iraq? Well, among the many reasons we gave in our desperate attempt to jutstify an illegal invasion was that Hussein committed torture and that he violated basic human rights and UN resolutions.

And now we, the United States, are justifying torture, violating basic human rights and violating UN resolutions.

The article goes on to report how Condaleezza Rice and John McCain see Guantanamo's detention camp a dilemma for the United States. A dilemma? A camp where we detain hundreds of people from around the world illegally (according to the United Nations) under conditions considered by international law as torture, with no legal due process whatsoever is a dilemma for the United States?

I wrote just yesterday how one can look at Somalia and see how the Republicans are leading us not to victory in the war against terrorism, but rather into a long, eternal war against what just might be an emerging new Caliphate. Everything that the Republicans have done since they prevented Clinton from taking out bin Laden when he wanted to has led us in the wrong direction and has done nothing but strengthen the hand of the most extremists elements of Sunni Islam.

And with the nascent war in Iran, possibly already starting through the Kurdish conflict, we are once again looking in the wrong place for our enemies. The people who attacked us are alive and well and are thriving right where Bush claims we have won.

Remember that we pulled large numbers of troops out of Afghanistan and Pakistan so we could invade Iraq, a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11 and was as opposed to al-Qaeda as we were.

Now the Taliban are regrouping right under the watch of the Paksistan army and al-Qaeda is being lauded as heros within the borders of our supposed ally.

From the BBC News:

Today is the third anniversary of Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech, quite possibly the dumbest speeches in American History. Since then, the quagmire has stretched on and on and there is no end in sight.

Let's reflect on then and now...

May 1st, 2003, in the New York Times (via Editor and Publisher):

By Elisabeth Bumiller

WASHINGTON, May 1 -- President Bush's made-for-television address tonight on the carrier Abraham Lincoln was a powerful, Reaganesque finale to a six-week war. But beneath the golden images of a president steaming home with his troops toward the California coast lay the cold political and military realities that drove Mr. Bush's advisers to create the moment.

The president declared an end to major combat operations, White House, Pentagon and State Department officials said, for three crucial reasons: to signify the shift of American soldiers from the role of conquerors to police, to open the way for aid from countries that refused to help militarily and -- above all -- to signal to voters that Mr. Bush is shifting his focus from Baghdad to concerns at home….

Apparantly the "War on Terrorism" is no longer a fashionable name in Washington. The Bush Administration is re-branding the war "The Long War.

The Long War?

Forget that! Let's admit what it really is, with hat tip to Joseph Haldeman: We are in the midst of the Forever War.

We have abandoned pretence. All we are admitting to now is that we are at war. Why? Who cares! Oil? Maybe. Fighting terrorism? Sometimes, if it's convenient. A Crusade against Islam? Only in private do we admit that! Lucrative no-bid contracts for Halliburton and Bechtel?

Bingo!

That is the only excuse for the Forever War. Because, a real war on Terrorism would look nothing like the Forever War envisioned by the extreme right wing in the United States. The real war on Terrorism is what Democrats had envisioned: go after al Qaeda specifically, cutting off their funding, hitting their training camps, forcing Arab governments to abandon their support for anti-American Madrasses that feed into al Qaeda. Build up alliances across the globe. Fight the funding of terrorism and become part of the world community. That is what Democrats envisioned going back to Clinton and even, perhaps, the honestly elected Bush after he had freed his foreign policy from the Taliban-supporting days.