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Friday, January 10, 2003 |
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return."
- - Gore Vidal
RHINO HERE:
For years before the 9/11 attacks, American petroleum giant Unocal had been negotiating to build an oil pipeline from Turkmenistan through Pakistan and Afghanistan. Their plans went awry in '98 when bin Laden bombed two American embassies in Africa, causing the Taliban to be diplomatically isolated. A variety of reports have it that when shrub & company took things over, they reinvigorated the pipeline plan including speculation about negotiations with the Taliban with threats of war if they refused to let the project pass through Afghanistan. Some pundits have claimed those threats, in behalf of the pipeline, may have triggered the 9/11 attacks. Now that the Taliban are history, replaced by Afghan President & former Unocal consultant, Harmid Karzai, the Pakistan News Sevice announces the pipeline deal's been done.
http://www.paknews.com/top.php?id=1&date1=2002-12-28
You best watch your mouth, Rhino. Be careful what you talk about on that blog thing. Some people think America ain't the land of the free anymore. Like the new social democratic government of Sweden which recently appropriated 500 million dollars for what they call their "Palme Plan." Named for former Swedish president Olaf Palme, it "promotes the virtues of free and honest speech among government officials in underdeveloped democracies", like the U.S. of A. for instance. A flock of runaway U.S. government employees are expected to take refuge in Sweden over the next several months where they can feel free again to say what they really think about their former bosses. The article linked below tells the story.
"Sweden Providing Platform for U.S. Officials Cowed by Bush;
Intimidated bureaucrats regain their voice as protected guests of a genuinely democratic regime."
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0212/S00082.htm
And below the line today, the story of one John DiIulio, an average American Joe who, working as an aide to the shrub company, and thinking he's living in the home of the brave, referred to the the current staff at La Casa Blanca as a bunch of, quote, "Mayberry Machiavellis" (I'm sure he meant no slight to Andy Griffith or Jim Neighbors) and lost his job. But this article isn't really about freedom of speech, it's about the list of catastrophes being loosed on our natural enviornment by those who would have us believe they're as down home as Aunt Bea, when actually their actions make Darth Vader look like Mork.
8:54:23 AM 
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Paul McHugh ( pmchugh@sfchronicle.com),
S.F. Chronicle Outdoors Writer, Sunday, December 29, 2002
A former Bush aide got his tail in a sling a few weeks ago by calling the White House cabal a crew of "Mayberry Machiavellis." John DiIulio -- like others who dared launch a dart at the upper management of U.S.A. Inc. -- was bathed immediately by presidential advisers in a mind- control death ray. Reconsidering his remarks (to Esquire magazine), he apologized. As well he might. DiIulio was wrong. But only about the provenance. That Mayberry folksiness deployed by George W. Bush & Co. is a ruse.
Truth is, this set of Machiavellis must come from Mars. That's the only explanation for their environmental policies. Only an off-worlder, bent on devastating an ecology that supports all human economy, health and civilization would:
-- Gut the 30-year-old Clean Water Act by redefining debris from mountaintop-removal coal mining as "fill" that can be freely dumped in creeks and streams. (More than 560 miles of perennial and intermittent streams have already been lost in Appalachia.)
-- Reverse 25 years of improvement due to the Clean Air Act by allowing old power plants and refineries to shun updating of fume-belching facilities indefinitely. (And trample Republican ideals of local control and states' rights in the process.)
-- Abandon the 26-year-old promotion of wildlife, fish and watershed health in our national forests, sidestep public involvement in management decisions and concoct a bogus scheme to "fight wildfires" by asking timber firms to thin out brush in return for a chance to whack down the last old growth trees. (Completely denuded slopes can't burn, just erode.)
-- Laugh at global warming as a phantom threat, worthy only of a shopworn dodge called "further study." (Bushies say they can't abide dinging U.S. corporate business, plus it's not fair developing nations could belch emissions as we curtail ours. All humanity should just shut up and bloody well boil in one pot.)
What catastrophes shall come in 2003 from this crack team of Earth- demolition experts? Much, much more of the same, I fear. Now that Martian Machiavellis in the White House have a fifth column of corporate lap-dancers usurping Congress, they'll steam-shovel more sacrifices into their god Moloch -- the iron idol with a fire in its belly who gobbles living beings for lunch. Expect:
-- Weekly outrages. Piling on environment-damaging rule changes at a furious pace to keep conservation-minded opponents overwhelmed. Things like: Not only bringing snowmobiles back into Yellowstone National Park, but bringing many more of them. (Buffalo don't vote. The recreation vehicle industry trumps them with campaign donations.)
Like: Giving subsidized water to farmers growing subsidized crops in the upper Klamath River basin, regardless of whether that destroys a higher-value salmon fishery and tourist industry. (Forget the Indians and commercial fishermen. They're in a Democratic district; the farmers aren't.)
Like: Ignore new revelations that a national nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain is a lousy idea. Ram this toxic dump down the throats of Nevadans.
-- Holiday gifts. Last Christmas, Bush trashed Clinton-era rules that barred companies with repeat violations of environmental and workplace standards from receiving government contracts. A Thanksgiving treat was allowing offshore-based corporations to score taxpayer money for security contracts without paying taxes themselves on that income. This holiday season, look for a block on citizen input for resource use, a legalistic and budgetary gutting of Endangered Species Act enforcement, or both. Another "rule change," to hamstring Clean Water Act protection on wetlands, is definitely in the offing.
-- Selling the government. Representative democracy, relying on public involvement and dedicated civil servants, that's oh-so 20th century. Bush wants private firms to compete for up to half of the 1.8 million federal jobs. Watch out for contracts inked to inflict upon us the likes of: Wackenhut park rangers, Monsanto food inspectors and environmental science by Exxon.
Can no light shine on this darkening landscape? Perhaps. Democrats who manage to find their moxie with both hands, emerging American Greens who perceive the colossal blunder of voting for Nader in the last presidential election and moderate Republicans aghast at watching the party of Theodore Roosevelt mutate into the party of Ming the Merciless -- these could all join forces next year. They'll perceive where the Martian anti- life policy is taking us, and forge a potent -- if informal -- coalition.
They could be joined by American blue-collar workers, formerly hypnotized by Bush's phony Mayberry shtick. They may snap awake in time to see themselves well on the way to the cleaners. Should that happen, there could be good news. Head Martian Machiavelli (Karl Rove) will send Bush scurrying to the other side of the environmental divide so he can pretend to lead the pack of pro-Earthers. Then, expect to see tanker cars spray greenwash over the most rancid cases of Martian malfeasance. Bush will have to not only act as if he knows what an environment is, but acknowledge that having a healthy one may be a good idea.
Don't fall for it. Americans must maintain immense pressure and steady vigilance to keep him there.
Note: To research alien control of the U.S. government, rent and watch the movie "Mars Attacks." Then, the next time you see George W. Bush, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer or Interior Secretary Gale Norton on the tube speaking of our environment, turn down the sound and intone: "Ack-ack, ack-ack-ack." Next, turn the sound back up. You'll see you've accurately translated their remarks.
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8:48:38 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.
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