Life after Bush: Ten things that could save the world

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/8377

Life after Bush: Ten things that could save the world
by Alan Bisbort | Jun 28 2007


Stick a fork in them. They are done.

"They" are anyone involved with the Bush administration. Bush is at 26 percent approval rating; only Nixon, prior to resigning, was lower (there's still time, George!). Cheney is unhinged, claiming he's a fourth branch of government unto himself. Iraq is in shambles; the troop "surge" has only created a "surge" in troop deaths. The Abu Ghraib story will reignite this week, as Gen. Antonio Taguba, former investigating officer of the prisoner abuse scandal, will tell Congress how Rumsfeld forced him to retire for doing his job. The U.S. attorney firings story is unraveling, slowly lurching back to its source (Rove, Bush, Gonzalez). Stick a fork in them. They are done.

Now seems a good time to examine the larger picture. That is, how can humans slow our spiral into environmental destruction? The following are 10 things that I believe would be a good start:

1. The destruction of the world's remaining rain forests and the over-fishing and polluting of our oceans must stop. Period. There will be no wiggle room on this, no trade-off for remediation work elsewhere. The rain forests and oceans are vital to all life on the planet. Thus, any destruction of such vital natural areas will be treated as a threat equal to that of terrorism, with the UN (or some other international body) overseeing sanctions or — in the case of egregious violations — sending in military personnel to monitor areas or gravest concern. Wild animal poachers will face murder charges.

2. With nearly 7 billion people sucking the life out of the planet daily, family size must drop to 2 children or fewer per family. Any family with more than two will pay higher taxes (no deductions for more than 2 children). Any father of two who wants a vasectomy can get one free of charge; his family should also get a tax break or some sort of "reward" (e.g., free solar panels on his home).

3. All defense spending on the planet will stop, all weapons manufacturing banned. Defense funds will be rerouted to family planning and habitat restoration efforts. Black market weapons sellers will face murder charges.

more...

[Taverner]

1. I agree with most, except the fascist anti-road building shit

Perhaps I am biased, being from California - but we need more roads. There is not a public transportation infrastructure able to handle the masses - and our society will collapse into terminal gridlock anarchy.

Want to see a city that had growth but never upgraded their highways? Seattle - and it has horrible 24hour 7days a week traffic...

[Warpy]

3. Or Boston, planned by cows and drunken sailors, with no room

for widening anything. I used my car to get OUT of the city, not around it.

[Taverner]

4. Exactly

In all honesty, we need some serious public works projects - one of them being a massive renovation of our highways, and build some double and triple decker highways in high congestion areas.

[Warpy]

5. Boston tried that one. It was called the Central Artery

and was the single scariest driving experience in the western hemisphere, a badly thought out elevated system hacking whole neighborhoods in half, with exits on both sides, and driven by people clutching the wheel, screaming, and trying to get over it as soon as possible, meaning everybody was speeding.

Going under it as a pedestrian wasn't much fun, either, as pigeons had discovered the structural steel as prime nesting ground and it RAINED pigeon shit on all pedestrian crossings.

The Central Artery was the reason for the Big Dig in Boston. It was dangerous, unsightly, and an impediment to pedestrians and community.

[Warpy]

2. You mean they might be done

They can still win in 2008 if the Democrats don't start standing up and concentrating on ending Stupid's war by September. They can still win if the Democratic candidate is packaged as blandly as the last two were, turning off the working class base.

My guess is that they're going Rovian and don't want to win in 2008, though, that their strategy is to stick some hapless Democrat with the war, the economic fallout from their bungling, and blame him/her for it for four years through the good puppy media. Then they'll run Jebbie in 2012, counting on the astonishingly short memories of total boobs and the discouragement of Democrats who are getting sick of being blamed for everything.