It all goes back to Oil, which means (almost) all of us.

[Ron Green]

Where do you draw the line? Bushco are doing nothing more than trying to ensure that there will be plentiful fossil fuels in the future for the voracious and bloated U.S. market, rather than the fast growing Asian one. As long as we use non-renewable energy as we do, the Neocons are doing our bidding.

Break the law? Out a CIA agent? Wage illegal war? Fool most of the people all of the time? It's all in the service of anyone who drives, buys nice plastic things, wears manufactured clothing or does almost anything to be part of modern life. Just as Jack Nicholson's colonel said, "You can't handle the truth," we can't bear to know that even the most frugal of us is responsible for our insatiable appetite for oil, so we get all pissy about the operatives we've hired to bring it to us now and in the future.

And yes, I realize that if all SUV's and big pickup trucks were to be transformed magically into fuel-efficient cars, our problem would be solved for the near future. But the market would then bring the prices down, and here we go again.

I want these Bush bastards to be discredited and banished, as much as anyone around here. But until we accept the fact that oil represents not only the enslavement of the poor parts of the world, but our own enslavement as well, we're just punishing our own hired guns.

[Ron Green]

1. Kick up from page 8.

There are plenty of identical threads about the indictments. Let's not forget the real reason for the treason.

[bloom]

2. These "hired guns"

have been doing everything they can to increase demand and consumption.

As leaders - they wouldn't have to. They could lead a different way.

Personally - I would rather see rationing - than to see the price of things go so high that only the rich can afford to go anywhere, buy anything, etc.

In the meantime - it is nice to know that some of us voluntarily take the situation seriously enough to conserve.

It's pretty hard to escape - when even the food supply drains so much oil/energy - the way things are done. I have gotten more serious with my own garden - the people I know who have been paying attention to all this have made gardening a priority.

[Ron Green]

4. You're exactly right. They're encouraging consumption, because that

is what enslaves us. They enslave the rest of the world by force, and us by comfort and convenience.

[Solomon]

3. I hate to agree with you, but I do.

You just put your finger on why George is so accepted among a lot of people no matter what he does.