Title: <u>Morning Report 2/1/06 </u><br> Fill 'Er Up With Fear
Link:
http://villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/002397.phpMorning Report 2/1/06
Fill 'Er Up With Fear
Changing the subject, a failed oilman talks about failed oil
The Permian Basin POTUS, beating Punxsutawney Phil to the punch by a little more than 24 hours, stuck his head out in public last night, saw the threatening shadow of GOP defeat this fall, and proclaimed something that we already know: We're "addicted to oil."
The dreaded "peak oil" theory, ignored by most of the GOP until now, finally rated a peek by the Pennsylvania Avenue groundhog.
<snip>
Talk about an endless loop: Bush, the failed "oilman" who is the son of a rich guy who himself dabbled in oil, wouldn't be the U.S. president if we weren't addicted to oil, and his family's pals in the oil bidness hadn't propped him up with their outrageous profits. And all he was doing in his State of the Union address was mouthing what one of his mentors, billionaire Richard Rainwater, has been saying recently.
<snip>
There's no shortage of snake oil: Abstinence, he claimed, has really helped us. Too bad his father didn't practice it. Anyway, here's what Bush the Younger said:
These gains are evidence of a quiet transformation — a revolution of conscience, in which a rising generation is finding that a life of personal responsibility is a life of fulfillment. Government has played a role. Wise policies, such as welfare reform and drug education and support for abstinence and adoption have made a difference in the character of our country. And everyone here tonight, Democrat and Republican, has a right to be proud of this record. (Applause.)
Yet many Americans, especially parents, still have deep concerns about the direction of our culture, and the health of our most basic institutions. They're concerned about unethical conduct by public officials, and discouraged by activist courts that try to redefine marriage. They worry about children in our society who need direction and love, and about fellow citizens still displaced by natural disaster, and about suffering caused by treatable diseases.
As we look at these challenges, we must never give in to the belief that America is in decline, or that our culture is doomed to unravel. The American people know better than that. We have proven the pessimists wrong before — and we will do it again. (Applause.) Don't let this groundhog's bullshit obscure the facts. We're in the midst of a shocking reversal of the American Dream, a growth of income inequality that threatens not only your children, but their children.
And there's no doubt that we're addicted to oil and that down that path lies chaos. For that, don't listen to me or Bush. Follow the money. Listen to Richard Rainwater, the multibillionaire investor who's a pal of Bush's. He's preaching big-time doom about oil, and there's no doubt that Bush, who has looked up to Rainwater, borrowed some of Rainwater's recent obsessions for his speech last night. As Fortune's Oliver Ryan wrote in his December 13, 2005 "The Rainwater Prophecy":
..more..