When the halls of power are as empty as ghost towns...DRILL BABY DRILL

[Generic Other]

I had an interesting revelation this morning. Just an idle thought. Recalling how Jeb Bush once said his goal as a politician was to see the halls of government all empty like ghost towns. The GOP plan to gut public institutions, social programs, education--all by bankrupting the treasury, cutting the taxes on the rich, making impossible demands on schools and other institutions, etc. How effective that strategy has been. Closing parks, libraries, schools, hospitals, public works. Underfunding schools, roads, utilities. They have been very efficient at undermining our way of life for their own ends.

Now, I read that 40% of the oil used in the world is used by the US Army. I suddenly have an awful revelation--I enabled that. How? I practiced environmental responsibility like I have been practicing for all my adult life--buying a small fuel efficient car, commuting a short distance, only putting a few thousand miles on my car a year. Using public transportation, biking, walking. Supporting a sustainable-living lifestyle wherever possible. And apparently all for the benefit of the US military's endless wars.

And now I am watching disaster of Biblical dimensions unfold in the Gulf of Mexico, beyond my worst nightmares, leaving me hoping against all odds that they will be able to stop the catastrophe before it gets worse, blaming myself for my culpability, my lifelong dependence on the very thing destroying this precious body of water.

If I were to take a page from the GOP handbook, perhaps though I could put a positive spin on it all. Maybe I could go gas up the biggest ugliest SUV gas guzzler I could find and start consuming more and more oil like there was no tomorrow. I could shrug my shoulders at the environmental impact, the devastation my selfish behavior inflicts on others, the incredible cost because I could focus on the larger objective. I could rub my hands in glee, smile to myself and envision a day when all the oil is gone--from the gulf, from the middle east, from the tanks of every humvee, every bomber, every battleship. I could see the halls of the Pentagon as empty as a ghost town, all the missiles, bombs and bullets rusting. I could imagine Wall Street's empty banks and deserted corporate offices. I could sit back and remind myself the end justified the means.

Yeah, if I could only be more like the carrion crows of the GOP bent on achieving my objectives by any means necessary,I could tell myself the loss of the Gulf was a small price to pay, a necessary sacrifice, my one chance to see the end of my country's arrogance and pride in its wealth and military might. And I could crow like a Rush Limbaugh, a Dick Cheney or a Sarah Palin: DRILL BABY DRILL

[arcadian]

1. Yup, look around. this is Republicon's wet dream

But guess what? They ain't even finished yet.

[Generic Other]

2. Not by a long shot...

They are the terrorists, the ones waging war against us, the ones bringing on their won endtimes. They make me sick.

[glitch]

11. Their enablers are just as sickening. nt

[MisterP]

3. that's the goal of all cons, whether neocon or neolib:

a hollowed-out state, except maybe with some apparatus to enforce labor discipline (so that they don't unionize or take over the factories); an illustrative example is the Dominican Republic, where the IMF program of ending social supports and subsidies was enacted in the 90s, forcing Dominicans to work, and to work longer and for less

neoliberalism is aptly called neocolonialism, since Presidents (Peru's Garcaia) and Governors (Ahnuld) end up not working primarily for any local faction (no matter how elite) but as administrators for the "global market" of multinationals and big banks (Citi) and lenders (IMF), whose job is to dismantle their province and deliver its "resources" such as nature and labor unto Caesar

a Cabinet packed with Robert Rubins and Arne Duncans and Ben Bernankes and Larry Summerses and Robert Gateses and Petraeuses and Joe Bidens may look ever so noble in comparison to the Teabaggers, but that's all they got: a faux enemy to get the masses (that is, us) whipped up with love and defensiveness toward these sham liberals; pesudo-religious cultishness (where all that is good is projected onto the infallible cult leader) helps keep some Dems compliant, and "thou shalt not discuss third parties" takes care of the grumblers while absolving Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris (with whom "we" have to work "to get anything done")

[Generic Other]

9. I think you pegged them here--better articulated than my pea brain

There's blame enough for both sides. And what a graphic mess in the gulf. Our policies vividly illustrated for all of us to rinse, wash and repeat.

[glitch]

12. neocon=neolib=neofascist

The sooner we all get that the sooner we can start fighting back.

[gimama]

4. goood post!

btW, right before we invaded Iraq, gas prices were going up, several msm news outlets stated the military uses 80% of US oil consumption.80%! I have tried & tried to verify this ever since.. SOME of my research took me to d o e sites, or to sites that creeped me out, msm sites yielded NO sources to verify, & those "news reports" were short-lived(I couldn't locate in thier archives,either).. apparently this is info not fit for public consumption.

And yes, it's infuriating that some of us have been conserving, recycling, re-Creating OUR lives, out of respect for Nature, & the future, & some act so recklessly, carelessly.

[Generic Other]

6. Thanks for having made those sactifices GIMama

Even if they were a drop in the bucket of the gusher of evil unleashed against us!

[RandomThoughts]

5. Drill Baby Drill. I wonder if that could mean something else?

An Officer and a Gentleman - Joe Cocker - Up Where You Belong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcJQ3r3DXGg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5h02ZmeB5c



And I don't think it is about military things or wars, I think of something else when thinking on soldier and army, and things like that, however many people in militaries can do many good things also, so it is an overlapping concept not exclusionary one.


Great song to play :D :loveya:

You Can Leave Your Hat On :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tunvwCvu2NY

Baby take off your coat real slow
Take off your shoes
I'll take off your shoes girl
Take off your dress yes, yes, yes

You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on

Go over there turn on the lights, all the lights
Come over here, stand on that chair
Baby thats right
Raise your arms up in the air
And now shake em

You give me reason to live
You give me reason to live
You give me reason to live
You give me reason to live

Sweet darling
You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on baby
You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on

Suspicious minds are talking
There trying to tear us apart
They don't believe this love of mine
But they don't know what love is

They don't know what love is
They don't know what love is
They don't know what love is
I know what love is

You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on

[Generic Other]

7. Great song to play as they screw us yet again

Thanks for posting it!

[truedelphi]

8. Excellent topic. K & R. n/t

[tavalon]

10. I've been trying to formulate just about the same post

The end of oil is coming soon enough, but this gusher is going to destroy our Gulf in the process. I can and will point at BP and Halliburton but this time around I can't help but point at us all. Even if you and I did the right things, these wars (and there will be more as oil and water becomes scarce) belong to all of us and the developed countries such as our own are the never satiated consumers of this killing oil.

At this point, frantic efforts to develop alternatives, while I applaud fully, will only delay the inevitable. It's not smart to poop in your own nest and well, we have. I don't see any reason for Gaia to keep us. She has eons to fix our messes and then maybe try again with another sentient species, if we leave any behind. But even if we don't, she can repopulate in a few million or billion years. Human time means nothing to her and everything to us. Well, almost everything since we're happily on this suicidal path.

[Generic Other]

13. We are the ones who suffer even when they are the ones who are to blame

And no matter what we do to stop them, no matter how many times we warn them, show them the errors of their ways, they do what they want.

You are right the reckoning with Mother Earth will not be as easy for the fools to ignore. Thanks for posting that reminder.

[tavalon]

15. I'm afraid I'm quite pessimistic these days

I don't think these asshats have enough useful brain matter to not ignore her. She isn't a vengeful God of their understanding, but she will take everyone of us out with nary an emotion. I get that she is living but I don't see her having any particular emotions around such insignificants as us, she just is and she has time on her side. We've become a problem and she will solve it. We won't like her solve but it only makes sense. Sadly, we are going to take so many species with us on our suicide mission. I really hate that part.

[Swamp Rat]

14. k&r