Hey all you lovers of truth, justice,
and the American Way,
In this issue of Poli-spam:
- My personal
“Top 5 Lies of this Administration” list
- A select list of President Bush’s
accomplishments in office so far, with my attempt to verify it
attached.
- Links to sites dealing with drug policy
- A little humor, after
you’re all bummed out. The Wgirls and Dubyaman!
TOP 5 LIES OF THIS
ADMINISTRATION
#5. “Energy conservation may be a personal virtue, but it’s no
basis for a sound national energy policy.” – VP Dick
Cheney
The
administration’s solution? Drill for more…in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. And massively increased funding for the dirtiest energy sources we have,
nuclear and coal: $26 billion in subsidies. And as you’ll see
from the list of Bush’s accomplishments at the end of this mail, that’s not all.
Here are a few selected points.
* Cut by 50% funding for research into
renewable energy sources.
* Cut funding by 28% for research into cleaner,
more efficient cars and trucks.
*
Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain forest conservation.
* Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto
Treaty global warming agreement.
* O.K.’d Interior Secretary Gale Norton to
go forth with a controversial plan to
auction oil and gas development tracts off the coast east of Florida.
* Appointed a Vice President quoted
as saying, “If you want to do something
about carbon dioxide emissions, then you ought to build nuclear
power plants” (Vice President Dick Cheney
on “Meet the Press”).
* Announced intention to open up Montana’s Lewis and
Clark National Forest to oil and
drilling.
* Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation’s monuments, which
would technically allow oil and gas
drilling “outside” of national monuments.
OK, so that’s the
administration’s position. Dyed-in-the-wool Old Energy thinking.
Now
contrast that with these articles from the Rocky Mountain Institute (they’re great, esp. the first two, print ‘em out and
read them while you’re brushing your teeth):
Part 1: http://www.rmi.org/images/other/E-MobilizeEnergySol.pdf
Part 2: http://www.rmi.org/images/other/E-EnergyForever.pdf
And: “California’s Electricity Supply
Myths”
http://www.rmi.org/images/other/NLRMIfallwin00.pdf
In those articles, you will find a few gems such
as these (emphasis mine):
- “Just a 2.7-mpg gain in the fuel
economy of this country’s light-vehicle fleet could displace Persian Gulf
imports entirely”
- Speaking of the
hypothetical 3 billion barrels of oil that could be pumped from the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge: “Making the car and light-truck fleet more efficient
by 0.4 mpg would save enough gasoline to save that much cruide oil…Refuge oil
could be displaced by making 4 percent of the light-vehicle fleet as efficient
as the 48-mpg Prius hybrid-electric sedan…A tiny fraction of the proven
efficiency potential could make Refuge investors lose their shirts, because
America’s total known oil-saving potential today equals roughly 54 Refuges’
worth of oil–at a sixth of its cost.” That’s right. Those are all ORs.
We could save more oil than we could ever pump from the Refuge by doing
any one of those things.
- “By 2000, reduced ‘energy intensity’
(compared with 1975) was providing 40 percent of all U.S. energy services. It
was 73 percent greater than U.S. oil consumption, five times domestic oil
production, three times total oil imports, and 13 times Persian Gulf oil
imports….Since 1996, saved energy has been the nation’s fastest-growing major
’source’.”
- “Energy efficiency is not
costly but profitable: It costs less, usually far less, than
the fuel or electricity that it saves. Yet the 40 percent drop in U.S. energy
intensity since 1975 has barely dented the potential. The United States has cut
annual energy bills by about $200 billion yet is still wasting at least $300
billion a year.”
If you care
about our energy policy, then please involve yourself. Sign the attached
petition “Dump Destructive Energy Plan.”
#4. The war in Afghanistan is about
fighting terrorists.
Well, yes and no. It’s
also about the desire of oil companies to build a pipeline across
Afghanistan, in order to carry oil from the massively rich reserves of the Caspian Sea
region to sea ports in Pakistan. Did you know we were negotiating with the
Taliban about this right up to Sept. 11? “The book ‘Bin Laden: the Forbidden Truth’ by
Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasique claims that the U.S. tried to
negotiate the pipeline deal with the Taliban as late as August, 2001.”
Did you know that Dick Cheney’s old company, Halliburton, has a major
stake in constructing the
pipeline? This is now being called the new
“Great Game.”
Here are some choice quotes from the second link below.
“The invasion of
Afghanistan is certainly a campaign against terrorism,” wrote author George
Monbiot in the Oct. 22, 2001, piece, “but it may also be a late colonial
adventure.” “U.S. and Pakistan helped
install the Taliban in hopes of bringing stability to the war-ravaged region and
making it safer for the pipeline project. ” “The war against terrorism is a
fraud,” exclaimed John Pilger in an Oct. 29 commentary in the British-based
Mirror. Pilger, the publication’s former chief foreign correspondent, wrote,
“Bush’s concealed agenda is to exploit the oil and gas reserves in the Caspian
basin, the greatest source of untapped fossil
fuel on earth.” “The terrorist acts of Sept. 11, though tragic, provided the
Bush administration a legitimate reason to invade Afghanistan, oust the
recalcitrant Taliban and, coincidentally, smooth the way for the pipeline. ” “In 1997, the now disgraced Enron Corp. conducted
the feasibility study for the $2.5 billion Trans-Caspian pipeline being built
under a joint venture between Turkmenistan, Bechtel Corp. and General Electric,
the article noted. “
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12525 (If you read nothing else, read this
article.)
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0318-02.htm (Why
coverage of the story is very different
abroad)
http://www.atimes.com/global-econ/CJ06Dj01.html (“The oil behind Bush and Son’s
campaigns”, October 6, 2001 “)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/sardi7.html (brief summary)
http://www.mujahideen.fsnet.co.uk/afghanistan-oil.htm (about the pipeline)
http://www.worldpress.org/specials/pp/pipeline_timeline.htm (timeline of events pre-2000)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/afghan.html (a brief about the energy situation and
Afghanistan, background material published by the DOE right after Sept.
11)
Heyy!
Whaddya know! Enron! Somehow this is all coming together. Can you spot the
common thread? Three letters? Starts with O?
And that brings us to:
#3. We didn’t give Enron any special assistance or access.
I’m not even going to bother elaborating on that one. Unless
you’ve been under a rock for a while now, you know all about it.
#2. The
War on Terror and the War on Drugs are about
national security.
Not
really. The War on Drugs is a failed policy domestically, as has been amply
proven over the last decade or more. It’s entirely ineffective at stopping drug
use. It is effective, however, in giving the government the ability to
circumvent the Constitutionally-assured rights of citizens; to surveil and
question the citizenry in a whole slew of invasive ways previously unthinkable;
and to conduct all sorts of clandestine, extra-legal activities internationally,
through the CIA and other agencies. Check out
this CIA report on its own involvement in coke smuggling during the Iran/Contra
affair: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/cocaine/index.html (But turn off cookies in your browser first; the CIA has admitted
to having used illegal “snooper cookies” that track visitors to its
website!http://www.vnunet.com/News/1130252 )
In other words, the real reason we
need the War on Drugs is to give our government the power to operate outside the
law, outside the Constitution, and outside the moral framework of our
country. Same old stuff Dubya’s daddy was doing with Ollie North et. al. a
decade ago, but they got in trouble for it. The so-called War on Drugs makes it
legal.
Now we’re seeing Atty. General John Ashcroft tying the WoT and the WoD
together. Why? Perhaps because that’s how we justify President Bush’s budget
proposal, which includes $98 million in military aid and training to help
the Colombian government protect an oil pipeline from guerrilla attacks.
To protect an oil pipeline. Sound familiar? http://www.counterpunch.org/cryancolombia.html
For
another perspective on the Columbia situation, try this article:
http://www.zmag.org/content/Colombia/podur_colombia-escalates.cfm
“Colombians
have feared it for some time—since long before the war on terror was declared,
they’ve been waiting for a humanitarian intervention to devastate their
country. Today it’s started, and
the hypocrisies are there to be counted.” Wait a minute…humanitarian
intervention to devastate their country? Oh, this is getting a bit much isn’t
it? I wish it wasn’t my tax dollars that are paying for all this,
’cause otherwise I’d be busy watching Entertainment Tonight.
Did
anybody else find it odd that the U.S. Government saw fit to run Superbowl ads
costing $3.2 million to assert to the public that buying drugs
supports terrorists? http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/02/115084.php Well I thought it was odd. Because
the U.S. Government has been paying, protecting, and directly and indirectly
supporting heroin production in Afghanistan (the source of 75% of the world’s
supply), and transport to the U.S. for many decades. The Taliban did more to
stop the production of heroin than we ever did. Now “the expectation is that the 2002 crop will be equivalent to the bumper
one of three years ago, which yielded 4,600 tonnes of raw
opium….These developments lend a certain irony to
the enormously costly ads bought by the US government on Superbowl Sunday to
inform America’s consumers of illegal drugs that to buy cocaine or heroin is to
help terrorism. To the contrary, at last so far as Afghanistan is concerned, to
buy heroin and morphine is to provide a sure market for Afghanistan’s farm
sector, which employs as many as 200,000 in the fields harvesting the opium from
the poppy heads. A sure income to the opium farmers means a cut for the rural
barons whose support in essential for the future well-being of America’s
selected government, headed by Karzai. “
http://www.ccmep.org/hotnews/politics030602.html “Politics of a Bumper Crop: Opium and
Afghanistan “
Meanwhile, “This weekend Scotland’s drugs minister has officially
declared that the 30-year war on drugs is over. ” http://www.sundayherald.com/22727 (News, 3 March 2002) Huh. I guess they’ve got a
little different approach over there.
#1. There is no such thing as global
warming. Or, if there is, it can’t be proven that greenhouse gases resulting from human
activity are to blame. Or, the reason we’re
pulling back from our committments to reduce greenhouse gases is that it’s too
expensive.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/726247.asp
720 billion tons of the Larsen B Antarctic ice shelf just
disintegrated.
I love this quote: “Further studies are needed before
taking global action to reduce emissions.” So…this a “conservative” position then? That we should ignore all the
warning signs and wait for the pain of irrefutable proof to arrive…right
around the time that it’s too late to do anything about it?
I think
the only sensible course of action is to work within the science we
know. (That goes for nuclear energy too…it’s pure foolishness to
create a deadly toxin, and a prime terrorist target, that will remain deadly for
millenia, that we don’t have the science to contain, and that nobody wants to
host. Isn’t that the sort of thing that would be evident to a 4-year-old’s
logical reasoning? Well, apparently it’s beyond the reason of our
leadership.) And no one seriously doubts that sending up vast volumes of
carbon into the atmostphere every day is something the planet isn’t prepared to
deal with, and will overload its systems of recovering and fixing carbon into
plant matter. Which, by the way, humans are still destroying at an alarming
rate, worldwide.
Not only
that, but as the Rocky Mountain Institute and others have demonstrated, changing
the way industries work, and changing the kinds of machines we build, can make
all the difference while actually saving money. Cutting back on
greenhouse gas emissions isn’t going to be the death of any industry. But it
requires rethinking what we do, taking a little risk, doing something hard in
the short run for something much better in the long run. Something our leaders
of industry apparently have so little guts for, or so much fear of, that they’d
rather buy a President than try to change their ways.
Well that’s my two
cents. I’d love to hear your opinion. Yes
you may redistribute this. Read, contact your Congressmen, and for heaven’s
sake, vote!
–C
—–Original Message—–
From:
David Sprintzen [mailto:dsprintz@liu.edu]
Sent: Saturday,
March 16, 2002 1:46 PM
To: chris.nelder@idiotwind.net
Subject: Re: Food
For Thought
Thank you for your note — I did not compile, but only
distributed info, and
can no longer locate its author. There has been no
update, but one
correction (the We The People program has been funded) and a
few additions.
Since this list has been circulating for many months with only
that one
mistake reported, I feel confident we can trust the accuracy of the
rest of
the list.
I would love to see a report on the nerxt six months,
but cannot do it
myself. The original did have documentation, that has been
lost in
distribution — but still does exist.
David Sprintzen,
Secretary
Long Island Progressive Coalition
Citizen Action of New
York
90 Pennsylvania Avenue, Massapequa, NY 11758
516-541-1006;
516-541-2113 (fax); www.lipc.org
Professor of Philosophy & Co-Director of
the Institute for Sustainable
Development at LIU
720 Northern Blvd.,
Brookville, NY 11548-1300
516-299-3051; 516-299-4140 (fax);
www.liu.edu/isd
—– Original Message —–
From: “Chris Nelder”
To:
Sent:
Thursday, March 14, 2002 3:36 PM
Subject: FW: Food For
Thought
Hi Dr. Sprintzen,
I’m attempting to verify this
email because I’d like to quote it in some
of my own journalistic work, and I
know well how such stuff can change as it
makes its way around the Net. Are
you in fact the author of the below
post, and do you have credible sources
for these statements?
Thanks,
Chris
Nelder
chris.nelder@idiotwind.net
—-Original Message——-
What the
President has accomplished, by
Dr. David A. Sprintzen Professor of Philosophy
Co-Director,
Institute for Sustainable Development
C.W. Post College,Long
Island University
720 Northern Boulevard
Brookville, NY
11548-1300
(516)299-3051 fax: (516) 299-4140 dsprintz@liu.
*
Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically
engineered
crops.
* Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million (this
includes a book
program for underprivileged kids) .
* Cut $35 million in
funding for doctors to get advanced pediatric training.
* Cut by 50% funding
for research into renewable energy sources.
* Revoked rules that reduced the
acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking
water.
* Blocked rules that would
require federal agencies to offer bilingual
assistance to non-English
speaking persons. This, from a candidate who would
readily fire-up his
Spanish-speaking skills in front of would-be Hispanic
voters.
* Proposed
to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel Islands and
the coral
reefs of northwest Hawaii (San Francisco Chronicle, April 6,
2001).
* Cut
funding by 28% for research into cleaner, more efficient cars
and
trucks.
* Suspended rules that would have strengthened the
government’s ability to
deny contracts to companies that violated workplace
safety,
environmental,and other federal laws.
* OK’d Interior Department
appointee Gale Norton to send out letters to
state officials soliciting
suggestions for opening up national monuments for
oil and gas drilling, coal
mining, and foresting.
* Appointed John Negroponte–an unindicted high
level Iran Contra figure–to
the post of United Nations ambassador.
*
Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain
forest
conservation.
* Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for
public hospitals, clinics,
and providers of care for people without
insurance.
* Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information
about the
potential consequences resulting from chemical plant
accidents.
* Suspended rules that would require hardrock miners to clean up
sites on
Western public lands.
* Cut $60 million from a Boy’s and Girl’s
Clubs of America program for
public housing.
* Proposed to eliminate a
federal program designed to help communities (and
successfully used in
Seattle) prepare for natural disasters.
* Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty
global warming agreement.
* Cut $200 million of work force training for
dislocated workers.
* Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program,
which encourages
farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
*
Cut program to provide childcare to low-income families as they move
from
welfare to work.
* Cut a program that provided prescription
contraceptive coverage to federal
employees (though it still pays for
Viagra).
* Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public
housing.
* Appointed Otto Reich–an unindicted high level Iran Contra
figure–to
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
* Cut
Environmental Protection Agency budget by $500 million.
* Proposed to curtail
the ability of groups to sue in order to get an animal
placed on the
Endangered Species List.
* Rescinded rule that mandated increased
energy-saving efficiency
regulations for central air conditioners and heat
pumps.
* Repealed work place ergonomic rules designed to improve worker
health and
safety.
* Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide
(CO2), the waste gas
that contributes to global warming.
* Banned federal
aid to international family planning programs that offer
abortion counseling
with other independent funds.
* Closed White House Office for Women’s Health
Initiatives and Outreach.
* Nominated David Lauriski–ex-mining company
executive–to post of
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and
Health.
* O.K.’d Interior Secretary Gale Norton to go forth with a
controversial
plan to auction oil and gas development tracts off the coast
east of
Florida.
* Announced intention to open up Montana’s Lewis and
Clark National Forest
to oil and drilling.
* Proposes to re-draw
boundaries of nation’s monuments, which would
technically allow oil and gas
drilling “outside” of national monuments.
* Gutted White House AIDS
Office.
* Renegotiating free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate
safeguards for
the environment and workers’ rights.
* Will no longer seek
guidance from The American Bar Association in
recommendations for the federal
judiciary appointments.
* Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as
Undersecretary of the Interior.
* Took steps to abolish the White House
Council on Environmental Quality.
* Cut the Community Oriented Policing
Services program.
* Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve
citizen-led grizzly bear
re-introduction plan scheduled for Idaho and Montana
wilderness.
* Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research
projects.
* Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get financial
aid for
college, though convicted murderers can.
* Refused to fund
continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah.
* Refused to fund continued
litigation of the government’s tobacco company
lawsuit.
* Proposed a $2
trillion tax cut, of which 43% will go to the wealthiest 1%
of
Americans.
* Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class
Americans to file
for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical
bills.
* Appointed a Vice President quoted as saying, “If you want to do
something
about carbon dioxide emissions, then you ought to build nuclear
power
plants” (Vice President Dick Cheney on “Meet the Press”).
*
Appointed Diana “There is no gender gap in pay” Roth to the Council
of
Economic Advisers (Boston Globe, March 28, 2001).
* Appointed Kay Cole
James–an opponent of affirmative action–to direct the
Office of Personnel
Management.
* Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of
child abuse
and neglect.
* Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher
for teenagers to get credit
cards.
* Proposed elimination of the “Reading
Is Fundamental” program that gives
free books to poor children.
* Is
pushing for development of small nuclear weapons to attack deeply
buried
targets–weapons, which would violate the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty.
*
Proposes to nominate Jeffrey Sutton–attorney responsible for the recent
case
weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act–to federal appeals
court
judgeship.
* Proposes to reverse regulation protecting 60 million
acres of national
forest from logging and road building.
* Eliminated
funding for the “We the People” education program which taught
school
children about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and citizenship.
*
Appointed John Bolton–who opposes nonproliferation treaties and the
U.N.–to
Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International
Security.
*
Nominated Linda Fisher–an executive with Monsanto–for the number two job
at
the Environmental Protection Agency.
* Nominated Michael McConnell–leading
critic of the separation of church
and state–to a federal judgeship.
*
Nominated Terrence Boyle— ardent opponent of civil rights–to a
federal
judgeship.
* Canceled 2004 deadline for automakers to develop
prototype high mileage
cars.
* Nominated Harvey Pitts–lawyer for teen sex
video distributor–to head
SEC.
* Nominated John Walters–strong opponent
of prison drug treatment
programs–for Drug Czar (Washington Post, May 16,
2001).
* Nominated J. Steven Giles–an oil and coal lobbyist–for Deputy
Secretary
of the Interior.
* Nominated Bennett Raley–who advocates
repealing the Endangered Species
Act-for Assistant Secretary for Water and
Science.
* Is seeking the dismissal of class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S.
against
Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves during WWII.
*
Earmarked $4 million in new federal grant money for HIV and drug
abuse
prevention programs to go only to religious groups and not
secular
equivalents.
* Reduced by 40% the Low Income Home Assistance
Program for low-income
individuals who need assistance paying energy
bills.
* Nominated Ted Olson–who has repeatedly lied about his involvement
with
the Scaiffe–funded “Arkansas Project” to bring down Bill
Clinton-for
Solicitor General.
* Nominated Terrance Boyle–foe of civil
rights–to a federal judgeship.
* Proposes to ease permit process–including
environmental
considerations–for refinery, nuclear, and hydroelectric dam
construction
(Washington Post, May 18, 2001).
* Proposes to give
government the authority to take private property through
eminent domain for
power lines.
* Proposes that $1.2 billion in funding for alternative
renewable energy
come from selling oil and gas lease tracts in the Alaska
National Wildlife
Reserve.
* Plans on serving genetically engineered foods
at all official government
functions.
* Forced out Forest Service chief
Mike Dombeck and appointed a timber
industry
lobbyist.
——————————————————————–
Drug Policy
links:
http://www.drugsense.org/
http://www.theantidrug.org/
http://www.drugpolicyalliance.org/
http://www.electricemperor.com/
http://www.deoxy.org/
http://www.norml.org/
http://www.roninpub.com/index3.html
http://www.lycaeum.org/
http://www.erowid.org/
http://www.mpp.org/
http://www.sumeria.net/politics/shadv3.html
http://www.dancesafe.org/
http://www.theforbiddenfruit.com/
http://www.tripzine.com/
http://www.bluehoney.org/
http://www.tomigaya.shibuya.tokyo.jp/lilly/
http://www.levity.com/eschaton/hyperborea.html
http://www.philipkdick.com/
http://www.rawilson.com/
http://www.leary.com/
http://www.ecstasy.org/
http://www.rpmonline.org/
http://www.the-hive.ws/
http://www.norml.org/
——————————————————————–
And
finally, a little humor! And a nice pair:
The Wgirls
And
Dubyaman!!
you
can see the actual comic strips from links on the right side of this page
The ‘peace plan’ of the Saudis
Jerusalem, February 28, 2002
Could it be that a woman who had just been violently raped could be
gullible enough to allow the rapist s flattering words of peace and love to
seduce her, and so end up being raped by him a second time?
America was violently raped on September 11, mostly by Saudi-sponsored and
supported Saudi nationals. Fifteen of them, and their leader Osama bin
Laden also a Saudi were quietly helped and financed indirectly by Abdullah,
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
The United States was enraged by this rape, which killed thousands of
innocent people. Yet now this same Abdullah is attempting to ingratiate
himself with a peace plan that envisions a total Israeli withdrawal and the
creation of a Muslim, Saudi-backed Palestinian state on the soil of Israel,
so that he can rape the West a second time.
As was reported by Israel Action Info on February 26, 2002, Crown Prince
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz:
effectively blocked off every bid by US investigators to explore al Qaeda s
workings and supporters in Saudi Arabia.
kept this fact out of the domestic press and tried to gloss it over.
stood against the US campaign against Afghanistan s Taliban regime and
denied US forces the use of the Prince Sultan air base east of Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia.
covertly financed the air corridor that lifted al Qaeda survivors of the
Afghan war, many of them Saudi nationals, to safety in the Persian Gulf and
Middle East regions, including south Lebanon.
through his intelligence agencies and Muslim charities, put up Saudi funds
for the Iranian arms cargo, loaded aboard the Karine-A smuggling freighter
later intercepted by Israeli on the Red Sea, before it could reach its
Palestinian destination.
is the first Arab ruler to directly confront president Bush s axis of evil
with a pact made up of Saudi Arabia and two elements of that axis Iraq and
Iran with whom he is synchronizing certain of his political, military and
economic strategies.
has never stop funnelling oil funds to the Palestinian Islamic extremist
Hamas listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization. These
moneys support Hamas s impressive arsenal and reservoir of suicide killers.
As Cabinet Minister Danny Naveh remarked on Israeli Radio (February 27), if
Crown Prince Abdullah is really interested in bringing peace to the region,
why did he refuse to give any help (when desperately asked to) during the
days of the Camp David peace negotiations, when then Israeli P.M Ehud Barak
virtually offered Arafat what the Saudi Crown Prince now says Israel should
surrender in his plan for peace in the Middle East!?
Is it because the Saudi Prince is motivated by something other than real
peace for Israel, and that is a desire to woo the United States away from
putting its spotlight on the role he and his country play in Muslim
terrorism?
What none of the other players in the Middle East can do, neither Iran,
Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Libya or even Egypt, that is, change the stated
policies of the U.S. administration, Saudi Arabia can achieve, with its
enormous wealth and influence, especially in the business sector in the
United States.
Of all the countries in the world, none appears to be as closed to any
Jewish or Christian presence and activity as Saudi Arabia. Nowhere is the
wholly intolerant face of Islam as evident as it is in this, the birthplace
of Mohammedanism. For Saudi Arabia, even permitting an American or other
Christian businessman to bring his personal Bible into the country is
simply too much, it is not allowed. Christian meetings in the U.S.-owned
Aramco building could not be held openly. No church or synagogue is allowed
to exist in Saudi Arabia.
The very country from whom the people came even Osama bin Laden and 15 of
those who perpetrated that dastardly, horrifying deed is somehow privileged
to control or influence the decision-making of the U.S. government at the
highest level; this even in regard to America s relationship with its only
democratic and faithful ally in the whole Middle East: Israel.
On top of that, Saudi Arabia is barely willing to stretch out its hand to
assist the U.S. in its present war against the perpetrators of these
crimes.
It is as Charles Krauthammer writes:
We are at war, are we not? Americans are fighting. In Washington and New
York, nearly 5,000 have already been killed. Fifteen of the 19 murderers
were Saudi. Their leader is Saudi. Most of their money is Saudi.
And that same Saudi money funds the madrassas, the fundamentalist religious
schools where poor Pakistani, Afghani, and Arab children are inducted into
the world of radical Islam and war against the American infidel.
And yet we bow and scrape to the Saudi s. We beg and borrow. We tolerate
their deflecting onto America the popular hatred that would otherwise be
directed at their own corruption. Why? Because we need their oil.
(The Jerusalem Post 12/11/2001)
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ACTFORCHANGE
ACTIVISM UPDATE: March 19, 2002
You
are receiving this newsletter because you have previously taken action
on ActForChange in support of progressive values.
IN
THIS BULLETIN:
- FEATURED
ACTIONS:
Dump Destructive Energy Plan
Finish the Job: Pass Campaign Finance Reform
- SPECIAL
OFFER: Working Assets’ New Youth Focus Fund
Two of the
most closely watched — and hotly contested — pieces of legislation
are scheduled for debate on the Senate floor this week. Votes may happen
as early as tomorrow. Don’t miss this opportunity to let your senators
know how you feel about these important issues.
Dump Destructive Energy Plan
It has become
apparent that given the current make-up of Congress, any energy plan that
can pass will be destructive to our nation’s energy security, air
quality and natural areas. At this point, it would be better for Congress
to go home than pass an energy plan. The Senate should suspend debate
on the issue, and wait until after the elections to try again.
Dick Cheney’s
secret meetings with Enron officials and other key industry insiders resulted
in an energy plan heavy on drilling and subsidies. A few senators, led
by Senator Daschle (D-SD), made a valiant attempt to pass a plan incorporating
real solutions for energy security, but industry insiders undermined those
efforts. An attempt to raise fuel efficiency standards for cars and SUVs
just lost badly. The bill we’re left with is an energy executive’s
wish list.
And pro-drilling
lawmakers haven’t called it quits yet. More amendments are expected,
none of them good. Proposals to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge and to further reduce investment in renewable sources of energy
are expected as debate continues. This bill has little left to support,
and plenty to oppose.
Urge your
senators to oppose the energy legislation currently under consideration.
We’re better off with no plan at all than this flawed bill.
Click
here to take action!
 Finish
the Job: Pass Shays-Meehan
The House
and Senate have now passed extremely similar bills ending the unlimited
political campaign contributions from corporations, unions and wealthy
individuals. The House-passed version, known as Shays-Meehan, has come
back to the Senate for final passage in its current form, so it can go
to the president. But reform opponents like Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
are threatening to use procedural maneuvers, such as a filibuster, in
order to kill the bill’s passage.
Our federal
election system is severely flawed, and the American people have made
it clear they want to see campaign finance laws reformed. Since 1972,
Congressional campaign spending has increased by 500 percent, and political
donors like the Enron executives who were some of President Bush’s
top backers have increasingly dominated the actions of our government.
Indebted politicians fell obligated to “pay back” their rich
“FRIENDS” with tax breaks, special exemptions and legislation
that puts the needs of big money over the interests of the public.
Shays-Meehan
addresses this problem by closing a huge loophole putting an end to unlimited
and unregulated “soft money” donations from corporations, labor
unions and wealthy individuals. The American people want honest and sound
representation. Shays-Meehan is the best chance for reform in a generation,
and President Bush has said he would sign it into law.
Urge your
senators to restore faith in our political and electoral system by letting
him do so.
Click
here to take action!
Working
Assets Youth Focus Fund
You already
know that by taking action on ActForChange, you’re helping to protect
human rights, preserve the environment and promote justice the world over.
But did you know you can also make a difference in the lives of our nation’s
children every time you stock up on groceries?
 Introducing
the Working Assets Youth Focus Fund.
By simply
using your credit, debit and grocery loyalty cards at participating merchants
like Safeway, Whole Foods, Vons, and Pavilions, you can turn shopping
into something meaningful — millions of dollars to build a better
future for all children. On average, 2% of your purchase price (varies
by merchant) will support organizations like Children’s Defense Fund,
Public Education Network, Girls Inc. and Rainforest Action Network’s
Student Education Program, automatically, at no extra cost to you.
SPECIAL
LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Sign up to support the Working Assets/eScrip
Youth Focus Fund by March 31, 2002, and we’ll send you a coupon good
for one FREE pint of Ben & Jerry’s© Ice Cream or Frozen
Yogurt. To join, click here
and click on the “Sign Up Now” tab.
The sooner
you join the Youth Focus Fund, the sooner our children will start to benefit.
Please allow 8-10
weeks for delivery of Ben & Jerry’s© Ice Cream coupon. ©Ben
& Jerry’s Homemade Holdings, Inc. 2002. Ben & Jerry’s
is a registered trademark of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings,
Inc. and is used by Working Assets under license.
Christina
Allen
Vice President
Politics
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