Hello all,

Not much commentary today, but there’s
a couple of things here you just
gotta know about:

Bush Tapped Solar
Energy Funds to Print Energy Plan


And:
The
state of things in the Mideast, in a single photo
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020329/168/1br6f.html

And:
DOJ
Study Takes Ominous Look at Drug and Drug Policy Web Sites
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/228.html#ominouslook

Well
then! Is there anything going on out there that doesn’t consist of
utter
contempt for what’s democratic, right, and just?

“Don’t let your heart
get broken by this world.” –Dan Bern

–C

Hi all,

I didn’t intend to follow up on yesterday’s
massive missive so soon; but I
was really struck by the A section of this
last Sunday’s SF Chronicle and
wanted to share this observation with
you.

If I have any “regular readers” on this list, they are by now
familiar with
my drumbeat about energy policy. I think it’s at the heart of
most of our
major national dilemmas right now.

Take a look at this set
of headlines, all from the 20-page A section:

–> This is a great
article. Very encouraging, and very much in line with
the concepts I’ve been
reading lately in Paul Hawken’s (and Amory Lovins’,
of the Rocky Mountain
Institute) latest book, Natural Capitalism, which I
highly
recommend!
“Danes’ great green machine”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/03/03/MN155707.DTL

By
accident, I just now came across this publication, also by the Rocky
Mountain
Institute. “California’s Electricity Supply Myths” I haven’t read
it yet, but
it looks very interesting!
http://www.rmi.org/images/other/NLRMIfallwin00.pdf

-
“Threat of drought looms across U.S.” (unfortunately the Chron does
not
republish this online, as it’s AP copy.)

- “Executives not likely
to be punished (The Enron Collapse)”. Also not
republished by the Chron; it’s
by Kurt Eichenwald of the NYT

- “4000 laid-off employees feel scandal’s
stigma (The Enron Collapse)”. Also
not republished by the Chron; it’s by Jim
Yardley of the NYT

- [and several other articles about terrorists in the
Mid East...where all
the oil is.]

I though…wow, it’s ALL about
energy. If the U.S. decided to push forward,
boldly, and deploy renewable
energy generation on a vast scale today (which,
by the way, is now both
technologically feasible AND economically
sound…it’s just not politically
popular), how much of the above would be
in the news?

Think I’m nuts?
Well, give me your thoughts.

–C

God bless The Onion!

Military Promises ‘Huge Numbers’ For Gulf War II The Vengeance

1. 
   

   This story, linked from
   the latest Red Rock Eater, is the best
   summary yet of the Enron/Bush/Oil/Terror connection. I’d call this a Must-Read:   http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12525



2. 
   

   If
   you’re still looking for details about the political contributions made by
   Enron to the GOP, check out this site: http://www.EnronOwnsTheGOP.com/



3. See “You Don’t Care About Enron” below. “Call
   it the New American Ennui, caused by one part disingenuous warmongering, one
   part fervent oil-grubbing, one part residual Clinton-era moral slimeballing,
   and one huge part Bush WASP mafia election-rigging and pro-corporate
   anti-everything-else reshuffling. Makes you all numb inside.” Tell it like it
   is, baby!
   


4. Here’s one place where the War on Drugs (WoD) and the War
   on Terror (WoT) come together. Remember the Iran-Contra affair? Remember how
   we trafficked cocaine through the CIA, to raise money for the contras, under
   the leadership of George H. Bush et. al.? According to the White House
   Spokesman Ari Fleischer, John Poindexter is now an “outstanding American” and
   “The president thinks that Adm. Poindexter has served our nation very well.”
   I’ll bet. The American people may have seen a scandal in Iran-Contra, and even
   tried to punish those involved, but the powers in the administration protected
   them and the good ol’ boys in the GOP have never failed in their support of
   Poindexter, North, and all the rest of ‘em. Now they’ve got new political
   careers and lots of power all over again, and basically puts Poindexter in the
   Big Brother seat:
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,651975,00.html
   http://slate.msn.com/?id=2062542
   


5. You can tell the truth, but will anyone listen? Allow me
   to plagiarize a letter written by one amanda morrison
   [amorrison11@hotmail.com]:
   

   “Over the past year, we have witnessed the
   behaviour of the current Presidential Administration go from bad, to worse
   than we could have ever imagined. Since September 11, the mere utterance of
   anything critical, let alone derogatory about the President or his
   administration was risky. There has been little criticism in the mainstream
   media and until now, none from any member of Congress. Fortunately, this
   fear-induced silence is coming to an end. Finally, a brave member of Congress
   has spoken up with both candor and criticism. United States Congressman Dennis
   J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) recently made a very daring speech, highlighting the
   injustices happening en masse, right before our very eyes.
   

   
   

   Please take a moment to read the
   words that have been a long time coming. http://truthout.com/02.23C.Kucinich.Prayer.htm “



6. 
   

   Speaking of the utter lack of criticism of our administration, and the
   dangers of speaking against it in a time when our civil liberties and freedom
   of speech have been cast aside and called a luxury, have you noticed the
   similarities between Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft’s admonishments and those of
   Sen. Joe McCarthy? Think you can tell the difference? Bet you can’t! (I only
   scored 71% myself) http://www.morons.org/feature/whosaidit.php



7. 
   

   If you’ve read this far, you deserve a humor break. See “French Intellectuals
   to be Deployed in Afghanistan…” below.
   



8. 
   

   “What do you
   think, Chris?” Well, I’ll tell ya.
   
   Our country is substantially under
   the control of the corporations that form the military-industrial complex,
   just as Eisenhower warned. They buy all the influence there is, from the
   bottom to the top of our government. They own our administration and our
   Congress. They are as anxious to seize total control of our government as GW
   is to run the country like a business. Good rhetoric, but what does it mean?
   

   
   

   These companies want a couple of
   things:

   
   

   1. The continued massive
   consumption of oil, because that’s where their dollars come from, or that’s
   what their products and services
   depend upon. This is the source of
   the money that gives them their power, and control over the rest of the world.
   

   
   

   2. Continued government subsidy of
   their businesses, be it in the form of new contracts, or continued production
   of armaments, or Superfund cleanup dollars, or subsidies to NOT plant stuff
   like hemp and soy that could provide an alternative source of fuel, and the
   many of the other forms such subsidies take.

   
   

   3. Increased control over public
   opinion about their activities.

   
   

   4. No end in sight to any of the
   above.

   
   

   Therefore, the best way for them to
   ensure they get these things is to get us, as a nation, into two unwinnable,
   vaguely defined “wars”, with no clear objectives or defined ends, under which
   auspices they can control the spin in the media, suspend citizens’ rights,
   push through MASSIVE spending bills that nobody will ever read or understand,
   get huge new investment in their businesses, obtain a huge advantage over
   competitors in the global markets, get the help of foreign governments in
   dominanting their markets, obtain intelligence about anyone they please, and
   overwhelm the popular consciousness (easily done) with their activities, so
   that people don’t want to know what’s happening, or fight about it, they just
   want to get sedated and watch “Friends.”

   
   

   And now we have them: The War on
   Terror and the War on Drugs. Neither of them makes any sense at all. Neither
   is defined, winnable, or even scoped–that is,
   they are both designed to continue into perpetuity. And both can be used to justify the suspension of our
   Constitutionally assured rights, at any time, because such actions are
   “necessary to fight terror” or “necessary to fight drug operations”.
   Each consumes billions of public money. In both cases, the
   administration and its puppet pundits seek to portray “the enemy” in the most
   extreme terms, in terms of “evil” and
   “evildoers” without any attempt at, or need for, any justification,
   evidence, or anything. We never have to account for the fact that we are
   simultaneously one of the largest operations in the world in fighting drugs,
   and also one of the largest distributors and suppliers of drugs. (Because
   after all, it’s not REALLY about drugs, it’s about money and power going into
   hands that we do not control, and we can’t have that.) If we lose our main
   target in one war (bin Laden) we can pick the next one on the list (Saddam)
   and keep going in our “war” without breaking stride. The public will never
   notice that this has occurred, because they’re busy soaking up human interest
   stories, like who gets how much from the Sept 11 fund, or the reopening of a
   movie house in Afghanistan. We never have to justify anything we do in either
   “war,” to anybody. And they can go on indefinitely. Pay no attention to the
   men behind the curtain. We are the great and powerful Oz.

   
   

   It really is 1984. We are
   at “war” with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia. Eurasia is the
   Axis of Evil. We must fight them because we are Good, and they are Evil. Once you have lost your freedom of speech,
   any criticism of our policy or actions
   is treachery and traitorous.
   



9. 
   

   Oh sure, there are
   plenty more articles to read. See the list at the end of this
   message.