What's Next in Bush's Game of Risk?

Just hours after George W. Bush issued a speech in which he delivered a thinly veiled threat to Iraq's border countries, Iran and Syria, a U.S. led invasion on an Iranian consulate building in Iraq commenced. Legal documents and computers were seized and 5 Iranian diplomats were arrested. Reasons cited by U.S. officials were that the diplomats were involved in providing assistance to insurgents. However, Iraqi sources argue that the charges are false, that the men had held their positions for the last ten years and that the U.S. gave no warning to Iraq that such operations were to take place.

With many Middle Eastern politicos crying foul and that this was an illegal act, the argument could be made that the U.S. has already launched an attack on Iran. In fact, U.S. weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, announced in 2005 that the Bush administration had already begun proceedings to do so. Shortly thereafter, we began hearing about the frightening possibility of Iran seeking nuclear weapons. Sound familiar? According to Ritter, the war in Iraq had begun in 2002, much earlier than the March 2003 invasion that was so widely publicized. When no weapons of mass destruction were discovered in Iraq (as Ritter and David Kay had stated would be the case), it was largely hypothesized that they had been moved to Syria. I guess in this manner, we get a two-fer.

With the "surge" of another 21,500 troops promised by Bush, one has to ask if this is either prudent or effective. We have men and women already mentally and physically exhausted by what are, for some, multiple tours of duty. We will also be pulling troops from Afghanistan where we have been told that the man responsible for an actual attack on the U.S., Osama bin Laden, is still residing. And let's not forget the recent attack in Somalia. All the while our allies have begun pulling their troops out of Iraq if they hadn't already done so.

How long can we continue to close our eyes to the lunacy that is before us? Have we really not learned from what history showed us such a short time ago when a man with the overwhelming desire for global domination nearly brought down the world? Yes, the victors write the history books. Who will be there to tell the story this time?

For more information please see:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2145136.ece
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2781522
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/16/hersh.iran/

And to read the article by Scott Ritter:

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0620-31.htm

I am concerned about global warming. Are you?

The situation is indeed a complicated one. It does boil down to one main commonality. Greed. Of course, that would also be coupled with power.

While the U.S. has a long history of oil interests, never before has it been so blatant. Consider this: why, with all that we now know about the effects of global warming and what we can do to reduce them, are we doing so little to combat the problem? One only has to take a look at the resumes of the current administration for a clue.

Our current leader in chief, George W. Bush, owned Arbusto Energy which was partially financed by a close family friend, James Bath. Mr. Bath was the U.S. representative for Salem bin Laden (brother of Osama) and also had direct ties to the Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI), known to have funded clandestine CIA operations, the Afghan Mujahadeen, defrauded customers of over $10 billion and laundered money to support the efforts of Osama bin Laden. Conclude from that what you will.

George H.W. Bush, the senior, as we all know is the former director of the CIA. He is also the head of the Carlyle Group, which claims to be the nation's largest equity fund, with close ties to oil companies and the Saudi Royal Family. They also paved the way for entry into Asia, including South Korea, have advisory boards in major European companies and are contractors for military operations abroad.

No secret is the fact that our Vice President, Dick Cheney, was CEO of Halliburton (no bid contracts, anyone?), the world's largest oil field services company, who are making a fortune off of the overpriced services they are providing in Iraq that the military themselves would have once performed. I'm sure that it is a mere coincidence that Iraq and Iran sit on a giant wealth of oil.

Condoleeza Rice, our nation's Secretary of State, once sat on the board of directors for Exxon and once had a supertanker named after her.

The list goes on and on with a virtual family tree of oil and financial companies with ties to one another. For a comprehensive view please see:

http://www.opensecrets.org/bush/cabinet.asp


What can be done to change the corruption and head in a better direction towards saving this country and our environment? Besides heeding the suggestions stated in "An Inconvenient Truth" (agreed it is a must see), one must also become familiar with the background and record on which a candidate stands (and then please do vote!).

Another way that I believe is necessary if you truly want to be represented is by publicly funding campaigns. Currently, we have multi-billion dollar corporations throwing in the lion's share of donation dollars to secure their interests. Your elected officials then are beholden to return favors. They not only receive those tax breaks that we keep hearing so much about yet don't actually see ourselves, but other more ominous privileges are often granted.

By embarking on campaign reform with funding elections by the people, we end up saving in the long run. We will save in taxes, medical expenses, etc. And we will have more of a say in what our government supports.

For more information regarding public financing of campaigns, please see:

http://www.publicampaign.org/


Remember, we're all in this together.
...

All of what I write above is in response to a very thoughtful person who wrote the following in a Yahoo Group:

I've been reading a lot about alternative fuel vehicles and polar
bears lately.

I have a lot of questions about global warming. For instance, if
bio-diesel fuel is readily available everywhere (which it really is -
I checked) and diesel vehicles run on it with no problem, and lots of
diesel vehicles are made and sold around the world, why are so few of
them available in the United States? The few that are available are
really expensive.
Also, is it true what anti-electric car people say about disposing of
them once they are wrecked or no longer usable? Are the batteries
really that toxic?
If global warming is bad and cars are a huge cause of it, why haven't
the car companies done everything they can to adapt? E85 vehicles are
not very useful if you can only buy that type of fuel on the East Coast.

We need affordable alternative fuel vehicles that the average person
can afford and access to alternative fuels at convenient locations. We
can't wait 10 years to make this happen. We need it now!
Did you know that more and more polar bears are being seen in
populated areas? And that as soon as people see them, they shoot them?
But the fact is, the polar bear environment is melting, many of them
are drowning and the lucky ones who make it to dry land are welcomed
by a shot gun.
Read more about polar bear problem and what is being done about it on
my blog:
http://www.myspace.com/angelajossyband
I know this has nothing to do with music really, but maybe you'll be
inspired to write a song about it.