Progress Now Action

From the VVAW newsnet this morning:


> Why We're Staying in Iraq
>
> The Petraeus plan will have U.S. forces deployed in Iraq for years to
> come. Does anybody running for president realize that?
>
> By Michael Hirsh
>
> Newsweek
> The British are leaving, the Iraqis are failing and the Americans are
> staying--and we're going to be there a lot longer than anyone in
> Washington is acknowledging right now. As Democrats and Republicans
> back home try to outdo each other with quick-fix plans for the
> withdrawal of U.S. troops and funds, what few people seem to have
> noticed is that Gen. David Petraeus's new "surge" plan is committing
> U.S. troops, day by day, to a much deeper and longer-term role in
> policing Iraq than since the earliest days of the U.S. occupation.
> How long must we stay under the Petraeus plan? Perhaps 10 years. At
> least five. In any case, long after George W. Bush has returned to
> Crawford, Texas, for good.
>
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This week, the missus and I spent some quality time doing a couple of things that really educated us on some of the issues that are not being fully addressed or ignored by politicians, politicos, progressives, 'pinkos', and neocon peons.

First of all, there was a lot of back slapping at the Academy Awards for Al Gore's Infotainment documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth.' I've seen the documentary and my question is when science does not square with the way corporations want or need to do business, they have a propaganda machine available to develop 'alternate theories' for the sources of problems…why do we as consumers automatically assume that a) the corporate version is correct until its too late b) there's no need to question why a corporate has to develop an 'alternate theory' c) don't we immediately suspect that these competing theories represent an attempt to cover up the fact that we may not fully understand all the dynamics and resulting complications of miracle products like say thalidomide or DDT?

Okay, next topic…because its all related to the lack of green business. We attended a talk and film last night at Vitamin Cottage in Lafayette on genetically modified food and the dangers of seeds that have been manufactured by the major corporate producers to be interlocking with their own products, for example a wheat seed that is engineered to work with a specific pesticide, both of which are patented by the same producer and there for can only be purchased from one source. EXCUSE ME? One source? What kind of crap is this? The film was more disturbing than an 'Inconvenient Truth', and what worse, it involves every one of the major corporate seed producers in this country. One company has set the goal of being the sole supplier of a certain seed crop by 2010…this is their MISSION. Its not about feeding people, its about money. They don't care if the crops fail, as long as the seed sells…and they even made that statement in the film, though the corporate spokesperson would not elaborate or appear on camera. So thank you very much but screw the family farmer if he doesn't buy our products.

Finally…and this really irks the bloody hell out of me. Do you really frigging have to have a 4, 5, or 6 thousand square foot home? Everyone and his mother's brother is talking about the cost of energy in their CARS…do you know how much electricity and gas it takes to light, heat and maintain that much space? The reason this is even an issue is because the development going up around Lafayette seems to be predominated by this power sucking mega-McMansion behemoths, that while they may have efficient appliances, are still using the same amount of power for heat and light as a small business employing several people. So when we talk about our energy use but buy a large house ten miles further one way from work…where's the power behind those words…and where will the power come from to drive that economy.

The consumers' mind set, according to popular theory (Dick Cheney) is that we Americans cannot conserve. And while we laugh and say he's a fatalist, we're proving every word he said. We've been told that our technology will solve the problems of food production, exhausted fossil fuels, overcrowding when these problems arise…well, their here on our doorstep and we don't have a solution…hell we don't even have a plan. This isn't politics…this is survival.

Okay, its a free country, but do we have to prove it by freely choosing poorly?

The Colorado Center for National Renewal (CCNR) is a group that is active in framing progressive issues. Some of our work has been aimed at developing an overarching theme to unite the progressive stance on a range of issues, such as the "legacy" theme which follows:

What legacy will we leave for our children?

Will we leave them a legacy of a depleted oil supply before providing for alternative energy?

Will we leave them a legacy of a world fouled with irreversible global warming and pollution by not taking timely action?

Will we leave them a legacy of a crushing national debt dependent on foreign financing by not reversing tax cuts for the very wealthy and cutting unneeded military spending?

Will we leave them a legacy of a healthcare system that costs more and delivers less than any other developed country instead of building upon the best of other systems?

Will we leave them a legacy of limited civil rights in the name of fighting terrorism? And will we leave them a legacy of continuing terrorism because we just attacked the symptoms and not the causes?

Will we leave them a legacy of a new aristocracy and a vast underclass by allowing an unwarranted accumulation of wealth for the elite?

Will we leave them a legacy of a country polarized over abortion instead of a policy to minimize the need for it?

Will we leave them a legacy of gangs that can outgun the police by arguing that sportsmen need automatic weapons?

Will we leave them a legacy of discrimination against gays or grant equal rights to all unions?

Will we leave them a legacy of a failed war on drugs instead of focusing on reducing demand?

Will we leave them a legacy of a quasi-theocracy, where government policy is vetted by televangelists, or will we pull back from the dangerous trend of combining church and state?

Will we leave them a legacy of a world provoked to war and a new nuclear arms race by a bullying America instead using our superpower status to inspire a new era of global cooperation and responsibility?