Do you want the good news or the bad news? Ok, the good
news: we can all stop arguing about the safety of fracking because it is no
longer necessary. The US Navy has turned seawater into fuel in order to make
easier the business of war. Now they can sail directly into the fray without
the pesky worry of stopping for gas in the middle of the ocean; fulfilling the
US mission to enforce oligarchy-dressed-up-as-democracy right up until we decide
to bomb the shit out of everything. I’m sure it’s just a matter of fine-tuning
the gas-to-liquids process (extracting CO2 and hydrogen from seawater) until the
technology hits the open market, rendering gas and oil impotent.
Oh wait, the bad news:"American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he writes. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now." –Eric Zuess*
As much as we all want to live in the Teddy Roosevelt America of days gone by— the sass and scratch days, as I like to call them— the fact is that this country is run by a bunch of money-grubbing commoners who buy the law. Proof of this is the campaign by the Koch brothers to force renewable energy users to pay a surcharge to the oil & gas companies.** Like school in the summertime; no class.
I admit it’s been a while since I’ve seen the inside of a classroom. And in my early twenties I was more focused on my job at Wax Trax than my studies, but between the mushroom blueberry tea my roommate used to make and 100% attendance in philosophy, I found my place on the Twister® board that is American politics. Surely, I thought to myself, there is a happy medium between Capitalism and Socialism so that hard work is rewarded, yet everyone has a roof over their heads and food on their table. (Of course there is, myself answered, and stop calling me Shirley.) However, it wasn’t until my forties that I learned the name of my political perversion.
Turns out I’m a libertarian socialist and you don’t see them
very often— ”like having a gun rack on a Volvo.” –Robin Williams. While it’s
none of the government’s business whether or not I have an abortion, I do think
they should pay for it. I consider all reproductive issues to fall under the
umbrella of health care, and along with food, water, shelter, and education,
health care should be available to any and everyone who needs it. But a law that
allows the insurance companies to take hard-earned money from the average
working woman’s paycheck? Not the way I would’ve gone. If corporations like
Apple and Exxon would simply pay their taxes, instead of hiding their money in
off-shore accounts, there’d be more than enough for everyone to have an
abortion.
I mean, we’re talking about taxes, not some elitist concept
like charity. Taxes are as old as the women I see walking the mall in Aspen in
their skinny jeans, older even! People have been paying taxes since the black
and white days. So, if corporations are going to have the same rights as people,
they can start by paying their taxes. The unchecked greed has run amok for so
long in this country we seem to have forgotten that we’re not the English; we
don’t have to love the one who takes our money. And, in defense of the British,
at least the kings and queens left their loyal subjects with enough to cover basic
needs (with the possible exception of dentistry…)
Personally, I’m ok with a flat tax for every one/corporation
who/that makes more than $24,000 a year. And I’m ok with subsidizing those who
don’t, because while I understand the selling points of Capitalism, we have
created a monster. A huge bilderberger beast who stays behind the curtain
pushing buttons and pulling levers, testing the threshold to see how hard
Americans will work for nothing but the promise of a dream; a dream in which we
are all free and equal to consume as much oil & gas as possible. For now
anyway, I’m sure those Koch boys are busy working on a plan to patent seawater…
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-koch-brothers-and-solar-power-20140422,0,1087398.story#axzz2zoEj6QL8
