Heavy Questions

With Obama, a center-right Republican, the only way the GOP can set itself apart is via wacky culture wars and ignoring science. If you happen to be gay, have skin any shade darker than snow or you are a woman, our problems are all YOUR fault! And if you should follow another religion other than Christianity, you are to blame. As I see the Republicans, gays are anti-family values. That’s great for those narrow minded enough to only see a family as a mom, a dad and the kids. This is 1950's mythology that almost never exists as the form a family takes in the real world. How many of us are from single parent homes or lived with a grandparent or uncle or someone you are not even related to? Do we really have a need for amoral politicians to define family? Who are these people? The women of wild Bill Clinton, the wives of Newt, JFK's multiple adventures, John Edwards’ mistress super-fund and Santorum and dead babies are not exactly criteria I'd look for in a discussion on values or family. Scapegoating our brothers and sisters who have more melanin in their skin, happen to be gay or follow another belief system are not solving our complex problems. I love watching these same amoral clowns talk science.

"Drill Baby Drill" seems to be the only solution they have for higher gas prices. Sarah is the best looking of the right-wing lunatics, at least in my opinion. Hence, the lovely picture! But this non-answer is wrong on so many levels. It is hard to know where to start. I guess at the most basic level will do. Oil is a finite resource that sooner or later will indeed run out. With all the smoke and mirrors it is hard to say when but it is going to happen. We at the moment have no viable alternative. Rather we continue to believe the economy has to grow and grow despite the laws of physics and geology. There is next to nothing either political party offers for solving the looming unavoidable problem of no viable alternative. Look at the correlation between the population explosion and oil. When oil runs out, what path do you think this chart will take?

Here is another related red meat zinger, energy independence. This also ignore economic laws as well geo-political reality. We here in North America do not have anywhere near the vast oil reserves of the Middle East. Oil is a commodity on a world market. The companies who extract and process it are mandated by law to maximized profits, not wave the American flag. Other large players (India, China Brazil etc.) are coming on line now and they also want the good life of two cars for all, buying unneeded shit and limitless shopping malls. Oil production may have peaked already. Supply diminishes and demand goes up. One does not have to have an economics degree to get the picture. If the oil tooth fairy visits North America and bestows on us massive reserves for the taking, other producing states will simply slow production to keep prices high. Keep in mind this is not a help the consumer industry, rather a maximize profits industry (and let the public cover any losses).

Join the reality-based community. Drilling for more and more oil is a short-term solution at best and comes at a huge cost. We are no doubt headed for a crash landing. The only question is what kind of crash, controlled or splat? We need to answer some pretty heavy questions. Can we change from a notion or limitless growth to one of sustainability? Can we change the current neo-liberal economic model to one based on fairness and more human rights focused? Can we give up our middle-class consumerist lifestyle and replace it with a take only what we truly need approach? The answer to all three has to be “yes” or we can let mother nature answer for us.