Al Gore has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the allegations brought against him. And you could hear a pin drop in the halls of rumor and innuendo...

As I'm sure those who may be reading this now know, new accusations years old have surfaced in the latest attempt to shut up Al Gore. And I say that because it looks so obvious based on the timing, and because of the response it is getting from the usual suspects who always froth at the mouth just at the mention of his name.

This was not written by a Democrat or a Republican. This was written by someone who cares for the environment, sees the true urgency of this crisis, and is tired of the political run around on all sides. This proposition does not call for getting alternate energies to market now, which I believe is a mistake in that it will make people suspicious about its motives. Therefore, as an American and someone who does not believe this to be a political issue, that is where this opinion comes from... the heart of a working American tired of being taken advantage of by a system that never considers the plight of the poor in regards to their policies. And this climate crisis is defintely an issue where the poor in this country have the biggest stake.

Only 54 days till the midterm elections and the Republicans are in deep doo-doo! What could possibly give them a lift? Seems the tired meme that they're somehow 'stronger in the war on terror' is wearing thin on a growingly skeptical populace. Iraq is an ongoing catastrophe. And Republicans across the nation are strapped with scandal.

With all this, we would like to believe that the sorrowful and clearly unnecessary loss of life in Iraq serves as the leading causal factor to the Bush Co. downfall. But we're probably wrong.

Find out why... take the jump!

AFP/File/Nicholas Asfouri

Holy Moly! Did bush just say that?

It's true. That is a real quote by the real Bush.

In an interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, bush was asked about his approval rating (36% in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll), Bush said, "It's an interesting environment we're in... and yet there's a certain unease. I think some of it has to do with gasoline prices, that I -- which I addressed the other day. I mean, look, we're dependent upon oil, and when the demand for oil goes up worldwide, it affects the price at the gasoline pump and we've got to get off oil. You know, Brian, it's -- you've covered this a lot -- there's a war, there's uncertainty in the Middle East, there's Iraq, there's Iran, and that creates, even though the economy is strong, a sense, you know, unease, but that -- it just means that we've got to complete the mission. And I -- and we will."

The new Mission: GET OFF OIL!!

That's right. Years ago the struggle was all about the resources of black gold now it's about getting it around and about to use and sell it. Many have wondered why Bush Junior was obsessive about Iraq and what the real American interest has been behind toppling Hussein.

The answer can simply be put in two words: Check Mate! The current Middle East Crisis is a text book example of traditional power play.

Anyone who believes Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran is about democracy, terrorism or nuclear energy is a dreamer or lacks the ability to look further than media mainstream news. The chess game that is played in the Middle East can be easily understood by looking at a map and reading up developments of oil fields and pipelines. Something that has not been brought to the public attention is the fact, that Iran is the ONLY country in the region that has access to the biggest two oil resources on the planet.

  While reading some news on the skyrocketing prices of oil today, an epiphany came upon me which I am suprised had not come to me earlier.

  Considering Bush and Cheney's well documented and clear connections to the oil industry, it has occurred to me that upping the military pressure on Iran might serve their immediate financial interests. I find it hard to believe that a prolonged military conflict with Iran would be in the interest of Bush's cadre, despite the fact that Americans will stop the government from such an engagement in the first place.

So where is the connection?

The president's base love to illustrate their points by citing parables.... well here is a parable to ponder.  Call it a "tale of failure foretold" if you like.  Let's compare Bush and Nero...

One point that commentators, news presenters, and pundits fail to point out about this Administration is that policy decisions, whether foreign or domestic, are guided by one overriding principle:  GWB's legacy, future power status, and personal economic security.  If there is anything that is clear about this President, it is his singular ability to ruin bidnesses (in this case, the U.S. government) ( view complete resume). Therefore, he continually needs to focus his efforts on his next enterprise, his next link in a circuitous financial chain.  After all, now that everyone recognizes that the War in Iraq was motivated primarily by self-proclaimed "democratic" neocons, it's fairly easy to connect the dots between Bush's back-room dealings that team his personal interests with cronies, foreign alliances, and personal, corporate interests.  9/11?  WMD?  Regime change? Nuclear threats? Spreading democracy?  Whatever the latest rationale du jour, it's curious that few ever mention the oil bidness.  

 In the President's state of the union address he sets the goal of reducing oil imports from the middle east to 25% of what (I am assuming) are our current import levels.  Yet even Edward Murphy, the Refining Director of the American Petroleum Institute, admits that only 20% of our supplies come from the middle east; our largest supplier being Canada.

We didn't mean Saddam had WMD literally.

We didn't mean the NSA spying was legal literally.

We didn't mean we didn't out a CIA agent literally.

Administration backs off Bush's vow to reduce Mideast oil imports
By Kevin G. Hall
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally.

What the president meant, they said in a conference call with reporters, was that alternative fuels could displace an amount of oil imports equivalent to most of what America is expected to import from the Middle East in 2025.

But America still would import oil from the Middle East, because that's where the greatest oil supplies are.

Good Lord. Is this the new dodge for ... you know? Lying? That this silly country keeps thinking we should take the president at his word literally? This is really reaching stratospheric heights of bullshitdom.

Tomorrow's news is "today" in the Middle East (from TradeArabia):

Iraq's oil minister has returned to work, a week after resigning in protest against fuel price hikes, aided by support from the president and the most powerful Shi'ite political leader.

Ibrahim Bahr Al Uloum's return for a probable four-year term appears part of intense partisan wrangling over the formation of a full-term government following the December 15 election to replace the interim administration.

[edit]

He was replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi.

But Uloum has since met other senior leaders including President Jalal Talabani, whose Kurdish bloc is a key element in the ruling coalition, and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of SCIRI, which, with Jaafari's rival Dawa party, forms the backbone of the Shi'ite Islamist Alliance bloc.

[edit]

A second oil industry source said Uloum, an Islamist, had a better chance of staying on in the new government than Chalabi, another Shi'ite but a secularist, and once a favourite of Washington.

Tantrums 'r us.  Helluva way to run a government.

Tom Friedman has come back from vacation with an astonishing slap in the face of George Bush and Dick Cheney over their continued support of the failed politics of the past as opposed to the politics of the future. He says that the current biggest enemy facing this country is not Islamism, Communism, or other such ideologies, but Petrolism, or the practice of sustaining a country through oil revenues. He calls for a new policy of Red, White, Blue, and Green.

If this had come from someone from Greenpeace or Earth First, nobody would raise their eyebrows. But coming from a man who was at one time one of Bush's biggest enablers is a sign that the Bush administration has run desperately adrift and is losing some of its key supporters. This would explain the photo-op meeting yesterday by the Bush administration and many former Democratic and Republican administration officials which was all spin and no deliverance.

"Syriana" has opened in select Los Angeles and New York theaters today, and expands nationwide on December 9th... against "The Chronicles of Narnia."

See 'em both them!

And see this site for other progressive films that had to be made outside of the Hollywood studio system, because Hollywood does not have a liberal agenda.