I just wanted to pull out and highlight here my closing comments in regard to the BP Oil Disaster, from the end of today’s Green News Report, because no matter how often I keep repeating a similar refrain, nobody — particularly the Democrats in Washington — seems to be hearing it…
Don’t sell me on anything that you don’t know how to fix if something goes wrong.
Why we continue moving forward with such technology that cannot be corrected in the case of a disaster is beyond me.
Why Democrats, including Barack Obama, have not used this opportunity to demand passage of serious climate change and energy legislation — including a Manhattan Project for clean, renewable energy for all — remains an absolute outrage.
UPDATE 5/27/10 A bit of, perhaps, encouraging news. At today’s White House presser, Obama noted that the BP underscores the need to pass clean energy legislation. Details in today’s Green News Report…
They still don’t know how to clean up nukes even if everything goes right.
What I can’t understand is why you keep encouraging people to vote in rigged elections, Brad. Without the consent of the governed, our government wouldn’t have as easy a time getting away with everything that it does. Pointing to what they do wrong and pointing to faith-based elections isn’t enough. It is the faith-based elections that allow them to claim the legitimacy to do whatever they wish, and since we cannot hold them accountable once they’re in office (the only time they’re supposed to represent us–once their term of office is up, when we’re allowed to vote in faith-based elections again, the damage has already been done and cannot be undone), it really doesn’t matter who wins. Sure some officials are more corrupt than others, but they are all dependent upon corporate money.
Yes, I know the people you voted for have done bad things. I warned you that they would and I begged everyone not to vote for them. Why would otherwise good, concerned, sincere citizens grant their consent of the governed in faith-based elections (where they can’t even be sure that their votes are counted at all, no less counted accurately), to a pro-war, pro-bailout, anti-environment government?
If we simply refused to vote until we got open, honest, free, fair, verifiable elections, where the popular vote was the final say and could not be overturned, we’d have the possibility of bringing about change. When you know that the game is rigged, it is okay to ask for a fresh deck. If you’re willing to keep playing with a marked deck, nobody is going to offer you a new one.
You vote for people when you don’t know if your vote will be counted or not, don’t know if they’re lying or not, and know only that no matter what they do, you won’t be able to hold them accountable while they’re in office and will have to just gripe and gripe and wait for the next faith-based election and the next faith-based election.
What the hell do you belief in about our system that is so strong that it compels you to continue to vote in faith-based elections?
Or do you just do it because your friends do?
Or, maybe, it is local candidates and issues. Maybe local candidates and issues like health care, reproductive rights, marriage equality, legal pot, etc., are so important to you that you’re willing to consent to wars of aggression, torture, bailouts, and the destruction of the planet? Is it that voters only care about themselves and are lying when they say that they care about human rights, peace, and the environment?
Really. Take two presidential candidates who are both pro-war, pro-bailout, and anti-environment, and voters will insist that the one who they hope cares more about reproductive rights or health care or legal pot is less evil. So what if they kill millions of people, torture known innocents, and destroy the only habitate we have–they must be less evil because they might side with us about some selfish little thing we want?
F**k health care, reproductive rights, legal pot, gay marriages, and all the rest of it. Without a planet to live on, it isn’t going to do you any good. Stop voting. Stop granting your consent of the governed to mass murder based on lies, wars for oil, and corporate profits. If that REALLY isn’t what you want, stop voting for it.
I know you’re afraid that if you don’t vote, Sarah Palin will win. And maybe she would be worse than Obama. Instead of just ignoring a regulatory agency doing meth and watching porn and allowing the corporations to write their own reports, as Obama has, and trying to open up more offshore drilling as Obama has, and granting environmental exemptions as the Obama administration has, maybe Palin would be worse. I can’t see how, but I’ll grant the possibility for the sake of argument. But with a 20% turnout or less, and where would her mandate be? Who would loan her government money? Which allies would send their troops to fight in her wars? When a government loses the consent of the government through a successful election boycott, they can no longer pretend to be a democracy and become a pariah.
Do you think we have a democracy? Did Obama ask you if he could let BP drill in the Gulf? Do you have a voice in government, or just a possibly counted (or miscounted) vote in a faith-based election? Is that all you want? Don’t voters care about their own friggin’ survival?
Brad, I totally agree and don’t understand why anyone would choose to create a potential worst case scenario that can’t be fixed.
Has the nuclear energy industry figured out what to do with nuclear waste? I may be behind the times, but I don’t recall a satisfactory way of dealing with it in a totally fail-safe manner.
I guess lobbyists for safe renewable energy don’t throw as good of parties as the oil and coal boys for MMS and other interested parties.
We all know in our hearts that at root capitalism itself is the problem. We must overcome a century’s worth of very effective brainwashing and admit our planet cannot survive any more genuflecting to the all mighty god Profit.
Socialism is not a bad word. It is our specie’s only hope we must nationalize OUR airwaves, our energy sector and our healthcare, for starters.
Granted this sounds impossible now, but we progressives need to start calling for it as the only practical solution. Get the discussion going. Let our demands on behalf of all humanity be known. Then, when the entire state of Florida is engulfed in this horrific mess and the eastern seaboard and even Europe are threatened, more and more people will begin to awaken from their slumber and realize how and why they have been indoctrinated with the fallacy that socialism is evil. If we have done our job in laying the groundwork of imagining the possible, a massive paradigm shift could take place.
Uh, Camusrebel, socialism isn’t going to fix any of this problem that Brad is talking about. Capitalism is not the problem, friend. Greed, Corporatism and lack of government regulation where it matters, is the problem that led us here. One thing is for certain, here is an issue that everyone, of all political stripes, agrees is a horrible disaster and one that should never have happened. Everyone wants to help, but what can we do? What if we unite on this one issue and begin to bring America back to a united country rather than divided liberals/progressives vs right wing/conservatives? Don’t give up!
Voting is the only way to get rid of the decades old politicians. However, voters only get to vote on who the pol. parties choose so we still really don’t get the choice candidate we want. It’s a vicious cycle only to be altered with a third party or everyone get actively involved in a political party.
Uh, Cathy, when we nationalize energy, media and healthcare greed and corporatism will be ugly remnants of the past. We all want a bright future for our grandchildren’s grandchildren. As a species we have the intelligence to provide that. We must start thinking outside the box, then destroying the box. Drastic times call for drastic measures.
Half measures and biz as usual are inadequate. Our planet cannot survive much more capitalism where investors demand more, more, more, more profit no matter the cost on countries workers, ecosystems, our common future.
i am that duck, coated in a thick slime, slowly dying this very moment. You are that poor fish that right now is gasping for its last breath. Millions of our creatures are dying, millions more will. When the entire state of Florida is awash in oily beaches, people will be ready to question their brainwashing. Maybe socialism isn’t evil. Maybe we can reclaim our planet.
Green Clover, the only thing that voting in faith-based elections does, is prove that people who do it are true believers unconcerned with the facts or the truth.
Even if every eligible voter in the country voted for a Democratic or a Green, the corporate agenda would still determine policy. The unelected Supreme Court has the Constitutional power to overturn any election it doesn’t like. That couldn’t happen in a democracy where the votes, not some unelected Supreme power, determines policy.
The Framers of the Constitution feared too much democracy, so they interposed layers of bureaucracy between voters and decision-making. The will of the public can be disregarded or superceded, but the will of the Supreme court cannot be appealed.
Voting in faith-based elections for candidates you cannot hold accountable while they’re in office (the only time that they are supposed to represent you) is stupidity.
Before the ’08 election I asked people at peace rallies and in an informal online survey, if they would continue to vote if the only federally approved voting mechanism was a flush toilet. About half of them said that they would. They believe that people fought and died for their right to flush their vote away or to throw it into some other black hole of an unverifiable system. They are too stupid to understand the difference between a vote that isn’t counted and a real voice in government.
for as brilliant as Chu is supposed to be, his response to Maddow’s question of how do we deal with the nuclear waste was less than satisfying, to say the least…. it was basically “We’ve got about 50 years to figure it out.”….
Uh huh… we’ve already had about 50 years to figure it out and haven’t yet, so what’s to make the next 50 years any different given the lack of interest of the “private market” and the lack of government interest / funding for anything other than military endeavors?
Nuclear power, although “green” for now has a byproduct that will be around until the end of time. Period. Solar and wind power are the future and are natural, really “green”. Obama has been two faced on this matter, saying he is green then approving offshore drilling off the coast of Virginia (then overturning his decision amidst the current tragedy) The wind option is being voted down due to the Kennedy’s fear of sea wind farms disrupting their yatching. A prime example of elitist standing in the way of progress. The Kennedy’s are fools, and so are you if you think nuclear is completely safe. I still remember when American’s took a stand against nuclear power, folks like Bruce Springsteen..a massive supporter of Obama. So does Obama saying it is safe, make it safe?
Inexperience on Obama’s part shines through on a daily basis. Just look at the crime rate in Illinois, he was a failure as a leader on a state level and an even bigger failure as a leader on a national and a pure failure as a leader on a global level. Other than that he is a cool guy to burn a joint with and listen to some Lil Wayne with. Come on 2012
Just a couple of corrections to keep you up to date, Brain — the Interior Department approved the Cape Wind project, so it is moving forward.
It was not in Congress’ hands, so there are no “votes” on it — just the next round of lawsuits to stop it, none of them from the Kennedy family, btw, but from competing interests, including oil industry front groups and a Native American tribe (are they the “elitists” you mention?).
As is clear if you actually read the post, no one here thinks nuclear is “completely safe”, so it looks like we at least can agree on that.