The unprecedented disasters that seem to be building up around us are numerous. Environmental emergencies are easy to ignore because they happen mostly out of sight, so therefore, they can't be happening for a huge number of those who live around us.
Deforestation? I see trees.
Climate change, there was snow on the ground just this winter, a lot of it. As eloquently as Bill Maher put it, the lack of sunlight each night does not negate the existence of the sun.
Plastic islands floating in our oceans, birds dying around the plastic contents in their stomachs, whales digesting tons of plastic, species lost every year on a scale not seen before unless for reasons that were nature or disaster caused, industrialized farming practices killing oceans and the people it was meant to feed, the problems go on forever and yet we cannot thread all these issues together because for some odd reason either we choose not to, or the more obvious reason, we are forced not to.
It's much more convenient to see them as unrelated, and politically expedient to keep these issues swept under the rug, so that the large corporate entities can keep profiting on the continued destruction of ecosystems and species to pad the bottom line.
There have been many calls in the past few days for our President to use the most visible and unprecedented disaster in the Gulf to push for the Climate Bill, to no only get passed in Congress, but for Democrats to strengthen the bill to be more than a give away to big coal, nuclear and gas.
The reason we have such a huge backlash of anti-government sentiment cannot be an accident. The time, could be now, that things could change for the better, and that we have a President who could turn the tide, the tide in favor of the change in how we think, down to the very fiber of every American's being.
This scares many people.
All signs point to the truth that Corporations cannot be trusted with the public good, at least this Corporation, BP, to do what is right for the ocean and the Gulf. What are the odds that BP is the only corporation like this? I didn't think so.
They knew the leak was bigger than they reported. This was something many here have been saying for weeks, we knew too that it was bigger than what others were thinking it would be, that it would be more horrific than we could imagine. We didn't want to imagine it.
But so many here are doing the right thing, to call for a better climate bill, to call for right action with Obama's right words, with his ability to pull people together.
But when we have a Republican Congress that is so harshly partisan and refuses to work with the President and Democrats, then we have to wonder who they are working for?
Are they working for us, or for the oil companies, the coal companies and the many large corporations that seem hell bent on many here from connecting all those dots, from seeing all the catastrophes having something to do with each other and how we, Americans, live our lives.
Not only does the Republican party sound like a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance companies, but every other large business that is working against any kind of progress for this Country. What we do here affects so many other people in the world.
Americans are one of the top keystone species, for the small number there are of us, we have a huge affect on the ecosystems of the world. We consume more, buy more, demand more of natural resources and for what?
And so Republicans stand in the way of every single sign of progress, of our Country moving out of the 20th Century and moving forward.
But we have to make noise, we have to, it seems, become just as obnoxious as the Tea Party and say, no, we want our Country back too, we want the majority that we voted in to stand and sanity to reign.
We want science to matter and we want the President that we voted in to office to do the things we voted him in to do!
I understand it's not that easy. I understand that Democrats are just as much bought and sold by Corporate shareholders but I know that we at least have a chance with Dems in power to make some progress.
We must try. And we have to shout louder than people with tea bags. And we have to shout louder than the advertising dollars than BP, trying to convince Americans that they have OUR best interest in mind, because they don't.
President Barack Obama blasted the company on Friday for reportedly spending $50 million on television advertising as its scrambles to fix the massive Gulf oil leak.
BP rolled out a new TV ad late last week, featuring a personal pitch and apology from Chief Executive Tony Hayward. In the spot, the executive promises that U.S. taxpayers won't be footing the bill for the oil-spill cleanup. As images of the cleanup effort appear on screen, he says: "To those affected and their families, I am deeply sorry."
Mr. Gowers said BP is tracking the performance of its ads, and is "happy with how they are performing." He wouldn't say if Mr. Hayward will appear in the new ads. The campaign will include a range of people and information about our response to the crisis," Mr. Gowers added.
WSJ
This is what you should think of when you think BP...
And this...
And this...
By Rogelio V. Solis, AP
Attendees leave Tuesday's memorial service at the Jackson Convention Center in Mississippi.
And this...
And so, all Republicans can do is think to find this as a way to undermine their President rather than try to come together and solve the issue.
As President Obama heads to the Gulf Friday for his third oil-spill visit, his most ardent critics back in Washington will be stirring up trouble.
From their perch in Congress, members of the opposing party have seized on the oil spill crisis as a way to hammer Obama politically, moving aggressively to question the president's response to the environmental disaster.
The most recent salvo came late Thursday night, as Rep. Darrell Issa of California provided copies of Coast Guard logs to the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit organization dedicated to investigative journalism. The center used the information in the logs -- and a damning quote from Issa -- to post a story on its Web site: "Coast Guard Logs Show Feds Understood Oil Spill Threat Within Hours of Explosion."
Washington Post
Remember, Republicans don't care about what is doing best for the Country, I have yet to see anything that would suggest this is the case in the past year or more. It's what is best to get them back in power, to destroy trust in Government and to erode any goodwill this President might have with the people who didn't vote for him. That's it.
As much frustration as I might have myself, with President Obama, I have more with the fact that he continues to think he can work with Republicans who continue to spit in his face.
This is the time, now is the time President Obama, to wipe the spit away and to tell them that you have had enough. It is time to say that with or without them, you will hold BP accountable for this nightmare.
With or without them, you will stem the tide and you will change the way we think about our dependence on oil.
We cannot make this change with Government intervention, without forcing car manufacturing to up fuel standards, to invest in more research in alternative fuels rather than subsidies for oil, coal and other crap that causes more harm than good.
We must offer huge tax breaks and incentives for more solar on every home and manufacturing to happen in this Country! High speed rail, rethinking urban planning and how we move people. How about more telecommuting?
We should think about outlawing plastic bags, bottled water and lawns.
Factory farming is a dead end not only for our oceans but our health, too many health issues, bad for the environment and just bad all around. We need more local farms, community gardens and slow, fair food for all.
(I know I left so much out!)
We cannot make this change without changing the American people from the very inside out. And we can't make this change without changing how we fund campaigns.
But dammit if I'm not going to push for some kind of progress because it's too important!
This is not going to be easy, but we cannot do it with Republicans it seems and that's fine, because this is too important to wait for them to give up the partisan bullshit.
It's too important for them to put down the tea bags and the Astroturf and to actually decide that the big picture is more important than an ideology that has been proven not to work.
Please President Obama. I'm begging you. Stop listening to the people who would rather destroy you than help us through this incredibly perilous time where we might be at the tipping point between changing the course of human history.
Read Big Pivot from Crisis to Opportunity: Part 1, Politics. on the hows. There are so many people who are doing far more and better writing than I am on this issue.
This is just something I had to get off my chest, as they say.