America’s Most Effective Weapon Against Iran

Would you believe — a strong carbon cap.

Iran would lose $100 million per day if only the United States would impose a strong cap on carbon. Iran has the world’s second largest oil reserves. Their oil production is worth $120 billion per year.

If we can reduce global warming pollution by 80% by the year 2050, Iran will have lost $1.8 trillion in oil revenue by that date. That’s over $100 million a day.

The same effect — in much smaller dollar amounts of course — would apply to that commie America-hating regime in Venezuela.

If any conservatives were to stumble on the above linked article, their reactions would fall into one of two categories: “Uhh, too many big words. What’s it mean?” or “NOOOOO!!!!!”

So, are there any Democratic spin doctors out there who could take this and run with it? If the Democrats had anybody one tenth as shrewd as Karl Rove or Lee Atwater, America would be bombarded 24/7 with “You’re either in favor of a carbon cap or you’re with the terrorists!” Etc.

Just a thought.

And speaking of “just a thought” — Massey Energy owns that coal mine in West Virginia where scores of people have been killed. And this accident is only about the umpteenth tragedy to occur in one of Massey Energy’s mines. Now, I don’t suppose there’s any sort of connection here, but Massey Energy has also been spending jillions of dollars to defeat any and all efforts at curbing pollution and promoting renewable energy sources.

Now — going waaay out on a limb here — if Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, had spent just a teensy weensy bit less money trying to squelch clean energy legislation, and a tiny bit more money to upgrade the safety of his mines…

Oh well, anyway…

UPDATE: Please check out this one-minute video. (Hat Tip to TomCat, who provided this link in the comment section.)

This is a very powerful message put out by VoteVets.org and Operation Free, telling us pointblank how our oil addiction is sending billions of dollars to Iran. Clean energy legislation is our only way out of this stranglehold.

I hope you'll link to this video and/or forward it to your friends. This message needs to get out there.

United States Losing Influence in Latin America

And now, straight from the cover of DUUUHHH!!! Magazine: the United States has been exerting less and less influence in Latin America. Oh My God, No!! After all we've done for those dark-skinned funny-talking furriners, and they're turning against us?!?!?

Well, true, we did engineer a coup in Chile that resulted in thousands of citizens being tortured and/or executed. And twenty years earlier we did the same thing in Guatemala. And we tried (unsuccessfully) to do the same thing in Venezuela a few years ago. And we've been trying (again unsuccessfully) for almost fifty years to do the same thing in Cuba. Goddamnit, won't that stubborn Communist ever die??

Oh, and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega — we even got help from our second worst enemy in the world in trying to overthrow that #$%$#!$&!! — is now back in power. And some of those South American countries are still growing coca leaves, even though we've pleaded and pleaded with them to crack down on it because we have a bunch of wealthy teenagers in our own country who keep getting themselves addicted to a byproduct of coca leaves. But those damn governments keep whining at us, something about coca leaves being the only livelihood of thousands of dirt-poor farmers, or something. WhatEVer!

And now we’re losing influence among these people. But, but, Why???