Palmer Events Center
Need To Force Government Accountability
RECEIVED Wed., Oct. 5, 2011
Dear Editor,
What I needed to say in my Keystone XL pipeline testimony.
Massive ecological disaster: Tearing up the Boreal Forest in Alberta, the tar sands deposits to be excavated reach the size of the state of Florida – the process wastes three barrels of water for each barrel of oil. Two thousand miles of trench across aquifers that support one-third of America's agricultural water. The dirtiest oil (bitumen) and toxic chemicals will be pumped through a pipeline vulnerable to leaks – reference the recent spills in Yellowstone and Kalamazoo. We've got a war machine to feed, in order to force the submission of foreign countries, and the American people, to succumb to the greed of U.S. petroleum/military company profits. A pipeline across the U.S. will feed the insatiable appetite of a government controlled by petroleum and military contractors – is there a limit to trillion-dollar so-called wars?
Massive subsidies to oil and nuclear energy throws out the needed investment for a sensible transition to sustainable wind, solar, and biomass; the development of fuel-efficient cars and all-important conservation.
How can we save the planet? People are organizing – but will it be fast enough? A movement to amend the Constitution to eliminate "corporate person-hood" is traveling the country – we must revoke Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and take back our elections from corporate control! Occupy Wall Street is spreading across the country – reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act. The missing link to having the ability to move this country in the direction for and by American citizens and ecological protection is "political will": We must take back our elections – eliminate the electoral college, eliminate electronic voting boxes, implement proportional representation and fair elections. We can force government accountability by making it possible to elect real people. Act.
What I needed to say in my Keystone XL pipeline testimony.
Massive ecological disaster: Tearing up the Boreal Forest in Alberta, the tar sands deposits to be excavated reach the size of the state of Florida – the process wastes three barrels of water for each barrel of oil. Two thousand miles of trench across aquifers that support one-third of America's agricultural water. The dirtiest oil (bitumen) and toxic chemicals will be pumped through a pipeline vulnerable to leaks – reference the recent spills in Yellowstone and Kalamazoo. We've got a war machine to feed, in order to force the submission of foreign countries, and the American people, to succumb to the greed of U.S. petroleum/military company profits. A pipeline across the U.S. will feed the insatiable appetite of a government controlled by petroleum and military contractors – is there a limit to trillion-dollar so-called wars?
Massive subsidies to oil and nuclear energy throws out the needed investment for a sensible transition to sustainable wind, solar, and biomass; the development of fuel-efficient cars and all-important conservation.
How can we save the planet? People are organizing – but will it be fast enough? A movement to amend the Constitution to eliminate "corporate person-hood" is traveling the country – we must revoke Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and take back our elections from corporate control! Occupy Wall Street is spreading across the country – reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act. The missing link to having the ability to move this country in the direction for and by American citizens and ecological protection is "political will": We must take back our elections – eliminate the electoral college, eliminate electronic voting boxes, implement proportional representation and fair elections. We can force government accountability by making it possible to elect real people. Act.
Peace,
Bill Stout
Bill Stout