The world comes together and falls apart, yet again.
The Olympic Games draws the attention of billions, a glimmer of hope, an amalgamated vision in a fractured world; yet Georgia and its provinces lie in ruin, Russian tanks rolling with impunity, allies shirking responsibility, further faith in the US's vision of the world further diminished.
The domestic front is ruptured along a fractured populace; a populace who gets information from sound bites, 30 second ads masked as fact, campaign slogans barked to obedient dogs wagging tails. A populace that continues to have the wool spun over its eyes by its elected representatives. Something critical has happened in this country, something critical has happened for the future of this nation, and I have not heard a word on the major media whose responsibilities are continually shirked in favor of more of the same nonsensical inane spin.
Congress failed to pass the renewable energy bill for the EIGHTH time this year; subsidies for alternative energies are set to expire without renewal at the end of the year, throwing the future of solar, wind, and other non-petroleum based technologies into flux; investment needs security; security for investment in these new technologies was to be secured through this bill; our government has failed us, yet again. McCain did not show up for the vote. Obama did not show up for the vote. What were they doing that was so critical to the future of this country that can provide a valid excuse for a failure of action? They both have ads on television promoting alternative energy; the both rail on the subject; McCain can not utter a sentence at this point without demanding drilling for more oil. They have both failed, our Senate as a whole has failed us again at a critical moment.
Thomas Friedman concludes:
Without taxing fossil fuels so they become more expensive and giving subsidies to renewable fuels so they become more competitive — and changing regulations so more people and companies have an interest in energy efficiency — we will not get innovation in clean power at the scale we need.
That is what this election should be focusing on. Everything else is just bogus rhetoric designed by cynical candidates who think Americans are so stupid — so bloody stupid — that if you just show them wind turbines in your Olympics ad they’ll actually think you showed up and voted for such renewable power — when you didn’t."
