Traitriots

Wrapping themselves in symbols and rhetoric a band of religious extremists are occupying our government. Draped in remnants of past glory corrupt officials are shielded from the public they ‘serve’, access is For Sale to the highest bidder.

These so-called leaders (watch them congratulate each other for their leadership) are busy walking a middle of the road lie about any given topic, always with a hidden agenda hatched in the Backrooms of the Beltway, Washington D.C.

Observe the top leader, the president, appearing in public to give his latest speech in defense of the illegal war in Iraq. Why does the leader of a democratic republic need to be so heavily protected by dozens of Secret Service agents from just a few hundred of his own selected military, within the confines of a military base located in the U.S.? He was even wearing a bulletproof vest.

How can it be that the evil dictator, Fidel Castro, can stand before 1 million citizens for hours to give a speech and the crowd not only respectfully stands the entire time, but cheers in appreciation? Meanwhile, in the freedom of the U.S., our politicians hide in backrooms making deals with big business while armed guards protect them from the general public.

And yet, the jets are still flying, gluttonous consumption continues as mindless petroleum addicts feed the war machine with every purchase. To not participate in the consumer culture is to reject the petroleum warmongers. In fact, patriotism has been linked to consumption by the so-called president as the appropriate response to the tragedy of 9/11. Of course later he used the tragedy to justify escalation of a war that had been underway for decades, West v Middle East for petroleum resources. A careful look at his campaign promises will reveal the intention to escalate military development in any case. This is the secret to the fundraising power behind their political machine, their relationships with petroleum dependent aerospace and transportation industries.

The consumers are workers employed by these industries and have a vested interest in their success. The consumers drive the SUV’s to the facilities that supply the demand for more consumption to ‘grow’ the economy. The Consumer Culture feeds on itself at the expense of the environment and any non-conforming culture that has the misfortune of contact with and the subsequent conquest by the gluttons.

The so-called leaders of this debacle are empowered by a sometimes supportive and often apathetic population that is addicted to cheap oil. I watched as 150 busloads of obese, sweaty, spoiled supporters converge on the California State Capitol to demand more State entitlements and guarantees. Ok, fine, these workers certainly have a right to unite to demand better working conditions, but where are these people while thousands of tons of explosives are dropped on an innocent public in a sovereign nation? Are they glued to the TV watching the same coverage on 5 different channels? Or do they just go on about their lives, grumbling about the price of gas, blissfully immersed in the corporate entertainment world of Movies, Malls, and Massage? Are these kind of people, racing from red light to red light in their SUV’s, really so innocent? I say no, these are flag- waving Red, White and Blue, Star Spangled supporters of the Consumer Culture are in fact TRAITRIOTS. Yep, I merged Traitors with Patriots to emerge with a new word: Traitriots. They often readily identify themselves as they roll out of their Super-Sized SUV at the Mall to see a Movie and consume some culture, but also may be found hiding under a green-wash marketing effort to appear local and environmentally responsible. These may be spotted by the rhetoric and slick corporate look and feel designed to imply social responsibility, sometimes overtly with funds and programs but also in subtle ways such as design elements that convey select marketing messages. These days Organic is a good selling point, and with the lowered standard promulgated by the U.S. government, nearly every product may claim itself organic now, so consumption increases! The profits continue!

Facts are not what influence policy. Perhaps fraternity memberships or exceptionally 'sharp' business practices, but not facts.

For example, in Arizona ethanol is NOT an "Alternative Fuel", by legislation pushed through by then Speaker of the House, republican Jeff Groscost, a SW Gas consultant later discredited and kicked out over the scandal you may have heard about, a $500 million shortfall in the State budget, which coincidentally was the cost of the alternative fuel program giveaway boondoggle that made national headlines a few years ago. While writing a law that disqualified ethanol as an alternative fuel, they also set up this half billion dollar program in which people bought huge SUV's equipped with itty bitty CNG tanks added in addition to the standard fuel system. They could, and did, file for tax rebates that PAID FOR the hefty gas-guzzlers, and since there is no infrastructure to fill the tanks that only go 50 miles anyway, they all just use regular unleaded gas.

They already knew this because he had done the same thing with the City of Mesa police cars a couple years before. They even put stickers on the polices cars bragging about the clean CNG - but they were usually running on unleaded fuel, again due to the short range and lack of infrastructure.

So silly me shows up to offer an alternative to the failing cotton industry, in a town with more empty buildings than full, on an old refinery site in Coolidge no one knows what to do with anyway (well maybe they have re-fired that old thing for JP4 and asphalt for the war). I really had a complete package, legislation, University support, a farmer with connections to the Gila River tribe and other farmers...what I didn't have was any fat lobbyists in thousand dollar suits, nor the budget to hire them.

At the end of the day, the project failed to move forward due to the chronic shortage of capital to waste. CNG won the day by bribing the public with free SUV's while we could barely afford photocopy costs, in fact the attorney that helped never got a dime for his trouble.