The Enemy Within Our Gas Tank

It is with great sadness that the Yellow Canary must write about the beheading of a second American citizen, Paul Johnson. While I support the War on Terrorism (but not the Iraqi war), I continue to feel that force alone is not the answer. As always, I ask people to look at the background conditions that provides the incubator for terrorism. I think we have to, and we'd better do it fast because sooner or later someone is going to detonate a nuclear device.

A few things to ponder:

• President Bush wants us to promote Democracy in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy.
• Saudi Arabia has a fertility rate of 2.9, one of the highest in the world. The Bush Administration continues to cut or limit U.S. family planning aid. (Source: Population Reference Bureau)
• Saudi Arabia's population is now 24.1 million. It is projected to be 74.2 million by 2050. Expect more terrorists!
• Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. They were mostly from wealthy families. Where did the families get their money?
• Saudi Arabia is the number one supplier of oil to the U.S.
• Americans love to drive big SUVs.
• The U.S. could CONSERVE oil by raising mile per gallon requirements for auto manufacturers. The car makers pay lobbyists big bucks to keep this from happening.
• Oil people and conservatives in Congress want to rape the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the LAST PRISTINE WILDERNESS in the U.S., so they can get more oil for SUVs.
• The United States has 5 percent of the world's population, but uses 20 percent of its resources.
• Paul Johnson was a civilian contractor who worked on Apache attack helicopters. What are those deadly helicopters trying to protect?

So, what is the picture I'm painting here? An ugly one. I can hardly wait for Michael Moore's new documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 , which comes out June 25. This will shed even more light on the dysfunctional situation I outlined above.

From Michael Moore's website, June 19:

A Republican PR firm has formed a fake grassroots front group called "Move America Forward" to harass and intimidate theater owners into not showing "Fahrenheit 9/11." These are the same people who successfully badgered CBS into canceling the Reagan mini-series a few months ago. And they are spending a ton of money this week to threaten movie theaters who even think about showing our movie.