Oh, the next four years are going to be so EASY when it comes to things to complain about...

Bush succeeded in blackmailing Congress into passing legislation that allows for drilling in our Alaskan park reserves in return for the money he cut off from renewable energy programs. Congradulations, MFFB, you did it, you kept those promises to your Big Oil buddies. Shoot, this alone could get you re-elected. And that's what it's really all about, isn't it? Screw our kids, screw their future, and screw the ecological balance.

And just so you don't think I'm blowing smoke here, a recent study shows that damage done to the Alaskan tundra during the big Alaskan Pipeline project back in the 70's is still visible today. The tundra doesn't heal easily, the animal populations avoid the huge processing plants, and their migration paths and mating grounds are permanently disrupted.

And it gets better: the Bush administration had a U.S. Geological Survey cartographer, Ian Thomas, fired for posting a map on the WWW that shows that proposed drilling sites lie directly in the middle of caribou calving grounds in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. Now there's a little cover up for you. An excellent write up can be found at http://tbtf.com/unblinking/arc/2001-03a.htm. In fact, they didn't just fire him, they erased him, removing the maps he put up and removing his name from various maps available online. What's the matter, Georgie? Did he tell on you?! Poor baby...

If George W. Bush was any kind of real man, he would formally and publicly request that Ian Thomas be fully reinstated and rewarded for protecting our country's interest in ecological conservation. But then, for that exact reason, don't expect it to happen.... Besides, you can't expect much from a (cough) man who, when he sees a caribou, his first thought is, "Hey, new hat rack... hand me my rifle, Charlton!"

But let's not stop there: Bush backed away from campaign promises to put through legislation to force power plants to cut way back on carbon dioxide emissions. He sited an "energy crisis" and rising energy prices. But again, rather than pumping money into new methods of generating energy, he'd rather cut restrictions on existing power plants using coal and similar fuels that spew tons of green house gases.