ONE NATION UNDER OIL

[Arlo Silvers]

Well, probably more than one:

Some footage from tonight's C4 News about the Protests in Peru intensifying:

Peruvian massacre aimed at opening Amazon to transnationals
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/peru-j08.shtml


Protests demanding the repeal of decrees affecting land rights of indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon have now spread throughout the country. For the past month, indigenous peoples have block...
Protests demanding the repeal of decrees affecting land rights of indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon have now spread throughout the country. For the past month, indigenous peoples have blockaded roads and rivers throughout the Amazon to protest new decrees which make it easier to transfer Amazon land and resource rights to oil, mining, logging and agricultural companies to the detriment of indigenous and campesino inhabitants. The decrees, which were passed to facilitate the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, also set the stage for the privatization of water resources.

In the town of Bagua in the Amazonas region near the border with Ecuador, armed forces cracked down on peaceful Awajun and Huambis demonstrators on the Corral Quemado Bridge resulting in several serious injuries. Two people are reported missing. The protests continue.

But I just got this from Brasschecktv:

People pay far too much attention to politicians
and parties and not enough attention to the real power
in this country: The major industrial combines.

At the center of this power is the oil industry.

One hundred years ago, one family and its allies
controlled the entire industry, not to mention its
far flung interests in mining. These people
still work in a coordinated manner putting
people in office - and taking them out.

The oil industry and the industries it controls
(car makers, the pharmaceutical industry,
agribusiness suppliers) rule government
policy with an iron hand.

They also control the news media, including so
called "public" television and radio.

The pursuit of oil supplies and the use of
oil-based fuel is one of the major factors
that is bankrupting the US.

Viable options are ready to go right now -
and have been for over twenty years.

What's the hang up?

Here's an answer:

We don't need gasoline,
we never needed it

Facts: Scientific and historical about gasoline and alcohol

1. The original automobiles ran on alcohol because when they were invented gasoline was not available.

2. Rockefeller spent $4 million (that we know of) to promote Prohibition, a ban on alcohol manufacturing in the US that started in 1919 just as the car industry was taking off.

3. When Prohibition was lifted in 1933, gasoline stations were ubiquitous and most engines ran on gasoline only.

4. Alcohol can be manufactured locally and on a community level from renewable plant material for $1 per gallon.

5. The growing of plant material for alcohol would have no effect on the price of food.

6. The growing of plants for fuel would more than neutralize the carbon created by burning alcohol for fuel.

7. In Brazil, over 50% of new cars sold can already run on 100% alcohol.

8. Producing alcohol from plant material is incredibly energy efficient.

9. The oil companies aggressively promote garbage science to deceive the public into believing that alcohol fuels: a) will cause starvation, b) are uneconomical, and c) are net polluters.

10. Gasoline is a high toxic material.

11. It is entirely unneeded to fuel our cars.

12. Oil companies like Chevron have pressured PBS, commercial TV networks and other news media to keep this basic information from the public for decades - and the censorship continues to this day.

More at: http://www.PermaCulture.com


http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/432.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w9fy6nB_UM

[Arlo Silvers]

But the most fascinating aspect of the connection between alcohol and fuel use concerns a little known (or discussed) aspect of American history. To understand this relationship, one must examine some contextual information of the early Twentieth Century. Most people are not aware that Henry Ford's Model T came in a variation that allowed the driver to switch the carburetor to run the engine on farm-made ethyl acohol. This allowed the operator to stop at local farms (equipped with stills) to refuel his/her car during long trips through the backcountry. After all- the gas station wasn't exactly as ubiquitous in those days, as it is now. The Standard Oil Company and its industrialist-founder John D. Rockefeller wasn't too happy with this arrangement. After all, Rockefeller's company had a virtual monoploly on gasoline at this time in our nation's development.

It should be evident to any serious student of history that John D. Rockefeller was no political progressive. His fights with muckraker Ida Tarbell are legendary. She was ultimately responsible for the dissolution of the Standard Oil Trust in 1911. Not that this actually hurt Rockefeller- his wealth actually increased after Standard Oil broke up. Rockefeller held significant interests in the resulting companies, which included the precursors of today's Seven Sisters oil companies. The break-up of Standard Oil actually made him the wealthiest man in the world, as the share values of most of these companies doubled. Yet Rockefeller would find benefit once again within the reform movement that he considered his enemy. Since the late 1800's there had been a growing Alcohol Temperance Movement developing among reformers. Rockefeller saw an opportunity in this. It is well-documented that local efforts to curb alcohol consumption were expanded to the national level when high-profile figures like Rockefeller joined in the anti-alcohol efforts. Was he so concerned with the social problems that abuse of alcohol was said to cause?

No... John D. Rockefeller was not concerned with family dynamics in the working classes. But he was influential in changing the goals of the movement from temperance to prohibition. As we know, his contribution to the outlawing of the production and sale of alcohol was successful. Of course, Rockefeller and the oil companies reaped tremendous profits as a result. Remember that the period covered by the 18th Amendment (1919-1933) coincided with the huge rise in the sale and operation of automobiles. America was on the move, and all of these cars were now operated solely on gasoline. By the time that the 21st Amendment was passed, ending the prohibition of alcohol, the standard was already set and worked completely in the favor of the Rockefeller family.

These events have had a tremendous development on the American economy, foreign policy direction, and the environment. In fact the consequences are worldwide. It is easy to lose sight of the big picture, and concentrate on the many subplots involving Detroit's supression of alternative fuel technologies. The chapters being written in today's tumultuous climate are indeed the continuation of a story started long ago. We venerate the capitalist captains of industry (like Rockefeller) without any examination of what they have cost the nation and the world. If we don't re-evaluate our contemporary thinking in light of the events of the past, we are headed for times in which alcohol may be our only escape from a harsh reality. Maybe we have been pouring it in the wrong place all along.

http://dgrim.blogspot.com/2007/06/great-scheme-alcohol-based-fuels-ford.html

[Arlo Silvers]

How US Congress contributed to the death of 31 in Peru
examiner.com — Protesters are trying to block plans by Peru's government and President Alan Garcia to open up communal jungle lands for oil exploration, logging, mining and large-scale farming. The ground work was laid for this buy US Congress when they drafted H.R. 3688 United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act in 2007.
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-11437-Salt-Lake-Independent-Examiner~y2009m6d6-US-Congress-and-31-dead-in-Peru

[Arlo Silvers]

Yeh, that was a new one on me, as to why prohibition came about but C4 finally updated their site & I've added last nights footage.

[Ayah/Crystal]

OMG!!! And look who put some big money in to ban ran gasoline... Good stuff Arlo! The greediness of the powers that be never ceases to amaze me...