Help Me Obi-Ralph-Kenobi
  In 2000 thEgghead Alliance attempted to draft Clint  Eastwood for President.  The hope was he would be intelligent enough to comprehend our platform, ... grasp why he was our logical choice for President, ...  and do what he was told.  Imagine ... President Eastwood.  Initiating policies which protect the world's coral reefs; ... saving the last strands of pristine rainforest;  ... passing out rubbers on his first tour of India and China.  ... [Hey, ... we can dream can't we?]  In any event, ..., this did not come to pass.
 
  In 2004, thEgghead Alliance is stuck endoring Nader.  No offense Ralph, ...but when you're behind Bush ... well  you should be able to remake yourself, evolve, streamline your campaign to beat BUSH
 
We still love you, Ralph.   We just think you'd have a better shot if you ran with Woody Harrelson or Willy Nelson, who are both in tune with our views.  Such is the Schwarzenegger Effect.  Bruce Willis and you would pretty much have the race locked up at this point in spacetime. 
 
So, .... to get to the point, .... if there is any, ....Ralph, you're our only hope for all too obvious reasons:
 
   1]You know more about the carbon cycle than the entire American Senate.
[This idea of drafting a likeable actor all started from many of us having looked at our two choices over the last few elections ....  and simply have become exasperated with American Democracy.   [American Democracy Today: Hitler Stalin]  Bush's wars for fossil fuels are only one dimension of the complete ignorance our "leaders" have of ecological reality. Mentioning this, we might remind you there are many of us who will vote for a candidate who wants what our troops and the Iraqis want.  Them out.]
 
 
  Having said that, here's the speech we wanna hear from Ralph;
which of course features for our own "special interest"
  Ecological Reality
  Friends, .... enemies,  ... our world is more a less a cesspool and there's an obvious reason why.  Our leaders couldn't collectively think their way out of a paper bag, let alone offworld.
 
  I have chosen to run for President, ... because I comprehend where we stand as a species historically, ... and what is to be done, ... if we are not to suffer the horrible consequences of a global ecological holocaust.
 
   The vast majority of us think of history in terms of the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty, ... but these empires existed quite recently in terms of our species' chronicles.  What percentage of you realize that as little as ten thousand years ago ... there were only a million or so of us worldwide?  What is significant about this time is, ... certain members of our species began the "Agricultural Revolution"; ... by planting seeds in the same place, each and every year, ... they guaranteed themselves a far more stable source of food than by simply hunting and gathering, ... as they had done for millennia.  This ... "Agricultural Revolution" ... allowed our species' population to begin its upward spiral. 
 
   If one were to fast-forward to the year 1800 AD there are ~ a thousand times as many humans.  Our species' population breaches one billion around the same time the Industrial Revolution begins. 
 
   Today, ... there are six billion homo [not so]sapiens  ravaging this world.  That's ~6,000 of us ... for each of our ancestors who lived when the Agricultural Revolution began.  
     Far more worrisome from a biological perspective ... are the insidious by-products of the Industrial Revolution. These molecules are not only contaminating the world within which we live to a greater extent with each passing day, ... but ourselves as well. The recently created compounds of the last two centuries are no doubt affecting the mutation rate of most organisms on the planet to a varying degree, ... including our own species.  To what extent ... no one is certain.
 
   In sum, ... the most important issues facing your children in this day and age aren't health care, ... education, ... or the state of the economy.  They are important,  ... but the way our species interacts within the biosphere, ... this, ... this ... this is the single most important issue of the age in which we live. The course our species has plotted must be altered quickly and decisively ... for all too obvious reasons. It is time we come together, ....  forget our differences ... and begin the "Green Revolution".
 
    One of the most meaningful policy decisions our next Chief of State can make ... is to help protect and rejuvenate all forests worldwide.  It may seem strange for the cornerstone of one's campaign for the Presidency to be protecting forests, ... but the fact of the matter is our planet is warming.  Guarding the forests of our world is therefore as important to your children's future at this stage of the game as any education they might receive. ... No joke. ... The human races' impact upon  the biosphere has been so catastrophic since the end of the Second World War, ... if we do not begin protecting and nurturing forests worldwide, ... our world will warm all the faster. Ensuring the safety of our planet's remaining pristine forests is one of the surest ways we can begin to cool it.
   Of course, ... many an industrialist likes to point out that the science is uncertain as to how much warming will occur over the next few decades, ... but the fact they don't like to acknowledge is that those of us most knowledgable in the climate sciences believe the carbon cycle must be balanced as quickly as possible because of these uncertaintiesIf I may quote from Science:
 
"Data, from tree rings, ...ice cores ...corals, sediments and historical records ... [all] point to a general decline in temperature from ~ A.D. 1000 to ~ 1900, with rapid warming over the last century that has no counterpart in the millennial record. ...One fact stands out as indisputable: temperatures rose in the 20th century at a rate unprecendented in the last millennium. ... Current research clearly implicates anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the remarkable temperature changes of the last century.  Given that the atmospheric CO2 concentration is now higher than at any time in [at least] the last 420,000 years, that it will almost certainly double within the next century, and that a considerable amount of heat has already been sequestered in the upper ocean during this century, the climatic and environmental changes of the last millenium may be trivial compared with those in the near future." 
 
    In order to avoid possible catastrophic warming scenarios implies protecting the forests we haven't desecrated and reseeding many of those we have. 
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Are Fossil Fuels Deep Doo-Doo?
    It also suggests investing in renewable sources of energy.  Energy conglomerates must see the inherent logic of ending the Age of Oil as quickly as possible ... and begin planning competitive strategies for a world twenty years from now; ... where the industrialized nations are far more energy efficient ... and the developing world is powered almost entirely by sustainable energy. Capital must be invested in solar, ... geothermal ... and wind power, ... not continued to be frittered upon extracting fossil fuels. And in the meantime... wrapped in layer upon layer of lies and deceit ... all too many of our loved ones are considered expendable in the current wars for oil and natural gas ...  The blasphemy of it all.   

   It's fairly obvious to those of us with three digit IQs the developing world could never hope to emulate our western lifestyle, ... as it currently exists, ... without causing an ecological collapse. Those companies with the ability to manufacture wind and mine turbines ... as well as solar [roofing]panels and other assorted gadgets cheaply and efficiently in the developing world ... they will be the ones capitalizing on the energy markets of tomorrow.

   Yet all economic arguments for renewable sources of energy are dwarfed and shaped by the ecological dimension of the situation. Our planet is warming, ... and those in positions to make policy must do something substantial ... and quickly.  

    I plan on making the way our species interacts within the biosphere the cornerstone of my Presidency ... if ... if I am elected.  We must balance the carbon cycle  as quickly as possible ... by switching to renewables ... and protecting, nurturing and rejuvenating forests worldwide.  You will be hard pressed to find anyone knowledgeable in the climate sciences recommending an alternate course of action.

  Rejuvenating forests ... and encouraging the switch to renewables ... will have to be global in scope before we see our planet beginning to gradually cool.  Here at home, however, ... there are many other ways we can begin to build a sustainable civilization.  Altering the way we cultivate food is obviously a first step.  Is it not time we begin practicing sustainable agriculture in this country? Many of the world's most knowledgeable scientists are at the vanguard of this movement. If I may quote from the Union of Concerned Scientists;

"Today's industrial agriculture produces a bountiful harvest -- food enough for our country & for export abroad as well. But industrial agriculture's dependence on chemical pesticides & fertilizers is also producing damaged soil, depleted groundwater, polluted rivers, & impoverished rural communities. (I am promoting) a new vision for agriculture -- one that views agriculture as a system working in harmony with the environment while continuing to be highly productive. This kind of agriculture would be sustainable far into the future. (We must work) to transform government policies so that they support sustainable agriculture as they have long supported industrial agriculture". [-Union of Concerned Scientists -http://www.ucsusa.org/]

   Unfortunately, the producers of artificial fertilizers & pesticides, [special interest groups] have been able to thwart any change in American agriculture as of this date. This must change.

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Now most of you aren't concerned about ecology ... economics are where most vote.  Of course, remember, that is the entire problem with our government.  ... greed having warped our nation's priorities and investments.  Technically we were once the wealthiest nation on Earth.  Under Bush however,  we are hemoraghing economically. 

A 500,000,000,000 annual account deficit?  Why?  What happened? Oh, ... his tax-cut in 2001.  Where the top one percent of the nation who already own nearly 40% were given a tax break to getheconomy rolling.

No wonder we're in Iraq and the price of oil is $2 a gallon. 

We need a progressive income tax.  The deficit of the last millenia should be paid for by people who have so much .... essentially they like to watch the pile grow.  Anyone making less than 100K/yr shouldn't have to pay anymore than 33% of their income to the Feds, someone making 50K/yr would cough up somewhere  in the neighborhood of 10%, and someone making 10,000 might pay 1%.  Meanwhile someone who is making 100 million a year can pay 99%.  99.5% ...,. You can balance this nation's books. 

Big problem withe Robin Hood plan, though.  Your lifespan has shortened for simply talking about it. 

The American people have been completely ripped off.  They shouldn't have to pay this much for physicians or medicines,  ... they don't get a month of  paid vacation like many a European.  The top 15% own 80% of the nation's wealth.

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Welcome to Sherwood Forest

   We need everyone in this country who doesn't usually vote [because they subconsciously or consciously know there isn't much of a difference between the Republicrats] to vote for a sane economic choice. 

  Thanks to Bush, economic problems have become serious.  The American people need to become politically active or we are in for some serious trouble.  Clinton had a surplus and was paying off the debt.  Unfortunately, Bush just gave the people he takes orders from a ___ billion dollar cut over the last few years.  And the annual Federal Budget deficit has ballooned because of this tax cut [as well as his wars [Kerry is not Anti-War!]  for Afghanistan's natural gas and Iraq's oil]. 

This speech is, of course, not complete.  It's not even accurate.  No American cares about trees.  Ralphie, you needs some eloquence on bailing in Iraq. The next President will have to speak on ending Operation Tar Baby [the occupation of Iraq], establishing a real economic policy, etc. etc.

We hope photogenic  and popular individuals will consider running for the Senate on these issues because the situation has become that corrupt.

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] The logic behind the Schwarzenegger Effect is this.  If you have two extremely knowledgable individuals, such as Ralph and Who?   no one will pay attention.  No One is paying attention.

If it's SundanceorBugsBunnyorWoody and Ralph we can chant Veni Vidi Vici with just a website, the triumph of logic over gold and the true powerhouse of the American political establishment, ... the National Enquirer.  Of course the odds of being shot for anyone advocating such heretical ideas have increased a few thousand-fold, [Hell, they shot the Kennedys for doing the right thing and they were descended from organized crime] ...but the things we'll do to save the last .001 of Madagascar's rainforest.