no more blood for oil

From: aaron@greengrassrealestate.com
Subject: Re: Rally for an Oil Free Congress 6/28/06 at 5pm in Oak Park!
Date: June 15, 2006 11:25:25 PM CDT
To: Todd

Todd,

Thanks very much for your email. While I definitely appreciate the time you took to respond, I must respectfully disagree with your position.

The economic system of this country (and the rest of the world) is undeniably based on oil. Every product we consume, our houses, jobs, and pretty much everything within civilization at this point depends on oil. Oil is extracted from the ground - the majority of which is owned by various governments around the world. Those governments receive their power to govern from the masses.

So let's take a step back from the system and look at the picture that's been painted. Governments belong to the people, who are dependent on oil. A war is created, and the price of oil rises. Most of the rise in the price of oil has much more to do with commodities and futures trading, since speculators assume (rightly) that given the political instability in the oil-rich countries, a serious climactic crisis brewing, and a commodity becoming increasingly in demand while diminishing rapidly in supply, oil prices in the future will go way, way up.

How lovely for the oil companies. They don't have to do any more work for the oil - they just make more money for every barrel that gets pulled out of the ground. What they've already pulled out is worth far more than it was 5-6 years ago.

I'm not attacking the oil industry - my personal attack is at the entire system. I believe it is morally wrong to kill people for money, however richly saturated our history is with warfare. I don't want to support it, and I don't want my tax dollars to do so either. It's hard to isolate Chevron, to say that they're any more responsible for the war than the man at the gas station. They really just did their jobs for their shareholders - and quite well. Likewise, Bush has done a great job for the people who put him into office - the super elite. Economically speaking, the rich are doing really, really well off this war. They'll continue to do so.

My concern, and the reason for my efforts taken to spread this propaganda, is purely selfish at heart. It bothers me every time I drive down the street to see how much harder it is for people than it used to be such a short time ago. People look more worn, they are scared, and they have less. As the economy gets worse and worse, as we borrow money from the Chinese to pay for the oil companies to become richer by killing people, our country becomes more poor. Let me clarify - the rich become far more rich, and the poor become far more poor. Unfortunately, even poor people need to eat. When there aren't any jobs (I live on the West side, parts of which have unemployment in excess of 60%) or access to social programs (huge cuts in federal budget), they resort to crime. Crime begets violence, and I don't want to get shot.

My interest in spreading this, in encouraging people to become involved, is to do exactly this - to stimulate debate. I have become much more politically aware, involved, and educated in the past five years. I've spent a lot of time doing careful research, investigating my sources, and understanding the systems that govern the world in which we live. I'm certainly not the most well-informed by any stretch of the imagination, but I can hold my own in most arenas of debate that I've encountered.

My attack on the entire system is based on the propaganda that our current society revolves around. The idea that society must sacrifice millions and millions of lives to a war machine in order to be economically viable is the largest load of tripe that we have swallowed to date. The political, social, and civil costs of war are born by us all, but the largest burdens fall to the most ignorant. A smaller nugget of gold that the middle class happily chokes down is the notion that it is immune - that because the poor are the ones drafted, they will die in the wars. We have fallen asleep at the wheel - we collectively remember a time when America was poised at the pinnacle of a global society on the march towards progress, but we only remember the dream of what was. In our reality today, we are the citizens of a nation whose companies plunder the world. No pirate sailing a ship was ever able to loot as much booty as the companies driving the wars.

The great illusion to the middle class, the idea that it is immune, keep us from changing this system. When the price of something so interconnected to every aspect of our society increases, the people who are poised to take advantage of that situation benefit the most. So - the commodities traders, the politicians, the oil executives - those people become rich upon the backs of the working poor who have no choice within this economic system but to suckle at the teat of the oil industry, not knowing that they are becoming more poisoned with each sip.

The lesson from all of this - it is utterly critical for the continued status of this nation; for us to stay economically, socially, and politically viable moving forward in this new era - we must eliminate our dependence on oil. Further, it is essential that we learn to distinguish propaganda from fact. The facts are pure and simple - oil is black gold because it is as dark as the blood that is spilled in its quest. Our government created war to create profit. When the greatest propaganda machine the world has ever known - the US government right now - has stopped broadcasting its message through the largest and loudest media in the history of creation - then I'll feel able to stop spreading mine.

Thank you very much for your time.

Aaron





On Jun 15, 2006, at 4:59 PM, todd wrote:

Aaron,

Please don't send this type of propaganda to me. I'm 100% in support of the work being done in the middle east, and this attack on the oil industry, which our nation's economy is built on, is hyperbole that is intended to be consumed by the uneducated masses.




From: "aaron mcmanus - green grass real estate inc"
To: "Valued Customer"
Subject: Rally for an Oil Free Congress 6/28/06 at 5pm in Oak Park!
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 15:54:40 -0400

---------------------------------
DON'T MISS THIS!!!!
---------------------------------

On Wednesday, June 28th, 2006 from 5pm-7pm, tens of thousands will
gather at gas stations across the country to protest our government's
global campaign for oil, power, and money.

---------------------------------
DON'T MISS THIS!!!!
---------------------------------

MoveOn.org needs your help! We'll be in Oak Park at the corner of
Austin & Harrison, just off 290 and the Blue Line at the Mobil and Shell
stations there. Please visit
http://political.moveon.org/event/oilfree/9336 for more details.

---------------------------------

Since 1990, Big Oil has given more than $190 million to members of
Congress, with over 75% of the donations going to Republicans (1).
Those same companies have experienced record profits of over $34 billion
since Bush took office (2). That tremendous return on investment
doesn't begin to compare with the cost of the war - over $288 billion
(3) so far, and growing every day. That's $1,154 for each person in
this country. The US spends almost as much as the rest of the world put
together, with 48% of the $1.12 trillion spent globally in 2005 (4).

---------------------------------

Our government lied to us. There were no weapons of mass destruction,
there were no links to 9/11. They've spent our money to kill innocent
people. They did it to make money. It worked.

---------------------------------

If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. Get up and do
something about it - next Wednesday, June 26 at 5pm. If you can't make
it to Oak Park, search for an event near you at
http://political.moveon.org/event/oilfree - make some signs, bring a
megaphone, and get ready to have some fun protesting!

---------------------------------

(1) Center for Responsive Politics, Oil and Gas: Long-Term Contribution
Trends.
(2) Democratic Party citing EIA monthly energy review on 5/18/05 press
release
(3) Costofwar.com, a National Priorities Project
(4) Reuters, Global military spend hits $1.12 trillion, 6/12/06


aaron mcmanus
green grass real estate, inc
5445 W Augusta Blvd Chicago, IL 60651