TIMES
NORTH
COAST
MAY/JUNE 2002
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50CENTS
VOL23NO7
IT’S THE OIL, STUPID!
BY BILLY HULTZ
“The USA is an oiligarchy."
~Said by many
What was Vietnam about? Iraq? Afghanistan.
Colombia? Venezuela? Or, bring it all back home,
ANWR, Global warming, SUVs, The Clean Air Act?
The Clean Water Act? It is about oil, and has been for the
last three-quarters of a century. Who rules America? Who
rules the world? Those with power. Power comes from oil.
Oil powers your car, powers the electric plants that run
your television, lights and computer, the military planes,
ships and tanks.
Thus it is no surprise that the new President of
Afghanistan is a former AMACO employee, one of the oil
companies bidding to build a pipeline from the Caspian
Sea to the Persian Gulf. Or that the recent coup attempt
against the democratically elected President of Venezuela
was partially caused by his refusal to stop selling oil to
Cuba. It is also, tragically, no surprise that the current
residents of the White House are both 'oil men’ who,
though they lost the popular vote, were placed in office
by their exercise of raw power.
Okay, children, raise your hand if you were ever
taught about the oil depletion allowance What? No one?
Okay, let’s make it a little easier. . . How about
Teapot Dome? That was taught in your in your U.S.
History class — wasn't it? No?
How about the Osage Indians’ land and how they
lost it?
Didn’t they show you the map of the oil leases off
the coast of Vietnam?
How about Indonesia? Huh?
Does anyone know what percentage of the oil
revenues Exxon and the other multinational oil companies
in Venezuela produce, goes to the people of that country?
Half? 10%? Try 1%.
And getting back to that mysterious oil depletion
allowance, guess what percentage of oil company profits
are exempted from taxation under that 1927 law? 1%?
10%? Try 25%.
During Bill Clinton's campaign for President there
was a famous sign that hung in the war room’ that said,
“It’s the economy, stupid." Well, our economy is based on
oil, and so is our foreign policy and our environmental
policy. So in fact: It's the oil, stupid.
I blame the media and the educational system, but
it’s really our apathy and ignorance as human beings I’ve
met people who had no idea that plastic was made from
oil. People don’t even question the fact that our roads are,
ELECTION ACTUALITIES
Actuality remains that “progressives" or whatever fail
to vote in massive numbers thereby turning the system over
to those who do vote while whining and whinging and wailing
as well as raving, ranting and raging (mea culpa) — all most
impotently. As long as the W thinkers vote, we will have a
succession of Ws. Until those who think otherwise vote, they
remain politically impotent no matter what Free speech
includes freedom to ignore.
Getting people to register has been a very big effort
of many factions for many years. Statistics reveal again and
again that people who might be called Conservative or Right
Wing or Republican register and vote. People who might be
called Progressive, Left Wing, Moderate even, much less
Democratic or Green or Libertarian may register but whether
they vote is questionable. All of which is particularly actual
in terms of people who may also be grouped in lower quintile
socio-economic classifications. Poor people are the worst
and most apathetic voters Followed closely by protesters
and activists of the more radical persuasions
Politicians know all this in great detail and pay attention
almost exclusively to 1) those who contribute to their campaigns
either with money or effort and 2) those who vote for them as
tracked by polling station statistics. The people you may not
like who have taken over the system did so by learning the
mechanics of the system — especially party organization and
candidate selection processes Study voter statistics and learn
a lot about your area All parties have voluminous information
on voting patterns, analytical methodologies, etc
-MILO G. CLARK
Milo Clark is a former North Coast resident who lives in
Hawaii He wrote this as a note in response to being sent a copy
of the NOTE
for the most part, made of oil. Did you know very durable
and strong roads have been made out of molasses? Yes,
it smells funny and gets sticky in the summer, but so does
blacktop. You can grow sugar to make molasses; you
usually have to kill something or someone to get oil
Until the world realizes the effects of oil and those
who control it on the economy, environment and politics
of each and every one of us, we are doomed to contin
uous war and environmental disaster. And that’s the
good news With the current administration in the only
remaining superpower controlled by oil men we have
reached the tipping point Our choices are limited in any
search for a solution short of armed revolution, which is
hardly ever as much fun as it sounds. The one glimmer
of hope I can see is for democratic control of corporate
behavior globally, and as with all things globally we would
have to begin locally
Thus once again I humbly raise the question:
Why don’t we write a ballot measure that states:
“Whereas corporations in the State of Oregon
are chartered to conduct their business at the mercy
of the sovereign people of the State of Oregon. And
whereas corporations enjoy the nghts of citizens in the
United States of America Therefore any corporation
chartered in the State of Oregon shall responsibly obey
the laws of this state and if convicted of violating any
state laws shall, after three convictions have its charter
revoked by the State of Oregon and prohibited from
doing business in the State of Oregon for no less than
five years. ’’
We could call it the “Responsible Corporate
Citizens Act.”
If this were to become a ballot measure and
passed in Oregon it would be a shot heard round the
world across the bow of the multinational corporations and
we would gam the power to democratically control the
behavior of these modern day pirates. Yes, it would be
dangerous People get killed fighting corpora-tions But
wouldn't it feel good to think of yourself as a citizen rather
than a consumer?
The Beloved Reverend Billy Huitz is founding
publisher and editor of The Upper Left Edge, which
suspended publication in March this year
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