Bobby Kennedy Jr. on the Bush-sanctioned rape of our environment (Salon)
This is a must-read.
Excerpts:
"Three of my sons have asthma and I watch them struggle to
breathe on bad air days. And it's just scandalous to me that these
polluters can give millions to Bush and suddenly all these environmental
regulations are thrown out the window. These guys in Washington are selling
huge chunks of America's natural resources, they have our government up for
sale to the highest bidder, and they're getting away with it scot-free."
...
I mean, look at George W. Bush -- he knows nothing about any issue. He
doesn't seem to have a single complex thought in his head or shred of
curiosity. I mean, he claims he doesn't even watch the news or read
newspapers. But people find something kind of charming and trustworthy
about his manner -- and that's all they need.
...
I would say what the fundamentalists call "dominion theology" is a
Christian heresy. These are people who read the Bible in a certain way, to
justify corporate domination of the planet, the same way people used to
read the Bible to justify slavery.
Dominion Christians believe that the Apocalypse is coming soon, the planet
was put here for us to exploit, to liquidate for cash, and we have a duty
to do that -- even if we destroy nature in the process. Reagan's EPA chief
James Watt was a radical dominion fundamentalist -- he believed it was
sinful for us to protect the earth for future generations.
The industrialist who first recognized the potential for organzing these
right-wing fanatics into a political movement was Joseph Coors, who was
Colorado's biggest polluter. Coors engineered a pact between polluting
industries and this marginalized, paranoid element that has existed
throughout America's political history. This was in the 1980s, around the
same time that world communism was falling apart, and so the right wing
needed a new bugaboo. If you read Pat Roberts' book "New World Order," the
evolution is clearly outlined; he says the new communists are the
environmentalists. He calls them "watermelons" -- green on the outside, but
red on the inside. And he makes the same association that the John Birch
Society did -- that because Earth Day happened to fall on Lenin's birthday,
this was evidence that environmentalists were the new secret spies of the
new world order, as communism disappeared.
Robertson interprets American politics through the lens of his apocalyptic
theology. He calls environmentalists "the minions of Satan," who are trying
to turn America -- which is the New Jerusalem -- over to the philistines of
the earth who seek to dominate us through internationalism and the U.N.
Does this radical fringe actually have influence within the Bush
administration?
Absolutely. Many of Bush's key appointments come out of this far-right
fringe and the industries that fund them. [Interior Secretary] Gale Norton
was Watts' successor at Mountain States Legal Foundation. Steven Griles, an
energy industry lobbyist who is now Norton's deputy, also came right out of
Watts' shop, and now he's busy doing all these terrible things -- giving
away our parks, punishing scientists who tell the truth. The administration
is full of these people, like Andrew Card, Condoleezza Rice, Spencer
Abraham -- they come out of the auto or oil industries, the militantly
anti-environmental wing of industry.
This is a must-read.
Excerpts:
"Three of my sons have asthma and I watch them struggle to
breathe on bad air days. And it's just scandalous to me that these
polluters can give millions to Bush and suddenly all these environmental
regulations are thrown out the window. These guys in Washington are selling
huge chunks of America's natural resources, they have our government up for
sale to the highest bidder, and they're getting away with it scot-free."
...
I mean, look at George W. Bush -- he knows nothing about any issue. He
doesn't seem to have a single complex thought in his head or shred of
curiosity. I mean, he claims he doesn't even watch the news or read
newspapers. But people find something kind of charming and trustworthy
about his manner -- and that's all they need.
...
I would say what the fundamentalists call "dominion theology" is a
Christian heresy. These are people who read the Bible in a certain way, to
justify corporate domination of the planet, the same way people used to
read the Bible to justify slavery.
Dominion Christians believe that the Apocalypse is coming soon, the planet
was put here for us to exploit, to liquidate for cash, and we have a duty
to do that -- even if we destroy nature in the process. Reagan's EPA chief
James Watt was a radical dominion fundamentalist -- he believed it was
sinful for us to protect the earth for future generations.
The industrialist who first recognized the potential for organzing these
right-wing fanatics into a political movement was Joseph Coors, who was
Colorado's biggest polluter. Coors engineered a pact between polluting
industries and this marginalized, paranoid element that has existed
throughout America's political history. This was in the 1980s, around the
same time that world communism was falling apart, and so the right wing
needed a new bugaboo. If you read Pat Roberts' book "New World Order," the
evolution is clearly outlined; he says the new communists are the
environmentalists. He calls them "watermelons" -- green on the outside, but
red on the inside. And he makes the same association that the John Birch
Society did -- that because Earth Day happened to fall on Lenin's birthday,
this was evidence that environmentalists were the new secret spies of the
new world order, as communism disappeared.
Robertson interprets American politics through the lens of his apocalyptic
theology. He calls environmentalists "the minions of Satan," who are trying
to turn America -- which is the New Jerusalem -- over to the philistines of
the earth who seek to dominate us through internationalism and the U.N.
Does this radical fringe actually have influence within the Bush
administration?
Absolutely. Many of Bush's key appointments come out of this far-right
fringe and the industries that fund them. [Interior Secretary] Gale Norton
was Watts' successor at Mountain States Legal Foundation. Steven Griles, an
energy industry lobbyist who is now Norton's deputy, also came right out of
Watts' shop, and now he's busy doing all these terrible things -- giving
away our parks, punishing scientists who tell the truth. The administration
is full of these people, like Andrew Card, Condoleezza Rice, Spencer
Abraham -- they come out of the auto or oil industries, the militantly
anti-environmental wing of industry.
