John McCain: We went to Iraq because of our dependence on oil

At a town hall event in Denver on Friday, John McCain said the following:

"My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will - that will then prevent us - that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East."

Straight from the Republican nominee's mouth, that is our reason for going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not terrorism. Not weapons of mass destruction. Not liberation and democracy. It comes down to oil.

Seen in this context, peace and environmentally friendly policies go hand in hand. If the U.S. puts even a fraction of the money it puts into war into researching sustainable alternative energy sources, we can stop our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. If politicians no longer feel that America needs to invade sovereign states in order to secure oil fields, we no longer need a massive military-industrial complex.

Of course, what no presidential candidate is saying is on the tips of nearly every American's tongue: we as a nation need to consume less. We need to drive less. We need to take public transportation. We need to walk three blocks to the grocery store rather than drive there. We, as a nation and as individuals, after eight years of being asked by our government to do nothing but shop, need to tighten our belts.

I have immense faith in Americans and in the 15th District that we can take these important steps toward personal responsibility. I just wonder why neither of the other two candidates in this race are saying anything like this.

Let's go on a shopping spree, America

The Iraq War has cost Americans $3 trillion, and if the Democrats and Republicans in Congress have their way, it won't end any time soon. Check out 3trillion.org to see what we could have spent that money on.

What's truly scary is that this is only with money spent on the Iraq War, let alone our needless and wasteful spending on other military expansion. How many schools could we build with each of the 700 military bases we have on foreign soil? How many people could we guarantee medical coverage for if we hadn't built each of our 9 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, which each cost $4.5 billion to construct and $160 million to operate.

I invite you to my town hall meetings in Campbell on May 8th and 15th, where we will discuss how we can reclaim America's priorities from the hands of the warmongering Democrats and Republicans. The events will be held at 6 p.m. at the Campbell Library, which is located at 77 Harrison Ave. in downtown Campbell.

Upcoming Town Hall Meetings in Campbell

Please join me on Thursday, May 8th and Thursday, May 15th at the Campbell Library for two town hall meetings. Both meetings will begin at 6 p.m.

The Campbell Library is located at 77 Harrison Ave.

Myself and other Greens at San Jose State

Here's the article from the San Jose State Spartan Daily, describing a forum that I participated in last week. Here's perhaps the most interesting part:

The event was supposed to include representatives from the Green Party, the Socialist and Liberation Party, the American Independent Party, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

Jerry Denim, the American Independent Party representative, didn't show up, and as the event was set up, the Democratic and Republican representatives were nowhere to be found either.

At an event for students and other locals about the importance of politics in life, officials from the Democratic and Republican parties didn't even bother showing up, leaving their party views to be represented by students. Jim Doyle, Drew Johnson and I were more than happy to talk to over 40 people about Green Party views. If the two major parties continue to ignore the American people, the American people will ignore them.

Pentagon fed talking points to TV stations' military analysts

Under the Bush administration, the Pentagon has recruited a group of former military men to repeat the administration's talking points on news networks, according to an article in today's New York Times:

Many [analysts] also shared with Mr. Bush’s national security team a belief that pessimistic war coverage broke the nation’s will to win in Vietnam, and there was a mutual resolve not to let that happen with this war.

This was a major theme, for example, with Paul E. Vallely, a Fox News analyst from 2001 to 2007. A retired Army general who had specialized in psychological warfare, Mr. Vallely co-authored a paper in 1980 that accused American news organizations of failing to defend the nation from “enemy” propaganda during Vietnam.

“We lost the war — not because we were outfought, but because we were out Psyoped,” he wrote. He urged a radically new approach to psychological operations in future wars — taking aim at not just foreign adversaries but domestic audiences, too. He called his approach “MindWar” — using network TV and radio to “strengthen our national will to victory.”

The Bush administration is not the first to use the media in order to affect Americans' perception of war, nor will it be the last. American citizens do not naturally desire war; the assumption that a military solution is the best option is a message that the Pentagon systematically sends out through as many media as possible.

The American people deserve a voice in Congress that stands up against the military propaganda, and the 15th District has a chance to elect that voice in November.

Bush approved torture, and Congress still does nothing

ABC and other news sources confirmed earlier this month that President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice and others approved specific instances of torture in the years since September 11, 2001. Congress has yet to punish the executive branch. Reactions on Keith Olberman's show from Jonathan Turley of George Washington University:



Money quote: "Congress is like a convention of Claude Rains actors.... No one is doing anything about it. And so what we have is the need for someone to get off the theater and move to the actual in going and trying to investigate these crimes."

The Democrats and Republicans both protect the military-industrial complex, and refuse to rein in the misuse of our military forces. The United States cannot afford to be a country that tortures, and neither of the two major parties seems to understand that. Ending torture is a principal part of what we need to do to redeem our reputation abroad, and when elected, I'll do more than just talk about it.

Town Hall and Movie Screening in Campbell this Saturday

Please join me at my first town hall meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 22, at the Campbell Library. We will be watching Eugene Jarecki's outstanding documentary, Why We Fight, which exposes the military-industrial complex and its dangers. After the movie, we will be discussing the film and any other issues you'd like to bring up.

The Campbell Library is located at 77 Harrison Ave. Campbell, CA 95008.