Dozens of tanks and other military equipment were observed on rail flatbeds sitting on a siding alongside I-10 in the Inland Empire. It's a good bet all this hardwear is on its way to Iraq, which means we need to get our backsides in gear and start resisting Bush's upcoming war in Iraq.

With fully 10% of the world's oil in Iraq alone, it is very clear what Dudya's reason for attacking Iraq is, and it has little or nothing to do with getting rid of Saddam Hussein(whom his own dad sent billions of dollars worth of military aid to during the 80's, when Iraq was at war with Iran, to avenge Iran's taking of U.S. citizens hostage in 1979). Nor does it really have to do with inspections of Iraq for weapons of mass destruction(Israel, in all likelyhood, has more weapons of mass destruction in its possession than Iraq and all other Middle East nations combined, so whose inspecting Israel?). As with Dubya's dad in 1989, this next war in Iraq will be about the same thing his dad's war in Iraq was about-OIL.

So it's time to get busy. We need to start protesting, not only this upcoming war, but also our addiction to its motivation. A couple of months ago, someone suggested a simultanious multi-city Critical Mass protest(Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego) against California's love affair with automobiles. Bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users united in calling for the end of the domination of four-wheeled, smog belching, petroleum guzzling metal and plastic cockroaches. So when does it happen? Let me know-I'll be there(I stopped driving more than a decade ago)! Ending our dependence on cars to get around will be the single biggest step in ending our addiction to oil, and cutting down on global warming and other environmental ills this addiction is causing.

In addition to no longer driving cars, here's another example of what I've done to cut my contribution to an oil-dominated economy: In 1996, I was looking to buy some swimwear for the beach, but was frustrated by finding nothing but the same over-priced "synthetic"(petro-chemical) materials that are actually designed to slowly dissolve in water so that they fall apart and you have to, of course, keep going back and paying (more) for new trunks. I'm talking about these Nike-Rebok-Speedo pieces of crap that usually go for $50.00 or more(unless you really know where to look for cheaper). So, instead, I simply purchased a pair of Wrangler jeans for $28,00, and tried those out. Those Wranglers are still serving me well today-natural cotton denim with natural indigo blue color, made in the U.S.(to the best of my knowledge), not at a domestic or foreign sweatshop(to the best of my knowledge) and DEFINATELY NOT out of oil. No toxic waste produced. No one bombed or shot so I can have fun on the beach. So, I for one am glad to be defying the "norms" of this oil driven, war-mongering society, and doing what I can to reduce my dependency on that worst of all drugs-OIL.

Not all of it can be avoided, of course. Most things come wrapped or packeged in plastic. Some products contain at least some plastic or other petro-chemical materials. But I gave just a couple of examples-first and foremost, ending my dependence on automobiles- 2 steps toward breaking the oil habit. If enough of us would do this, then there would be a lot fewer excuses for despots like George W. Bush (I call em as I see em!) to go on their mass killing rampages around the world. And life on this planet maybe will have a chance to last a least a few million years longer.


NO BLOOD FOR OIL!