Letter from America

Where do we start? Petrol is heading toward $4 a US gallon (which is where it was when we stayed in Glasgow in 1990). The Bushies have resisted all attempts at energy conservation – even when experts have pointed out that energy independence is of strategic importance in the post 9/11 world. Funding has been cut for alternative energy research, automobile fuel economy standards remain lax, and the latest energy bill included $16,000 million in tax breaks for oil companies – the same oil companies now reaping record profits.

But there is some good news. When the price of petrol goes up, the president’s approval rating goes down – so as there are predictions of $5 a gallon this summer, it doesn’t look good for the republicans to hold on to their majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the November 2006 elections. That means - you guessed it - we could see proceedings leading to Bills of Censure or Impeachment early next year (see www.impeachpac.org).
However, between now and then we’ve got so much sabre rattling about Iran’s nuclear program that 8 retired generals have called for an overhaul of the Department of Defense beginning with Rummy. Their concern is that the rhetoric over Iran is eerily similar to that which preceded the invasion of Iraq. This rhetoric together with the reports that invasion plans include tactical nuclear weapon strikes moved the generals to speak up. Yes, you heard correctly – nuclear. On June 3, the Pentagon plans to test a massive 700-ton conventional explosive at the Nevada test site to gauge the power needed to destroy underground bunkers in Iran. These folks are dead serious.

PS. It used to be that there were “good polls” and “bad polls” - but now they are all pretty much saying the same thing - he’s gotta go. The approval rating for the Republican majority congress is at 22%.
J&K