The "STEP-2020" Solution...

Bush, like many, is betting that India will have the world's fastest growing economy by 2020. That coupled with their strategic South Asia location (i.e. between China and the Middle East) means it's time to make nice in the Subcontinent and offer them a shiny new set of Presidential thumb-screws. His arrival is being met with quite a lot of resistance, of course, and leave it to the ever-psychedelic Indians to protest like it's Mardi Gras. Funny article about what Bush should expect in India here. And read about Bush's other India here.

I do applaud Bush on urging India and Pakistan to end their bloody fifty-year dispute over the Kashmir region. But I'm afraid his words are going to fall on deaf ears. What could Bush possibly say about the boggling complexities that plague this former paradise that won't sound absolutely trite and clueless? Nice photo montage on Kashmir here.

As for the impending nuclear deal with India: The more I learn, the more I am totally opposed to the rekindling of any nuclear energy anywhere on earth, be it civilian or military. From my perspective, all of this new nuclear talk seems to be a desperate play to avoid progress, to revive cold war conditions, and a perfect way to fully reinstate the politics of fear and toxicity.

If the Democrats want to win this next election, they're going to need to pull a major rabbit out of their hat, and soon. I feel that rabbit must be energy. Since Americans respond to the flashing of cash, and since Bill Gates is applying his billions towards egalitarian global health and education issues, I would encourage Paul Allen, or Ted Turner, or George Soros, or all of them, to step up to the mic and champion the cause of "new energy" with all of their booty. Hell let one of them run as a Vice President candidate even. The time has come for Americans to get energized. To make a commitment towards fresh and clean new models for meeting our energy needs. To that end, I would like to propose a Democratic platform for the 2008 elections: "Sustainable Total Energy Paradigm by the year 2020" aka: STEP-2020.

"STEP-2020" nice ring, eh? Instead of reviving fear and using market driven strategery, let's revive hope. Let's enlist a whole new generation of scientists and environmentalists to rethink our energy plans and rehabilitate our toxic energy addictions with clean new energy sources. And while we're at it, let's put our entire planet on the endangered species list and work towards bringing it back to lasting health. More on this idea as it develops. Please feel free to chime in. I mean if you care about your country that is. The rest of you non-patriots can stay silent.