By By Chris Carvo

Terrible weather conditions defined the past few months: hurricanes in the Gulf, flooding in the Northeast and the earthquakes of the far Middle East. These are natural disasters, but “natural” does not mean they cannot be adverted or circumvented. Ecological chaos is taking place before our eyes.

Now, it’s hard to blame the weather, or as I like to call it, “God’s terrorism,” on anyone. It’s not like there’s a group of eco-villains who live to plunder the environment, like in the cartoon Captain Planet. You remember, that rogue’s gallery who knew what they were doing wrong, but did it anyway, out of greed, meanness, selfishness or a desire for personal power. Certainly, we know none like this: a group of bickering and finger-pointing jokesters who exploit innocent people’s lack of knowledge regarding environmental issues in order to achieve personal gains. Right?

This month, the House of Representatives approved energy legislation that tries to capitalize on recent national tragedies and weather calamity. To do this, Republican leaders turned a five minute open vote into an hour-long, pork-barreled, fat-filled, filibuster fest, which voted in favor of the “Gasoline for America’s Security Act.”

The bill is a smog-screen front “providing reliable and affordable energy for American people.” If the bill attempted to do what it claims, it would need to look into alternative forms of energy, considering cheap oil will be depleted in 40 years if used at the current rate. It is true that oil, when compared to immature and undeveloped plans of alternative energy, is the most “reliable” and “affordable” form of energy to date. The undertaking of a complete revamping of our lifestyle and habits combined with initial costs to produce alternative energy systems, multiplied by consumer skepticism, are estimated to skyrocket through the hole in the ozone.

The sad truth is plans and procedures for alternative energy should have been investigated and executed 30 plus years ago; this would have allowed a 50 percent substitution in current oil use. Sure, Bush will say research into hydrogen, geothermal and ocean power is “unjustified,” but at what price? I’d be much more willing to spend the few extra billion dollars to save soldiers’ lives. But maybe that’s just me, maybe that’s just how I was raised.

The Bush administration claims alternative forms of energy are too costly, erratic, and risky. So instead of taking risks, which will benefit us in the future, we continue on with the little charade that the government is competent and knows what’s best for us. All politicians know about is money and how to get more, and the American public seems to be fine with all this.

The one thing that separates us common people from demon-barons of oil, is accountability. If we throw garbage out our window while traveling to work to make a living, we get fined. But it seems oil and energy companies are rewarded for their littering lunacy.

The bill continues on, as it provides enormous subsidies and grants to energy companies that have and are enjoying record-breaking profits. The old saying goes “the rich keep getting richer,” but here the rich are getting richer, bolder and much more careless. There is an obvious abuse of power going on and we all smile wide-eyed and grin like a ferret in a Ford’s headlights.

Even Tony Blair, the one-time ally of environmental groups, has been silenced by the sound of bills folding. The Kyoto Protocol, which governs treaties on climate change, has not been met by either United States’ or Great Britain’s projected timeframes, being dusted under the rug by Bush’s war and Blair’s new hopes for nuclear technology. Both of these eviltwins continue to burn us with magnifying glasses as we yell out in a strange foreign ant tongue.

Along with stock-piling wealth, the bill boldly delays existing smog cleanup deadlines until 2015, way past Kyoto’s target of 2008, while also limiting the development of clean fuels. How can special interest groups justify these rollbacks? Washington has become a giant Wal-Mart, where morals and environmental decency are slashed and citizens turn a blind eye looking for baby socks and the “Big & Rich” album.

The bill is now in the Senate’s possession, which I predict will disregard public health and environmental protection under the guise of supporting and alleviating suffering regions from the hurricanes.

Kanye West had it wrong that night. George Bush doesn’t care about “any” people, or our green earth for that matter.