Dont Miss an Upcoming Event
5/19/2012 Tempe Charter Chapter AWBA breakfast meeting at Milagros in Fiesta Inn at Broadway & Priest, Tempe, 9:00 am networking & breakfast, 10-11:00am Vickis interactive talk on Directing Your Energy to Create Everything You Want! Guests welcome, $20. http://www.abwa-tempe.org.!
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD AND ULTIMATELY VOTE!
Have you thought about the value of living in a democracy and how your voice and vote REALLY counts?
Have you considered that the freedom each American enjoys is dependent on world stability, specifically, what happens in the Middle East. And as goes Afghanistan, so goes the Middle East.
Afghanistan, according to experts, is dependent upon the treatment of Afghan women. Under the Taliban, their treatment was unthinkable and they were valued as less than a horse. Women were denied education, economic empowerment, civic freedom and health care. The potential for renewed control by the Taliban if the U.S. leaves, could again control the outcome of Afghan women, and hence Afghanistan, the Middle East, world stability, and ultimately our freedom.
Take it from a voice that saw this in action. I just heard Mavis Leno speak.
She has been the chair of the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Campaign to stop gender apartheid in Afghanistan since 1997. Mavis and Jay Leno donated $100,000 to Mavis organization that successfully protested the construction of an oil pipeline through Afghanistan. Mavis described how she persuaded then U.S. President, Bill Clinton, and the executives of Unocal Corporation to NOT invest billions that would benefit the Taliban and fund their continued heinous treatment of women and support the indoctrination of even more people to become terrorists against the U.S. and democracy. Mavis experienced the democratic process work. The contrast with the conditions in Afghanistan couldnt be starker. She is grateful for each day of freedom that we enjoy as Americans.
Bombs surround Afghanistan. Look to Pakistan as one neighbor. Mavis believes the Afghan people cannot tolerate chaos if the U.S. leaves them without helping to keep peace. After 9/11, the U.S. asked Afghanistan if they would let U.S. troops go after Al-Qaeda. Unlike many Countries, Afghanistan agreed knowing its people would fight along side the Americans and that both countries people would be killed. The U.S. owes them, says Mavis emphatically!
Look what Mavis accomplished¦it all started with one voice¦where is yours?
A convergence of thought also emanates from the green energy movement.
In Thomas Friedmans book, Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution, And How It Can Renew America, he explains the concept of Petrodictatorship. Oil revenues can lead to great power for semi-elected or unelected leaders or dictators, leading to worse relations and the likelihood of increased terrorism with the U.S. As the price of oil increases, particularly past $80/barrel, freedoms for those that live in oil producing countries decrease. When oil was at its low point in 1995 at $16/barrel, the index of freedom was at its highest in countries like Nigeria, Venezuela, Russia, and Iran. As oil prices have gone up, the money is used by Taliban-types to severely limit freedoms just as we saw with the Afghan women.
When oil hit $145/barrel, the oil-producing countries captured 90% of the profit, according to Friedman. So, some of the worst regimes in the world enjoy the biggest benefits from the market run-up. Also, the legacy oil, gas and coal companies get the other 10% of the profit–so companies which have no interest in changing the system get stronger! Yet, our future energy technology will have 10x the impact information technology had. We need a common green vision.
Freidman shouts out–”Change your leaders, not your light bulbs.” Because leaders write rules, rules shape markets, and markets give you scale. Scale is needed to generate cost-effective renewable energy, and rules can promote this. In addition, Friedman concludes we need to “Outgreen Al-Qaeda.” He tells of a marine general in Iraq who requested renewable power–like solar energy. How else can he provision outposts along the Syrian border that are off the grid? They run on generators with diesel fuel that must be trucked from Kuwait to the Syrian border at $20/gallon delivered cost. And, says the General, that’s if my trucks don’t get blown up by insurgents along the way. If I had solar power, I wouldn’t have to truck all this fuel. In effect, we could outgreen Al-Qaeda.”
This is your call to action-Contact your Federal representatives and ultimately VOTE. Only about 1 in 500 of you do! Our elected officials listen because our political decision makers know that each vocal person represents the silent thoughts of many. According to Mavis Leno, the U.S. needs to stay in a peacemaking capacity in Afghanistan, not in a war, however. The U.S. needs to show it can be a partner of a country in Islam, she explains. According to Thomas Friedman, the freedom of Americans depends on fuel independence from high-priced foreign oil that funds and fuels terrorism. Their pleas make sense. Where is your voice, your vote?
