Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! - Jesse Ventura [89]
After seeing Gore’s film, and then the human tragedy of Mulegé, I’ve become a staunch advocate of doing my part to help slow down global warming. For one thing, I would highly recommend that all new homes, no matter where they are, have included in the mortgage a type of solar-power system that at least works as an auxiliary.
And here’s something I would come to find out from a solar expert in Mexico: When we aren’t watching our televisions, if we would simply unplug them, there would be no energy shortage in the U.S. We have about 220 million television sets. All of them use stand-by power. But have you ever had a manufacturer tell you that, even if you’re using the remote to turn them off, they’re still using units of power and draining energy?
When I started unplugging all three of my TV sets, I watched my power usage drop by an amp and a half. I was amazed. Before you push the “on” button, all that’s required is a few seconds to walk over and plug in the TV. By the time you’ve gone back to your chair, it will have warmed up enough to have your picture. Think of how much energy this small gesture could be saving! (Plus, you could have some fun with it. Remember the movie Network? Before shutting your TV down for the night, switch over to Fox News and shout out, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”) The fact is, if all the televisions in America were unplugged for eight hours a day, the energy savings would be more than 3,800 gigawatt-hours.
The Bush administration would rather keep its head buried in the sand and keep subsidizing its friends in the oil, gas, and coal industries. They’ll stop at nothing to downplay the impacts of global warming. When a study came out saying that polar bears are endangered because the sea ice they depend on is disappearing, the White House insisted this has nothing to do with a changing climate. The U.S. negotiators managed to get rid of language in a recent United Nations report that called for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. This administration’s policy on global warming is: Don’t talk about it.
The environment isn’t the only area that the federal government is suppressing or manipulating information about. It’s happening with prescription drugs and public safety. Nearly two thousand scientists trying to do their jobs researching air quality and other health issues said in a survey they face “an epidemic of interference.” What ever happened to the public’s right to know?
Mum’s the word, I guess. Ignore problems and they’ll go away, and we can go on with business as usual. Of course, when the government spreads lies to justify invading a country—in order to get more oil and gas to pump into the atmosphere—what else can you expect? I know where the buck stops: at the door to the White House. I just wonder how far the deceit might go.
Seeing what happened to a place like Mulegé brings Terry and me back, in memory, to another tragedy. The one that occurred when I was governor: September 11, 2001, the day the Twin Towers came down in New York.
I remember it was a warm, clear day at the State Capitol. Within an hour of the attacks, I ordered the opening of Minnesota’s Emergency Operations Center in downtown St. Paul. It’s been used in the past as a command center, generally for severe weather events. At 10:30 that morning, I arrived with my commissioner of public safety, Charlie Weaver, to brief the media. I told them I’d put the National Guard on alert, and secured some public buildings in the Twin Cities.
I said, “The tragic events of this day are staggering to the sense of security, peace, and calm that we in Minnesota and the United States are used to in our daily lives. This is a time of great shock, great sorrow, and great concern, but this is a time we must be confident that we can meet the very difficult challenges put forth by these senseless and tragic acts.”
It was the primary election day, and I wasn