(2010-06-14) — Vast riches of minerals, perhaps exceeding $1 trillion, lie under the surface of war-torn Afghanistan, Pentagon officials now say, and the White House today announced a plan to protect those subterranean resources from “rapacious capitalists who would rip them from the earth just to make a profit.”
Pentagon sources said the iron, copper, gold, cobalt and lithium could provide the foundation for a thriving economy in a nation that has largely relied on opium trade.
However, the White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the Obama administration would “oppose any attempt to scar the landscape of those majestic mountains in order to feed the public’s craving for lithium batteries, and Glenn Beck’s insatiable appetite for gold.”
“Opium poppies, unlike minerals, are a renewable resource,” said Mr. Gibbs. “President Obama wants to protect Afghanistan from the devastation and greed that inevitably occur when a nation moves beyond subsistence farming. Those who fail to learn from America’s history, are doomed to repeat it.”
In addition to damaging the landscape, increasing carbon dioxide emissions and endangering rare flora and fauna, Mr. Gibbs said mining operations would ravage the natural habitat of a peaceful, religious people that find shelter in mountain caves.
15 responses so far ↓
1 ScrappleFace // Jun 14, 2010 at 11:42 am
Scott Ott's new ScrappleFace book, <a href="http://www.LaughingAtObama.com" target="_blank">Laughing at Obama: Volume I, goes to press this week. You can already get it on your iPad or Kindle device. <a href="http://www.LaughingAtObama.com" target="_blank">Order a copy or a case now.
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2 ScrappleFace // Jun 14, 2010 at 11:43 am
Scott Ott's new ScrappleFace book, Laughing at Obama: Volume I, goes to press this week. You can already get it on your iPad or Kindle device. Order a copy or a case now.
Also, check out the raves from ScrappleFace readers, that are included in the book.
3 Hawkeye_R // Jun 14, 2010 at 12:13 pm
I ordered my copy. (:D)
4 Hawkeye_R // Jun 14, 2010 at 12:16 pm
"mining operations would ravage the natural habitat of a peaceful, religious people that find shelter in mountain caves"…
Ouch! Good one Scott. But rumor has it OBL is in Iran…
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/06/08/Bin-Lad...
5 boberin // Jun 14, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Well, we are ripping oil from the gulf to make a profit and that seemed to be working for us…seemed to. methinks that in a year or so we'll have another opinion. "Jobs" that end up killing (11) people (so far) and entire ecosystems (eventually) are not, in realitiy, all that desirable. Sometimes folks should consider switching jobs…
6 ChileSerrano // Jun 14, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I agree completely, bob. And people should stop driving those pesky cars, too! If you can't walk there, don't go!
Better yet, just stay home and smoke another pipeful of opium …
7 boberin // Jun 14, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Well, if folks and ecosystems have to die for us to drive then…we shouldn't drive eh? There must be (and is) a better way. I've said all along that if I had unlimited power to decree one thing that would change our habits that it would be the exhaust be visible. I guarantee that we'd change our ways in a week or so…we'd have to.
And, speaking as one who knows (I've had 2 freinds try it, neither lived to tell) you cannot breath what comes out of the tailpipe. So, spew the raw stuff into the ocean or bring it up and burn it, pretty much the same…poisoning ourselves…but at least there are jobs eh?
8 onlineanalyst // Jun 14, 2010 at 7:04 pm
The criminal negligence by the ObaMao administration in addressing the mitigation of the oil spew, as per federal law since the Exxon-Valdez spill, is beyond any excuse-making. The eco-disaster and its impact on the economy, not just in the Gulf states, but throughout the US, can be laid at the feet of the Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers.
9 onlineanalyst // Jun 14, 2010 at 7:15 pm
Read and weep. The comments re the Gulf situation are heartbreaking. http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/14/obama-admin...
10 JamesonLewis3rd // Jun 14, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Ironic Democrat party-hearty Fallback Position:
BHO is Bush's Fault and, therefore, so is this War for Jewels (which must be won-post haste-before Earth becomes another Titan). Could this be a brilliant marketing ploy designed to lure every psychopath on the planet to a central location with the promise of a free shovel, three hots and a cot?
FWIW: 70 years ago today, a Friday, Paris fell to the Nazis.
11 boberin // Jun 14, 2010 at 7:21 pm
My heart is broken…well, gravley injured in any case…
12 onlineanalyst // Jun 14, 2010 at 7:46 pm
ObaMao was heavily supported by BP (Beyond Petroleum, my eye), one of the companies with the worst safety records. The Getty oil family in San Francisco owns ObaMao. NALCO- google it-is connected to the dittherer in chief.
Eco-do-gooders pushed the drill sites far off the coasts, where emergency response is prohibitively challenging. The federal red-tape and delay has made a solvable problem a disaster.
Any bets that the crisis maker in the WH will push for cap and trade (tax) or attempt a federal takeover of energy production. (We see how ineffectual the federal agencies were in inspections prior to the blowout. We also see how sluggish has be the federal response with mitigation. Won't nationalized health care be terrific?)
Check this out: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/06/14/wh-takes...
13 onlineanalyst // Jun 15, 2010 at 1:40 am
dhunter at hotair shares this tidbit about BP, the big ObaMao campaign contributor who had a hand in crafting the cap and tax bill:
"Pinnochio the fraud falsified an experts report and basically signed their names to a cover page they did not approve. Be sure to read the comments after especially the part where the drilling contract was awarded to BP a foreign company rather than Halliburton an American company who had suggested 21 safety measures and BP implemented 6. Why? Campaign contributions to the Liar in Chief?
Will Pinnochio be allowed to use this to organize the American People to allow a nationalizing of the Oil Industry?"
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/...
14 camojack // Jun 15, 2010 at 12:19 am
“Those who fail to learn from America’s history, are doomed to repeat it.”
Yes…and wouldn't that be something?
I do hope good things come from this; the people of Afghanistan have essentially been living in the Stone Age since, well, the Stone Age!
15 Best Hotel Rates in the Entertainment Capital of the World - Las Vegas | All Shows In Vegas // Jun 18, 2010 at 4:04 pm
[...] Obama Moves to Protect Rich Afghan Mineral Deposits [...]
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