When The Angels Cried...

This is what we call a January thaw...certainly a bit warmer than the past week...70 to 80 degrees warmer. Definitely a day to think 'hot and spicy' when planning the evening meal...Perhaps a bit of Mana' assisting my cooking, and I'll remember that Francisco Alves Mendes Filho (Chico Mendes) must not have died in vain. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and indigenous peoples. He was assassinated on December 22, 1988.

Unchecked Oil Wealth and Democracy Don't Mix

We, with our choices, have created despots in the middle east who have power due to oil...they become more and more entrenched as the revenue stream continues on and on...look at most of the middle eastern countries which are oil rich nations...despots all. My fear is, with the rush to become "energy independent" that North America is becoming a corporate oligarchy on the conservative side fueled by Koch brothers, et al...boom towns such as Williston, North Dakota and Fort McMurray with high paying temporary jobs, drugs, prostitution and violence...not to mention the environmental damage. Meanwhile that oil wealth is being used to fund the tea party, The Cato Institute, The Mercatus Center, The Institute for Humane Studies, Citizens for a Sound Economy (FreedomWorks), Americans for Prosperity, Patients United Now, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), ad nauseum...as well as funding economic, scientific and other wings of some fairly powerful universities, even saying who can and who cannot teach there. Ramifications from The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) are still being felt in our economy. These tendrils all intertwine with our political system and can be found having infiltrated even our highest court. Oil can destroy a democracy unless its wealth is kept in check and not used to fuel these oligarchical structures. We, the people, have a choice to make...