Digging in the carpet

They want to suck oil out of rock here in Colorado. There is a battle on, between some folks who think it's a bad idea to start a process which will leach water from a very dry state, pollute and brutalize pristine acres of land, and then there is the corporation and quite a few politicians fighting for their right to rape the land. Environmentalists believe that mining oil out of shale could require almost three times the electricity used by the state of Colorado in 2005, and consume as much water each year as two cities the size of Denver.

I picture a drug addict crawling around on the carpet trying to find traces of his substance of choice. In this case, he's an oil addict. Rep. Cannon, R-Utah, on the issue: "With people having to choose between food and putting gas in their cars, it is nothing short of cruel to stand in the way of tapping new sources of fuel." Right Chris, that makes sense. With gas at over $4.00 a gallon in my neck of the woods, I cannot help but laugh at this madness.

We have some of the cheapest gas in the civilized world here in America. What we need is not to make it more available, but less. Without our government's help, individuals can barely make a dent in the carbon emissions problem. But rather than fighting for new choices for us consumers, a new system which would not lead to our inevitable decline as a species, and the further destruction of life on earth, like the present model will, our leaders are busy fighting for our right to keep killing ourselves. And like it almost always is, the decisions being made are made in the interest of big corporations, and the ever-important "free-market economy" and not in the interest of the human species and prospering life on earth.

We must begin fighting for LIFE, and we must force our leaders to do so. Dead organisms, like religions, corporations, and even nations, should no longer be protected at the expense of human beings, animals, and ecosystems. Enough is enough.

True happiness

Sitting in the kitchen listening to New Order from speakers in all the corners of the room is perfection this afternoon. I need a shower. My feet stink, and I need a shave. The perfection of this moment is the incomplete madness of a hot afternoon moving into your dream house, and realizing that you have more stuff than most old people. Bada-DEE! The future is most certainly more squirrel work and store-aways. I don't mind. It's luck really, and just a bunch of stuff, which can always be abandoned to the universe to set the master free.

Living by the river is like a Valium drip. It's hard to make a move away from the perfect location, looking up at green mountains and emitting high pitched enthusiasm screams while doing laundry. I am my own 1950's housewife, complete with a broom and a modern kitchen. I do need to buy a microwave. I just invited a girl out on a first date tomorrow to drive to Glenwood with me to buy beanbags and a vacuum cleaner. I did it by text message, and it was worth all the laughs it gave myself, even if she declines the gesture. How could she? (The answer is if she works.)

Madness is a great pleasure in these days of boredom, social disrepair, and general homogeny. The only true madness now is to act like everybody else around and think it's healthy, or "normal" to humanity. There are a plethora of paths for the great majority of the humans on earth to travel on, and I fear that the biggest river of us is flowing in a fast stream toward something we don't even want to imagine. It's a reality we are creating, but in our own social constructions we may be reinventing the robot with our own selves. Let us never forget that we are free. Suffering the consequences of rebellion may be the result of our freedom, but that is a freedom I will choose over adherence to the laws of the people of the wrong river; and i'll choose it gladly to be free.