I listen to podcasts of the Terry Gross interview program on NPR. She is a phenomenal interviewer and her guests cover the world from statesmen and politicos, journalists, media figures of every stripe, military figures to rock and pop stars and bygone performers. Her most dismaying guests are the ones who cover aspects of what is happening that are frightening, such as our new era of tough oil. That phrase means that the easy-to-get oil is gone and we are so desperate for more that we go after oil in riskier and riskier places as evidenced by the oil spill in the Gulf.

There is a move to drill in the arctic. Here is what is so terrifying about that. Drilling rigs would have to be located in areas that are very difficult to get to, there is no infrastructure to support any kind of rescue and rehabilitation effort should something go wrong. There are ice floes that might necessitate building artificial islands to house the drilling equipment. These islands will, even if everything goes right, tamper with the ecological conditions to the point where the wildlife that depends on the existing ecosystem, already fragile, will become extinct.

If an accident occurs, it would not be possible to mobilize rescue workers in the necessary numbers to deal with a spill such as we did in the Gulf (and that didn’t work all that well anyway and the chemicals used to disperse the oil have created new eco problems) because the area is remote and cannot accommodate such an effort. The consequences would be far more severe than what we recently saw in the Gulf.

The U.S. gets most of its oil from Nigeria. Nigeria has for decades had major oil spills and accidents. The revenue from the oil trade does not reach the impoverished citizens. They not only live poor, they live in the middle of oil ditches and refuse in their daily lives.

On another subject, I have concluded that Ralph Nadir is responsible for the Iraq war. By running to prove an unprovable point, he derailed a Gore victory in 2000 losing him needed votes in Florida, the key swing state. Gore would never have sent troops into Iraq. GWB’s righteous mission was Evangelical in motivation and had more than a little “I’ll show Dad” as a component. So Nadir is on my all-time shit list and I don’t think his “principles” served anyone but himself, even if he did capture the imagination of the gung-ho young who think solving problems is simple and only requires the doing.

I am convinced that the mass majority of Americans vote their guts, not their brains and their emotional need for vindication of marginal lives, makes them draw wrong conclusions. They (we) are most often easily swayed by the appeal to our victimhood. Nothing that has happened is our fault. It’s those dirty rats (who we elected) in Washington. Anyone who supports us as victim is appealing.

I do think it’s ironic that in supporting tea party activism early on the Republicans have shot themselves in the foot because the tail is now wagging the dog. Also, a great many of the so-called grass roots enthusiasm of the tea party is spurious. Many of the gatherings that were supposedly spontaneous and born out of “newly enlightened” citizens with new-found courage, on a mission to redress political wrongs were sponsored, paid for, and encouraged by the Koch (pronounced Coke) brothers, the right wing activists who own a manufacturing empire and who have spent millions to support their far-right wing agenda.

I am hoping that those who see through these regressive philosophies (no gay rights, no social security, no assistance programs of any kind) are in the minority, seeming to be gathering strength, but just gathering media attention. I am hoping that reasonable people who aren’t mouthing off are the new silent majority and that we will prevail.

xx, Teal