I’m baaack. Haven’t written a lick in months. I’ve been bummed out that millions of Americans, including my brother, are out of work, and that the government is lying about it (double their unemployment percentages; it’s closer to 18% than 9%). And I’m angry that instead of prosecuting the crooks at AIG, Goldman Sachs and other firms whose fraud and larceny bankrupted the country, our elected leaders, Democrats and Republicans alike, have bailed out the criminals with trillions of taxpayer dollars. And I’m dismayed that the same bad actors have been able to cook their books and manipulate the markets to make it appear that the recession is over, that a “jobless recovery” is underway, that the last couple of years were just a fluke, and that it’s in everyone’s best interests to let the corporate elite resume raping and pillaging the common folk. It’s been fascinating to watch the drama play out, to watch the politicians cave in to the CEOs and their lobbyists, to watch the right-wing pundits obfuscate reality, redirect attention, stir up passions and prejudices, all to perpetuate an economic system in which the richest 1% own 90% of the wealth and still want more. Of course, this is just a silly soap opera compared to the stuff I’m really worried about, like human-caused climate change, the ongoing 6th mass extinction of life on Earth, overfishing and the pollution of oceans, peak oil and depletion of minerals and metals, the loss of arable land, food shortages, malnourishment and starvation, shortages of fresh water, and perhaps most worrisome, a population growth rate that has seen the number of humans increase 300% in my lifetime. It seems overwhelming at times, but I have to shake that off and get back to the keyboard. UPDATE: Soon after posting the above I experienced a “heart incident” that sent me to the hospital. Read about it here.