Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Screw giving people the benefit of the doubt. Nine out of ten times the person is guilty of what they are accused!

(Note: this is an observation, not a statistic. Also, in political circumstances it more like five to five because half the time they're just trying to get rid of the opposition.)

We were walking through Bangkok airport and at the baggage claim the tv has a slide with a slow loris saying 'Stop Wildlife Trafficking' or something along those lines. And it made me think. (No seriously, I do that.)

I mean, how often do you think someone who traffics wildlife actually gets caught? Looking around, even in the middle of the night, I could see several people who looked suspicious. Of course, you can't just go all Homeland Security on them without warrant in a foreign country. So that day, through that airport, I bet hundreds of animals were tortured in bags everywhere.

And I mean, they threaten you, they really do. 'You will be caught.' 'Fines of up to -insert number here-!' 'Jail time.' Yeah right. They made a big deal out of it when Wong served 6 months. That's it! Of course I wonder why after all these years and all this awareness, we still can't control the Illegal Wildlife Trade. But then I remember we can't even get our economies or governments in order because we're all so in love with buying cheap low quality goods of China and these ghostly investors who have priority over everyone else.

After that, I just think about how screwed all the normal people and animals are.

The Yellowstone River is...Black?

Ya know, lately I've been hearing a lot of complaining about negative people. So this morning I decided to try to make this next post positive.

'Try' being the key word. I didn't get that far. But then again, this blog wouldn't be what it is without my constant ragging cynicism.

So I picked up this story. I'm sure a lot of you have heard about that lovely ExxonMobil spill into the Yellowstone river in Montana.

Feels like a cheap attempt at replicating the BP spill into the gulf last summer. I mean, no one can deny the investment appeal of a giant corporation trying valiantly to cover their butts and pretend to care about the environment, meanwhile laundering money pointlessly and leaving it to independent organizations and charities to do all the work. Right?

Right. The quarterly and annual profits actually went up after the spill. We're so environmentally friendly, we give them more money after we realize just how wholly incompetent they are. And we don't even make them pay half of what they owe for their stupid, stupid stunt. Not even half. I assure you they have the kind of dough to pay it off easily. About a year after the oil spill, though, we hear nothing of what is still happening under the water at this very moment.

BP aside, Exxon is probably cashing in as we speak. Why, the governor of Montana even accused them of lying about statistics. All the better! Think of the kind of media exposure this gives them? For free?

What to me is the most amazing thing about this spill, however, it how Mr. Governor is handling it. Apparently, this guy actually studied soils and ag., so he knows what he's talking about. A first! And he's even going as far as to say that the data he receives and what he really sees don't match up. He's not trying to cover it up - he went on CNN and said plain enough that either they're really incompetent (unlikely for such an enormous corporation), or what they're telling us is straight up BS.

But who in the media doesn't enjoy some good ol' BS? That's what it's all about, after all.

The Imporant Things In Life

I was listening to an interview with this famous Thai philosopher, and he mentioned that people tend to overlook what they really need most in favor of material things that get them nowhere.  He said poor people can be happy if they choose to be happy with what little they have – he said most people that toil away in cities are never satisfied with what their lives come to.

This guy basically gave up everything to go live a life of nothingess in fields and on farms. And he said he was happier because he could really breathe. Away from material things he could be free, supporting himself like others by catching fish in the river and eating rice he grew himself. He asked people to think about all the people who lived like this who were displaced into urban areas to make way for dams and other good-for-growth type projects.

But I think the most interesting thing he said was that people have to not only learn to breathe and find inner peace and happiness (not Kung Fu Panda style, mind you), but learn when to say no. Sometimes it's good to say no to economic growth and stay where you are, in head of better things. There's more to life than fancy cars and big houses, and capitalism only wants you if you're planning to consume consumer consume. So why do that when you can be just as happy with what you already have?

I mean, think about what you really need. Food and water, you can go a week without. A home is superfluous. You need air! If we continue to pollute the world and run it into the ground, though we may have all the SUVs and crap in the world, will we be able to even live?