Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine, imagined that his engine would run on vegetable oil. Henry Ford experimented with soybeans and other crops, and imagined that one day, he would grow automobiles from the soil. But, as much as these innovators imagined independence for the average American, other innovators foresaw dependence. More »

Ethanol from corn, we are learning, is a huge, time-released Rube Goldberg device that is more energy-intensive than it’s worth. The main reason we’re looking to corn for our energy is because the Iowa Caucuses go a long way to determine the presidency, so no one is going to speak out against Iowans. If the first primary in the nation were the Vermont primaries, we’re likely be looking to make ethanol from maple syrup. And if it were the New York primaries, there’d be a call to harness the rage that fuels New Yorkers every day. More »

The activities of Native Americans rarely make the news, since most of us don’t think about them very often. Most people I know think of them as a dead society, or as a sad, romantic story from the past.

So, I was tickled to read a recent Newsweek article called Taking Back the Land. It was about Native American tribes using money from tribal casinos to reclaim their homeland. They are basically using white America’s greed to their own advantage, and using it to buy their land back! More »

We’ve built a way of life around our car. We’ve built strip malls with big parking lots, but not easy access to train stations. Major cities like New York or San Francisco have subways, trolleys, or major bus lines; but overall, we like our cars, and we aren’t willing to give them up, or plan alternatives. More »

The common assumption is that the rich despise the poor. In reality, the rich love the poor. They need the poor. Poor people manufacture and buy their products. Drugs are a prime example of this relationship. From the fields of Columbia to the hoods of Atlanta, poor people fuel the billion dollar cocaine industry. Love is a strange game. 

Take of tour of the fringes here:

Video: Cocaine Lab in Colombia

Video: Crack House in Atlanta