Good reading at the Influence Machine and Conscious Earth

E. R. Dunhill (the Influence Machine) has been busy making many thought provoking posts this week. Check out in particular his posts about the our finite oil resources, the need for more science funding, and biofuels. And he has provided fodder for discussions on poverty and Iraq. So check it out and get involved in the discussion.

Odiyya at Conscious Earth has takes those of us in the U.S. to task (appropriately) in his commentary on a recent Newsweek article.

The fact is that the American people need to confront a very uncomfortable truth about their nation, one that goes far beyond the reality of global warming and touches the core of their culture and society. That is, that while laying claim to the title of the world's leader of democracy and freedom, the United States of America represents the modern world's most sophisticated machine for brainwashing their own populace and ensuring their continued ignorance - to the impacts of their lifestyles, to the loss of their own freedoms, and to the failings of their own democratic state.

Amen.

I am reminded of a line from one of my favorite John Lennon songs "Working Class Hero" addressed to Americans:

You think you're all so classless and free
You're all f--king peasants, as far as I can see.