I've been thinking about a few things. Here they are.

1. The US has just upgraded Alberta, Canada from 21st to 2nd most important oil reserve, and US oil and gas companies are aggressively pursuing these materials. One focus is the Alberta Tar Sands, which you can google and read about. Besides the environmental devastation that would be caused by mining the tar sands, it will take a significant amount of energy to remove the oil from the bitumen in these sands.

How much energy will it take relative to how much oil is produced?

How much of the oil that is produced will be used to wage war through weapons manufacturing, military uses, etc.?

2. This is a set of questions we can all ask ourselves, and which should be posed to politicans at every opportunity:

How much money have you made, through investments or otherwise, from the war in Iraq?

What are you doing with that money?

Do you still have investments in the war machine? If so, why?

Today I read that the current estimate of civilian deaths in Iraq due to the US invasion and occupation has reached 1.2 million people. That is 1.2 MILLION humans killed due to the war of aggression being prosecuted by the United States against the people of Iraq. That is twice the population of the state of Vermont.

I will refer to this as the Iraqi Holocaust from now on.

Edmonton Alberta, teaching Iron Pentacle with a wonderful witch here and a lovely group of people. It's so beautiful on the prairie. Last night we slept in a park with the buffalo. Tuesday we head south, pick up the cat in Montana and then head to the coast!

i am well. I am tired from driving over 3000 miles in 7 days. I am very happy to be traveling with a dear friend and brother who I met in New Orleans. I am adjusting to being back, and pondering the many options before me.

I see that people are realizing the dire situation with the corrupt US government, the untenable war situation on earth, the environmental disasters starting to domino, etc. It is gratifying to see awareness rising. It seems to take a lot to wake people up, but it does happen.

We're in northeastern Minnesota near lake Superior, where they had a super hot dry summer until a few weeks ago when it started dumping rain. I got here just as the rain ended, a couple of nights ago, but it looks like rain again. It's quiet and beautiful, and gives me a chance to hear how much noise is inside my mind. It's not loud but it's there. I'm definitely looking forward to being quiet for a while.

The advanced EAT originally scheduled for October has been postponed until February, so the event driving my early October arrival in northern California is no longer a factor. I'm thinking...hmm...now what? I head to Edmonton for a workshop, but after that, do I continue to go west? Do I go back east? Italy?

I did a tarot reading and it was intense. Basically what's in front of me is my life...all of who I am, all of what's happening within me and around me...the world is there and where should I be in it? My friend here asks, where am I most effective? I felt very effective in Europe, and in Israel.

I have $50, and a check was sent to my account in Vermont and should clear any day now. I am facing the reality of bottoming out financially, and wondering how to respond to that.

On the road in eastern PA. Hot weather, all kinds of drivers, beautiful scenery. It's interesting to be on my way again, still. I'm looking forward to seeing people along the way and once I get to CA.

I had some brilliant thoughts while driving but they all seem to be escaping me now.

Last night I stayed in Watkins Glen NY. They were haqving their annual vintage car grand prix nearby, and lots of the folks with old cars were in the campground. The smell of auto exhaust was heavy until late in the night when they turned off their cars and went to sleep. Fossil fuel culture.

Me driving...fossil fuel culture.