Happy Earth Day, 2014

--The Earth Day Show (Paresh Nath, UAE)

The mockingbird sings it, it's all that he knows

"Ah, what can I do?", say a powerless few

With a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye

Can't you see that their poverty's profiting you

--My Country 'tis of Thy People You're Dying,

Buffy Sainte-Marie

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Today is Earth Day, one of those quaint relics from a recent past when we gave lip-service to actually being good stewards to our planet and its inhabitants. 

Welcome to Earth Day 2014-style in Florida, where a greedy oil firm began fracking this year in the sensitive Florida Everglades under the radar, without a permit. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said the fracking began sometime between 30 Dec 2013 and 1 Jan 2014. 

The Dan A. Hughes Company of Texas was fined $25,000 for this outrage, a slap on the wrist. Who and what does Florida prioritize -- the health and welfare of its citizens, wildlife and invaluable tourists, or a carpetbagger oil profiteer? Ask our Governor Rick Scott (R) -- who profited nicely from his work as Chief Executive of the felonious Columbia/HCA corporation -- and you can guess the answer (Though Scott was not implicated in the scandal and no charges were raised against him personally, Columbia/HCA admitted to fourteen felonies the year after Scott's resignation as CEO. The company agreed to pay the federal government over $600 million, which was the largest fraud settlement in US history.)

Progress Florida, a non-profit citizens advocacy group, sent out this petition (below) today:

Quoting from the Tampa Bay Times story (Oil company drilling in sanctuary fined $25,000 for violation that could be fracking), they wrote, "Gov. Scott’s DEP is so in bed with polluters that their consent order about the Hughes Co. violation fails to even mention fracking, citing 'a confidential trade secret.'"

Anyone may sign the petition. If we cannot even be bothered to do that, we deserve what we get.