As with the first three gatherings, the fourth National Conference on Media Reform went conspicuously missing on the pages, screens, airwaves, and cables of what attendees nowadays refer to as the MSM, mainstream media. My recent search of the New York Times website for their coverage of the conference went unrewarded. In spite of recent successes for the media reform movement and burgeoning numbers at the annual event, the MSM silence alone tells us there’s a lot of work yet to do.

There are some books so important and insightful that they become instant classics and "must reads." Dave Wheelock, The Pencil Warrior, tells us of his pick for the must read of the year, if not the decade.

Congratulations, graduate. Now that you’re grown up enough to move on to the responsibility of a job, the challenge of college, or the promise of a career, I’m sure you can appreciate the story of how a lot of your elders still believe in the Easter Bunny. Hopefully sooner rather than later, you’ll discover the way the world beyond the textbooks really works – and about the economic fairy tale that currently dominates the everyday lives of virtually everyone on Earth.

With gas rapidly approaching $4.00 per gallon, this is a good time to start thinking about solutions to our oil addiction. Unfortunately, many so-called conservatives are now spouting "solutions" that do nothing to actually address the root of the problem, but instead serve only to further enrich the oil companies and keep us dependent on a commodity that funnels money to dictatorial (and unfriendly) regimes while simultaneously polluting the very air that we and our children breathe.

If your pastor says something controversial (even if it is taken out of context), well, that must be a big deal. So, one would think that if your campaign manager worked as a public relations specialist (i.e. spin doctor) for a dictatorial regime that was responsible for the murder, rape, torture, and disappearance of many of its citizens that it would be a REALLY BIG DEAL. But you'd be wrong. Especially if the offending person worked for a Republican, like John McCain.

I dare not mention the candidate’s name. To do so in public brings derision from conservatives and causes those who call themselves liberals to blanch with a combination of fear and loathing. Yet the fact that his message to America is swept aside with the same callousness as is his distinctly non-Hollywood style is a perfect indictment of the miserable state of affairs in which we find ourselves today.

Just when you thought New Mexico Tech was getting back on solid ground, what with their tap dancing and backtracking regarding the proposed drop zone for EMRTC, lo and behold they go and do something silly again. This time, it's huge bonuses for the vice presidents, even during a time of tight budgets and increases in tuition. I'm sure the students and parents who are having to stomach a tuition increase aren't going to be too pleased to hear that NM Tech President Dr. Daniel Lopez proposed $100,000 (yes, one hundred thousand dollars!) to distribute as bonuses to the NM Tech vice presidents, and the board of regents rubber-stamped it at their last meeting (whatever happened to the regents being a board of oversight?)

On Feb 11 of this year two groups of American Indians left San Francisco on foot with Washington, DC in their sights. Five months and 2,700 miles later travelers of the Southern and Northern routes will walk into the town where their collective fate is kept. If you know anything about the relationship between native people and the government of this country, you’ll expect the walkers to be greeted with a smile and a handshake from a distracted presidential appointee and briskly shown the door. Indians. They’re so . . . irrelevant.

Dave Wheelock shares the story of Bill Koonz of the Oneida Nation and demonstrates, once again, that we have a lot to learn from our Native American friends and neighbors, especially when it comes to respecting and preserving the earth.

Getting tired of peak oil yet? No? Ok, good! This week's Pencil Warrior brings us yet more information about how society may adapt to the upcoming challenges that loom on the horizon.