Tim DeChristopher is my new crush.

I just finished watching the 12/22/09 edition of Democracy Now(it's a good thing too, I needed my fix)and my favorite feature was Amy Goodman's interview with a Southern Utah student named Tim Dechristopher. Dechristopher sneaked into the recent auction of oil drilling rights to several pieces of land in Utah posing as a bidder. Because the people in charge of the auction didn't check the credentials of potential bidders, he was able to win about 1.7 million dollars worth of land and drive up the prices of the land he didn't win, costing oil companies millions of dollars extra on their land purchases. Tim obviously isn't good for 1.7 million, as most college students struggle to keep their gas tanks full, so the tentative plan is to hold another auction for the land. Fortunately, there's a problem with that.

For legal reasons the land cannot be re auctioned until about February or so. Why is this particularly good news you ask? Well I'll tell you. The Bush administration authorized the land auction, and as you may recall 1/20/09 marks the end of said regime...er...administration. Under the Obama administration, there is a chance that the drilling rights will never be sold at all. I would like to emphasize that my words were "there is a chance", as we obviously cannot predict what will actually happen under the upcoming Obama administration. Barack Obama has promised to put greater focus on environmental issues(than the Bush/Cheney team?That shouldn't be difficult), and I think that's reason enough to hold out a little hope.

In short, Tim Dechristopher may very well have saved this land from being drilled, and he's got scores of support for his actions all over the country. This just goes to show that when you do the right thing in this country, people will usually respond accordingly.It seems that the spirit of American dissent is not dead after all.Tim Dechristopher is my new crush because he makes me feel a strange, unfamiliar emotion...Could it be pride in my country? Hmmmm...

Take care of each other.
xoxo


PS. For the record, I value other people's opinions and I don't assume that I'm absolutely right about everything! I would love to hear your opinion, no matter who you are. Leave comments, e-mail me, whatever. I'm always up for friendly debate.