Politics – Miscellaneous – Page 5 – education and deconstruction.com

Crazy Town

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

The Book of the Week is “Crazy Town, The Rob Ford Story” by Robyn Doolittle, published in 2014.

In this volume, the author described political shenanigans before, during and after a mayor of a major world-class city was caught: on video committing a shocking act, behaving badly, spouting inflammatory nonsense, and palling around with criminals. Canadian-style.

These cobbled-together writings of Doolittle, an investigative journalist, were chronologically disorganized and thus became redundant, but she did take a lot of trouble to fact-check and make the story suspenseful.

Rob Ford was born into a wealth family in May 1969 in a Toronto suburb. He and his siblings spent their own money to get him elected to the city council in 2000. For more than a decade, he amassed a grass-roots base of supporters whom he helped personally. Ford remained a “loose cannon” even after he and his siblings hired political consultants to advise him on how to get elected mayor of Toronto in 2010. He promised voters he would minimize taxes, cut the budget on subsidies of events and programs of a cultural nature, and cancel an already-in-progress, above-ground, light-railway project to plan and build a subway project instead.

In early 2011, Ford could brag that he had balanced Toronto’s budget without service reductions or tax increases. However, he got away with that only because he was coasting on surpluses from his predecessor’s prior years. By autumn, he was forced to propose budget cuts. As of spring 2012, “According to three former staff members and a close confidant, senior staff had been trying to get Ford into rehab for more than a year. They believed his drinking was affecting his job.”

The author considered the aforementioned video, “the scoop of the century.” Really?? Political wrongdoing has become a cliche in the past couple of centuries, even for world leaders, not just mayors. It has become trivial in recent decades because people have become desensitized to it. The scoop of the century really ought to be breaking news of a truly world-changing event that is, for instance, associated with large-scale genocide and / or atrocities, such as Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the dropping of the atom bombs, or 9/11.

There are always going to be celebrity scandals, but global game-changers merit mention in the history books. They have big ideas behind them– although tabloid trivia is entertaining and a welcome distraction from infuriating and depressing politics.

Anyway, read the book to learn Ford’s entertaining story.

Two Cronies in the Sun – BONUS POST

As is well known, together, American president Donald Trump and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an end to the war in Gaza. Here’s a little ditty about that.

TWO CRONIES IN THE SUN

sung to the tune of “Take the Money and Run” with apologies to the Steve Miller band, and to whomever else the rights may concern.

This here’s a story ’bout Donald Trump and Netanyahu,

two old leaders with nothing better to do, than abuse their power from on high and lie about their feats.

They got to keep their jobs when they decided to make peace.

In the public square, they shot their reality show.

That’s where they continued to polish their mythical glow.

Donald Trump claimed he stopped the Gaza war.

Netanyahu told everyone he won.

Two cronies in the sun,

two cronies in the sun

put their foes under the gun.

Peaceful society is done.

Fox News had their software at the scene.

They spliced together propaganda to make Trump look keen.

These two never answer to justice.

They wasted tons of their peoples’ taxes.

Netanyahu’s been immortalized forever and a day.

Donald Trump’s footnotes in history will never fade away.

They got their power, hey, they seized the day.

They own the world that they’re still running today.

Singing, two cronies in the sun

put their foes under the gun.

Peaceful society is done.

Two cronies in the sun

put their foes under the gun.

Peaceful society is done.

Two cronies in the sun

put their foes under the gun.

Peaceful society is done…

Trump’s-Sweet Payback Time – BONUS POST

[ Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

As is well known, American president Donald Trump is thoroughly enjoying wreaking revenge on everyone who is on his enemies list. Here’s a little song about that.

TRUMP’S-SWEET PAYBACK TIME

sung to the tune of “Sweet Caroline” with apologies to Neil Diamond and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Trump’s always mad, he never fails to show it.

Who’d have believed he’d rule so long?

Fox helps this king, keeps his messaging humming.

Who’d have believed his base is so strong?

Plans, witch hunting plans. Reaching out.

Witch hunting me. Witch hunting you.

Trump’s-SWEET payback time.

Putdowns never seemed so crude.

Democrats will be kind,

to turn around the national mood.

But now, we, look at “Spy vs. Spy.”

The Right’s smearing’s so lowly.

Both sides fed up. It makes voters blue.

And the Left’s been hurt. The Right’s been growing colder.

Lately, what’s the Right done for you?

Force, witch hunting with force. Reaching out.

Witch hunting me. Witch hunting you.

Trump’s-SWEET payback time.

Putdowns never seemed so crude.

Democrats will be kind,

to turn around the national mood.

Oh no, no.

Trump’s-SWEET payback time.

Putdowns never seemed so crude.

Trump’s-SWEET payback time.

Putdowns never seemed so crude.

Trump’s-SWEET…

Bondi – BONUS POST

As is well known, lately, Trump has been using U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as a messenger in carrying out his policies. Here’s a song about that.

BONDI

sung to the tune of “Windy” with apologies to The Association, and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Who’s sparking outrage in the streets of the cities

in Trump’s name of force and fear?

Who’s cashing in with others in the shutdown?

Everyone knows it’s Bondi.

Who’s asking for help of federal agencies,

firing the DOJ rivals she sees?

Who’s acting out of loyalty to her overlord?

Everyone knows it’s Bondi.

And Bondi violates hu-man rights.

And Bondi re-lates Trump’s lies.

And Bondi has Trump’s foes to indict,

to please her crowd, to please her crowd, to please her crowd, to please her crowd.

And Bondi violates hu-man rights.

And Bondi re-lates Trump’s lies.

And Bondi has Trump’s foes to indict,

to please her crowd, to please her crowd, to please her crowd, to please her crowd.

Who’s asking for help of federal agencies,

firing the DOJ rivals she sees?

Who’s acting out of loyalty to her overlord?

Everyone knows it’s Bondi.

Who’s asking for help of federal agencies,

firing the DOJ rivals she sees?

Who’s acting out of loyalty to her overlord?

Everyone knows it’s Bondi.

Who’s asking for help of federal agencies,

firing the DOJ rivals she sees?

Who’s acting out of loyalty to her overlord?

Everyone knows it’s Bondi.

Who’s asking for help of federal agencies,

firing the DOJ rivals she sees?

Who’s acting out of loyalty to her overlord?

Everyone knows it’s Bondi.

Who’s asking for help of federal agencies,

firing the DOJ rivals she sees…

Let There Be Water

The Book of the Week is “Let There Be Water, Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World” by Seth M. Siegel, published in 2015. For this redundant, wordy volume, the author obviously simply slapped together all his past articles on the subject, without regard to organizing them. His main message was: Hire Israel to provide expertise on water management– to save time, energy, and the earth!

Anyway, in Israel, all water ownership and usage is controlled by the government. Its socialist philosophy is: do the greatest good for the greatest number. Water is an essential resource for humans. Israel’s tiny geography and population allow its government to more or less dictate policies that minimize damage done by selfish, greedy people who hoard essential resources– much more easily than can a nation like the U.S.

In 1937, Levi Eshkol, Simcha Blass and their cronies co-founded and launched a water company called Mekorot. It became a capitalist entity in bed with Israel’s government, but profit can be a good motivator for spurring innovation, and improving people’s lives. Financial conflicts of interest can be forgiven in this case, as the water-entrepreneurs made significant positive contributions to the physical and economic health of the young nation, developing the best water-distribution method for farming.

Conservative Republican Americans would actually scream SOCIALIST!!! at such a system. It works in Israel. As is well known, such a system does not work in the United States because it encourages citizens to start entrepreneurial ventures via financial assistance while also taxing the super-rich on the back-end for having taken advantage of existing infrastructure and front-end incentives. In America, there is little to no taxing on the back-end for the super-rich.

Anyway, in 1949, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion struck a deal with Germany for the latter to pay WWII reparations for lost and stolen property of the Jews. Those funds, and donations by American Jews, through the next few decades, were spent on constructing water infrastructure, such as fault-tolerant water pipelines, environmentally friendly waterways, and waterfront tourist-attractions.

In the 1950’s, the Knesset began passing laws regulating the country’s water system. Israel’s geography, topography and meteorology are diverse from north to south, and present challenging desert-related conditions, so it’s complicated and expensive to deliver safe, reliable, available water to its citizens. The water experts found that recycling sewage by filtering it three different times and ways, made it potable. In 2008, the Israeli government began to make its people pay for the real cost of delivering their water.

Read the book to learn much more about Israel’s water expertise, and how it is changing the world.

Zbig

The Book of the Week is “Zbig, The life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America’s Great Power Prophet” by Edward Luce, published in 2025. In this slightly sloppily edited tome, the author threw in the kitchen sink on every historical event that occurred during Brzezinski’s lifetime. Yes, Brzezinski was a major influencer of certain events, but such brief descriptions are overwhelming (or tedious and boring!) for young students of history. For more knowledgeable readers, this is a reference book.

Anyway, Brzezinski’s ancestors were royal family members in what is now Poland. Brzezinski was born in 1928 in Warsaw, but spent his early childhood in various European countries. In autumn 1938, his family fled Europe for Montreal, Canada. He became a Canadian citizen in 1951, and an American citizen in 1958.

Academically, Brzezinski was a genius. He won all sorts of awards. Together, he and Carl Friedrich of Harvard’s Department of Government theorized about totalitarianism of the U.S.S.R. In their book, they wrote of its traits: a monopoly on violence and communications, a majority group who truly believes in their ideology which is imposed officially, ruling by fear and force via law enforcement, and a government-directed economy. But the U.S.S.R. didn’t have a majority group of true believers; it was comprised of diverse territories and peoples. Sounds familiar.

In the second half of twentieth century, Brzezinski’s counterpart turned out to be Henry Kissinger, president Nixon’s foreign-policy sidekick. Kissinger had been born in Europe, had a foreign accent in the United States, was multilingual, and was enjoying a brilliant career. When Brzezinski saw what Kissinger had achieved, he realized he himself had a chance to do the same. He did, as president Jimmy Carter’s foreign-policy sidekick.

After the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957, the CIA claimed that Khrushchev said the U.S.S.R. would economically catch up to the United States by 1970. Kissinger agreed with the CIA, that that would happen. Brzezinski personally visited the U.S.S.R. and saw that it was in decline. His writings contradicted the prevailing Cold War nonsense.

It was unclear whether the CIA was extremely incompetent in its intelligence-gathering, or was lying in order to incite Cold War animosity among the American masses. Journalists would call such dishonesty, “disingenuous” but nowadays, the public is wise to propaganda such as that. There is hyper-awareness of the general conditions of every country of the world.

Brzezinski became obsessed with convincing those around him that the world should simply let the U.S.S.R. dig its own grave. In 1972, he, along with a few other alpha males with hubris syndrome, founded the Trilateral Commission. It was a nonpartisan think tank that contemplated the geopolitics of the future. The opinions the Trilateral Commission expressed were perceived as evil in different ways on both sides of the political spectrum. That might have been intentional. Currently, all think-tanks are partisan, but there is still this kind of super-rich boys’ club running the United States.

Kissinger, knowing journalists find it easier to write stories about colorful characters who make foreign-policy rather than write stories about complicated foreign-policy issues, played the media. He stroked their egos. Brzezinski accused him of flip-flopping, but the two maintained a relationship of healthy disagreement and civil discourse; they kept the drama going to stay in the headlines in order to stay relevant.

Read the book to learn much, much more about Brzezinski and his times.

The cliche is true: The more things change, the more they stay the same. In the last forty years, three presidents of the United States have become senile while in office: Ronald Reagan, Joseph Biden and Donald Trump. Here’s a song about that, and other universal political conundrums.

EVERYTHING IS CYCLICAL

sung to the tune of “Everything is Beautiful” with apologies to Ray Stevens and to whomever else the rights may concern.

A politician loves his flock of voters,

all the voters of his world.

He’s always ready to fight.

He cares nothing for wrong or right.

A politician loves his flock of voters in his world.

Everything’s political, in the current leaders’ reign.

In the last forty years in America,

three prezzes covered up their senile brains.

Everything’s cyclical, in its own way. It’s human psychology.

The pendulum’s gonna swing the other way.

The voter is in a bind, as backroom deals he cannot see.

We must prepare for what’s in the minds, of our leaders who say we’re free.

At every election, the hypocrites are standing by.

You know candidates’ resentments smolder.

It’s time to take action on ethics and grow up.

Honest stakeholders need to get bolder.

Everything’s political, in the current leaders’ reign.

In the last forty years in America,

three prezzes covered up their senile brains.

Everything’s cyclical, in its own way. It’s human psychology.

The pendulum’s gonna swing the other way.

We shouldn’t care about Trump’s unruly hair, or his apish orange skin. We must focus on his crimes and make sure they don’t happen again.

We need to work together now. Dictatorship is out. Fine.

Stop wasting time on trivial distractions, my friend, and pay liars no mind.

Everything’s political, in the current leaders’ reign.

In the last forty years in America,

three prezzes covered up their senile brains.

Everything’s cyclical, in its own way. It’s human psychology.

The pendulum’s gonna swing the other way.

Everything’s political, in the current leaders’ reign.

In the last forty years in America…

Behind the Charged Talk – BONUS POST

Speaking of the current greedy, selfish leadership in the United States, here’s a song about it.

BEHIND THE CHARGED TALK

sung to the tune of “Under the Boardwalk” with apologies to The Drifters, their estates, and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Oh, when the prez doubles down

and raises a stir just for a GOOF,

and opinion shows get so hot and tiresome,

you give up on hearing the TRUTH.

Behind the charged talk,

away from D.C., yeah,

on a junket with his golf clubs,

is where Trump’ll be.

Behind the charged talk,

Trump’s brain is done.

Behind the charged talk,

real issues, he’ll shun.

Behind the charged talk,

wild lies are spun.

Behind the charged talk,

Trump’s cronies have won.

Behind the charged talk, charged talk.

From talking-heads you hear

the oppressive clout of the president.

You can keenly feel the stark wrongs

the rich guys, commit.

Behind the charged talk,

away from D.C., yeah,

on a junket with his golf clubs,

is where Trump’ll be.

Behind the charged talk,

Trump’s brain is done.

Behind the charged talk,

real issues, he’ll shun.

Behind the charged talk,

wild lies are spun.

Behind the charged talk,

Trump’s cronies have won.

Behind the charged talk, charged talk.

Behind the charged talk,

away from D.C., yeah,

on a junket with his golf clubs,

is where Trump’ll be.

Behind the charged talk,

Trump’s brain is done.

Behind the charged talk,

real issues, he’ll shun.

Behind the charged talk,

wild lies are spun.

Behind the charged talk,

Trump’s cronies have won.

Behind the charged talk, charged talk.

The Forgotten Founding Father

The Book of the Week is “The Forgotten Founding Father, Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture” by Joshua Kendall, published in 2010.

Webster was born in October 1758 in western Hartford, CT. His 1778 Yale class consisted of forty graduates. In the 1780’s, he created a spelling and grammar primer for early childhood education that improved upon the then-standard text. It used phonics to teach pronunciation. He believed that Americans– who had recently declared their independence from Britain– should develop their own style of English, to differentiate themselves.

In 1782, beginning with Maine and Vermont, northeastern colonies passed laws on the copyrighting of original literary works. Even though the U.S. Constitution was ratified in June 1788, federal law superseded state law only after Congress passed a law granting a fourteen-year copyright term in 1790.

Throughout his life, Webster propagandized via publishing inflammatory, libelous, anonymous writings in the major newspapers in the states in which he lived– Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.

Webster also was one of the first people to collect data on Americans. In 1785 and 1786, he traveled around the thirteen colonies and counted the number of homes (from a few hundred to a few thousand) in major cities. To financially support himself, he went on the lecture circuit. He was a capitalist at heart.

“Webster thus was counting on the Philological Society to help him cash in on the passage of the Constitution which suddenly improved the commercial prospects for his books.” He could sell his federally copyrighted book more efficiently with less competition, by arguing that standardized school curricula in all the states, would help unify the country.

However, around 1812, when Webster was elected as Representative in the Massachusetts statehouse, he reversed himself on Federalism, and instead advocated states’ rights. He jumped on the bandwagon in attempting to oust president James Madison. His political views were liable to change with his strategic interests– as do those of any opportunistic, power and money-hungry alpha male.

In late 1828, Webster’s American Dictionary, containing about seventy thousand words, was introduced to America. At the dawn of the 1830’s, “Having personally lobbied the executive and legislative branches of government, Webster did not neglect the judiciary. He was hoping to get the Supreme Court to unite behind a certificate in support of his dictionary.”

Read the book to learn about Webster’s other lifetime achievements, and his times.

As can be seen, there’s nothing new under the sun since Noah Webster’s generation. Here’s a song about that.

POLITICAL HEROES

sung to the tune of “Celluloid Heroes” (the long version) with apologies to The Kinks, and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Every candidate’s a schemer, and every candidate is bought, and every candidate hires bullies. Most lie without a second thought. There are fixers at every level, from the White House to the streets. And you can read about their districts and political-wards. Their myths are written with every tweet.

Don’t be unfair to The Donald, as you review his sordid past. He was persistently hostile and agile. He amassed enough power to last. He attempted a coup with his cronies, and sat himself on a throne, but he ended up golfing and babbling, because his dictatorship got old.

You can see armored cars as you drive around their districts and political-wards, bigwigs who have LEGacies. Most you’ve never even heard of. They have their entourages and consultants and volunteers in their campaigns. The ones who succeed have the best public-relations brains.

President Donald Trump looks very vacant indeed. AI software does his public-addresses. HE can no longer lead.

Avoid disparaging Donald Trump or you’re in for a legal fight, and worship Donald Trump because his was such a glorious life.

If you said “Voting for him, you’re garbage,” Donald Trump would smear you good, and when you voted against Donald Trump, he cried “fraud!” and sent in his hoods.

Please don’t TREAD now on dearest Donald, ’cause he’s actually TACO, not tough. He should have begun younger in campaigning. Too bad he’s only made OF flesh and blood.

Every candidate’s a schemer, and every candidate is bought, and every candidate’s in show biz. Most lie without a second thought. And those who are successful are always on their guard. They’ve got lawyers, judges and thugs, in their districts and political-wards.

Political life is a nonstop soap-opera media show. An angry, nasty world of real-life villains and heroes.

Political heroes always personally gain. And political heroes seize-the-day in their TIME.

Political life is a nonstop soap-opera media show. An angry, nasty world of real-life villains and heroes.

Political heroes always personally gain. And political heroes seize-the-day in their TIME.

His Majesty’s Airship

“The New York Post wrote, ‘No more funds of American taxpayers [should] be squandered on these useless gasbags.’ “

The above is NOT a comment about the 2025 New York City mayoral candidates, but is a 1935 comment in reaction to the series of American airship crashes that killed hundreds of people.

The Book of the Week is “His Majesty’s Airship, The Life and Tragic Death of the World’s Largest Flying Machine” by S.C. Gwynne, published in 2023. In this sloppily edited, chronologically disordered, wordy, redundant (but suspenseful) volume, the author recounts the history of airships through the late 1930’s.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, the Germans racked up significant construction- and flying-expertise with regard to airships with rigid frames. However, they had an abysmal safety record. They papered that over with jingoistic propaganda. The 1910’s saw a few conditions established to make airship flights less risky: flying only in summer and in clear weather with only light winds.

There was a high risk of fire because the hydrogen that filled the airships is easily combustible with just one spark. Helium is less so, but was expensive and difficult to obtain or make, and the Americans controlled the small quantity that was easily accessible.

The German government got the idea that in the event of a war, it could destroy cities at night via airships much more efficiently than it could with ground troops. In WWI, its submarines were actually more effective, because Britain wised up quickly– training searchlights on the airships, and shooting them into fireballs. By 1917, warplanes had become superior to airships, even with their mechanical problems.

Anyway, the author went off on a tangent, detailing the life-histories of a few different royal family members– main characters in the airships story. One such character was Lord Christopher Birdwood Thomson. Beginning in spring 1924, he persuaded the British government to execute his big idea of contracting with a company to make airships a fun, efficient form of global, public transportation.

The author tossed around the term “socialism” but did not elaborate. He described two competing British airship projects; one as capitalist, and the other as socialist. Here is a clarification (more details of which can be found in this blog’s post, “The Last Idealist” about Norman Thomas, in the “Politics – Systems” category):

With SOCIALISM, the people collectively own entities, and share and share alike. These can be profit-seeking businesses; or the government can own entities that provide essential services– health, education, welfare and large public transportation entities– that should not be profit-seeking (but some of their subcontractors are, anyway).

With COMMUNISM, the government owns profit-seeking entities (businesses) in whole or in part (as in the former Soviet Union and China). So yes, these include public-private partnerships in which there are clearly outrageous conflicts of interest that result in patronage and profiteering. So, arguably, the former Soviet Union and China have both Socialism and Communism to a large degree. The U.S. is not far behind anymore.

Furthermore, in America, the super-rich who pay no income tax, salve their consciences through philanthropy, which allows them to propagandize that they’re helping the poor. BUT income tax revenues are pooled so that they could end up getting spent on anything in the political budget. The super-rich specifically choose where to donate their money– whom to help, and it is a tiny percentage of poor people who are helped, compared with the number who are helped if money is provided through income tax!

Anyway, read the book to learn the outcome of the flight of R101 (hint: a large, expensive project run by alpha males with hubris syndrome– in which Darwin award candidates partake– rarely ends well) plus lots more historical background that explains why rigid airships are a thing of the past.

As is well known, the American government has been a large, expensive project run mostly by alpha males with hubris syndrome. Given the current overwhelming influences of money and sophisticated messaging via global, sophisticated communications technology, individuals need not even be physically present anymore to run the government. Like Elon Musk, they can be a mastermind of national policies in absentia. Here’s what Musk is singing now.

AMERICA

sung to the tune of “Africa” with apologies to Toto and to whomever else the rights may concern.

See my influence echoing on the Right.

These are the results of our secret conversations.

I and Trump pretended to have a fight.

Withdrawal from D.C. has let me discreetly plot to save my nation.

I learned from my old man along the way,

looking to amass resources to impose my brand of supremacy.

I turn to forceful people for-pay.

Scan the whole world, is I all have to DO.

It won’t take a lot to make my dreams come true.

My money has such power, I can lord it over you.

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

Trump’s taking this time to do the things we always pla-a-a-anned. ooh ooh

We reach out to our friends on the Right,

and we’ve grown prosperous, assisted by our hegemonic companies.

I know I’m doing what is right, sure as I am aiming to gradually rid the White House of democracy.

I need world conquest, deep inside.

Priming the pump for the great times to come.

It won’t take a lot to make my dreams come true.

My money has such power, I can lord it over you.

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

Trump’s taking this time to do the things we always pla-a-a-anned. ooh ooh

Scan the world is all I have to DO.

It won’t take a lot to make my dreams come true.

My money has such power, I can lord it over you.

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

(I act behind-the-scenes)

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

(I act behind-the-scenes)

I act behind-the-scenes in America.

(Trump’s taking this time)

Trump’s taking this time to do the things we always pla-a-a-anned. ooh ooh

Wild Chocolate

The Book of the Week is “Wild Chocolate, Across the Americas in Search of Cacao’s Soul” by Rowan Jacobsen, published in 2024. in this wordy, redundant volume, the author described in great detail, the single-digits 2000’s trend:

In fragmented and complex ways, individuals and families have become the stewards of cacao trees and in environmentally friendly ways, have harvested their beans that are made into high-quality, expensive chocolate sold worldwide. The trend has been comparable to that of microbreweries of the 1990’s. The takeaway was that no one can corner the cacao-bean market anymore.

The author listed just a few different source-countries of cacao trees– Belize, Guatemala, Trinidad, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. He also described just a few of the risks and dangers associated with the numerous steps of the complicated process of how chocolate products are made. Among them:

lack of access to cacao trees (when the kingpins of the cocaine trade are occupying the remote areas of the Amazon rain forest, or Mexico, where the trees grow);
the flooding of a river around the cacao trees;
lack of fermentation and drying sheds to accommodate the amount of beans harvested;
ruination of an entire batch of beans due to mishaps in connection with food chemistry; and
problems caused by animals’ (electric eels, anacondas, crocodiles, and tucanderas, etc.) sharing the same habitat as the cacao trees.

The author visited the Bolivian Amazon rain forest where the Indigenous tribes do slash-and-burn agriculture, growing rice and herding cattle. By the 1990’s, urbanites were deforesting the region for farming. In 1991, Volker Lehmann, a member of the German Volunteer Service (the equivalent of America’s Peace Corps) sought to re-forest the region via the wild cacao tree. He had to talk to the Chiname tribe.

In June 1991 in Bolivia, the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States raided the cocaine labs in Santa Ana de Yucuma, but the cocaine trade continued, because growing coca plants (and poppies for the heroin trade) was still more lucrative than the alternative crops of bananas, pineapple or hearts of palm, offered by the German Volunteer Service.

Read the book to learn much more about how much time, effort and expense goes into making chocolate products.

ENDNOTE: The author interchangeably used the terms “jungle” and “rainforest” but they are different.