Stray Thoughts on Current Events

Judge Wapner may actually be more qualified than Harriet Miers. All kidding aside, I am glad that the opposition to Miers was bi-partisan. The crony-ism is really getting disgusting...

As for the Plame stuff... I know I'm not the first one to bring this up--but if Democrats were suspected of leaking her identity, would Republicans not be screaming "TREASON!" and calling for justice? My point in bringing that up is to highlight the folly of partisan politics. It's all about making the other side look bad so you can beat them in the next election...

Salem will be electing a new mayor in a couple of weeks. Wifey and I watched the last debate on Salem Access TV last nite. My candidate of choice, Kim Driscoll, should really let me re-design her web site. However, she won the debate hands down. It was a slaughter. She answered every question directly and intelligently. Her opponent, Kevin Harvey, definitely has a better web site. However, all he said was "creative ideas," but he didn't seem to have any... I wouldn't even call it dancing around questions, because he wasn't graceful or smart about it. He didn't sidestep questions, he mostly ignored them and said what he was going to say anyway. He attacked Driscoll and her rebuttals destroyed every negative point he tried to bring up about her. She referenced one of his "creative ideas," which is to eliminate fees for school bussing and athletics. Sounds great, but Salem has a 3.5 million dollar budget deficit. Driscoll asked Harvey how much the cuts would cost the town and how he planned to make up for it without raising taxes (since he has taken the hard-line that he will not raise property taxes). She ended her question with "be specific." He said the amount of the fees couldn't be stated, since it changes all the time and then went on to say how the superintendent of schools endorses his campaign... Driscoll rebutted by stating the exact amount of what the fees are and then pointed out that Harvey hadn't offered any plans to replace that money in the budget. The rest of it was quite simmilar to that... To all the Salemites out there: I think the choice is clear...

What fish? What pond?

As a musician, I've been a big fish in a small pond before. And I've been a small fish in a big pond as well. But as a "blogger," I don't even know if there is a pond anymore... If there is one, we're all fishing in it simultaneously, and there's infinite fish.

Peter Savich responded to my recent blog post and my new myspace group. Aside from the many ways that this made me reflect upon myself as being cool and somewhat important, it also reminded me that the Internet is the way-coolest thing ever. I found his blog through chance at a mostly un-related site. He found my blog by looking at his web site's traffic log. Now he's talking about my blog on his and I'm talking about his blog on mine. We don't even know each other... Without the internet, we would have virtually no chance of ever realizing that we have simmilar ideas or linking those ideas together and learning from each other (well, I've learned from him at least) to form new and better ideas.

Right vs. Left? Or People vs. Corporations?

we in america have a problem. the government is not really by and for the people. we are so deeply stuck in the system of control and mind-manipulation that it's very difficult to see through the quagmire. people are being pitted against people--but the real fight we have is with corporate power over government.

if you're left-leaning--the problem is not the right or the republicans. if you're right-leaning--the problem is not the left or the democrats. the problem is the two party system. corporate politics. exponential growth. the overarching sense of entitlement that has been programmed into Americans... don't blame the bush regime. don't blame clinton. yes they are all crooked in some way and they are all to some extent war-profiteers. but we are where we are because the american people have supported the republicratic corporately run government for generations upon generations. we remain complacent consumers while our democracy is being overrun by corporate people. (thanks, tiny clause buried in the 14th amendment that gives corporations de facto personhood, what would we do without you?)

there is definitely something to fight for: but this should no longer be a battle between the left and right. it should be a battle between the interests of people and the interests of corporations--and we WAY outnumber them. the left vs. right debate is a tool used to drive a wedge between us and keep the people fighting amongst themselves rather than fighting against the corporate institutions that keep us economically enslaved to the system. but in actuality the people must stand united if we ever want an end to war and if we ever want our government to truly represent our needs and wants.

for a really in-depth look at this, check out Peter Savich's blog. check out his links titled "predictions" and "analysis." i don't know peter, but i have read about 95 percent of his blog. very very interesting stuff. his rant on how corporations are actually alien life forms is particularly hillarious. i know i've linked to it before, but it's just too awesome not to go back for seconds...

It's no easy road, any way you slice it...

Yes, it's a copy-and-paste article, which I'm not a big fan of doing in my blog, but it illustrates a point: even if we do act quickly to push alternatives to market, there are still major obstacles to overcome...

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HAMBURG - Sudden demand for rapeseed oil as biofuel means European Union rapeoil producers are increasingly sold out, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said.

"The combination of high energy prices and government interference - tax exemptions for biofuels - has created a severe imbalance that will gradually unfold repercussions in the world market," it said.

"The most obvious sign of the market being in disequilibrium is the fact that biodiesel as well as rapeoil are partly completely sold out in northern Europe," it said.

This has happened despite European Union rapeseed crushers and processors running at full capacity.

"A first reaction of the market is indicated in the sharply rising EU import demand for rapeseed oil, mainly from Canada," it said.

Strong demand for rapeseed oil as biofuel has had a major impact on prices, it said.

"Rapeseed oil prices in Rotterdam have reached new highs so far in October and established unprecedented price premiums over other vegetable oils," it said.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data

You just gotta love the Energy Information Agency... Tranparency!!!! They publish a Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data that shows us what we did this week, what we did this week one year ago, and what the cumulative difference between what we did this year and last year. I wonder if they just forgot to put some password protection or block this stuff from the search engines... "What--it's on the INTERNET?!?! We thought it was just on the INTRANET!!!!" But regardless, this and just about every other piece of important petrolium data is public and universally accesible on the Web... I frequently check the International Petroleum Information page...

For everyone who complains that the books are being cooked, the people are being duped, the oil companies are running away with our money!!!!!! Well... you're not entirely wrong. But the information is out there for the public to see. This is one case where no one is being duped. The information is available; there is no reason to believe the lies and half-truths...

OPEC denies increase in production

"Our attention has been drawn to some newswire reports quoting from an interview to be published in the German magazine Der Spiegel, that OPEC plans to announce an increase of its Member Countries crude oil production by just under 2 million barrels per day at the next Conference, scheduled for September 19-20, attributing the statement to the Acting Secretary General, Dr Adnan Shihab-Eldin.

We wish to state that the above statement is incorrect and does not reflect what Dr Shihab-Eldin told the Der Spiegel. "

I'm surprised I didn't see this earlier... It was published on 9/11/05.

Read the rest of it, straight from OPEC.

What's more, the false news of increases in production have fueled the fire of many Peak Oil debunking theories... An article from Infowars (beware, this article is wrought with lies and half-truths) cites another article from the BBC stating that OPEC is increasing production and goes on to say that shortages are a myth propagated by the oil industry to prop up prices. I suppose the author thought a BBC article was a more authoritative source on OPEC's production than OPEC itself...

USGS Global Oil Discovery Chart

The US Geological Survey's prediction of global oil discovery:

What does this mean? The line is past discovery. Past is... well... history. What's been already discovered. You will see a very clearly defined peak in discovery in the early 1970s. OK, so what's P95 and P5? According to geologists who have done very thorough studies and tests of the world to determine what is left in the earth, this is how much is left to find. P95 is what's 95 percent probable to be found, given geological conditions and past discovery history in such conditions. P5 is what's 5 percent likely to be found given the same. Mean is the average of those two probablilties... And the mean is what's reported as THE number.

...

mind boggligly stupid, eh? let's say i were to plan my finances this way... ok, given thorough study, I'm 95 percent likely to earn X$, and I'm 5 percent likely to earn 10X$. So to figure out how much I should spend... i'll just average them together! My calculations show that I actually will make 5.5 times more than it is 95 percent likely that I will actually make, so I can spend accordingly. brilliant! given the current trends in debt and bankruptcy, i think more people than just the USGS use this method...

it's a pyramid scheme--both debt spending and oil consumption. these "houses of cards" are co-dependant... and they're looking rather shakey...

How many disasters, how many terrorist attacks?

In our recent history, how many terrorist attacks have occured on US soil?
3
The Oklahoma City bombing
The WTC parking garage bombing
The 9/11 WTC strike / Pentagon Strike

These disasters led to several thousand deaths and are truly horrible events. In no way do I endeavor to make light of them.

In our recent history, how many natural disasters have occured on US soil?
In 2005 alone, there have been 34 major disasters declared by FEMA. How many of these have been terrorist attacks? 0

Disaster in the making: As FEMA weathers a storm of Bush administration policy and budget changes, protection from natural hazards may be trumped by “homeland security”. That article is dated 9/22/2004, and in the wake of destruction left by Katrina and Rita, it has proven somewhat prophetic...

In general, the percentage of disaster declarations from terrorist attacks is minute. Less than 1percent of US disasters in recent history have been terrorism-related. Yet we have gutted FEMA, made them part of the Dept of Homeland Security, and force communities and states to spend millions on "terrorism preparedness training," syphoning money away from programs like repairing the levees in New Orleans or preparation for any other sort of disaster. We have diverted billions of dollars from responding to and mitigating the effects of natural disasters into "preventing" and preparing for a terrorist attack. Local agencies are not allowed to touch money allocated for fighting terrorism in any other way.

This overspending and fixation on the horror of terrorism leaves us in a state of constant terror-fear and completely unprepared and underfunded to deal with the much more common disasters that kill Americans in greater numbers and with VASTLY greater frequency than terrorist attacks.

Solution: The Uppsala Depletion Protocol

There is a solution. It requires nations to act decisively to lessen their dependence upon hydrocardbons. It is bold, progressive, forward thinking--and it will work. If any one country adopts the Protocol, things get better for that country. Of course global cooperation makes things better, but it is not neccessary for this to work on a country-by-country basis. The countries that do accept it will be better of. The countries who do not will be worse off. Check it out, tell your comgresspeople and senators that they'd better support this...

The Uppsala Depletion Protocol

Richard Heinberg's take on the Uppsala Protocol (analysis and commentary. very good)