Beardy Guy Musings

And why shouldn’t he?! Anything goes in the war on tarrar!

It’s been all over the news since the end of last week and really, it comes as no surprise. Juan Cole has an excellent post on Bush Spying on Americans:

Wire tapping the telephones of American citizens without a court order is illegal.

They impeached Clinton for a minor dalliance in which he didn’t even get to third base. But just taking the Constitution and pushing it through the shredder, why that is just fine and dandy.

He really does believe that it is just a piece of paper, and he is the Prince of the Realm who may do as he pleases, isn’t he?

The answer to Ben Franklin’s comment about what sort of government the constitution enshrined–“A republic, if you can keep it”– has been answered. We’ve lost it, folks. We’ve got George III in the White House. And, it is now often forgotten, that George was looney as the day is long, too.

' Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. ‘

That Bush was doing this wasn’t even known. How much more is not known?

It was a good run, this United States of America with its Constitution and its Bill of Rights. How sad that a gang of unscrupulous criminals has been allowed to subvert its basic values altogether.

Is there even a single one of the guarantees in the Bill of Rights that Bush and his henchmen have not by now abrogated by royal fiat?

And why? Because of a single attack by a few hijackers from a small terrorist organization? The thousands lost in the Revolutionary War did not deter the Founding Fathers from enshrining these rights in the Constitution! The fledgling American Republic was far more unstable and facing far more dangers when this document was passed into law than the unchallengeable hyperpower that now bestrides the globe as a behemoth.

Have we lost our minds?

I think the fact that this man is still the president of the U.S. certainly answers the question.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Impeachment, Privacy, Bill of Rights

Technorati Tags: Bill of Rights, George Bush, Impeachment, Privacy

This is a post I’ve thought about many times but never written. It’s about work and employment. I suppose it’s about what we do with our lives and why we do it. About the impact of our lives upon the planet. Also, I want to note that Dave over at Capital Region People recently invited me to guest blog over there so this post is there as well. A big thanks to Dave for the invite!

Jobs, Feet, and Bikes
A little background context for those that don’t know me. From 1992 - 2004 I lived in Memphis, TN. During my time there I worked at a health food store, bike shop, university library, and a non-profit adult literacy agency. In addition I volunteered in a variety of community projects. The point is that I chose my employment based, in part, on my perception of it’s social and ecological worthiness.

With two exceptions all of my jobs in Memphis were within walking or biking distance. My favorite transport was my bike or walking. Both modes are generally much less stressful than driving and far more enjoyable to the senses! Riding the bus is generally stress free and allows for a short walk to the bus stop and reading during the ride. My last job in Memphis was 3 miles away and I ended up driving this because I re-injured my knee five years ago and am no longer able to ride a bike. I walked that 3 miles a few times but that is two hours a day and I rarely did it. I tried an electric scooter for a year but it was one of the first available and often did not make the full 3 miles. Overall, in the course of the 12 years I walked or cycled an average of 60% of my travel. Not too bad but could have been better. When I did drive it was usually 6-7 miles per day.

A thought about walking: We should do much more of it than we do and I don’t just mean taking walks to be taking walks though that is certainly enjoyable. We should walk as transport. Should I leave the countryside to live in a city again I will do the same as before. It’s not really that difficult to find housing in a neighborhood that has an integration of food sources, social gather spaces, public library, etc. Living in the countryside this is not so easy and in truth it’s not possible for me. The closest town is 11 miles away.

Working less, using less
Which brings me to the present moment. I left Memphis in early 2004 and since that time I have not been employed. I’ve had a handful of contract jobs doing a variety of tech-related projects. I’ve gone from a life of activism and daily travel to one of quiet non-participation. My car sits for weeks at a time without being started. My only purchases are food. In the past five years I’ve purchased (new) 1 swimming suit, 6-8 pairs of socks, 1 pair of boots, 15-20 (?) pairs of boxer shorts, 2 t-shirts. I’ve purchased (used) 2-3 pairs of pants, 2 sweaters, 4-5 shirts. When I left Memphis all of my possessions fit into my 1992 Toyota Tercel. Actually, that’s not totally true. I left many books to be used and enjoyed by my previous housemates. I also left a bed that I’d gotten off a curb and a few records. My little desk, purchased used over 15 years ago, was just a tad too big to fit in the Tercel so it was transported separately. Still, not too bad.

Over the years I’ve purchased several computers and several hard drives. One of those traveled around as a donation to several users. Last I’d heard it finally stopped working 2 years ago. Not too bad given I purchased it in 1997. My other computers are, as far as I’m aware still in use with the folks that purchased them from me. My current laptop is 2 years old and I expect to keep it at least one more year, possibly two more depending on future employment and the laptop’s durability. I’ll probably use this till it breaks rather than sell it off.

Community, Family, and Energy Resources
I don’t have any children, no spouse or partner… at least not at the moment and probably not in the near future. I do have a dog… actually she has me… yes, it’s true, I have a co-dependent relationship with a dog.

So now I come closer to the point. Why do we work? What’s the point? Really, when you get down to it, why do we work? Of course add the responsibility of raising children and things get a bit complicated. But for those of us who have chosen not to have children why do we work? Why do we buy the things we buy? Do we consider the social and ecological costs of our purchases? Do we purchase and use only what is absolutely necessary? Is our employment contributing to the betterment of society or the ecological health of our planet? Is our employment contributing to negatives in society or ecology?

At this moment I’m living with family again. I was away for 12 years living in, and trying to create, a community of activism. As much as I enjoyed that life I’m enjoying this one too. It’s very different. I think I’m still looking for that sense of community, sense of interconnection with my fellow humans but for the first time since being an adult I’m looking to my family for these things. I’ve come to think that the western mode of social organization took a turn for the worse many years ago. In the U.S. this seemed to happen in the 1950s and can be summed up in one word: Suburbia. What it comes down to is we’ve created a life-way, a culture, based upon the automobile and the nuclear family. It’s not working. Not for us and not for our planet.

We have now come to it. Peak energy and climate change are upon us. What will we do collectively? What will you do personally?

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, Consumerism, Working Less, Conservation

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Conservation, Consumerism, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, Working Less

Here we go again. As the governments of countries all over the planet move to deal with the problem of climate change the US, under the leadership of Bush and Co. refuse to cooperate. The Telegraph reports:

The United States was isolated last night after refusing to sign a deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions agreed by the rest of the world.

Delegates representing 180 countries at a UN conference committed themselves to speed up climate change measures agreed in the 1997 Kyoto treaty.

But the Americans - who have refused to ratify Kyoto over fears that it will damage its economy - staged a walk-out and refused to agree to a new era of talks to find a successor to the treaty, which runs out in 2012.

President George W Bush's administration was criticised by his predecessor, Bill Clinton, who addressed delegates in Montreal yesterday.

Mr Clinton said to loud applause that there should be a 'serious commitment to a clean-energy future'.

If existing clean energy and conservation technologies were applied in full, he said, America could 'meet and surpass Kyoto targets easily in a way that would strengthen, not weaken, [its] economy'.

Mr Clinton referred to plans by 192 American mayors, representing 40 million people, to cut emissions by the amount America signed up to under Kyoto when he was president.

As if that is not bad enough we also learn that energy companies such as ExxonMobil went one step further and have been working behind the scenes to developed a plan to derail progress on the Kyoto treaty:

A detailed and disturbing strategy document has revealed an extraordinary American plan to destroy Europe's support for the Kyoto treaty on climate change.

The ambitious, behind-the-scenes plan was passed to The Independent this week, just as 189 countries are painfully trying to agree the second stage of Kyoto at the UN climate conference in Montreal. It was pitched to companies such as Ford Europe, Lufthansa and the German utility giant RWE.

Put together by a lobbyist who is a senior official at a group partly funded by ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil company and a fierce opponent of anti-global warming measures, the plan seeks to draw together major international companies, academics, think-tanks, commentators, journalists and lobbyists from across Europe into a powerful grouping to destroy further EU support for the treaty.

That's American "democracy": policy by and for corporate interests. "Our" government is the problem... we are the problem. Let's be very clear on that last point, we are the problem. All of us. We have allowed this take over of the U.S. government and it's policies. Of course I and others have argued that the system was never really meant to be by the people for the people.

Of course it's not just a problem of government is it? It is a problem of people and the culture we create in conjunction with government and the corporate control of economy. It is a problem of social planning and the design of physical space. It is a problem of agricultural systems, manufacturing, and transportation.

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Kyoto, George Bush

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, George Bush, Kyoto

Michael Billington of the Guardian has an excellent write-up of Harold Pinter’s recent Nobel lecture:

“At one point, for instance, Pinter argued that ‘the United States supported and in many cases engendered every rightwing military dictatorship in the world after the end of the second world war’. He then proceeded to reel off examples. But the clincher came when Pinter, with deadpan irony, said: ‘It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening, it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest.’ In a few sharp sentences, Pinter pinned down the willed indifference of the media to publicly recorded events. He also showed how language is devalued by the constant appeal of US presidents to ‘the American people’. This was argument by devastating example. As Pinter repeated the lulling mantra, he proved his point that ‘The words ‘the American people’ provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance.’ Thus Pinter brilliantly used a rhetorical device to demolish political rhetoric."

Rock on with your bad self Mr. Pinter. Full text of Pinter’s Nobel lecture.

Technorati Tags: Harold Pinter, Iraq, US Foreign Policy, War

Technorati Tags: Harold Pinter, Iraq, US Foreign Policy, War

The reality of energy is starting to kick this country in it’s collective nuts. The closing of factories due to energy costs is scattered for the moment but it will intensify. Imagine our economy and our way of life as we begin to experience shortages.

Vicki Lee Parker writing for the North Carolina news paper discusses what happens when The News & Observer energy costs hit N.C. manufacturing plants:

“This winter, hundreds of manufacturing employees across the state will head to the unemployment office. Among them will be at least 150 workers from the Pine Hall Brick company.

For the month of January, the Winston-Salem company will shut down half its production, chief executive Fletcher Steele said.

The culprit: high energy bills.

Since hurricanes Katrina and Rita disrupted the gas supply, Pine Hall Brick’s monthly gas bill has doubled.

In August, the company paid $700,000 for the natural gas it uses to power the kilns that heat the raw materials used to make the bricks, Steele said. In October, the bill was $1.4 million. ‘It shocks a lot of people,’ he said. In 2001, Steele said, the company was paying just $200,000 a month.

Although gasoline prices at the pump have gone down in recent weeks, natural gas is a different story. Utilities across the state raised their rates to record levels after hurricanes destroyed processing plants and pipeline facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. The spike in prices has led companies to lay off workers, increase their prices or both. Consumers will eventually feel the effects as companies push the costs down the supply chain.

Nationally, nearly 45 percent of manufacturers say high energy costs will cause them to lay off workers or impose wage freezes or cuts, according to a new survey by the National Association of Manufacturers. About 200 companies responded to the survey.

Writing for the U.S. News and World Report, Marianne Lavelle also discusses the coming winter fuel crisis.

Yes, we have a problem. We really do. Not only will prices continue to rise they will rise to such a degree that many people in the northeast U.S. will have to make choices between food, medication, and heating. We’re likely to see shortages in one or several fuels. This will not go away… it will get worse. We only have one way to go with this. Are you ready?

I laugh when I think of Bush and Co. suggesting that our way of life is not negotiable. Really? Seems to me that reality is negotiating a new way of life this winter. Funny thing, reality… sometimes it kicks us in the face.

Technorati Tags:Climate Change,
Peak Energy, Peak Oil, Natural Gas, Energy Shortage

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Energy Shortage, Natural Gas, Peak Energy, Peak Oil

What a great day! Took a long walk in the four inches of snow that fell today then made a big mug of hot chocolate.

The birds were out and very active today so I took lots of photos: Cardinal, White Breasted Nuthatch, Black Capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, and Tufted Titmouse were all there for the party. You can see more photos over at my Flickr page.

Technorati Tags: Birds, Snow

During my 12 years in Memphis, TN I had one general goal: Create a community project, we'll call it a counter-institution, that would function as a working example of urban sustainability. Of course within this all sorts of mini-projects with their own objectives sprouted up. We grew front yard gardens, study groups, newsletters, and even a micro-radio station. We grew co-ops for bicycle repair and community media creation. There were some successes and some failures. Today I look at what we did and wish we had done better. I wish cities and the people that live in them were more open to change. If we survive the future we have set up we will have to adapt. Strange to think that we have created a future that is likely to produce the opposite of what most people would say they want: health, happiness, freedom. In short, if we are to survive we will have to turn a societal u-turn.



Some folks are already doing it. Writing for Metroactive R.V. Scheide details the work of folks in Northern California to create a sustainable town:

Past the Peak: How the small town of Willits plans to beat the coming energy crisis

A few miles north of Ukiah, Highway 101 shoots upward into Northern California's coastal mountain range, climbing and weaving up the Ridgewood Grade, leaving the vineyards of Mendocino County behind on the valley floor. The four-lane section of superslab peaks at Ridgewood Summit, the highest point on a road that stretches from Mexico to Canada. It then gently slides down into Little Lake Valley, where, at the first stop light on the highway north of the Golden Gate Bridge, it reaches the city center of Willits.

--

A boyish 37-year-old with a Ph.D. in biology, Dr. Jason Bradford only relocated to Willits from Davis with his wife, Kristin, a medical doctor, and their two children last August. Initially interested in energy issues while studying climate change in the Andes several years ago, Bradford didn't really know what he was getting into when he decided to sponsor several screenings of The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream just two months after arriving in town. Hosting a film that proclaims human civilization is going to run out of oil and is therefore doomed doesn't usually guarantee a visit from the welcome wagon. But then again, Willits isn't most towns. Bradford's initial invitation to view the film has blossomed into a popular movement that aims to, in the words of one member, "reinvent the town."

"Thirty people showed up the first time," he says. A number of people stayed to chat after the movie, and sensing local interest in the topic, he hosted another showing. Sixty people turned up that time. Ninety came to a third presentation. Bradford, who'd never really led anything larger than a small research team, could feel the momentum building. "Oh, shit!" he thought. "What do I do now?"

As it turned out, Bradford didn't have to do too much to keep the ball rolling, other than volunteering all of his spare time. That's because there's a current running through Willits that harmonizes exactly with what needs to be done to prepare for what petroleum experts call "peak oil." That current is supplied in part by the very same ecotopians who flocked to the region in the '70s. Under Bradford's leadership, they've teamed up with concerned professionals, local government officials and ordinary citizens to form the Willits Economics Localization (WELL) project. It appears to be one of the first civic groups in the United States dedicated to preparing for the coming energy crisis. But if other communities are to have any hope of retaining some semblance to the lifestyles they've grown accustomed to during the age of cheap oil, it definitely won't be the last.

--
Bradford and the core members, working as a steering committee they jokingly refer to as an "ad-hocracy," originally identified 14 key areas of interest pertaining to peak oil and the community's survival that seemed to match up well with the interests of the overall membership. Eventually, these 14 areas were consolidated into six working groups: food, energy, shelter, water, health and wellness, and social organization.

--
To address topics as complex as localizing food supplies, WELL invites guest speakers to talk to the group. Some, such as world-renowned bio-intensive gardening innovator John Jeavons, author of the perennial bestseller How to Grow More Vegetables, didn't have to travel far: Jeavons lives in Willits. Others, such as Stephen and Gloria Decater, had to come over the hill from Yolo County, where they operate the Live Power Community Farm near Covelo.

The Decaters practice community-supported agriculture. Their 40-acre farm provides food for 160 member families, totaling some 300 people, over a 30-week growing season. The families pay a subscription that provides operating fees for the farm and a modest income for those who work it. And when the Decaters christened their farm "Live Power," they meant it. Five full-time farmhands and an array of draft horses do all the work on the farm with the exception of hay baling, which is done by tractor because the farm has been unable to acquire a horse-driven baler. Apparently, they don't make them anymore.

During their presentation to WELL in April, the Decaters used simple math to solve Willits' potential future food shortage, at least on paper. Divide the town's 13,300 immediate residents by the 300 people Live Power Community Farm can feed, and it's easy to see that all that's required to feed the town is 44 similarly-sized farms. These plots would only take up a modest 1,733 acres in total--roughly the same area as the 2.8 square miles within Willits' city limits. Because the Decaters' numbers are based on a partial diet--an unintentional vegan slate that doesn't factor in dairy or meat--the actual acreage might have to be doubled or even tripled. Still, it's doable, and in fact, it's the way things were done not too long ago, before the automobile came along. Since then, Gloria Decater told the audience, "We have not thought of farms as permanent places. As the next generation left farming and development encroached, the farms have been cashed out. . . . With peak oil, we now have a new perspective. This may not only be sad, but it's also a matter of future survival."

Technorati Tags: Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Community Agriculture, Community Development, Energy Crisis, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, Suburbia, Sustainability, Sustainable Living

That was then: Shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983.


Strange how we forget or choose to ignore history. Today we find ourselves in the middle of a war based on various layers of deception by the Bush administration. We have reports of torture by the U.S. military and CIA in Iraq and elsewhere. We have reports of torture by the newly installed government in Iraq. We have reports of use of White Phosphorus as a chemical weapon by U.S. troops in Iraq.

Finally, today we see CNN reporting on Saddam’s trial: Witness at Hussein trial describes alleged torture:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) – The trial of Saddam Hussein adjourned Monday afternoon, concluding a day of delays and testimony by a witness describing the alleged torture of a man from a Shiite village in 1982: “They broke all his body parts."

Hmmmm. Saddam was torturing in 1982? Using chemical weapons as well? So how do we deal with our relationship with him during that time? We ignore it, pretend it did not exist. You really should read this. Really. Via the National Security Archive, a glimpse of U.S. relations with Iraq and Saddam during the 1980’s. Many details worth exploring. Here’s one little nugget:

By the summer of 1983 Iran had been reporting Iraqi use of using chemical weapons for some time. The Geneva protocol requires that the international community respond to chemical warfare, but a diplomatically isolated Iran received only a muted response to its complaints [Note 1]. It intensified its accusations in October 1983, however, and in November asked for a United Nations Security Council investigation.

The U.S., which followed developments in the Iran-Iraq war with extraordinary intensity, had intelligence confirming Iran’s accusations, and describing Iraq’s “almost daily” use of chemical weapons, concurrent with its policy review and decision to support Iraq in the war [Document 24]. The intelligence indicated that Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian forces, and, according to a November 1983 memo, against “Kurdish insurgents” as well [Document 25].

Technorati Tags: CIA, Donald Rumsfeld, Iraq, Politics, Saddam Hussein, Terrorism, Torture

Jim Kunstler offers his Season’s Greetings over at Clusterfuck Nation. He posts a new entry each week and it is inevitably followed by very lively comments. One of my favorite weekly reads. Always informative and his gloomy outlook parallels my own.

Observers are already writing off 2005 as if it had shown us everything it has to show. I think the holiday frenzy will be as instructive as the hurricanes of late summer.

A mild late-autumn combined with extra imports of European oil and refined fuels, and withdrawals from our own strategic reserve, have held the gasoline prices down here in the US. But the northeast got a four-day cold blast over Thanksgiving, along with a substantial snowfall, and the furnaces are now cranking away, even as the WalMart shoppers commenced their first mad tramplings of the season.

Natural gas, methane, which powers half the home furnaces in America, is a separate story from oil, of course. We can’t import it like oil because it requires special pressurized tanker ships and dedicated port facilities – of which there are currently only two in America – and getting it here by those means even if the facilities were in place would be very un-cheap. We are way past all-time peak natural gas production in the US, meanwhile, and desperately making up for it by importing all we can from Canada, which is compelled to sell us as much as we demand under the NAFTA rules, despite the fact that they are way past their own all-time gas production peak and desperately need the stuff to process the tar sands of Alberta into oil (which China has contracted to buy a great deal of). You may have noticed, too, that Canada is a northerly nation with significant home heating needs of its own.

2005 was a wake up call not only regarding energy resources but also climate change… a wake up call we’ve missed. As obvious as the signs are the mass of people still seem to not get it.

Technorati Tags: Energy Crisis, Oil, Peak Energy, Peak Oil

Stuart Staniford over at The Oil Drum has posted an excellent discussion regarding the recently released studies about the Atlantic Circulation Changes:

Nature today reports a new study by Bryden et al. suggesting a significant slowdown in the North Atlantic circulation (tip of hat to Westexas). The emphasis in coverage has been on the implications of cooling for Europe. For example, The New Scientist says

The ocean current that gives western Europe its relatively balmy climate is stuttering, raising fears that it might fail entirely and plunge the continent into a mini ice age. The dramatic finding comes from a study of ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, which found a 30% reduction in the warm currents that carry water north from the Gulf Stream. The slow-down, which has long been predicted as a possible consequence of global warming, will give renewed urgency to intergovernmental talks in Montreal, Canada, this week on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

The New Scientist is a UK publication, and this is scary stuff for a country that’s running out of natural gas, oil, and coal. But let’s just have a quick think about the implications for hurricanes and oil supply.

It’s worth your time as are the comments following the post. Of course I’d also suggest the articles referenced though the Nature article requires a purchase or subscription.

Climate Change: could it be more obvious? You know, perhaps it will stop snowing in the Arctic tundra? Would that be obvious enough? Bush and the U.S. congress will likely continue in the wrong direction and the people of the world will continue to protest in support of Kyoto.

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Ecology, Energy Crisis

Greg Gordon, writing for the News Observer notes the attention being paid to our energy situation:

Move past era of oil, experts say
Former CIA Director James Woolsey paints a dire scenario: A terrorist attack causes a months-long, 6 million-barrel reduction in Saudi Arabia’s daily petroleum output, sending the price of oil skyrocketing past $100 a barrel.

Industry banker and author Matthew Simmons says the kingdom’s oil fields are deteriorating anyway. And a recent New York Times story cited an intelligence report suggesting the Saudis lack the capacity to pump as much oil as they boast they can.

Even if nothing disrupts the projected flow of Middle East petroleum, Energy Department consultants warned earlier this year that “the world is fast approaching the inevitable peaking” of global oil production – a problem “unlike any faced by modern industrial society."

They wrote that the United States and other nations are in a race with the clock to find alternative sources for oil, “the lifeblood of modern civilization,” and avoid potential economic disaster.

The folks over at Participate.net have put up a good page to go along with their movie Syriana: Oil Change. Read through the blog and you’ll see various mentions of peak oil:

A campaign to reduce our dependence on oil Inspired by the film Syriana Oil addiction. It saps America’s economic strength, pollutes our environment, and jeopardizes national security. Breaking that addiction begins with the choices we make as individuals. Instead of oil dependence, let’s choose Oil Change!

Writing for the Arizona Daily Star Matthew Simmons and Stewart Udall Time to discard fifty years of energy myths

This summer’s hurricanes have triggered the most serious energy emergency in the nation’s history. With gasoline, natural gas and heating oil at near-record highs, many families face the chilly prospect of much higher energy bills in the future. The entire economy is at risk, but airlines, tourism, farmers, small business, seniors and the poor are particularly threatened.

Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf of Mexico’s petroleum infrastructure, but a larger, more daunting crisis was already on the horizon.

To craft an intelligent response, we must begin by discarding 50 years of energy myths. Because our continent had huge reserves of oil, coal and natural gas, Americans have nurtured a set of energy illusions that have now come home, in biblical fashion, to haunt us.

The most dangerous myth is that cheap energy is our birthright, that the well would never run dry.
This illusion was born in the early 1950s, when U.S. oil fields provided two-thirds of the planet’s petroleum. Oil was so abundant that domestic producers were required to curtail production to prevent a price collapse. For lack of a market, large plumes of natural gas, now our most precious heating fuel, were flared into the sky.

And atomic energy, the new kid on the block, promised an infinite supply of almost-free electricity. In this euphoric moment, our nation began to fashion a new way of living unlike anything ever seen on the planet.

For a half century, we designed skyscrapers, autos, cities and houses on the assumption that energy would remain inexpensive. In the ’50s, we invented the suburb, the shopping center and the Interstate Highway System. In the ’60s we bought Mustangs. In the ’70s we visited the moon, and in the ’80s we built the world’s most powerful military. Between 1950 and 2005, the country’s population doubled and the economy grew sixfold.

Then there’s this by Patrice Hill over at the Washington Times: Speculation surrounds oil peak. It’s short and overly optimistic but it is coverage of the issue.

Thanksgiving marked the day that some analysts thought global oil production would have reached its peak, ushering in a new era of fuel shortages.

These petro-pessimists were using the same formula as the one that accurately predicted the apex of U.S. oil production in 1970.

Technorati Tags: Ecology, Energy Crisis, Iraq, Oil, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, Suburbia, Syriana

I’ve discussed the used of White Phosphorus by the U.S. military a few times before. A quick recap:

1. Military uses White Phosphorus as a weapon in Fallujah
2. Pentagon denies its use
3. Pentagon admits its use but says it was only used for illumination
4. Pentagon admits its use as a weapon but says it is used as an incendiary not as a chemical weapon, they also insist it was only used on enemy combatants. Pentagon maintains that it is not a chemical weapon.
5. Last week a Pentagon document surfaced which indicates that in regards to Saddam Hussein’s use of White Phosphorus, it was a chemical weapon.

Juan Cole has written about it though he maintains that the Pentagon’s document does not quite qualify as proof that the Pentagon considers WP as a chemical weapon. Read his White Phosphorus Round-up.

In response to Cole documentary filmmaker Gabriele Zamparini over at the Cat’s Dream posts an Open letter to Juan Cole. Here’s an excerpt:

Dear Mr. Cole,
On your website I read: Monbiot accepts journalist and film maker Gabriele Zamparini’s characterization of a US Defense Department document he discovered recording a conversation between Kurdish fighters that spoke of Saddam’s own use of white phosphorus as “a chemical weapon."
(1)I would like to inform you and your readers that I didn’t make any ‘characterization’. The US DoD’s declassified document is titled “POSSIBLE USE OF PHOSPHOROUS CHEMICAL”.
The summary of the document reads:
SUMMARY: IRAQ HAS POSSIBLY EMPLOYED PHOSPHOROUS CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST THE KURDISH POPULATION IN AREAS ALONG THE IRAQI-TURKISH-IRANIAN BORDERS. KURDISH RESISTANCE IS LOSING ITS STRUGGLE AGAINST SADDAM HUSSEIN’S FORCES. KURDISH REBELS AND REFUGEES' PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS AND PERCEPTIONS ARE PROVIDED. (2)
You write:[Cole: As many web commentators have pointed out, this document is not a Pentagon-generated report, but simply a Pentagon record of a third-party conversation. No known Pentagon-generated document issuing from the US military characterizes white phosphorus as a chemical weapon.]
A little weak as a rejection of a declassified document, isn’t it? (By the way, I would like to know who the “many web commentators” are.) The point is not how the Pentagon calls the WP in its own official documents. The point is – as I believe even children have understood by now – that the Pentagon’s officials know perfectly well that the WP can be used as a chemical weapon, since not only did they accept that document, not only did they classify it but, more important, the Pentagon had always refused to admit that WP was used as a weapon in Fallujah or in other parts of Iraq by the US forces.

I read Cole’s blog everyday and have come to respect him. In this case though I think he’s wrong and am somewhat surprised at his interpretation. He seems to be cutting the Pentagon some slack that goes against the factual evidence.

Technorati Tags: Chemical Weapons, War, War Crimes, White Phosphorus

Thought I’d post a little round up regarding Bush’s desire to bomb Al-Jazeera.

There’s the original story at the Daily Mirror.

Then there is Booman Tribune’s excellent and very detailed history of the Bush administration’s dealings with Al-Jazeera. It ain’t purdy and it paints a picture in which the Mirror article sure seems realistic.

Next we have Juan Cole’s discussion of Bush the Press Assassin.

Of course the good folks over at Irregular News have also written about it.

Read the above and you’ll have a sense of what’s going on. All I’ll say is, based on their track record I don’t doubt this story. Proof would be great but of course those in power are doing their best to ensure we don’t see the memo so, time will tell. Add it to the ever growing list of fuck-ups and crimes perpetrated by George and Co.

Technorati Tags: Al-Jazeera, George Bush, Iraq, War

A most viable alternative energy solution - solar power

“Installing solar energy on your roof is one of the most meaningful steps an individual can take to reduce our reliance on foreign sources of energy and help declare energy independence,” EnergyBiz Insider cites Rhone Resch, Solar Energy Industries Association President, as stating. “With the new energy law, solar comes with a more affordable price tag, and more consumers will take a step towards energy independence by choosing solar power."

“It seems that despite the available sunlight, worldwide solar electricity accounts for only one thousandth of the total electricity supply,” says Silverstein. “The US energy bill, signed into law in August, might prove to be a key motivator in exploiting this, particularly important because key players are primed to take advantage of solar power.”

…

The good news for solar advocates and solar equipment makers is that public opinion polls are saying that a clean environment is a top priority. Solar power plants have almost no carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide emissions tied to them. They typically produce power during peak demand when it is most needed and displace coal-and-natural-gas fired units in the process. Green energy participants have successfully marketed these ideas and used them to persuade policymakers to enact progressive measures, such as the tax credit for solar panel installation.

Technorati Tags: Alternative Energy, Energy Crisis, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, solar electric, Sustainability, Sustainable Living

Writing for The Free Press, Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman discuss the recent Government Accountability Office report that seems to confirm stolen elections in 2004:

As a legal noose appears to be tightening around the Bush/Cheney/Rove inner circle, a shocking government report shows the floor under the legitimacy of their alleged election to the White House is crumbling.

The latest critical confirmation of key indicators that the election of 2004 was stolen comes in an extremely powerful, penetrating report from the Government Accountability Office that has gotten virtually no mainstream media coverage.

The government’s lead investigative agency is known for its general incorruptibility and its thorough, in-depth analyses. Its concurrence with assertions widely dismissed as “conspiracy theories” adds crucial new weight to the case that Team Bush has no legitimate business being in the White House.

Get it straight from the horse’s mouth: GAO Report

So, why did Kerry give up so quickly? This is not a surprise folks. Many of us wrote about it after the November elections though back then we were dismissed. Funny how those in power and those who support the party in power are so quick to dismiss activists and critics as conspiracy theorists.

Hows about we stop playing games with elections in this so-called “democracy” that is, in truth, nothing of the sort. Folks “democracy” is nothing but a facade that hides the truth which is that since it’s inception the U.S. is owned and operated by a wealthy few. So, Bush or Kerry, Republican or Democrat, the system is not ours, the government is not ours. Conspiracy? You bet.

Technorati Tags: 2004 Elections, Conspiracy, George Bush, John Kerry, Politics

Who’s the terrorist using WMD? Of course many of us knew the denials were a lie. Finally the Pentagon admits the truth. The BBC reports that the US used white phosphorus in Iraq:

US troops used white phosphorus as a weapon in last year’s offensive in the Iraqi city of Falluja, the US has said.

“It was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants,” spokesman Lt Col Barry Venable told the BBC - though not against civilians, he said.

The US had earlier said the substance - which can cause burning of the flesh - had been used only for illumination.

BBC defence correspondent Paul Wood says having to retract its denial is a public relations disaster for the US.

Col Venable denied that white phosphorous constituted a banned chemical weapon.

Dahr Jamail, in a story for The Independent quoted civilian witnesses:

“They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud,” he said. He had seen “pieces of these bombs explode into large fires that continued to burn on the skin even after people dumped water on the burns”.

As an unembedded journalist, I spent hours talking to residents forced out of the city. A doctor from Fallujah working in Saqlawiyah, on the outskirts of Fallujah, described treating victims during the siege “who had their skin melted”.

You can read more at The Independent: The fog of war: white phosphorus, Fallujah and some burning questions.

Technorati Tags: Chemical Weapons, Iraq, Terrorism, Torture, War, White Phosphorus

Jonathan over at Irregular Times also takes note that the U.S. media is avoiding the White Phosphorus story. I’ve it mentioned on CNN today though as expected it is given the usual spin by spinboy Blitzer. Amazing how they can frame a story is it not? CNN, the Cleaned-up News Network. Nothing dirty going on here, no sir!

Jonathan also takes note of The Effects of White Phosphorus, correctly suggesting that it is indeed a chemical weapon. As the BBC reports:

“If particles of ignited white phosphorus land on a person’s skin, they can continue to burn right through flesh to the bone. Toxic phosphoric acid can also be released into wounds, risking phosphorus poisoning.

Skin burns must be immersed in water or covered with wet cloths to prevent re-combustion until the particles can be removed.

Exposure to white phosphorus smoke in the air can also cause liver, kidney, heart, lung or bone damage and even death.

Sure sounds like a chemical weapon to me. White Phosphorus is a chemical substance that interacts chemically with the human body. It burns the skin and flesh, if inhaled it chemically burns the lungs and other internal organs. In what world, what language, can this weapon be defined as conventional?

As to the assertion that this is legal as long as the weapon is targeted at enemy combatants and not used indiscriminately, I would like to see proof that the military is telling the truth. Proof and I’d like it to be verified by parties outside of the U.S. government. Further, I’d like to see proof that not a single civilian was murdered by white phosphorus. See the problem with the government’s very specific and careful use of language is that they are not so specific and careful with the actual application of weaponry. No, the military may not target civilians with white phosphorus but you can bet your ass that many of those that endured the agony of this chemical weapon during their last moments of life were indeed civilans.

The web of lies and omissions is never ending and I see no reason at this point to believe anything put forth by the military or the administration.

I’m never surprised by the government’s lies and the complicity of the media in reporting those lies. One might even say that it is the real function of the media is to lie and that it has become nothing more than a mouthpiece of government. Of course there are excellent examples of non-corporate media that function critically and which do so regardless of who is in power. It’s increasingly obvious that independent internet news sites and blogs are filling in the void of information with a more complete version of the “truth”.

Technorati Tags: Chemical Weapons, Iraq, Media, Terrorism, War, White Phosphorus

Jonathan over at Irregular Times has been doing a fantastic job keeping on top of the Senate’s support of torture and dictatorship. Welcome to the New America. Pentagon Bans Torture, Torture to Continue

Conspicuously, the ban on torture does not apply to agents of the American government who work with the Pentagon. The CIA, for example, is exempt from the new ban.

Funny, isn’t it, how President Bush and Vice President Cheney have specifically requested Congress to exempt the CIA from any ban on torture. Why, it’s as if the CIA is already torturing people, isn’t it?

As luck would have it, it is already against the law for any member of the United States government to conduct or order others to conduct torture. There is an American law that makes it illegal for the President to violate the terms of the Geneva Conventions. The new torture ban passed by the Senate and under consideration by the House of Representatives is merely a reiteration. It’s a very useful reiteration of America’s values, but legally speaking, it is not necessary. Torture is already banned.

So, if President Bush knows that the CIA is torturing prisoners, and he’s trying to protect the CIA’s ability to do so, then President Bush is breaking the law. He’s not just breaking any little old law either. He’s breaking federal law, and committing war crimes. That plainly fits into the category of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Republican Senate blocks torture investigation:

You probably didn’t read about it in your newspaper, which spent more space on the season’s new television shows that what was going on up on Capitol Hill. You certainly didn’t see it on Fox News. You probably didn’t get even a whiff of it even on NPR, and it’s hard to find out on the blogosphere.

Yet, two days ago, an historic vote was held on the floor of the United States Senate - and the Senate’s Republicans chose to keep America’s eyes clenched shut.

Senator Carl Levin offered a simple amendment (S.Amdt. 2430) that all America should be able to rally around: To create a commission to investigate the policies and practices in Bush’s system of secret prisons. Was abuse taking place in these secret prisons? Was torture occurring? Senator Levin’s commission would have investigated these important questions.

Of course, George W. Bush says that no torture has taken place, but what evidence has he produced? None, just his word. We all know how much that’s worth. In the meantime, a mountain of evidence has accumulated, all suggesting that a worldwide system of torture prison has been established by the Bush Administration.

We deserve the truth. America needs a commission to uncover the whole truth on what happens in these prisons. Yet, Carl Levin’s amendment to create such a commission was voted down by the Senate Republicans. Not a single Republican voted in favor of the commission. No, not even Senator John McCain.

Lindsey Graham Puts Donald Rumsfeld Beyond the Law

Yesterday, Lindsey Graham successfully introduced an amendment to add the following text to the Defense Authorization Act.

Consider now, what this legislation does:

1. It removes the power of the courts to hear a writ of habeas corpus from any non-citizen who is held prisoner by the Secretary of Defense. That means that no court will have the power to determine the identities of people being held prisoner by the Secretary of Defense, where they are being held prisoner, and why they are being held prisoner.

2. It removes the power of the courts to make any ruling on any aspect of any prisoner’s detention. This includes torture.

3. It makes the changes retroactive. That means that even if torture was done two years ago, the amendment takes away the power of the courts to do anything about it.

In effect, this legislation gives the Secretary of Defense the power to commit war crimes without fear of ever having anyone stop him. In effect, this legislation puts the Secretary of Defense beyond the law. By putting the Secretary of Defense beyond the law, it gives the President of the United States a means to act beyond the reach of the law as well.

Having a President to whom the rule of law does not apply is the definition of a dictatorship. 229 years ago, the 13 American colonies began a revolt against the British monarchy so that the people of America could live in liberty. One of the liberties we gained was freedom from arbitrary imprisonment.

With the passage of Senator Graham’s amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, the United States Senate has undone the American Revolution of 1776. Once the Defense Authorization Act passes Congress, we might as well be the subjects of Queen Elizabeth II.

Technorati Tags: Carl Levin, CIA, Citizenship, Defense Authorization Act, Democracy, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush, Iraq, Lindsey Graham, Politics, Terrorism, Torture, War

“It’s called the american dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.” - George Carlin

Technorati Tags: American Dream, George Carlin

Seems that the reality of peak oil continues to seep into the media and of course this is good news though I’m fairly certain this is far too little, too late. In terms of our coming energy crisis and the interconnected problem of climate change, we’ve already passed the point of prevention. We ignored the early symptoms and many continue to ignore even the more obvious signs. At least those of us in the U.S., well, the majority have taken the position that our life style in not negotiable. It’s an arrogance that will see us crying when nature dictates reality to us… in fact, it’s already happening.

John Dillin, writting for the The Christian Science Monitor, asks:
How soon will world’s oil supplies peak?:

The question provokes hot debate among experts, as concerns rise that America isn’t prepared for a dropoff.

WASHINGTON – If world crude-oil production hits its peak and then falls within the next five to 10 years, would America be ready? The answer is, almost certainly not.

A debate unlike anything seen since the oil embargoes of the 1970s has erupted over the future of world petroleum supplies. A chorus of experts claims that the peak in production may be approaching, and that the impact of a peak and subsequent dropoff would be devastating to the world’s economies. Others insist that moment is still distant.

Over at Orion Magazine Bill McKibben discusses Peak Oil:

Mad Max Meets American Gothic: Is there a friendlier option for the post-peak future?

Can you feel the mood shifting? I can. A year of spiking speculation about peak oil and the death of suburbia has rattled lots of Americans. Plenty of people suddenly feel that real, civilization-shaking change might be around the next corner. And plenty of them also feel frozen in the headlights, unsure what, if anything, to do about it. Other than wait.

It reminds me a little of the very early days in the fight over global warming. Appalled at the forecasts of global destruction, some of us demanded immediate and strong action–high taxes on carbon emissions, for instance, and never mind the pain. Others – more moderate or more politically realistic – advocated a suite of what they called “no regrets” policies. They suggested, say, gradual rises in gas mileage, higher efficiency standards for appliances. Even if climate change proved to be overblown hooey, they pointed out, such rational and easy measures would still save us money, reduce conventional pollution, and so on. These steps were like taking out a modest amount of insurance; whatever happened we’d have no regrets about having adopted them.

In actual fact, of course, we took neither the urgent nor the more relaxed steps. Instead we bought Ford Explorers. Now everything that was frozen is melting and soon we will have … regrets.

Amanda Griscom Little, writing for Grist Magazine and posted at Alternet, interviews Matthew Simmons about energy supply and peak oil: Twilight of the Oil Age:

Peak-oil provocateur and energy insider Matthew Simmons is staking his entire career on his prediction that the world is running out of oil.

Matthew Simmons has been stirring up a lot of angst in energy circles this year. This well-connected industry insider has concluded that some of the world’s largest oil beds may be on the verge of production collapse – and he’s willing to bet his much-vaunted career on it.

Author of the recently published Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy, Simmons is founder of Simmons & Company International, an investment bank that handles mergers and acquisitions among energy companies, and counts among its clients Halliburton, General Electric, and the World Bank. A graduate of the Harvard Business School, he served as an energy-policy adviser to the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign.

…
Let’s start with a brief overview of the premise and implications of Twilight.
I believe we are either at or very close to peak oil. If I’m right, then we have to assume that five or 10 years from now we’ll be producing less oil than we are today. And yet we have a society that is expecting, under the most conservative assumptions, that oil usage will grow by at least 30 to 50 percent over the next 25 years. In other words, we would end up with only 70 percent of the oil we have today when we would need to have 150 percent. It’s a problem of staggering economic proportions – far greater than the temporary setback of a terrorist attack on energy infrastructure – that could end up leading to more geopolitical fistfights than you can ever imagine. The fistfights turn into weapon fights and give way to a very ugly society.

And again, over at Alternet, Jan Friel discusses the slowly emerging awareness of peak oil amongst certain conservatives. Neocons Driving Priuses:

The prospect of peak oil has shaken some of the mainstays of the conservative establishment into doing something about America’s energy crises.

The United States holds 2 percent of world oil reserves, contributes 8 percent of world oil production, and consumes 25 percent of the world’s oil production – more than 60 percent of which is imported. Such facts appear with increasing frequency in mainstream newspapers and on television talk shows, often accompanied by handwringing about lack of sustainability and allegations that the chase after foreign oil is the primary cause of our military misadventures in the Middle East.

–
“The question is this: how do you create a politics that inspires the American people? How do you address their strongest concerns and values? We think addressing the jobs and health crisis of the Midwest – while demanding that the auto industry be held accountable on fuel economy – is the right way forward."
Will it take a hard winter and $5-a-gallon gas for the appearance of an opposition to the status quo, or graver energy crises or shortages that threaten social order? Let’s hope the emergence of wider political coalitions to deal with energy independence happens before we find out the hard way.

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Ecology, Energy Crisis, Peak Energy, Peak Oil, Suburbia