Beardy Guy Musings

The folks over at Imprison Bush discuss the ongoing coverups:

We’ve been distracted for a while by hurricane Katrina, and the spectacular failure of government officials from Chertoff on down to protect the American people.

But don’t put anything past Bush and his dirty little cronies. Under the cover of darkness provided by this catastrophe–while the mainstream media pat themselves on the back for refusing to uncritically parrot the administration’s lies THIS time–Congressional Republicans have killed the investigation into the Valerie Plame leak and the Downing Street Memos. Again.

That’s right, they’re actually using the shadow cast by their latest shocking failure to cover their sorry asses for their previous shocking failure–which, lest we forget, is still raging away in Iraq.

Via Irregular Times.

Technorati Tags: Downing Street Memo, George Bush, Iraq, Katrina, Politics, Valerie Plame

The folks over at Democracy Now! put out an excellent show today. In particular I wanted to mention the clip regarding Blackwater and this companion article by By Jeremy Scahill and Daniela Crespo Overkill: Feared Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans:

Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional
killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without
worry of legal consequences. Their presence on the streets of New
Orleans should be a cause for serious concern for the remaining
residents of the city and raises alarming questions about why the
government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places
like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here. Some of the men now
patrolling the streets of New Orleans returned from Iraq as recently
as 2 weeks ago.

The rush transcript is available here.

This is, I fear, a sign of things to come.

Technorati Tags: Blackwater, FEMA, Katrina, New Orleans, Politics

The Bulldog Manifesto shouts it from the rooftop: Impeach George W. Bush – A Call to All Blogs and Activists!:

The time has come. It’s time to stay on point. The blogs need to unite around a rallying cry of “IMPEACH BUSH.” As of this post, the term “impeach bush” is the third most popular search term at Technocrati .

President Bush has totally and utterly failed the American people. Almost every day we are presented with further proof why he should not be our president. From 9/11, to WMDs, to Iraq, to Katrina– the reasons are many and obvious. We need to impeach him NOW.

The only point that should be discussed is– “IMPEACH BUSH NOW!” We need to pound this point over and over again. It should be mentioned wherever possible, and it should not stop until the mainstream media and all politicans realize that we, the people, will not stand for gross negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, nor the utter lies, any longer.

The Bulldog Manifesto hereby calls upon every blog, from large to small, from Eschaton to Spontaneous Rising , from Daily Kos to Martian Anthropologist , from Crooks and Liars to Bring it On , from The Rude Pundit to The Talking Dog and EVERY BLOG IN BETWEEN!

The Bulldog Manifesto hereby calls upon every activist, from the national activists to the pissed off mothers, from the local politicians to the military families, from the school teachers to the student, spread the word, it is time to IMPEACH BUSH NOW. Cut and paste this post and email it to friends and family, write letters to your senators and congressperson, start your own impeachment blog, sign the Impeach Bush Petition , just do something! It begins with ALL OF US!

It doesn’t matter whether the House of Representatives consists of a Republican majority, we cannot wait around until 2006 for that to change. We can no longer afford to wait. Impeachment begins NOW, with all of us!

While I agree that he needs to be booted and then jailed I want to add that the Democratic Party is no better. Sure let’s boot Bush but let’s not assume that fixes a damn thing. It doesn’t. The problems we face go far beyond the Republicans and Democrats. We need to deal with global capitalism and it’s attempt to dominate life on our planet… that means taking a long hard look at the “democratic” republic that is the U.S. because it has become a primary base of operations for the very real terrorism of global capitalism. It’s time that the citizens of this country took real responsibility for our culture and “our” government and everything in between.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Capitalism, George Bush, Impeach Bush, Impeachment, Politics, Terrorism

Joshua Marshall over at Talking Points Memo discusses George’s recent use of firefighters in his hurricane photo ops:

As specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew’s first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.

I wonder, is there a site out there that tracks the behind the scenes action of Bushie boy’s spin machine? Like the spinning winds of a hurricane, Bush destroys the truth.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Katrina, Media, News, Politics

Solidwaste Magazine has posted an excellent article about the leeching of highly toxic chemicals into the floodwaters: Katrina: “Love Canal-type landfill” submerged in floodwaters:

Overlooked in many news reports about the unfolding storm disaster in the southern United States, especially in the City of New Orleans, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, is a potentially dramatic pollution issue related to a toxic landfill that sits under the flood waters right in the city’s downtown, according to map overlays of the flooded area. The situation could exacerbate the already dire threat to human health and the environment from the flood waters.

The Agriculture Street Landfill (ASL) is situated on a 95-acre site in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. The ASL is a federally registered Superfund site, and is on the National Priorities List of highly contaminated sites requiring cleanup and containment. A few years ago the site, which sits underneath and beside houses and a school, was fenced and covered with clean soil. However, three feet or more of flood waters could potentially cause the landfill’s toxic contents – the result of decades of municipal and industrial waste dumping – to leach out.

What a terrible, terrible fucking mess.

I’m watching them pump this water back into the lake and listening to folks talk about moving back in and rebuilding the city… the stupidity and ignorance is overwhelming. It’s all reaction and no thought which really reflects the way our society deals with reality. It is not rational. We continue to create and dump these terrible toxic chemicals and eventually we will pay the price. New Orleans will be a dark, miserable example of what awaits us if we continue our current path.

Technorati Tags: Ecology, Environmental Toxins, Katrina, New Orleans

This is the bottom, I hope:

[After visiting the Astrodome,] Barbara Bush said: “Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we’re going to move to Houston."

Then she added: “What I’m hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

“And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this — this [she chuckles slightly] is working very well for them."

Technorati Tags: Barbara Bush, George Bush, Katrina

"George Bush doesn't care about black people." -- Kayne West

Last night at the hurricane benefit put on by the entertainment industry Kayne West stepped away from the script and told the simple, hard truth. A tip of the hat to him.
I've felt for a long time that George Bush just doesn't care about people... none of us... at all. Lost lives mean nothing to him. He is a man of lies, spin, and political power.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Katrina, Kayne West, Politics, Racism

The Washington Post discusses the clean-up: Extraordinary Problems, Difficult Solutions:

…there may be nothing normal about New Orleans, because the floodwater, spiked with tons of contaminants ranging from heavy metals and hydrocarbons to industrial waste, human feces and the decayed remains of humans and animals, will linger nearby in the Gulf of Mexico for a decade.

“This is the worst case,” Hugh B. Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency, said of the toxic stew that contaminates New Orleans. “There is not enough money in the gross national product of the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in the area."

My first thought is that New Orleans should be abandoned. Remove what must be removed then let the city fill. Perhaps that is a terrible idea. I guess what I see at the end is that the city should not be rebuilt as it was. If anything is going to be rebuilt it should be on a smaller scale with a focus on providing for the ports. A mini-city built on higher ground and surrounded by new wetlands. The new wetlands would be more in tune with what should be there naturally and the mini-city would on higher ground surrounded by a smaller but higher levee system. This new city of practical purpose should be minimal and really would exist only to provide a base for port operations. Cut the population down to 50,000. Last, I would suggest that this should be a green city. Rebuild it as a model of energy efficiency and green technology and put the burden on the energy industry.
I’d also add that the toxic stew currently brewing in the city should not just be dumped into the gulf untreated. Of course I don’t have an answer there but I think some effort should be made to clean and filter the water before pumping it anywhere. There should be no hurry to get this job done. Get the people out and make it a know fact that the city as it was in no more. People should not return.

Technorati Tags: Katrina, New Orleans, Ocean Ecology, Politics

A great resource for tracking Katrina related ecological problems and developments:
Society of Environmental Journalists: Internet Links and Resources

I continue to be amazed and overwhelmed. In terms of human and ecological destruction… I think when it is all accounted for we will all be amazed. It is really beyond words.

The fact that it was a known danger and that money was diverted from levee repair and maintenance just boggles the mind. What a terrible decision.

Technorati Tags: Ecology, Katrina, Media, New Orleans, News, Ocean Ecology

I was just reading this thread over at The Oil Drum regarding an Interview with Mayor Nagin of NOLA and came across this:

Cheney is still on vacation in an undisclosed location.

Condi Rice was busy shopping for shoes in New York - someone got up in her face and asked her how she could shop for shoes when New Orleans is in serious trouble. Her response was to have her security people throw the woman out.

True? I’m going to be browsing around also about the head of FEMA… word is he’s a fuck-up. What a crew, eh? One screw-up after another, lie upon lie… and now this disaster of a disaster response. This is not about playing politics either. Fuck that. Don’t tell me I can’t criticize these fools for a job that they completely fucked up… a job that people’s survival depends upon.

Technorati Tags: FEMA, Katrina, New Orleans, Politics

This is the first in a series of posts that will cover Hurricane Katrina in relationship to the U.S. Energy System, Peak Oil, Global Warming, Wetlands, and the rebuilding of New Orleans.
I’ll start with a topic which is no secret: The flooding of New Orleans was predicted and even expected in the case of a direct hit by a Category 4 or 5 hurricane. This has been known for many years.
Here are a few links to get you started:
The City in a Bowl - NOW with Bill Moyers transcrpit, 9/20/2002.
The Big One - The Times-Picayune
Keeping It’s Head Above Water - Houston Chronicle, 12/01/2001
New Orleans' growing danger - Philly Inquirer, 10/08/2004

“It’s possible to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane,” said Al Naomi, senior project manager for the Corps of Engineers. “But we’ve got to start. To do nothing is tantamount to negligence."


It could take 20 years and at least $1 billion to raise the levees high enough and to build floodgates at the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain, Naomi said.


The corps hoped to begin a study this year of the steps necessary and the costs. Just the study would take four years and cost $4 million, Naomi said, but the money is not in the federal budget for 2005, though the Senate has yet to act."

In a December 2000 article The Lost City of New Orleans, Lori Widmer quotes Shea Penland, a geologist and professor at the University of New Orleans:


It would cost a billion or two dollars to make the levee 30 feet high. A major flood with loss of life could cost $10 billion. What’s wrong with this picture? If we know the worst-case scenario is billions and it would take a billion or two to prevent it, why don’t we do it? I don’t think anyone’s thinking about it.

As of 2000 the Army Corps of Engineers estimated a price tag of $15 billion over 5 years for a comprehensive project which would not only bring the entire region up to Cat 5 standards but re-engineer the waterflow to help restore the barrier wetlands and more.

It was one of the first things to get cut to offset Bush’s tax cuts. I guess Bush is not so serious about “Homeland Security” after all. New Orleans is the fifth largest shipping port in the world and considering the huge percentage of our energy infrastructure that’s located there… well, some folks would consider its safety and security a priority.

Here are a few links on the budget cuts:
New Orleans district of the Army Corps of Engineers faces record reductions - New Orleans City Business, 6/6/2005
When the Levee Breaks - Will Bunch - Attytood

It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.
– Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.

Technorati Tags: Ecology, Energy Crisis, Katrina, New Orleans

Mithras at Fables of the Reconstruction says it perfectly:

Every month, we waste $5.6 billion that could be spent on little things like education, infrastructure, environmental protection, or emergency preparedness.

George W. Bush - fighting the “terrorists” there so your grandmom can die in a flood here.

And holy shit, I’ll add that at this moment on CNN I hear that the Washington bureaucrats are crying that they are being unfairly targeted for the poor disaster response. Ah, boo fucking who, poor George I feel for ya. I’m sure those fuckers will spin this botched response as intensely as the spin of the hurricane winds that hit the coast.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Iraq, Katrina, New Orleans, Politics, War

The folks over at The Oil Drum are following Katrina and the storm’s likely impact on the U.S. in terms of energy and economy. Check out their post Gulf Oil Supply/Katrina Weather Map Update: The Event that Introduces Peak Oil to a Nation:

This thing WILL be a big deal, not just because New Orleans is a prime target (remember water has to be pumped out of NO because it is under sea level, and right now with Katrina as a category 5, the estimates are 30 feet of water) under the current models for Katrina, but she could also disrupt Gulf supplies of petroleum (the GOM supplies around 1.3mbpd, we use around 20mbpd in the US) from rigs, etc., for a while. Many refineries are also located within this area (see LA refinery link below), as well as pipeline stations and tanker stops.

With supply and demand balanced on a knife’s edge as it is, this could lead to huge amounts of volatilty in the oil markets for weeks to come.

Even with all of the human tragedy that come from this, the whole scenario to follow will illustrate the peak oil problem. There is simply no more extra oil (except maybe the SPR?) we can call upon to put into the system…and with supply and demand balanced as it is (and with demand only growing over time), it only takes one “something” (terror, weather, malevolent world politician) to disrupt the system. This is what Goldman Sachs was saying six months ago when they introduced the idea of a $105/bbl superspike. One event that really disrupts supply means a terribly volatile market…and yes, that $105/bbl number probably equals somewhere around $4/gal or more for gas or even worse, a shortage of supply because of systemic problems.

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

The Bulldog Manifesto has an excellent piece on the Orwellian aspects of the current war against Iraq as well as the Newspeak that has spread throughout government and media. I could not agree more and urge you to read it:

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” – George Orwell, from the book 1984, published in 1949.

In the book 1984, the totalitarian government known as “Big Brother”, uses high technology and cleverly crafted language known as “Newspeak” to control the minds of the masses. In that fictional world, any person thinking about notions of freedom or revolution was punished with torture or severe brainwashing. You see, in that world, thinking about true freedom was considered a “thoughtcrime”. So Big Brother used “Newspeak” to get people to think in narrow terms, limiting the range of thought, in order to make “thoughtcrime” impossible.

I’m getting sick and tired of the Orwellian Newspeak. Just turn on the television, all you hear is Orwellian Newspeak. Nothing is as it seems.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Media, News, Orwellian, War

Salon has posted a story and photos on the war in Iraq. The gist of it is that America has been shielded from the harsh reality. Iraq: The unseen war:

The grim reality of Iraq rarely appears in the American press. This photo gallery reveals the war’s horrible human toll.

This is a war the Bush administration does not want Americans to see. From the beginning, the U.S. government has attempted to censor information about the Iraq war, prohibiting photographs of the coffins of U.S. troops returning home and refusing as a matter of policy to keep track of the number of Iraqis who have been killed. President Bush has yet to attend a single funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq.

I used their Photo Gallery to create the collage above. It’s not enough that we face the reality. We need to face the reason behind it all. King George has been telling the truth all along… it all comes down to “Our way of Life” does it not? America, land of suburban sprawl and SUVs. In the end this is a war about access to a limited supply of natural resources, capitalism, and consumerism. In the end it is about a way of life based upon oil.

Technorati Tags: Energy Crisis, Iraq, Oil, Peak Oil, Politics, War

EIA report: Oil Demand will surpass supply in Q4 ‘05 and Q1 ‘06 (PDF)

Also, be sure to check out Peter Maass’ article The Breaking Point over at the NYT.


Via the Oil Drum.

Technorati Tags: Oil, Peak Oil, Politics

To my dear friends at CNN:
If the disappearance of Olivia Newton John’s boyfriend is really news then I’ve got a few stories for you…

Just moments ago i observed a squirrel in my yard eating a nut! Even more exciting, I took my dog out for a walk and she pooped… twice!

Shall I arrange a press conference?

Technorati Tags: CNN, Media, News

Jim Kunstler writes about the current price of oil as it relates to the media, supply, demand and American consumption: Delusion and the Media:

America consumes one-quarter of the world’s daily production of 84 million barrels of oil. More than half of our share is burned in cars and trucks. In fact, our economy now amounts to little more than running 200 million motor vehicles around the suburban metroplexes in the service of ever more slapped-together McHousing developments, big box stores, and fried chicken huts. That’s our economy. That’s all we do anymore.

Regarding the recent NYT article he offers this critique:

Maas’s article is full of howling omissions and delusions. For one thing, Maas omits any serious reflection of the consequences of a global energy crisis, any specters of geopolitical blowback, or potential problems for America’s non-negotiable easy-motoring way of life. That omission grows out of the delusional assumption that some magical market mechanism will conjure up a menu of just-in-time replacements for the vanishing oil. These are referred to as “alternative technologies,” a term that points to a more fundamental delusion now rampant among the public, namely the mistaken belief that technology and energy are the same thing, that they are interchangeable, that you can substitute one for the other. Out of oil? Get new technology.


I’ll also add that there is a great discussion about the NYT article over at The Oil Drum.

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

According to The Oil Drum the NYT will, this weekend, publish a Peak Oil story by Peter Maass entitled “The Breaking Point”. Look for it on the 8/21/2005. Here’s a quote:

The largest oil terminal in the world, Ras Tanura, is located on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, along the Persian Gulf. From Ras Tanura’s control tower, you can see the classic totems of oil’s dominion – supertankers coming and going, row upon row of storage tanks and miles and miles of pipes. Ras Tanura, which I visited in June, is the funnel through which nearly 10 percent of the world’s daily supply of petroleum flows. Standing in the control tower, you are surrounded by more than 50 million barrels of oil, yet not a drop can be seen.

‘The world has never faced a problem like this,’ a report for the U.S. Energy Department concludes. ‘Previous energy transitions (wood to coal and coal to oil) were gradual and evolutionary; oil peaking will be abrupt and revolutionary.

The oil is there, of course. In a technological sleight of hand, oil can be extracted from the deserts of Arabia, processed to get rid of water and gas, sent through pipelines to a terminal on the gulf, loaded onto a supertanker and shipped to a port thousands of miles away, then run through a refinery and poured into a tanker truck that delivers it to a suburban gas station, where it is pumped into an S.U.V. – all without anyone’s actually glimpsing the stuff. So long as there is enough oil to fuel the global economy, it is not only out of sight but also out of mind, at least for consumers.

I visited Ras Tanura because oil is no longer out of mind, thanks to record prices caused by refinery shortages and surging demand – most notably in the United States and China – which has strained the capacity of oil producers and especially Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter of all. Unlike the 1973 crisis, when the embargo by the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries created an artificial shortfall, today’s shortage, or near-shortage, is real. If demand surges even more, or if a producer goes offline because of unrest or terrorism, there may suddenly not be enough oil to go around.

We’ll be seeing a great deal more of this kind of reporting… or at least we should. Sad that it has taken this long… no, not sad… irresponsible and ridiculous. Of course it is to be expected. The age of oil that has served as the foundation for America’s suburban nightmare is coming to a close folks.

Technorati Tags: Oil, Peak Oil, Saudi Arabia

It’s been a long while since I’ve read this but there was a time when I read through this book often… 15 years ago. Late last night someone called me… someone very dear to me and I thought of these words… hope you too might find truth and strength in them.
What are you? What am I? Intersecting cycles of water, earth, air and fire, that’s what I am, that’s what you are.
WATER–blood, lymph, mucus, sweat, tears, inner oceans tugged by the moon, tides within and tides without. Streaming fluids floating our cells, washing and nourishing through endless riverways of gut and vein and capillary. Moisture pouring in and through and out of you, of me, in the vast poem of the hydrological cycle. You are that, I am that.
EARTH–matter made from rock and soil. It too is pulled by the moon as the magma circulates through the planet heart and roots suck molecules into biology. Earth pours through us, replacing each cell in the body every seven years. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we ingest, incorporate and excrete the earth, are made from earth. I am that. You are that.
AIR–the gaseous realm, the atmosphere, the planet’s membrane. The inhale and the exhale. Breathing out carbon dioxide to the trees and breathing in their fresh exudations. Oxygen kissing each cell awake, atoms dancing in orderly metabolism, interpenetrating. That dance of the air cycle, breathing the universe in and out again, is what you are, is what I am.
FIRE–Fire, from our sun that fuels all life, drawing up plants and raising the waters to the sky to fall again replenishing. The inner furnace of your metabolism burns with the fire of the Big Bang that first sent matter-energy spinning through space and time. And the same fire as the lightning that flashed into the primordial soup catalyzing the birth of organic life.
You were there, I was there, for each cell of our bodies is descended in an unbroken chain from that event. Through the desire of atom for molecule, of molecule for cell, of cell for organism. In that spawning of forms death was born, born simultaneously with sex, before we divided from the plant realm. So in our sexuality we can feel ancient stirrings that connect us with plant as well as animal life. We come from them in an unbroken chain–through fish learning to walk the land, feeling scales turning to wings, through the migrations in the ages of ice.
We have been but recently in human form. If Earth’s- whole history were compressed into twenty-four hours beginning at midnight, organic life would begin only at 5 pm … mammals emerge at 11:30 … and from amongst them at only seconds to midnight, our species.
In our long planetary journey we have taken far more ancient forms than these we now wear. Some of these forms we remember in our mother’s womb, wear vestigial tails and gills, grow fins for hands.
Countless times in that journey we died to old forms, let go of old ways, allowing new ones to emerge. But nothing is ever lost. Though forms pass, all returns. Each worn-out cell consumed, recycled … through mosses, leeches, birds of prey…
Think to your next death. Will your flesh and bones back into the cycle. Surrender, Love the plump worms you will become. Launder your weary being through the fountain of life.
Beholding you, I behold as well all the different creatures that compose you–the mitochondria in the cells, the intestinal bacteria, the life teeming on the surface of the skin. The great symbiosis that is you. The incredible coordination and cooperation of countless beings. You are that, too, just as your body is part of a much larger symbiosis, living in wider reciprocities. Be conscious of that give-and-take when you move among trees. Breathe your pure carbon dioxide to a leaf and sense it breathing fresh oxygen back to you.
Remember again and again the old cycles of partnership. Draw on them in this time of trouble. By your very nature and the journey you have made, there is in you deep knowledge of belonging. Draw on it now in this time of fear. You have earth-bred wisdom of your interexistence with all that is. Take courage and power in it now, that we may help each other awaken in this time of peril.
Gaia Meditations
John Seed, Janna Macy
from the book “Thinking Like a Mountain, Towards a Council of All Beings”

Technorati Tags: Deep Ecology, Ecology