Beardy Guy Musings

I’ve often written about the over-use and dependence on oil in the US. Those that know me would probably say that I obsess over it to which I would reply “You don’t think about it nearly enough.” Now would be as good a time as any to visit the topic again, eh? As mentioned in the podcast I’m reposting three graphics that I originally created and posted this past summer.





Related links:

Life After the Oil Crash
Policy Pete
Peak Oil.com
Peak Oil.org
Real Climate
Alternative Energy Blog


These links have a permanent home on my sidebar under Ecology and Energy. I’ll be adding more so if you have any suggestions please pass them along.


More via the Podcast which is also available as a direct mp3 download runtime: 19'18, 3.6 MB.

Technorati Tags: Ecology, Energy, Natural Resources, Peak Oil, Podcast

I’ve been thinking about the influence and intrusion of the capitalist system and corporations into our understanding of the world around us. In particular I’m wondering about how Americans have isolated themselves from the democratic ideals they supposedly uphold and how this plays out in our relationships with the larger world community. What follows is yet another cheerful podcast in which yours truly rambles on about the unquestioned assumptions which underly our understanding of the world and our place in it. Hell, it’s a complex world and we don’t have time for complexity! Give me simple: good vs evil, you are either with us or against us!

We consider ourselves to be the most intelligent species on the planet but our behavior seems to indicate otherwise. More often than not we seem to move through life more ignorant (unaware) than we realize. That’s the interesting thing about ignorance. We are all ignorant but it is difficult to know how ignorant we are in regards to any particular issue or area of knowledge. As citizens is it not our responsibility to discuss and debate important issues so that we may reduce our ignorance and thus make more informed decisions? We claim to be a democratic republic yet we very clearly fall down in this crucial area of public discussion and debate. More often than not the vast majority just seems to go along with what it is told without questioning assumptions or authority in a way citizens probably should.

We’ve allowed for, and been manipulated into, accepting a corporate takeover of social structures. It is the agenda of multinational corporations, which are not at all democratic, that dominate the content of legislation in the US. Do we really want a planet dominated by corporations and capitalism? The increasing dominance of captialism over policy and culture is something we should not ignore. We need to examine our vision of the world as well as the assumption that it is a vision shared by all others. American arrogance hinders its ability to learn from, and understand, the ideas and visions of others on the planet. Last but certainly not least, what’s up with our ignorance of the fundamentals of our own culture and society? We seem to have no awareness of the issues surrounding the natural resources upon which our economy is based.

If we refuse to resist the dominance of state and capital then we deny responsibility and our future generations will ask why. Will we have an answer?


More via the Podcast which is also available as a direct mp3 download runtime: 19'18, 3.6 MB.

Technorati tags: Podcast, Media, Information, Capitalism

Technorati Tags: Capitalism, Citizenship, Democracy, Information, Media, Podcast

The New York Times has a story on a recent State Department Report about human rights. I was surprised to see the admission that the Iraqi Government has already resumed usage of torture, rape and illegal detentions. My guess would be that it is much worse than Bush and Co. would ever admit.

The State Department on Monday detailed an array of human rights abuses last year by the Iraqi government, including torture, rape and illegal detentions by police officers and functionaries of the interim administration that took power in June.

In the Bush administration’s bluntest description of human rights transgressions by the American-supported government, the report said the Iraqis “generally respected human rights, but serious problems remained” as the government and American-led foreign forces fought a violent insurgency. It cited “reports of arbitrary deprivation of life, torture, impunity, poor prison conditions - particularly in pretrial detention facilities - and arbitrary arrest and detention."

In other Iraq news Juan Cole reports on the assault against trade unionists and other activists:

A prominent trade unionist was also assassinated, but apparently only New Zealand cares.

Speaking of which, as a parting gift the interim Allawi government has [Arabic link] dissolved a number of civil society organizations, including the Lawyers' Union. Iraqi attorneys abroad accused the interim government of violating a number of international treaties and agreements to which Iraq is signatory.

US mainstream media appears to have behind the scenes instructions not to mention unions if at all possible (older television actors remember this instruction being explicit back in the 1960s with regard to dramas.)

Technorati Tags: Human Rights, Iraq, Politics, Terrorism, Torture, War, War Crimes

Several years ago I went to a public meeting/hearing about the proposed NAFTA Superhighway. I’ve not followed the issue in these past years but I do believe that it should be stopped. I came across this IMC Radio article today and thought it would be a good time to revisit the issue. BlackBox: Stopping the NAFTA Superhighway:

BlackBox talks to the members of “Roadless Summer,” organizing against the NAFTA Superhighway and Plan Puebla Panama.

For 15 years, farmer-led resistance has delayed the construction of Interstate 69, the NAFTA superhighway. Now, with the looming passage of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington D.C. and the Indiana Department of Transportation are preparing to finally restart construction.

We are calling for a summer of community organizing, civil disobedience, and direct action to finally stop this bid to pave over tens of thousands of acres of forests and farms, displace hundreds of families, and destroy communities throughout the Midwest, all to serve the interests of multinational corporations.

Get the mp3. I’ll take this opportunity to recommend the Indy Media podcast: IMC Radio

Technorati tags: NAFTA, Free Trade, Interstate 69, Podcast

Technorati Tags: Free Trade, Interstate 69, NAFTA, Podcast

I just finished watching a documentary interview with Jeremy Rifkin on LinkTV. The discussion seems to be based on one of Rifkin’s more recent books, European Dream, which covers the emerging European Union, its development, and the relationship between the EU and the US. A very interesting conversation and one which I think merits further attention by citizens of the US. From LinkTV:

An exploration of the theories of social thinker Jeremy Rifkin, whose recent book, The European Dream: How Europe’s Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, postulates that the The American Dream is in decline. Americans are increasingly overworked, underpaid, and squeezed for time. But there is an alternative: the European Dream - a more leisurely, healthy, prosperous, and sustainable way of life. Europe’s lifestyle is not only more desirable, argues Rifkin, but may be crucial to sustaining prosperity in the new era.

Technorati Tags: Economics, environment, European Union, Jeremy Rifkin, LinkTV, Politics

CNN/Reuters has an interesting article about Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez: Defying U.S., Venezuela’s Chavez embraces socialism:

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday embraced socialism as his ideology of choice in a political statement that sharpened his antagonism against the United States.

Chavez, a firebrand nationalist who has governed the world’s No. 5 oil exporter for six years, has persistently declined to define the precise ideology of his self-styled “revolution."

But, addressing an international meeting on poverty in Caracas, he said Western-style capitalism was incapable of solving global economic and social problems.

“So, if not capitalism, then what? I have no doubt, it’s socialism,” said Chavez, who also rebuffed U.S. criticism of his left-wing rule in Venezuela and denounced U.S. President George W. Bush as the “great destabilizer of the world."

I finally see the tide turning against the U.S. Seems that all the pieces are in place and it makes me laugh to think that “our” esteemed president set this game in motion. Each day makes it more obvious that blocks of resistance are being established. Europe will increasingly oppose U.S. policies. Iran and Syria are blocking up and looks like they are forming increasingly solid relations with Russia and China. I think it’s pretty obvious where Iraq has been heading. Venezuela, under the leadership of Chavez will continue to increase its resistance.

Anarchists and enemies of the U.S. state could not have done a better job. Thank you Mr. Bush.

Technorati Tags: Empire, Hugo Chavez, Oil, Politics, Venezuela

“We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us. No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we’ll kill you. Well, shit on that dumbness. George W. Bush does not speak for me or my son or my mother or my friends or the people I respect in this world. We didnt vote for these cheap, greedy little killers who speak for America today and we will not vote for them again in 2002. Or 2004. Or ever. Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush? They are same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American Character. They are the racists and hate mongers among us they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis. And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck them."

– Hunter S. Thompson, “Kingdom of Fear” 2003

Technorati Tags: Hunter S. Thompson

The New York Times, via Infoshop News, has a story about the antiwar movement getting aggressive. I have little doubt that this kind of direct action against the U.S. war machine will increase in coming years assuming the pattern of U.S. violence abroad continues. I’d expect that this tactic will prove to be more effective than mass protests because it cannot be so easily managed by authority.

EAST ORANGE, N.J. - The five United States Army recruiters who work from a storefront office here arrived on the morning of Feb. 5 to discover that a plate-glass window above the main entrance had been shattered, along with a window in the Navy office next door.

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But for the men on the other side of the broken glass, and recruiters throughout the New York area, the vandalism here underscored what they say are the risks of signing up young people for the military during a war that has polarized the American public.

The shattering of windows here followed two similar incidents in New York City and a third in the Midwest that week. On Jan. 31, authorities said, recruiters at a station near the Flatiron section of Manhattan reported that a door had been cracked, and that anarchist symbols had been scrawled in red paint on the building.

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A day later in Toledo, Ohio, a bucket of manure was thrown at the window of a recruiting station that housed all four branches of the military, the police said, and antiwar obscenities were scrawled on a nearby wall.

Since the beginning of 2003, there have also been more than a dozen other often violent incidents aimed at military recruiters or property throughout the country, according to the police, recruiters and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In a few cases, vehicles have been set on fire; in others, blood has been thrown through windows. Spokespeople for the armed services have downplayed the incidents even as some recruiters have increased security at their stations.

Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky., said that no recruiters had been hurt and that most of the nation’s nearly 1,700 Army recruiting stations had not been harmed or attacked.

“We’re aware that there are some instances of damage to stations, and we’re keeping an eye on this,” he said. “But it is not something that has us overly concerned."

Several recruiters in the field, however, said that they remained on edge. On Jan. 20, the day of President Bush’s inaugural, several hundred students at Seattle Central Community College surrounded two Army recruiters on campus, shouting insults and hurling water bottles until the recruiters were escorted away by campus security. The protest was covered by The Army Times, and several recruiters said that they feared such situations might become more common.

Sgt. First Class William C. Howard, a recruiter here in East Orange, said that the antiwar sentiment seemed to have grown more aggressive. Though recruiters are still frequently thanked for their service, he said, the insults, dirty looks and other signs of discontent seem to be increasing.

On edge? Given that their job is to convince other people to go off and kill or be killed I’d say being on edge is getting off easy.

Technorati Tags: Antiwar, Army, Direct Action, War

Wired, via Reuters, reported a few days ago on new studies of the Earth’s oceans and melting Arctic ice which confirm a rapidly warming planet.

A parcel of studies looking at the oceans and melting Arctic ice leave no room for doubt that it is getting warmer, people are to blame, and the weather is going to suffer, climate experts said on Thursday.

New computer models that look at ocean temperatures instead of the atmosphere show the clearest signal yet that global warming is well underway, said Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

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His team used millions of temperature readings made by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to calculate steady ocean warming.

“The debate over whether or not there is a global warming signal is now over, at least for rational people,” he said.

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Other researchers found clear effects on climate and animals.

Ruth Curry of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that melting ice was changing the water cycle, which in turn affects ocean currents and, ultimately, climate.

“As the Earth warms, its water cycle is changing, being pushed out of kilter,” she said. “Ice is in decline everywhere on the planet."

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Greenland’s ice cap, which contains enough ice to raise sea levels globally by 23 feet, is starting to melt and could collapse suddenly, Curry said. Already freshwater is percolating down, lubricating the base and making it more unstable.

Sharon Smith of the University of Miami found melting Arctic ice was taking with it algae that formed an important base of the food supply for a range of animals.

And the disappearing ice shelves meant big animals such as walruses, polar bears and seals were losing their homes.

In other news Americans remain oblivious.

Technorati tags: Global Warming, Ecology, Environment, Politics, Arctic

Technorati Tags: Arctic, Ecology, Environment, Global Warming, Politics

According to Juan Cole:

Al-Hayat reports that a decision on the new prime minister will not be announced until at least Wednesday. The decision was postponed in part because of Ashura, and in part because of the difficulty in getting a “green light” from Washington in the wake of Ambassador John Negroponte’s appointment as intelligence czar. (US news sources have not spoken as openly of the need for a green light from Washington, but al-Hayat’s sources are frank about it. This frankness agrees with the comment made by one embassy official that Iraq cannot select a prime minister who is unacceptable to Washington.

Democracy? Ha, ha… yeah I get it… Just like here in the Homeland.

Technorati Tags: Democracy, Empire, Iraq, Politics

Noam Chomsky, during a discussion regarding governmental secrecy and security suggested that secrecy has little to do with security. Rather, the real reason for secrecy is the need to cloak the workings of power from is own people:

Yeah-the Rosenberg execution had nothing to do with national security; it was part of trying to destroy the political movements of the Thirties. If you want to traumatize people, treason trials are a n extreme way–if there are spies running around in our midst, then we’re really in trouble, we’d better just listen to the government and stop thinking.

Look, every government has a need to frighten its population, and one way of doing that is to shroud its workings in mystery. The idea that a govermnet has to be shrouded in mystery is something that goes back to Herodotus [ancient Greek historian]. You read Herodotus, and he describes how the Medes and others won their freedom by struggle, and then they lost their freedom when the institution of royalty was invented to create a cloake of mystery around power. 30 See, the idea behind royalty was that there’s this other species of individuals who are beyond the norm and who the people are not supposed to understand. That’s the standard way you cloak and protect power: you make it look mysterious and secret, above the ordinary person- otherwise why should anybody accept it? Well, they’re willing to accept it out of fear that some great enemies are about to destroy them, and because of that they’ll cede their autthority to the Lord, or the King, or the President or something, just to protect themselves. That’s the way governments work–that’s the way any system of power works–and the secrecy system is part of it.

Source: Understanding Power.

Technorati Tags: Government Secrecy, Noam Chomsky, Politics, Power

Just a bit of contemplation about the formulation of beliefs and ideas. Also, a few thoughts on the corporate media and the effects of blogs on that media. Yeah, just a good bit of confused rambling about this… and that.

More via the Podcast which is also available as a direct mp3 download runtime: 19'17, 3.5 MB.

Technorati Tags: Empire, Information, Media, Podcast

Last night at the ocean! Tomorrow we head back to Missouri, just in time for spring. As much as I’ve enjoyed the beauty of this ocean ecosystem I love the incredible diversity of Missouri and will be happy to be back. It won’t be long before frogs wake up and the early wild flowers will be showing their faces soon.



About the fish picture: we found four of these guys on the beach one day. Strange that we would find so many on one day but not a single one on any other day. Also, today we saw our first live jellyfish. We’ve been seeing them dead washed up on shore but the one we saw today, approximately 16 inches in diameter, was very much alive and just 15 feet from shore so it was easy to observe. No dolphins today but the water was calmer than every other day and perfectly clear. The perfect last day.

I’ve added another 70+ photos to my Flickr photo blog.

Technorati Tags: Birds, Fish, Natural, Ocean, Sunset

Last days by the ocean…

Technorati Tags: Birds, Natural

CNN/AP Headline: Bush: Syria ‘out of step’

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush on Thursday said Syria is “out of step” with other nations in the Middle East and said the United States will work with other countries to pressure Damascus to remove its troops from Lebanon.

Out of step? Funny that he should say that the day after Kyoto went into effect. Fucking idiot.

Technorati Tags: George Bush, Kyoto, Syria

Dahr Jamail has posted an article regarding the recent World Tribunal on Iraq.

The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), an international peoples initiative seeking the truth about the war and occupation in Iraq made its pronouncement Sunday after a three- day meeting. The tribunal heard testimony from independent journalists, media professors, activists, and member of the European Parliament Michele Santoro.

The Rome session of the WTI followed others in Brussels, London, Mumbai, New York, Hiroshima-Tokyo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Lisbon. The Rome meeting focused on the media role.

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The panel accused western corporate media of filtering and suppressing information, and of marginalising and endangering independent journalists. More journalists were killed in a 14-month period in Iraq than in the entire Vietnam war.

The tribunal said mainstream media reportage on Iraq also violated article six of the Nuremberg Tribunal (set up to try Nazi crimes) which states: “Leaders, organisers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes (crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity) are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such a plan."

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“This is not simply an exercise to denounce the mainstream media for their bias and incompetence,” said Dr. Tony Alessandrini, a human rights activist who has published several articles on the U.S. colonisation of Iraq. “These denunciations have been going on for months. Here in Rome, we must go further.."

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Several experts gave strong testimony. Dr. Peter Philips, director of ‘Project Censured’ at Sonoma State University in California where he teaches media censorship provided taped testimony. He said that at no time since the 1930s has the United States been so close to “institutionalised totalitarianism”, and added, “U.S. society has become the least informed, best entertained society in the world."

Strange, I didn’t see anything about this on CNN.

Technorati Tags: Empire, Iraq, Media, Politics, War Crimes

I have a confession to make. It’s been a long while since I’ve purchased and actually read a book. Paper and ink, yes, I think I remember now. By accident I ended up in a nice little neighborhood bookstore today and I somehow ended up buying a book:Understanding Power. Excellent choice. I’ve only just started but damn I’m impressed. Essentially the book consists of excerpts of discussions with Noam Chomsky which occured in various settings from 1989 - 1999. Expect to read more comments here as I make my way through the book.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Noam Chomsky, US Foreign Policy

Inspired by the repercussions of saying a simple hello to a stranger on the street Stupid Beautiful writes about city life. It’s a strangely beautiful and sad account of humanity loosing its way which reflects my own thoughts. Of course it’s not just about the city is it? I’ve felt for a while that U.S. society has gone off the deep end. Our lives are so far out of balance that we now medicate our minds and our children’s minds in the hopes that the chemicals might somehow set things right or at least alter life enough that it seems tolerable. The social structures, social spaces, and nightmarish techno-media experiences continue to surround us. Degradation becomes an accepted fact of life right along side of fear and insecurity. We seem unaware of exactly what is going on. We feel it but we don’t understand it.

We push on through, we punch the reality from within the perceived safety of SUVs and Hummers. Men ooze aggressiveness from there pores as they assume a constant state of defense and attack. The media tells the population about the latest school shooting one day and about a scalping days later. The mental onslaught is everyday. What is real?

Some kind of devil has taken over this city. These days, as I walk along sidewalks lined with slush and half-smoked cigarettes, I can see it without squinting. It isn’t a disease in so many words – you can’t catch it like a bug or become infected by it. No, this has always been here lurking dormantly – a link in the collective DNA. It had simply not awakened until now.

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Have I just experienced this urban devil at it’s pubescent stages? Perhaps this is how it all begins. A human being sets out to do what it naturally and spiritually desires – to encounter other human beings and experience exchanges with them, no matter how small. Unfortunately, most of these attempts occur with people who have already become jaded about such endeavours. As more and more people are met with failed exchanges, this population of jaded anti-socials grows exponentially, spreading like an unstoppable plague. Is it possible that I have just had a close encounter with this awakening monster?

The concept behind the city is a beautiful one. Millions of people coming together to share a relatively small slice of land, spending their entire lives in close proximity to one another. In truth, it can be an ideal environment for the spiritually inclined – even more so than the cliché of a vacant babbling brook. What better setting is there for exploring your true nature than a highly concentrated mass of people to learn from? This extravagant production we call the human experience, in it’s purest and most potent form, is quite simply the interaction that takes place between two people.

Yet quite paradoxically, it would seem that cities have become the most ideal breeding ground for isolation and spiritual degeneration. Human beings have begun to give far too much credit to their doubts and fears – leaving them jaded from relatively small doses of rejection or threat.

Technorati Tags: Cities, City Life, Fear, Insecurity, Society

Yet more on the attack against Ward Churchill. Stephen Best writes Killing the Messenger: Ward Churchill’s Sins Against the Empire

“The gross distortions of what I actually said can only be viewed as an attempt to distract the public from the real issues at hand and to further stifle freedom of speech and academic debate in this country.” –Ward Churchill

Academic free speech and the First Amendment once again are under intense fire in the midst of a political and mass media witch hunt on Ward Churchill, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The controversy erupted over objection to Churchill’s participation on a panel at Hamilton College in upstate New York once a controversial essay he published on the Internet the day after 9-11, entitled “Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens,” was unearthed and transformed into fodder for a lurid media spectacle.

Technorati Tags: 9-11, Empire, Ward Churchill

So much for a federal government that respects science and its own laws. Of course this is not a surprise to anyone that actually follows the conduct of “our” government over time. No, this fits the pattern perfectly. Time and again evidence surfaces to verify that “our” government is actually a government bought and paid for by captialists. This is the rule, not the exception. Democracy? That is the biggest lie of all.

According to the LA Times U.S. Scientists have been ordered to alter their findings:

More than 200 scientists employed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say they have been directed to alter official findings to lessen protections for plants and animals, a survey released Wednesday says.

The survey of the agency’s scientific staff of 1,400 had a 30% response rate and was conducted jointly by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

A division of the Department of the Interior, the Fish and Wildlife Service is charged with determining which animals and plants should be placed on the endangered species list and designating areas where such species need to be protected.

More than half of the biologists and other researchers who responded to the survey said they knew of cases in which commercial interests, including timber, grazing, development and energy companies, had applied political pressure to reverse scientific conclusions deemed harmful to their business.

Technorati Tags: Endangered Species, Environment, Politics, Science